http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1669640,00.html


Informant: Kev Hall

Bitte weiterleiten

Einladung zur Mahnwache

Der weitere Ausbau des Mobilfunks und zusätzliche Aufbau des UMTS-Netzes bedeutet für Salzburg noch mehr Strahlenbelastung. Schützt Kindergärten, Schulen und andere sensible Standorte vor den Sendern, bevor es zu spät ist!

Engagierte Eltern und Initiativen halten Schweige-Mahnwache

Salzburg, vor dem Schloss Mirabell
am Donnerstag 30.Juni 2005
in der Zeit von 10 bis 11 Uhr

Die Elternvertreter der Rudolf Steiner Schule Salzburg

i.V. mit freundlichen Grüßen

Michael Meyer
michael_meyer@aon.at
A - 5165 Berndorf, Stadl 4
Tel/Fax 0043 - 6217 - 8576



UMTS - Mahnwache: Initiativen aus Stadt und Land sind der Einladung der Eltern gefolgt http://omega.twoday.net/stories/806777/

EMAIL TO PARENTS MAGAZINE EDITOR 6-26-05.

ATTENTION: Children With Leukaemia/London/Parker-Hughes Cancer Center/St. Paul

Ltrs to the Editor (Parenting Magazine)..re AOL 6-26-05 sleep epidemic info
From: JCMPelican@aol.com
Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2005 12:38:43 EDT
To: youtellus@parenting.com

Dear Editor: The AOL info re "sleep epidemic" online is very important; however lacking one of the most vital pieces of information.

I am currently working with Assoc. Prof. Olle Johansson, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden to "speak out" on behalf of children around-the-world. "SLEEP" is the first noticeable health change in children (actually "anyone") if that child or person is sleeping close to electric appliances that include electric meters, electric clocks, electric clock radios, telephone equipment especially cordless phones with small power supply boxes.

The NIH knows that the EMF Interagency Committee Final Report that finds EMF's to be a possible Class 2 carcinogen and that has been linked numerous times to Leukemia, has never been released to Congress. Politicians do not respond to pleas for help regardless of their affiliation.

We also have epidemics of asthma, autism, learning disorders and countless other health problems, many of which would be greatly reduced if publications such as yours would help to get the word out. Chronic infections and headaches also make it difficult for children to sleep and attend school. These are all common "rebound effects" due to reduced Melatonin levels as result of sleeping in close proximity to electrical devices. The costs to society are enormous!!!

Bonnie Boyum, Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, has given me permission to share that her son, Michael Boyum, who died from Leukemia at age 23, had an electric clock and small fan within 6-8" of his head (headboard of his bed).

Two of my grandsons were diagnosed with rare immune deficiencies that were rare because low subclasses 1 and 3 indicate "ageing" (of cells). They "got well" when we moved their beds away from walls opposite electric meters. They suffered chronic asthma and sinus infections. We were told they may develop Leukemia.

Cages with two guinea pigs each were placed against our own back bedroom wall. They were soon diagnosed with asthma. White blood cell counts were severe and indicated possible precancerous changes. Large numbers of neutrophils were "hypersegmented" (slowed DNA synthesis) which is "a marker for irradiation." One out of each set of two died within 30 days.

Please feel free to contact me for more information. I have a stickperson poster that is currently being modified by an artist that vividly portrays what I have said above. Take care - Joanne

Joanne C. Mueller
Guinea Pigs R Us
731 - 123rd Avenue N.W.
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55448-2127 USA
Phone: 763-755-6114
Email: jcmpelican@aol.com



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Children+With+Leukaemia
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Olle+Johansson
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=sleep+disturbances

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062605Y.shtml

The World Tribunal on Iraq is in session in Istanbul, Turkey. For truthout's special coverage of this event go to
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/wti.shtml



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3240642


Informant: Debi Clark



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1514898,00.html


Informant: Diana Davies

Zu Ihrer Kenntnis
http://www.buergerliste.at
und die Themen Handymastensteuer I
http://www.buergerliste.at/aktuell/d_presse_detail.asp?ID=1502
und II
http://www.buergerliste.at/aktuell/d_presse_detail.asp?ID=1503


mfg
Bernhard Carl

Mag. Bernhard CARL
Klinischer Psychologe, Gesundheitspsychologe
Psychotherapeut
Gemeinderat der Stadt Salzburg - Bürgerliste
Uferstrasse 188
A-5026 Salzburg

Telefon:
privat: +43-662-622562
Büro: +43-662-8072-2025
Klinik: +43-662-4483-4318

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3003/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

June 25, 2005

As we gear up for the next phase of the struggle against the war in Iraq, we urge you to help us with the publication of an important book, We Wont Go: A Guide to Counter-Recruiting and Draft Resistance. What you do now can help make a big difference in the choices facing our youth and it can help to bring an end to the war.

Despite all of the the Pentagon's high-tech equipment, the fact remains that they cannot fight their war without soldiers on the ground. This is producing a severe crisis for the Bush Administration.

The Army Reserve and National Guard are stretched to the breaking point. Thousands have seen repeated extensions of their tours through "stop loss." Lt. Gen. James Helmly, in a leaked memo, said that the Reserves are quickly becoming a "broken force." When the Pentagon called up the Individual Ready Reserve, between one-half and one-third of the members never reported for duty. More than 6,000 soldiers have deserted since the beginning of the war.

Meanwhile, across the U.S., parents, youth, and activists are realizing that if we can stop the flow of troops, we can stop the war. The movement against military recruiting is having an impact far beyond what is reported by the corporate media. Recruiters are being driven off campus or challenged by activists who present opposing information. Groups of parents, educators, youth, and activists are meeting across the country to discuss strategies to defend our young people against the predators in uniform.

Enlistments are down by more than thirty percent. For the past four months the Army and the Marine Corps have missed their recuriting goals. The Army missed its April target by 42 percent, and it missed its May target by 25 percent, even after adjusting its target half way through the month.

The March 27 New York Times reported that the situation for military recruiters has become so stressful that many are suffereing nervous breakdowns and thoughts of suicide; 37 recruiters have gone AWOL.

Their desperation has led recruiters to resort to more aggressive and dishonest tactics. Recruiters are preying on youth, targeting many from poor and working-class families, many in communities of color, promising an education, job training, even travel, without telling them about the realities and dangers of military life and war. Recently, an Army Recruiter in Houston was caught on tape telling a prospective student that he was required to meet with him "by Federal Law," and threatening to issue an arrest warrent if he didn't appear.

Meanwhile, the Selective Service System is preparing the apparatus for the draft-their performance plan for 2004, available on their website (sss.gov), states that they are training, staffing, and preparing their agency to be ready for a full mobilization within 75 days of an authorized return to conscription. But the Pentagon fears the political consequences. We need a mobilization in place now to make sure that the draft is not an option for the Bush Administration as the rate of enlistments continues to fall.

Grass roots activism and education are having an impact - not only are recruiting numbers down, but the Army was even forced to call a halt to recruiting for the entire day on Friday, May 20, in response to parents, activists, and youth exposing and organizing against their illegal and abusive tactics.

Now is the time for us to pick up the pace. We need to produce new educational material and build on what has already been successful. We need to put tools in the hands of campus activists.

No Draft No Way launched its website in June of last year - http://www.NoDraftNoWay.org . This site includes updated information about the draft and military recruiting, strategies and tactics for challenging the militariazation of our schools, and downloadable leaflets, petitions, and fact sheets.

Since the launch of the site, thousands have signed the online petition against the draft and the No Draft No Way network has grown to include hundreds of activists all across the country. It is vitally important that we provide these local organizers with information and tools.

