Let's Hit the "Paper Trail" on June 9

Are you passionate about the need for laws requiring voting machines to produce a voter verified paper ballot?

Here's an opportunity to make a real difference.
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68816236459860614607365

As of today, 20 states have passed "paper trail" laws - a tremendous achievement. (Two of these bills await the governor's signature to become law.) However, these laws are not equally effective; while some are terrific, others are weak. Some have a long waiting period before they go into effect.

There is a better way. As you know, Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Harry Reid (D-NV) have introduced bills in the House and the Senate respectively - H.R. 550
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68816246459860614607365 and S. 330 http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68816256459860614607365
- that would make voter verified paper ballots mandatory across the country. Unfortunately, both bills are stuck in committee.

So let's get them moving! Come to Washington, DC, on June 9 and 10 to talk directly with members of Congress. With enough co-signers onboard, we can get this legislation to the floor for a vote.
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68817336459860614607365

Sign up to reserve your spot for our national paper trail lobby days by going directly to:
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68816266459860614607365

http://www.commoncause.org/RSVPforPaperTrailLobbyDays

Our coalition of organizations includes Electronic Frontier Foundation, Rock the Vote, Verified Voting, VotersUnite, VoteTrustUSA, and Working Assets. Join us and our coalition partners for Capitol Hill Lobby Days on June 9 and 10 to talk to our federal lawmakers in person and advocate for the passage of these crucial election reform bills:

http://www.commoncause.org/RSVPforPaperTrailLobbyDays

If you have never lobbied before, have no worries. It's fun! Besides, we're planning a training session on the morning of June 9, where you'll get all the information you'll need to feel like an old pro. We will also help you find lodging for your visit and there's a Capitol Hill party planned for Thursday night, too, with special guests.

It's even more fun if you come with a friend, so spread the word.
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68816296459860614607365

For more information about what Common Cause is doing to reform our broken election system, visit our Action For Elections center.
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68816306459860614607365
If you have not done so, don't forget to sign our Save Our Elections petition.
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68816316459860614607365

We hope you can come to the Capitol Hill Lobby Days on June 9 & 10 - we'd love to meet you in person. In the meantime, thanks for your passion and commitment to election reform.
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M68817346459860614607365

Sincerely,

The Election Reform Team
Barbara Burt
Election Reform Team Leader
http://www.commoncause.org/Elections

Alex, DJ, Ed, Jenny, Lisa, Mary, Mike, Murshed, Rachel, and Susannah

http://www.emrpolicy.org/news/press/10may05_sc_letterhead.pdf

Supreme Court Petition filed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Janet Newton - The EMR Policy Institute
Tel: (802) 426-3035
Email: JNewton@emrpolicy.org

CITIZEN GROUP ASKS U.S. SUPREME COURT TO ORDER THE FCC TO STUDY HEALTH EFFECTS OF BROADCAST TV, RADIO AND CELL TOWERS EMISSIONS

Washington, D.C., May 10, 2005 -- EMR Network, a nationwide advocacy group of citizens and professionals concerned with the environmental impact of radiofrequency (RF) radiation, today filed a petition in the United States Supreme Court asking the Court to order the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to research the impact on human health of continuous low-power ultra-high frequency wireless transmissions.

The group’s petition for certiorari asks the high court to overturn an FCC order and Court of Appeals decision refusing to gather information and thoroughly investigate the consequences of 24/7 exposure to signals from TV/Radio broadcast facilities and cell towers that power 180 million mobile phones across the country.

Current FCC RF exposure limits make no distinction between children, the elderly, or the ailing among the general population.

Whitney North Seymour, Jr. is providing legal counsel for this appeal pro bono. His legal career has included private practice, a term as federal prosecutor for New York, and public interest work with a particular interest in environmental law, having co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1969. He also served as a senator in the New York State Assembly. The EMR Policy Institute assisted in preparing the petition.

Background information and the Petition for Writ of Certiorari are found at: http://www.emrpolicy.org/litigation/case_law/index.htm


Janet Newton, President
The EMR Policy Institute, P.O. Box 117, Marshfield VT 05658
Tel: (802) 426-3035 FAX: (802) 426-3030
Web Site: http://www.emrpolicy.org

05/11/05

The prophet Noah talked to people about changing their ways. They ignored him. Noah built an ark, gathered his family and hosted animals to join them. They survived and rebuilt civilization after the flood. Those who ignored Noah's warning and continued their destruction perished. We live in mythic times. 'The British are coming!' Paul Revere broadcast, awakening the slumbering colonists. Now some 230 years later, perhaps the appropriate warning would be something like, 'The Americans are creating a global catastrophe!' A civilization-destroying flood or the British Empire no longer threaten us, but other dangers abound. According to four recent books, America and those on its industrial highway may be heading into contraction, turbulence, chaos, or even collapse...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0511-20.htm

from Common Dreams, by Shepherd Bliss


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Attac Deutschland
Pressemitteilung
Berlin, 12. Mai 2005

* Attac-Aktion vor dem Reichstagsgebäude (Fotos online):
* "Nein zu dieser EU-Verfassung" / Botschaft nach Frankreich

Mit einer symbolischen Aktion haben Mitglieder des globalisierungskritischen Netzwerks Attac parallel zur Bundestagsentscheidung gegen die EU-Verfassung protestiert. "Für ein soziales, friedliches, ökologisches Europa - darum: Nein zu dieser EU-Verfassung" stand auf einem zehn Meter großen Transparent, das quer vor dem Besuchereingang des Reichstagsgebäudes aufgespannt wurde. "Entgegen aller Schönrederei im Bundestag schreibt diese Verfassung eine neoliberale und militaristische Politik dauerhaft fest", sagte Stephan Lindner von der Attac-EU-AG.

Im Vorfeld des französischen Referendums schickten die Attac-Mitglieder, die von Aktivisten von 'solid und der Friedensbewegung aktiv unterstützt wurden, mit ihrer Aktion auch eine Botschaft nach Frankreich: Mit der Parole, "Amis francais, dites NON au nom des Allemands" baten sie die Franzosen, auch in ihrem Namen mit Nein zu stimmen. Zudem bildeten sie aus ihren Körpern ein "NON" in den Farben der Trikolore. "Die breite Mehrheit im Bundestag ist nicht repräsentativ, denn in Deutschland gab es kaum Informationen, keine Debatte und keine Mitbestimmungsmöglichkeit für die Menschen", kritisierte Peter Wahl vom Attac-Koordinierungskreis. "Jetzt ruhen die Hoffnungen auf Frankreich, Belgien und Dänemark. Mit einem Nein zu dieser Verfassung können sie die Voraussetzung für ein demokratischeres, sozialeres und friedlicheres Europa schaffen."

Die Attac-Kritik am Verfassungsentwurf hatten zuletzt 188 Intellektuelle und politisch Aktive in einem öffentlichen Aufruf unterstützt, der Belege für den neoliberalen Charakter der Verfassung und die weiterhin bestehenden Demokratiedefizite liefert (siehe http://www.attac.de/eu-verfassung/anzeige/ ).

Fotos von der Aktion in druckfähiger Auflösung:
* online unter http://www.attac.de/eu-verfassung/non

Für Rückfragen:
* Stephan Lindner, Tel. (0176) 2434 2789
* Peter Wahl, Tel. (0160) 823 4377
* Tobias Pflüger, MdE, Tel. (0174) 765 0483


------------------------------------------------
Malte Kreutzfeldt
Pressesprecher Attac Deutschland
------------------------------------------------
Post: Münchener Str. 48, 60329 Frankfurt/M
Tel.: 069/900 281-42, Mobil: 0170-233 4746
Mail: presse@attac.de, Fax: 069/900 281-99
-------------------------------------------------

Aus: Attac-eu-info

Buffalo Field Campaign
Update from the Field
May 12, 2005

------------------------------
New to the Issue? Check here for background:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/issueinbrief.html
------------------------------
* Update from the Field
* Call Montana's Governor
* Prayer Ceremony for the Buffalo this Saturday
* BFC Volunteer Takes the Buffalo's Story Home
* Tonight @ 7:30: Montana PBS Documentary on Buffalo
* Last Words (by Japhy Ryder Sanchez)

------------------------------
* Update from the Field

As the Spring tide flows and the sun waxes high, the landscape dons a greener mantle, giggling pink, purple, yellow and white flower-shaped secrets. Red and yellow buds burst from the stalks of willows, aspens finally begin to show signs of red life. All the ice is gone, driven away by rain. These past few days have been very wet, cool and windy and today on this mid-May morning, we awoke to a surprising light cover of wet snow. It is still falling as I write.
Out on Horse Butte where the vernal dance comes alive from beneath and between the quartz and lava rock, brand new baby buffalo take their first steps. These are the last wild buffalo's chosen calving grounds. Perhaps there are certain plants to aid childbirth that only grow there, that only buffalo-wisdom can pick out to ease labor or offer succulent nutrition. Perhaps it is simply the huge south-facing slope, the first to be touched by the sun. As water falls from the sky, we wonder to each other if the grass tastes sweeter all wet with rain. Some try it and say "yes." All around us, buffalo grunt and breathe, munching the sweet grass, while tiny red buffalo suckle their mothers, dance around and get to know their new legs, each other and their amazing surroundings. It is good to be alive! Even better to be a wild buffalo on Horse Butte in the height of Spring!

But, after yesterday's nefarious government activities, nearly all the buffalo are gone. The Butte is sadly empty. Haunted, too, are the surrounding forests and willows that lead to this sacred site. The landscape holds large and tiny footprints, fertilizing droppings, some hairs caught on branches, but nothing else. The buffalo are gone. Mothers, babies, and bulls--all run off of their chosen land. Their absence is heavily felt. They have been pushed back. Forced away. Hazed. Chased. Hounded to exhaustion. Walked and run and kicked off their ancestral landscape in sad humiliation and with utter disrespect. Helicopter, horses, ATVs, and trucks roared through here and created a sick void where once the gentle, shaggy giants and the little red babies played. Slightly to the north and east lay the empty spaces of Fir Ridge, Duck Creek, and Cougar Creek. Favorite haunts of gigantic bull buffalo, magnificent in their masculinity. Accompanying crazy young bulls seem to make a dangerous game of crossing the road and challenging semis, giving BFC volunteers who warn motorists of their crossings anxiety attacks. Unpredictable in their awesome wildness, we catch our breath as they graze and then dance across the road that bisects the land, back and forth and back again. They were making their way toŠ to wherever it is they would go if they were simply allowed to be buffalo.

In Montana, however, it is a crime to be a buffalo. The penalties are harsh and severe. It doesn't matter if you are weeks old, pregnant, in labor, unable to transmit cattle diseases, and never have anyway. Being a wild buffalo in Montana is against the law. And it doesn't even matter that there are no cattle around. No matter that this is native buffalo habitat. The empty landscape cries out loud in it's need for wild buffalo. Everywhere we feel their absence and wish to catch a glimpse of their dark, mountainous shapes. The buffalo's rightful landscape has been stolen for (invisible) European cows.

Instead of celebrating the magical, sacred, native buffalo, the livestock industry of Montana lashes out in fear and takes a violent, offensive position. They say they fear the transmission of a disease called brucellosis; a disease given to native wildlife by European cattle. A disease buffalo have developed immunities to. The buffalo are the targets of a centuries-old range war that manifests itself in the form of disease eradication. Intolerance. Control. Greed. Fear. DOL agents mock cowboys and with the financial and active support of the United States Government, drive the native buffalo off of their habitat, which consists primarily of National Forest lands. They sent out a helicopter again yesterday to scare up moms, babies, and bulls. It chased them down like a monster, blades cut the air, terrorizing the ecosystem and surrounding neighborhoods. DOL agents dress to the nine in cowboy attire, mount their horses, and smile as they forcefully drive the country's last wild buffalo across state lines, federal lines, pushing them into an arbitrary man-made box: Yellowstone National Park. Take out a map of the country. The buffalo once roamed nearly the entire space of it. Now take a look at Yellowstone National Park. Comparatively, it's a small dot on the map. This is currently the only place where state and federal officials will let wild buffalo be. When wild buffalo migrate, when they choose to cross these invisible lines, they are hazed, captured, quarantined, or slaughtered. They "threaten" macho livestock interests with a disease domestic cattle gave them, one that wild buffalo have never spread. Native buffalo have been displaced by European cattle, and if they dare set foot onto the lands they lost, wellŠ there's hell to pay.

This is the way it is, but it doesn't have to remain so. There are solutions. Cattle can be contained, public lands grazing allotments can be relocated off of wild buffalo habitat, stronger fences can be built for cattle on private lands, better vaccines can be developed and administered to cattle. Let us protect migratory corridors that allow buffalo to be buffalo and reclaim their native lands and restore the prairies. Let the Department of Livestock hold authority over cattle. Let the wolves manage the wild buffalo. Let Montana celebrate the buffalo as a valued and respected native wildlife species. Let the state's wildlife agency - not livestock interests - resume management authority. The cattle industry in Montana boasts $1 billion annually; the tourism industry boasts over $3 billion. Tourists come to see the wilds of Montana, not it's cattle. Cattle are everywhere in America. The last wild buffalo are now only here. Let them roam! Restore the grasses. End public lands cattle grazing! Bring the landscape back to life. Bring back the wild buffalo! Visualize it. Demand it. Speak up. Take action. It will happen if you want it to.

For the Last Wild Buffalo,
~Stephany
-----------------------------
* Call Montana's Governor

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has the power to get the ball rolling for wild buffalo in Montana. He has the power to remove management authority from the Department of Livestock. He has the power to secure critical habitat for wild buffalo in the state. He has the power to respect buffalo as a valued, native wildlife species. He has the power, but he will only act on it if he hears from you. A great friend of wildlife, Brock Evans, says "endless pressure, endlessly applied" is what it will take. So be it. For the last wild buffalo, please call Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer today!

406-444-3111
-----------------------------
* Prayer Ceremony for the Buffalo This Saturday, May 14
This Saturday, May 14, we will gather here in West Yellowstone and throughout the world in prayer for the Yellowstone buffalo. Clem, a dedicated supporter of the buffalo, has generously arranged to pay for flights for he and Keith, a Dakota Sioux and Ojibway medicine man who will lead our volunteers in ceremony for the buffalo. We have been busy gathering the items necessary for the ceremony and are looking forward to the weekend.

If you live in the area and would like to join us, please contact us for more information. If you live afar and would like to gather with friends and others who care about the buffalo, please join us in prayer late Saturday afternoon.

Please write to dan@wildrockies.org with any questions.

-----------------------------
* BFC Volunteer Takes the Buffalo's Story Home

Stuart Tedrick, BFC coordinator and volunteer extraordinaire recently returned home to Maine for a spell. While he was there he was busy spreading the word in his hometown community about the country's last wild buffalo. Here's a news article that his former school ran:

http://www.kentshill.org/common/inc_detail.asp?newsid=171810&L1=5&L2=1

Nice work, Stu! Thanks for your hard work and dedication all in the name of the last wild buffalo!

