http://www.counterpunch.org/lake08202005.html


Informant: Deb

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3307/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Tote Hühner bei CDU: Tierschützer fordern weltweites Ende der Versuche mit Affen (22.08.05)

Der 5. Weltkongress über Alternativen zu Tierversuchen hat sich für ein Ende der Tierversuche mit Affen ausgesprochen. In einer am Montag in Berlin verabschiedeten Resolution wurde ein weltweites Verbot für solche Tierversuche gefordert. Mehrere Arten sind nach Forscherangaben vom Aussterben bedroht. Daher forderte der Kongress eine international abgestimmte Strategie, um Experimente an Primaten schnellstmöglich durch Alternativmethoden vollständig zu ersetzen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11672

22.08.05

Eine Initiative "Aktion Wahlstreik" forderte am Montag die Einführung bundesweiter Volksabstimmungen. Bei vielen Wahlberechtigten sei nicht das Desinteresse an der Politik dafür verantwortlich, dass sie nicht an der Wahl teilnähmen. Vielmehr fühlten sich viele Menschen machtlos und ignoriert, was die politischen Entscheidungen angehe. Bei vielen wichtigen Fragen werde die Bevölkerung übergangen. Menschen die an der kommenden Bundestagswahl aus diesem Grund nicht teilnehmen wollten, könnten jetzt ihre Wahlbenachrichtigung an die Initiative senden und damit die Einführung bundesweiter Volksabstimmungen fordern. Auch eine Bürgerinitiative mit dem Namen "prosperRegio" setzte sich am Montag die Einführung von Volksentscheiden ein. Nur noch ein kleiner Teil der Bevölkerung hätte überhaupt noch Vertrauen in die Parteien, lautet die Argumentation. Politker würden die Probleme alleine nicht lösen können und sollten sich nun von der Bervölkerung "helfen lassen".

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11668

ASL demande à Hervé MARITON Député de la Drôme et Maire de CREST de soutenir la proposition de loi N° 2491 du 13 Juillet 2005.

http://www.omega-news.info/assemblee_nationale_proposition_de_loi_2491.pdf

http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/ten-things-congress-could-demand-from.html

by Juan Cole, Informed Comment

Civil war in Iraq will mean a million dead, millions displaced and a global economic collapse. Congress must understand this.

http://www.tompaine.com/

by James Sample, TomPaine.com

McCain-Feingold was meant to clean up elections. Now both parties are undermining it by nominating opponents to the FEC.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050822/the_corruption_commission.php

by Norman Solomon, TomPaine.com

As long as public opinion is against a losing war and not the war itself, the president has an obvious exit strategy: escalate.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050822/dont_give_bush_an_exit_strategy.php

by William Fisher

As whistleblower Sibel Edmonds asked the Supreme Court to review her dismissed case against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), mainstream media continues to refer to the government’s defense -- the so-called State Secrets Privilege -- as “rarely used.” In fact it has been used over sixty times since its creation in the 1950s. The State Secrets Privilege is a series of American legal precedents allowing the federal government the ability to dismiss legal cases that it claims would threaten foreign policy, military intelligence or national security. A relic of the Cold War, it has been invoked several times since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Judges have denied the privilege on only five occasions....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Fisher0822.htm

by Robert Jensen

The failed war in Iraq -- and its effect on the U.S. military -- has the potential to spark the U.S. public to fundamentally rethink the role of force in U.S. foreign policy, and one of the central questions for the future of the United States is whether this questioning can mature and deepen. Can we in the so-called “lone superpower” face that we are now a nation of mercenaries?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Jensen0822.htm

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Goldsmith0822.htm



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/horton.php?articleid=7032


Informant: Milo

By Tom Yulsman

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_2954217

08/20/2005 07:41:22 PM

Scientists usually pride themselves as being above the political fray. But earlier this summer, three climate researchers not only found themselves at the center of the battle over global warming but also victims of a political inquisition.

The inquisitor was Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. His targets were Michael E. Mann of the University of Pennsylvania and two colleagues. The congressman demanded that the scientists turn over records related to every bit of climate research they had ever overseen. Among other things, Barton asked for a listing of every study they had completed, every source of funding for their work, the location of all of their data archives, a detailed description of everything they had done with the data since publication of their study and all of their computer code. Barton also demanded answers to a series of questions that in tone and substance seemed appropriate for a criminal investigation.

The scientists' alleged crime? A reconstruction of climate history showing that the latter half of the 20th century was warmer than any other period in the past 1,000 years. The reconstruction, a graph whose shape has earned it the moniker of the "hockey stick," was one important piece of evidence among many that humans are causing global warming. This view is held by the vast majority of climate scientists and is reflected in reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Barton says his probe was motivated by the findings of Steve McIntyre, a mining industry executive, and Ross McKitrick, an environmental economist, who claim to have invalidated the so-called hockey stick graph. Never mind that the Canadians' study, published in a self-avowed political "journal" without peer review, has itself been invalidated. Barton's real motivation is suggested by the company he keeps. The top industries supporting him since 1989 have been oil and gas and electric utilities, which have contributed more than $1.7 million to his campaign coffers.

The congressman's inquisition of three mainstream climate scientists has brought attention once again to a festering issue: the politicization of science. It gained publicity during the presidential campaign when the Union of Concerned Scientists accused the White House of abusing science at federal agencies. "There is significant evidence that the scope and scale of the manipulation, suppression, and misrepresentation of science by the Bush administration is unprecedented," the report charged.

John H. Marburger III, science adviser to President Bush and a self-described "lifelong Democrat," called some of the report's conclusions "preposterous." Whether they really are is unclear. But it is only fair to point out that the union is a left-leaning advocacy group. And just as it decries politicization of science, so do conservative groups, which charge that the same tactics have long been used to support environmental regulation.

If what government researchers themselves say is any indication, however, then political interference with science is real and very troubling. A survey of 460 scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, completed in June by the Union of Concerned Scientists, bears this out. Among the findings, 53 percent of respondents said they knew of cases in which "commercial interests have inappropriately induced the reversal or withdrawal of scientific conclusions or decisions through political intervention." And 58 percent knew of cases in which "high-level U.S. Department of Commerce administrators and appointees have inappropriately altered NOAA Fisheries' determinations."

These findings mirror those of an earlier survey of 1,400 biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Even more troubling, the administration seems to be censoring politically inconvenient science. In 2002, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency removed a section on global warming from an annual report on pollution, after the White House had heavily edited the section for political reasons.

This fits a pattern of censorship. In March, Rick S. Piltz resigned his position as a senior associate at the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, citing pervasive politicization of science by the Bush administration. In a 14-page memo he sent in June to officials who deal with climate change at 10 agencies, he described in detail how the White House was interfering with the scientific mission of the program. "I believe the overarching problem is that the administration ... does not want and has acted to impede forthright communication of the state of climate science and its implications for society," he wrote. Politicization by the White House "has fed back directly into the science program in such a way as to undermine the credibility and integrity of the program," Piltz added.

One "flagrant and fundamental example," he said, involved a scientific report on the potential consequences of climate change in the United States. This "National Assessment" was produced with the help of hundreds of scientists and went through extensive review by experts. Yet the White House, Piltz wrote, "decided early on to essentially send the National Assessment into a black hole." It did this by deleting it from reports that would be seen by Congress and the public.

Recent documentation unearthed by New York Times reporter Andrew C. Revkin supports Piltz's charges. The documents show that a White House official edited climate science reports to discount the human impact on warming. Philip A. Cooney, then chief of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and a former official with the American Petroleum Institute, made dozens of changes. For example, in a 2002 draft of a summary of government climate-change research called "Our Changing Planet," Cooney crossed out a paragraph on shrinking glaciers and snow pack. In margin notes, he claimed the paragraph was "straying from research strategy into speculative findings/musings."

It's simply not appropriate for a political operative to make a scientific judgment like this, says William Collins, a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and a lead author of a major report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scheduled for release in 2007. "It is an abuse of that person's position of power to edit a document in that way."

If censorship of government reports were not enough, the administration is trying to muzzle government scientists as well. A prominent example is James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and a respected climate researcher. According to Hansen, in 2004 Sean O'Keefe, administrator of the space agency at the time, instructed him to stop talking publicly about human contributions to global warming.

The Bush administration is not alone in this, as the Joe Barton affair demonstrates. The congressman clearly is trying to intimidate researchers into shutting up about global warming, and also to sow doubt about the validity of climate science.

Caspar Ammann, an NCAR researcher who recently reproduced the hockey stick graph of Michael Mann and his colleagues, says Barton's inquiry is not intended to take a fair and balanced look at the science. Barton is asking for "every piece of work they ever did, every grant in their whole scientific career," he says. "This is just ridiculous." Ammann concludes that the congressman and his colleagues are "fishing for something somewhere that they can use to discredit the scientific integrity of these people, and therefore the result, and therefore the IPCC final conclusion."

Abusing science for political ends didn't start with the Bush administration. And Republican policymakers have every right to favor the free market over command-and-control regulation. The president and Joe Barton were elected by the people, so on issues of policy the final call is theirs. Moreover, science doesn't tell us what to do, if anything, about vexing environmental issues such as global warming. It does not provide "the answer" - just imperfect information, which policymakers can consider before making their decisions. In the end, that information naturally will matter less than the values held by policymakers. This is true of both Republicans and Democrats.

That being said, this White House and some of its supporters in Congress have gone beyond their legitimate policymaking roles to interfere with the free exercise of scientific inquiry. They have also censored scientific information and the scientists themselves for political reasons. The taxpayers who funded this research have every right to hear what it has yielded so they can make up their own minds - based on an accurate picture of the science, and their own values.

If the president has a convincing case on issues like climate change, then let him make it forthrightly, without filtering the science through his propaganda machine. The fact that he and his supporters resort instead to censorship and intimidation suggests that the president has no case.

As James Hansen so aptly put it recently, "There is something rotten here in Washington."