In order to meet this urgent need, the Youth and the Military Education Project is developing an Action Toolkit for counter-recruiting and anti-draft activists. This will include:

1) We Won't Go - A Guide to Counter-Recruiting and Draft Resistance. This 120-page book will present, in a brief and accesible format: the truth behind military recruiters' lies; students' rights on campus; information about the draft and alternatives; how to organize an opt-out campaign to keep students' personal information out of the hands of recruiters; and how to organize a local protest, including publicity, legal issues, making placards, and working with the media. This small, easy-to-read book, written by counter-recruiting activists, current and former members of the military, and youth, will be available in bulk at discounted prices for community and youth organizations, classrooms, and libraries. It will be sent to clergy, educators, parent associations, and community leaders across the country.

2) A DVD - Youth Fight Back - This DVD will feature presentations from veterans, military family members, youth organizers, and military resisters on the realities of military life, the economic draft, and counter-recruiting strategies. The disc will also include downloadable leaflets, fact sheets, and posters that activists can use and adapt for their local events and campaigns.

3) New literature, including brochures, palm cards, and classroom materials explaining the role of the military, the economic draft, alternatives to the military, and much more.

We are rushing to get We Won't Go - A Guide to Counter-Recruiting and Draft Resistance to publication so that thousands of activists can use this material a part of a national campaign to educate and mobilize youth against militarism and the war. This book must be at the printers by July 15 in order for us to have it ready for the start of the new school year.

Can you help us with this urgent effort to publish We Won't Go - A Guide to Counter-Recruiting and Draft Resistance? We will include a special acknowledgement section in the book, showing appreciation for those who make a contribution to this effort. Your name can be listed there, or you can donate anonymously. (You can donate online or print out the coupon below and donate by mail.)

Please join us in this national campaign by helping to organize, do outreach, distribute educational materials, and donate to help with all aspects of organizing, especially the immediate publication of this book, which will be an invaluable resource for young people all over the country who want to oppose the very real dangers of militarization and war.

Yours in the struggle,

Leilani Dowell
Youth Activist, FIST

Sara Flounders
International Action Center

Dustin Langley
No Draft, No Way;
Navy Veteran

Jesse Lokahi Heiwa
Queers for Peace & Justice

Carl Webb
Member of the Army National Guard who refused to deploy to Iraq

Kim Rosario
Mother of a GI in Iraq;
Mother of a soldier in Iraq

Today's Observer - this needs a response via Letters

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:

Shortcut to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/article/0,2763,1515005,00.html

Friday, June 24, 2005 3:01 PM

Here is something my son fell over in a Danish newspaper, checked out and mailed to me. It really is worth checking out.

The YES men http://www.theyesmen.org are 2 guys who have made a documentary-film, where they pretend to represent big heartless corporations at industrial-seminars etc.

And they do a: "Identity correction" which they describe as:

"Honest people impersonate big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them.

Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else."

They have invented an advanced joke in "the Acceptable Risk Calculator" which can tell corporations and governments if a project can get to be a "golden skeleton in the closet" based on risici involved, how many they expect will be killed and in which area the project will be launced in.

They use a a model the Bhopal catastrofe, but there are many similarities with the mobile communication industry bullies.

Specially read about their hilarious "Acceptable Risk Calculator" præsentation, during which they were applauded by a flock of corporate "yobs": http://www.dowethics.com/risk/launch.html

They have put the whole issue in a nutshell.


Best regards.

Agnes

http://www.mast-victims.org

--------

Agnes is right here, the WHO, not just WTO, weighs cost and benefit of risk, and decides money "benefits" or how many lives.

I'll add this page too as a good example of how desperate achieving common sense has become:

http://www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/iceage/index.shtml


Andy

--------

Yes Andy.

And so does Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. They might tell us to turn off our Telly on the wall, not let it run on standby. (So that we can run Birmingham on the saved electricity for a year). But at the same time they force through thousands and thousands of mast installations that are on standby or running 24/7/365 so the power stations spew out a million tons of gases.

You bet I am pleased that I now live on the top of the Malvern Hills, because when they succed in melting down the North and the South pole I´ll still have dry feet.

Who can take their Environmental “For The Good of Mankind” Holier Than Thou crap seriously???

Best regards.

Agnes

http://www.mast-victims.org

--------

OK everyone. Let's see if this masts network can make a dent. How about every one of us sends a message to our own MP with this question. Here's the background, what to say and how:

http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MTU1Nzg

extracts:
"Stephen Reilly, a spokesman for the [Government-backed Energy-Saving Trust], said it was 'scary' that half of Britons were not aware household power consumption contributed to climate change. He said appliances left on standby contributed to 50 million tons of unnecessary CO2 emissions from homes each year, putting an average £200 a year on energy bills. He said: 'People don't think about this. This is definitely a contributor to climate change. It's wasted energy.'

"A spokesman for Defra said the department had negotiated a significant cut in the power consumption of television sets while on standby and was working to expand guidelines to cover other appliances.

"Mr Morley urged consumers to ensure they did not waste power. He said: 'The energy we use at home contributes to climate change so saving energy is not just good for people's pockets. It is good for the environment. About half of our target cuts in carbon emissions to combat climate change have to come through energy efficiency ... switching off electrical appliances rather than leaving them on standby makes a huge difference and is a measure we can all take.'

"Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, who obtained yesterday's figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said: 'I am astounded by this. This is absolutely shocking with climate change the biggest threat we face appliances are pumping out millions of tons of greenhouse gases for no good purpose whatsoever. Manufacturers should ensure that appliances should only be put on standby by choice. When things are turned off they should stay off."

Now 3G base stations:
http://www.scientificjournals.com/sj/lca/abstract/doi/lca2004.12.193

"The UMTS network in its state of 2004 according to the 2001 planning and with the accordingly calculated number of customers and data transfer causes 2.1 times more CO2 emissions and requires 2.4 times more (non-renewable) primary energy per customer than for the GSM system in its current state"

What is more, we have it reliably that the power requirements of the combined 3G networks is a serious supply issue, especially so in the current "energy-crisis" context.

Here, then, is the letter [adapt as required]:


Dear [MP]

I was seriously concerned to learn how much energy is being wasted through household appliances not being switched off when not in use. The figures from DEFRA released in the Independent newspaper on 23 June show this amounts to 1 million tonnes of CO2, or enough wasted energy to power 400,000 homes. It would be encouraging to learn that more was being done to make it easier to turn appliances off with a switch that did not just go onto standby, and with reassurance that "settings" would not all be lost in the process. I hope you will lend support to this.

But above all I am very seriously concerned, and for good reason, about the energy demands of the combined new 3G mobile phone national networks being installed.

I understand from industry sources that once installed, these will place a significant additional burden on the national electricity supply, and that running 24 hours a day all year round, the energy and climate burden of this technology is going quite unnoticed. Furthermore, industry calculations are that the whole system requires 2.4 times the non-renewable energy per customer than the existing GSM network. Please do your utmost to confirm the figure for 50,000 always-on base stations, so that it can be rightfully compared to the DEFRA figures above, about which it, seems, we all want to do something practical.

The reason I raise this point is that everyone is painfully aware of the controversy surrounding the latest round of mast erections, of the increasing numbers of people obliged to live near them, increasing numbers who complain of adverse effects, or of property devaluation, of the absurd absence of any democracy in their siting, the irrelevance of safety guidelines and the dearth of base-station research. And now we find that there is much concern over wasted energy in the home, while all possible good is being more than undone by this money driven product promotion. This government must be challenged over selling the 3G licences for £23 billion, then obliging the operators each and all to cover the entire country, causing universal controversy and now over taking no consideration to the environmental impact.

I hope you will be so moved to ask questions in the House, not just in relation to telecommunications planning, but its true and lasting impact on people, housing and the environment - and of course, trust.

yours [etc.]



How? It's really easy.

Fax your MP:
http://www.faxyourmp.com/index.php3
or better still, write:
http://www.writetothem.com/

Go for it. Little effort, big point.