-----------------------------
*Tonight @ 7:30: Montana PBS Documentary on Buffalo

Montanans, if you have television, consider watching this PBS documentary, "Bison of Yellowstone: Managing an American Icon." Airing at 7:30 pm Thursday, then again at 11:00 on Monday morning, the documentary aims to demonstrate that the buffalo's story is a conservation success, and that the American bison now flourishes. However, with all due respect, we beg to differ. It is true that there are approximately 500,000 buffalo in the country, yet the vast majority of these have been domesticated as livestock and polluted with cattle genes. The Yellowstone herd is the only continuously wild and genetically pure herd left in the country, and their nubers have been diminished from 60 million to a mere 4,200. If they leave Yellowstone and enter Montana, they are systematically hazed, captured, quarantined and slaughtered by state and federal agencies. They are treated by Montana as an animal "in need of disease control" and are not allowed to migrate, as is the buffalo's nature. They are not respected as wildlife, even though they are a native wildlife species and an integral part of the country's grassland ecosystems. The last wild buffalo are radio-collared, tagged, shaved, and striped with black dye, vaccinated with an ineffective livestock vaccine, and females are being fitted with invasive vaginal transmitters. They are repeatedly run off of their native habitat, and prevented from their instinctual migration. Their story can hardly be considered a conservation success. We have a long way to go. Please consider watching the program, and based on the information given and what you know, write to PBS and thank them for running a story about buffalo. If it's not covered, let them know the truth about what is happening to the country's last wild buffalo and urge them to do a story that tells it from the buffalo's perspective.

For more information on the program, visit http://www.montanapbs.org/Terra/episode102/ .
To contact PBS, call or email them at (800) 426-8243 or feedback@montanapbs.org.

P.S. We don't have TV here. If you can record it, would you send us a copy? Thanks!

-----------------------------
* Last Words

Why the Buffalo are Important

The buffalo are important to me because at one point they gave their lives to the people. The people loved the buffalo and the buffalo loved the people. The people used every part of the buffalo; hides for tipis, hooves for glue, bladder for water skins, food from its body, tools from its bones, cups from the horns, rope from its hair, even sleds from its ribs. The people needed the buffalo and the buffalo needed the people. Now, 200 years later, the buffalo are being killed off by the hundreds by the thousands. Right now the buffalo are important to me because they're gentle creatures and they wouldn't hurt a fly. Unless of course they had to protect themselves. They're beautiful creatures. All they ask for is their freedom. What else would you ask for if you were being hazed, harassed, penned up in cages, being poked and prodded and shot?

Think about that.

I want to see the buffalo roam free. I want to see the babies play peacefully in the sage. And I want to see mother buffalo being able to calve on their traditional calving grounds.

By Japhy Ryder Sanchez
Age 8 (okay, he's almost 9)

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

Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

BFC is the only group working in the field every day
to defend the last wild herd of buffalo in America.

Stay informed! Get our weekly email Updates from the Field:
Send your email address to Stop-the-Slaughter-on@vortex.wildrockies.org

Speak Out! Contact politicians and involved agencies today!
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/politicians.html

Write a Letter to the Editor of key newspapers!
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/lte.html

Help the buffalo by recycling your used printer cartridges! It's free and easy.
Visit http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/support/recycleprint.html.

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor

Yet again, inspiring news comes from India, this time in the form of a public interest lawsuit to stop the release of GMOs (ASIA).

We have an update on the catalogue of failure, death and illness that is MEDICAL BIOTECH. And a revealing report from America that completely squashes the old biotech claim that growing pharma drugs in open fields of food crops is cheaper than producing them in the traditional way, in contained conditions (THE AMERICAS).

Claire claire@gmwatch.org
http://www.gmwatch.org / http://www.lobbywatch.org


CONTENTS
LOBBYWATCH

ASIA
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
MEDICAL BIOTECH
QUOTE OF THE WEEK


LOBBYWATCH

+ GM CROP USE "LIMITED" IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES - UN REPORT
In contrast with the usual industry hype, the use of GM crops by developing nations is very problematic and has been limited, says a recent UN report. The US accounted for a hefty 59 percent of of GM agriculture in 2004. Only 16 other countries grew GM crops, led by Argentina (20 percent of the total area), Canada and Brazil (6 percent each), China (5 percent), Paraguay (2 percent), and India and South Africa (a mere 1 percent each), according to the report.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5227

+ DISPELLING MYTHS?
In 2003, the American Soybean Association (ASA) published "Correcting the Myths" to counter the "misunderstandings, half-truths and sometimes blatant falsehoods" spread by the critics of "ag biotech".

Two years later, according to ASA's Technical Issues Director, Kimball Nill, "we realise our document needs to be updated - because the facts just got better." The result is a new ASA report, "Dispelling the myths".

According to Nill, "We wanted to add the rational, independent farmers' voice to the world's biotech debate."

Independent? Prior to joining the ASA, Nill served "in several positions supporting Monsanto Company's venture capital and biotechnology R&D efforts". His current employer, ASA, has also enjoyed a close relationship with Monsanto, receiving a significant part of its multi-million dollar budget from the likes of Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred, BASF, and others.

Nill also works for the Agriculture Commodity Coalition which is funded by the biotech-industry backed Council for Biotech Information (CBI) to run a coordinated pro-GM public information campaign under the slogan "Farmers for the benefits of Biotechnology".

Part of Nill's ASA role is to "proactively" deal with "threats & opportunities" arising from "emerging international technology related issues that could impact U.S. soybean exports".

Being backed by the biotechs to protect American farm exports gives a whole new meaning to adding the "independent farmers' voice to the world's biotech debate"!
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5231

Meanwhile the American Corn Growers Association is reporting how biotech arrogance is losing U.S. farmers important exports. (see THE AMERICAS)

+ BLAIR APPOINTS BIOTECH LOBBYIST TO GOVT
British prime minister Tony Blair has just placed in the Ministry of Defence the man who has been tipped to be Lord Sainsbury's successor as science minister - Lord Drayson, the former head of the BioIndustry Association - motto: 'Promoting UK Biotechnology'. Like Sainsbury, Drayson is a major donor to the Labour Party and has been given a peerage by Blair in highly controversial circumstances.

Drayson made a substantial donation to Labour while the Ministry of Defence was deciding who should be awarded a smallpox vaccine contract. Drayson gave a further donation of half a million pounds to Labour just six weeks after the PM made him Lord Drayson. The Blair government awarded Drayson's company the GBP32million smallpox vaccine contract without any competition.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5220

The Guardian comments on the Drayson appointment: "... one's eye is caught by the appointment of Lord Smallpox, aka Paul Drayson, whose enoblement last year was swiftly followed by a cheque to party funds of half a million pounds. The noble lord is now a minister at the Ministry of Defence. It may be unkind to Lord Drayson to suggest that he effectively purchased a seat in parliament, but if the same thing happened in an African kleptocracy we might find it altogether less amusing."
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5224

+ GM PHARM FIRM CLAIMS GREENPEACE SUPPORT
Eric Murphy, chief scientist with Agragen, a North-Dakota based company that wants to genetically engineer flax, has been claiming that Greenpeace favours GM plant-made pharmaceutical production of a form of omega-3 fatty acid. It's not the first time that desperate GM companies have made spurious claims about Greenpeace support. False stories have been circulated by the biotech lobby that Greenpeace dropped its opposition to GM crops in the case of Golden Rice. Murphy also claims that the European public is becoming more relaxed about pharma plant production!
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5215

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASIA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ IMPORTANT LEGAL CHALLENGE LAUNCHED IN INDIA
A new legal challenge to the release of GMOs was launched in India on 12 May with a press conference attended by three TV channels and other media organisations. The challenge calls for a moratorium on the release of all GMOs into the Indian environment and for biosafety testing.

The legal action looks set to throw up some extremely interesting material and issues that are as important to the rest of the world as they are to India.

EXCERPT from the press release:
Dr Arpad Pusztai... in a prepared statement to the Supreme Court says: "No comprehensive health and environmental risk assessment has been carried out with Bt cotton and even less published in peer-reviewed science journals. With a potentially toxic crop [which goes into the food chain via animal feed] whose anti-nutrients, (toxins such as gossypol, cyclopropenoid fatty acids or the potent carcinogenic aflatoxins, are well-known to accumulate in the subcutaneous fatty tissues of consumers... In the absence of conclusive evidence for the lack of toxicity, responsible GM regulatory authorities must prevent the cultivation, commercialisation and food use of GM cotton and its products".
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5230

+ SEIZE ILLEGAL GM COTTON SEEDS - NGOs
Farmers' organisations and NGOs have urged India's regulatory body to direct state governments to seize stocks of illegal and unapproved varieties of Bt cotton seeds before the sowing season.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5217

+ WHY SEEDS BILL IS DISASTER FOR INDIA'S FARMERS
Critics say that India's proposed Seeds Bill will destroy farmers' livelihoods. "It is a Bill drafted under pressure from seed manufacturing MNCs like Monsanto. It has the potential to spell doom for Indian agriculture. Most of the seed varieties used in Indian agriculture today are farmer-produced. If farmers are not allowed to save and sell their own seeds, there can't be any agriculture here. The only aim of this Bill is to force the farmer to buy seeds from the market," says Vandana Shiva of Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5214

+ URGENT RETHINK NEEDED OVER GOLDEN RICE
Dr Md Shahjahan Ali, Professor in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Bangladesh Agricultural University, has warned that the experimental cultivation of golden rice in Bangldesh "may cause deformity of other varieties of rice. It is a matter of great concern to us that if this variety starts polluting the environment it would be very difficult to take remedial measures".
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5214

+ INDIA'S NATIONAL BIOTECH DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY NEEDS RADICAL OVERHAUL
In a powerful critique, Dr Suman Sahai says the draft report lays out a biotech policy tfor India that "will be more lax and negligent than almost any other in the world. This is even more frightening when one thinks that this is being proposed in a country where agriculture and food are sensitive issues, where small farmers are vulnerable and where the agricultural research system and the regulatory systems have large question marks hanging over their performance."
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5214

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE AMERICAS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ HEALTH CANADA WHISTLEBLOWERS WIN REVIEW
Three Health Canada scientists who say they were fired for raising questions about the way that the agency approves veterinary drugs have won another round in their years-long battle in their campaign for reinstatement.

The Federal Court quietly released a decision on April 29 ordering the public service integrity office (PSIO) to reconsider complaints from Shiv Chopra, Margaret Haydon, and Gerard Lambert that they, and the late Cris Bassude, had been pressured - and then sacked - for speaking out about the dangers of mad cow disease and about the use of Monsanto's GM growth hormones and antibiotics in the food supply. The PSIO had decided in 2003 that the allegations submitted by the applicants were unfounded.

The PSIO has no idea when the review will take place. "They are trying to starve us out," one of the fired scientists, Shiv Chopra, said. "But if that's what they think, they are wrong." Chopra, who is now 70, has no income and is trying to sell his house. "What are they going to do? They've fired me once, they can't fire me again." Chopra is using his time to finish a book he's calling Corrupt to the Core - Memoirs of a Whistleblower, which he expects to finish this summer.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5213

+ U.S. DERAILS GM LABELLING
The international Codex Committee on Food Labelling on 11 May deferred a decision on the mandatory labelling of GM food after the US and four other countries tried to derail global support for an international standard for labelling of GMOs from European, African and Asian countries.

Forty countries have mandatory labelling of GM and this accounts for one third of the world's population. Despite this, a handful of countries tried to terminate discussions on the GM labelling guidelines at Codex, namely the US, Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Philippines.

In two cases - Australia and Thailand, governments of countries that already have labelling sought to help the US block labelling spreading!http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5228
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5232

Report by US Public Interest Research Group on the US's role in stalling the 12-year-old effort to achieve labelling:
http://pirg.org/ge/GE.asp?id2=7253&id3=ge&

+ BIOTECH ARROGANCE IS LOSING U.S. EXPORTS - AMERICAN CORN GROWERS
The American Corn Growers Foundation (ACGF) and the American Corn Growers Association (ACGA) are warning US corn farmers that key US corn gluten exports are being lost due to unapproved GMO varieties that are unacceptable in various markets.

"Blundering biotech companies and their arrogance toward world buyers and consumers cost the US the valuable, cash paying European Union (EU-25) corn market since 1996, and caused substantial corn export reductions to Japan. Now, adding insult to economic injury, some biotech companies and their carelessness is putting the EU-25 import market for US corn gluten feed and meal in serious jeopardy, with the EU-25 now testing every cargo," says Dan McGuire, CEO of ACGF.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5222

+ VENTRIA'S GM PHARMING NO CHEAPER THAN CONTAINED PRODUCTION
The lure of GM pharma plants is supposed to be that you can manufacture expensive pharmaceuticals more cheaply in plants. But it now seems that the human proteins which the California based bio-pharma firm, Ventria Bioscience, is wanting to grow in rice, can be produced just as cheaply in contained conditions!

Indeed, according to an article at
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5218
another firm is already doing just that. "Our actual costs," says Rick Barsky, chief executive officer of Agennix Inc, "are comparable to [Ventria's] best guess of their projected costs."

+ MOMMY, IS AUNT SALLY IN THE RICE PUFFS?
A very readable article with the above title on the craziness of Ventria Bioscience's plan to put human DNA into rice is at
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5221

EXCERPTS:
Pharmaceutical rice could be spread by cross-pollination, floods, rice-eating birds, rice grains in farm equipment, or human error in distribution. Risks from pharmed rice include allergic reactions, aggravation of bacterial infections, and autoimmune disorders.

Farmers might be less nervous if Ventria had liability insurance. But instead of purchasing enough insurance, Ventria has its public relations artists spin the yarn that dangers are too little to worry about. "It can't happen here" is the essence of its message. But it has happened. The StarLink corn incident of 2000 led to a $1 billion recall...

... When Grandpa is spliced into a pollinating plant, he just keeps blowin' in the wind forever. His DNA becomes part of the diet of all who eat the plant. Unlike exploding gas tanks, Grandpa's genes can't be recalled.

+ BIOLOGY PROF RESIGNED OVER GOVT USE OF GM RESEARCH
Dr Martha Crouch, a former biology professor at the University of Indiana, ran a lab dedicated to plant research but decided to end her career when she found that biotech companies were co-opting her research for profit. See interview at:
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5209

EXCERPT:
Dr Crouch: This was 15 years ago, about 1990, and it was at the very beginning of genetic engineering in agriculture... I could see the writing on the wall, from the consulting that I was doing that genetic engineering was going to promote industrial agriculture. And I feel industrial agriculture is one of the major reasons that the environment is in the sad shape it is today. So, I couldn't, in good conscience, continue that kind of research.