Tom Yulsman is co-director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado


Informant: Teresa Binstock



How Industry Manipulates Science
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/350582/

The Great Betrayal: Fraud in Science
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/394532/

Quellen: ZDF, 10.07.2002, 22.30 Uhr, "Abenteuer Wissen" http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/0,1872,2004444,00.html

Mikrostruktur des Wassers

Die chemische Formel von Wasser H20 ist jedem bekannt. Das Wassermolekül, das aus drei Atomen besteht, zeigt jedoch ein sehr komplexes Verhalten.

von Bärbel Scheele, 09.07.2002

Wasser ist ein ganz besonderes Untersuchungsobjekt. Die molekulare Struktur ist einfach, doch chemisch und physikalisch ist Wasser äußerst komplex und zeigt ein reiches Spektrum an unterschiedlichen Zuständen und Phänomenen. Das Element Wasser - fest, flüssig und gasförmig

Die Besonderheiten des Wassers sind uns aus dem Alltag geläufig, wie zum Beispiel die, dass Wasser sich beim Gefrieren ausdehnt und dass Eis an der Oberfläche schwimmt. So schwimmen Eisberge auf dem Wasser, wobei etwa 10 Prozent ihres Volumens über die Wasseroberfläche herausragen. Beim Gefrieren bildet sich aus losen, nur über Wasserstoffbrücken verbundenen Wassermolekülen ein mit vielen Hohlräumen durchsetztes Kristallgitter. Dabei vergrößert sich das Volumen, die Dichte nimmt also entsprechend ab, im Vergleich zum Wasser etwa um 10 Prozent. Damit verbunden ist eine weitere Anomalie von Wasser, die bei Experimenten mit Druck zu beobachten ist. Normalerweise gehen Flüssigkeiten unter hohem Druck in feste, kristalline Form über. Wird Eis dagegen unter Druck gesetzt, schmilzt es. Diese Besonderheit nutzt jeder Schlittschuhläufer: Unter dem Druck der Kufen schmilzt das Eis und der Eisläufer gleitet auf der entstandenen Flüssigkeit. Forschung am Institut für Statik und Dynamik

Seit drei Jahren erforscht Prof. Bernd H. Kröplin mit seinem Team am Institut für Statik und Dynamik der Universität Stuttgart das Lebenselement Wasser. Ihr Interesse: Wie verhält sich Wasser auf verschiedene Einwirkungen hin, wie zum Beispiel Magnete oder elektrische Felder. Mit mikrooptischen Untersuchungen versuchen die Wissenschaftler dem so genannten "Gedächtnis" des Wassers auf die Spur zu kommen.

Die Flüssigkeit trocknet konzentrisch mit klaren Strukturen:

Mikrooptische Untersuchungen

Die Untersuchungen erfolgen mit einem Dunkelfeldmikroskop. Wassertropfen werden auf einen Objektträger aufgebracht und die Strukturen beobachtet, die bei der Trocknung entstehen. Der Trocknungsprozess zeigt sich als filigranes Schauspiel. Zunächst bilden sich ganz langsam kleine Strukturen und geometrische Formen. Das getrocknete Wasser hinterlässt auf dem Objektträger einen Fingerabdruck, der konserviert und mit anderen verglichen werden kann. Ein Magnetfeld verändert beim Trocknen die Strukturen das Trockenbild eines Wassertropfens - das Bild wird strukturloser.

Experimente

Zwei Versuchspersonen tröpfeln aus der gleichen Spritze Wassertropfen auf einem Objektträger. Der Trocknungsprozess unter dem Mikroskop aber zeigt unterschiedliche Trocknungsstrukturen. Bei einem weiteren Versuch wird der Einfluss eines Handys getestet. Die Versuchperson gibt mit einer Pipette Speichel auf einen Objektträger. Der Tropfen trocknet in filigranen geometrischen Formen. Danach telefoniert die Versuchsperson zwei Minuten mit einem Handy. Der anschließend aufgetropfte Speichel trocknet in völlig anderer Struktur. Das deuten manche Experten als Einfluss elektromagnetischer Wellen.

--------

Schädigt Mobilfunk das Trinkwasser?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/4040163/

Handys beeinflussen Speichel und Wasser
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1216683/

Bisher geheime Studie heizt Konflikt um Handymasten an
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3464649/



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

AlterNet
by Antonia Juhasz

08/22/05

If Iraq's National Assembly meets its deadline, it will release a draft constitution to be voted on by the people in two months. Since February, vital issues have been debated and discussed by the drafting committee: the role of Islamic law, the rights of women, the autonomy of the Kurds and the participation of the minority Sunnis. But what hasn't been on the table is at least as important to the formation of a new Iraq: the country's economic structure. The Bush administration has succeeded in maintaining a stranglehold on issues such as public versus private ownership of resources, foreign access to Iraqi oil and U.S. control of the reconstruction effort -- all of which are still governed by administration policies put into place immediately after the invasion. The Bush economic agenda favors foreign interests -- American interests -- over Iraqi self-determination...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/24307/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Ellen Goodman

08/21/05

The headline this morning labels her 'peace mom.' It's a moniker that simultaneously personalizes and trivializes the lanky woman with the high-pitched voice who has been camping out in Crawford, Texas. It's a shorthand that both grants and diminishes her authority to speak out against the war, a moral authority won the hardest way possible, through the loss of her child. We are now ending Week Two at Camp Casey. ... If Week One was the Making of a Celebrity with dawn-to-dusk coverage, Week Two brought the backlash and the bloggers. Conservative cable kings like Bill O'Reilly proved that not even the death of a child grants you immunity from attack. Iconoclast Christopher Hitchens took her on with a glee he once reserved for Mother Teresa...

http://tinyurl.com/dwytv


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Cato Institute
by Doug Bandow

08/22/05

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is again pushing legislation to reintroduce a draft. He first did so in 2003 to slow the Bush administration's rush to war. Now he says conscription is necessary to provide the bodies necessary for Iraq's occupation. Returning to a draft would ruin the world's dominant armed forces, filling its ranks with people who don't want to serve and turning military service into a divisive political issue. Yet Rangel's proposal reflects an ugly reality: The Bush administration's disastrous intervention in Iraq is weakening the U.S. military...

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4247


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by Terence Samuel

08/19/05

It's hot in Texas these days, but judging by the guy who ran over Cindy Sheehan's crosses outside the Crawford White House or the guy who fired off his shotgun nearby, the thing to worry about is not the heat -- it's the stupidity. The president needs Sheehan like he needs another pretzel in his throat. If she comes back soon, the trouble she could cause him may be incalculable. There is simply no satisfactory response, either human or political, to a woman demanding to know exactly why her son had to die to advance the idea of freedom -- particularly when the original mission called for the scary and tangible task of saving the world by ridding it of a tyrant and his weapons of mass destruction. We have the tyrant, the weapons remain elusive, and Iraq is a mess. And no amount of political capital can compete with the moral gravitas of a grieving mother...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10151


From Information Clearing House



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

08/22/05

Both the neocon Right and the 'centrist' (i.e., left-neocon) Democratic Leadership Council denounce the antiwar movement -- and any timetable for withdrawal -- as 'anti-American,' but how 'pro-American' is the regime we've installed in Iraq by force of arms? When you look at what we've actually done in Iraq -- the emerging Islamist-Kurdish tyranny we've empowered -- it turns out that the U.S. government is the biggest exponent -- and exporter -- of true anti-Americanism. The irony and tragedy of this seems lost on those for whom 'anti-American' is the main epithet in their rhetorical arsenal. ... As Shi'ite party militias roam the ruins of Iraq's cities killing and beating political dissidents, and whipping women who fail to wear the requisite head-to-toe chador, our 'democracy'-crazed neocons cite the country as a 'model' -- and look forward to the 'liberation' of the rest of the Middle East along similar lines...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7034


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNN

08/22/05

President Bush will launch a new round of speeches to rally support for the war in Iraq, advisers said Sunday, as protesters camped outside Bush's Texas home and polls showed weaker support for the two-year conflict. Senior aides say Bush will attempt to portray the Iraq conflict in the context of long wars like World War II, which U.S. forces fought from 1941 to 1945. They said the president also will invoke the September 11, 2001, attacks, arguing once again that the insurgents battling American troops in Iraq share the same ideology as the al Qaeda operatives who crashed hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/21/bush.iraq/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Wells Journal, Somerset

18:00 - 19 August 2005

Campaigners have won their battle against plans to put a mobile telephone mast in a residential area near Wells city centre. On Tuesday Mendip planners announced that they were refusing permission for telecommunications company Hutchison 3G to put a 12 metre high mast on Bath Road.

When the plans were announced, hundreds of outraged residents joined together to oppose the plans, forming a pressure group, collecting signatures and writing letters to the council.

As a result, planning officers at Mendip District Council received a petition of 575 signatures and addresses and 284 letters protesting against the proposal.

County Councillor for Wells John Osman said: "This decision is a triumph for the people of Wells and a tribute to all those who worked so hard to fight against it, collecting signatures and writing letters.

"However, we must not think that the fight is over. We can be sure that Hutchison 3G will not stop here and we must keep working to ensure that any mobile phone masts are sited safely away from schools and residential areas." Planning officer Ken Taylor gave three reasons for refusal.

The proposed site was next to the former service station which currently has planning permission both for the replacement of the garage and for nine houses to be built on the site.

In his report Mr Taylor said: "It is a material consideration that the housing development on the garage site could be implemented. It is considered that were this to be constructed the area would be of a predominantly residential nature and the appearance of the proposed mast would have a harmful impact on the character of the a rea." He also said that if houses were built onthe site then the mast would be directly in front of the entrance which could cause problems for vehicles entering and leaving.

The third reason for refusal was the anxiety caused to neighbouring residents by the possible adverse health effects caused by the mobile telephone mast.

Mr Taylor said: "The anxiety that would be caused by the possible adverse health effects of the technology associated with the proposed installation would significantly diminish the living conditions for people occupying residential properties in close proximity to the site.

"This harm outweighs the need for the proposed installation, particularly as it has not been demonstrated why the proposed installation is only required to provide coverage for a particular part ofWells and why other sites with a lesser impact upon people's living conditions cannot be utilised to accommodate the applicant's network coverage requirements."

wells@midsomnews.co.uk

By Dominic Yeatman
This is Local London

AN APPLICATION by mobile phone company O2 for a mast on the roof of the Courtney Hotel in Wanstead has been submitted to Redbridge Council just one day after a previous application was refused.