Andy

--------

I have tested the equipment boxes associated with "lamppost masts" using a meter hired from Powerwatch. This measured electrical fields, not an ACOM or COM Monitor. I was surprised to see that they gave out about half the reading that standing under a powerline did (25 for equipment box and around 50 for a powerline going through Rickmansworth). That was radiating onto a pavement near a pedestrian crossing. A child in a buggy would be getting full blast. I think the issue of the electrical power these things use has been an issue ignored by all the organisations who are concerned about energy use. I want to do something about this but have been too busy on other issues. Perhaps we need to raise awareness of this with Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Government and so on. The power used for the mobile phones themselves must be a huge drain on power resources. Perhaps those campaigning against windfarms should switch off their mobile phones at the same time.

Best wishes, Yasmin Skelt (Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, England)

http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/article.php3?id_article=825


Informant: Steven L. Robinson

From ufpj-news

http://www.tvnewslies.org/html/the_smoking_gun_white_house_.html


Informant: ranger116

The mood darkens among residents as a wave of bombings swells the death toll. The new violence quiets talk of success against rebels.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3722

The United States may still attack Iran, and for all the wrong reasons. Two recent analyses, both appearing a day before the final runoff to determine the Iranian presidency (June 23, 2005) reveal how this may happen, and what the logic behind such an attack may be.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3719

In the New York Times of today is an article over the coming confrontation this summer between the USA and Iran
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/international/middleeast/26assess.html?th&emc=th

Governments worldwide are in the defensive, especially the US Government. Now the de chronic deceit en lies of the US government concerning 9-11, Iraq, the economy ( http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/RCH/WRCHF624 ) the amount of dead soldiers (9000 instead of the 1700 of the government, they don't count the people who die in hospitals outsite Iraq), Abu Graib and other crimes are reported daily on the Internet, The US Government has a big need for a lightning-rod., desperate needs lead to desperate deeds!

Here Iran enters the play and this is where the NYT article comes in. Soon the corporate media and governments worldwide will only talk about the confrontation with Iran. Collaboration of governments, parlaments and media with the Master Deceivers in the White House is without any limit. The only ones who can stop this Carnival of Vices are the bosses of the governments and parlaments: the brave citizens of this world, who are about to leave for their holiday season. And ....you dear reader of this site and many other sites on the Worls Wide Web. Mobilisation by means of Internet etc. is fast, very fast.......... only, when you want it!

Best regards,

Jacques

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3002/


Informant: jesenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.dscc.org/firerove


Informant: Hopedance

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3001/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062505C.shtml



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

http://tinyurl.com/c3rdt


Informant: NoName

BBC News website 25.06.05

The body which runs Roman Catholic schools in the region has intervened in the row over a mobile phone mast near a Warwickshire primary school.

The Diocesan Schools Commission is to ask phone company 02 to move the mast away from St Edwards RC school in Coleshill.

Parents of pupils at the school say the mast is responsible for complaints such as headaches and nosebleeds.

O2 has denied that its mast is responsible for the complaints.

Around 40 children at the school left class on Friday morning to join a protest against the siting of the mast.

The Diocesan Schools Commission, which owns St Edwards, said it understands the concerns but says it is not qualified to comment on the alleged effects of the mast transmissions.

It has agreed to ask O2 to relocate the mast as a gesture of goodwill.

June 25, 2005

What an amazing week we have witnessed. Vegan Congressman Dennis Kucinich allied with "Mr. Freedom Fries" (Conservative Republican Walter Jones) to sponsor a bipartisan resolution calling for an exit strategy from Iraq. A new “Out of Iraq” Congressional Caucus was formed with 61 founding members. Thanks to Rep. Conyers, the Downing Street Memo is now being discussed in the media.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=22176558&url_num=1&url=http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?list=type&type=64

And despite George Bush’s orchestrated appearances with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Jaafari, a solid majority of Americans are calling for a partial or full withdrawal of US troops and Bush’s approval rating continues to sink. The tide is indeed turning.

While CODEPINK was busy organizing in Washington DC, co-founder Jodie Evans has been networking on another front: She is an international observer at the World Tribunal on Iraq that opened this week in Istanbul, Turkey.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=22176558&url_num=2&url=http://www.worldtribunal.org/

You haven't heard of it? As usual, the mainstream media is ignoring it. But it's an historic gathering of international witnesses, experts and jurors including former Assistant to the UN Secretary General Denis Halliday, award-winning author Arundhati Roy and Iraqi scholar Souad Naji Al-Azzawi. Co-coordinator Richard Falk, a UNESCO peace prize holder and professor of International Law, called the Tribunal an expression of " moral globalization ," with concerned citizens " acting on the belief that no state and no leader is above the law when it comes to matters of war and peace ."

We recommend you go to the Tribunal’s website to learn more,
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=22176558&url_num=3&url=http://www.worldtribunal.org/
read Jodie’s blog,
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=22176558&url_num=4&url=http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?id=376
and contact your local media asking them to cover this historic event. The transcripts of each witness and participant are rich with information and truth, not only to keep you informed but also to re-inspire you to take a stand for peace.

The 4th of July is a week away. We encourage you to reclaim this holiday and use it to show your commitment to liberty and justice for all.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=22176558&url_num=5&url=http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?list=type&type=65

Now is the time to strengthen your voice and join us in the streets on July 4th and in Washington DC on September 24th.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=22176558&url_num=6&url=http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?id=178

We must continue to step out of our “comfort zones” and say NO to war, human rights abuses and empire-building, and YES to non-violence, respect for the rights of all, and commitment to the global community.

Let freedom ring...

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

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/06/09/bioweapons.shtml


Informant: V



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

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4102212


Informant: Geraldo Cienmarcos

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=85854;show_parent=1



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

Farnham Today 24.06.05

SURREY county councillor Pat Frost has pledged her support for local residents’ groups fighting to stop mobile telephone operator Orange erecting masts in Farnham. Ms Frost is following the example of fellow county councillor David Munro and South West Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt in criticising Orange for its proposals to site masts at a number of locations in south Farnham. “I am very concerned about masts generally and I think Orange need to rethinks its whole strategy,” said Ms Frost. “I don’t want to see lots of masts in Farnham and I would welcome the opportunity to talk with Orange and to ask them if they have got this right.” Ms Frost is concerned that Orange is not liaising with local residents over its proposals for the masts. “We don’t want to see masts all over the Bourne or Abbots Ride but it’s not just these places, it’s all over south Farnham which concerns me. I think that it is better for the people who live there if it is resolved sooner rather than later,” she said. Zofia Lovell, secretary of the Abbots Ride Residents’ Association, is grateful for the support of Ms Frost. “We agree with Pat Frost. We represent more than 60 households and adjacent roads who have been left in a state of ‘limbo’ by Orange who constantly avoid communicating their precise intentions to the people it most affects, causing stress and anguish,” she said. “The proposal by Orange to erect a 15-metre high mast at Waverley Lane and Tilford Road will adversely blight the approach to Farnham from Godalming and Tilford. Mobile phone masts will intrude on an area of great landscape value, as officially recognised by Waverley Borough Council. It is the intention of the Abbots Ride Residents’ Association to ensure that Orange is not allowed to ruin Farnham,” she added. Ms Lovell believes that all the anti-mast action groups in Farnham must work together if Orange ’s proposals are to be defeated. “We have been liaising with Ray Cuckow ( Manor Gardens ’ Mast Action Group) and Niki Hearnshaw (Bourne School Mast Action Group) and they have been supportive. The problem is everybody is fighting on their own and everyone is hoping that these issues will go somewhere else,” she explained. “What we need to do is to get Orange to come up with a proposal that is realistic. A realistic proposal is one that is as far way from homes and schools as possible.” This is a sentiment expressed by residents surveyed by the Manor Gardens ’ Mast Action Campaign Group. A key finding shows 97 per cent of residents preferring a single taller mast on high ground rather than the current proposal for 14 masts sited among homes and schools in Farnham. Ray Cuckow, joint campaign co-ordinator, said: “It is clear that the overwhelming majority prefer a single mast in the Bourne Woods. This is a sensible choice environmentally and minimises the very real safety fears. Orange should now withdraw their Manor Gardens and Bourne School proposals immediately.”