...I was doing work on canola... We didn't have any particular application in mind, but we were doing some consulting with Unilever in Great Britain, and they were using oil palm plantations around the world to make edible oil. They used some of our research to make the trees more genetically uniform so that they could grow larger plantations, and in the process, they cut down a lot of rain forests, kicked Indians off their land, polluted the rivers with the waste products of the processing of the oil. I was horrified by that because my own allegiance is with the small farmers and with the rain forests, and the idea that the kind of knowledge we were generating about how genes work was primarily being used to promote that kind of destruction, really sent me back to the basics of why research is funded... I shut down my lab.

+ ALASKA: BILL REQUIRES LABELLING OF GM FISH
In an important setback for the biotech industry, GM fish will need to be labelled as such when sold in Alaska. The Alaska House approved the measure unanimously.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5223

+ NEW CAMPAIGN: STOP FEEDING KIDS GMOs!
The Sierra Club has announced the release of its new campaign to Stop Feeding Kids GMOs! The campaign aims to get GMOs out of school meals and replace them with safe food. The Club is offering school meal campaigners a packet of materials, which includes the video, Hidden Dangers in Kids' Meals, and a CD titled, You're Eating WHAT? produced by Jeffrey Smith, director of the Institute for Responsible Technology.
www.sierraclub.org/biotech
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5223

+ DEMAND FOR ORGANICS SOARING
In the US, the market for organic foods has soared from $3.57 billion in 1997 to $10.38 billion in 2003, according to Organic Trade Association.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5223

+ U.S. GOVT MUST COME CLEAN ON SECRET DEALINGS WITH SYNGENTA
Environmental and food safety groups have demanded in a letter to the heads of three US regulatory agencies that the government remove unapproved GM corn from the nation's food and seed supply pending a thorough risk assessment. The groups also called for the public release of details surrounding the government's secret dealings with the crop's developer, Sygnenta.

Several hundred tons of the unapproved Bt10 corn, enough to plant 37,000 acres, were mistakenly sold to US farmers under the name of an approved variety from 2001 to 2004. The resultant harvest of an estimated 165,000 tons have been sold as food or feed in the US and abroad.

Syngenta first informed the US government of the mix-up in December 2004, but federal regulatory officials did not inform the US public that they were eating the untested corn until the story leaked four months later. US trading partners were also kept in the dark about possible importation of the corn.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5229

+ "FATHER OF GENE THERAPY" STILL FACING SEX ABUSE CHARGES
A judge has dismissed two of six sex abuse charges against William French Anderson, because they fell outside the six-year statute of limitations. Anderson still faces one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14 and three counts of committing a lewd act upon a child.

Considered the "father of gene therapy," Anderson has been placed on administrative leave as director of the Gene Therapies Laboratories at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine. He was Time magazine's runner-up for man of the year in 1995.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5219

Quote from French Anderson on gene therapy: "...we realised that, that we just didn't know enough about what was going on, that the body had reactions, had defences that we didn't really understand, and it really required going back and really rethinking everything we were doing."
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5226

Biotech and porn:
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=155
http://ngin.tripod.com/071101b.htm

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+ "SECRET" DEALS SPLIT BEE ASSOCIATION
A bitter dispute is tearing the British beekeeping world in two. There has been dark talk of secret deals with big business, pickets of meetings, open rebellions by infuriated bee- keepers and now a plot to form a breakaway association. The controversy centres on a series of deals agreed behind closed doors between the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA), and four of the world's largest agro-chemicals companies.

To the dismay of many beekeepers, the BBKA has agreed to sponsor several pesticides that can be lethal to bees. Firms such as Syngenta, FMC, Bayer and BASF now boast they are endorsed as "bee friendly" by the BBKA. In return, the association has earned tens of thousands of pounds, funding a Syngenta-sponsored beekeeping book for schools, a beekeeping display, and roof repairs to the BBKA's Warwickshire headquarters.

According to the rebels, these are deals with the devil. Furious at the association's decision to make them without consulting its members, they allege these pesticides are to blame for wiping out hives. The Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD), the official government agency, recorded 372 suspicious poisonings of honey bees, some involving entire hives of thousands, between 1994 and 2003, with pesticides to blame in more than 120 cases.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5212

For more on the privileged role played in the BBKA by scientists from institutions (like Rothamsted Research) with strong links to agrochem companies:
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=188

For how agrochem company Zeneca (now part of Syngenta) established links with the Medical Toxicology Unit, London which deals with cases of human pesticide poisoning:
http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/pn50/pn50p3.htm

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MEDICAL BIOTECH
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+ GRIM TALLY OF GENE THERAPY
An article in The Scientist says investors are still interested in gene therapy, in spite of its appalling record.

EXCERPT:
The tally is grim: three high-profile cancer cases, including one death, in French boys who underwent pioneering gene therapy for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID). Yet Edward Lanphier is upbeat about the future of gene therapy.

"It's a very, very broad field," says Lanphier, CEO of Sangamo BioSciences, a Richmond, Calif., biotechnology company focused on gene regulation. "It's sort of like saying there's been an awful auto accident, is there a future for the transportation industry? Is there a future for gene therapy? Categorically yes. Will companies pursue this from a commercial perspective? Categorically yes. And the outcomes in France in some of the SCID trials, as tragic as they are, are extremely informative."

PROF JOE CUMMINS COMMENTS:
Comparing gene therapy to the transportation industry is very nutty. In spite of the billions poured into the industry it has never produced anything that works! Biotech is rather like the invention of a square wheel, it really does not work!

There seems to be a sickening philosophy among the gene therapy researchers that the death of a few children and injury of others is a small price to pay for large grants and high salaries among the elite researchers.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5226

+ DEATHS, ILLNESS, UNEXPLAINED SIDE-EFFECTS: GM INSULIN
An excellent article from the Daily Mail (2002) on the disaster that is GM insulin is at
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5225

EXCERPTS:
Tony Blair, for one, has hailed human insulin as a shining example of the benefits of GM technology.

Since its introduction 20 years ago this summer, genetically engineered insulin has been linked not only to an increasing number of unexplained deaths but to a range of side-effects that some patients say have destroyed their lives. These range from unexpected hypos to massive weight gain, violent mood swings, memory loss, joint pains, mental confusion and crippling exhaustion.

SEE ALSO QUOTE OF THE WEEK BELOW.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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"It ticks you off. You begin to have serious doubts. You say to yourself, 'Maybe I should chuck this and go buy a gas station.'"
- Former Seattle medical biotech researcher Bob Schroff, on wasting 12 years of his life working on one failed GM drug after another
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5216

Eine russische Astrologin klagt gegen das Nasa-Projekt "Deep Impact", bei dem ein Projektil einen Krater auf den Kometen Tempel 1 schlagen soll.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20080/1.html

12.05.05

"Nein zur Folter. Ja zum Rechtsstaat." Unter diesem Titel veröffentlicht amnesty international (ai) am Donnerstag einen Aufruf, den 182 Persönlichkeiten und Organisationen des öffentlichen Lebens unterzeichnet haben. Die Menschenrechtsorganisation versucht damit nach eigenen Angaben zu verhindern, dass in Rechtsstaaten wie Deutschland das absolute Folterverbot aufgeweicht wird. Weite Teile der Bevölkerung wie auch hochrangige Politiker und Juristen wollten Folter in für sie "begründeten Einzelfällen" zulassen, heißt es in dem Aufruf.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11048


http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Nein+zur+Folter%2C+Ja+zum+Rechtsstaat

12.05.05

Die Debatte um die EU-Verfassung war laut Bundesausschuss Friedensratschlag "ein Tiefpunkt an politischer Ehrlichkeit und Transparenz". Dieses Fazit zog ein Sprecher der Friedensgesellschaft im Anschluss an die Abstimmung im Bundestag, die ein überwältigendes Ergebnis für die Ratifizierung des Verfassungstextes erbrachte. In der Bundestagsdebatte hätten die kritischen Einwände von globalisierungskritischer Seite oder von Seiten der Friedensbewegung so gut wie keine Rolle gespielt. Es sei "beschämend für die höchste demokratische Instanz der Bundesrepublik, wenn die EU-Verfassung nur in ihren Schönwetterpassagen" zitiert werde, so die Friedensgesellschaft.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11049

05/11/05

The idea that big corporations are untamed beasts that wreak havoc upon civilized society is immensely popular throughout the academy everywhere in the world, including the United States of America. Most professors in the humanities and social sciences, a great many writers, journalists, artist, and entertainers -- centered mainly in New York City and Hollywood -- cling firmly to their view that corporations are a threat to the well being of nearly everyone in society and that those who do not share this belief are deluded, period. It is not only Ralph Nader who embraces this idea and the only reason Nader hasn’t reached national political office is that he is viewed as a naïve idealist who wants to take on forces that must be appeased, not fought...

http://www.freemarketnews.com/pview/5834/1536/html/index.php

from Free Market News Network, by Tibor R. Machan


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

05/11/05

The potential privacy encroachments of an ID card system are far from minor. And the interruptions and delays caused by incessant ID checks could easily proliferate into a persistent traffic jam in office lobbies and airports and hospital waiting rooms and shopping malls. But my primary objection isn't the totalitarian potential of national IDs, nor the likelihood that they'll create a whole immense new class of social and economic dislocations. Nor is it the opportunities they will create for colossal boondoggles by government contractors. My objection to the national ID card, at least for the purposes of this essay, is much simpler. It won't work. It won't make us more secure. In fact, everything I've learned about security over the last 20 years tells me that once it is put in place, a national ID card program will actually make us less secure...

http://www.alternet.org/rights/21977/

from AlterNet, by Bruce Schneier


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

05/12/05

It has been the dream -- and nightmare -- of science fiction writers for decades. Now a team of engineers has conjured up a robot that can reproduce itself. The robot can self-replicate in much the same way that some living organisms are able to reproduce by cloning themselves. Although the machine in question serves no useful purpose other than to make copies of itself, scientists believe it has set a precedent for a future in which robots will proliferate on their own. In the long term, the scientists envisage a day when armies of self-replicating robots will be able mend themselves when broken, expand their population, explore space and even establish self-sustaining colonies on other planets...

http://tinyurl.com/cjteu

from Independent [UK]


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://action.lcv.org/campaign/sewage01/s57wi7415jwbtt


Informant: Lori R. Price

by Elouise Cobell
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1372&issue_id=112


Long Standing Indian Trust Abuses by Interior

Over the past 100 years, according to accounts from whistle blowers, money belonging to individual Indians and tribes was pilfered, skimmed, redirected, or thrown in with general government funds by the U.S. Department of the Interior or its appointed representatives. Yet, the Interior Department has not identified or repaid any known thefts and losses of trust resources, proceeds, or royalties. After struggling for decades to receive a hearing, American Indian families went to federal court to plead their case.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a class-action suit in favor of half a million Native Americans whose funds have been handled ineptly and unethically. The court stated, "The underlying lawsuit is both an Indian case and a trust case in which the trustees have egregiously breached their fiduciary duties." Yet, the U.S. government has continued to appeal these court rulings and tried to avoid responsibility. Now the Congress may intervene to help address the issue.

Native people know this is an historic moment when finally the federal government may be obliged to correct a hard-hearted and flawed system and pay redress for a century of negligence. They are keenly aware that this is a one-time opportunity to receive financial justice and to reform a totally broken trust management system. They also know Congress and the White House could support or undercut this break-through.

Background

What is all of this about? Parade magazine (September 9, 2001) put it this way, "When the U.S. government took control of Native Americans’ property rights in 1887, the Indians were assured they would receive the income from their land. They never did–and now they’re fighting for it." Indians have received checks from the Bureau of Indian Affairs but they are irregular and smaller than they should be in far too many instances. A Los Angeles Times Magazine (July 7, 2002) story gives the example of Josephine Wild Gun who receives less than $1,000 a year even though 7,000 acres of family land were leased out for grazing, oil, minerals and timber.

The federal government has collected $13 billion in land-use money that belongs to Indian land owners but cannot show how much money it paid out. It threw out, lost, or never kept records. Withholding money from Indian families--or "losing" their money-- is part of a shameful pattern.

Why should we care?

Although successive administrations have denied the facts affirmed by the courts, the federal government owes a huge amount of money to Native Americans-- money that was in earmarked trust funds, money that was theirs. This is not only wrong but is a troubling precedent that should gravely concern the public.


All trust funds, including Social Security, depend on a system of honesty, integrity, and accountability. This is essential to maintaining the public trust. In the private sector, trustees are jailed, fined, and otherwise punished for taking or not returning other people’s money. This is true for bankers, lawyers, accountants, and individuals who manage accounts for the disabled or elderly. The Bush administration stresses that good government involves transparency, effectiveness, and accountability in government. The government must practice what it preaches.

The native plaintiffs in this court case (Cobell v. Norton) are quite close to getting redress in the court, but will Congress do the right thing? . The plaintiffs need our support. With our advocacy help, American Indian families can get back their own money, money that could bring thousands of families out of stark poverty. You can help.

1. Ask your senators and representatives to find out more about this issue. You can write them a letter on FCNL’s web site: http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/

2. Sign up to receive the FCNL Native American Legislative updates by email twice a month. Go to http://www.fcnl.org/forms/forms.php?type=ls and check the box to sign up for the Native American Legislative Update.

3. Support FCNL’s Native American Program work: http://www.fcnl.org/support.htm

Additional Information

An Open Letter to the American People, by Eloise Cobell: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1372&issue_id=112

Trust Fund Responsibilities Unmet: The Story of the Cobell v. Norton Case: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1266&issue_id=112

Cobell: Native Americans Trying to Recover Funds: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1222&issue_id=112

Stop New Nuclear Weapons! Find out how, http://www.fcnl.org/nuclear

The Next Step for Iraq: Join FCNL's Iraq Campaign, http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/index.htm

Contact Congress and the Administration: http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/


Informant: Martin Greenhut

by Jim Wallis, TomPaine.com

The latest news from North Carolina is the logical, inevitable result of the road taken by the religious right and some Republicans.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050512/gods_own_party.php

by Ray McGovern, TomPaine.com

John Bolton deliberately used discredited intelligence to support the president's case for war.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050511/boltons_yellowcake.php

by Lou Dubose, TomPaine.com

The sordid tale of how Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff greased the wheels to keep a for-profit American labor gulag humming.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050512/two_amigos_and_their_gulag_archipelago.php

„Viele Menschen wünschen sich, in ihrem Leben grundlegend abgesichert zu sein gegen die existenziellen sozialen Risiken und Bedrohungen. Jede und jeder stellt sich allerdings unter einer solchen Absicherung etwas ganz anderes vor. Entsprechend unterschiedlich sind die Konzepte, Begriffe, Begründungen und Argumente für das, was jeweils unter sozialer Absicherung verstanden wird. Im Folgenden stellt Anne Allex das Konzept eines garantierten, bedingungslosen und ausreichenden Grundeinkommens, das ältere Modelle zu einem Existenzgeld in sich aufnimmt, vor, grenzt es zugleich gegen real existierende »Grundsicherungen« unter Hartz IV sowie mögliche Einwände ab und diskutiert den Zusammenhang mit der Forderung nach Mindestlöhnen und Arbeitszeitverkürzung…“ Artikel von Anne Allex. Der Beitrag wurde auf der 2. Berliner DGB-Arbeitslosenkonferenz am 12. Februar d.J. gehalten und für den express überarbeitet.