The first application for the 15-metre mast in Aldersbrook Road was turned down on grounds of visual intrusiveness but developers have now changed the proposed position of the antennae.

The new application, coming so soon after the old one, has left anti-phone mast campaigners worried that residents in the Aldersbrook conservation area may lose track of what phone companies have planned for their neighbourhood.

Elizabeth Canavan, of Merlin Road, who has waged a long campaign against plans for a mast outside the bowling club in Aldersbrook Road, said: "It's dismaying because it's very confusing for people and it's incredibly difficult to inform people that there's another one coming up.

"There are so many that it becomes hard to oppose them because just as we get a refusal we get another identical application."

Rival company Orange already has a mast on the roof of the Courtney Hotel but, despite guidelines urging companies to share transmitters wherever possible, O2 insists that a new mast is necessary.

A company spokesman said: "The technical feasibility of sharing was outside what we could do. It's a prime objective of ours to share them but we couldn't do it on this occasion."

Council officers have yet to decide how to proceed with the new application but it is likely to be considered at a future meeting of the council's regional planning committee west.

Plans for the mast can be viewed at Wanstead Library in Spratt Hall Road, and any comments should be addressed to the chief planning officer at Redbridge Council.

11:00am Saturday 20th August 2005

No matter what the evidence of lies, no matter what the "intelligence" really said, no matter what the damage to the nation and its citizens and soldiers, warmongers will be warmongers.

http://metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050815-084045-4860r


From Information Clearing House

Concentrating on the Iraq war is a fundamental prerequisite to the understanding of the new wars of colonialist conquests ushered in by the United States under Bush.

http://snipurl.com/h42h

--------

Part 5: Creating Our Own Reality

by Kim Petersen and B.J. Sabri

On the specific subject of violence and atrocities, from the Korean and Vietnam Wars until present, no one can deny there has been a remarkable sliding of the American state into adopting torture comparable to Nazi and Israeli standards of practice. Namely, torture, rape, racial anger, religious anger, mass murder, destruction of property, collective punishment, and disdain for established civilizations have become institutionalized, codified, taught, and are the preferred method for putting down liberation movements, which the US and other imperialists propagandistically call “insurgencies”. However, laying the blame solely at the feet of the troops and the political-economic elites is an attempt at abrogating the responsibility of the citizenry to oppose war, aggression, or occupation. Opposing wars of aggression is an individual and a societal responsibility, especially the overtly illegal mayhem and chaos that the US has been fomenting in Iraq. One antiwar writer argued, “Because the civilian leadership unlike the military is always indebted to public opinion for its existence, it’s ultimately public approval rather than military need that drives air war against civilians, which is why the corporate media obligingly does its bit to keep that approval going.”.....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Petersen-Sabri0919.htm

Whatever The West Decides:

It makes you want to scream. I have been driving the dingy, dangerous, oven-like streets of Baghdad all week, ever more infested with insurgents and their informers, the American troops driving terrified over the traffic islands, turning their guns on all of us if we approach within 50 meters.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9888.htm

Gold Star moms like Cindy Sheehan could be leading sit-ins at military recruitment offices across the country and in the home district congressional offices of Democrats and Republicans. How about Cindy Sheehan moving Camp Casey from Crawford to Hillary Clinton's offices in Washington or New York.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9889.htm



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

"My son died for nothing," Sheehan raged, "He was sent to fight in a war that had no basis in reality and was killed for it. I say my son died for lies. George Bush LIED to us and he knew he was LYING.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9898.htm



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

US defense contractors are riding high these days, buoyed by rising Pentagon spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the high cost of homeland security in the US-declared war on terror.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9899.htm

Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, who received two Purple Hearts and other military honors for his service in Vietnam, reaffirmed his position that the United States needs to develop a strategy to leave Iraq.

http://snipurl.com/h427


From Information Clearing House

If the Bush administration brokered a deal in occupied Iraq to enshrine Islamic law as the guiding principle of the new Iraqi Constitution, you'd think it would be headline news in the U.S. media, wouldn't you?

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/08/bush_caves_in_t.html


From Information Clearing House

The stress on the need for more and more laws gives us the impression as if it was the lack of laws that lead to “terrorism” in the first place.

By Abid Ullah Jan

Even a cursory analysis shows that the target of the proposed terror laws is the basic principles that ensure justice and fairness.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9893.htm

People torn to pieces, relatives scream - another week in the theme park of death

Robert Fisk reports from beyond the Coalition's concrete walls

There are now two Baghdads. One is the Green Zone, where US and Iraqi officials live in a protected realm; the other is the danger zone, where everyone else lives.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9896.htm

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0821-02.htm



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3299/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3300/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Report from Camp Casey II: Howdy, Neighbor! We had an incredible evening yesterday up at the new Camp Casey site. Now, as you read the rest of this post, keep in mind that the new site is literally within spitting distance of Bush's ranch - though we wouldn't actually spit, as we're trying to behave ourselves. And besides, why stoop to vulgar behavior when we have a sound system so loud the words "No more war!" can surely be heard in the man's bedroom?!?

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1955

Beatrice Saldovar has come to Camp Casey to represent the Torres family whose son (her nephew) Daniel was killed in Iraq in February 2005, and she has done so with the utmost grace. Listen to audio of her extremely powerful story:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1956

5 More Co-Sponsors for Barbara Lee's Resolution of Inquiry

There are now 49 co-sponsors of H Res 375, which requires the President to turn over information about war planning in 2002. The four latest are Congressmen Barney Frank, Elijah Cummins, Rush Holt, Gregory Meeks, and Brad Sherman. The Resolution will likely be voted on in the House International Relations Committee between Sept. 6 and Sept. 16. The more congress members who co-sponsor, the more likely some committee members are to both vote Yes and engage in a serious debate in the committee. The ranking Democrat on the committee is Tom Lantos. Here's a report on efforts to lobby him and what you can do to help:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1941

In the past month, many of you have asked your Representative to co-sponsor. Please keep up the pressure. Call your Representative's Washington Office (ask for him/her by name at 202-224-3121, or search by your address on the right side of http://usalone.com ) and ask for the Legislative Aide who handles international issues. Take good notes on your conversation and report back to us here:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1887

Here is information about the Resolution of Inquiry:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/902

Leave My Child Alone

Did you know...that the infernal No Child Left Behind Act has a sneaky Pete section requiring high schools to turn over student information to military recruiters? Yikes. What do we do? Any way you look at it, this is a family privacy nightmare, another strong-arming of our local schools, and a creepy warm-up to the Draft. But it's also a great excuse to get together in action. So whether you're a parent, teacher, school administrator, veteran or just another adamant American concerned about privacy rights, look for an action to your liking on this site:

http://www.leavemychildalone.org

Congressional Education Day

On September 26, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) is organizing people from all around the country to meet with Congress Members, Senators, and their staffs to urge them to stand up against the war. If your group is planning to bring a delegation to DC to pressure your Representatives and Senators, phone those offices right away this Monday and set up appointments on Sept. 26 with your elected officials or their staff. Then register your group on the UFPJ website:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/congressform

If you are an individual interested in joining an existing delegation, send an email to CongressDay@unitedforpeace.org and a coordinator will respond to you.

Read this Lobbying Kit
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/538 and watch for information on the UFPJ site about lobbying training planned for Sept. 25.

Host a Back-to-School Event because most high schools turn over their student lists to military recruiters in October, it's imperative that we get as many kids as possible "opted out" during the month of September. Parents, teachers, grandparents and concerned citizens are planning Leave My Child Alone back-to-school events from September 7-30. It's easy to host an event at your home or local coffee shop -- we provide you all the forms and information you need, plus a free DVD on opting out featuring Cindy Sheehan if you register with us online before Aug. 31. Click here to register an event now and help local parents opt out!

http://www.leavemychildalone.org

More headlines from AfterDowningStreet.org:

Hypocrites and Liars by Cindy Sheehan
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005X.shtml

The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan by Frank Rich
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082105B.shtml

Sheehan Breakthroughs, Unbridgeable Divides, and Taboos Unbroken by David Swanson
http://www.democrats.com/node/5768

The Crawford Coward is Terrified of Six Moms by Bob Fertik
http://www.democrats.com/node/5775

Portrait of Cindy Sheehan
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1932

Utah TV Censors Cindy Sheehan Ad
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1952

Salt Lake Mayor Wants Huge Red-State Protest on Monday for Bush's Visit http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2958368

The Coward of Crawford Won't Meet Cindy Because Five More Mothers Would Ask for Meetings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082001046.html

Pittsburgh Police Use Tasers and Dogs on Women Opposing War
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0821-01.htm

Army Plans 4 More Years in Iraq
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3296/

Chuck Hagel Says 4 More Years in Iraq Is 'Folly'
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=avhZVt.Rqr30

Forget Freedom - U.S. Supports Islamist State in Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0821-04.htm

Sen. Russ Feingold Wants U.S. Out of Iraq by December 2006
http://www.democrats.com/node/5776


FORWARD THIS EMAIL



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3305/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

If you haven't participated in this urgent action, please sign them now.

(1) We have one last chance to block destructive oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/297924977?z00m=33291&z00m=33291

Signatures: 5,312 Goal: 50,000 Deadline: Ongoing... This is it: the most important vote to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will take place in September - and we need your signature today.

The showdown vote to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- America's greatest wildlife sanctuary -- will occur in both the House and Senate in mid-September. A provision to open the Refuge to drilling is expected to be buried in the massive Budget Reconciliation Bill.

Please sign this petition to your Senators and Representative today to urge a vote against the Budget Reconciliation bill! The stakes for the Arctic Refuge have never been higher.

For years, we have been fighting to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, America's greatest wildlife sanctuary, from destructive oil drilling - and we are now gearing up for the final vote, slated for right after Labor Day.

In September Congress will vote on the Budget Reconciliation Bill, which will likely include a provision to allow drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge.

This vote will be extremely close - the House passed their version of the budget bill last spring by only three votes, and the Senate by only five. Big Oil, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Interior Secretary Gale Norton are pulling out all stops to again prevail.