This is Staffordshire

12:00 - 24 June 2005

A Town's mayor is calling on residents to bombard MPs with their concerns over mobile phone masts. Stephen Ellis, who is also shadow portfolio holder for planning on Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, said shocking figures released by companies revealed up to 130,000 extra mobile phone masts could be needed across the UK.

He said that represented an average of 209 extra masts for every parliamentary constituency.

Mr Ellis said the figures had been triggered as mobile phone technology expands.

He said: "Many people are understandably concerned about the alleged health risks associated with mobile phone masts.

"Current planning laws allow masts less than 15m tall to be installed without needing any planning permission. This means masts could be put up in residential areas or near schools without people being made aware or allowed to comment.

"The government is currently reviewing planning regulations for masts. I believe all masts should be subject to planning permission like all other development proposals."

According to the study, rats that were fed MON 863 had smaller kidneys and elevated levels of white blood cells and lymphocytes compared to those that were fed conventional corn. In the United States and Canada, farmers have been growing MON 863 corn since 2003.

http://snipurl.com/ftzu


From Information Clearing House

Audio lecture
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9274.htm

Current US megalomania is rooted in the Puritan colonists' certainties.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9270.htm


From Information Clearing House

"There isn't any other nation in the world that would treat people who were determined to kill Americans the way we're treating these people.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5096907,00.html


From Information Clearing House



http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Folter-++Torture/
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Irak-Krieg/

Our loved ones gave their lives in the service of this country. They all died in the Iraq war. When they went to that war they believed they were being sent to defend our country. They were told it was their duty to disarm the Saddam regime of its weapons of mass destruction.

http://snipurl.com/fu07


From Information Clearing House

Warning

This reports contain images that should only be viewed by adults.
http://snipurl.com/fu04


From Information Clearing House

Three in five want troops out as President vows to stay
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=649440


From Information Clearing House

In a worrying sign for the White House, which has tended to paint war critics as unpatriotic, Republican senators appear less reluctant to raise concerns about the way the administration is running the campaign in Iraq.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d1b746e8-e43c-11d9-a754-00000e2511c8.html


From Information Clearing House

Speak to any Iraqi and they will tell you their standard of living has not improved since the toppling of Saddam Hussein two years ago. Many will tell you it has got worse.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4618359.stm


From Information Clearing House

says anti-war tribunal:

The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), a grouping of NGOs, intellectuals and writers opposed to the war in Iraq, on Friday accused the United States of causing more deaths in Iraq than ousted president Saddam Hussein.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/154590/1/.html


From Information Clearing House

As the costs of the Iraq occupation spiral, British and American oil companies meet in secret next week to carve up the country's oil reserves for themselves. Tom Burgis reports.

http://www.thelondonline.co.uk/theline/article.php?articleID=437


From Information Clearing House

http://snipurl.com/ftyu


From Information Clearing House

No doubt like yourself, I love this country. I love her with all my heart and soul and mind and sinew.

By Dom Stasi

So. I for one will not stand idly by and watch it all brought to its knees in the gutless coup our current “leadership” and their treasonous puppeteers are attempting. Will you?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9271.htm

http://www.ghorganics.com/WHAT%20THE%20CHEMICAL%20INDUSTRY%20FEARS.htm


Informant: Deborah Elaine Barrie

http://washtimes.com/upi/20050624-043244-1802r.htm


Informant: Kev Hall

RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS #820
http://www.rachel.org
June 23, 2005


ISN'T IT TIME WE REGULATED CHEMICALS?

By Tim Montague*

If you read almost any newspaper these days, you learn the following kinds of information:

** Many plastic toys contain chemicals that can interfere with the sexual development of laboratory animals and are now thought capable of doing the same in baby boys.[1]

** Most of the rivers and streams in the U.S. are contaminated with low levels of chemicals that can change the sexual orientation of fish and can interfere with reproduction in animals that feed on fish.[2]

** Dozens of toxic chemicals have recently been measured in household dust, indicating that common consumer products are contaminating our homes with toxicants.[3]

You might ask yourself, isn't the government regulating dangerous chemicals? Unfortunately, the answer is No, not in any effective way.

About 1700 new chemicals are put into commercial use each year, almost entirely untested for their effects on humans and the natural world.[4]

After a chemical causes enough harm for someone to take notice, then the government conducts a numerical risk assessment (aka, quantitative risk assessment) on an individual chemical. The point of a numerical risk assessment is to learn how much of a chemical is "safe" to eat, drink, and breathe. Then the government may try to regulate releases of that chemical. But fewer than 1% of all chemicals are currently regulated. (See Rachel's #815.)

A scientist at the University of Oregon has described why numerical risk assessment doesn't work, and has suggested other ways we could control chemical hazards.[5] Dr. Joe Thornton -- a biologist -- explains that numerical risk assessment is a fundamentally inappropriate way to control persistent pollutants (such as heavy metals and chemicals containing chlorine) for two reasons:

1) It assumes that we can learn all the ways that every individual chemical can cause harm in humans and in the natural environment -- but there aren't enough scientists in the world to do this.

2) Many industrial chemicals tend to stick around for a long time and move from place to place in ways that are impossible to predict, so often we don't even know what we're looking for.

Thornton proposes we adopt four new ways of regulating chemicals -- zero discharge, clean production, reverse onus, and phasing out entire classes of persistent chemicals -- because the old way (regulating one chemical at a time at the end of the discharge pipe) simply doesn't work.

Risk assessment assumes that damage is local, short-lived, and predictable. But organisms and the environment are complex, interconnected, and only partly understood (to put it mildly). Therefore, we cannot predict cause-and-effect in any reliable way. In the face of these insurmountable difficulties, we can take a precautionary stance: when we have good reason to suspect harm, yet we have scientific uncertainty, we can err on the side of caution. Faced with choices, we can give the benefit of the doubt to public health and to nature.

Thornton's four principles begin to clarify how the precautionary principal can work in the real world. These principles are:

ZERO DISCHARGE -- Persistent and bioaccumulative toxicants are incompatible with ecological processes, and no amount of their release into the environment is acceptable.[6]

CLEAN PRODUCTION -- We can consider alternative technologies up front and avoid the use of known toxicants in manufacturing. Finding alternatives rather than approving pollutants becomes the focus.[7] For example, in dry cleaning, we can replace perchloroethylene (perc) with CO2 and water-based methods.

REVERSE ONUS -- Apply the same logic used in drug safety: give manufacturers the responsibility to show that a product is reasonably safe for use before it can be released into the environment. This shifts the burden of proof from society to the chemical companies to provide information about their products, to monitor for harmful effects and to come clean about their findings.

EMPHASIS ON LARGE CLASSES OF CHEMICALS -- Faced with the impossibilities of measuring the impacts of individual chemicals, simply phase out entire classes of compounds that are clearly problematic. PCBs, CFCs and lead compounds are all examples of classes of chemicals that have been phased out because of their hazards.[5]

Thornton gives six reasons why the current risk paradigm is so flawed:

1. ACCUMULATION OF PERSISTENT POLLUTANTS

Risk-based approaches assume that nature and living things can absorb and assimilate synthetic chemicals, breaking them down and digesting them. This may be true for sewage, oil, and other naturally occurring substances. But persistent organic pollutants (POPs) like pesticides, solvents, refrigerants, etc. often resist natural breakdown and can persist for years, decades or centuries. (See Rachel's #284, #505, #611.)

Many POPs and metallic pollutants are fat-soluble and thus bioaccumulate as they move up the food chain. Top predators like humans, bears, and big fish can accumulate chemical concentrations that are tens of millions of times greater than typical environmental levels.