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/existenz/allex.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 25, Eintrag 7


Der fünfte Newsletter des Netzwerks Grundeinkommen vom April 2005 (pdf)
http://www.grundeinkommen.info/fileadmin/Text-Depot/Newsletter5.pdf


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 25, Eintrag 10

„Das A und O einer erfolgreichen Erpressung ist, dass irgendjemand die angekündigte Bedrohung für bedrohlich und für wahr, d.h. realisierbar hält. Genau darüber streiten sich nicht nur die Geisterseher im Falle der »Globalisierung«: Während wohl kaum jemand offene Grenzen ablehnen würde, wenn es die weltbürgerlichen Freuden der Globalisierung, z.B. um’s touristische Vergnügen im Welterlebnispark geht, werden die Grenzen mitunter ganz schnell dicht gemacht, geht es um die Migration des Kapitals bzw. der von ihm abhängigen ArbeitnehmerInnen. Denn an der Frage, wie real die Drohungen mit einer Produktionsverlagerung ins Ausland oder einer Substitution inländischer Arbeitskräfte durch billigere Arbeitskräfte aus dem Ausland im Rahmen globalisierter Konkurrenz sind, hängt vieles und hängen viele - nicht zuletzt die materiellen Grundlagen für die Teilhabe an den Versprechungen offener Märkte und Grenzen….“ Artikel von Werner Sauerborn

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/glob/sauerborn.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 25, Eintrag 7

Eine Veranstaltung der Workers Center-Gruppe Rhein-Main

„Ein großes Wort, doch mit oft entweder diffuser oder vorschnell vereinheitlichender Bedeutung: Prekarisierung. Noch schwerer wird es entsprechend, wenn es um Antworten auf den so genannten Prekarisierungsprozess geht. Ein Blick über die Grenzen kann hier erhellend sein: Er zeigt, dass MigrantInnen und prekär Beschäftigte schon seit den 80er Jahren angefangen haben, eigenständige Strategien zu entwickeln, wo traditionelle Formen gewerkschaftlicher Interessenvertretungspolitik an ihre Grenzen stoßen oder gar nicht erst greifen - weil wechselseitige Vorbehalte bestehen, weil Kapazitäten oder Interessen fehlen oder weil »der Betrieb« nicht mehr als sozialer Ort und Anlass für die Bildung von Gemeinsamkeiten funktioniert und »Orte der Begegnung« fehlen. Workers Center sind ein solcher Versuch, lokale Treffpunkte außerhalb des Betriebs zu bilden. Inwieweit dies ein fruchtbarer Ansatzpunkt unter hiesigen Bedingungen sein könnte, damit beschäftigte sich eine Veranstaltung der Workers Center-Gruppe Rhein-Main, über die Nadja Rakowitz berichtet…“

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/prekaer/wcgrm.html


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 25, Eintrag 7

http://mitglied.lycos.de/newsomega/news/warum_ich_gegen_mobilfunk_bin.doc

Quellen:
http://de.groups.yahoo.com/group/elektrosmog-liste/message/5289
http://de.groups.yahoo.com/group/elektrosmog-liste/message/5286


Nachrichten von Eckardt Giese

Es geht um Ihre Gesundheit: Bitte Lesen !!

KEIN SCHERZ: Handy-Nutzung und Funkantennen sind gefährlich!

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=26535&item=7155414196&rd=1
http://mitglied.lycos.de/newsomega/news/handyzertruemmerung_verkaufsteam.htm

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,67490,00.html


Informant: NHNE

There is NOT A CHANCE to filibuster Judicial nominations...learn why.

I was fortunate to be convalescing a bout of food poisoning that kept me home from work and which gave me a rare chance to listen to C-Span, live, this morning.

Professor Smith below, explains the procedural Senate rule that will allow the Republicans to circumvent any attempts by Democrats to filibuster Federal or Supreme court nominations.

I know it and Democrats know it. All we'll be seeing is an elaborate production with judicial nominations sparring.

Below is a link to the video clip of this presentation on C-Span. The segment I point to starts at about the 22 1/2 min mark. In case you want a quicker reference to the 2 minute segment, below is an audio clip excerpt I prepared:

http://PlayAudio-123.com/play.asp?m=175879&f=NIAWIQ&ps=13&p=1 (2 minutes)


Steven Smith, Co-Author of "Politics or Principle? Filibustering in the U.S. Senate" and Political Science Professor at Washington University in Stl Louis, discusses the history of U.S. Senate filibusters.

5/11/2005: WASHINGTON, DC: 45 min.

Or, if the link does not work, go to:
http://www.c-span.org/videoarchives.asp?CatCodePairs=,&ArchiveDays=100


Informant: Jack Topel

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/05/288695.shtml

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.

AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND" DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY.

THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.

WAITING ON THIS ADMIN STRATION TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?

REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE MAY 19TH A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH".


Informant: arrarita7

In the neo-con's quest for ever more power, they place our Nation in danger. "Since last fall John Bolton, President George Bush’s embattled nominee to be America’s ambassador to the United Nations, has aggressively lobbied for a senior job in the second Bush administration. During that time, Bolton did almost no diplomatic groundwork for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference, these officials say." Not mentioned in the article below, Bolton tried unsuccessfully to use dubious claims about weapons of mass destruction in Cuba, and Bolton was involved in preventing the counting of citizens' votes in Florida in 2000.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3210

Iraqi police hurled insults at US soldiers after two suicide car bomb blasts in Baghdad killed at least seven people and left 19 wounded, including policemen. "It's all because you're here," a policeman shouted in Arabic at a group of US soldiers after the latest in a bloody wave of attacks that have rocked Baghdad this month.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3207

We urgently need your help to protect our activists in Korea and stop a whale meat factory from being built.

Click here to take action now!
http://prefs.greenpeace.org/mail-links/clicks/6937.1584613.5409

As many of you know, we recently uncovered plans by the city of Ulsan in South Korea to build a factory for butchering whales. We immediately set up a camp near the site to expose the plan and oppose it with our presence: we called it our Whale Embassy.

The city council is highly embarrassed by our presence, and has tried every way they can to shut us down and shut us up. Yesterday they gave us an official eviction notice with a DEADLINE OF THIS MONDAY, MAY 16TH to take down our geodesic dome tent, remove our educational exhibits about whales, and get out of the way.

We've said we'll be happy to leave -- just as soon as the city cancels the plans for the whale factory.

Click here to take action now!
http://prefs.greenpeace.org/mail-links/clicks/6938.1584613.5409

Whale campaigner Jim Wickens says: "It is quite clear that they want to stifle any criticism of their plans to build the factory... We have told them that any attempts to evict us forcibly will reflect very badly on their international image."

There have already been several attempts at intimidation, official and unofficial. According to Wickens: "Last night at four in the morning four local fishermen turned up looking for trouble, luckily there were others awake to come and help. We have been tipped off that in Korea in sensitive political protests, the authorities sometimes hire thugs to do the dirty work. There is a distinct possibility that they may do this in the form of fake fishermen coming to beat us up, or even inflaming local fishermen to actually do it for them."

The factory Jim and his fellow activists are opposing will be used to process whales which have been "accidentally" killed by entanglement in fishing nets. In reality, there's nothing accidental about these killings. Fishing fleets around the world report annually how many whales they kill by accidentally nettings, and this usually amounts to one or two whales for an entire nation's fleet. In Korea, which allows the sale of meat from accidental kills and where a whale carcass can be worth $100,000, the annual kill rate can be up to a 100 times that.

The picture at left is of an "accidentally" caught juvenile minke whale, which we witnessed butchered and sold for $30,000.

The man with the power to protect our activists AND stop the whale factory is the town's mayor, Mr. Park Maeng-woo. Unfortunately, the mayor is being pressured by fisherman and local businessmen, like the deputy vice president of Hyundai corporation, who strongly support building the factory. If Mr. Park Maeng-woo is to make a balanced decision, he needs all the facts. He needs to know that the world is watching, and that people who don't want to see whales killed for commerce are paying attention to what he does about our activists and the factory.

Please, time is very short: send a message right now to Mr. Park Maeng-woo and let him know we want our activists protected and we want the whale factory stopped.

Click here to take action now!
http://prefs.greenpeace.org/mail-links/clicks/6939.1584613.5409

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/051105K.shtml


Informant: JHW369

CLG Exclusive --Research, commentary by Mary Titus, CLG Contributing Writer. Additional input, Lori Price, CLG Gen. Mgr.

This comes on the heels of the headlines Tuesday about an appeals court dismissing the Cheney energy task force case.

See the article at Citizens for Legitimate Government:
http://tinyurl.com/ccn4l


© Virginia Metze

Apparent Supporter of U.N. Nominee Said to Have Questioned HisDiplomatic Tone

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 10, 2005; Page A02

Former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage, who last week appeared to endorse John R. Bolton's nomination as U.N. ambassador, had frequent battles with Bolton over his diplomatic tone, a top aide to former secretary of state Colin L. Powell said in an interview released yesterday by Senate investigators. [...] Read the rest at the Washington Post: http://tinyurl.com/8e8oz


© Virginia Metze

Some senators filibustered more than 10

Article originally published May 9, 2005.

RAW STORY

One thing is for certain: On the filibuster, Democrats aren't taking it lying down.

As Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) works to negotiate with Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), Democrats circulated a document Monday detailing each of the Republican senators who had ever filibustered or blocked a nominee. [...] Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/b97pk


© Virginia Metze

by LAURIE KELLMAN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 10, 2005; 1:55 AM

WASHINGTON -- In an institution that prides itself as a last bastion of civility, the Senate's new Democratic leader has on occasion turned to playground taunts and name-calling in his four-month tenure.

After accusing President Bush of lying about his role in a fight over judicial filibusters, Sen. Harry Reid last week called the president a "loser." And Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan? He's a "political hack," according to the formerly soft-spoken Nevada Democrat. [...] Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/dwp7r


© Virginia Metze

by BOB HERBERT
Op-Ed Columnist
The New York Times
Published: May 9, 2005ay 9, 2005

When Bob Woodward asked President Bush if he had consulted with his father about the decision to go to war in Iraq, the president famously replied, "There is a higher father that I appeal to."

It might have been better if Mr. Bush had stayed in closer touch with his earthly father. From the very beginning the war in Iraq has been an exercise in extreme madness, an absurd venture that would have been rich in comic possibilities except for the fact that many thousands of men, women and children have died, and tens of thousands have been crippled, burned or otherwise maimed.

The world now knows that the weapons of mass destruction were a convenient fiction. Less well known is that bumbling administration officials eagerly embraced the ravings of a foreign intelligence source known, believe it or not, as "Curveball." He helped promote the fantasy that Iraq had mobile laboratories for the manufacture of biological weapons. [...] Read the rest at the New York Times: http://tinyurl.com/a6gog Crusaders trying to make the country realize the dangers of our using depleted uranium in weapons were overjoyed to see this article in the Lone Star Iconoclast , in Bush's home town of Crawford, Texas: http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/19news02.htm While on the Iconoclast web site (see above) I found this article announcing that Karl Schwarz, formerly a Republican, is running for president and initiating an Independent movement in the country. http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/19news01.htm


© Virginia Metze

by Christopher Swann in Washington
Published: May 10 2005 17:59 | Last updated: May 11 2005 15:20
Financial Times ft.com

Real wages in the US are falling at their fastest rate in 14 years, according to data surveyed by the Financial Times.

Inflation rose 3.1 per cent in the year to March but salaries climbed just 2.4 per cent, according to the Employment Cost Index. In the final three months of 2004, real wages fell by 0.9 per cent.

The last time salaries fell this steeply was at the start of 1991, when real wages declined by 1.1 per cent. [...] Read the rest at the Financial Times web page: http://tinyurl.com/9hxfv


© Virginia Metze

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=83577;show_parent=1
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=83580;show_parent=1
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=83583;show_parent=1

Be part of a coordinated effort to remove Bush. Hit the media and politicians hard. Try it !

Join possibly the biggest rally against Bush that the world will ever see. The aim is for all of us to speak against Bush with `ONE VERY LOUD VOICE' via millions of emails to all American media news desks and politicians on Wed 1 June 2005. I've already contacted hundreds of activist organisations across the world but also need your help NOW.

1. Email everyone you know asking them to email everyone they know (blind copy them if you like).

2. Your email tells everyone to contact media news desks and politicians on Wed 1 June 2005 requesting that Bush

(a) Face charges of war crimes,

(b) Be thoroughly investigated for conflict of interest and abuse of position with personal financial interests in Middle East pipelines and military equipment manufacturers.

3. For Wed 1 June 2005, email addresses of hundreds of American media news desks and politicians are listed at
http://MediaNewsDesks.blogspot.com or
http://www.rumormillnews.com/MEDIA_EMAIL_ADDRESSES.htm

4. Write the date on your calendar !

5. You can also sign an on-line petition to impeach George Bush at
http://www.votetoimpeach.org or
http://votenader.org/get_involved/impeach.php

You have support: In a poll of 22,000 people across 21 countries, 58% expected Bush to have a negative impact on peace and security, only 26% considered him a positive force, and dislike of Bush is translating into dislike of Americans in general.


Informant: abolishbush

-------

From: Never Surrender and JHW369
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 6:46 AM

WORLDWIDE MOVEMENT TO REMOVE BUSH

PLEASE PARTICIPATE AND RE-DISTRIBUTE

June 1, 2005 -- World's biggest protest against Bush!

Be part of a coordinated effort to remove Bush. Hit the media and politicians hard. Try it !

This will be the world's biggest protest against Bush.

All of us will speak with "ONE VERY LOUD VOICE" via millions of emails to all American media news desks and politicians on Wednesday, June 1, 2005.

I've already contacted hundreds of activist organizations across the world but need your help NOW!!!

1. Email everyone you know asking them to email everyone they know (blind copy them if you like and aim for local and overseas people).

2. Your email tells everyone to contact media and politicians on Wed 1 June 2005 requesting that Bush

(a) Face charges of war crimes,
(b) Be thoroughly investigated for conflict of interest and abuse of position with personal financial interests in Middle East pipelines and military equipment manufacturers.