(2) Judgement Day at Hand for Arctic Refuge
http://www.sierraclub.org/planet/200505/arctic.asp

(3) Tight vote expected as Club targets Republican moderates

Get Started: Sign Our Petition! http://www.sierraclub.org/petition/arctic/

(4) Campaign to Save Arctic Refuge Continues http://www.savearcticrefuge.org/ (another action to sign)


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Suzanne K.

August 13, 2005 by Lisa Ghariani

Monday, August 15, 2005 - A colleague of mine - Chris Emery - and I drove very early this past Saturday morning to Camp Casey, which is anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan's rallying point. The trek from Oklahoma City took about seven hours, including meal and fuel stops. We arrived in the small hamlet of Crawford, TX - a 90 mile drive south of the DFW metro area and located just west of IH 35 - a little after 2:00 PM to find hundreds of Cindy's supporters driving over three hundred vehicles; cars, vans, airport shuttles and RV's - moving at a snail's pace, bumper-to-bumper to the site where Cindy is camping about two miles from George Bush's ranch.

I estimated the head count at the rally to be at least 500. Chris overheard the local law enforcement radio traffic and their estimate was 420. The camp site has been turned into a make-shift shrine to honor Casey, Ms. Sheehan's 24 year old son who died in Iraq on April 4, 2004. In addition, nearly 60 other families displayed photos of their deceased loved ones throughout the campsite area. Small white crosses with the names of 842 of the fallen 1800+ soldiers in Iraq lined the final quarter mile mark of our destination.

Please note: This number - 1800 - reflects ONLY the military-conflict related deaths. We discovered from recently retired Iraqi war veterans - the actual number of deceased from the 2003 - 2005 Iraqi / Afghanistan conflicts is "well over" 6,000. This larger number includes deaths from friendly-fire combat accidents and non-combat / urban terrorist related deaths. This clearly emphasizes the point that our military hierarchy chooses to mislead us on several dozen aspects of this illegal war.

We were fortunate to find a parking place fairly close to the hub of activity. A truck bed had been set up as a stage with electric generators and audio equipment to facilitate short empowering speeches by Cindy and other family members who have suffered loss in this war. They are the diligent few who are leading the call to end this quagmire which is commercially packaged by the current administration as "The War on Terror."

We unloaded our gear, which consisted of a camera, water bottles, and a bright red and white sign that read "1,800+ Killed In Action / 0 - WMD's". We were greeted by an onslaught of camera's snapping photos of our sign. It was very hot and humid as we maneuvered our way through the crowd towards the platform stage set-up on the back of a pick-up truck.

Chris immediately noticed a friendly face. It was Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst whom Chris had met on his recent trip to the Washington, DC Truth convergence. Ray is one of the growing number of former intelligence officers who has pledged his alliance to the truth movement while calling for an end to the Iraqi war. I told Ray that he was one of my newfound heroes. He didn't have much time to chat because he was due on stage to speak to the crowd of diverse activists. The first question he asked the group was, "How many of you are over 50?" Several hands went up. He then read a recent quote by GW stating coldly that "pulling our troops out of Iraq at this time was not wise" and then Ray paralleled it with almost identical quotes by Nixon during the tail end of the Vietnam war. The comparisons that he drew were uncanny, and then he triumphantly ended with "We had to work hard to end the war back then, and we must work together today to end this war too".

The wife of an active duty soldier and her teenage daughter came next and rendered heartfelt pleas to end this war so their loved one could finally come home and return to his role as a father and husband. The teenage daughter's voice wavered softly as she attempted to read a prepared statement. She then broke into tears as she expressed her deep sentiment about how hard it was to be without her father for months and months on end. The group was brought to tears while the young girl struggled to read her notes. Her mother read an email that her husband had sent from Iraq wherein he praised his family's efforts to voice their opinions openly about ending this war. The cryptic email's message supported Cindy's efforts, yet the soldier simply had to refer to Cindy Sheehan as "that lady" for fear of reprisal. He reminded his wife that it was her right as an American to speak out, and urged her to do so.

The next speaker was Cindy, who donned a floppy hat covering most of her sun-weathered face as she climbed upon the make-shift stage. Just as she began to speak a security helicopter circled above the stage, almost drowning out Cindy's words. She joked about the timing of the helicopter coinciding with the exact moment she was to speak, then went on to deliver her message to the applauding crowd. She began with, "This one of the happiest days of my life" and thanked everyone for their support. She also compared this day to one of the worst days of her life: when she found out that her son Casey had been KIA in Iraq. On a personal note she told us who Casey was; he was a very loving and bright 24 year old kid that had a lot going for him. Unfortunately his future was wiped out by George Bush's war, which was based on nothing but lies.

She spoke in a raspy voice as she recounted the first few months following Casey's death on April 4, 2004. "I lost the will to go on and felt like my world ended when Casey's life ended". Then something impelled her to stand up and demand the truth about Casey's death. She paused,then said whimsically, "Who would have ever thought that a revolution would begin last Thursday in Crawford, Texas? And if George was a truly man he would come out here and talk face-to-face with me. I will be here for the five weeks he is on vacation until Sept 1. If he won't talk to me I will follow him to the White house, then I will come back to Crawford for his next vacation, which we know will be very soon!"

She ended her empowering speech with a very simple and poignant statement that sent the group into a frenzy. She said, "I just want George Bush to know how sick and tired we all are of his shit!"

I thought to myself ... journalists, authors, former staff members and economists have written volumes about the Bush DyNASTY ,and Cindy is able to sum it up so eloquently - "George Bush, we are sick and tired of all of your shit!" Well said Cindy.

A few seconds later, I noticed something brewing to the north of the group and moved in closer to see what the hoopla was all about. A small group of Bush supporters, led by a plump man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, and a Panama straw hat reminiscent of the CIA outfit cloned from the movie "Ishtar" was yelling, "Talk to the troops Cindy! We support our president and the troops! Talk to the troops who have done three tours of Iraq!" He was carrying a sign that read "Sheehanism: America haters welcome."

Another skinny guy struggling with a giant American flag was taunting the group yelling, "We support Bush and our troops." Then a baby-faced poster boy for the war appeared in Wal-Mart bought fatigues [no ID's name tags nor US Army insignias were attached to the uniform] holding up a sign that said, "Don't be Michael Moore's Puppets." It was a dwindling motley crew, so they forced some five or six young children to stand in the blistering sun with bewildered expressions holding up flags and "We Love Bush" signs. At one point a veteran who had just lost his son in the war lunged at one of the brain-dead across the street who was jeering at him. The Bush's dirty dozen almost achieved a photo-op of a peace activist pummeling the guy with a flag bigger than Dallas, but then the bereaved man walked away shaking his head in disgust. In the midst of all this orchestrated drama, a helicopter flew low overhead with an Imax-type camera, circling the area like a vulture almost clipping trees and power lines. More ocal police and sheriff's units showed up to bring the tally to about 30 vehicles. SUV's drove by slow with shoe polish-laden windows that said "Cindy go home". We were told that the Bush supporters had been driven to the site in buses and that the original 100+ group by 3:00 had withered to about 16. This count includes the five children forced to stand alongside their parents shouting "We support Bush" in the blazing sun without water. Someone from Cindy's group started to take the kids some water, but local law enforcement announced over a bullhorn that any of Cindy's supporters found standing on the grass would be arrested. As far as I know there is no recognized law against standing on grass to the side of a public road in the boondocks of Texas, but this was a simple way to separate the opposing sides without incident, and it worked quite well.

A Vietnam vet with PTSD began to have some sort of breakdown due to the relentless circling of the choppers and had to be taken to a tent for medical treatment. Chris and I chatted briefly with the man who was holding up an American flag in front of the tent to shield the view of the vet flailing about in torment. They kept reassuring me, "He'll be alright" and asked me to step back. I started to take a photo, but then lowered the camera. There comes a point in journalism when a human being's privacy super cedes the story, and this was that time.

Black storm clouds began to roll in from the western horizon, and an eminent rain began to quiet the scene as the crowd began to leave peacefully. As Chris and I walked to the car, a lone protester wearing a mock Bush T-shirt played soothing jazz music in the rain. The secret service agents dressed incognito as protesters gave a sigh of relief as the crowds dispersed. Many others, who had come from all parts of the U.S. to support Cindy for the duration, settled in by putting up their tents.

I tuned-in to the fake news when I finally got home and Fox was estimating the crowd in Crawford today at around 100. This must be the same math they use to count the dead and injured in this ungodly war.

Lisa Ghariani is a film production assistant and freelance journalist living in Oklahoma City, OK

Chris Emery is a documentary film producer / director and freelance journalist living in Oklahoma City.

They may be contacted at: okctruth@cox.net


Informant: Mofmars3



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski120.html



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=451


Informant: Friends



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0821-24.htm


Informant: Friends

The human cost of the more than 2,000 American military personnel killed and 14,500 wounded so far in Iraq and Afghanistan is all too apparent. But the financial toll is still largely hidden from public view and, like the suffering of those who have lost loved ones, will persist long after the fighting is over.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082105D.shtml

Frank Rich says that Cindy Sheehan couldn't have picked a more apt date to begin the vigil that ambushed a president: Aug. 6 was the fourth anniversary of that fateful 2001 Crawford vacation day when George W. Bush responded to an intelligence briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" by going fishing.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082105B.shtml

Der Trend geht dahin, Lager im Ausland einzurichten; Menschenrechtsorganisationen und Flüchtlinge protestieren gegen Lagerunterbringung.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20764/1.html

HLV INFO 131/AT

21-08-2005

Gemeinde Eppelborn

Zehn Punkte der Richtigstellung und Aufklärung

Die Gemeinde Eppelborn verteilt derzeit eine vierseitige Informationsschrift mit ergänzendem rotem Einlegblatt an alle Haushalte, die unrichtige Behauptungen und abwegige Vorstellungen verbreitet. Sie betreffen eine Veranstaltung der Gemeinde am 21. 7. und eine Bürgerveranstaltung am 19. 8. im Kongreßzentrum big Eppel in Eppelborn: „Mobilfunk – Gefahren für Gesundheit und politische Kultur. Eine Veranstaltung von Bürgern für Bürger.“ Als Vertreter des Bündnisses saarländischer Bürgerinitiativen Mobilfunk stellen Herr Goebbels und Herr Richter gemeinsam mit Herrn Fuchs, dem Sprecher der örtlichen Bürgerinitiative Bubach-Calmesweiler, zu den Ausführungen der Gemeinde fest:

1. Die Professoren Klaus Goebbels und Karl Richter waren von Herrn Fuchs nicht als Angehörige einer St. Ingberter Bürgerinitiative, sondern als Vertreter des ‚Bündnisses saarländischer Bürgerinitiativen Mobilfunk’ zu der Veranstaltung am 21.7. eingeladen.