Persistence and bioaccumulation mean that even very small discharges of synthetic chemicals can build up to dangerous levels in our bodies over time. The general public's average body burden for some of the best studied pollutants is already at or near the range at which health impacts have been found in laboratory animals.[5] To avoid this problem, we can declare that there is no level of acceptable discharge for chemicals that persist or magnify in the food chain -- in other words, we can adopt a zero-discharge policy.

2. CUMULATIVE GLOBAL POLLUTION

Numerical risk assessment oversimplifies the real world and considers environmental risks to be local in time and space. Once a chemical disperses beyond some horizon, it is assumed to do no further harm. So industry is encouraged to dot the landscape with sources of pollution that collectively begin to overwhelm the biosphere but which are individually within acceptable limits. As a result the entire planet has become polluted.

3. TOXICOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY

The science of numerical risk assessment is based on the premise that we can calculate a chemical's impact on the health of living things. Risk assessors do this by measuring the toxicity of individual chemicals on individual species -- usually rats, mice and other small mammals. There are at least 70,000 synthetic chemicals being used in commerce today (up from 40,000 in 1991). Risk assessment considers the toxicity of an individual pollutant acting alone -- when in reality each chemical is acting in concert with a myriad of other chemicals in the environment.

This poses a huge problem -- studying multiple chemical exposures is very costly and time-consuming. It would require 33 million experiments just to learn something about the effects of 25 different chemicals on a single species over a short period of time (13 weeks). A similar study of just 1% of the 70,000 chemicals in commerce would require 10E210 experiments (that is, 10 with 210 zeroes behind it). Trillions upon trillions upon trillions of experiments -- you can see that science as we know it is not prepared to tackle this problem. On the other hand, the risk-assessment solution is easy: Just ignore multiple chemical exposures.

4. INADEQUATE DATA

Industry's capacity for inventing new chemicals has overwhelmed the regulatory system's ability to study their potential harms. The chemical industry is introducing at least 1700 new chemicals into commerce each year.[4] The U.S. National Toxicology Program conducts assessments on just 10 to 20 substances per year. At this rate we are falling at least 90 years behind in our knowledge each year that passes. A study by the National Research Council in 1997 concluded that we lack even minimal toxicity information for 70% of the most worrisome chemicals -- those that are manufactured in high volume and are already suspected of harming the environment.

The risk-assessment solution: If you don't have data on the toxicity of a substance, assume the risk is ZERO. Just ignore the problem. Here, reverse onus plays an important role in putting the burden of proof on industry to collect and reveal data on new chemicals prior to their general release or manufacture.

5. FORMATION OF CHEMICAL MIXTURES AND BYPRODUCTS

The nature of industrial chemistry is messy. When you mix chemicals under diverse industrial circumstances you inevitably produce new and unexpected byproducts. Joe Thornton gives three examples of how we are flying blind:

a) Paper manufacturing. The effluent from pulp mills contain over 300 organochlorine byproducts; including dioxins, furans, phenols, benzenes, thiophenes, methyl-sulfones, methanes, ethanes, acids and PCBs. We have only identified 3 to 10% of the organically bound chlorine in pulp effluent. In other words, we are 90-97% ignorant of what is coming out of the pipe.

b) Incineration. Incinerator emissions are estimated to contain over 1,000 products of incomplete combustion (complete combustion would reduce the fuel to carbon dioxide and water). Yet we have identified only 40-60% of these chemical effluents.

c) Pesticide manufacture. Byproducts account for almost 20% of DDT manufacture by weight. Many of these byproducts have never even been identified.

We don't know the names, structures or toxicity of many of the chemical byproducts formed in industrial processes. Even though we phased out purposeful manufacture of PCBs they -- and dioxins, an unwanted byproduct -- are still being introduced into the environment as side-effects of chlorine chemistry. To prevent global contamination with dioxin, we would need to phase out the whole class of organochlorines.

6. POLLUTION CONTROL AND DISPOSAL

End-of-pipe pollution control and disposal technologies do little to prevent global environmental contamination. If you manufacture a substance that breaks down slowly and tends to accumulate in living things, it will eventually spread throughout the living world. Scrubbers, filters, precipitators, incinerators, and landfills are all just ways of temporarily moving a substance from one location or form to another (a shell-game). In the end, everything that persists will disperse into the air, water, land and living things and people will be affected. Landfills leak, incinerators generate toxic ash and gas, and even the best pollution controls are never 100% effective.

Thornton helps us realize that we are foolish to try to control chemicals with the end-of-the-pipe risk-assessment approach. Instead, we can use the precautionary principle and acknowledge that:

a) Some chemicals don't belong in the environment (zero discharge) and are best regulated away as entire classes of compounds;

b) With the right combination of carrots and sticks as motivation, industry can find clean technologies (clean production); and

c) The burden of proof (aka "reverse onus") can be placed on the industries that want to introduce new chemicals -- to show that they have done their best to understand the consequences of their actions -- thus motivating them to innovate and develop clean technologies. No data? No market.


* Tim Montague is Associate Director of Environmental Research Foundation. He holds an M.S. degree in ecology from University of Wisconsin-Madison and lives in Chicago.

[1] http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/2005/gs050530.4.html

[2] See
http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/2005/gs050530.7.html and
http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/2005/gs050420.13.html and
http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/2003/gs030108.7.html and
http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/2004/gs040302.13.html
http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/2002/gs020730.7.html

[3] http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/2003/gs030108.7.html

[4] See
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2004/pma/newchemicals.xls
and http://archive.gao.gov/t2pbat3/151661.pdf

[5] Joe Thornton, "Beyond Risk: An Ecological Paradigm to Prevent Global Chemical Pollution" INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Vol. 6 (2000) pgs. 318-330. Available at
http://www.rachel.org/library/getfile.cfm?ID=536 And see Rachel's #704, which reviews Thornton's book, Pandora's Poison.

[6] International Joint Commission. FIFTH BIENNIAL REPORT ON GREAT LAKES WATER QUALITY. Windsor, ON, Canada, 1990. Available here: http://www.ijc.org/php/publications/pdf/ID603.pdf

[7] Mary O'Brien, MAKING BETTER ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS; AN ALTERNATIVE TO RISK ASSESSMENT (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000). ISBN: 0262650533



RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 160
New Brunswick, N.J. 08903
Fax (732) 791-4603; E-mail: erf@rachel.org

http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern06242005.html


Informant: Carol Moore

From: ufpj-news



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062505Y.shtml


Informant: NHNE

Erstmals fand sich eine qualifizierte Mehrheit und lehnte ein Aufweichen nationaler Regelungen durch die EU-Kommission ab.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20393/1.html

Schily hat's mal wieder eilig: Deutsche preschen bei Biometrie-Pass vor
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/787698/

Greenpeace: Genmais kann gesundheitsschädlich sein
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/787406/

Deutscher Papiergroßhandel ist mitverantwortlich für Umweltzerstörung
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/789360/

"Wissenschaftlicher" Walfang tötet 8.000 Wale
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/786393/

Unterlagen über Gen-Mais-Fütterungsversuche veröffentlicht
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/786376/

Massive Holzeinschläge in Hessens Wäldern empören Naturschützer
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/780248/

Armut durch Klopapier und "Tempo"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/775883/

Trinkwasser in Gefahr?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/775887/

King George Forever?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/774062/

Pachtland ohne Gentechnik - Den Anbau von Gen-Mais verhindern
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/761577/

Walfang - Proteste in Neuseeland
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/765601/

Was kostet ein Abschied von Rot-Grün?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/757232/

Angela Merkel will die Energiewende bremsen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/757231/

Bei Wahlsieg der Union: Tiefe Einschnitte ins Sozialsystem
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/758095/

Die tödlichen Schwächen des atomar-fosilen Energiesystems
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/757234/