3. For Wed 1 June 2005, email addresses of hundreds of American media news desks and politicians are listed at

http://MediaNewsDesks.blogspot.com or
http://www.rumormillnews.com/MEDIA_EMAIL_ADDRESSES.htm

4. Write the date on your calendar!

5. You can also sign an on-line petition to impeach George Bush at http://www.votetoimpeach.org

You have support: In a poll of 22,000 people across 21 countries, 58% expected Bush to have a negative impact on peace and security, only 26% considered him a positive force, and dislike of Bush is translating into dislike of Americans in general.

http://www.terra.es/personal/kirke1/noti65/hrbc.htm

Basic Considerations

ICEMS (International Commission for Electromagnetic Safety)

Regulation and limitation of exposure to nonionizing radiation was introduced for some occupations and military applications in the 1950s, but exposure standards for the general public and broader occupational categories were not established until the 1980s. At that time distinctly different approaches to standardsetting were applied in the Western World as compared to the Soviet Union, Eastern European countries and China. Efforts of WHO to reconcile the different approaches have not been successful. While the two approaches have some similarities, still there are considerable discrepancies in procedure and resultant guideline levels of most Western countries as compared to Russia, China and Eastern European countries. Furthermore, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and regional authorities of other countries apply guideline and limit values that are based on still other procedures and considerations.

There is considerable public concern in many countries, especially about possible long-term effects of EMFs, that is at least partially due to these discrepancies and the legitimate scientific controversy surrounding them.

Basis for Limiting Exposure to EMFs

A fundamental error of reasoning can be demonstrated in numerous statements of international and national EMF standard-setting organizations and committees. Its essence is the assumption that science-based, ‘objective’ guidelines have to rely on ‘established’ evidence only. It is significant that none of these documents that abundantly make use of the term ‘established’ make any effort to define it.

Furthermore, this ‘scientific’ and ‘objective’ method is often contrasted to the falsely labeled ‘political’, ‘subjective’ and ‘ultimately arbitrary’ one that is related to the precautionary principle.

For two reasons this line of argument is faulty.

First, any effort to define how results become ‘established’ must acknowledge that the process includes an arbitrary aspect of subjective acceptance. Second, the derivation of an exposure guideline itself can never be based solely on science, i.e. on empirical data and a sound theory that has withstood serious tests to refute it. Guideline decisions are made that contain subjective elements of values or policy.

An illustrative example is the application of safety factors to adjust for variations in environmental conditions and susceptibility in the population that should be protected. These factors are rarely based on evidence and rather introduced by convention or even economical considerations and technical feasibility. In risk assessment all the evidence pertaining to the scientific issues has to be considered and nothing makes it ever ‘established’ except an ultimately subjective decision.

More- or less-standardized procedures for deriving national and international exposure guidelines for issues other than EMF have been developed in the past decades for environmental and occupational factors that are typically based on evidence from epidemiological studies, experimental investigations in animals and humans, in vitro studies and theoretical considerations about the mechanism of action.

Although weight and/or strength of evidence is thoroughly considered, a decisive element of these procedures is their precautionary approach. Because it is recognized that derivation of guidelines is conjectural and open to scientific controversy and discussion, the precautionary approach demands in case of uncertainty the evidence should be weighted to err in the direction that leads to the higher margin of safety. Examples of this procedure can be found in the Air Quality Guidelines for Europe by WHO.

Concerning EMFs, differences in exposure standards are mainly due to different answers to the following questions: What evidence should be used as the basis for the derivation? How should the broad spectrum of EMFs be subdivided? Which aspects of the multidimensional exposure situation must be considered? What are the relevant dosimetric quantities? Which safety factors should be introduced and what values should they take on?

In the face of such complexity, there is a great temptation to take the short cut for answering these questions. In fact, the procedure used by ICNIRP, IEEE, and other national and international standard-setting organizations reduces the problem to answering only the last of the questions stated above. These organizations maintain that the only evidence to start from are immediate short-term effects such as nerve excitations due to induced currents or temperature increase from absorption of...

Read the rest under: http://uh22.umwelt.univie.ac.at/icems/Pp150203.pdf


Informant: Sylvie

Savaged by dogs, Electrocuted With Cattle Prods, Burned By Toxic Chemicals, Does such barbaric abuse inside U.S. jails explain the horrors that were committed in Iraq?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8451.htm

Years from now, when historians look back at agenda-building for a missile attack on Iran, they should closely examine a story that took up the USA's most coveted space for media spin -- the upper right corner of the New York Times front page -- on the first day of May 2005.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0505-20.htm


From Information Clearing House

Saar's account illustrates the long road that many Americans must travel to accept truths about how far our nation's military has fallen during this global war on terror from the ideals we thought defined our nation.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=39475&ntpid=12


From Information Clearing House

A new report by a leading human rights group says the United States and other countries have secretly sent dozens of Islamist detainees to Egypt, where they have most likely been tortured, in the past decade.

http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=111425&region=6


From Information Clearing House

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm


From Information Clearing House

The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8813.htm

Not by actually fighting, mind you
http://villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/000922.php


From Information Clearing House

by Sister Dianna Ortiz, OSU

Sister Ortiz relates her personal experiences and tell us that U.S. personnel were present in interrogation and torture rooms,” in Guatemala in 1989 when she was kidnapped, taken to a secret prison and repeatedly raped and tortured by troops commanded by General Hector Gramajo (a CIA asset and graduate of the U.S. Army School of the Americas).

Watch it here
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8807.htm

by Huffington Post

According to a new book exclusively obtained by the Huffington Post, Saudi Arabia has crafted a plan to protect itself from a possible invasion or internal attack. It includes the use of a series of explosives, including radioactive “dirty bombs,” that would cripple Saudi Arabian oil production and distribution systems for decades.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8802.htm

by Ted Rall

We shouldn't blame the White House for producing lies; that's what politicians do. But we expect better from the media who disseminate them.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8811.htm

Combined with what Ridge has said, and the chart linked above, can there be any doubt that the Bush administration was frequently raising the terror alerts to help his election chances and increase his political capital rather than to signal actual threats?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8814.htm

http://www.canadianrainforests.org/


Informant: Deane

Krebs erregender Mobilfunkmast?

Neuhardenberg (MOZ) In der Gemeinde Neuhardenberg gibt es einen erschreckenden Verdacht: Der Mobilfunkturm nahe des Birkenweges, der heute von Vodafon betrieben wird, könnte mitverantwortlich für gehäufte Krebserkrankungen sein. Anwohner des Birkenweges haben sich deshalb Rat suchend an Bürgermeister Mario Eska gewandt. Auf acht von zwölf Grundstücken im Birkenweg leben zurzeit Menschen mit Krebserkrankungen, hat Mario Eska die Situation im Gemeinderat geschildert. Heute soll es nun eine Bürgerversammlung geben - mit dem Mobilfunkturmbetreiber.

Von Silke Müller

Neuhardenbergs Bürgermeister nimmt es ernst, wenn Einwohner ihre Sorgen an ihn herantragen und um Hilfe bitten. Erst recht, wenn es um den Verdacht geht, dass ein Mobilfunkturm möglicherweise mit Ursache für Krebserkrankungen ist. "Wenn auf acht von zwölf Grundstücken im Birkenweg, der gleich neben dem Mobilfunkturm liegt, Menschen mit einer Krebserkrankung leben, dann ist das zumindest ungewöhnlich und dann muss man möglichen Ursachen nachgehen", hatte Mario Eska vor dem Gemeinderat erklärt. Der Mann ist kein Experte, aber er hat sich umgehört. "In einem Nachbardorf von Neuhardenberg gibt es eine ähnliche Sachlage", sagt er, will jedoch mit Rücksicht auf die Bürger, die sich bislang noch nicht an den Bürgermeister oder Öffentlichkeit gewandt haben, den Ortsnamen nicht öffentlich nennen.

Omega siehe dazu „Krebshäufung in der Nähe von Mobilfunksendeanlagen“ unter:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/580235/

Das Thema ist brisant. Erst vor wenigen Monaten gab es in Petershagen und Falkenberg eine Bürgerinitiative, die sich vergebens gegen den Aufbau eines neuen Mobilfunkturmes eingesetzt hatte. In Letschin wurde trotz Bürgerbedenkens vor einiger Zeit ein solcher Mobilfunkturm neu aufgebaut - allerdings nicht auf dem Dach der Schule, wie zeitweise auch zur Diskussion stand.

Bislang gab es stets die Genehmigung durch die Behörden, bislang aber gibt es auch noch keine Untersuchungen von Langzeitfolgen, die möglicherweise von Mobilfunktürmen ausgehen. Als sicher gilt nur, dass sich die Betreiber solcher Funktürme in aller Regel im Rahmen der gesetzlichen Vorgaben bewegen.

Omega es stimmt nicht, dass es noch keine Untersuchungen von Langzeitfolgen, die möglicherweise von Mobilfunktürmen ausgehen, gibt. Siehe z.B. „Die Nailaer Mobilfunkstudie“ unter: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/351483/

Dennoch staunte Neuhardenbergs Bauamtsleiter Dietmar Müller zum Beispiel nicht schlecht, als er wegen des Bürgeranliegens zum Thema recherchierte. "27 Anrufe habe ich gebraucht, um da langsam durchzudringen", versuchte er die komplizierte Recherche allein zum Neuhardenberger Mobilfunkturm zu beschreiben. Dabei kam unter anderem heraus, dass es zwar regelmäßige Messungen der Strahlungen dieser Anlagen gibt, allerdings offenbar nicht bei allen Mobilfunktürmen. "Nach meiner Kenntnis wird hier in der Region regelmäßig an Standorten in Bad Freienwalde, Müncheberg und Fürstenwalde gemessen", erklärte Bauamtsleiter Dietmar Müller. Dort allerdings seien nach den Ergebnissen die Schwellenwerte der Anlagen um mehr als das Hundertfache unterschritten. Der Neuhardenberger Mobilfunkturm ist offiziell zugelassen. Er wurde 1992/93 von der Telekom gebaut, so Müller. Er hat mehrfach den Besitzer gewechselt und wird jetzt von der Deutschen Funkturm GmbH betrieben. Die Zulassung durch die Regulierungsbehörde für Telekommunikation und Post läge vor, sagt Müller.

Omega siehe dazu „Strahlenmessungen“ unter: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/326599/

Auf ihrer Internetseite (http://www.bmwa.bund.de) räumt die Regulierungsbehörde in Sachen Mobilfunkstrahlung ein: "Durch den Betrieb von Mobilfunkeinrichtungen werden Strahlen ausgesendet. Bisherige Forschungsergebnisse können nicht belegen, dass es durch die Handy-Strahlung zu gesundheitlichen Beeinträchtigungen kommt. Sie können es aber auch nicht ausschließen."

Omega es stimmt nicht, dass bisherige Forschungsergebnisse nicht belegen können, dass es durch Handy-Strahlung zu gesundheitlichen Beeinträchtigungen kommt. Siehe „Wissenschaft und Mobilfunk“ unter: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/293807/

Zudem haben die Betreiber von Mobilfunkanlagen erst im Januar 2005 Rückendeckung bekommen. Das Landgericht Braunschweig hat die Klage einer Bewohnerin abgewiesen, auf deren Haus eine solche Mobilfunkanlage betrieben wird. Die Klägerin hatte geltend gemacht, dass sowohl sie als auch ihre Familienangehörigen durch den Betrieb der Anlage mit gesundheitlichen Langzeitschäden zu rechnen hätten, unter anderem einer erhöhten Krebsgefährdung, einer Schwächung der körpereigenen Abwehr, einer verminderten Melatoninproduktion und Kopfschmerzen. Sie war der Ansicht, die 26. Bundesimmissionsschutzverordnung, in der die Grenzwerte für elektromagnetische Strahlung festgelegt sind, sei verfassungswidrig, weil bei der Festlegung der Grenzwerte die gefährlichen athermischen Wirkungen der Strahlung nicht berücksichtigt worden seien. Damit habe der Gesetzgeber das Vorsorgeprinzip zum Schutz der Bevölkerung nicht berücksichtigt.

Zwar legte die Frau einige aktuelle Gutachten vor, die aus Sicht des Gerichtes aber keine handfesten Beweise für eine Gesundheitsgefahr erbrachten. Damit gäbe es, so das Gericht, keinen Grund für eine geänderte Risikobewertung.

Dass es keineswegs sicher ist, dass die gehäuften Krebserkrankungen in den Häusern im Neuhardenberger Birkenweg auf den Mobilfunkmast zurück zu führen sind, weiß auch der Neuhardenberger Gemeinderat. Bürgermeister Mario Eska will die Situation dennoch nicht unbeachtet lassen. Der Bereiber des Mobilfunkturmes hat Gesprächsbereitschaft signalisiert.

Heute will er bei einer Bürgerversammlung zum Thema informieren. Fest steht, dass die Gemeinde wenig Einfluss auf den Standort des Mobilfunkturmes nehmen kann. Das Land, auf dem er steht, war Anfang der 90er Jahre an die Telekom verkauft worden.

Die Einwohnerversammlung findet heute, ab 19 Uhr, im Sportlerheim statt.

Mittwoch, 11. Mai 2005 (08:04)

Copyright 2000 bis 2004 moz.de Märkisches Verlags- und Druckhaus GmbH & Co. KG

http://www.moz.de/showArticle.php?OPENNAV=lokales&SUBNAV=seelow&ID=57452


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim



Strahlung unterm Grenzwert
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/749181/

http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Neuhardenberg
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Krebscluster

by Public Campaign Action Fund

Been wondering if YOUR representative has ties to the scandal-plagued Tom DeLay? See the new website to find out who's in The Hammer's pocket.

http://www.pcactionfund.org/delayspocket/

Source: http://www.tompaine.com/index.php#passiton

Looks like the big asbestos bill hitting the Senate today will help asbestos producers and big manufacturing companies far more than actual victims of asbestos contamination.

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#4854

by Jim Lobe, TomPaine.com

John Bolton's record is anathema to the principles of neoconservatives. And yet they are flocking to his defense.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050511/moral_clarity_or_moral_abdication.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/2005/05/biggest-story-of-our-live.html


Informant: Charles Shaw (Newtopia)

From ufpj-news

Our effort to stop John Bolton's confirmation as UN Ambassador is at a critical point. Please take action -- today -- to make a difference.
http://ga4.org/campaign/boltonchafee/b85g57rr5jxtie?

Thursday morning, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be meeting to vote on John Bolton's nomination. As it stands, a 10-8 party line vote of the Republican-controlled committee would favorably send Bolton's nomination to the Senate floor for a final vote by the full body, where confirmation is likely.