2. Beide Professoren bleiben bei ihrer Kritik an einer Veranstaltung, die eher einem Obrigkeitsstaat als einer modernen Demokratie gemäß war. Herr Richter gibt aber gern zu, dass er sich das Wort, um das er mehrfach vergeblich gebeten hatte, schließlich genommen hat.

3. Dass es angeblich keine gesicherten Forschungsergebnisse über Gefährdungen gibt, ist eine Lüge. Die beunruhigenden Erkenntnisse haben im Gegenteil drastisch zugenommen, werden von den Verantwortlichen nur ignoriert und verleugnet. (Zum angeblichen Schutz durch die deutschen Grenzwerte s. umseitige Aufstellung!)

4. Dass die Bürger eine „sachliche Diskussion“ unmöglich gemacht hätten, ist bei der autoritären Regie der Veranstalter so logisch wie der Vorwurf des Zahnarztes an einen tamponierten Patienten, er verweigere die sachliche Auseinandersetzung.

5. Die Veranstalter vom 21.7. haben die Bürgerveranstaltung vom 19.8. erst erforderlich gemacht, indem sie die von Bubacher Bürgern gewünschte Erörterung gesundheitlicher Fragen kategorisch ausschlossen. Bürger lassen sich nicht Antennen aufzwingen und einen ergänzenden Maulkorb verordnen!

6. Dass die Gemeinde auch nach dem Vorliegen eines rechtsverbindlichen Mietvertrags weiterhin versucht hat, die Bürgerveranstaltung am 19.8. zu verhindern, ergänzt das mangelhafte Demokratie- noch um ein dürftiges Rechtsverständnis.

7. Der Aufforderung des Bürgermeisters an Herrn Fuchs, den Charakter der Veranstaltung zu erläutern, wurde mit einer Genauigkeit entsprochen, die selbst DDR-Behörden zufrieden gestellt hätte.

8. Aus Überschneidungen mit dem kommunalpolitischen Terminkalender darauf zu schließen, Politiker seien bei uns „nicht erwünscht“, ist abwegig. Wir hatten die Eppelborner ‚Schmaustage’ außerdem gerade als geeigneten unpolitischen Hintergrund einer freundlich-kritischen Begegnung von Bürgern und Politikern eingeschätzt.

9. Die Vorstellung, wir „müssten“ zu unserer Bürgerveranstaltung allerlei Vertreter amtlicher Genehmigungs- und Schutzbehörden als Referenten (!) einladen, verkennt sowohl das Wesen einer Bürgerinitiative als auch den Charakter einer Informations- und Aufklärungsveranstaltung.

10. Dass Herr Warnke als „anerkannter Biowissenschaftler“ gewürdigt wird, bedeutet landesweit einen ersten Schritt in die richtige Richtung. Die anderen beiden Wissenschaftler hoffen die angezweifelte wissenschaftliche Kompetenz noch beweisen zu können: Herr Goebbels, indem er einen u. E. ineffektiven saarländischen ‚Messkataster’ - der einzige aktive Beitrag des Landes zur mobilen Sicherheit seiner Bürger! – auf ein sinnvolles interdisziplinäres Projekt weiterdenkt; Herr Richter, indem er den Umgang mit wissenschaftlicher Wahrheit und Bürgern als Frage politischer Kultur aufgreift.

18. August 2005

Klaus-Michael Fuchs, Klaus Goebbels, Karl Richter



Freiheit und Wahrhaftigkeit - wo seid ihr geblieben?

Erster Bericht des Bündnisses saarländischer Bürgerinitiativen zum Verhältnis von Mobilfunk und Demokratie

Schlecht informiert und beraten hat die rot-grüne Bundesregierung mit dem UMTS-Handel eine neue Phase der Bürgergefährdung eingeleitet. Das christdemokratisch regierte Saarland steht inzwischen an der vordersten Front ihres riskanten Vollzugs. Es sieht sich zum Musterland des Mobilfunks berufen, mit Hunderten neuer Antennen inmitten von Wohngebieten und auf Krankenhäusern. Es hat die Mobilfunkpolitik allein dem Wirtschaftsminister unterstellt. Einschlägige Verlautbarungen des Ministeriums und seiner Berater dokumentieren ein bescheidenes Informationsniveau. Sogar landeseigene Forschung wird ignoriert. Das macht Versicherungen der Harmlosigkeit vollends zur bewussten Volksverdummung. Antennennähe soll offenbar verlorene Bürgernähe ersetzen. Und das zugehörige amtliche Demokratieverständnis verdoppelt die Gefahr: „Je größer der Widerstand, desto richtiger der Regierungskurs“, klärt einer unserer Minister auf (SZ, 18. März 2005).

Selbst die mehrheitsverwöhnten Bayern beginnen zu begreifen, dass Manipulationen der Wahrheit und Freilandversuche an Bürgern nicht mehr zeitgemäß sind. In unserem kleinen Land mit seinen herrschaftsgewohnten Bürgern aber fühlen sich linke wie rechte Regenten, die bürgernah begannen, schnell zu Mini-Napoleonen berufen. Das Ergebnis ist ein Regieren nach Gutsherrenart, das sich von oben nach unten auch in die Kommunalpolitik fortsetzen kann. Da hatten Bürger z. B. zwei Professoren (Klaus Goebbels, Physiker, und Karl Richter, Kulturwissenschaftler) zu einer Informationsveranstaltung in ein Gebiet mit neuer Mobilfunkantenne eingeladen (Bubach-Calmesweiler, 21. Juli 2005). Die Wissenschaftler fanden das Podium ausschließlich mit engagierten Mobilfunkbefürwortern besetzt (darunter der Ortsvorsteher und drei Vertreter von Vodafone). Sie wurden belehrt, dass Auseinandersetzungen oder gar Wortmeldungen ‚Externer’ nicht erwünscht seien. Die Bürger aber erfuhren vom UMTS-Segen und seiner Technik, vom Schutz durch Grenzwerte und landeseigene Messungen ihrer Unterbietung, von angeblich fehlenden Erkenntnissen über schädigende Wirkungen. Als die Wissenschaftler einwerfen wollten, dass sie solche Erkenntnisse in reichem Maße mitbrächten, wurde ihnen das Wort verweigert. Als es sich einer (K.R.) nahm, wurde er vom Ortsvorsteher unter Androhung von Polizeigewalt des Saales verwiesen – was engagierte Bubacher Bürger nicht zuließen. Fragen nach der Gesundheit seien nicht Thema des Abends, wurde vom Podium lakonisch festgestellt. Den zornigen Bürgerruf nach einem Pressevertreter kommentierte der Ortsvorsteher, er habe vorsorglich keinen eingeladen. Die Diskussion machte immerhin deutlich, dass wissenschaftlich unverantwortliche Antennenabstände Schwerkranken und Familien mit Kleinkindern aufgezwungen werden, weil die Antenne in größerer Entfernung teurer gewesen wäre und der Gemeinde weniger gebracht hätte. Der Abend enttarnte ein System, dem Geld vor Leben geht. Judas grüßt heutige Christen!

Von globaler bis regionaler Politik hat es eine kapitalstarke Industrie geschafft, demokratische Institutionen zu unterwandern. Nur so ist verständlich, dass eisern an Grenzwerten festgehalten wird, die nach Aussage renommierter Fachleute um den Faktor 1:1 Million zu hoch sind und weder dem heutigen Stand der Forschung noch dem Vorsorgeauftrag des Grundgesetzes Rechnung tragen. Ein neues Programm der WHO (!) soll Öffentlichkeit, Ärzte und Regierungen über Umweltbelastungen informieren, schränkt den Auftrag aber gleich ein: „Keine Berücksichtigung der Urheberschaft von elektromagnetischen Feldern“ (Information und Übersetzung Prof. A. Volger, 14. Juli 2005). Wie weit die deutsche Politik in einer verfassungsfremden Weise in die Kapitalinteressen der Mobilfunkbetreiber verstrickt ist, zeigt u.a. ein Buch von Thomas Grasberger und Franz Kotteder (Mobilfunk. Ein Freilandversuch am Menschen, München 2003). Die angebliche Unabhängigkeit unserer Regierungen ist zur Farce geworden; die von Justiz, werbeabhängigen Medien und einer gesponserten Wissenschaft in erheblichem Umfang auch. Nach Aussage von Insidern werden inzwischen ca. 80% der einschlägigen Forschung von der Mobilfunkindustrie bezahlt. Sie liefern aber auch jene Harmlosbescheinigungen, die den Erkenntnissen unabhängiger Forschung widersprechen. Dass das u. E. wenig sinnvolle Meßprojekt von Prof. Wolfgang Langguth (Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes), das Bürgern die Einhaltung und Unterbietung (unsinniger) Grenzwerte beweisen soll, Unsummen an Steuergeldern verschlingt, halten wir noch für einen vergleichsweise üblichen Skandal. Dass Langguth seinen Auftraggebern öffentlich stets auch die Harmlosigkeit ihrer Mobilfunkpolitik bescheinigt - wofür ihm nachweislich die Kompetenz fehlt -, ist gravierender. Und dass ein Prof. Gerd Langguth (ob bluts- oder nur namensverwandt, konnten wir nicht ermitteln) als Gründer eines ‚Bürgerforums’ jährlich viele Millionen Euro gegen ‚Reformstaus’ einsetzen will, aber Journalisten jegliche Angabe zur Herkunft der Gelder verweigert, eröffnet unnötig Spielräume der Phantasie (Bericht Saarbrücker Zeitung, 17. Juni 2003).