CDU/CSU will auch Agrarwende rückwärts - Schwarze Zeiten für die grüne Landwirtschaft
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/757235/

Organschäden bei Testratten: Untersuchung zu Risiken von Gen-Mais zur Veröffentlichung freigegeben
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/755518/

Papierindustrie soll Menschenrechte achten und Urwälder schützen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/755520/

Die Bush-Regierung ohne Plan für den Irak nach dem Krieg
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/758606/

Auch Bush und Cheney stehen nicht über dem Gesetz
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/755523/

Zerstörung der Unterwasserwelt: Protest gegen Grundschleppfischerei im Atlantik
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/750665/

Walschutz: WWF-Studie ermittelt die am stärksten durch Beifang bedrohten Kleinwale
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/753017/

Alternativen zur zerstörerischen Papierherstellung
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/750655/

Naturraubbau am Amazonas
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/750680/

Die Überwachungsmafia: Wie Kühe mit Ohrmarke in den Überwachungsstaat
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/749254/

Erschreckendes Ausmaß der Umweltzerstörung
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/744817/

Angestellte an der elektronischen Leine
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/747823/

Warnung vor Überwachungswahn
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/747811/

Milliarden Dollar gegen Terror statt gegen Hunger
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/741322/

Klare Botschaft für ein sozialeres Europa
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/741325/

Kahlschlag im Tropenwald
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/741327/

Jede fünfte Vogelart gefährdet
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/741319/

Bundes-Verbraucherschutzverband fordert generelles Verbot von Genmaissorte
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/739327/

Weitere Abu Ghraib-Bilder müssen nach Gerichtsurteil vom Pentagon freigegeben werden
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/742452/

Datenschützer kritisieren Biometrie-Pässe ab November als "Großversuch"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/737247/

Hinter der Theaterbühne
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/731826/

Töpfer: "Ökologische Zerstörung ist ökonomischer Selbstmord"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/725313/

Greenpeace warnt vor Waldsterben
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/726696/

Menschenrechtsverletzungen mit Vorbildcharakter
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/723663/

Für deutsche Bauern gibt es von Züchtern keine Garantie mehr auf gentech-freies Maissaatgut
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/723667/

Die Politik der Bush-Regierung hat für eine Verbreitung von nuklearen Massenvernichtungsmitteln gesorgt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/716383/

Über Geschichte, Ziele und Kritik der Pentagon-Filmarbeit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/716401/

100.000 Tote für einen Haufen Lügen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/706761/

136 US-Bürgermeister für Kyoto-Protokoll
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/709474/

Forderungen an Shell und die Bank für Wiederaufbau und Entwicklung: "Keine neue Ölbohrinsel vor Sachalin" - "Kein Geld für das Töten von Walen"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/713600/

Artenschützer werfen Walfängern systematische Zahlen-Manipulation vor
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/716277/

UNEP-Bericht: Artenvielfalt schwindet schneller
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/713621/

Genveränderte Maissorte unter Verdacht
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/713522/

China lässt kahl schlagen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/709478/

Ölausbeutung in Sachalin bedroht Grauwale
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/707038/

Kahlschlag in Brasilien: Waldfläche so groß wie die halbe Schweiz wird pro Jahr abgeholzt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/704241/

EU erlaubt mehr gefährliche Pestizide in Lebensmitteln
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/704246/

Wer plant Gentechnik mit Pockenviren?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/704329/

Salon

June 24, 2005

http://tinyurl.com/chatg

A few weeks ago, John Kerry vowed to make an issue of the Downing Street memo in the U.S. Senate. And then nothing happened -- or so it seemed.

In fact, Kerry has been working behind the scenes to get some of his Democratic colleagues to join him in calling for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to look into Downing Street, and now it's finally happening. Kerry -- joined by Sens. Jon Corzine, Tim Johnson, Ted Kennnedy, Frank Lautenberg, Barbara Boxer, Tom Harkin, Jack Reed, Jeff Bingaman and, yes, Dick Durbin -- has just written a letter to the committee's chairman and vice chairman, arguing that the revelations contained in the Downing Street memo "raise troubling questions about the use of intelligence" in the run up to the Iraq war and provide "renewed urgency" for the committee to complete an investigation that Republicans have said is no longer necessary.


DOWNING STREET UPDATE

by Larisa Alexandrovna

Raw Story

June 24, 2005

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2005/kerry_downing_street_letter_624.htm

Senator Kerry (D - MA) sends letter to Senate Intelligence Committee pressing for answers on the Downing Street Memo and other Downing documents.

The letter leaked to Raw Story, is also signed by Senators Johnson, Corzine, Reed, Lautenberg, Boxer, Kennedy, Harkin, Bingaman, and Durbin. The text of the letter is below.


June 22, 2005

The Honorable Pat Roberts, Chairman
The Honorable John D. Rockefeller, IV, Vice Chairman
United States Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence
SH-211

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Roberts and Senator Rockefeller:

We write concerning your committee's vital examination of pre-war Iraq intelligence failures. In particular, we urge you to accelerate to completion the work of the so-called "Phase II" effort to assess how policy makers used the intelligence they received.

Last year your committee completed the first phase of a two-phased effort to review the pre-war intelligence on Iraq. Phase I-begun in the summer of 2003 and completed in the summer of 2004 -- examined the performance of the American intelligence community in the collection and analysis of intelligence prior to the war, including an examination of the quantity and quality of U.S. intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and the intelligence on ties between Saddam Hussein's regime and terrorist groups. At the conclusion of Phase I, your committee issued an unclassified report that made an important contribution to the American public's understanding of the issues involved.

In February 2004 -- well over a year ago -- the committee agreed to expand the scope of inquiry to include a second phase which would examine the use of intelligence by policy makers, the comparison of pre-war assessments and post-war findings, the activities of the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group (PCTEG) and the Office of Special Plans in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and the use of information provided by the Iraqi National Congress.

The committee's efforts have taken on renewed urgency given recent revelations in the United Kingdom regarding the apparent minutes of a July 23, 2002, meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and his senior national security advisors. These minutes -- known as the "Downing Street Memo" -- raise troubling questions about the use of intelligence by American policy makers-questions that your committee is uniquely situated to address.

The memo indicates that in the summer of 2002, at a time the White House was promising Congress and the American people that war would be their last resort, that they believed military action against Iraq was "inevitable."

The minutes reveal that President "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."

The American people took the warnings that the administration sounded seriously-warnings that were echoed at the United Nations and here in Congress as we voted to give the president the authority to go to war. For the sake of our democracy and our future national security, the public must know whether such warnings were driven by facts and responsible intelligence, or by political calculation.

These issues need to be addressed with urgency. This remains a dangerous world, with American forces engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other challenges looming in Iran and North Korea. In this environment, the American public should have the highest confidence that policy makers are using intelligence objectively-never manipulating it to justify war, but always to protect the United States. The contents of the Downing Street Memo undermine this faith and only rigorous Congressional oversight can determine the truth.

We urge the committee to complete the second phase of its investigation with the maximum speed and transparency possible, producing, as it did at the end of Phase I, a comprehensive, unclassified report from which the American people can benefit directly.



CHENEY SAYS DOWNING STREET MEMO IS WRONG

The Drudge Report

June 24, 2005

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2.htm

Vice President Dick Cheney was asked on CNN about the 'Downing Street memo' which said the Bush Administration had decided to go to war with Iraq and the intelligence would be fixed around that policy.

Asked if he disputes the memo's claim, Cheney said, "Of course. The memo was written sometime prior to when we actually got involved in Iraq.

"And remember what happened after the supposed memo was written. We went to the United Nations. We got a unanimous vote out of the Security Council for a resolution calling on Saddam Hussein to come clean and comply with the UN Security Council resolution. We did everything we could to resolve this without having to use military force. We gave him one last chance even, and asked him to step down before we launched military operations.

"The memo is just wrong. In fact, the president of the United States took advantage of every possibility to try to resolve this without having to use military force. It wasn't possible in this case. I am convinced we did absolutely the right thing. I am convinced that history will bear that out."


Informant: NHNE



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/RCH/WRCHF624/


Informant: Jacques

Ein Kommentar

25. Juni 2005

Was einem Nichthandybesitzer derzeit so durch den Kopf geht

Da ich viel mit öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln unterwegs bin, kenne ich mittlerweile so viele Leute, dass ich das Gefühl habe, Teil einer riesigen, völlig durchgeknallten Familie zu sein. Ich weiß zum Beispiel, wo sich in Schurlis Kühlschrank das Gulasch befindet, ich weiß, welche Farbe das K... hatte, das Gabis Exfreund benutzte, als er mit Birgit v..., und ich weiß auch, dass der Typ, der eine Ausbildung zum Piloten macht, ein A... ist, weil er ständig für irgendwelche Prüfungen lernen muss, anstatt mit Iris auszugehen.

Geschichten, die täglich erzählt werden

Das ist nur ein winziger Bruchteil der Geschichten, die mir täglich erzählt werden. Egal, ob ich sie wissen will oder nicht. Die Leute erzählen und erzählen, und wenn sie nichts mehr zu erzählen haben, werden sie nervös, fummeln an ihren Handys herum, bis sie jemanden gefunden haben, dem sie wieder etwas erzählen können. Und ich bin immer dabei. Tagtäglich. Bis ich sterbe. Außer es werden alle Handymasten in die Luft gesprengt, oder es wird eine Steuer auf Handymasten eingeführt. Und dieser Tag könnte bald kommen - oder auch nicht.

Als hätte man gerade ihr letztes Handy gestohlen

An dem Tag jedenfalls, an dem die niederösterreichische Landesregierung die Handymastensteuer beschloss, habe ich mir die "Zeit im Bild" ohne Ton angesehen, weil ich gerade von meinem Festnetz aus telefonierte. Dabei ließ der Gesichtsausdruck einzelner Politiker zunächst befürchten, dass eine gröbere Katastrophe passiert wäre. Der Vizekanzler verdrehte die Augen, als hätte ihm sein Spezi aus Kärnten soeben mitgeteilt, dass es ab morgen eine neue Parteifarbe gäbe; auf der Stirn des Chefs der Industriellenvereinigung bildeten sich staatsmännische Falten, die an den Grand Canyon erinnerten, und ein paar Herren in fast identen Businessanzügen schnitten Grimassen, als hätte man ihnen gerade ihr letztes Handy gestohlen.

Steuer

Als ich wieder den Ton einschaltete, klärte sich alles auf: Diese Leute regten sich nicht über ein menschenunwürdiges Asylgesetz in Österreich auf, sie empörten sich nicht darüber, dass in diesem Land immer mehr Leute verarmen, sie waren nicht entsetzt über Politiker, die den Holocaust anzweifeln, nein, sie tobten, weil die niederösterreichische Landesregierung eine Steuer auf Handymasten einheben möchte.

In Österreich gibt es 18.000 Handymasten, die nicht nur die Gegend verschandeln, sondern mit an Sicherheit grenzender Wahrscheinlichkeit auch gesundheitsschädigend sind. Kann mir bitte jemand erklären, was dagegen spricht, diese Masten massiv zu besteuern? (Allerdings gebe ich gerne zu: Mit diesem Argument könnte man auch eine Hansi-Hinterseer-Steuer einführen - dazu ein andermal.)

Populismus

Aber diese Debatte zeigt wieder einmal auf eindrucksvolle Weise, wie tief das politische Niveau in diesem Land bereits gesunken ist. Weil sie wissen, dass ihr Populismus in diesem Fall auf fruchtbaren Boden fällt, ziehen bestimmte Politiker sämtliche Register ihres zweifelhaften Könnens und faseln etwas von "gefährdeter Grundversorgung", "eingeschränkter Mobilität" und "Angriff auf die Informationsgesellschaft".

"Geldbeschaffungsaktion"

Sehr oft hört man auch das Wort "Geldbeschaffungsaktion", die es strikte abzulehnen gelte. Wo waren diese Herren in den letzten fünf Jahren, als Dutzende Gesetze beschlossen wurden, die tatsächlich brutale Geldbeschaffungsaktionen waren und die an die Substanz Hunderttausender Österreicherinnen und Österreicher gingen? Wo waren sie, als die Studiengebühren eingeführt wurden? Wo waren sie, als die Pensionen gekürzt wurden?

Richtig, sie gehörten zu denjenigen, die diese Gesetze mitbeschlossen hatten. Und jetzt regen sie sich über ein Gesetz auf, das den multimillionenschweren Handybetreiberfirmen ein paar Millionen Euro pro Jahr kostet! Na und?

Lehrstück

Für alle, die wissen möchten, wie der Kapitalismus unserer Tage funktioniert, der soll sich dieses Spektakel genauer ansehen, das ein Lehrstück für die Mechanismen des Zusammenspiels zwischen Staat und Großkapital ist. Leider ist dieses Stück aber nicht lustig, weil darin ausschließlich Schmierenkomödianten mitspielen.

Und wie es ausgeht, wissen wir auch schon. Am Schluss werden die Zuschauer zur Kasse gebeten.(Der Standard Printausgabe, 25./26. Juni 2005, Kurt Palm)

Kurt Palm lebt als handyloser Autor und Regisseur in Wien. Zuletzt kam sein Film "Der Wadenmesser oder Das wilde Leben des Wolfgang Mozart" in die heimischen Kinos.

http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=2091400


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim

We are Killing the Planet: That is Not an Exaggeration
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/792347/

CLIMATE EXPERT PREDICTS STRONGER, WETTER STORMS
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/781315/

Californians fear 'Big One' after four quakes
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/776404/

Rising temperatures bring threat of new diseases
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/785247/

How Warming Is Changing the Wild Kingdom
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/786899/

US Biotech Firm sees FDA Approving Cloned Meat
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/790091/

Fight looms over state biomonitoring efforts: Industry opposes measuring contaminants in humans
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/782585/

Transgenic Trees Pose Risks for Natural Foresters
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/788078/

Food agency accused of Stalinist tactics over GM maize cover-up
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/780309/

Protect our Marine Mammals: Reject Seismic Testing
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/782070/

STOP JAPAN'S DESPICABLE VOTE BUYING
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/780889/

Stop Japan From Ending the Humpback’s Song Forever: Save Humpback Whales
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/783411/

Staring at Extinction: Mountain Caribou in British Columbia
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/792000/

The last of Canada's rainforests are at risk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/792010/

Help save B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/792297/

Vote USA 2004
http://omega.twoday.net/to

Iraq War
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Irak-Krieg/

Is Iran next?
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next

Tsunami
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Tsunami/

RFID
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/RFID/

EMF-Omega-News 25. June 2005
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/793111/

Study finds association between benign brain tumor, analog phone use
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/792696/

Spanish study and Austrian, no replication but refutation, only ignored
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/792859/

Cellphone health lawsuit to go ahead
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/777288/

Mast plan raises child cancer fear
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/779201/

THE CASES OF BURRIANA CANCER HAVE BEEN THE DETONATING OF THIS EFFECT DOMINATED IN CASTELLÓN
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/792787/

Coltan Mining: No Blood On My Mobile
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/781281/

ASL: European ENQUIRY - Présentation Enquête Nationale
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/782145/

ASL Infos: Daily report for French people
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/780209/

Phone masts shock for county
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/776613/

Mast protesters seek bats' probe
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/776606/

The ecologists accuse the employer's association to cause a unjustified alarm
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/778420/

County blocks bid to buy phone mast land
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/779182/

Protestors’ delight at mast fight win
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/782079/

Mast protesters win their battle
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/784128/

Masts making us ill
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/784153/

Council will fight phone mast laws
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/784188/

Round two in mast fight to residents
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/784405/

Raising kids with conscience
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/785757/

Stunell continues fight for Mobile Phone Mast Controls
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/787659/

Phone mast site options thrown out
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791604/

TOWN COUNCIL DIVIDED BY PHONE MAST PLANS
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791632/

Call to halt mobile mast plan
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791669/

Don't ignore mast concerns
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791684/

Seeing red over Orange
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791698/

Mast joy soured
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791724/

Endocrine Disruptors & Precautionary Principle - Research Scientists' Statement
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791498/

Qld. Planning & Environmental Court sets 4 mG level
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791615/

Residents want more communication from phone giant
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791873/

Lowhill mast is a high talking point
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791885/

Anger as mast gets green light
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791893/

Mast plans defeated after parents voice safety fears
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791940/

Joy as mast plan is scrapped
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791951/

Colourful opposition to Orange
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791959/

Childhood cancer and powerlines
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/792831/

Magenta News from Mast Network
http://tinyurl.com/4pe6m

Omega-News Collection 25. June 2005
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/793113/

MONDEX= Money on your Hand

http://www.das-gibts-doch-nicht.de/pps/mondex_ge.pps
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&biw=800&q=VeriChip+&btnG=Suche&meta=
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&biw=800&q=Mondex-SmartCard&btnG=Suche&meta=


Informant: atlant

The Acceptable Risk Calculator

Here is something my son fell over in a Danish newspaper, checked out and mailed to me.

It really is worth checking out.

The YES men http://www.theyesmen.org are 2 guys who have made a documentary-film, where they pretend to represent big heartless corporations at industrial-seminars etc.

And they do a: "Identity correction" which they describe as:

"Honest people impersonate big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else."

They have invented an advanced joke in "the Acceptable Risk Calculator" which can tell corporations and governments if a project can get to be a "golden skeleton in the closet" based on risici involved, how many they expect will be killed and in which area the project will be launced in.

They use a a model the Bhopal catastrofe, but there are many similarities with the mobile communication industry bullies.

Specially read about their hilarious "Acceptable Risk Calculator" præsentation, during which they were applauded by a flock of corporate "yobs": http://www.dowethics.com/risk/launch.html

They have put the whole issue in a nutshell.

Best regards.

Agnes
http://www.mast-victims.org

--------

Agnes is right here, the WHO, not just WTO, weighs cost and benefit of risk, and decides money "benefits" or how many lives.

I'll add this page too as a good example of how desperate achieving common sense has become:

http://www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/iceage/index.shtml

Andy

http://tinyurl.com/akz4w


Informant: NoName

Over four years ago, more than four months prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks, in April 2001, a long-term FBI informant/asset who had been providing the bureau with information since 1990 provided two FBI agents and a translator with specific information regarding a terrorist attack being planned by Osama bin Laden. This asset/informant was previously a high-level intelligence officer in Iran in charge of intelligence from Afghanistan. Through his contacts in Afghanistan, he received information that...

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3714

America's founders knew all too well how war appeals to the vanity of rulers and their thirst for glory. That's why they took care to deny presidents the kingly privilege of making war at their own discretion. But after 9/11 President Bush, with obvious relish, declared himself a "war president." And he kept the nation focused on martial matters by morphing the pursuit of Al Qaeda into a war against Saddam Hussein.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3707

The Defense Department and a private contractor have been building an extensive database of 30 million 16-to-25-year-olds, combining names with Social Security numbers, grade-point averages, e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3705

http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/news/20050622_draper.asp


Informant: NoName



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

http://tinyurl.com/atehe


Informant: NoName



Cluster in Spain 2000-2004
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/466717/

Sonnenlichtvernebelung, Trockenheit, Temperatursenkungen, Stürme und Luftvergiftung durch Sprühflugzeuge?

http://www.chemtrails.at/


Informant: atlant

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=19045


Informant: Bigraccoon

The Whispering Campaign is your chance to help accelerate the spread of information from the blogosphere to the rest of the country.

http://psstpsstpsst.blogspot.com/

The Bush Administration is trying to woo New Delhi into a close military and strategic relationship.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10332349


From Information Clearing House

Gallup has found that Americans opposed the return of the military draft by overwhleming numbers, with 85% against it, the highest level ever.

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000967815


From Information Clearing House

Recruiters Sink to New Lows:

While the stunning list of recruiting abuses has received some needed media attention, it's worth reviewing the extremes to which the military has gone to fill its ranks.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=3705


From Information Clearing House

Prospect of careers, citizenship not worth the danger, he warns
http://snipurl.com/f2k3


From Information Clearing House

A profound sense of disappointment with the American people greeted me here in Istanbul where the final session of the World Tribunal on Iraq, investigating and documenting war crimes in Iraq, modeled on the Bertrand Russell Vietnam War Tribunal of 1967, is convening.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9268.htm

Opening Speech Arundhati Roy:

Saddam Hussein is being tried as a war criminal even as we speak. But what about those who helped to install him in power, who armed him, who supported him - and who are now setting up a tribunal to try him and absolve themselves completely?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9259.htm

Censorship:

So the American government is pressuring foreign countries to censor their news. Aside from the fact that this act is the height of arrogance by the United States, it makes it exceedingly clear why so many Americans who rely on the corporate media for their news continue to be so misinformed/un-informed about the goings on in Iraq.

http://snipurl.com/ftbl


From Information Clearing House

International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment yesterday after the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5259.htm

Two years on, the echoes of Vietnam are getting louder:

There is no hint of shared purpose, mutual sympathy and respect between the armoured columns rolling along the roads, intermittently belching fire, and the hapless mass of local people, caring only for survival.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1513338,00.html


From Information Clearing House

"The insurgency in Iraq is in its last throes." Vice President Dick Cheney, in May: Even the Central Intelligence Agency now admits that Iraq is the new Afghanistan - breeding a new, lethal generation of jihadis. Iraq has also been the new Vietnam since the day the resistance was born, April 18, 2003, in front of the Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GF25Ak04.html


From Information Clearing House

The majority of Americans has gone from delusion to denial to the awareness, now just dawning, that they were misled and that the war is a tragic mistake.

http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Max_Castro&otherweek


From Information Clearing House

Forget it!

by Norman Solomon

While American viewers, listeners and readers are apt to be aware that in 1979 some radical Iranians took American diplomats hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held them for more than a year -- other historical facts tend to be hazy or entirely absent. That suits the White House just fine. From a Machiavellian standpoint, the best remedy for unpleasant historical facts -- distant or recent -- is silence about them.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9257.htm

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/06/24/the_return_of_1984/


Informant: Shanti Renfrew

HANDYMASTEN-STEUER: Trotz "fataler Signalwirkung" darf Niederösterreich Steuer einheben

Regierung hört nicht auf Handy-Proteste

WIEN. Die niederösterreichische Handymasten-Steuer dürfte von der Bundesregierung nicht gekippt werden. Die Abgabe sei "auf höchster politischer Ebene" akkordiert, hieß es am Rande eines Symposiums.

Bundeskanzler Wolfgang Schüssel hatte sich zuvor als "Föderalist deklariert" und das "Steuererfindungsrecht der Länder unterstrichen". Vizekanzler Hubert Gorbach hatte mehrmals gesagt, er werde sich für einen Einspruch der Bundesregierung einsetzen.

Die Handymasten-Steuer hat nicht nur in Österreich die Gemüter erhitzt, im Ausland löst diese neue Abgabe Verwunderung aus. Die OÖN berichteten.

Inzwischen sehen auch Experten des Infrastrukturministeriums "erhebliche Auswirkungen auf den Marktwert der Unternehmen" und eine "fatale" Signalwirkung.

vom 25.06.2005
http://www.nachrichten.at/wirtschaft/367556?PHPSESSID=36399a2ee6e41680bdb4c01e68db43c6
(Auszug)