But we still have a chance to stop the Bolton nomination in Thursday's committee meeting before it reaches the Senate floor.

My Democratic colleagues and I have been working overtime to try to convince at least one fellow Republican committee member to join with us -- to resist the arm-twisting from the White House and the Senate Republican leadership, and to instead do the right thing by rejecting this terrible nomination.

At this point, our best chance may well rest with Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee from Rhode Island. Unfortunately, Senator Chafee has decided to reluctantly support the Bolton nomination, despite the fact that a new Zogby poll shows over 80% of Rhode Islanders oppose the nomination. I need your help right now and over the next 24 hours to personally lobby Senator Chafee to change his mind:

1. Sign my petition to Senator Chafee now, urging him to vote down Bolton's nomination. http://ga4.org/campaign/boltonchafee/b85g57rr5jxtie?

2. Call Lincoln Chafee's Senate office at (202) 224-2921 and log your opposition to John Bolton.

We all know that John Bolton is absolutely the wrong choice to be America's next UN Ambassador. But before you call Senator Chafee's office, I wanted to remind you of a few of the many reasons why:

* John Bolton has politicized the intelligence-gathering process. The last thing we should be doing is promoting officials who try to twist intelligence in order to create "imminent threats" to our country -- especially in light of the debacle in Iraq, where over 1,600 soldiers have died, over 12,000 soldiers have been injured, plus countless other innocents of the war.

* John Bolton has shown disdain for the United Nations throughout his career. We all want to reform the UN. But why would we send someone who is so disrespected -- someone who said "there is no United Nations" and "if [the UN Headquarters] lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."

* John Bolton has shown a pattern of trying to fire subordinates for no good reason. In every case he was overruled, but his behavior and vindictiveness had a chilling effect on independent intelligence analysts. It got so bad at one point that Secretary of State Colin Powell himself had to make a special trip to visit the analysts and boost their morale.

* John Bolton has not been truthful with the Foreign Relations Committee. He led the committee to falsely believe that he didn't really care that these intelligence analysts didn't give him the information he wanted and he just "shrugged it off". Nothing could be further from the truth -- he went after them aggressively. He also didn't tell the truth about the comments he said he received from the Ambassador to South Korea whom he said complimented him. In fact, the Ambassador was very critical of him.

* Many leading opponents to the Bolton nomination come from within the Bush Administration. The strongest criticism of John Bolton comes from Republicans, including self-described conservative Carl Ford, who called Bolton a "serial abuser."

It's remarkable to me that despite all of this evidence and so much more, not a single Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee has been willing to oppose this ill-conceived nomination -- yet.

Help change Senator Chafee's mind. Please sign my petition and call him today! http://ga4.org/campaign/boltonchafee/b85g57rr5jxtie?

Lincoln Chafee has always said that he is independent minded. Well, today I publicly call on him to step out front on this -- to do the right thing and oppose John Bolton's nomination.

And your follow-up to Senator Chafee's office by signing my petition and making a phone call may well make the difference.
http://ga4.org/campaign/boltonchafee/b85g57rr5jxtie?

Thanks for your help on this critical issue!

In Friendship,

Barbara Boxer

P.S. After signing this petition, don't forget to phone Senator Chafee's office at (202) 224-2921!

Umweltzerstörung: Umweltverband wirft WestLB Mitfinanzierung von Kupfermine in Peru vor (11.05.05)

Die Düsseldorfer Bank WestLB soll nach Informationen der Umweltorganisation "Rettet den Regenwald" darüber nachdenken, eine große Kupfermine in Peru mitzufinanzieren. "Rettet den Regenwald" bezieht sich dabei auf Informationen der Nichtregierungsorganisation "BankTrack", die die deutsche Bank im Zusammenhang mit anderen Mitfinanzierern in einem Bericht von Juni 2004 erwähnt. Die WestLB wie die Behauptung alsfalsch zurück. Sie entbehre jeder Grundlage: "Die WestLB ist in keiner Form an diesem Projekt beteiligt", sagte Sprecher Hans Albers.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11030

Entwurf für Telemediengesetz: Bundesregierung will Datenschutz massiv einschränken (11.05.05)

Der Entwurf des Bundeswirtschaftsministeriums für ein neues Telemediengesetz stößt auf massive Kritik von Bürgerrechts- und Verbraucherorganisationen. Der Arbeitsentwurf sieht unter anderem vor, dass jeder "Diensteanbieter" auch ohne Zustimmung des Nutzers personenbezogene Daten speichern und weitergeben darf. Für die Zulässigkeit der Speicherung der Nutzungsdaten sollen Anhaltspunkte für eine rechtswidrige Nutzung des Dienstes genügen - und zwar nicht nur der Verdacht, die Entgelte für den Dienst nicht zu zahlen, sondern auch der Verdacht, den Dienst "in sonstiger Weise rechtswidrig zu Lasten des Diensteinhabers oder Dritter zu nutzen". Auch ist vorgesehen, dass Auskünfte über die Nutzer nicht nur an Strafverfolger, sondern auch an Private erteilt werden sollen. Die Bürgerrechts- und Datenschutzinitiative STOP1984 kritisierte, es entstehe der Verdacht, dass über den Umweg angeblichen Verbraucherschutzes eine vorbereitende Vorratsdatenspeicherung etabliert werden solle.

Auch der Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv) warnte, unter dem Vorwand, gegen illegale Downloads vorgehen zu können, drohe eine ungehemmte Datensammlung durch die Hintertür.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11035

Food, Consumer and Environment News Tidbits with an Edge!
Organic Bytes #57

5/10/2005

CREATING HUMAN-ANIMAL HYBRIDS

New guidelines set by the National Academies of Sciences would permit the development of human-animal hybrids. The creation of these new species would be allowed for the sake of research. According to the standards, this would be permitted "under circumstances where no other experiment can provide the information needed." The standards also recommend "strong scientific justification" for experiments where human cells are used to develop major aspects of the brain of the new animal. In addition, newly developed human-animal species are not allowed to breed with each other. These standards are voluntary, and human-animal hybrids are already under production. Learn more and speak your mind: http://www.organicconsumers.org/chimera.htm


I THINK, THEREFORE I AM... A LAB MOUSE

An ethics committee at Stanford University has approved a proposal to create mice with brains made almost completely of human brain cells. Stanford law professor Hank Greely, who chaired the ethics committee, said the board endorsed this procedure based on the assumption that the animal would probably not experience higher levels of human thought, given the size and shape of the mouse brain. The committee recommended closely monitoring the mice's behavior and immediately killing any that display "human-like behavior," although, admittedly, no one quite knows how an observer would be able to truly distinguish whether or not a lab mouse is thinking and feeling like a human. Learn more and speak your mind: http://www.organicconsumers.org/chimera.htm


HUMAN GENES ARE WHAT'S FOR DINNER

Japanese scientists are splicing human genes into rice that will ultimately be grown for human consumption. While some opponents say the concept borders on cannibalism, genetic engineers claim the new rice has environmental benefits. Researchers spliced a gene from a human liver into rice to help the plant "digest" pesticides, thereby allowing the crop to be sprayed with up to 13 different pesticides without damaging the rice. The developers of the new human-rice admit that if this gene were to escape into the wild, a new generation of "superweeds" could be inadvertently created. No testing of the product's impact on human health has yet been conducted. http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/humangene042505.cfm


USDA COVER-UP OF MAD COW CASES

The USDA has refused to respond to allegations that it has been covering up cases of Mad Cow disease in the U.S. for well over a decade. Lester Friedlander, a former USDA veterinarian, says he was told by USDA officials as far back as 1991 that if his testing laboratory ever found evidence of Mad Cow disease, he was to tell no one. He and other scientists say they know of cases where cows tested positive for the disease in laboratories but were ruled negative by the USDA. Mad cow is a concern to public health because humans can contract a fatal brain illness known as variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease from eating beef products contaminated with the mad cow pathogen. TAKE ACTION! Sign the Mad Cow petition: http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm


WORLD LEADERS MEET TO BAN 12 PERSISTENT TOXIC CHEMICALS

Government officials from 130 nations are currently meeting in Uruguay to discuss methods of eliminating twelve of the world's most toxic pesticides and chemicals. Specifically, these toxins, such as DDT and PCBs, are referred to as Persistant Organic Pollutants (POPs). They are known to kill people, damage the nervous and immune systems, cause cancer and reproductive disorders, and interfere with normal infant and child development. According to Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, eliminating POPs will be expensive but "will save lives and protect the natural environment - particularly in the poorest communities and countries." http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/pesticides050405.cfm


MY BOLOGNA HAS A FIRST NAME, IT'S C-A-N-C-E-R

The University of Hawaii has released a new study that shows people who consume processed meats have a 6,700% increased risk of pancreatic cancer over those who consume little or no meat products. The study was done over a period of seven years on nearly 200,000 people. Researchers pin the blame on sodium nitrite, a chemical used in nearly all processed meats, including sausage, hot dogs, jerkies, bacon, lunch meat, and even meats in canned soup products. Although these same meats can be purchased without sodium nitrite, consumers must seek the few products that are labeled as such. The USDA attempted to ban sodium nitrite in the 1970s, but was blocked by the meat industry, which relies heavily on the chemical to add color to processed meats, making them look more appealing. Author and nutritionist Mike Adams said of this and other similar study results, "Sodium nitrite is a dangerous, cancer-causing ingredient that has no place in the human food supply." http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/processedmeat050305.cfm


BREAK THE CHAINS ON WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY WITH A HOUSE PARTY!

Just in time for World Fair Trade Day, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is pleased to announce our next House Party film and action pack, featuring the new documentary, Coffee with the Taste of the Moon. Starting May 14th the OCA and allies around the world will promote Fair Trade and organic goods, like coffee, chocolate and tea. Certified Fair Trade goods provide a fair price for farmers, create sustainable economic opportunities for global communities, and offer an alternative to so-called "Free Trade." Make everyday Fair Trade Day! http://www.organicconsumers.org/fair-trade/house-party.cfm


BREAKING THE CHAINS: FUN FACTS ABOUT WAL-MART

-In a recent press briefing in Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott Jr. announced the corporation could not afford to pay living family wages to its workers in a manner similar to what its competitors Costco, Safeway, Giant and Kroger currently do.

-Wal-Mart does more business than Target, Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Safeway and Kroger combined.

-Wal-Mart is the largest profit-making corporation in the world, with 1.4 million employees, 5,000 stores, and annual sales of a quarter of a trillion dollars.

-Wal-Mart's profits, after all expenses, have nearly doubled in the last four years, from six billion dollars in 2001 to ten billion dollars in 2004.

-Learn more and join the OCA's "Breaking the Chains" campaign http://www.organicconsumers.org/btc.htm


TEENY TINY NEWS TIDBITS

The American Heart Association has released a study indicating that the rate of obesity among Americans earning more than $60,000 a year is growing three times faster than the rate among the poor. "Sedentary lifestyles and restaurants are the two big things that affect that group the most," said Marc O'Meara, a dietitian at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "The portion sizes just keep growing." http://www.organicconsumers.org/Toxic/rich-obesity.cfm

Although dreaming of one day being a heavy metal drummer, 15 year old Micah Hinton may be destined for engineering. The high school sophomore has designed a model car that uses a solar panel to create hydrogen fuel out of water. When the car is running, it converts that hydrogen back into ordinary water. As a result, the fuel source is never depleted, and the car never needs a fill-up. "It lasts forever," said Hinton, 15. http://organicconsumers.org/corp/hydrogen.cfm

The OCA has announced the launch of its new international Science Oversight Board (iSOB), that will expand OCA's outreach into the biomedical and public health arena. The iSOB oversight board will investigate and publicize conflicts of interest at academic medical centers and in governmental agencies worldwide. It will focus on the corporatization of medicine and the commodification of human life. http://www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/isob050505.cfm


SMILE, LAUGH & CRY WITH ODE

As you read Ode you will realize it is an international news magazine unlike any other. Ode reports on sustainability, natural health, leading-edge science & spirituality, inspiring people & ideas, and much more. Ode, a successful European-based magazine since 1995, has been making lots of waves in the U.S. and elsewhere recently. Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, calls Ode "essential reading," and Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic calls Ode a "way of life."

Now, for a limited time, you can get an introductory subscription to Ode of 6 issues for only $10! Smile, laugh and cry with Ode. Order Ode now online. http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=84000


Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on websites, print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power!

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Publication

Contact: Vernon Masayesva (928) 734-9255) or (928) 213-9009

Black Mesa Trust sponsors talk: Federal government may not have the right to lease Hopi assets

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz., May 9, 2005-Could a 150-year-old document hold the key to Hopi self-determination? Quite possibly, explained attorney Lana Marcussen at the Hopi Veterans' Memorial Center on April 28, as she discussed the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In that treaty, signed after nine years of war between the United States and Mexico, Mexico ceded 55% of its territory-the lands that would become the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and parts of Colorado, Nevada, and Utah-to the American government in exchange for $15 million in reparations for war damage.

The Mexican government gave up land, but negotiated measures to protect the civil and property rights of its citizens who would be living in territories controlled by the United States. In particular, Article VIII guaranteed, "In the said [ceded] territories, property of every kind, now belonging to Mexicans not established there, shall be inviolably respected. The present owners, the heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may hereafter acquire said property by contract, shall enjoy with respect to it guaranties equally ample as if the same belonged to citizens of the United States," (quoted from a 2004 U.S. Government Accounting Office document, "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Findings and Possible Options Regarding Longstanding Community Land Grant Claims in New Mexico").

Ms. Marcussen is an expert in water law, Indian law, and public land law. She has an extensive knowledge of Spanish land grants, and it is on the basis of those land grants given by Spain to the indigenous peoples of the "Americas" that the Hopi may be able to claim real property rights in the land, water, and minerals of their homeland. Hopi real property rights would supersede all other rights, including those claimed by the federal government. Ms. Marcussen explained to an audience overflowing the meeting room that at its most profound basis, the issue is sovereignty. Under the United States Constitution, power is distributed between two sovereigns, the federal government on the one hand and state governments on the other. Under this principle, the third sovereign is the people, as individuals and as a group, and the people's rights are superior to both federal rights and states' rights. Tribal sovereignty, not specified by the Constitution, has had to find its place within this basic structure.

Ever since the federal government "conquered" the indigenous peoples of this country, it has declared itself the principle sovereign over those peoples. The Hopis and other tribes have a little sovereignty, as much as the federal government thinks they should have at any given time, and the federal government holds Indian property in trust to do with as it sees fit, in principle if not in reality, for the benefit of the Indians.