Wir haben Offene Briefe geschrieben. Unser Arbeitskreis kritischer Wissenschaftler hat dem Minister seine kostenfreie Hilfe angeboten, den fragwürdigen saarländischen ‚Messkataster’ zu einem respektablen interdisziplinären Projekt weiterzuentwickeln. Wir waren federführend bei dem Saarland-Appell (in Zusammenarbeit mit den Landesparteien Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Familien-Partei, ÖDP und einem Sprecher der FWG), der Wege zu einem umwelt- und menschenverträglichen Mobilfunk weist. Wir haben ein Buch vorgelegt, das zeigt, wie viel eine unabhängige Forschung bereits verlässlich über die gefährlichen Wirkungen elektromagnetischer Felder weiß (Kommerz, Gesundheit und demokratische Kultur. Gewinner und Verlierer in einer Modellregion des Mobilfunks, hg. Von Karl Richter und Hermann Wittebrock, St. Ingbert, Röhrig Universitätsverlag, 2005). Am Beispiel des Saarlands zeigt die Schrift auch die fatalen Folgen des reduktionistischen Umgangs mit der Wahrheit, den Bürgern und den Geboten demokratischer Kultur. Betroffenen bleibt der schale Trost, dass die Politik auch im Falle des Rauchens ein halbes Jahrhundert bis zur Einsicht gebraucht hat und eine kapitalstarke Industrie auch in diesem Fall für die Manipulation von Wissenschaft und Wahrheit sorgte. Noch schaler ist die Genugtuung, dass Häuserdachvermieter nach dem Stand der Forschung nicht nur die Gesundheit ihrer Nachbarn, sondern auch die eigene mit vermieten. Doch wo und wie immer die politisch Verantwortlichen kritisiert werden: Machtgewissheit und Realitätsverlust haben für eine hochentwickelte Kunst des Totschweigens und Aussitzens gesorgt, die offenbar gegen Kritik und Einsicht immunisiert.

Doch gerade die Rechtssituation der mitvermieteten Nachbarn zeigt die ideellen und sozialen Perversionen einer angeblich demokratisch-rechtsstaatlichen Kultur überdeutlich - z.B. an einem aktuellen Fall in Homburg-Jägersburg. In einem Wohngebiet mit bereits vorhandener Mobilfunkantenne und den bisher höchsten von uns gemessenen Strahlungswerten, aber auch einer auffälligen Häufung chronischer Erkrankungen, wurde eine weitere, als Schornstein getarnte Antenne errichtet. Jetzt aber stehen nicht etwa der geschäftstüchtige Hausdachvermieter oder gar Politiker, Industrielle und Wissenschaftler vor Gericht, sondern die betroffenen Nachbarn, weil sie sich angeblich mit zu deutlichen Worten gegen die zwangsweise Mitvermietung ihrer Gesundheit gewehrt haben. Der Fall zeigt, wie weit formaljuristische Logik und bürgerlich-menschliches Rechtsempfinden auseinandergetreten sind. Mit Blick auf die Forschungslage wie die regionale Situation halten wir eine solche Mobilfunkpolitik für staatlich organisierten Sadismus und fahrlässige Bürgergefährdung. Dass der primäre Schutz dem Vermieter des Daches, nicht dem unfreiwillig mitvermieteten Nachbarn gilt, zeigt eine Schwundstufe politischer Kultur in einer von machtpolitischen und wirtschaftlichen Interessen zerfressenen Demokratie. Das Zusammenwirken von Politik, Industrie und Justiz hat Bürger (weithin auch die Kommunen) in einer mobilfunkgeeigneten Weise entmachtet und faktisch entrechtet. Die deutschen Grenzwerte, einer unzureichend informierten Justiz politisch vorgegeben, schützen die Mobilfunkpolitik, keinen einzigen Bürger. Angesichts drohender Regressforderungen und Gesichtsverluste setzen sich deutsche Regierungen von links und rechts über einige der elementarsten Gebote unserer Demokratie hinweg: die Verpflichtung auf Unabhängigkeit, die Vorsorgepflicht gemäß Artikel 2,2 GG, den Schutz von Minderheiten (wie der ‚Elektrosensiblen’); und in jedem dieser Punkte auch über die Berücksichtigung der ganzen wissenschaftlichen Wahrheit, nicht nur ihres politisch nutzbaren Teils. Was herauskommt, können wir den politisch Verantwortlichen inzwischen verlässlich sagen: ein wachsender Prozentsatz von Bürgern, der die herrschende Klasse verachtet, sich in unserem Gemeinwesen nicht mehr geborgen fühlt und je nach Temperament in zwei Richtungen driftet – (innere) Emigration oder Bereitschaft zur Gewalt.

Haben die Regierenden in Bund und Land mit ihrer Bereitschaft zu Menschenopfern, von der nach dem Stand der Forschung zu sprechen ist, wenigstens den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg erkauft? Die Zeit der aggressivsten Ausbreitung des Mobilfunks fällt mit der größten Pleite des Saarlands zusammen. Die an den Technikinstallationen verdienenden Firmen tragen das Geld überwiegend in den Frankfurter Raum. Den mobil ausgebeuteten Jugendlichen bleibt nichts mehr für die Belebung auch anderer Branchen. Und die eigentliche Zeche zahlen in allen Bundesländern jene vielen Millionen von Bürgern, die eine kommerziell geschürte Handysucht nicht zur scheinhaften Sicherung von menschlicher Identität und zwischenmenschlicher Kommunikation brauchen. Sie zahlen mit der zwangsweisen Vermarktung ihrer Gesundheit und Umwelt, aber auch mit materiellen Wertminderungen von Wohnungen und Häusern, die sich vorliegenden Analysen zufolge zu astronomischen Summen addieren – nach unserer Auffassung die größte und unsinnigste Vernichtungsaktion von Volksvermögen seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. In feudalistischen Zeiten verbesserten Regierungen ihre Kassenlage, indem sie Landeskinder als Soldaten verkauften. Regierungen demokratischer Zeiten verschachern die Gesundheit und das Eigentum ihrer Bürger!

Dabei kritisieren wir keineswegs nur eine Mobilfunk- und Gesundheitspolitik, die nicht bis morgen oder gar übermorgen denkt. Wir kritisieren auch eine nicht mehr zukunftsfähige Wirtschaftsphilosophie. Der Spiegel vom 27. Juni 2005 titelt mit Blick auf ganz Deutschland: Die veruntreute Zukunft. Wie der Staat Milliarden verschwendet und sich immer weiter verschuldet. Die Saarländer haben zu solcher Zukunftsskepsis und Kritik mehr Anlass denn je. Da wird z.B. ein Haus blühender Theaterkultur einer halben Million wegen eingestampft. Zu gleicher Zeit aber kritisiert der Rechnungshof, dass genau dieser Betrag im Kultusministerium jährlich verschwendet wird. Eine Regierung, die vom Theater zehn weitere Sparraten dieser Größe verlangt und soeben 80 Grundschulen kassiert hat, ist angeblich auf der Suche nach jedem Cent. Doch zu gleicher Zeit investiert der Wirtschaftsminister 900.000 Euro in die Vermarktung zweier Marpinger Seherinnen von ungewisser Seriosität – was erst durch die Schautänze der Sparrhetorik und durch unvergessene Wahllügen und Wahlgeschenke so makaber wird. Ein an den Ministerpräsidenten gerichteter Offener Brief des angesehenen Rechtsanwalts Manfred G. Merziger vom 14. Juli 2005 kritisiert den Aufwand von 13 Millionen Euro für Gutachten, von weiteren 12 Millionen für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit. Auch nur zur Hälfte für Bildung und Kultur verwandt, hätte das Geld uns und unseren Kindern die Schließung bewährter Schulstandorte und eines blühenden Theaters erspart. Vor allem aber kritisiert Merziger eine immer wilder galoppierende Verschuldung – parallel zu einer widersinnigen Aufblähung der Ministerialbürokratie.

Obrigkeitliche Denkformen und gezielte ministerielle Interventionen (für die wir inzwischen genügend Beweise haben) sorgen in unserem Land für ein Klima der Gleichschaltung, Einschüchterung und Angst. Wir sind nicht für oder gegen eine bestimmte Partei. Wir sind gegen jede Partei, die im Vertrauen auf ihre Macht Freiheiten und Grundrechte unserer Demokratie aus vergleichsweise niedrigen Beweggründen einschränkt. Auch Bundespräsident Horst Köhler dachte an keine bestimmte Partei, als er zu Weihnachten versicherte: „Die Menschen in unserem Land sind schon weiter als die Politik“. Saarländische Bürgerinnen und Bürger beweisen es: Bereits 40 Prozent wollen lt. neuester Umfrage eine Fusion mit den Pfälzern. Sie versprechen sich von der neuen geographischen Weite auch den freiheitlichen Hauch einer neuen geistigen. Sie sehen Chancen einer kulturellen und wirtschaftlichen Gesundung.

18.8.2005

Karl Richter und Hermann Wittebrock
(Sprecher des Bündnisses saarländischer Bürgerinitiativen Mobilfunk)



HLV Anmerkung:

Zu den Autoren:

Karl Richter, Dr., Professor für Neuere deutsche Literaturwissenschaft an der Universität des Saarlandes, emeritiert. Hauptarbeitsgebiete: Literatur vom 16. bis 20. Jahrhundert, Editionen, Kulturgeschichte von Naturwissenschaften und Technik.

Hermann Wittebrock, Rechtsanwalt, Saarbrücken
s. a. “Kommerz, Gesundheit und demokratische Kultur“ ISBN 3-86110-394-X


Nachricht von Volker Hartenstein 21-08-05


http://openpr.de/news/57712-freiheit-und-wahrhaftigkeit-wo-seid-ihr-geblieben.html

If there is nothing to hide, why can't they let people see these files? This is intolerable behavior.

Library Missing Roberts File
Papers Lost After Lawyers' Review

By R. Jeffrey Smith and Jo Becker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 17, 2005; Page A04

A file folder containing papers from Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr.'s work on affirmative action more than 20 years ago disappeared from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library after its review by two lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department in July, according to officials at the library and the National Archives and Records Administration.