The Treat of Guadalupe Hildalgo turns this theory upside down. "Because the Mexican government recognized you as individual sovereigns together in a city (or pueblo), your right is superior, as is your right to control, without the permission or participation of the federal government, your land and your water," said Ms. Marcussen. She explained that while the Hopi have not yet asserted their sovereign rights, other Pueblo Indians have, and they have won in court. She further explained that the rights of Pueblo people as individuals take precedence over the rights of the tribal governments, which were imposed on the tribes by the federal government by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

When the federal government accepted Article VIII of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, it committed to protecting all of the property of the people who chose to remain where they were in the lands ceded by Mexico. These people were Mexican citizens, and the U.S. promised to respect their rights as such, whether they chose to remain Mexican citizens and relocate, or they chose to stay where they were and eventually become citizens of the United States.

The federal government then set about determining how much land belonged to the Pueblo peoples under the terms of the Treaty. In California, they asked the Pueblo peoples in 1851 to provide proof of their land grants and pretty much accepted all of the land claims that were filed. The federal government lost one half of California and realized that it had made a mistake. In response, the government in 1854 radically changed the criteria for proof of Spanish or Mexican land grants in Arizona and New Mexico.

Rather than asking people to bring in their original land grants, the government sent out its own surveyor. If the official surveyor thought someone had a claim, that person would be allowed to bring his papers into court and the court would decide whether to allow the claim. Some scholars have estimated that only about 25% of the original Spanish land grants were recognized in New Mexico (of which Arizona was originally a part), while the GAO report states that as many as 55% were recognized, but in any case, all 23 claims submitted by the Pueblos of what is now the State of New Mexico were eventually proved and honored. On that basis Ms. Marcussen and her colleagues have won primary water rights-not federal reserved rights-for tribes in New Mexico.

So where does this leave the Hopi? The pueblos of the Southwest were given land grants in part because after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Catholic Pope declared that the Pueblo Indians, by virtue of the fact that they lived in cities and had a social and political organization sophisticated enough to drive the priests out of the Southwest at will, which is what they did in 1680, were civilized people (and, incidentally, would make good soldiers). As the Spanish military and clergy re-entered the Southwest, they started issuing land grants to the pueblos as well as to Spanish individuals. Since the Spanish visited Hopi as early as 1540, it is likely that there is a land grant to the Hopi (or, as they were called then, the Moqui). And if there is, the Hopi are entitled to Article VIII rights under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. That means that when the federal government holds land or water or natural resources in trust for the Hopi, it is merely a trustee, not a sovereign. Therefore, it does not have the right to negotiate the sale or lease of that property, much less force the Hopi to accept the terms that the federal government has set in collusion with the Department of the Interior for the benefit of multinational corporate interests.

"If you really have Article VIII rights, real property rights," said Ms. Marcussen, "you as individuals and as a people have superior rights. If we can establish that you have Article VIII rights, you are the sovereign. If you are the sovereign, you can say, 'I don't care what you pay; we will not sell.'"

While Ms. Marcussen stated that the United States government is still having a difficult time accepting that Indian peoples could have real property rights, those rights have been affirmed by the courts for the New Mexico pueblos and for the Tohono O'odham in Arizona. When Ms. Marcussen completed her talk, one of the many Hopi elders who were present said, "This gives us lots of energy and hope; it is reminding us of something we already knew, and shows how we might go forward."

Ms. Marcussen's presentation was hosted by Black Mesa Trust as part of its celebration of the Decade of Water. Dedicated to preserving the N-aquifer for future generations of Hopi and Navajo children and to fostering the sustainable and just use of water around the world, the Trust is sponsoring a run from the Hopi Village of Lower Moencopi to Mexico City in March 2006. Native American runners will present indigenous water concepts and ethics to an international audience of world leaders at the Fourth World Water Forum.

Organizations supporting Black Mesa Trust are the Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Environment Now, Grand Canyon Trust, Honor the Earth, Indigenous Water Institute, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sacred Land Film Project, Sierra Club, Shanker Law Firm, Shearman & Sterling, Toh Nizhoni Ahni, and WaterKeeper Alliance. Supporting Foundations include Acorn Foundation. The Christensen Fund, Oxfam America, Patagonia, Quinney Foundation, SB Foundation, Seventh Generation Fund, and Walton Family Foundation.

For more information about Black Mesa Trust, visit
http://www.blackmesatrust.org or call (928) 213-9009 or (928) 734-9255. For more information about the Hopi to Mexico City Run in 2006, visit http://www.h2opirun.org or call Ruben Saufkie, run coordinator, at (928) 734-5438.

Photo captions:

An overflow crowd turned up to hear Ms. Marcussen's talk about how the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo could affect Hopi rights.

Ms. Marcussen explained what the terms of the treaty could mean to Hopi sovereignty.


Informant: Carrie Dann

http://www.kn-online.de/news/archiv/?id=1640714


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim

May 10, 2005

In over 20 cities, CODEPINK activists gathered this past weekend to honor the original Mother's Day call for peace. From the recruitment center in Reno, Nevada and the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC to the Cinco de Mayo carnival in Chicago and the state capitol in Sacramento, CODEPINK was there. Thank you for ALL the ways you spoke out this weekend! (Check out some of the CODEPINK women and men in action)
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=14636403&url_num=1&url=http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?list=type&type=48

It's another full week and once again, we'd love your help...

* Sailor Pablo Paredes (San Diego, CA) and soldier Kevin Benderman (Ft. Stewart, GA) will go before military court martial tribunals for their opposition to the Iraq war on Thursday. Join us in supporting these courageous young men by signing the petition urging their discharge. We must do all we can to support dissent within the ranks.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=14636403&url_num=2&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/codepink/signUp.jsp?key=345

* When John Bolton was nominated to be our UN Ambassador, CODEPINK sprung into action -- disrupting his hearing with banners and exposing the bully he truly is. This week, we have a REAL chance to stop Bolton before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee votes on THURSDAY, May 12. Please take a moment to CALL YOUR SENATOR RIGHT AWAY to say that a UN-basher must not fill this important post.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=14636403&url_num=3&url=http://stopbolton.org/activist/

* With the violence in Iraq escalating, we urge you to join Counting the Cost, a campaign to make the human cost of the war more visible. On May 15, 2005, people around the country will wear a number representing one of the Iraqi citizens, U.S. soldiers, coalition soldiers, and other international civilians who have been killed in Iraq. You can join a vigil being planned for that day, organize one of your own, or simply spend the day wearing your number and talking to your neighbors about it. Contact http://www.countingthecost.org to sign up for a number.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=14636403&url_num=4&url=http://www.countingthecost.org

Let's use this week to build on our Mother's Day pledge to bring an end to war NOW.

Dana, Gael, Nancy, Jodie, Medea, Rae, Tiffany and Farida

I have to say it's interesting reading these two articles together. I've attached the additional article from January '05 entitled "Why the Sun Seems to Be Dimming" - which many of us will remember seeing posted. Now they are saying the Earth's surface is actually brightening.

Anna


Earth Lightens Up

Richland WA (SPX) May 06, 2005

Earth's surface has been getting brighter for more than a decade, a reversal from a dimming trend that may accelerate warming at the surface and unmask the full effect of greenhouse warming, according to an exhaustive new study of the solar energy that reaches land.

Ever since a report in the late 1980s uncovered a 4 to 6 percent decline of sunlight reaching the planet's surface over 30 years since 1960, atmospheric scientists have been trying out theories about why this would be and how it would relate to the greenhouse effect, the warming caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide and other gasses that trap heat in the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, a group led by Martin Wild at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, home of the international Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) archive, had gone to work collecting surface measurements and crunching numbers.

"BSRN didn't get started until the early '90s and worked hard to update the earlier archive," said Charles N. Long, senior scientist at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and co-author of a BSRN report in this week's issue (Friday, May 6) of the journal Science.

"When we looked at the more recent data, lo and behold, the trend went the other way," said Long, who conducted the work under the auspices of DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program.

Data analysis capabilities developed by ARM research were crucial in the study, which reveals the planet's surface has brightened by about 4 percent the past decade.

The brightening trend is corroborated by other data, including satellite analyses that are the subject of another paper in this week's Science.

Sunlight that isn't absorbed or reflected by clouds as it plunges earthward will heat the surface. Because the atmosphere includes greenhouse gasses, solar warming and greenhouse warming are related.

"The atmosphere is heated from the bottom up, and more solar energy at the surface means we might finally see the increases in temperature that we expected to see with global greenhouse warming," Long said.

In fact, he said, many believe that we have already been seeing those effects in our most temperature-sensitive climates, with the melting of polar ice and high altitude glaciers.

The report's authors stopped short of attributing a cause to the cycle of surface dimming and brightening, but listed such suspects as changes in the number and composition of aerosols—liquid and solid particles suspended in air—and how aerosols affect the character of clouds.

Over the past decade, the ARM program has built a network of instrumentation sites to sample cloud characteristics and energy transfer in a variety of climates, from tropical to polar.

"The continuous, sophisticated data from these sites will be crucial for determining the causes," Long said.

Long also pointed out that 70 percent of the planet's surface is ocean, for which we have no long-term surface brightening or dimming measurements.

http://www.pnl.gov/news/2005/05-33.htm

--------


Why the Sun seems to be 'dimming'

1/13/05

By David Sington

They have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface has been gradually falling.

Paradoxically, the decline in sunlight may mean that global warming is a far greater threat to society than previously thought.

The effect was first spotted by Gerry Stanhill, an English scientist working in Israel.

Cloud changes

Comparing Israeli sunlight records from the 1950s with current ones, Dr Stanhill was astonished to find a large fall in solar radiation.

"There was a staggering 22% drop in the sunlight, and that really amazed me." Intrigued, he searched records from all around the world, and found the same story almost everywhere he looked.

Sunlight was falling by 10% over the USA, nearly 30% in parts of the former Soviet Union, and even by 16% in parts of the British Isles.

Although the effect varied greatly from place to place, overall the decline amounted to one to two per cent globally every decade between the 1950s and the 1990s.

Dr Stanhill called it "global dimming", but his research, published in 2001, met a sceptical response from other scientists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4171591.stm

The Sentinel, Newcastle

DAVID ALCOCK

12:00 - 10 May 2005

No Disciplinary action will be taken against council officials despite a blunder which meant a phone mast was put up without planning permission. Newcastle Borough Council launched an investigation into plans by mobile phone firm Orange to build a mast at the junction of Clayton Lane and Clayton Road, in Clayton.

The probe was ordered because planning officers failed to inform Orange's agent, Marconi, that the mast plan had been refused by councillors after a 350-name petition against the development was handed in by residents in March. Orange say the mast will now be installed.

But the council has ruled no disciplinary action should be taken, although a review of procedures will now take place.

Families living near the site say the decision is unacceptable. Ray Rees, a father-of-four from Warwick Avenue, Clayton, said: "The council seem to be unable to acknowledge what happened and give the full details."

Mr Rees, aged 53, has submitted a formal complaint to the council but says his questions about what happened have not been fully answered.

He said: "Planning officer Neale Clifton apologised for the error but there was no response relating to the reasons why it happened in the first place."

Planning legislation says that if a certain period of time passes without the planning authority notifying the applicant about the decision - 56 days - then the development can proceed.

Marconi said the deadline to notify it of a decision was March 17. It claimed they did not receive the notice until March 18.

An officers' report to councillors says post from Orange requesting details of a council decision was received by the council on January 21, but not marked as received until January 24. So officers used January 24 instead of January 21 to start the countdown for a notification.

The report states: "In this case the decision notice was sent, by fax, to the agents on March 18, one day late. At the time of the sending of the fax, officers were acting in the belief that they had until March 21 to ensure the agent had received the decision."

The gaffe has forced the council to admit procedural changes are needed.

The report adds: "The investigation has been unable to identify a specific individual who made an error. Accordingly no disciplinary proceeding has been taken in this matter. Nevertheless the investigation has highlighted procedural weaknesses that must, be addressed to minimise the likelihood of this kind of event arising in the future."

A spokesman for Orange confirmed the company had contacted Newcastle Borough Council and announced it intends to proceed and build the mast.

The spokesman could not confirm when the work will start, but said Orange was keen to proceed, because the site has deemed planning consent for a mast.

Bath Chronicle

11:00 - 11 May 2005

Representing the Mobile Phone Operators, Michael Dolan's letter (Letters, May 5) selectively quotes from both the Stewart and National Radiological Protection Board reports attempting to mask the health concerns regarding the electro magnetic radiation emissions from phone masts. Far from being reassured by the vested interest government and phone industry, making huge profits at the risk to public health, the following quotes from these same reports confirm this technology is far from safe:

6.38. "There is now scientific evidence which suggests that there may be biological effects occurring at exposures below these (NRPB and ICNIRP) guidelines" (Stewart Report).

And from the NRPB's Mobile Phones and Health 2004.

"6. We conclude that it is not possible to say that exposure to RF radiation, even at levels below national guidelines, is without adverse health effects . . . 7. The board notes that a central recommendation in the Stewart Report was that a precautionary approach to the use of mobile phone technologies be adopted . . .

18. There remain particular concerns in the UK about the impact of base stations on health."

So is this meant to reassure us Mr Dolan? You deliberately site your harmful masts next to housing and schools. Do you call this a "precautionary approach"?

While government/phone operator funded research attempts to gloss over the health concerns, independent research is regularly confirming the dangers to health, and proving the current guidelines, set 9,000 times too high, are meaningless. Only last week research from Germany again showed how the pulsed microwave signals from phone masts permanently damages living cells. The phone operators' blatant disregard for our health is outrageous.

JOHN ELLIOTT
Badminton Road Mast Action Group


Emersons Green

Bristol

MICHAEL Dolan has every incentive to back this perspective, but what does Sir William Stewart say in his recent report of December 2004 for the NRPB?

If you take the time to read the recent Stewart Report for the NRPB you will find this statement: the Stewart Report states at Para 1.19: "We conclude therefore that it is not possible at present to say that exposure to RF radiation, even at levels below national guidelines, is totally without potential adverse health effects, and that the gaps in knowledge are sufficient to justify a precautionary approach."

SANDI LAWRENCE
Mast Sanity committee member Advice line co-ordinator
Oakwood Court
Aldwick
Bognor Regis

COUNCILLORS were expected to refuse permission for a trio of telecom masts at yesterday's development committee meeting (Tuesday).

Three separate applications for mobile 'phone monopoles in Glenrothes were being considered as The Gazette went to press. Planners were recommending prior refusal on all of them. All three were deemed to set an "undesirable precedent" for similar developments if they were approved. And the signs seem to indicate a hardline approach by Fife Council on future masts in the town.

Vodafone applied to erect a 12-metre mast on Flemington Road - a few yards away from the Aldi supermarket car park. The council received an objection from the store, which said company Head Office had not been notified. Aldi also stated the information it had received had been poor.

Elsewhere, Vodafone wanted to put up a 10-metre mast in Minto Place, but council planners concluded this would be "out of scale and out of character" with the area. Three objections for the Minto mast were received from members of the public.

Thirdly, a controversial device planned for Leslie Road - also submitted by Vodafone - was similarly expected to be blocked yesterday. Eight letters of objection were lodged with the council on a number of issues, including health risks, visual impact on the area and road safety.

The company had hoped to construct the 13.4 metre mast between Leslie and Leslie Roundabout, on the same side of road as the Fettykil Fox inn.

However, council planners advised that any device should be no larger than the existing street furniture, which stands at 10 metres tall.

11 May 2005

http://autarchic.tripod.com/files/cooper.html


Informant. Friends

Bilderberg's secret agenda 2005
http://tinyurl.com/r6zmh

05/10/05

Can you remember how little you knew about a war with Iraq in July 2002? Most of us who opposed the war concluded some time ago this was the way it went down. There was plenty of evidence, though nothing this direct and cold. Think of the difference it would have made if we had known all this three years ago. Now? The memo was a huge story in Britain, but is almost unreported here. The memo does get us some forwarder. At least it finally settles this ridiculous debate about how Dear Leader Bush just wanted to bring democracy all along and we did it all for George Washington...

http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/21976/

from AlterNet, by Molly Ivins


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

05/11/05

Last Sunday, Fox TV News re-ran a one-hour documentary called 'Iran: The Nuclear Threat.' From start to finish, it assumes (without presenting any evidence) that Iran is building nuclear weapons and is a horrendous threat to the peace of the world. The only dissenting views shown are there merely to demonstrate how stupid or devious some people are (people such as a UN weapons inspector and an Iranian spokesman). Watching it, the sense of déjà vu is overwhelming. It's almost exactly like the buildup to the attack on Iraq: call the inspectors woolly-headed, call the deniers liars, call the dissenters cowards. Assert the case but offer no evidence to support it...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/browne/browne54.html

from LewRockwell.Com, by Harry Browne


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

05/10/05

The techniques for funding tyranny are quite well-developed, one could almost say perfected. At present, the US government can withdraw any desired proportion of privately produced wealth simply by typing higher numbers into the Federal Reserve computers...

http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/walker/walker11.html

from Strike the Root, by Bill Walker


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/horton.php?articleid=5903


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

05/10/05

Baradi, the coffee shop at the corner of Tahrir and Dokki streets [in Cairo], is typical of thousands of cafes in this largest and most moderate of Arab Muslim cities. White-tiled walls and high ceilings lined with fans help patrons keep cool in a climate that can be sweaty even in winter. The courtliness of the clientele -- accountants and government clerks in worn dishdashe gowns and polyester suits -- also helps keep things temperate, even when the conversation amid the smoke from apple-scented waterpipes turns to President Bush's push for democracy in the Muslim world. No one here wears the distinctive clothing and beard of Muslim fundamentalists. Voices are not raised in anger, no matter the intensity of feelings. But there is no mistaking the deep distrust and dislike patrons harbor toward the United States...

http://tinyurl.com/aketv

from Boston Globe


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

05/10/05

When it legalized prostitution two years ago, Germany sought to bring the industry under state control, providing sex workers with labor rights and greater health protection. But some Germans are now saying the law has failed to achieve its objective. The issue came to the fore earlier this year when a 25-year-old waitress looking for work was told that she faced losing her unemployment benefits because she had turned down a job at a brothel. The woman was desperate to work, although not in a sex establishment. But under a new welfare law ... women under the age of 55 who have been out of work for more than a year must accept any job offered to them -- or give up unemployment benefits. ... The threat ... was not a real one. Nevertheless, the case has driven the country to reexamine the difficulties connected with one of the most controversial pieces of social legislation Germany has ever dealt with...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0511/p15s02-woeu.html

from Fox News


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

05/10/05

The Supreme Court has been asked to throw out contempt orders against two journalists who refused to reveal sources in the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity. Lawyers for Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and The New York Times' Judith Miller want the justices to clarify protections reporters have in keeping sources confidential. Cooper's appeal was filed Tuesday; Miller's was made Monday. The Supreme Court ends a nine-month term next month and could not consider the cases before next fall...

http://tinyurl.com/dauns

from Detroit Free Press


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

05/10/05

A long-threatened showdown over changing Senate rules to stop Democratic filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominations could come as early as next week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Tuesday. Frist, in his weekly news conference with reporters, said he hopes the Senate finishes a highway bill and an emergency spending package to fund military operations overseas this week. 'And then we need to turn to 100 United States senators and move to the issue surrounding judges,' he said. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he's ready and expects to win...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=744800

from ABC News


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

05/10/05

States are threatening to challenge in court and even disobey new orders from Congress to start issuing more uniform driver's licenses and verify the citizenship or legal status of people getting them. There is concern among some states that they'll get stuck with a large tab to pay for implementing the new rules and that getting a driver's license will become a bigger headache for law-abiding residents...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7809544/

from MSNBC


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=637454

Kennedy calls on Blair to 'pick up the phone' for talks on fairer voting
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=637453

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2511


Informant: NHNE

Because this is true, shouldn't this quote be the top of the news and lead to Congressional hearings? "There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3203

Don't ask America's top brass exactly how the Iraq war is going. They don't know. The various U.S. services have never managed to agree on a unified system for gauging successes and failures in the counterinsurgency campaign. Instead, everyone uses a different yardstick. Recently the National Intelligence Council, the information clearinghouse for America's spy services, produced a study of the problem. NEWSWEEK has learned that the document, which remains classified, urges that the present babel of war assessments be replaced with a coherent system, one that would help U.S. forces react faster and more effectively to shifting insurgent tactics and other challenges. The paper's overall tone is "not uplifting," according to a source familiar with its contents. In blunt terms, things are looking grim. How grim? It's anybody's guess.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3200

Über die Propaganda der Bush-Regierung, die (ausbleibenden) Massenproteste gegen den Irak-Feldzug und die Parallele zum Widerstand gegen den Vietnam-Krieg in den sechziger Jahren. Interview von Harald Neuber mit Noam Chomsky in der Wochenendbeilage der jungen Welt vom 30. April 2005.

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/04-30/029.php


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 25, Eintrag 6

In vielen Städten laufen seit Anfang Mai Proteste gegen Studiengebühren, für die (Wieder-)Einführung von Verfassten Studierendenschaften und gegen die neoliberale Umstrukturierung der Universitäten. Hintergrund ist die Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts im Januar, dass ein bundesweites Gebührenverbot sowie die Festschreibung von Verfassten Studierendenschaften, wie es das Hochschulrahmengesetz (HRG) des Bundes vorsah, verfassungswidrig ist. Dadurch ist - je nach Bundesland - mit der Einführung von allgemeinen Studiengebühren zu rechnen (500 Euro sind vermutlich nur der Anfang). Der Summer of Resistance hat begonnen. In Freiburg wird seit dem Beginn der Proteste am Montag das Rektorat der Uni besetzt. Auf der Seite von indymedia finden sich in übersichtlicher Form weitere Informationen zu den Protesten und Links zu den unterschiedlichen Aktionsseiten.

http://de.indymedia.org/2005/04/113154.shtml


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 25, Eintrag 6

Kein Grund zur Entwarnung. Nach regierungsamtlicher Kritik aus Paris und Berlin scheint die EU-Dienstleistungsrichtlinie vom Tisch. Marktradikale Lobbyorganisationen der Großkonzerne arbeiten unterdessen weiter an Regularien zur Absenkung von Lohn- und Sozialstandards. Artikel von Sahra Wagenknecht in junge Welt vom 02.05.2005

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/05-02/003.php


Aus: LabourNet Nachrichtensammlung, Band 25, Eintrag 6

SEEMA SIROHI

OutlookIndia.com

WASHINGTON

Living in the land of mushy news conferences, staged town hall meetings and opinion-less editorials, it is hair-raising to read accounts of Tony Blair’s election campaign. The British people and the press have grilled "B Liar" on every issue, domestic and international, showing what real watchdogs can do. He has been raked over the coals for lying about the Iraq war, asked to check out life on minimum wage and shown toothless gums by a patient unable to find a dentist in Blair’s Britain.. It is a daily mauling by tough audiences of real people and real reporters. [...] Read the rest at Outlookindia web site: http://tinyurl.com/7ske3


© Virginia Metze

5/9/05
Intelligence Squad #102

Over the last few years, a band of conservative Christians has been quietly waging a religious war on American society that only recently has broken out into a full-fledged "hot" war.

These bigots, not to be confused with mainstream Christians, have decided that the government, indeed all of American society, must be organized around their brand of Christianity, with no deviation allowed whatsoever. We refer to these fundamentalists as "Christo-fascists." [...] Read the rest at: http://www.intelligencesquad.com/id115.html


© Virginia Metze

posted by Jack Dalton at 5:04 PM Monday May 9

“If it were my say, I’d have him [Sgt Kevin Benderman] gassed, and publicly executed to set the example that America is not a nation of fools.” This is but one sentence in an email sent by a no-nothing 17 year old to Sgt Kevin Benderman (the entire letter is at the end of this commentary). Is the young man that wrote those words to blame for his mindlessness? Or is the blame with an older generation which is teaching this nation’s youth a mindless ideology that preaches nothing but entitlement, hate, and intolerance? Maybe even a little of both, after all, it is members of my own generation that have pushed this nation to the brink of the abyss we now find ourselves looking into. [...] Read the rest at: http://jackdalton.blogspot.com/


© Virginia Metze

by John F. Harris and Mike Allen
updated: 12:00 a.m. ET May 9, 2005
washingtonpost.com

In the euphemism favored on Capitol Hill, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is "not staff driven." Translation: He is used to doing what he wants.

It happens all the time, DeLay friends and advisers say. An aide will suggest that the leader soften his tone, or back off just a bit from some inflammatory position. As often as not, the Texas Republican will respond with a snort, suggesting that the adviser is more worried about how a decision will play inside the Beltway than how it will be perceived — if it is noticed at all — by the rest of the country. [...] Read the rest at MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7775787/


© Virginia Metze

by ROBERT DREYFUSS
Rolling Stone
(Posted May 05, 2005)

The news from Iraq is bad and getting worse with each passing day. Iraqi insurgents are stepping up the pace of their attacks, unleashing eleven deadly bombings on April 29th alone. Many of the 150,000 Iraqi police and soldiers hastily trained by U.S. troops have deserted or joined the insurgents. The cost of the war now tops $192 billion, rising by $1 billion a week, and the corpses are piling up: Nearly 1,600 American soldiers and up to 100,000 Iraqi civilians are dead, as well as 177 allied troops and 229 private contractors. Other nations are abandoning the international coalition assembled to support the U.S., and the new Iraqi government, which announced its new cabinet to great fanfare on April 27th, remains sharply split along ethnic and religious lines. [...] Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/bxb5d

Grist magazine has a good column about winning environmental arguments. (Remember to the GOP environmentalists are "special interest groups.") Read the article, "Just the Facts, Ma'am," on the Grist web site: http://tinyurl.com/9w4qy

ZaZona has a searchable database of companies that hire H-1Bs . There is also a petition to abolish the H-1B program. If you are interested in this, the web site is at http://www.zazona.com/ .


© Virginia Metze

SOMETHINGS COOKING IN COOK COUNTY
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/5559.html

MONEY TRAIL REPORT #1
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/5595.html

BIG MEETING BREWING IN SACRAMENTO MAY 19
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/5557.html

DISABILITY COMPLIANCE TRIGGERS NEW REMOTE ACCESS RISKS
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/5512.html

LOS ANGELES VOTING SYSTEM OWNED BY MALAYSIAN GAMBLING COMPANY
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/4624.html


Informant: NHNE

http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin11.htm


Informant: Milo

From: AAP

Crash scene

Crash wreckage is shown in this picture provided by police.

ONE of Australia´s leading scientists and a pioneering policewoman are among the 15 victims of the nation´s worst plane crash in almost 40 years. Police today said all aboard the Fairchild Metroliner III aircraft were killed when it crashed and exploded in flames yesterday near the Lockhart River Aboriginal community in Cape York, in far north Queensland.

The plane smacked into a 500m high, tree covered hillside on approach to Lockhart River airstrip on a flight from Bamaga at the tip of Cape York.

Although there was rain, low cloud and strong wind at the time, the two pilots had not reported problems. Investigators said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.

The aircraft´s flight recorder has been recovered and it will be taken to Canberra for analysis.

Among the dead was Dr David Banks, 55, the principal scientist with quarantine authority Biosecurity Australia.

He was in north Queensland doing work for the northern Australian quarantine strategy, which aims to protect the country from pests and diseases that can enter the country from more northern nations.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15217154-2,00.html


Informant: Dani Djinn


Death of an Elite - Is this why the microbiologists are being killed?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/674959/

The mysterious deaths of top microbiologists
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/626907/

Squad seeks tips in death of researcher - What you know WILL kill you http://omega.twoday.net/stories/468874/

The New York Times has finally put the case of fugitive terrorist Luis Posada Carriles on Page One, observing that the violent anti-Castro Cuban’s presence in Florida “could test” George W. Bush’s universal condemnation of terrorism. But that principle already appears to have been tested and failed.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/051005.html



LUIS POSADA CARRILES - THE DECLASSIFIED RECORD

CIA and FBI Documents Detail Career in International Terrorism; Connection to U.S.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm


From Information Clearing House

The former chief U.N. weapons inspector also cited positions taken by Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton devaluing treaties and international law.

http://www.local6.com/news/4469828/detail.html


From Information Clearing House

The US media is nowadays filled with news on Iran's nuclear threat, preparing the American public for yet another Middle East conflict without, however, maintaining a modicum of balance by reflecting the Iranian point of view.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GE11Ak01.html


From Information Clearing House

Neocons hunt for the right surrogate at the right time to take on Iran.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0519,mondo1,63824,6.html


From Information Clearing House

Justin Raimondo explains how the neoconservatives went from being communists to Republicans, and why they took America to war in Iraq.

Audio
http://weekendinterviewshow.com/InterviewDisplay.aspx?i=94


From Information Clearing House

Mr. Bolton - a member of the Institute for National Security Affairs is responsible for withdrawing the U.S. signature from the treaty on the International Criminal Court.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8791.htm

The Bush Administration, with Chairman Richard Lugar's assistance, is withholding crucial information describing how Bolton tried to spy on colleagues through National Security Agency intercepts and how he skewed intelligence on Syria.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8790.htm

Japanese and American Responsibility From World War II to Guantanamo.

http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=7824&sectionID=17


From Information Clearing House

The war will only end when support for the war ends at home. We have a new weapon in that struggle; the truth. Let's use it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8801.htm

Labour MPs have engaged in a fierce war of words over Prime Minister Tony Blair's future in Downing Street.

http://snipurl.com/esj1


From Information Clearing House

British memo

Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and [weapons of mass destruction]. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8796.htm