Archivists said the lawyers returned the file but it now cannot be located. No duplicates of the folder's contents were made before the lawyers' review. Although one of the lawyers has assisted in the Archives' attempt to reconstruct its contents from other files, officials have no way of independently verifying their effort was successful. [...] Read the rest at the Washington Post web site: http://tinyurl.com/chdyv

Other efforts of Bush to be able to rewrite or hide the past, despite the fact that under the Presidential Records Act of 1978 Presidential and Vice Presidential materials are PUBLIC property. Seems fair: We paid for it all... See this article at the Freedom of Information Center:

House Panel Seeks Release of Presidential Papers

By Adam Clymer
The New York Times
October 10, 2002

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 - A House committee voted without dissent today to overturn President Bush's executive order that delayed release of President Ronald Reagan's papers and allowed relatives of future presidents to keep papers secret.

Representative Dan Burton, the Indiana Republican who is chairman of the Government Reform Committee, said: "I have great respect for President Bush. He's doing a superb job in these very difficult times. However, on this issue, I think he's gotten some advice that wasn't very good."

Other members were blunter. For example, Representative Doug Ose, Republican of California, said the executive order "violates not only the spirit but also the letter of the Presidential Records Act." [...] Read it at http://tinyurl.com/xka3


© Virginia Metze

By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: August 17, 2005
The New York Times

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 16 - Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who has set up a vigil near President Bush's ranch, said Tuesday that she was "very disturbed" that a local resident had mowed down hundreds of small crosses bearing the names of other dead American soldiers, and that her now 10-day protest was "only the beginning" of what she described as a growing national movement to bring all American men and women home from the war.

Ms. Sheehan also said she would soon be moving her increasingly crowded roadside encampment, named Camp Casey after her son, to a large tract even closer to the president's ranch. "A kind gentleman from down the road offered us the use of his property," Ms. Sheehan told reporters on Tuesday night. Ms. Sheehan identified the man as Fred Mattlage, whom she described as a distant cousin of Larry Mattlage, a local resident who fired a shotgun across the road from the encampment on Sunday afternoon. [...] Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/8traw


© Virginia Metze



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

There is still a lot going on in the verified voting movement... A good site to follow is the Black Box Voting site: http://www.blackboxvoting.org

VerifiedVoting.org, our partners, and voters across the country have successfully persuaded state governments to pass or propose legislation / regulations to require voter-verified paper ballots. Help us complete the legislative landslide toward reliable, secure, and transparent elections! [...] Check out the map showing how states stand on this issue: http://www.verifiedvoting.org/ Also check out this article, just below the map:

Prof. Dill Testifies at Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform Hearing

The winners of an election are usually satisfied with the outcome, but it is often more challenging to persuade the losers (and their supporters) that they lost. To that end, it is not sufficient that election results be accurate. The public must also know the results are accurate, which can only be achieved if conduct of the election is sufficiently transparent that candidates, the press, and the general public can satisfy themselves that no errors or cheating have occurred.

Unfortunately, the advent of paperless electronic voting (e-voting) is moving us away from election transparency. E-voting technology is extremely opaque. No one can scrutinize some of the most critical processes of the election, such as collection of ballots and counting of votes, because those processes will be conducted invisibly in electronic circuits. Voters have no means to confirm that that the machines have recorded their votes correctly, nor will they have any assurance of that their votes won't be changed later. [...] Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/cqvra The article is a little old but still interesting.


© Virginia Metze

By GREG MOSES
August 15, 2005
Counterpunch

"Today is kind of a blur to me."--Cindy Sheehan

Penny strides into the front lawn of the Crawford Peace House talking about that time up in Racine five weeks before the alleged re-election when she stood along the street with firemen and everybody, and flipped the President the bird. "Thank you," is what Penny recalls the President saying to her. "God, what a weak man!"

Like Cindy Sheehan, Penny is motivated by the death of her son, but Penny's son was not killed in an overseas war. He lost his life to the politics of health care funding in Texas. "I'm only the Governor," is how Penny recalls Bush's response when she asked him to help restore a sudden cut in funding to the cancer research trial in Arlington, Texas that was doing good things for her son. "My son died because that treatment was delayed," says Penny. And that's one reason why she flipped the President the bird. [...] Read more about one of the people who came to join Camp Casey at http://counterpunch.org/moses08152005.html


© Virginia Metze



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Bath Chronicle

11:00 - 19 August 2005

Mobile phone giant O2 is lobbying Bath and North East Somerset Council in an effort to scrap a rule which says it must monitor radio waves near a prestigious Bath college. The telecommunications firm has three antennae on the roof of Multiyork furniture store in York Place, off London Road.

The company was granted permission for the masts in 2004, but planners said the company must hire an independent expert to monitor the site.

O2 said this was highly irregular, and has appealed to planning inspectors at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) to overturn the decision.

Company spokesman Jim Stevenson said: "It is an unusual condition to place on us. We do not know about it being placed on any other company anywhere in the country.

"It is to ensure we fall within the international standards, which we do anyway, so it is totally unnecessary. If they continue to do it, they will have more than O2 appealing against it."

In 2003, phone giant, Vodafone was granted planning permission for three pole-mounted antennae on the same roof site, which is next to The Porter Butt pub and near Norland College.

The college, whose nanny graduates are favoured by the rich and famous, objected amid fears about the long-term impact on the brain from exposure to mobile phone waves and 3G technology.

This July, planners gave the green light to Hutchinson 3G for a base station with two flagpoles, antenna and a dish on the same site.

A council planning officer said planners were looking to impose the condition on all future planning applications for telecommunications equipment as part of its draft plan.

Anyone wishing to comment on the appeal should write to The Planning Inspectorate, 3/25 Hawk Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol, B31 6PN, quoting reference APP/F0114/05/A/1186745 by Wednesday, September 21.

Sutton Coldfield Observer

10:30 - 19 August 2005

With regard to your article 'Concern Over Streetly Mast Plan' (August 5).

Having lived in Boldmere for 30 years I enjoy reading the Observer to check what is going on. Most weeks there are protests against mobile phone masts being positioned in Sutton and surrounding areas.

I agree with the vast majority of residents in saying they should not be placed in residential built-up areas.

However I do plead guilty to possessing a mobile phone myself!

In our household we have three mobile phones and use two different networks.

So, in a way, like many others we are saying one thing, "I don't want a mast near my home/school etc." and doing another by possessing the "evil" mobile phone, thereby creating a demand for better signals, thus leading to mobile phone masts being positioned near to our homes!

We are all aware that these actions could prove to dangerous to people's health, but it seems nobody really knows to what degree.

I would question is it 50 yards or 50 miles?

As I said, I live in Boldmere and wonder if people know that two phone masts are less than 100 yards from the high street, where we walk to school and do our daily shopping.

I know people must use mobiles for their work, others for emergencies, and many for social purposes, we all have our reasons.

However, we created the need for these services by requiring mobile phones (with a good signal!)

Do we need these fashion accessories?

JG, Boldmere,

(Name and address supplied)

Aug 19 2005

icSolihull, West Midlands

ANGRY Dorridge villagers have hit out after a phone mast was put up above shops in Station Road.

According to homeowners and shopkeepers the new antennas, which have been sited above Arden Buildings have been erected without prior notice.

Rachel Slicer-Watkinson, owner of nearby Rachel's Ladies Boutique, said: "We thought they were making improvements to the roof. None of us were informed."

But Solihull Council say the work relates to an application passed three-years ago.

Dave Wigfield, Enforcement and Monitoring Manager, said: "An application to upgrade existing telecommunications equipment on this building was approved in July 2002. It comprised of six new antennas and four dishes. A site notice was displayed and notification letters were sent to 60 nearby properties.

l Meanwhile Solihull councillor Theresa Tedd is supporting residents fighting to stop a mast nearly 15 metres high being put up at the junction of Streetsbrook Road and Woodlea Drive.

Residents have now set up a task force to resist T-Mobile's proposal.

Aug 19 2005

Slough Express

By Daniel Lyons Slough Reporter

FURIOUS tower block residents who have suffered leaky ceilings for months blame the problem on heavy phone masts on the roof.

And they claim they have been left with the repair bill while Town Hall bosses have cashed in on contracts with telecommunication firms.

Tenants and leaseholders at Poplar House - one of two 'Faulty Towers' in Langley featured in the Express in the last two weeks - raised the problem at a residents' meeting in May.

Keith Garner, a leaseholder of a ground floor flat at Poplar, is being asked to contribute more than £30,000 to the huge £4million refurbishment work at Poplar and neighbouring Broom House.

He said: "It is totally immoral to charge leaseholders for the repair of the roof, when the council receives such a large annual income for that facility.

"This is a stealth tax at best and pure banditry at worst."

The decay has become so bad that one top-floor ceiling collapsed under the weight of the water.

Council officials told residents that old age was the root cause of the roof's decay.

But tenants and leaseholders claim the heavy equipment and frequent visits by service staff have contributed to its poor state.

Contractors Dew Pitchmastic estimated in August last year it would cost more than £78,000 to repair the entire roof. This figure was reduced to £54,000 in December.

Slough Borough Council refused to confirm the number of masts housed at Poplar, although residents claim dozens are visible from the street.

They say the roof at Broom - which does not house as many masts - has not had the same wear and tear.

The minutes of the residents' meeting show two new telecommunication cabins were added to the existing one after the original works survey was done 18 months ago.

However, a council spokeswoman denied it was cashing in on rents, saying it receives just £23,000 annual income from both Poplar and Broom.

She added: "The contracts with the phone companies are strictly controlled so if they caused damage they would have to repair it."

Residents also raised concern over potential health hazards and diminishing property prices. These claims have been dismissed by the council.

Northern Times, Scotland

A tetra mast erected under emergency planning legislation within sight of the A9 south of Brora is interfering with television reception in the area, according to a Keith Forbes, Ashcroft, Victoria Road, Brora, says that since the controversial mast was put up earlier this year he has suffered continuing interruptions to his Freeview digital channels.

He has now lodged an objection with planners over an application for the mast to remain for another six months in Dunrobin Wood and has raised the issue with the community council.

The Tetra (Terrestrial Trunk Radio Mast) is part of the new national radio communication service for the police, known as Airwave and has sparked sparked health fears because it transmits at a frequency very close to that used by the brain.

The 20-metre high mast was erected in Dunrobin Wood after a local outcry over plans to site it close to the Doll Ford bridge, a popular walking and picnic spot.

Writer and webmaster Mr Forbes (62) who lives with his wife Lois, is disabled and spends a large part of his week at home watching television. "I got Freeview last summer and initially had no problems but since April of this year we have been having no end of problems. It is not just during the day but in the evenings as well. The picture becomes horribly distorted or sometimes disappears altogether, " he said.

"I would say that in an average week we have interference at least 60 per cent of the time we want to watch television It might go off for half an hour, or two hours. We pay £134 a year in licensing fees and are just not getting our money's worth. I intend to report this to the licensing authority."

Mr Forbes, who is concerned that tetra technology may also interfere with heart pacemakers, says he contacted the BBC who told him 'off the record' that the interference may very well have been caused by the tetra mast.

He also consulted local electrical retailer Graham Begg who said they too had received complaints from customers about interference to their sets.

Community council chairman John McMorran told The Northern Times: "Mr Forbes has told us about his concerns over tv reception on terrestrial digital channels and I will pass these concerns on to planners. We understand that there have been a number of reports of people wondering what is wrong with their reception and having to constantly retune their digital channels and this may be attributable to the tetra mast."

19/08/2005

Derbyshire Evening Telegraph

09:30 - 20 August 2005

A Mobile phone firm has angered residents by proposing to erect a telecommunications mast disguised as a telegraph pole.

Neighbours believe the Vodafone mast would be put in a bad position, despite its disguise, as they are worried about the health implications.

The timber-clad mast is planned for land near Ladywood Primary School, Oliver Road, Kirk Hallam, and residents are worried as it will be near homes on Goole Avenue and Queen Elizabeth Way.

Goole Avenue resident Derek Espie said: "It's very close to the school and we're all worried."

Vodaphone said the 12-metre high aerial is needed to improve their service. Officials have written to the school as well as local people and they said there are no health dangers.

Omega this is not true: there are health dangers. See e.g. "MOBILE PHONE MASTS: The Awful TRUTH About Their Effects On Your HEALTH" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912897/

A spokeswoman said: "Our job is to have a balance between making sure we minimise visual impact and still provide a service to local people."

This is Staffordshire
EMMA FITZGERALD

12:00 - 20 August 2005 A Planning inspector has been called in to rule whether a mobile phone mast should be installed opposite a village shop. T-Mobile has appealed against the refusal of its application for a 12-metre mobile phone mast opposite the Spar Shop in Clayton Road, Clayton, to the planning inspectorate.

The company made the move after borough councillors in Newcastle ignored the advice of planners to refuse permission for the mast because it would harm the character of the area.

Mother-of-three Gillian Powell, of Lincoln Avenue, was outraged by the mast proposal, fearing possible health risks associated with the equipment.

She said her bid to keep mobile phones away from her children until they are teenagers will be defeated if the mast is put so close to their home.

Mrs Powell said: "I didn't even know they could appeal, so I was totally gob-smacked when I was told. It seems as if we've wasted our time because it doesn't look as if the company is particularly bothered that local people don't want it. I just hope the Planning Inspectorate takes our petition into account and hopefully they'll receive some more letters of protest."

Rene Bosley, of Thirlmere Place, Clayton, organised a 291-name petition against the Clayton mast and thought she had seen the last of the plans.

She said: "I'm very disappointed. We thought that with the committee turning it down then we wouldn't have any worries over this one. A lot of people are apathetic but the number of people who signed the petition shows the strength of feeling there is against it."

Clayton councillor Ann Heames said: "I'm not very happy about this because nobody wants the mast. I'd urge everybody to write in against it, as this might be their only opportunity to have a say."

In making the application T-Mobile said such masts are needed to improve the service.

A company spokesman said: "T-Mobile operates a low power radio network and our base stations therefore need to be located in the areas they are required to serve.

"Increasingly, people are also using mobiles in their homes and this means we need to position base stations in or close to residential areas.

"The site in question is in a commercial area, as far away from houses as possible in the neighbourhood. T-Mobile is satisfied that its mobile base stations, operating within national and international guidelines, are safe and do not present health risks to any member of the public."

Omega this is not true: Mobile base stations do present health risks. See e.g. "MOBILE PHONE MASTS: The Awful TRUTH About Their Effects On Your HEALTH" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/912897/

* Residents can send their comments, before September 16, to the Planning Inspectorate, 3/07 Kite Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Bristol, BS1 6PN, quoting reference APP/P3420/A/05/1186362.

emma.fiztgerald@thesentinel.co.uk

Please see:
http://www.tetrawatch.net/tetra/special1.php

Comments welcome

Andy

--------

Sunday Express article by Andrea Perry Crime Editor

Tube victim doomed by shambles of police radios that will not work under ground

Para 1. The probe into the tragic shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes took a new twist when it emerged that police marksmen would have been unable to receive orders from their commanders - because their radios do not work on the Underground

Para 3 & 4. We have also learnt that the anti-terror teams involved have 3 different types of radio - and were unable to communicate with each other. What is more, the MetRadio system used by London's police will not work at 123 stations on the capital's Underground rail system. And our disclosure that Sir Ian Blair is the driving force behind a project to improve radio communications that could end up costing as much as £300million will increase pressure on the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to sort out the current mess.

Para 7 - 9. A police source revealed:"It would appear that there was one radio in use for the CO19 firearms officers, one set for the British Transport Police, a third set for the specialised Army group. I don't know which system the surveillence teams would have been using, but in each case, the communications went back to Gold Command and were then relayed to different groups. It seems ludicrous that the various groups of officers involved in the operation to tail de Menezes were not in contact with one another"

Para 11 & 12 This month the Met signed a new £36million contract to upgrade its radio to a new Airwave digital system - but officers still won't be able to communicate underground. London Underground is also upgrading its radio system but it would take a further £140million and two years to make it compatible with police radios.

Para 15 & 16. It has also emerged that the Met's plans to run a new communication system to run alongside the police Airwave set up is also running late because of technical hitches. The Command, Control and Communication Centre has had to be delayed a further 12 months because of "software compatibility" problems. That could mean a £300million bill.

Para 19 The official level of threat to Britain from a terrorist attack has been lowered for the first time since the July 7th bombings, it was reported last night.

Sandi

and

Mail on Sunday. Article from Peter Hitchens

From humble Peelers to stormtroops of the State

Last paragraph:

"The question arises: What are the police now? They used to be civilians in uniform, sworn to uphold the law on behalf of the rest of us. Now they are an arm of the New Labour State, secretive, armed, contemptuous of the public they supposedly serve and determined to enforce the Blairite dogmas of political correctness. it is forgotten now that Parliament resisted the idea of even having a police force for decades. Many feared that such a body would turn into an engine of tyranny, as it has done on the Continent. Robert Peel's brilliant idea of an unarmed, modestly uniformed, localised force, whose main job to patrol on foot, overcame their doubts. But Peel's ideas have been cast aside. Now they swagger about with Tommy guns, dressed like stormtroopers and glowering. Few see them as any protection or help in distress, and they have the nerve to tell us what we can and cannot say. Do we now see the fears of 200 years ago coming true? I very much fear we do."

Sandi

--------

Andy,

I have often seen comments that Tetra is inferior to the system used in France (which is also cheaper than Tetra). It certainly seems to cause dreadful health effects, not only in Policemen using the handsets, but amongst residents living near police stations - symptoms I have seen mentioned: insomnia, headaches and nosebleeds) latter particularly amongst children. Amongst the police symptoms have included insomnia, headaches, nausea and vertigo and also cancer of the throat and areas in contact with handsets are thought to have been associated with the Tetra system.

Gill Lyden

President Bush still refuses to meet with Cindy Sheehan, the Rosa Parks of Crawford, Texas, but there is some good news. While Crawford's Camp Casey (named after Cindy's son killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004) continues to be short on amenities, a sympathetic neighbor has given the hundred or so friends I left there on Wednesday a field in which they can pitch their tents.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005Z.shtml



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Republican Party foreign policy expert Sen. Chuck Hagel is calling for the United States to open talks with Iran's new president and has dismissed President George W. Bush's talk of a military option against Tehran as an empty and foolish threat.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005H.shtml

Mr. Northern - I know little about Cindy Sheehan except that she is a grieving mother, a gentle soul, and wants to bring harm to no one. I know little about you except that you found your way to Crawford on Monday night in August with chains and a pipe attached to your truck for the sole purpose of dishonoring a memorial erected for my friends and lost Soldiers and hundreds of others that served this nation when they were called.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005A.shtml



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Mangelnde Kompetenz bei den Themen Klimaschutz, Gentechnik und Nachhaltigkeit hat der Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) mehreren Anwärtern auf Spitzenpositionen in einer möglichen neuen Regierung bescheinigt. Im Kompetenzteam der CDU/CSU seien leider wie schon im Wahljahr 2002 wichtige Zukunftsthemen "unterbelichtet". Das könne sich erneut rächen.

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-News/6759.php

Das ZDF-Auslandsjournal hat sich in seiner Sendung 30.06.2005 am Beispiel Alaskas mit dem Klimawandel beschäftigt. Die interessante Reportage hatte diesen Wortlaut: "Er scheint der letzte Vorposten der Zivilisation zu sein, der kleine Ort Shishmaref. 600 Menschen leben auf der kleinen Insel vor der Küste Alaskas. Eine Flugstunde von Russland entfernt, zeigt sich das wohl extremste Beispiel der globalen Erwärmung."

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-Surftipp/6776.php

Die jüngste Entwicklung des Atom-Konflikts im Iran ist bedenklich - die europäische Reaktion auch. Wie ist es möglich, dass Europa angeblich sogar anbietet weitere Atomkraftwerke zu liefern, um den Atom-Konflikt zu lösen? Wir müssen doch erkennen, dass die Ursache dieses Konflikts im Betrieb von Atomkraftwerken liegt, denn ohne diese gibt es keine Wiederaufbereitung bzw. Anreicherung von Uran und damit auch nicht die Gefahr des Missbrauchs für Atomwaffen. Dass Europa dem Iran die "friedliche Nutzung der Atomenergie" zubilligt ist mehr als zynisch. Gastkommentar von Wolfgang Rehfus
http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Art-Zukunft/6747.php

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=89571;show_parent=1



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3295/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan