"It's Not That the Government Isn't Responding, They are Obstructing the Response".

http://www.counterpunch.org/archer09162005.html


From Information Clearing House

In the midst of administering chest compressions to a dying woman several days after Hurricane Katrina struck, Dr. Mark N. Perlmutter was ordered to stop by a federal official because he wasn't registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10314.htm

What brings the leading voice of the “liberal” media together with the ultra-right president? Both defend the interests of the narrow layer of wealthy families at the top of American society.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/times-s17.shtml


From Information Clearing House

Audio

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

While the world has been falling all over itself to remember the victims of 9–11 and digging deep in its pockets to aid the wealthiest nation on the planet recovering from a natural disaster, a ferocious man-made onslaught on a town in northeast Iraq is being virtually ignored.

http://snipurl.com/hrbh



From Information Clearing House

Robert Skidelsky

President Bush’s new security doctrine stretches US self-defence to cover defence against not just actual, but potential threats. A nuclear weapons programme (or even a civil nuclear energy programme) can be seen as a threat. So can a dictatorship. When the two are combined you have a case for preventive war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10136.htm

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3407/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

sent by The Freedom Archives - Sep 15, 2005 http://freedomarchives.org/

Statement by Saladin Muhammad of Black Workers for Justice

The magnitude of the destruction and human suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina to the people and communities of the Gulf Coast Region, while not the results of an act of "terror", is directly a result of a profit driven system of capitalist exploitation reinforced by the national oppression of African American people in the US South, a region where the majority of Black people live and where the conditions of oppression, poverty and underdevelopment are most concentrated.

As anti imperialists and activists engage in work to build support for the Gulf Coast survivors, we must have an analysis and political context for properly understanding the reasons for this crisis and the contradictions surrounding its aftermath. The response to this human tragedy must be more than a humanitarian response in order to deal with the magnitude and complexity of issues, international political ramifications, the legal aspects, and the various levels of local, regional, national and international coalition and network building and mobilizing that must take place to build a powerful movement for social justice.

There is much talk about how to define the main social impact of Katrina: Whether it is mainly a major disaster for Black people or for working class and poor people in general. This attempt to separate race from class when dealing with issues where those workers affected are majority African American is no accident. It seeks to divide the character and content of the working class responses.

Thus, it is important to define the race and class character of the crisis and to call on the larger working class to unite with it's most oppressed section-the African American working class who is also the predominant basis of an oppressed nation and nationality historically denied real democratic rights and subjugated by US imperialism.

The government's failure to correct this impending danger known far in advance, that led to the continuously unfolding massive human tragedy, helps all to see the racist nature of the US capitalist system and how the system of African American national oppression is in violation of human rights and guilty of crimes against humanity.

African American National Oppression

African American national oppression was/is definitely a major factor contributing to the magnitude of the disaster caused by Katrina. National oppression takes on more factors than race. It includes among other factors where people live and work-social and political territories and institution, and has a working class character represented by the most exploited strata of the US working class. Thus African American national oppression is at the deepest point of the intersection of race, class and gender oppression and exploitation of the US working class.

As more than 90 percent of Black people throughout the US are workers, African American national oppression places its primary emphasis on the exploitation and oppression of Black workers and their communities. More than two-thirds of New Orleans' inhabitants were African American. In the Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood that was one of the hardest hit, more than 98% were Black.

The slow US federal and state government responses to natural disasters like Hurricanes Katrina and Floyd in North Carolina in September 1999, that greatly impacted predominately African American working class communities, make clear that the value of Black and working class life is subordinate to capitalist property and profits.

The racist economic, social and political policies and practices of the US government and capitalist system shape society's attitudes about the reasons for the historical oppression of African Americans. It seeks to isolate, criminalize and scapegoat African Americans as social pariahs holding back the progress of society.

The characterization of the Black working class in this way is a part of the continuous ideological shaping of white supremacy that gives white workers a sense of being part of another working class, different from that of the Black working class. This often leads many white workers to act against their class interests, discouraging them from uniting with the Black working class in struggling to seek common, equal and socially transformative resolutions to their class issues.

The media's different descriptions of acts of desperation and survival by Blacks and whites in obtaining food and supplies following Katrina-"looting" and "finders" is an example. The police and National Guard were ordered to stop looking for survivors and to stop "lawlessness." Bush's statements about getting tough on "looters" along with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, when she said, "These troops are battle-tested - have M-16s that are locked and loaded - know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will", made clear that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were becoming areas of military occupation.

The refusal by thousands of mainly Black people to leave their homes was initially described by the media as the main problem related to the slow evacuation efforts-blaming the victims. Nothing initially mentioned about the low wages, level of poverty and high rates of unemployment preventing people from leaving.

After it took almost a week for the government evacuation effort to begin, leaving people to fend for themselves without electricity, food and water, it became shamefully clear and unavoidable for the media to hide, that the government had made no provisions for a major evacuation. The acts of heroism by the people themselves in rescuing their neighbors, although not emphasized by the media, could be seen throughout it's coverage.

The so-called "looting" and "lawlessness" must be addressed and placed in proper context. When it became clear that there was no emergency evacuation plan in place-people waiting up to a week before any major evacuation effort began, people were forced to take desperate actions for survival, both until they got "rescued" and for their uncertain future as refugees with no resources and sources of income. TV's, appliances, etc, become a form of capital and a means for trade during a crisis.

Some survivors were forced to "steal" cars to get their families out of the areas. Should this be considered a crime? NO! Also, when people are oppressed, neglected and left to die, they often engage in spontaneous acts of rebellion striking out against those who control wealth and power.

This is why the term "racism" without the context of national oppression and imperialism is grossly inadequate in describing the scope and depth of the impact of the US oppression of African American people. It often fails to point out the impact that African American national oppression has on influencing the standard of living and social conditions of the general working class regardless of race especially in areas where Black workers make of a majority or large minority of the population.

US Imperialism on the Domestic Front

Not only did the US federal and state government place the working class of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in impending danger, including failing to develop a planned emergency response to the crises, it has also refused the aid of other countries like Cuba and Venezuela who have offered to send hundreds of doctors, tons of medical supplies and fuel to help the people in the Gulf Coast Region.

US imperialism has thus decided that it has the sole right to decide if the majority African American and working class people and communities in the Gulf Coast Region have the human and political right to survive or not. This is clearly an international human rights question where the demand for self-determination must be applied as part of the resolution.

Though food, water and transportation trickled in, the government made sure the oil industry was taken care of fast. Over 10 major refineries were knocked out of commission in the Gulf region, but many of them were back operating within the week. Bush released federal oil reserves, but oil companies jack up gas prices to a criminal level. Environmental safeguards were loosened for gasoline producers to allow more pollution. All this while the four largest oil companies had profits of nearly $100 billion in the last 18 months. Why isn't this labeled as corporate "lawlessness?"

The African American working class majority of New Orleans and parts of the Gulf Coast have been "evacuated" to other cities several hundred and in some cases thousands of miles away from their communities. Many feel that their communities will never be restored and that they won't be returned home.

They have good reason to feel this way, as some majority African American communities have already begun to experience gentrification-moving Black and poor people out of the inner cities and replacing them with more affluent and predominantly middle and upper class whites.

Many reports and scientific papers warned that unbridled development along the coast had done away with millions of acres of wetlands that buffered coastal communities from storms. Thus, this disaster and the racist and capitalist circumstances surrounding its occurrence and aftermath, raises the issue of "ethnic cleansing."

The media in some of the cities receiving the "evacuees", are describing them as "the worst of New Orleans' now-notorious lawlessness: looters, carjackers and rapists." This sounds like the racist labels placed on working class and poor immigrants and refugees from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean who have been forced to leave their countries and come to the US for economic and political reasons.

Many African Americans in particular will experience problems related to the loss of identification documents in the Flood and fall into a similar status as undocumented and immigrant workers that come from Latin America and the Caribbean. Their residential and citizenship status will be challenged in most cases, when it comes time to get disaster relief subsistence. The racist nature of US capitalism often makes this reality of being a refugee and undocumented worker within one's "own" country a unique reality for African Americans and other oppressed nationalities, especially during times of natural and social crises.

We should expect the US to use this disaster to increase restrictions on forced economic immigration. It is therefore important that African Americans and Latinos united in challenging the refusal of survivor's assistance on the basis of the lack of documentation or citizenship status. It is important to point out that countries in Latin America have offered aid to all without regard of citizenship status and nationality-even though the US seeks to overthrow their governments.

Forging this unity is an important part of a larger and more difficult and absolutely essential process of building international solidarity and working class unity against US imperialism. This is why it's so important for Black workers and their organizations to play a leading role in shaping the class as well as national character of the struggle for justice around this disaster.

The future of New Orleans in particular in terms of the reconstruction of the historical communities, but at a higher quality of social conditions and standard of living will be decided by the US corporate class, the white power structure, unless there is an organized and combined African American and working class struggle led by the African American working class majority in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Such a struggle must take the popular form of a combined struggle for African American self-determination and workers power, and must have an international component.

Katrina Disaster Exposes Impact of Unjust US War and Occupation against Iraq

The Katrina disaster exposes how US imperialist war in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, including billions in support for Israel's occupation of Palestine is directly connected to the human tragedy in the Gulf Coast Region.

Vital resources that had been allocated by the Bush administration to fix the substandard levees in New Orleans and the erosion of marshlands along the coast that caused the Region to experience such enormous flooding and massive loss of lives were cut and shifted to the war budget.

Both Republican and Democratic administrations have consciously refused to adequately maintain or strengthen the levees that protect New Orleans. Hurricane and flood control has received the steepest federal funding reductions in New Orleans history-down 44.2% since 2001. The emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, told The Times-Picayune in June 2004: "It appears that the money has been moved in the President's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that is the price we pay." Requests for an additional $250 million for Army Corps of Engineers levee work in the delta went unmet.

There were over 15,000 National Guard from the Gulf Coast Region in Afghanistan and Iraq fighting unjust wars. Their equipment, including generators, water purification systems and other needed life support and disaster preparedness supplies were overseas as well. Precious hours and days were lost as the bureaucratic machinery slowly moved equipment from other parts of the country that could have helped save lives of thousands who are expected to die.

As was the case during every war engaged in by this country, African Americans and working people were sent to fight, kill and die to bring about so-called "freedom" while they and their communities are denied freedom from hunger, imminent dangers, racial violence, gender oppression and state repression.

As was also the case during the Vietnam and Korean wars, the US tried to conceal the racist treatment of African Americans on the home front. In both of these wars, the racist treatment of African Americans in the US led to rebellions in the military and drew many former veterans into the civil rights and African American liberation movement when they returned home.

It is important that this connection be raised and exposed to help African Americans better understand the more immediate relationship to the wars abroad and the national and working class oppression of African Americans in the US. This will not only serve to strengthen the current US anti war movement, it will strengthen the US and international anti imperialist movement.

Lessons From North Carolina's Hurricane Floyd

The coalitions and movement that develops to aid the survivors of this disaster must understand the magnitude and how it differs from other disasters throughout the US history. When one analyzes the conditions and responses to Hurricane Floyd label the "Flood of the Century" that impacted 30 counties in Eastern North Carolina in September 1999, we see at least one major difference that defines how people's aid must be organized.

With Floyd, the evacuation of thousands of survivors to far away distant cities and states did not occur. People were moved and went on their own to neighboring towns and communities, thus making it easier to build a survivor's organization and movement in the area made up of representatives of the various towns and communities that were impacted.

There was a decision to define people as survivors and not "victims" as one way of helping to empower them and to discourage a "victim's consciousness" which made many feel they had no right to challenge the abuses of FEMA and the state. The children were teased at schools that their close and food were "hand outs" from charity. Many begin to deny they were survivors of the hurricane.

There were also strong religious pronouncements in the Black communities about the reasons for the disaster-that God was unpleased with African Americans "social decay", falling away from the church, that God was punishing America for its sins. All of this had some affect of taking people's focus off of the neglect and failures of the system to protect the safety, lives and communities of African American working class majorities.

There was the need to establish a survivor's slogan-Social Justice, Not Charity-to promote that aid is a human right the actions of the people themselves in surviving the disaster was an expression of courage, heroism and dignity. This is why it's so important that this movement have a strong cultural component.

The largest camp housing Floyd survivors was set up on a toxic waste dump which had not been inspected ahead of time and was located behind a women's prison. Survivor's felt they had no right to complain and also feared that if they did, they would be put out of the FEMA camp with no place else to go.

The Survivor's organization was not a "support" or emergency "relief" organization per say; even though it participated in "relief" activities-worked in food and clothing distribution centers set up by community forces and supporters.

A survivor's committees were organized in 15 sites throughout Eastern, NC and a survivor's summit was organized to bring survivor communities together to hammer out a survivor's manifesto of demands to serve as their program for recovery and reconstruction.

The state of NC had established a Floyd Relief fund that had several hundred million dollars of federal money and private "donations." The survivor's organization demanded that the fund address key needs and ensure that the cut off period did not leave survivors to fall through the cracks.

The Survivor's organization and support coalitions in the areas organized reconstruction brigades of people who came in from other cities to help repair and rebuild damaged homes. Progressive lawyers and legal clinics were set up to deal with the massive insurance fraud, and real estate speculators who were trying to get people to sell their homes for little or nothing to get desperately needed money. Volunteer doctors and medical people set up screening and emergency support clinics that wrote subscriptions for medicine, and college students and educators set up schools and day care in the camp areas. A people's transportation service was set up to take people to work, to look for work and to shop for clothes and other items. There were discussions about setting up survivor worker run businesses to help create employment-such as paint crews, home repair and survivor taxi service, but they never materialized.

The postal workers union local led by a member of Black Workers For Justice that was part of the Survivor's support organization brought mail transfer forms and workers to assist survivors in getting their mail rerouted. The scope of this work was based on he level of participants that were drawn into this social justice work. This is a main reason why it's very important to build a broad network tying together activists groups with allies.

It is very important to draw the trade unions into this movement, the Gulf Coast wide coalition and national support network. They should be encouraged to contribute directly to the a survivor's and people driven support coalition in the region, not to the red cross or government agencies. The identity of the working class efforts will not be projected by the contributions made to these agencies.

It is important that workers see that trade unions have a broader concern and commitment to the needs of the working class and not just their immediate members. The employers will certainly ask the workers where the unions were during the disaster when they try to organize.

They can play an important role in supporting those evacuated to their cities, especially outside of the South. The unions can help in adopting families and shelters in their areas. They must also play a leading role in helping to combat the racist attempts by the media, white supremacists, religious right and others to alienate those evacuated to their cities by educating their members and getting them actively involved in support efforts.

Distribution centers were designated by FEMA and state crises agencies. The Black Workers For Justice set up a distribution center at its Workers Center in Rocky Mount, NC, but had to struggle to demand it be recognized as an official center so that it could receive food and supplies from distribution warehouses that were set up in the areas by FEMA.

Most of the FEMA designated distribution centers were the big white area churches, some Black churches, YMCA's and OIC's. The white paternalistic and missionary character of a major portion of the establishment designated "formal" relief efforts was overwhelming.

Disaster Relief Efforts Must be Carried Out as a Political Struggle Yes, it's important that organizing be done around the humanitarian aspects of this crisis and recovery. It must not try and substitute for the obligation that the US government has to fully address the problems. A "full" recovery requires some political and economic changes and pressure by a mass movement.

We learned that during times of disasters, the state and federal government declarations of a "state of emergency", allows local governmental powers to be suspended or place under the direct demand of the state government. During Floyd, survivors particularly from the Town of Princeville, the oldest historically Black town in North Carolina and some say in the US, were organized to demand that their city council convene itself, even though the town had been destroyed.

This was a struggle for self-determination within the context of the struggle for reconstruction. The Princeville city council held weekly open meeting where activists organized transportation to take survivors by cars and church buses to have input into the decisions and town government struggle for reconstruction.

The movement in the Gulf Coast Region has major concerns that require the organization, politics and leadership of the African American liberation as a central component to help unite a broad, multi-national, multi-racial and international campaign for social justice and reconstruction.

The dispersed masses from the region has to be organized and reconnected by a representative body that acts as a kind of provisional government to deal with questions regarding the future of their communities, the blatant neglect of the US government in placing them in imminent danger, the failure of the government to have a planned and speedy evacuation, the denial of the government to allow aid from other countries and the use of the police and National Guard as military occupation forces, among other concerns.

Some of the demands that must be included in this movement include:

* The right to return of the people of the Gulf Coast Region,

* Open up area military bases for no cost temporary housing to begin moving survivors back into the region,

* Extended unemployment and emergency financial relief based on a living wage until people are returned to their homes and jobs,

* A People's referendum on all decisions affecting the politic and residential issues of the Gulf Coast survivors,

* Establish a public workers program funded by the federal government and the big corporation to rebuild New Orleans and the affected Gulf Coast Region,

* Employ the survivors at a living wage as required by the David Bacon Act to work on clean up and reconstruction of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, with the right to organize unions,

* That major contracts fro clean up and reconstruction of New Orleans Black and working class communities be allocated to Black contractors,

* That the US immediately allow other countries to provide aid to the survivors,

* That the United Nations conduct an investigation into the circumstances surround the Katrina disaster to determine if the US is guilty of human rights violations,

* That everyone suffering property damaged and destruction, dislocated, death and illness, including emotional and psychological, receive reparations from the US government as victims of a racist act of placing people and communities in imminent dander because they are Black and poor.

* Issue a massive bankruptcy executive order for Gulf Coast survivors forging all debt of property lost or destroyed by the disaster,

* Cut the US military budget and reallocate finances to deal with state and local programs to address social and environmental needs which threaten the lives, safety, health and communities of African American and other working class populations.

* End the wars and occupation in the Middle East, bring the US troops home now,

* The immediate impeachment of George Bush for his role in the US government in placing people's lives in imminent danger and thereby committing crimes against humanity.

The political movement must be organized nationally. The progressive organizations of every political tendency and humanitarian expression should be able to support this movement. However, it is very important and political necessary to give it its proper anti imperialist character, that it be led by a national Black united front, in terms of shaping and putting forward its main political demands and representing it at the national and international levels.

We must be careful while insuring the presence, politics and leadership of the African American working class and liberation movement forces, not to narrow the scope and content of the struggle around to try and fit a particular ideological perspective. A mass movement must be built that the African American liberation movement must work inside of and influence in a more conscious anti imperialist direction.

There will be multiple responses from progressive forces representing various classes, ideological, political and religious tendencies and social movements. Many will be small groups seeking foundation grants to help in the effort. Progressives in these groups must be careful not to allow competition for funding to create tensions among themselves. Differences among the progressive and genuinely humanitarian forces and the methods of struggle around these differences should be mainly non-antagonist. This requires close relations to be built between revolutionary political forces active within this effort.

As opposed to abstract and sectarian polemics and arguments at mass meetings, there must be an effort to isolate and out organize opportunist elements who see using this disaster to win favor and reposition themselves within the Democratic and Republican Parties or with sections of the corporate class by promoting their image as being savors.

This means discouraging efforts to create sole dependence on cult of the personality savior's or liberal and paternalist dominated groups however well meaning, to solve the problems for the people or to speak on their behalf. This is also why it's so important to have Black working class leadership at the national and local levels of the anti war and Millions More Movements.

We must work to make this tragedy and the struggle for Gulf Coast justice a major projection of the anti war movement and demonstrations, not only in the US but internationally. Survivors must speak at anti war demonstrations and activities in other countries.

Likewise, the major African American and working class mobilizations like the upcoming Millions More Movement must project this disaster and struggle for justice as a major demand for the African American liberation movement. The US Congressional Black Caucus must help to make this struggle a congressional centerpiece for measuring the treatment of African American majority and working class communities, including immigrant workers.

The main strategic anti imperialist political tasks of the Gulf Coast struggle for justice, should be to isolate and indict US imperialism and to gain concrete international support and ongoing recognition for the plight of the African American people to bring mass and international pressure on the US to win justice for the Gulf Coast survivors, and to force US imperialism to retreat in its war on the Middle East. The African American liberation movement and anti imperialist forces must take up the main tasks to carry out this strategy.

September 5, 2005


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


Informant: Fred Feldman

From ufpj-news

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?items=2355&printmode=true


Informant: Fred Feldman

From ufpj-news

Nach einer weltweiten Umfrage sagen zwei Drittel der Menschen, dass ihr Land nicht nach dem Willen der Menschen regiert wird. Hoch im Ansehen stehen Intellektuelle und religiöse Führer.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20959/1.html

Global warming 'past the point of no return'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/980979/

Study Links Hurricanes to Global Warming
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/983892/

After Katrina, the climate just gets worse and worse
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/971007/

Simpler living in tougher times
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/981239/

Why this is our last chance to save the planet
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/966511/

Old World Order
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/981556/

Retreating glaciers, melting permafrost threaten Arctic lifestyle
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/976351/

Exploring Katrina with Sustainable Approaches
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/971034/

Hurricane Katrina and Climate Justice
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/971057/

After Katrina - The Environmental Perspective
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/977342/

It's Official: Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/980919/

Water crisis looms as Himalayan glaciers melt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/969394/

Retreating Glaciers Worrying Greenlanders
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/971248/

Polluted paradise
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/976544/

Save Tennessee's Mountains
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/969169/

Spending on environment yields big returns
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/978232/

Fuel protests 'will bring Britain to a standstill'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/971044/

From Icon to Dinner Plate - Don't Let Horses Become a Meal
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/976492/

Vote USA 2004
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Vote+USA+2004/

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

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

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

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

EMF-Omega-News 17. September 2005
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/984258/

Petition delivered to the World Health Organization (WHO) to remove Dr. Mike Repacholi immediately from his position as General Coordinator “International Electromagnetic Fields Project”
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/975607/

DO RADIOFREQUENCY ENERGY FIELDS CAUSE CANCER?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/968226/

Electrical fields can make you sick
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/966487/

Phones CAN make you ill
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/969678/

Microwaves from GSM Mobile Telephones Affect 53BP1 and gamma-H2AX Foci in Human Lymphocytes from Hypersensitive and Healthy Persons
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/965058/

Many people report symptoms of electromagnetic radiation sickness, WHO
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/972757/

Blood Test
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/969188/

EU Court Rules Most Mobile Phone "Mast Taxes" Are Legal
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/965196/

News in Microwave News
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/981527/

Residents in mast battle
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/967603/

WILL HOUSE PRICES FALL BY £10,000?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/967612/

PLANS TO INSTALL MASTS REJECTED
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/967616/

1st JUDGEMENT of the Class Action in Summary Procedure ASL versus Orange France plc
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/971670/

Derivation of Exposure Limits for RF/MW in China
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/982650/

Councillor: I don't need mobile
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/972777/

Phone mast fight begins again
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/972784/

Mobile phone giants hit back at council
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/972808/

CALLS FOR REFUSAL
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/972826/

Mast pole-axed by people power
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/974437/

Couple face £400,000 legal bill after losing phone mast battle
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/974449/

'£200 seems like pay-off'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/974463/

Residents hit out at mast plan
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/976142/

WHY ON EARTH would anyone be placed on statins any more?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/976527/

ORANGE TELECOMMUNICATIONS MAST, ROMFORD
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/980359/

Councillors vote to reject mast
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/980926/

PROTESTERS JOIN FORCES
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/980931/

RESIDENTS OPPOSED TO PHONE MASTS
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/980945/

We mast prevent this
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/980960/

A UNITED STANCE ON MASTS
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/980966/

BALOONEY PROTEST OVER MAST PLAN
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/983632/

Phone mast revival
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/983697/

Row over plan for a mast site
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/983727/

Phone mast plan withdrawn
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/983730/

News from Mast Sanity
http://tinyurl.com/aotw3

Omega-News Collection 17. September 2005
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/984261/

September 15th marked the end of marbled murrellet nesting season, which means the beginning of old growth redwood logging season, so we need as many people to come and help out as possible. We didn't have a huge rally this year, yet many people will be gathering at EarthDance, so the tribes will be gathering nonetheless! September 17th will also be the 7-year anniversary of the death of David "Gypsy" Chain, an Earth First! activist killed when an enraged Maxxam Corp./Pacific Lumber Co. logger began intentionally falling trees towards a group of NCEF! activists. So maybe light a candle, burn some cedar and sage, and send some prayers up for the forest and all of us (including yourselves) who work to save them and protect the Earth. North Coast Earth First! continues to grow and evolve, as does each and every one of us. Tree-sits continue in the Fern Gully tree-village in the Freshwater Creek watershed, here in Humboldt County, California. Fern Gully is one of the last old growth redwood groves left on Earth, and just so happens to stand right above an elementary school in the small rural community of Freshwater. Maxxam/Pacific Lumber logging has been suspended in Freshwater, thanks to the Water Quality Control Board, yet Fern Gully still remains unprotected. Should the children who will go to that school for the next 100 years have to look at a clearcut, or should they have the unique privelege of looking up to see one of the world's wonders for years to come? Feel free to contact Schwarzenegger's office and give them an earful about why they should save Fern Gully, for the children, the watershed, and out of general principle. Here's the info...

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger State Capitol Building Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916-445-2841 Fax: 916-445-4633

To send an Electronic Mail please visit: http://www.govmail.ca.gov

Many activists are still dealing with harassment from the S.L.A.P.P. suits being brought against them by Maxxam/PL, while Charles Hurwitz received a ruling for $72 million for allegedly being harassed by a vast conspiracy between the government and environmentalists. Can you believe this world? Thankfully, the FDIC has appealed the ruling, and the $72 million won't go to Hurwitz quite yet, and hopefully never will. Activists are being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars for allegedly costing the company so much money to deal with us. Maxxam/PL fails to mention the debt they have accrued with the people of Humboldt County, for years of sedimentation, landslides, assault & battery, increased flooding, and other blatant criminal activity they have been engaged in for the past 20 years.

I've been out of town for a bit, so haven't had a chance to work on our website, http://www.northcoastearthfirst.org, very much lately. We could definitely use help with web design and maintenance, if anyone is interested. It has some good information and links, yet I acknowledge that it's a bit lackluster...all apologies...

A Sun Dance was held in mid-August, along the Avenue of the Giants. The focus of the prayer was for the old growth redwoods and the people working to protect them. It was a beautiful ceremony, and will continue for the next three years. You are all invited to attend, and we hope that many of you will come to join in this sacred ceremony for the Earth and her people.

As many of you know, the Pepper Spray plaintiffs had a victory in court, after a court battle that has lasted approximately eight years. Details of the case and the steps that are still being taken to ban the use of pepper spray as a torture device on non-violent activists are available at http://www.nopepperspray.org .

Thanks for being on our update e-mail list! The global resistance to corporate control and exploitation in ongoing, and more people are waking up every day. It's an exciting time to be alive, and feels right to be part of an international movement towards protecting the Earth...Earth First! Ok, on to the support section...don't even like to go there, yet it's a vital part of maintaining our front-line resistance...

To make a secure donation via PayPal, please go to the following link (I've done away with those pesky HTML buttons in e-mails)...
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=shunka_2004%40yahoo%2ecom&item_name=North%20Coast%20Earth%20First%21&no_shipping=1&cn=Notes%20go%20here%2e%2e%2e&tax=0&currency_code=USD

Also, be sure to use shunka_2004@yahoo.com for the e-mail to send donations to.

You can send donations via snail mail to...

North Coast Earth First! P.O. Box 28 Arcata, CA 95518 (NOT Bayside, CA)

You can also make a tax-deductible donation to our media office and collective, at the following link:

https://www.treesfoundation.org/cgi-priv/Donations.pl

Just scroll down to "North Coast Earth First! (NCEF!)", and click on "Continue>"

You can also reach our media office at...

NCEF! Media
920 Samoa Blvd., Suite #221 Arcata, CA 95521
(707) 822-1513


With Love, Light, and Re-evolution, Shunka Wakan North Coast Earth First!

Be sure to check out http://www.northcoastearthfirst.org


Informant: Hummingbird Lou

"There's a 9/11 waiting to happen in the oceans if we let it," retired Adm. James Watkins, chairman of the US Commission on Ocean Policy, warned two years ago. With Hurricane Katrina, we let it happen, David Helvarg remarks. A huge natural disaster was hugely magnified by greed, folly and a refusal to respond to a situation long recognized as critical.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091605F.shtml

Readers and commentators from abroad are watching images of chaos and despair in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and are wondering how a country so mighty could have fallen so far.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091605E.shtml

Stirling Newberry: America has awakened and found itself in a new day, which we must now seize. The people have spoken plainly on this one point above all: we must end this terrible war, entered without evidence, pursued without profit, and prolonged without purpose.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091605A.shtml

The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9314188/#050916


From Information Clearing House

Now it begins: America's biggest relief and recovery program since the New Deal. And the omens aren't good.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10310.htm

As President Bush spoke from New Orleans last night, few of the thousands of residents of that evacuated city, lying on rows and rows of cots in the sprawling River Center shelter here, paid him much attention.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/347016p-296039c.html


From Information Clearing House

President George W. Bush's advisers said on Friday billions of dollars needed to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will be borrowed and will raise the deficit but Bush still wants to extend tax cuts.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16153943.htm


From Information Clearing House

Bush's America is gone with the wind. It lasted just short of four years, from Sept. 11, 2001, to Aug. 29, 2005. The devastation of New Orleans was the watery equivalent of a dirty bomb.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10306.htm

As insecurity mounts from Najaf to New Orleans, more weapons and high-tech military equipment are flowing into some of the globe's most vulnerable and war-torn regions.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10301.htm

We had a war because there are powerful interests in our country that are geared toward making money from war. How? Let us count the ways.

http://counterpunch.org/foley09152005.html


From Information Clearing House

What we are watching today, I believe, is a culmination of 10-15 years of mounting barbarism of the American culture the world over, crowned by the achievements of science and technology as a major weapon of mass destruction.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10304.htm

http://www.mehr-demokratie.de/demokratie-ranking.html

--------

JEDE STIMME ZÄHLT?!
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/983638/

Ergebnisse Wahlprüfsteine für Bundestagskandidat/inn/en
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/973799/

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0916-10.htm

Clarion Ledger Exposes Bush Administration Efforts to Shift Katrina Blame to Environmentalists

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0916-04.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287026/site/newsweek/


Informant: NHNE

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=91468;show_parent=1

Impeachment Movement Responds to Bush's Speech
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?disc=149495;article=91472;title=APFN



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

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/771266064

This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Philip Clarke

Virus Poses Risk of Massive Casualties Around the World

Sep. 16, 2005 - It could kill a billion people worldwide, make ghost towns out of parts of major cities, and there is not enough medicine to fight it. It is called the avian flu.

This week, the U.S. government agreed to stockpile $100 million worth of a still-experimental vaccine, while at the United Nations Summit in New York, both the head of the U.N. World Health Organization and President Bush warned of the virus' deadly potential.

"We must also remain on the offensive against new threats to public health, such as the Avian influenza," Bush said in his speech to world leaders. "If left unchallenged, the virus could become the first pandemic of the 21st century."

According to Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Bush's call to remain on the offensive has come too late.

"If we had a significant worldwide epidemic of this particular avian flu, the H5N1 virus, and it hit the United States and the world, because it would be everywhere at once, I think we would see outcomes that would be virtually impossible to imagine," he warns.

Already, officials in London are quietly looking for extra morgue space to house the victims of the H5N1 virus, a never-before-seen strain of flu. Scientists say this virus could pose a far greater threat than smallpox, AIDS or anthrax.

"Right now in human beings, it kills 55 percent of the people it infects," says Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow on global health policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. "That makes it the most lethal flu we know of that has ever been on planet Earth affecting human beings."

No Natural Immunity

The Council on Foreign Relations devoted its most recent issue of the prestigious journal, Foreign Affairs, to what it called the coming global epidemic, a pandemic.

"Each year different flus come, but your immune system says, 'Ah, I've seen that guy before. No problem. Crank out some antibodies, and I might not feel great for a couple of days, but I'll recover,'" Garrett says. "Now what's scaring us is that this constellation of H number 5 and N number 1, to our knowledge, has never in history been in our species. So absolutely nobody watching this has any natural immunity to this form of flu."

Like most flu viruses, this form started in wild birds -- such as geese, ducks and swans -- in Asia.

"They die of a pneumonia, just like people," says William Karesh, the lead veterinarian for the Wildlife Conservation Society. "When you open them up, you do a post-mortem exam. Their lungs are just full of fluid and full of blood."

Karesh has been tracking this flu strain for the last several years as it has gained strength, spreading from wild birds to chickens to humans.

"We start at a market somewhere in Guangdong Province in China," explains Karesh. "And it's packed with cages, and you'll have chickens, and you'll have ducks. You might have some other animals -- cats, dogs, turtles, snakes -- and they're all stacked in cages, and they're all spreading their germs to each other."

In response, Asian governments have killed millions of chickens in futile attempts to stop the flu's spread to humans.

"The tipping point, the place where it becomes something of an immediate concern, is where that virus changes, we call it mutates, to something that is able to go from human to human," says Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness.

Echoes of the 'Spanish Flu' Epidemic

Scientists in Asia and around the world are now working around the clock as they wait for that tipping point.

"Unlike the normal human flu, where the virus is predominantly in the upper respiratory tract so you get a runny nose, sore throat, the H5N1 virus seems to go directly deep into the lungs so it goes down into the lung tissue and causes severe pneumonia," says Dr. Malik Peiris, the scientist who first discovered the so-called SARS virus, which killed 700 people and drew worldwide attention.

To date, there have been 57 confirmed human deaths, and another suspected one last week in Indonesia. Scientists say the humans have only been infected by birds. However, they add, every infected person represents one step closer to the tipping point.

"Once that virus is capable of not needing the birds to infect humans, then we have the beginnings of what can turn out to be this worldwide epidemic problem that the experts call 'pandemics,'" Redlener says.

That is exactly what happened in 1918 when the global epidemic called the Spanish flu struck.

"The Spanish flu was killing people in two or three days once they got sick," said Bill Karesh of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

"In 1918, my now-quite-elderly uncle was a young boy, living in Baltimore, Maryland," says Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations. "And the flu came through, and his family insisted that he could not go outside for any reason until the whole epidemic was over. He spent afternoons looking out the window and counting the hearses going up and down the neighborhood and trying to guess which of his schoolmates had died."

Disaster Would Require Massive Quarantines

Unlike the avian flu, the Spanish flu spread long before the international air travel routes of today. At that time, there were no nonstop flights from flu ground zero to the United States. But not anymore.

Karesh believes the avian flu could travel from China to Japan to New York to San Francisco within the first week.

"It's on people's hands. You shake hands. You touch a doorknob that somebody recently touched," Garrett says, referring to how the flu is spread.

Redlener, who is stationed at Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, has been working with New York City officials to get ready for the deadly epidemic.

"The city would look like a science fiction movie," according to him. "It's extremely possible we'd have to quarantine hospitals. We'd have to quarantine sections of the city."

"I could imagine that you could look at Grand Central Station and not see much of anybody wandering around at all," Garrett agrees. "People would be afraid to take the subways, because who wants to be in an enclosed air space with a whole lot of strangers, never knowing which ones are carrying the flu?"

As for the hospitals, there would be scenes like the ones this past month in the stadiums of New Orleans and Houston after Hurricane Katrina.

"There wouldn't be equipment and personnel to staff them adequately that you could really call them a hospital," Garrett predicts. "You might more or less call them warehouses for the ailing."

And, as happened in New Orleans, there would be no place for the dead.

"If you look at the expected number of deaths that could occur in cities across the United States, we are wholly unprepared to process those bodies in a dignified and respectful way," asserts Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "We will run out of caskets literally within days."

The prospects have become so bleak that in planning meetings held in New York City, veteran emergency responders have walked away.

"They just don't know how we're going to get through," says Osterholm of those responders. "If we have a repeat of the 1918 life experience, I can't imagine anything to be closer to a living hell than that experience of 12 to 24 months of pandemic influenza."

If the flu does strike, victims at first would not know if it is the kind of easily treated flu that comes every year or the killer flu, known as H5N1.

The man in charge of making sure Americans are prepared in the event of a killer flu epidemic is the secretary of Health and Human Services.

"We would do all we could to quarantine," says Secretary Michael Leavitt. "It's not a happy thought. It's something that keeps the president of the United States awake. It keeps me awake."

The preparedness plan calls for Leavitt to run operations out of a crisis room in Washington.

When pressed as to how ready the country actually is, Leavitt replied, "Not as prepared as we need to be. We're better prepared than we were yesterday; we'll be better prepared tomorrow than we are today."

The draft report of the federal government's emergency plan, obtained and examined by ABC News' "Primetime," predicts as many as 200,000 Americans will die within a few months. This is considered a conservative estimate.

"The first thing is everybody in America's going to say, 'Where's the vaccine?' And they're going to find out that it's really darned hard to make a vaccine. It takes a really long time," said Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations.

In fact, the draft report says it will not be until six months after the first outbreak that any vaccine will be available, and then only in a limited supply.

"I imagine that not a lot of poor people will get vaccinated," Garrett says. "If you think about New Orleans, this is a similar situation."

'Inadequate' Stockpile of Medicine

While there is no vaccine to stop the flu, there is one medicine to treat it. Called Tamiflu, it is made by the Roche pharmaceutical company in Switzerland. Roche has been selling Tamiflu for years.

Only recently, however, did scientists learn of its potential to work against the killer flu, H5N1. That has since created a huge demand and a critical shortage.

"All of the wealthiest countries in the world are trying to purchase stockpiles of Tamiflu," says Garrett. "Our current stockpile is around 2.5 million courses of treatment."

According to Leavitt, that is a long way from the country's ideal stockpile. "Our objective is to have 20 million doses of Tamiflu or enough for 20 million people," he says.

He later admitted that only 2 million are currently on hand, but asserted that no other country is in a better position.

Officials in Australia, however, have 3.5 million courses of treatment, and in Great Britain, officials say they have ordered enough to cover a quarter of their population.

"I think at the moment, with 2.5 million doses, you are pretty vulnerable," warns professor John Oxford of the Royal London Hospital.

"The lack of advanced planning up until the moment in the United States, in the sense of not having a huge stockpile I think your citizens deserve, has surprised me and has dismayed me," he admits.

Faced with worldwide demand, the Roche company, which produces Tamiflu, has organized a first-come, first-served waiting list. The United States is nowhere near the top.

"The way we are approaching the discussions with governments is that we are operating on a first-come, first-serve basis," says Dr. David Reddy, head of the pandemic task force at Roche.

"Do we wish we had ordered it sooner and more of it? I suspect one could say yes," admits Leavitt. "Are we moving rapidly to assure that we have it? The answer is also yes."

When asked why the United States did not place its orders for Tamiflu sooner, Leavitt replied, "I can't answer that. I don't know the answer to that."

Even leading Republicans in Congress say the Bush administration has not handled the planning for a possible flu epidemic well.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., says the current Tamiflu stockpile of 2 million could spell disaster.

"That's totally inadequate. Totally inadequate today," says Frist, who is also a physician. "The Tamiflu is what people would go after. It's what you're going to ask for, I'm going to ask for, immediately."

Leavitt says deciding who gets the 2.5 million doses of Tamiflu currently on hand in the United States is part of the federal government's response plan. However, he also admits that thought has motivated the government to move rapidly in securing more doses of the medicine.

"It isn't going to happen tomorrow, but if it happened the day after that, we would not be in as good as a position as we will be in six months," he says.

However, in the end, even the country's top health officials concede that a killer flu epidemic this winter would make the scenes of Katrina pale in comparison.

"You know, I was down in New Orleans in that crowded airport now a couple weeks ago," Frist says. "And this could be not just equal to that, but many multiple times that. Hundreds of people laid out, all dying, because there was no therapy. And a lot of people don't realize for this avian flu virus, there will be very little effective therapy available early on."

ABC News' Rhonda Schwartz, Michael Bicks, Samantha Chapman, Maddy Sauer, Simon Surowicz, Jill Rackmill, Steve Baker, Monica DelaRosa and Jennifer Needleman contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Investigation/story?id=1130392&page=1


Informant: beefree

* EXCLUSIVE! * A DIEBOLD INSIDER SPEAKS! DIEB-THROAT : 'Diebold System One of Greatest Threats Democracy Has Ever Known' Identifies U.S. Homeland Security 'Cyber Alert' Prior to '04 Election Warning Votes Can be 'Modified Remotely' via 'Undocumented Backdoor' in Central Tabulator Software!

[] In exclusive stunning admissions to http://www.BradBlog.com
The BRAD BLOG some 11 months after the 2004 Presidential Election, a "Diebold Insider" is now finally speaking out for the first time about the alarming security flaws within Diebold, Inc's electronic voting systems, software and machinery. The source is acknowledging that the company's "upper management" -- as well as "top government officials" -- were keenly aware of the "undocumented backdoor" in Diebold's main "GEM Central Tabulator" software well prior to the 2004 election. A branch of the Federal Government even posted a security warning on the Internet.

Pointing to
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/bulletins/SB04-252.html#diebold a little-noticed "Cyber Security Alert" issued by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the source inside Diebold -- who "for the time being" is requesting anonymity due to a continuing sensitive relationship with the company -- is charging that Diebold's technicians, including at least one of its lead programmers, knew about the security flaw and that the company instructed them to keep quiet about it.

"Diebold threatened violators with immediate dismissal," the insider, who we'll call DIEB-THROAT, explained recently to http://www.BradBlog.com The BRAD BLOG via email. "In 2005, after one newly hired member of Diebold's technical staff pointed out the security flaw, he was criticized and isolated."

In phone interviews, DIEB-THROAT confirmed that the matters were well known within the company, but that a "culture of fear" had been developed to assure that employees, including technicians, vendors and programmers kept those issues to themselves.

The "Cyber Security Alert" from US-CERT was issued in late August of 2004 and is still available online via the http://www.us-cert.gov US-CERT website. The alert warns that "A vulnerability exists due to an undocumented backdoor account, which could [sic: allow] a local or remote authenticated malicious user [sic: to] modify votes."

The alert, assessed to be of "MEDIUM" risk on the US-CERT security bulletin, goes on to add that there is "No workaround or patch available at time of publishing."

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/bulletins/SB04-252.html#diebold/ []


"Diebold's upper management was aware of access to the voter file defect before the 2004 election - but did nothing to correct it," the source explained.

A "MEDIUM" risk vulnerability cyber alert is described on the US-CERT site as: "one that will allow an intruder immediate access to a system with less than privileged access. Such vulnerability will allow the intruder the opportunity to continue the attempt to gain privileged access. An example of medium-risk vulnerability is a server configuration error that allows an intruder to capture the password file."

DIEB-THROAT claims that, though the Federal Government knew about this documented flaw, originally discovered and reported by
http://www.BlackBoxVoting.org in August of 2004, they did nothing about it.

"I believe that top Government officials had an understanding with top Diebold officials to look the other way," the source explained, "because Diebold was their ace in the hole."

But even DIEB-THROAT -- who says "we were brainwashed" by the company to believe such concerns about security were nonsense -- was surprised to learn that an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was well aware of this flaw, and concerned enough about it to issue a public alert prior to the election last year.

"I was aware of the Diebold security flaw and had heard about the Homeland Security Cyber Alert Threat Assessment website, so I went there and 'bingo,' there it was in black and white," the source wrote. "It blew me away because it showed that DHS, headed by a Cabinet level George Bush loyalist, was very aware of the 'threat' of someone changing votes in the Diebold Central Tabulator. The question is, why wasn't something done about it before the election?"

The CEO of North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold, Inc., Walden O'Dell has been oft-quoted for his
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0828-08.htm 2003 Republican fund-raiser promise to help "Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." O'Dell himself was a high-level http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00000909.htm contributor to the Bush/Cheney '04 campaign as well as many other Republican causes.

"A very serious problem...one malicious person can change the outcome of any Diebold election"

The voting company insider, who has also served as a spokesperson for the company in various capacities over recent years, admits that the "real danger" of this security vulnerability could have easily been exploited by a malicious user or an insider through remote access.

"I have seen these systems connected to phone lines dozens of times with users gaining remote access," said DIEB-THROAT. "What I think we have here is a very serious problem. Remote access using phone lines eliminates any need for a conspiracy of hundreds to alter the outcome of an election. Diebold has held onto this theory [publicly] for years, but Diebold has lied and has put national elections at risk. Remote access using this backdoor means that one malicious person can change the outcome of any Diebold election."

The ability to connect to the system remotely by phone lines and the apparent lack of interest by Diebold to correct the serious security issue in a timely manner -- or at all -- would seem to be at odds with at least one of their Press Releases touting their voting hardware and software.

In an October 31, 2003 Press Release as part of a publicity blitz to "sell" the new voting machines to the voters in the state of Maryland, Diebold Election Systems President Thomas W. Swidarski is quoted as follows in a section titled "Security Is Key":

Diebold has fine-tuned its computerized system so that it meets stringent security requirements. “We have independent verification that the Diebold voting system provides an unprecedented level of election security. This is crucial to maintaining the integrity of the entire voting process,” Swidarski added.

Attempts by http://www.BradBlog.com The BRAD BLOG to get comment from Swidarski were passed to one of the Vice-Presidents at Diebold who has not returned our voice mail message.

We did, however, hear back from Diebold Spokesperson David Bear of the PR firm Public Strategies. He was referred to us by several different Diebold offices as "the man to discuss voting machine issues with."

Bear claimed to have never heard of the Cyber Alert issued by US-CERT and when told of it, refused to acknowledge it as anything more than "an unverified allegation."

"One of the greatest threats our democracy has ever known"

Our source expressed emphatically that future democratic elections in the United States are at stake and feels that the problem will not be corrected until Congressional action forces the company to do so.

"In my opinion Diebold's election system is one of the greatest threats our democracy has ever known, and the only way this will be exposed is with a Congressional investigation with subpoenas of not just Diebold officials but Diebold technicians."

If our experience in discussing the matter with Bear, the man Diebold referred us to for all matters concerning voting machines, is any indication, then DIEB-THROAT may be correct. Even a Cyber Alert Bulletin issued by an official arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security more than a year ago was not enough to phase Diebold. At least not enough to even inform their public spokesperson about the matter, apparently.

"I don't know anything about it," Bear claimed when we asked about the Cyber Alert, and he refused to acknowledge there were anysecurity concerns about Diebold's Voting Machines or its GEMS Central Tabulator software.

Over and over, by rote, he repeated in response to our questions: "The GEMS software has been used in hundreds of elections and there's never been a security issue."

Bear says that "Diebold machines have never lost a single vote," but beyond that could not speak to the vulnerability issue since, he said, "I don't know what vulnerability they're referencing."

We sent http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/bulletins/SB04-252.html#diebold the link to the US-CERT Cyber Alert to Bear, but have not yet heard back from about it. He did, however, send us a copy of the well-worn http://www.vote.caltech.edu/media/documents/vtp_wp21.pdf
Caltech/Massachusetts Institute of Technology report [PDF] analyzing the 2004 Presidential Election which, Bear pointed out in his Email, "concludes that the most improvement [in vote-counting and integrity over 2000] occurred when counties/states changed to touch screen systems."

DIEB-THROAT was taken aback, but not wholly surprised, when we shared the comments from Bear denying knowledge of the "backdoor" security vulnerability in the GEMS software and his contention that there was nothing more than "allegations."

The vulnerability, and the ability to "manipulate votes" occurs because the GEMS software uses the public Microsoft Access database software to store vote totals in a separate data file. And, as DIEB-THROAT explained, Access is "full of holes. There are so many ways to get into it."

Because GEMS uses the Access database, "you can enter and manipulate the file without even entering into GEMS," our source said in response ot Bear's denials.

"GEMS sits on top of this database and it pretty much feeds information down to the database from GEMS. It's almost like you're on the first floor of your house and all of your operating equipment is in the basement so that anything that happens on the first floor ends up downstairs. Well, downstairs has a wide open door to it. So we're dumping all the votes downstairs and that's wide open to the rest of the computer system."

"A culture of fear"

In trying to understand why the U.S. Homeland Security Department's Cyber Alert didn't force Diebold to make fixes, patches or corrections quickly available for their software prior to -- or even since -- the '04 election, DIEB-THROAT repeated over and over that Diebold was simply "not concerned about security".

"They don't have security solutions. They don't want them...They leave security policy issues up to the states. They've known about this for some time. They don't really care," the source said, comparing the security flaw to "leaving the front door at Fort Knox open." It's just "blatant sloppiness and they don't care."

The versions of the GEMS Central Tabulation software listed on the US-CERT site are 1.17.7 and 1.18 and DIEB-THROAT says the same versions of the same software are still in use by States around the country and haven't had any fixes or patches applied to correct the problem.

Diebold spokesman, Bear, was unable to confirm whether or not Diebold had updated its GEMS software in any way since the US-CERT Cyber Alert was released telling us only that "There's different versions of the software for different needs" and that he didn't know if patches, fixes or corrections were ever released by the company.

"There's always an evolution," Bear said. "Before any software can be used it's federally qualified and then certified by the states...Where different versions are running, I just don't know."

"They're still at that same version number," DIEB-THROAT said. "A lot of our customers still have it and there's not been any patch....They really don't care about this sort of thing. They really don't. People may find it hard to believe...in other words [the company says] 'we'll give you a machine to vote on and the rest is up to you."

"This is a very profit motivated company," the source continued, "they don't care what happens after the sale. Once they have the contract they've got the customer tied up pretty good."

Initially DIEB-THROAT claims to have been "brainwashed" by the pervasive "company line" at Diebold, that all of the talk about security concerns and the possibility that someone could hack the vote was the talk of "conspiracy theorists". Apparently that was -- and is still is -- "the company line." But after one of Diebold's head technicians who works out of their McKinney, Texas facility confirmed the gaping security hole in the software to our source, it was understood that these concerns were for real.

"Up until his confirmation, I had heard it through the grapevine, as rumors and such, but he confirmed it for me. The lead technician who worked on the software, who has a Phd in mathematics and so forth, was saying that 'this problem exists!'"

So why hasn't that technician, or anyone else from within the company spoken out until now?

"This is a culture of fear. Really. Only because we were good friends did [the head technician] confide in me that these were problems that needed to be fixed," DIEB-THROAT said.

"They all knew..."

In regards to possible remote access to the GEMS Central Tabulator by modem via phone lines, a way that hackers could easily and simply change the vote total information in the Access database, Diebold's official spokesman seemed to be similarly in denial even today.

When we asked Bear whether or not the Central Tabulator is still accessible via modem in their machines, he first denied that it's even possible, telling us "the Central Tabulator isn't accessable via modem."

When we pressed about whether or not there are still modem capabilities in the machines and software they sell, Bear admitted, "There is a modem capability, but it's up to a jurisdiction whether they wish to use it or not...I don't know of any jurisdiction that does that."

"Oh, boy. Such lies," DIEB-THROAT said in response. "There are several jurisdications that use [the modem capabilities] in the machines...Probably one of the most robust users of modems is Prince Georges County in Maryland. They've used it in every election. I believe they started in 2000. And Baltimore County used them in the November election in 2004. Fulton County and Dekalb County in Georgia may have used them in 2004 as well."

While we were unable to hear back in response to messages left with Election Officials at several of those offices prior to the publication of this article, a review of "Lessons Learned" after the November 2004 Election conducted by the Maryland state Board of Elections obtained by http://www.BradBlog.com The BRAD BLOG, confirms that modems were used to access the GEMS Central Tabulator to send in information from precincts on Election Night.

We are still reviewing the complete document, but amongst the findings in the report is that "the GEMS system froze several times during heavy modem transmitting periods requiring the system to be rebooted, which generated delays and prohibited BOE from receiving polling places' transmissions."

As well, the report concludes, "Modem lines testing in polling place still problematic; need better coordination with school system."

It also says that "7% of voting units deployed failed on Election Day" and that an additional 5% "were suspect based on the number of votes captured." http://www.BradBlog.com The BRAD BLOG hopes to have a follow-up article in the coming days which looks in more detail at the full Maryland state Board of Elections report and the alarming rate of failure for Diebold Touch-Screen voting machines.

http://www.BradBlog.com []

When we asked our source if they had any evidence to show that the security flaw described by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security was actually exploited in the 2004 election, DIEB-THROAT told us only: "I wouldn't say I have evidence that it was exploited....only that it was known. To the feds, to state officials and to Diebold. They all knew. In spite of the gap they moved forward as normal...As if it didn't exist."

To help support more reporting along these lines, please consider a
https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=TheBradBlog@cville.com&item_name=Help+Support+The+BRAD+BLOG&item_number=123456
DONATION TO THE BRAD BLOG. This is how I make my living these days -- or try to -- so your generous support means the world and makes it possible for me to continue. Thanks! - BF

Blogged by TheBradBlog@cville.com Brad on 9/15/2005 @ 11:05am PT.


Informant: Michael Mandeville

Despite elite blathering, says Charley Reese.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese224.html

by the staff of the Chester-le-Street Advertiser
advertiser.editorial@nne.co.uk

AN application for permission to erect a mobile phone mast on a north Durham housing estate has been withdrawn.

Operator O2 UK applied to Chester-le-Street District Council for approval to erect a 15-metre antenna in Pelaw Crescent, Chester-le-Street.

The application sparked outrage from residents, who said it was too near a grassed area where children play. They also said they were not convinced by reports that the masts were not harmful to people's health.

Planning officers from Chester-le-Street council prepared a report for the planning committee advising it to refuse permission.

The report said: "The height of the proposed installation, relevant to other buildings and street furniture in the area, is considered to represent a form of development inappropriate for the proposed location, which would be harmful to the character and visual amenity of the area.

"It is considered that the applicants have failed to recognise or address the concerns of local residents and parents of children attending nearby schools in relation to the public perception of harm relating to the siting of this telecommunication equipment in a residential area, close to a nursery and two schools.

"The proposal is unacceptable in that this would, because of its height and siting, represent an unacceptable visually intrusive form of development in this area."

After informing O2 of its intentions, the council received a letter from its planning agents, Turner and Partners, formally withdrawing the application. Richard Winn, of Turner and Partners, said: "We had to withdraw it because it was recommended for refusal and it is our policy to withdraw rather than have it refused.

"We also had to withdraw it because we thought the land belonged to County Highways and served a notice on them.

"We have subsequently found out it isn't, so if the planning application had been approved it would have been invalid. If it was refused, we would not have been able to appeal."

An O2 spokesman said the firm was not aware the application had been withdrawn and was awaiting confirmation from its agents.

Last month, O2 announced it was appealing against the council's decision to refuse permission to install a 12-metre signal transmitter on land south of Carlingford Road, on the Garden Farm Estate.

Burnley News 16.09.05

A DOGGED pressure group has lashed out at council plans to allow a mobile phone mast to be built on the Prairie playing fields.
Mobile phone giant O2 has been given permission to build the mast near allotments on council-owned land.

Despite a flurry of objections from annoyed residents, council leader Coun. Stuart Caddy says, as the mast is not on public land, it has the allowed the construction to take place further away from homes.
As with all mobile phone masts in the borough, it has been confirmed that emissions for the mast will be below internationally agreed levels.

Omega see "Base Stations, operating within strict national and international Guidelines, do not present a Health Risk" under:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/771911/

However, Together Against Masts chairman Mr Dennis Cannon believes this makes little difference and residents could still be at risk from "harmful radiation". He said: "It could be that certain pieces of council land offer a potentially safer location, but the question of safer should be considered, rather than to say 'safe'.
"However, in practice, it is not necessarily the ones living the closest who are in the most danger.

"It has long been understood, and more recently confirmed in tests, that cancer clusters occur around the areas where the beams of greatest intensity strike the ground."

O2 will pay for the trees to be used to screen the mast from sight and Coun. Caddy also revealed plans to encourage mobile networks to share the masts.

In a bid to cut down on the number of new masts needed in the future, existing masts could instead be extended.

Again, Mr Cannon says he has a lot of reservations over the idea. He added: "Clearly with more than one operator there will be more than three beams of greatest intensity and so other areas will have concentrated microwave radiation.

"I understand the idea of not having a new set of people who will object to a new mast, but what about the people living close to an existing mast and who have already gone through the trauma of the original application and now find themselves with even more concentrated microwaves beaming on to their homes?

"Is it fair that they have to have even more radiation imposed upon them? Who would like to live close to a multi-powered mast?"

16 September 2005

Romford Recorder

16 September 2005

Parents who opposed a mobile phone mast being built near their children's school may soon face fighting to stop TWO masts being built.

Mobile phone company O2 wants to erect a 12.5 metre (41ft) mast and associated equipment cabinets and ancillary development on Airfield Way near its junction with Dowding Close.

This is close to the site in South End Road where T Mobile wanted to erect its mast last year and which the Parents' Association of St Albans RC Primary School in Heron Flight Avenue fought off last year.

T Mobile has now told the school it intends to make a second application to put a mast on the site even though its first application was turned down last year.

Now, the members of the Parents' Association have formed battle plans to fight off the latest planning application and have launched a petition and sending out protest letters for residents to sign and send to Havering Council.

PA committee member Simon Wiehe said: "We came back from the school holidays to find that O2 had written to the school with plans to site a mast in Airfield Way.

Underhand

"We are far from happy about this because we feel it has been underhand, by writing to the school during the holidays.

"We have only been left with a couple of weeks to make our objections known.

"Our concerns centre around the health risks of having a mast so near to the school, but Havering Council has told us we cannot object on these grounds as there is no proven link between these masts and health problems.

Omega there is a proven link between the masts and health problems. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

So instead we are objecting on the grounds of the location because it is planned for Green Belt land.

"Our main concerns are about the health risks though.

"In the Times newspaper last week it reported that a new report coming out states that excessive radiation can cause nausea, sleep disorders and lack of concentration in children."

The Parents' Association has also enlisted the support of Hornchurch MP James Brokenshire who is urging residents to send in their objections to the plans.

He said: "It is vital they exercise this right to ensure these latest proposals get rejected.

"I will continue to lobby for these applications to be rejected as they spoil the local environment and stand out like a sore thumb."

James Stevenson, community relations manager for O2, said: "We looked at the whole area and spoke to the council's planning people who were fairly sympathetic to us. That's why I'm surprised to hear that there are objections to it. I am very willing to meet with the residents to hear their concerns and speak to them about the health and safety issues as that seems to be their biggest fear."

Anyone wishing to object to the proposal should write to Havering Council before the closing date of Wednesday, September 28.

Send Help

Michael Moore

TRUE New Orleans - NO Gov. Aid Report

From: Michael Moore

From: mike@michaelmoore.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com

[ NOTE: To those who have donated money to The Starlight Foundation for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, we want you to know that the money we have received thus far has been sent to the following relief organizations through Michael Moore. PHB ]

***Please send and re-send this message -(around and around) - let's make the WASH. D.C. Sep. 24th MESSAGE FROM THE MASSES 'event' BIGGER than the MASSIVE UKRAINE demonstration)

We can do it! Bless your heart. We are One....

Michael Moore Writes

Friends,

Last week I closed my New York production office and sent my staff down to New Orleans to set up our own relief effort. I asked all of you to help me by sending food, materials and cash to the emergency relief center we helped set up on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain with the Veterans for Peace. We did this when the government was doing nothing and the Red Cross was still trying to get it together. Every day, every minute was critical. People were dying, poor people, black people, left like so much trash in the street. I wanted to find a way to get aid in there immediately.

I hooked up with the Vietnam veterans and Iraqi war vets (Veterans for Peace) who were organizing a guerilla, grass-roots relief effort. They were the same group that had set up Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford and now they had moved Camp Casey to Louisiana.

I have good news and horrible news to report. First, your response to my appeal letter was overwhelming. Within a few days, a half-million dollars was sent in through my website to fund our relief effort. This money was immediately used to buy generators, food, water, a mobile medical van, tents, satellite phones, etc.

Others of you began shipping supplies to our encampment. People in communities all over the country started organizing truck caravans to us in Louisiana. Twenty-two trucks from southern California alone have already arrived. A semi-truck from Chicago delivered ten tons of food. A group of friends in New Jersey got two 24 foot trucks, got their community to load them up with goods, and arrived in Covington tonight. Fifteen iMacs are inbound from California. One man gave us his pick-up truck and another donated truck is en route from Houston.

Your response to my appeal has been nothing short of miraculous. And it has saved many, many lives.

A number of you decided to just get in your cars and drive to our camp to volunteer to help. We now have had 150 volunteers here doing the work that needs to be done. Last night they unloaded twenty tons of food from a tractor trailer in under two hours. Each day more volunteers arrive. Everyone is sleeping on the ground or in tents. It is a remarkable sight. Thank you, all of you, for responding. I will never forget this outpouring of generosity to those forgotten by our own government.

My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and water throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. What they have seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their daily diaries on my website
http://www.michaelmoore.com along with accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going on. What the media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much, much worse and there is still little being done to bring help to those who need it.

Our group has visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi and Louisiana, places the Red Cross and FEMA haven't visited in over a week. Often our volunteers are the first relief any of these people have seen. They have no food, water or electricity. People die every day. There are no TV cameras recording this. They have started to report the spin and PR put out by the White House, the happy news that often isn't true ("Everyone gets 2,000 dollars!").

The truth is that there are dead bodies everywhere and no one is picking them up. My crew reports that in most areas there is no FEMA presence, and very little Red Cross. It's been over two weeks since the hurricane and there is simply not much being done. At this point, would you call this situation incompetence or a purposeful refusal to get real help down there?

That's why we decided not to wait. And we are so grateful to all of you who have joined us. The Veterans for Peace and my staff aren't leaving (and that's why we are hoping those of you who can't get to Covington will make it to the Veterans for Peace co-sponsored anti-war demonstration in DC on September 24:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org

If you want to help, here's what we need in Covington right now:

Cleaning Supplies (glass cleaner, bleach, disinfectant, etc.) Aspirin and other basic over the counter drugs. Bottled Water Canned Goods Hygiene Supplies Baby Supplies - Baby Food Formula, diapers #4, #5, Wipes, Pedialyte Sterile Gloves Batteries - All kinds, from AA to watch and hearing aid batteries. Volunteers with trucks and cars Self contained kitchens with generators, utensils, workers

Consider sending supplies in reusable containers. List the contents on the outside of the package so the folks in the warehouse can easily sort the items.

Clothes are not needed. If you go, keep in mind that you MUST be self-sufficient. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag. People are driving to Covington from across the country and often have extra room in their cars for you or for an extra box of supplies. For more information, go to the Veterans for Peace message board: http://www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/

Send supplies via UPS to: Veterans for Peace Omni Storage
74145 Hwy. 25 Covington LA

Thanks again for funding and supporting our relief efforts. It has been a bright spot in this otherwise shameful month.

Yours,

Michael Moore
mike@michaelmoore.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com


Informant: Michael Mandeville

Frau Dr. Merkel ist es christlich, wenn Sie tatenlos zusehen, wie durch die Mobilfunksenderstrahlung mit millionenfach überhöhten Grenzwerten unzählige Menschen erkranken?

Sehr geehrte Frau Dr. Merkel,

Sie sind Kanzlerkandidatin und Vorsitzende einer Partei die sich christlich nennt. Jesus Christus hat Menschen geheilt!!

Ist es christlich, wenn auch Sie tatenlos zusehen, wie durch die Mobilfunksenderstrahlung mit millionenfach überhöhten Grenzwerten unzählige Menschen erkranken http://www.aerzte-warnen-vor-mobilfunk.de ,
http://www.gigaherz.ch und viele z.B. durch Krebs und Leukämie (vor allem Kinder) auch sterben? Wäre es nicht wirklich christlicher, die Grenzwerte auf eine noch erträgliche Höhe zu senken, nämlich so niedrig, dass Menschen im Umfeld von Mobilfunksendern mit maximal 10 µW/m² bestrahlt werden?

Warum haben Sie - als zuständige Ministerin in der Regierung Kohl - den überhöhten Grenzwerten zugestimmt, obwohl Ihnen bekannt sein musste (Studium der Physik in der DDR), dass in russischen Studien die Gesundheitsgefahren durch die Mobilfunkstrahlung beschrieben wurden und diese Erkenntnisse zu wesentlich niedrigeren Grenzwerten in der UDSSR geführt haben??

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Bürgerinitiative Icking zum Schutz vor Strahlenbelastung
G. Pischeltsrieder

--------

Betreff: Schreiben an Frau Dr. Angela Merkel vom 22.08.2005

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

am 23.08.2005 hatte ich Ihnen Kenntnis von meinem Brief an Frau Dr. Merkel gegeben:

http://www.omega-news.info/a.t._merkel_22_08_05.rtf

Wie erwartet, hat sie nicht geantwortet!

Nachfolgendes Schreiben ging heute an sie raus.

M.f.G.
Alfred Tittmann


Via online direkt an

CDU online Mail Adresse c/o Frau Dr. Angela Merkel
17-09-05

05.50 Uhr


JEDE STIMME ZÄHLT?!


Sehr geehrte Frau Dr. Merkel,

dass Sie mein Schreiben vom 22.08.2005 unbeantwortet stehen lassen, steht sehr im Widerspruch zu Ihren nachfolgenden Äußerungen:

“....Viele von Ihnen machen sich in diesen Wochen Sorgen um die Zukunft des Landes, der eigenen Familie, der persönlichen Lebenssituation. Diese Sorgen nehme ich ernst.

Wie soll dies geschehen, wenn Sie einen gut gemeinten Dialog verweigern?

...Warum spreche ich so viel über unsere wirtschaftliche Lage? Weil es den Menschen in Deutschland nur auf Grundlage einer gesunden Wirtschaft gut gehen kann. Weil wir unseren Wohlstand, soziale Sicherheit und die Möglichkeit, den Schwachen und Bedürftigen helfen zu können, erwirtschaften müssen.

Richtig, aber doch nicht auf der Basis des „Entweder Oder“, sondern des „Sowohl als Auch“, d.h. Vorfahrt für Arbeit ja, aber mit Berücksichtigung der Ökologie!

....Aber ich weiß auch, dass Ihr Vertrauen in unsere Fähigkeit, die Wende zum Besseren einzuleiten, noch weiter wachsen muss.“

Richtig, aber wie soll dies bei ignorantem Verhalten geschehen?

In meinem Schreiben ging es um Fragen einer gesunden und menschenwürdigen Zukunft - Menschen dürfen nicht um jeden Preis dem Diktat der Ökonomie unterworfen werden.

Deswegen : Vorfahrt für Arbeit JA, aber nicht um den Preis der menschlichen Lebensqualität!

Schade, dass Sie meine Fragen nicht beantwortet haben. Ihre persönliche Glaubwürdig- und Verlässlichkeit bezüglich Ihrer Versprechungen sind damit leider infrage gestellt.


Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Alfred Tittmann
Kettelerstrasse 3
63486 Bruchköbel

17.09.2005/AT

--------

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

im Nachgang zu meiner heutigen Info bezüglich einer weiteren Erinnerung meinerseits, wegen Nichtbeantwortung meines Briefes vom 22.08.2005 an Frau Dr. Merkel, gebe ich Ihnen hiermit auch Kenntnis von dem soeben via Post eingegangenem Antwortschreiben von Frau Dr. Merkel an mich.

http://www.omega-news.info/merkel_a.t._15_09_05.pdf

M.f.G.
Alfred Tittmann

--------

Die Parteien im Demokratie-Test: Sieger Linkspartei und Grüne - CDU/CSU auf letztem Platz

http://omega.twoday.net/stories/983978/

By Richard Wright
IOW Country Press

17.09.05

THE balloon has gone up over 3G's plans for a mobile phone mast close to a listed building.

City trader Tom Milligan has twice shown Seaview villagers what to expect by tethering a helium balloon floating more than 25 metres up to represent the height of the lattice tower, its transmitters and receiving dish.

The application by the phone giant for the Fairy Hill site, 62 metres from the Grade II listed Fairy Hill House, was submitted a week after it applied for a wooden mast on land at Barnsley Farm on the outskirts of Ryde belonging to former Island high sheriff and brewery boss Anthony Goddard.

The company said it needed permission for both and they are not alternatives.

Mr Milligan, who lives next door to Fairy Hill House, told Monday's meeting of Nettlestone and Seaview Parish Council: "It is no more than 10ft away from my land and will be visible from many, many parts of the village and beyond.

"I first used party balloons to show how big the mast will be and then a bigger balloon on Tuesday last week. "If people want to see just how tall this structure will be, I am planning to repeat the exercise between lunchtime and evening next Tuesday, weather permitting."

The land on which 3G wants to build the mast is owned by Seaview resident Mary Gedling.

Fairy Hill House resident Capt John Hounsfield emphasised how close the mast would be to the listed late-Georgian mansion, built in 1780. He said further health and safety information was emerging about the effects of radiation from phone masts following the neutral stance of the Stewart Report into its effects. "It appears parts of the Stewart Report are being overriden by the Health Protection Agency but that information is so fresh that it needs further study," he said.

Cllr Sarah Doran called for the IW Council to formulate a comprehensive policy. "The Island should have a policy to control mobile phone masts. We are told they only have a range of 2km so very soon, the Island will look like a porcupine on heat," she said.

Parish council planning committee chairman Cllr Peter Tuson said the IW Council had a masts moratorium on its own land but no policy for controlling installations elsewhere. He said the mast planned for Fairy Hill would be an eyesore next to the listed building and that planned for Bullen was close to Bullen Mead Nursery, where in 2001 a mast was refused because of the unacceptable impact it would have on the countryside.

The parish council objected to both masts because of the significant impact they would have on their areas.

16 September 2005

Splenda is about to invade schools, thanks to a joint agreement between McNeil Nutritionals, which manufactures the artificial sweetener, and PTO Today, a firm that offers marketing and fund-raising help to parent groups serving kindergarten, elementary and middle-school kids.

The campaign will encourage parents and kids to use Splenda in preparing low-sugar treats for future bake sales. Some "perks" of the campaign include:

* Providing recipes for school bake sales

* Offering tips on how to incorporate fitness into a healthy eating plan

* Distributing a free bake sale kit, "Sweet Success: The Better Bake Sale Kit" for school parent groups

* Sponsoring an "Ultimate Bake Sale" contest

McNeil Nutritionals claims this "updated model" of bake sales would address concerns about nutrition and calories by providing a lower-sugar option.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050823/nytu016.html?.v=18
Yahoo Finance August 23, 2005

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

If you've been keeping up with Splenda news through my Web site, you know the great sales job McNeil Nutritionals has done to make the sweetener seem natural, healthy and more palatable to the public, lately
http://www.mercola.com/2005/jul/28/splenda_cavity.htm with the help of the FDA.

In fact, Splenda is anything but natural and healthy, and it is "made from sugar" only in the same way that gasoline is "made from plants." Splenda has been linked to a number of
http://www.mercola.com/2005/jan/8/splenda.htm toxic side effects, including shrunken thymus glands (up to 40 percent shrinkage), enlarged liver and kidneys, reduced growth rate, aborted pregnancy and diarrhea.

These bake sales are just one more marketing move,
http://www.mercola.com/2005/apr/2/splenda_propaganda.htm among many, that takes advantage of the fact that the average consumer hasn't a clue about the side effects of Splenda. If you still believe -- just because the FDA approved it -- that Splenda is at all safe for you, I urge you to review
http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/3/sucralose_testimonials.htm my extensive testimonials page, chock full of heartbreaking stories about the toxic effects this artificial sweetener may inflict.

An interesting side note is that if you are reading this you are not in England, as we have to restrict this content from England. Tate and Lyle, the manufacturer of Splenda, has threatened legal action if we tell the truth about Splenda in the UK. Unfortunately, England has archaic libel laws that allow companies to sue media for items that are guaranteed as freedom of speech in the United States.

Related Articles:

http://www.mercola.com/2005/feb/16/splenda_marketing.htm
Splenda Marketing Accused of False Advertising, Misleading Public

http://www.mercola.com/2005/feb/2/splenda_marketing.htm
Controversy Surrounding Splenda's Deceptive Marketing Campaign

http://www.mercola.com/2003/aug/23/splenda.htm
Splenda is Not a Healthy Sweetener

More information on aspartame and Splenda on
http://www.wnho.net - click on aspartame, and
http://www.dorway.com


Source: via namaste publishing: From: Dr. Betty Martini, D. Hum Sent: Friday, September 16, 2005 8:24 PM Subject: Splenda Working its Way into your Child's School Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 14:55:12 -0400


From ECOTERRA Intl.

http://www.alternet.org/story/25418/


From ECOTERRA Intl.

http://www.motherearth.org/USboycott/cies_en.php


From InfoNature.Org

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/09/15/ed.edit.nukes.0915.p1.php?section=opinion


Informant: kev Hall

Chip Ward tells us that the Bush administration's environmental record is lousy. More than lousy, it is potentially disastrous. But why? At first glance, it's easy enough to understand. Philosophically, Republicans believe in the power of the marketplace to shape behavior. Their animosity toward government regulation is long-standing. They emphasize the rights of private-property owners over any notion of the commons, and so are comfortable letting corporations pursue profit at the expense of air or water quality.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091605N.shtml

Hurricane Katrina struck at the core of Bush's presidency by undermining the central assertion of his reelection campaign, that he was a strong and decisive leader who could keep the country safe in a crisis. Never again will the White House be able to point to his often-praised performance after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, without skeptics recalling the fumbling and slow-off-the-mark response of his administration after the hurricane and the flooding in New Orleans.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091605J.shtml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1571591,00.html


Informant: NHNE

http://www.counterpunch.org/boyle09162005.html



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

Interesting…
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/15/225456/509

Eine Geschichte von Unterschlagung und Betrug
http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20947/1.html

Pentagon und 9/11-Commission streiten weiter ab, dass die Geheimdiensteinheit "Able Danger" schon Anfang 2000 Mohammed Atta identifiziert hatte, nächste Woche findet im Senat dazu eine Anhörung statt.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20953/1.html Pentagon und

For the past four years, the Republicans have been able to implement their vision without checks or balance. And time and time again, they have led this country with misguided priorities and have failed to put American families first.

House Democrats offer an agenda for the country that puts America's families first. Democrats are focused on increasing access to affordable health care, bringing down the costs of prescription drugs, improving our economy and creating jobs, and keeping our promises to our troops and veterans.

Today, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching the Campaign for Change, a joint effort by the DCCC and Americans like you, to bring about a new vision and new direction for our country. The DCCC has already started with hard-hitting campaign ads and accelerated candidate recruitment. But we must build the most crucial resource of any campaign: committed Americans who will stand with us in this national Democratic movement.

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That is why I have personally committed to Nancy Pelosi to recruit 50,000 Americans to join our Campaign for Change. With you, we can effect the great change that is needed in America today. The DCCC will provide you with opportunities for you to make a difference, give us your input and ideas, along with the resources to organize Democrats in your community. Together, we will develop the movement to restore balance and accountability to the government of the greatest democracy in the world. We need to build a nationwide network of Americans as the foundation of our campaign.

Take the first step: Join our Campaign for Change; Pledge Today.
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Americans don't just want change, they are desperate for it. Republicans continue to dangerously mismanage key issues. Look at the condition of America today - health premiums are up, gas prices are soaring, prescription costs are skyrocketing, the deficit is climbing, and the body count continues to grow in Iraq. We need to mobilize because the Republicans' misguided agenda is not solving any of these problems. The only thing the Republican agenda is doing is robbing people of their dignity and their hope for building a better life for their family.

We all understand the risk of continued Republican leadership and their dangerous policies; we as Democrats must do something about it.

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The DCCC has already started. We have had two initial quarters of record-breaking fundraising numbers, recruited and trained more than 40 top-tier candidates and kept congressional Republicans on the defensive on every issue. We have more open seats in play for 2006, higher approval ratings, and a national campaign to return this country to the American people. The tide is turning in our favor. But we need you to stand with us.

Join our Campaign for Change; Pledge Today.
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With active and hardworking Democrats on the ground across the country, we know we can succeed. We can change the direction of our country and make Congress the People's House again. We cannot change the past, but we can change our future. That is why the DCCC launched the Campaign for Change, and why we need you to join us. Thank you in advance for your commitment.

Sincerely,

Rep. Rahm Emanuel
Chairman, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

PS: Putting America back on a path towards progress will be a difficult task, and we all must start now. Join our Campaign for Change; Pledge Today. http://whatcounts.com/t?ctl=F02894:4092A66


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On September 24, people around the world will demonstrate against the war in Iraq, with thousands marching on Washington to a rally headlined by Cindy Sheehan.

Our new interviews with Phyllis Bennis, Phil Donahue, Amy Goodman and Danny Schecter explore the media's role in selling and covering the war in Iraq. http://www.iwtnews.com/videoindex

Let us know what you think. And please help us build a better network by forwarding this message to friends, or use our online "tell a friend" page here: http://www.iwtnews.com/invite

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Paul Jay, Chair
Independent World Television

IWTnews HIGHLIGHTS

NEW INTERVIEWS WITH PHYLLIS BENNIS, PHIL DONAHUE, AMY GOODMAN and DANNY SCHECHTER

Phyllis Bennis: "The polls indicate Iraqis in large numbers are against the US troop presence, even now. But we're not seeing that on television."

http://www.iwtnews.com/videoplayer/phyllis_bennis

Phil Donahue: "I think the idea of creating a television news source that is not beholden to corporate interests is Nirvana."

http://www.iwtnews.com/videoplayer/phil_donahue

Amy Goodman: "Not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq exposed more than the Bush administration. It exposed a media that acted as a conveyor belt for the lies of the Bush administration."

http://www.iwtnews.com/videoplayer/amy_goodman

Danny Schecter: "This administration has been particularly determined to control information. They have a strategy called information dominance, which drives the Pentagon info war."

http://www.iwtnews.com/videoplayer/danny_schechter

HAS AMERICA "BID FAREWELL TO THE RULE OF LAW?"
India's Siddharth Varadarajan on the U.S. Government's power to indefinitely incarcerate people -- including U.S. citizens -- without charge: "the final levee has given way."

http://www.iwtnews.com/rule_of_law

KATRINA'S REAL POLITICAL AND MEDIA AFTERMATH
A provocative IWTnews interview with Mark Lloyd from the Center for American Progress: "This is not simply incompetence; this is criminal neglect across the board."

http://www.iwtnews.com/Mark_Lloyd_on_Katrina

by Peter Kurth

Did it really take “Katrina” (or “Corina,” as Bush’s clueless wife, Laura, kept calling it until they stopped her) to demonstrate the utter bankruptcy of the Bush enterprise? And if it did -- why? Why did it take something like this, when the evidence was already plain for everyone to see, in every area and every direction of our national life?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Kurth0914.htm

by Bill Berkowitz

Will the Administration's shameful abandonment of New Orleans's African Americans torpedo its carefully calibrated campaign to woo black voters?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Berkowitz0916.htm

Scratching Deeper than the Smile and the Judicial Veneer

by Zbignew Zingh

For the most part, the Senate Judiciary Committee's inquiry into John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court is just window dressing. His nomination was assured in November 2004 -- as were the next three nominations to the Supreme Court -- when the Republicans gained hegemony in the executive and legislative branches of the government. Notwithstanding all our angst about who we believe should and should not be appointed to the Supreme Court, the reality is that George Bush and his Republican majority in the Senate will appoint anyone they like for a lifetime tenure on the federal bench. Unless photographs appear showing Mr. Roberts in bed with a live boy or a dead girl, or unless the Democrats are willing to finally play their filibuster card (and the odds are 10,000 to 1 that they will not), there is simply no way for the minority party to prevent these judicial appoints. If you think that John Roberts is bad, he will soon have more bad company. As the left exhausts itself in vetting and opposing his nomination, it will wear itself out for the time when Mr. Bush gets around to nominating the ultra extreme right-wing ogres to the judiciary. However, this next batch of judicial nominees also will take their cue from John Roberts. They will be ciphers about how they might rule and they will cloak themselves in ambiguous judicial platitudes....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Zingh0916.htm

Hired to Collect Deceased Victims of Hurricane Katrina

by Jason Leopold

A funeral services company which recently learned that one of its subsidiaries is negotiating a lucrative contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to remove dead bodies in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, paid $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit several years ago alleging the company desecrated thousands of corpses and dumped bodies into mass graves. Moreover, the company paid $200,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that sought to expose that two members of the Texas funeral commission, the agency which regulates the funeral industry, were actually employees of the company they were supposed to monitor -- an obvious conflict-of-interest....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Leopold0916.htm

From Catherine

Medcross Group
http://www.cogreslab.co.uk/china.asp

Very important to pass this on.

As Colin worked in China he will know what the problems were. Perhaps the Chinese will have and be able to give a copy of anything he was involved in.

--------

From Karen Barratt

Recent press reports indicate that China has a terrible health and safety at work record. (6000 ? miners killed last year and very low standards on construction sites (no hard hats or protective clothing - resulting in injuries and deaths). Many of these workers at risk are rural migrants flooding into the cities to be part of the economic boom. The fact that life is cheap and there is obviously an acceptance of a certain degree of "expendibility", makes the policy on emission levels even more interesting ie the risk implicit in having less stringent controls is presumably too high even for the Chinese with their generally less precautionary attitude. I believe 99% of the world's mobile phones are made in China so they could hardly risk any health scare connected to the technology.

Originally published by Raw Story on Wednesday September 14, 2005.

The American Conservative Union, the nation's oldest and largest conservative grassroots organization, demanded President Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress take action to rein in federal spending Wednesday, questioning how Bush can afford the large sums Congress was doling out in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts while still maintaining federal spending levels, RAW STORY has learned.

"Clearly the terrible tragedy resulting from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina will require substantial federal resources to be expended, and all Americans support this relief effort," ACU Chairman David Keene said in a release . "But the idea that Congress should spend tens of billions of dollars on this relief effort in the absence of reprioritizing overall federal spending makes absolutely no sense."

Top Republicans will delay votes on making President Bush's tax cuts permanent. The U.S. already bears huge payments to maintain a continuing presence in Iraq and Afghanistan -- more than $1 billion a week. The federal debt has ballooned to over $2 trillion since 2000 and now stands at $7.9 trillion. [...] Read the rest at Raw Story: http://tinyurl.com/cmy7s


© Virginia Metze

When the corpses of American citizens are floating in toxic floodwaters five days after a hurricane strikes, it is time to hold the leaders of our nation accountable for the failures that have taken place.

By Al Gore
AlterNet

Posted September 13, 2005 .

Ed. note: The following is a transcript of a speech given by former Vice President Al Gore at Sierra Club's National Environmental Convention and Expo in San Francisco on Sept. 9.

I know that you are deeply concerned, as I am, about the direction in which our country has been moving. About the erosion of social capital. About the lack of respect for a very basic principle, and that is that we, as Americans, have to put ourselves and our ability to seek out the truth because we know it will make us free. And then on the basis of truth, as we share it to the best of our abilities with one another, we act to try to form a more perfect union and provide for the general welfare and make this country worthy of the principles upon which it was founded.

[...] Read the rest at: http://www.alternet.org/story/25349/

See http://www.bringthemhomenowtour.org/ for updates about the Bring Them Home Now Tour from Camp Casey, Crawford, Texas to Washington DC.


© Virginia Metze

Investigation finds Red Cross agreed to withhold Orleans aid, operates in tandem with Homeland Security

Jennifer Van Bergen

Originally published on Tuesday September 13, 2005.
RawStory web site

Top Red Cross official Bush appointee, donor

New information surrounding relief efforts by the American Red Cross in New Orleans raises questions about whether the organization provided adequate relief and whether funds are actually being directed to Katrina victims, RAW STORY has found.
Previous investigations have shown that the Red Cross mishandled its 9/11 fund, attempting to divert more than half into a "war fund" before Congress intervened, and moved $10 million from a fund in 1989 for earthquake victims towards other uses. Allegations of similar holdbacks following the Oklahoma City bombing and several later disasters, coupled with the discovery that the Red Cross, mandated by its Code of Conduct to remain independent of government, is officially part of the Bush Administration's national security apparatus, led RAW STORY to dig deeply into the Red Cross and its recent disaster relief efforts.

Why did the Red Cross not enter New Orleans?

While many were outraged that the Red Cross failed to enter New Orleans, unsafe conditions and reports of shootings and lootings may have informed the decision. The Red Cross is not chartered to conduct search and rescue operations.

We "will not put [our] own workers in harm's way," Red Cross spokesperson Renita Hosler told RAW STORY . [...] Read the rest at the Raw Story web site: http://tinyurl.com/aatmv


© Virginia Metze

The Camp Casey Memorial on Prairie Chapel Road was removed by thieves earlier today. Not a single item is left at the memorial site.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091605Z.shtml
http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/37-38/37news10.htm


Informant: NHNE



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

http://links.net-hh.de?lid=22689

(weltwoche) In einem Interview mit der schweizerischen Weltwoche erklärt der bekannte amerikanische "Grossliterat" und Historiker Gore Vidal die Perpektiven der US-Politik nach der Katastrophe von New Orleans, die nach seiner Einschätzung grössere Umwälzungen auslösen wird.

http://www.weltwoche.ch/artikel/?AssetID=11939&CategoryID=66
http://www.hh-online.net?lid=22689

Die Auswirkungen von Handy, Computer und Internet auf das Familienleben seien weitgehend unerforscht, kritisiert der Katholische Familienverband (KFÖ) bei einer Pressekonferenz. Diskussion über Elternbildung sei wichtig, so KFÖ-Präsident Fenz.

Eine breite Debatte über die Auswirkungen von Handy, Computer und Internet auf die Kommunikation in der Familie hat der Katholische Familienverband Österreichs (KFÖ) gefordert. Wie KFÖ-Präsident Johannes Fenz am Donnerstag, 15. September 2005, bei einer Pressekonferenz in Wien sagte, gebe es in Österreich über die Auswirkungen der "Neuen Medien" praktisch keine Forschungsergebnisse.

Fenz: "Benötigen Forschung und Elternbildung".

Der Katholische Familienverband wisse aus Rückmeldungen unter seinen 60.000 Mitgliedsfamilien von einer massiven Verunsicherung in den Familien. Um so mehr bräuchten Eltern Unterstützung, um ihre Rolle als Vorbild besser erfüllen zu können. "Wir brauchen nicht Diskussionen über Handymast-Steuern, sondern Forschung und Elternbildung", so Fenz.

"Neue Medien" haben Auswirkungen auf Beziehungen

Eine vom Katholischen Familienverband Österreichs in Auftrag gegebene Analyse der bisherigen Forschungsdaten über Auswirkungen neuer Medien hat ergeben, dass in Österreich Studien zu diesem Thema fehlen. Es brauche zu allererst Untersuchungen, die zeigen, wie sich die rasante Zunahme von Handy, Computer und Internet auf die Beziehungen zwischen Eltern und Kindern auswirkt, so die Studienleiterin und Kinderpsychologin Brigitte Cizek bei der Pressekonferenz.

"Mögliche Bedrohung des Familienlebens"

"Zunehmende Vermischung von Berufs- und Privatleben."

Fenz sprach sich dagegen aus, die "Neuen Medien" zu "verteufeln". Dennoch bringe das Handy massive Veränderungen für Familien mit sich. Als Beispiel nannte Fenz die zunehmende Vermischung von Berufs- und Privatleben: "Das ist eine Bedrohung für die Familie als Ruhe- und Rückzugsoase." Durch den erheblichen finanziellen Aufwand für Handy und Internet gerieten außerdem viele Familien noch leichter in die "Schuldenfalle".

Internet birgt auch Gefahren

Brigitte Cizek - sie ist auch Geschäftsführerin des Österreichischen Instituts für Familienforschung (ÖIF) - verwies auf viele Vorteile der "Neuen Medien", "aber man darf Kinder bei der Nutzung dieser Medien nicht alleine lassen", erklärte die Kinderpsychologin. Das Internet berge zudem die Gefahr des unkontrollierten Zugriffs durch Kinder und Jugendliche auf Internetseiten, die dem Jugendverbot unterliegen. Ein besonderes Gefahren-Potenzial stellten Chat-Rooms von Kinderportalen dar, da viele pädophil veranlagte Täter gerade über diesen Weg Kontakt zu Kindern herstellten. "Die beliebten SMS via Handy können zwar Entfernungen überbrücken, sie ersetzten aber nicht das Zusammensein", erklärt Cizek. (red)

http://stephanscom.at/news/articles/2005/09/15/a9180/

http://www.gnn.tv/articles/1630/What_the_World_Needs_Now
http://www.iwtnews.com/GNN


Informant: Rory Winter

Controversy is raging in Paraguay , where the U.S. military is conducting secretive operations. 500 U.S. troops arrived in the country on July 1st with planes, weapons and ammunition.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10287.htm

By which measures, precisely, do we lead the world? Caring for our countrymen? You jest. A first-class physical infrastructure? Tell that to New Orleans.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10285.htm

More than 100 tractor-trailers packed with water, ice and other critical hurricane-relief supplies have been sitting at an Air Force base in Montgomery, Ala., for nearly a week while the federal government pays $600 a day for each truck.

http://snipurl.com/hp7q


From Information Clearing House

Bush’s “vision” for New Orleans and the Katrina recovery effort is being slowly revealed, and unsurprisingly, it’s a vision that’s steeped in conservative ideologies of old that promise little help to actual victims Hurricane Katrina.

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/14/katrina-excuse/


From Information Clearing House

Reconstruction work after Katrina is going to be costly - and highly lucrative.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10278.htm

The two rival titans of the raging row over Iraq engaged in an intellectual prize fight in New York last night that quickly degenerated into knock-down, drag-out bar-room brawl.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10282.htm



Video: Galloway/Hitchens Debate:

British MP George Galloway v. Christopher Hitchens: A debate on the Iraq war moderated by Amy Goodman. Real Video.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10286.htm

Two days before the invasion of Iraq, four Catholic Workers from Ithaca (NY), in an act of non-violent civil resistance, entered a military recruiting center, read a statement, and carefully poured their own blood around the vestibule. If convicted, they face up to six years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

http://www.stpatricksfour.org/


From Information Clearing House

A media watchdog criticized the U.S. military on Wednesday for consistently failing to investigate the killing of journalists in Iraq by its forces, and said the Pentagon was losing credibility as a result.

http://snipurl.com/hpp0


From Information Clearing House

Senior European experts warned that the Iraq war had stimulated a globalised process of radicalisation and recruitment into Islamist terror groups.

http://snipurl.com/hpot


From Information Clearing House

By Chris Floyd

The Bush Faction seized upon the congressional resolution as an "Enabling Act" justifying a broad range of unconstitutional measures, including torture, kidnappings, mass roundups, secret hearings, secret prisons, arrests without charge, indefinite detention, kangaroo courts, "extrajudicial killings" and, finally, aggressive war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10288.htm

Karen Armstrong: It is no use hoping for the best or waiting until "they" have discovered a cleaner form of energy. In the ancient world, assiduous religious ritual and ethical practice helped people to cultivate their respect for the holiness of the earth. If we want to save our planet, we must find a modern way to do the same.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/091505EA.shtml

Barbara Lee: The devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina has torn down the curtain, and exposed the dirty secret that divides our nation like an open wound. If anyone ever doubted that there were two Americas, hurricane Katrina and our government's shameful response to it have made the division clear for all to see.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505R.shtml

Howard Dean: John Roberts is the wrong man for the job. Despite the fact that the White House has withheld key documents either out of incompetence or a fear that those documents might prove embarrassing, we have learned enough from the files on Roberts at the Reagan Library to make it clear that he should be rejected.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505Q.shtml

September 14, 2005, Standards and Rules Database

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


Informant: Iris Atzmon

Lawmakers, Rights Groups

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0915-02.htm

URGENT - PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND SPREAD THIS MESSAGE FAR AND WIDE !!!!!!

TO SIGN, CLICK HERE:
http://www.powalliance.org/petition/index.html
(or copy & paste this link into your browser)

THE FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK
http://www.fluorideACTION.net
FAN Bulletin #332: Online petition (Sept 7).

Sept 6, 2005.

Today the total on the Online petition
http://www.powalliance.org/petition/index.html edged slowly towards the 1900 mark. At 10 pm it had reached 1874 votes Here is the current point listing by state:

Sept 7 (1874 counted) Point totals.

1) OREGON 343
2) UTAH 313
3) CALIFORNIA 262
4) ARKANSAS 234
5) WASHINGTON 209
6) NEW YORK 192
7) FLORIDA 143
8) MASSACHUSETTTS 119
9) TEXAS 93
10) NEW HAMPSHIRE 80
11=) PENNSYLVANIA 61
11=) ILLINOIS 61
13) KANSAS 58
14) GEORGIA 50
15) MICHIGAN 46
16) HAWAII 45
17) COLORADO 40
18) WISCONSIN 39
19) MONTANA 38
20) VERMONT 34

Sept 6 (1802 counted) Point totals.

1) OREGON 335
2) UTAH 303
3) CALIFORNIA 261
4) ARKANSAS 232
5) WASHINGTON 202
6) NEW YORK 187
7) FLORIDA 140
8) MASSACHUSETTTS 116
9) TEXAS 81
10) NEW HAMPSHIRE 74
11) PENNSYLVANIA 61
12=) KANSAS 58
12=) ILLINOIS 58
14) GEORGIA 50
15) HAWAII 45
16) MICHIGAN 42
17) MONTANA 38
18) VERMONT 34
19=) IDAHO 32
20=) WISCONSIN 32 .

Notice there has been no change in the top ten - the heavy hitters go marching on. But there has been a lot of jiggling in the next ten positions. Illinois jumps over Kansas to take up tied 11th position with Pennsylvania. Michigan squeezes past Hawaii to go to the 15th spot. Colorado jumps from nowhere to enter the top 20 for the first time at the 17th spot. Wisconsin jumps over Idaho, Montana and Vermont to take up the eighteenth position.

Please urge your friends not to sign anonymously, without a comment it scores no points. With a comment it scores one point. A comment with a name scores two points. I don' think "anonymous" without a comment will cut much ice with legislators.

The voting is definitely slowing down - I am hoping for a bigger day tomorrow.

Paul Connett


Informant: DitziSis

Not until the fifth day of the federal governments inept and inadequate emergency response to the New Orleans disaster did George Bush even acknowledge it was unacceptable. Unacceptable doesnt begin to describe the depth of the neglect, racism and classism shown to the people of New Orleans. The governments actions and inactions were criminal. New Orleans, a city whose population is almost 70% percent black, 40% illiterate, and many are poor, was left day after day to drown, to starve and to die of disease and thirst.

The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night, scattering across this country to become homeless in countless other cities while federal relief funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels, chemical plants and the wealthy white districts of New Orleans like the French Quarter and the Garden District. We will not stand idly by while this disaster is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New Orleans.

Community Labor United (CLU), a coalition of the progressive organizations throughout New Orleans, has brought community members together for eight years to discuss socio-economic issues. We have been communicating with people from The Quality Education as a Civil Right Campaign, the Algebra Project, the Young Peoples Project and the Louisiana Research Institute for Community Empowerment. We are preparing a press release and framing document that will be out as a draft later today for comments.

Here is what we are calling for:

- We are calling for all New Orleanians remaining in the city to be evacuated immediately.

- We are calling for information about where every evacuee was taken.

- We are calling for black and progressive leadership to come together to meet in Baton Rouge to initiate the formation of a Community Oversight Committee of evacuees from all the sites. This committee will demand to oversee FEMA, the Red Cross and other organizations collecting resources on behalf of our people.

- We are calling for volunteers to enter the shelters where our people are and to assist parents with housing, food, water, health care and access to aid.

- We are calling for teachers and educators to carve out some time to come to evacuation sites and teach our children.

- We are calling for city schools and universities near evacuation sites to open their doors for our children to go to school.

- We are calling for health care workers and mental health workers to come to evacuation sites to volunteer.

- We are calling for lawyers to investigate the wrongful death of those who died, to protect the land of the displaced, to investigate whether the levies broke due to natural and other related matters.

- We are calling for evacuees from our community to actively participate in the rebuilding of New Orleans.

- We are calling for the addresses of all the relevant list serves and press contacts to send our information.

We are in the process of setting up a central command post in Jackson, MS, where we will have phone lines, fax, email and a web page to centralize information. We will need volunteers to staff this office.

We have set up a Peoples Hurricane Fund that will be directed and administered by New Orleanian evacuees. The Young Peoples Project, a 501(c)3 organization formed by graduates of the Algebra Project, has agreed to accept donations on behalf of this fund. Donations can be mailed to:

The Peoples Hurricane Fund
Vanguard Public Foundation
383 Rhode Island St., Ste 301
San Francisco, CA 94103
or visit http://www.qecr.org .

If you have comments of how to proceed or need more information, please email them to

Curtis Muhammad: muhammadcurtis@bellsouth.net

and

Becky Belcore: bbelcore@hotmail.com


http://www.labournet.de/internationales/usa/clu.html

Tell Senators: Roberts Fails to Demonstrate Commitment to Protecting Rights and Freedoms of All Americans

September 15, 2005 - In testimony delivered today to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) Executive Director Wade Henderson announced that - after having reviewed John Roberts available record, testimony, and answers provided during the hearings this week - LCCR has no choice but to oppose the confirmation of Roberts to chief justice of the United States. Take action! Call your senators (202-224-3121) and urge them to oppose the confirmation of John Roberts to chief justice of the United States. Tell senators that America can and should do better!

................................

australia and the coalition of the willing?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30274
................................

Galloway strikes again:
http://www.dailyfreepress.com/media/paper87/news/2005/09/14/News/British.Mp.Blasts.Bush.For.Iraq.War-985053.shtml


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Caroline W.

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=91399;show_parent=1
http://tinyurl.com/axb89

In a message dated 9/15/05 9:47:14 PM, v.robin writes:

Amidst all the shocking, infuriating, moving emails and news stories since Katrina struck, a few have resonated more deeply with me - and together suggest a place to put our feet as we walk forward from this event.

The first, surprisingly, was at Op-ed by David Brooks on Sept 4 NY Times called The Bursting Point. Brooks is a conservative commentator often dismissive of ideas and actions that make perfect sense to me and mine. He likened this moment to the early 70's when Vietnam, Watergate, and the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and MLK woke us from the dream of America as the innocent, optimistic, good guy nation. We lost faith in our institutions and those breakdowns opened political and cultural space for breakthroughs... some to our liking, some not. He suggests to those with a new vision for America that 'now is the hour' - strut your very best stuff.

The second was from Deena Metzger. Katrina, she said, isn't an event that happened to a few of us. It's part of an unfolding reality that's been happening for decades to all us. She suggests the best speed is slow, and the best approach is sobriety and community We need to discover, together, better responses to crisis through sitting in "council" - circles of conversations - that go as long and as deep as necessary. I quote:

How do we proceed? We do not know. When wise people are confronted by situations that are beyond them, they admit their incapacity and they call councils. We must call councils. We must call the elders, wise ones, scientists, et al, the experienced ones of the world community to confer with us and each other. Wise cultures call councils especially when they are, as we are, in grave danger of escalating the damage by taking short-term methods that can produce even greater devastation.

We must ask each other to set aside, entirely, our personal hopes for our future, for our security, for our advancement. Let us all be like those who have lost everything. We are those who have lost everything. We have all lost everything. We have. There is no future unless we understand that we have lost everything and we have to begin again. No one and no system in the living world are safe at this moment.

The third article I will insert below in its entirety. It's from Bill McKibben, a journalist in the Cassandra tradition who for decades has given us well researched, deeply human books and articles to show us where our society's preference for money as the measure of meaning and value was taking us. He locked on to the Global Warming issue long ago and earned his right to use Katrina as a portend of the environmental whirlwind that's coming. His other occupation - a Methodist Sunday School teacher - I believe gives his journalism a prophetic yet protective quality that speaks to me.

Before Bill's article, I want to tell of a few recent experiences of my own. They may seems 'beside the point' (as much of our daily lives do in times of crisis), but make a point eventually.

The weekend before Katrina hit I attended the Fifth Annual Simplicity Forum Congress - a group of educators, activists, authors, academics, and organizers committed to "honoring and achieving simple, just and sustainable ways of life." In the middle of this intense, strategic meeting we took a break to enjoy our beautiful setting in the High Rockies. Half the group hiked down to a river and literally chilled together with their feet in the water. Suddenly a large dead tree toppled right into the middle of the group, injuring several and hitting one woman directly on the head. Quickly, people arrayed themselves according level of injury and according to skills and capacities, forming a spontaneous team of nurses, wilderness medics, transporters, runners, counselors, witnesses and such. The badly injured woman was stabilized and carried up and out, then ambulanced to the hospital. The group processed the shock while continuing to work very effectively as a team on building the Forum. Of course, in the background everyone wondered what it meant that a near tragedy literally descended into our midst. By the end, it was clear. Simple living doesn't mean that nothing bad happens anymore in your life. It's the low-ego, high-equanimity and community way you go through what happens. It allows the best to come from even bad situations. A tree falls in the forest, and people who live more simply seem to respond naturally with directness, resourcefulness and skill.

Two weekends later, I spent 4 days in the hospital for a high-tech surgical repair way beyond woodsy simplicity's capacity to deal. It was revelatory, though, in what hospitals no longer do. It sometimes took an hour for overworked nurses to respond to my call button. After the response, I'd often find the call button, pain med button and/or phone left out of reach. Hygiene was a packet of heavy-duty handy wipes given to me on day two for me to use. No teeth brushing or hair brushing. One procedure was stymied because the right tool wasn't available. My discharge doc had done his internship at a Community Hospital in LA. He said that such conditions were so common there that sadder-but-wiser nurses and aides would buy supplies at Costco - at their own expense - so they'd have what they needed to care for patients. "You're a writer," he said, "write about that. Someone has to tell that story." I realized that America is closer than ever to the conditions in less 'developed' countries where family members must accompany you to the hospital to do your nursing care. Will busy Americans, as the tempo of such breakdowns increases, need to take back their time for basic caring duties of family and community?

Katrina showed us many things. One was that the systems we have empowered to care for us have gotten careless to the point of being cruel and inhuman. Real humans want to take care of their sick and dying, but we've come to believe that someone else, somewhere else, is in charge and knows better. So people died in the streets, in the Stadium, in the hospitals, in their homes and were left for days. There are big changes we should have made decades ago that could prevent what McKibben warns is coming. Now these are dead snags just waiting to fall. Worse, though, is that we seem to lack to political and social will to make the sober, mature changes needed to deal the "trees that fall" with competence and good grace.

Simpler living seems tied to the expectation that oneself is the grown-up in one's own life. That if change is to be, it starts at home and is practical as well as philosophical. That big systems must be understood for what they can and can't do - and never be allowed to leave us more vulnerable, less able to respond intelligently. I've always said that the last place to look for financial independence is in having a pile of money. If you don't accumulate critical thinking, clear communication, loving relationships, an understanding of give-and-take, networks of friends and mutual help groups - all parts of 'resilience' - no amount of money will protect you in a destabilized world.

As David Brooks says, now is the time to face up to the dark side of America and make sober changes - and hope the forces of intelligence and good sense will mobilize more vigorously than the forces of fear and manipulation. As Deena says, in times like these wise people know that none of us knows what's going on but all of us, in deep conversation, will learn together a way through. As McKibben's article below indicates, Katrina might be the recognized surfacing of an era of breakdowns of a magnitude we never thought possible. As my small experiences indicate, if we rely less on ego and more on community, human resilience and good sense, we can mobilize ourselves to achieve small greatnesses right where we are. If we ask large systems to do only what they are best at - complex surgery, for example, or complex policy making for global conditions - and give as much resource as possible to the people on the local front lines of care, we may be able to weather the coming "perfect" storm.

Where each of us acts in this shifting landscape of crisis is really up to each of us. I trust us to know our neighbors better, to develop skills that will be truly useful in the years ahead, to open our homes to what needs our care, to stay calm, to contribute what we know and get out of the way of those who actually know better. Where can we turn in crisis? To one another, actually. Not letting large systems off the hook on their responsibilities and failures, but not forgetting that at least here in America, it's still "the consent of the governed."


Y2K. 911. Katrina. Are we listening? Every free, individual for him or herself is now a loser strategy of enormous magnitude. Simplicity, community, common sense, calm, resilience are really the core curriculum for survival. People in other lands have not had the luxury of forgetting these basics. We have. Katrina was a pop-final. We failed. But we are wired for survival through connection, council, community and what my friend Tom Atlee calls co-intelligence. It may be too late to have predictable future, but we can wise up together. For some great ideas from Alan Atkisson on a community revisioning exercise that's now relevant to rebuilding "the Big Difficult" , go to

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003425.html


Be well, my friends,

Vicki


and now, Bill...

Not Our America?

by Bill McKibben

September 07, 2005

http://www.tompaine.com/

Bill McKibben is the author of many books on the environment and related topics. His first, The End of Nature, was also the first book for a general audience on global warming. His most recent is Wandering Home, A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape.

If the images of skyscrapers collapsed in heaps of ash were the end of one story-the United States safe on its isolated continent from the turmoil of the world-then the picture of the sodden Superdome with its peeling roof marks the beginning of the next story, the one that will dominate our politics in the coming decades of this century: America befuddled about how to cope with a planet suddenly turned unstable and unpredictable.

Over and over last week, people said that the scenes from the convention center, the highway overpasses, and the other suddenly infamous Crescent City venues didn't "look like America," that they seemed instead to be straight from the Third World. That was almost literally accurate, for poor, black New Orleans
(whose life had never previously been of any interest to the larger public) is not so different from other poor and black parts of the world: its infant mortality and life expectancy rates, its educational achievement statistics mirroring scores of African and Latin American enclaves. But it was accurate in another way, too, one full of portent for the future. A decade ago, environmental researcher Norman Myers began trying to add up the number of humans at risk of losing their homes from global warming. He looked at all the obvious places-coastal China, India, Bangladesh, the tiny island states of the Pacific and Indian oceans, the Nile delta, Mozambique, on and on-and predicted that by 2050, it was entirely possible that 150 million people could be "environmental refugees," forced from their homes by rising waters. That's more than the number of political refugees sent scurrying by the bloody century we've just endured. Try to imagine, that is, the chaos that attends busing 15,000 people from one football stadium to another in the richest nation on Earth, and then multiply it by four orders of magnitude and re-situate your thoughts in the poorest nations on earth. And then try to imagine doing it over and over again-probably without the buses.

Because so far, even as blogs and websites all over the Internet fill with accusations about the scandalous lack of planning that led to the collapse of the levees in New Orleans, almost no one is addressing the much larger problems: the scandalous lack of planning that has kept us from even beginning to address climate change, and the sad fact that global warming means the future will be full of just this kind of horror. Consider the first problem for just a minute. No single hurricane is "the result" of global warming. But a month before Katrina hit, MIT hurricane specialist Kerry Emmanuel published a landmark paper in the British science magazine Nature showing that tropical storms were now lasting half again as long and spinning winds 50 percent more powerful than just a few decades before. The only plausible cause: the ever-warmer tropical seas on which these storms thrive. Katrina, a Category 1 storm when it crossed Florida, roared to full life in the abnormally hot water of the Gulf of Mexico. It then punched its way into Louisiana and Mississippi-the latter a state now governed by Haley Barbour, who in an earlier incarnation as a GOP power broker and energy lobbyist helped persuade President Bush to renege on his promise to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

So far, the United States has done exactly nothing even to try to slow the progress of climate change: We're emitting far more carbon than we were in 1988, when scientists issued their first prescient global-warming warnings. Even if, at that moment, we'd started doing all that we could to overhaul our energy economy, we'd probably still be stuck with the one degree Fahrenheit increase in global average temperature that's already driving our current disruptions. Now scientists predict that without truly dramatic change in the very near future, we're likely to see the planet's mercury rise five degrees before this century is out. That is, five times more than we've seen so far. Which leads us to the second problem: For the ten thousand years of human civilization, we've relied on the planet's basic physical stability. Sure, there have been hurricanes and droughts and volcanoes and tsunamis, but averaged out across the Earth, it's been a remarkably stable run. If your grandparents inhabited a particular island, chances were that you could too. If you could grow corn in your field, you could pretty much count on your grandkids being able to do likewise. Those are now sucker's bets-that's what those predictions about environmental refugees really mean.

Here's another way of saying it: In the last century, we've seen change in human societies speed up to an almost unimaginable level, one that has stressed every part of our civilization. In this century, we're going to see the natural world change at the same kind of rate. That's what happens when you increase the amount of heat trapped in the atmosphere. That extra energy expresses itself in every way you can imagine: more wind, more evaporation, more rain, more melt, more... more... more. And there is no reason to think we can cope. Take New Orleans as an example. It is currently pro forma for politicians to announce that it will be rebuilt, and doubtless it will be. Once. But if hurricanes like Katrina go from once-in-a-century storms to once-in-a-decade-or-two storms, how many times are you going to rebuild it? Even in America there's not that kind of money-especially if you're also having to cope with, say, the effects on agriculture of more frequent and severe heat waves, and the effects on human health of the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria, and so on ad infinitum. Not to mention the costs of converting our energy system to something less suicidal than fossil fuel, a task that becomes more expensive with every year that passes. Our rulers have insisted by both word and deed that the laws of physics and chemistry do not apply to us. That delusion will now start to vanish. Katrina marks Year One of our new calendar, the start of an age in which the physical world has flipped from sure and secure to volatile and unhinged. New Orleans doesn't look like the America we've lived in. But it very much resembles the planet we will inhabit the rest of our lives.


Vicki Robin
P.O. Box 1501
Langley, WA 98260
(360) 221-2251


"I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for those tiny invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which if you give them time, will rend the hardest monuments of man's pride." --- William James


Informant: Hopedance

Sierra Times
by Al Benson Jr.

09/15/05

FEMA Director Michael Brown has departed. At one point George W. told him 'Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job.' What exactly he was doing such a great job at was never clearly explained, and maybe just as well. Whatever it was, helping the people in need didn't really seem to be a major part of it -- perhaps projecting a 'positive image' regarding the state as deity was. According to Congressman Ron Paul, our menagerie of Congress-critters has recently approved a relief package of $52 billion -- most of which will go to FEMA. He noted of FEMA that: '... there is every indication that FEMA is nothing but a bureaucratic black hole that spends money without the slightest accountability'...

http://www.sierratimes.com/05/09/15/64_12_116_12_86581.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Andrew J. Bacevich

09/15/05

On three occasions in the past four years the United States has suffered catastrophic failure. Since each of these disasters -- 9/11, the Iraq quagmire, and now Hurricane Katrina -- occurred on George W. Bush's watch, many Americans hold the president personally responsible. But hammering Bush amounts to an exercise in scapegoating that lets others -- starting with ourselves -- off the hook. In fact, the underlying explanation for these calamities lies in the delusions to which Americans in recent years have readily subscribed. The defining 'truths' of the age have turned out to be anything but true...

http://tinyurl.com/b77b2


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Strike the Root
by Joe Plummer

09/15/05

At some point the propaganda we're subjected to becomes so utterly ridiculous, you've just got to ask yourself: 'Is this really being said?' Chris Matthews (MSNBC -- HardBall) nonchalantly informed his viewers today that EVERYONE just LOVES the military occupation in New Orleans. ... Is ANYBODY so ignorant as to not see through this 'in our face' whitewash of yet ANOTHER power grab; this precedent-setting violation of our country's founding principles? Who do they think they're kidding? What will they tell us next? Will they claim people are dancing in the streets because they've been forcibly disarmed? ... Or maybe that they're thrilled to be getting shipped off to the 'safety' of a concentration camp?

http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/plummer/plummer2.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair09152005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Common Dreams
by Peter Demott, Clare Grady, Danny Burns and Teresa Grady

09/15/05

On Sept. 19, the four of us will go on trial a second time for trying to prevent the Iraq war. We are charged with conspiracy to impede 'by force, intimidation and threat' an officer of the United States and three lesser charges. If convicted of federal conspiracy, we face up to six years in prison, a period of probation and $275,000 in fines. ... In April 2004 we were tried in state court, where nine of twelve jurors voted, after listening to our defense, that we were not guilty. The judge declared a mistrial after 20 hours of deliberations. ... Now, with an ever worsening situation in Iraq, the United States government wants to retry us for conspiracy. We believe our actions were moral, legal and necessary. As with our first trial, if the jury is allowed to hear about the illegality of the war, our country's history of nonviolent resistance to injustice, and how our faith in God calls us to work for a world unified by love, solidarity and mutual cooperation, we expect our peers will vote to acquit...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0915-34.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Common Wonders
by Bob Koehler

09/15/05

Something far more sinister than incompetence has been at work in post-Katrina New Orleans. While there was plenty of that -- 'racism and incompetence seemed to merge to create a sluggish response,' Christian Parenti wrote in The Nation -- the fumbling cluelessness of FEMA under George Bush is a minor aspect of the vision of America, armed and gated, he and his cohorts have bestowed on us. In this virulent, militarized vision, disaster relief is an afterthought. What this administration does enthusiastically is wage war, or at least take potshots at fear. Thus the commander of the Louisiana National Guard's Joint Task Force told Army Times, as quoted by Rebecca Solnit in Harper's, 'This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.' If it's a combat operation, you need an enemy -- and the poor and destitute of New Orleans got conscripted into this role...

http://www.commonwonders.com/archives/col311.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Slate
by John Dickerson

09/15/05

We've become accustomed to these fraught addresses from President Bush: the cadences of loss and resolve, the biblical echoes, and the strain of a voice trying to whip up hope. We heard them over and over after 9/11 and before the Iraq war. But tonight was different. President Bush has never spoken from a position of such weakness. The country is as uncertain about his leadership as it has ever been. He created the very Department of Homeland Security that failed to prepare itself or citizens for Hurricane Katrina or manage its aftermath. Bush has spoken at length about compassion for the least among us and yet their condition has not improved. Second terms usually start on the steps of the Capitol. George Bush hopes that his starts in Jackson Square...

http://www.slate.com/id/2126384/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Salon
by Kerry Lauerman

09/16/05

Who would have expected the most compelling argument for a smarter, more aggressive news media to come from one of our few true movie stars, a man who could stay secluded from the press -- the world really -- in his Italian villa for as long as he liked, only to reappear for the occasional prestige project or 'Ocean's Eleven' sequel? But George Clooney's 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' a stirring examination of CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow's historic showdown with Sen. Joseph McCarthy, is a passionate argument for a revitalized press, one that's willing to operate in pursuit of larger truths, and not just larger profits... [subscription or ad view required]

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2005/09/16/george_clooney/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Rational Review
by Stephen Gordon

09/15/05

According to the Washington Post, Pentagon planners have drafted a revised policy doctrine which allows for pre-emptive nuclear strikes against non-nuclear states or terrorist groups as an integral part of its global military strategy. While clearly opposed to the war in Iraq, I am not a pacifist. I've never supported unilateral nuclear disarmament, as I believe there may be some (albeit unlikely) scenarios when nuclear weapons might be required for valid self-defense measures. However, this policy proposal scares me, and I'll tell you why...

http://www.rationalreview.com/content/1017


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

09/16/05

A lot has been written about the neoconservatives: their storied history starting out as acolytes of Leon Trotsky conferring in Alcove One in the lunchroom at City College in New York City; their rise to literary fame as the so-called 'New York Intellectuals;' their odyssey from the left-liberal Bohemian beret-wearing coffeehouse set to the wood-paneled boardrooms and lecture halls of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute -- and the topic is a fascinating one. But I just want to focus here, for a moment, on Hersh's description of them as a cult. Now, one of the chief characteristics of a classic cult organization is that there are two sets of ideas that hold the cultists in thrall, two entirely separate and often contradictory ideologies that are held simultaneously by members of the group...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7294


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent [UK]

09/16/05

A coalition of artists, musicians and writers have joined anti-war campaigners to make a collective appeal to Tony Blair to pull British troops out of Iraq by the end of the year. The diverse group, including the musician Brian Eno, the actor and film director Mark Rylance and the guitar player John Williams, as well as 100 academics, MPs and activists, signed an open letter of protest condemning the continued occupation of Iraq as 'an unmitigated disaster'...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article313057.ece


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Biloxi Sun-Herald

09/10/05

Since Katrina departed, some residents have been faced with confusion and frustration. To compound the confusion, residents were shocked Friday to see a work crew laying out double coil rows of razor wire, also called concertina wire. Lynn Bauer, who is living with her mother after her Mills Avenue home was damaged, said she also was stopped from accessing her home. 'I want to get to work taking out the drywall, insulation and flooring. The longer I wait, the worse it's going to be,' Bauer said. At a briefing of the Emergency Operations Center Saturday, Col. Joe Spraggins, chief of emergency services for Harrison County, said he decided to install the razor wire to secure the stretches of land between checkpoints. 'I can put 1,000 national guardsman there (instead), but that's a waste of assets,' Spraggins said. He said the wire is easy to lay down and remove. 'We are not trying to put you in a concentration camp or make it look like a war zone,' he said. A concentration camp is exactly what Bauer thought of when she first saw the wire...

http://tinyurl.com/8udh2


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

09/15/05

Merlene Maten undoubtedly stood out in the prison where she has been held since Hurricane Katrina. The 73-year-old church deaconess, never before in trouble with the law, spent two weeks among hardened criminals. Her bail was a stiff $50,000. Her offense? Police say the grandmother from New Orleans took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli the day after Katrina struck. Family and eyewitnesses insisted Maten was an innocent woman who had gone to her car to get some sausage to eat only to be mistakenly arrested by tired, frustrated white officers who couldn't catch younger looters at a nearby store...

http://tinyurl.com/cypwx


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNN

09/15/05

Chicago on Wednesday became the nation's largest city to urge the Bush administration to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq at once. The resolution, approved 29-9, seeks an 'immediate and orderly' withdrawal. The City Council has 50 aldermen. Chicago joins other cities -- including San Francisco, Santa Cruz, California, 50 communities in Vermont and the Chicago suburb of Evanston -- in calling for the withdrawal of troops...

http://tinyurl.com/e3v6g


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Cincinnati Enquirer

09/15/05

A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday. The employee is prepared to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to identify the person who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa. Weldon declined to identify the employee, citing confidentiality matters. Weldon described the documents as '2.5 terabytes' -- as much as one-fourth of all the printed materials in the Library of Congress, he added...

http://tinyurl.com/9shb5


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

"Trial Date Set By Fed. Judge on Ohio 2004 Recount With INDICTMENTS"

Home » Cobb-LaMarche 2004 - Ballot Recount Address: http://www.votecobb.org/ Changed: 12:44 AM on Friday, September 16, 2005

EXTRA: "Trial Date Set by Federal Judge on Ohio Recount, with INDICTMENTS" muservin Offline Send Email All Press Releases for September 14, 2005

Federal Judge in Toledo Sets Trial Date for 2004 Ohio Election Recount Lawsuit; Stage Set for National Voting Rights Institute vs. Kenneth Blackwell; Cuyahoga County Election Workers Indicted

A federal district judge in Toledo set a trial date for the National Voting Rights Institute's Ohio Recount lawsuit against Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's Secretary of State. Additionally indictments were handed down against two Cuyahoga County elections officials for their roles in the bungled election audit. The timing was coincidental; the two actions are not related though they both stem from charges that the 2004 election recount was conducted in violation of state and federal laws. Judge James Carr set the trial date for August 22, 2006. The lawsuit is a result of one originally initiated by Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and his Libertarian counterpart, Michael Badnarik.

(PRWEB) September 14, 2005 -- On Tuesday, August 30, a federal district judge in Toledo set a trial date for the National Voting Rights Institute's Ohio Recount lawsuit against Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's Secretary of State.

Additionally indictments were handed down against two Cuyahoga County elections officials for their roles in the bungled election audit. The timing was coincidental; the two actions are not related although they both stem from charges that the recount was conducted in violation of state and federal laws.

Chief Judge of the US District Court of the Northern District of Ohio, James G. Carr set the trial date for August 22, 2006. The original lawsuit, case 3:04-CV-7724, was initiated by Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and his Libertarian counterpart, Michael Badnarik.

The Ohio election and recount has been the subject of a number of investigations and reports. A report by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Democratic staff states that "there were massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio. In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the

Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio." The August issue of Harper's magazine featured an article by Mark Crispin Miller on the Ohio election fraud and the lack of "mainstream" media coverage devoted to it, entitled "None Dare Call it Stolen."

"The truth about the fraud, manipulation and voter suppression in Ohio is slowly coming out. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and we will pursue this as long as necessary to protect the integrity of our democratic process. When Republicans steal elections and Democrats roll over and play dead, the public can rely on the Green Party to protect the right to vote and the right to have all votes counted," said Blair Bobier, spokesman for the party's 2004 presidential campaign.

Additional information about the recount and the entire 102 page report by the House Judiciary Committee's Democratic staff can be found at http://www.votecobb.org .

The website for the national Green Party is http://www.gp.org. Media Contact: Blair Bobier, Media Director
(541)929-5755


Informant: ranger116

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article312997.ece


Informant: NHNE

Derbyshire Evening Telegraph

09:30 - 15 September 2005

Councillors had a rare attack of unanimity last night by approving measures to confront the Government over the proliferation of mobile phone masts in the city.

Tory councillor for Chellaston Paul Willitts claimed that parts of Derby were "almost under siege" by phone masts.

He called for a halt to masts being built until health risks had been "satisfactorily assessed".

Despite proposed amendments from Labour and the Lib Dems, the spirit of Mr Willitt's proposal was carried unanimously.

Labour councillor Mark Tittley, who put forward one amendment, said the current law of allowing masts under 15 metres tall to bypass planning regulations was "ridiculous".

Council leader Chris Williamson said: "By joining together on this, I believe we can have a more effective voice."

By Richard Lyons

Sutton Guardian

A community in Carshalton Beeches has united to fight plans for a 3G mobile phone mast outside a church which runs a children's nursery.

The Rev Christopher Wheaton, of the Good Shepherd Church, Gaynesford Road, turned down an offer of £90,000 over 10 years to have a T-Mobile antennae built on church premises.

But, to the fury of residents, the telecommunications company responded by submitting plans for an 11.7m mast and equipment cabinet immediately outside the building.

In a bid to fight the development, a public meeting attended by 48 locals, Tom Brake MP and councillors Lal Hussein and Derek Yeo was held at the church on Wednesday, September 7.

A petition opposing the scheme signed by more than 600 residents will also be sent to Sutton Council, T-Mobile and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

"There are so many children coming to the pre-school on our site five days a week," said Mr Wheaton.

"The church is always seen as a safe place to bring your family and children and there's a perceived danger with mobile phone masts.

"We really feel we should do everything we can to encourage T-Mobile to put their mast in a place where there's less exposure."

Residents had until yesterday to put their objections to Sutton Council and planners have until October 5 to decide whether or not to reject the plans.

One resident, Jay Thanki, 30, of Kings Avenue, said the risks of third generation mobile phone masts were as yet unknown and vowed he would move home if the scheme went ahead.

Mr Thanki who lives with his wife Kinjal, 23, his parents and sister, said: "We are all very concerned. The children at the pre-school are very young and the mast is going to be emitting microwaves.

"My whole family will move if they put the mast up. We are going to get the house valued this week."

A council spokesman said the Government's planning legislation allows mobile phone companies to erect a mast which is under 15 metres without submitting a full planning application.

He said: "This application was for prior approval, which means the council can object to the siting or appearance of the equipment if it does not fit the local character."

10:56am Thursday 15th September 2005

KIRSTY GREEN

Walsall Advertiser

Be the first reader to comment on this story
http://www.walsalladvertiser.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=189100&command=displayContent&sourceNode=185903&contentPK=13186270#commentform

10:30 - 15 September 2005

The landlady of a popular Walsall pub says residents and regulars futures will not be bright if Orange are allowed to go ahead with plans to erect a phone mast next to her pub.

Residents living close to the Longhorn pub in Sutton Road were written to by Orange informing them of the company's plans to apply for planning permission for a phone mast on council owned land adjacent to the Longhorn pub and visible from Sutton Road. Landlady Esther Bennett has already collected signatures from regulars opposed to the plans.

"Within one day of the petition launch a large number of local drinkers and residents have signed to express their opposition to the proposal of the French owned mobile phone company," she said.

A meeting held on Sunday, September 11 and organised by Derek Bennett, pub regular and chairman of the Walsall Wolverhampton UKIP Association also showed the strength of feeling against the pub.

Pheasey Park Farm councillors Adrian Andrew and Chris Towe attended the meeting to reassure residents they would be battling against the phone mast plans.

"We are totally opposed to this mast," said Cllr Towe.

"We have written to Orange asking them to remove the application from their agenda, we have asked them not to proceed with this.

"We have all the normal concerns about such an application, including health worries. It is no good the government saying there is no proof such masts are harmful to health because there is also no evidence that they are not," he added.

Omega there is proof that such masts are harmful to health. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

Protestors on the Turnberry estate in Bloxwich are calling on their neighbours to formally object to a proposed phone mast they fear is a health hazard.

Objectors to a T-mobile mast Yields Field in Stafford Road say they believed they had beaten the application when it was rejected by councillors earlier this year, but the company is appealing against this decision.

Resident Simon Horton said people must make their objections know to the council by the Thursday, September 22.

Mr Horton, a freelance broadcaster who has believed on the estate for three years, said it was important people spoke up, especially on an estate with so many children.

BY BEN MURCH

Bath Chronicle

11:00 - 15 September 2005

Protest groups have banded together to protest against plans for mobile phone masts at three sites in Bear Flat. Members of the newly formed Bear Flat and Alexandra Park Alliance claim mobile phone company O2 has tried to drive a wedge between them and force its plans through.

Last year, the company won a planning appeal to put up a mast just metres away from people's homes on the grass verge between Wellsway and Bloomfield Road.

The decision was taken despite massive protests, but the communications giant then agreed to consider alternative sites.

It has since applied for permission to site the mast in Alexandra Park, sparking renewed opposition from a different group of residents.

Wellsway campaigners face the danger of O2 reverting to its original plans if the Alexandra Park campaign is successful.

A spokesperson for the residents claimed the company had tried to use this threat to divide the two groups but has only succeeded in forcing them closer together.

A third group, which is campaigning against Hutchinson 3G's plans to put a mast on top of the Smiles store at Wellsway, has also given the alliance its backing.

Sue Boyle, spokeswoman for the Alexandra Park group, said: "We realised that O2's policy was to divide us from the Bear Flat protesters.

"Our aspiration was to join forces with them instead. We believe it is possible to stop O2 putting masts on either site. We have to believe that, because we all think that each site is as unsuitable as the other.

"At Alexandra Park there are environmental issues and in both cases it would be too close to people.

"We are determined not to look at them as alternatives, although that is the O2 strategy. We will fight tooth and nail to make sure it doesn't go on Alexandra Park and make sure it doesn't go on Wellsway either."

Frank Thynne, acting co-ordinator of the Wellsway O2 protesters, said: "O2 isn't consulting, it's bullying.

"In approaching the Alexandra Park group and reminding them it is an alternative to the Wellsway site, where it already has permission, it is clearly an attempt to divide us.

"If O2 succeeds in dividing us, we are going to be losers."

Mr Thynne added the protesters were not inherently anti-mobile phones or masts, and wanted to reduce antagonism by working more closely with operators to find sites.

Bath and North East Somerset Council officers and members heavily criticised companies for failing to consult residents when they discussed an application from Orange for a mast in Twerton at a public meeting earlier this year.

Peter Sellwood, of the Hutchinson 3G protest group, said only by working together could people in Bear Flat prevent mobile phone companies pushing through applications for masts on unsuitable sites.

Hutchinson 3G's bid for a mast at the Smiles site will be determined by a planning inspector, following the council's failure to reach a decision.

But protesters are still hopeful the company can be convinced to share a mast with O2 at a new site further away from people's homes.

O2 has agreed to hold a public meeting on its plans on Monday, September 26, at a time and venue to be confirmed. Nobody from the company was available to comment.

b.murch@bathchron.co.uk

BBC News online

Councillors ignored their officials on Wednesday to vote against a proposed mobile phone mast.

South Ribble Planning Committee rejected plans for the 14.7m 3G mast on farmland near a school and housing estate in Hoghton, Lancashire.

Planning officials had recommended the T-Mobile mast should be accepted.

However councillors decided against the phone mast on the grounds of siting and appearance. Residents and local MP Nigel Evans had opposed the plan.

'Unbelievable result'

Campaigner Chris Nelson said: "We're delighted, it's unbelievable."

He added that he hoped T-Mobile would not appeal against the decision.

The company was applying for determination, a process which allows masts under 15m to be built without planning permission as long as the local planning authority agrees.

No-one at T-Mobile was available for comment.

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/its_official_hurricanes_are_getting_stronger_8917


Informant: NHNE

http://www.mises.org/story/1909


Informant: Lew Rockwell

http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2005/09/11/1211538.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

The Bush administration is continuing to face heavy criticism over the sluggish response of federal agencies, principally the departments of Homeland Security and Defense, to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505Y.shtml



Katrina: The Response

One hour special town hall meeting "Katrina: The Response" to air on September 16.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505P.shtml

"It was as if all of us were already pronounced dead," said Tony Cash, 25, who endured three nights of hunger, violence and darkness at the convention center. "As if somebody already had the body bags. Wasn't nobody coming to get us."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505M.shtml

Michael Meacher told a public conference on Science, Medicine and the Law in the strongest terms that we need independent science and scientists who take the precautionary principle seriously and sweeping changes are needed in science funding and scientific advice to the government that ensures the protection of independent science

Which scientists?

Nobody disagrees that debate over whether we should go ahead with new technologies should be conducted on the basis of science, but which science? Independent science or industrial science? Let me test out a few examples on you.

Fifteen years ago a lorry driver accidentally tipped 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate into the public drinking supply in north Cornwall – nearby residents and local doctors are convinced they were poisoned; but two Government enquiries found no evidence. Whom do you believe?

There are childhood leukaemia clusters in villages down the Cumbrian coast – local residents and independent scientists think it is the consequence of chronic exposure to low-level radiation from nearby Sellafield; but the Department of Industry (DTI) and British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) think it is nothing to do with local nuclear power stations – their best explanation is that it is caused by high levels of inward and outward migration. Whom do you believe?

Mark Purdey, a Somerset farmer turned epidemiologist, has produced detailed evidence to show that BSE was caused by farmers spreading Phosmetz, an organohosphate (OP), over the backs of cattle as a prophylaxis, but the Government's MRC Toxicology Unit - funded by the pharmaceutical company Zeneca - apparently refuted this theory. Which company held all rights over the production of Phosmetz? Zeneca. Whom do you believe?

Gulf War Syndrome has been a persistent disabling, and sometimes lethal, condition since the first war in Kuwait in 1991. Both UK and US soldiers and their independent scientific advisers are convinced that the soldiers were poisoned by the OP insecticides that they were liberally sprayed with. But the MOD and chemical companies insist there is no evidence for this. Whom do you believe?

Well, if you have any doubts, look at what has actually happened in the past when Government, in the teeth of overwhelming evidence, have often finally been forced to back track from entrenched positions that they always said were supported scientifically.

Science can quite often get things wrong.

Which science?

Government biologists initially refused to accept that power stations in Britain or Germany could kill fish or trees hundreds of miles away in Scandinavia ; later the idea of acidification caused by SO2 was universally accepted.

Government scientists originally did not agree that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were destroying the ozone layer; but during the 1987 negotiations on the Montreal Protocol the industry – ICI and Du Pont – abruptly changed sides, and ministers and scientists soon fell into line alongside them.

The Lawther working party of Government scientists roundly rejected any idea that health-damaging high levels of lead in the blood came overwhelmingly from vehicle exhausts, only to find that after lead-free petrol was introduced, blood-lead levels fell 70%.

The Southwood committee of BSE scientists insisted in 1990 that scrapie in cattle could not cross the species barrier, only to find by 1996 that it did just that. And there are many more examples.

Scientific uncertainty and the precautionary principle

The only way to deal with these problems is by applying the precautionary principle. Perhaps the classic formulation of the precautionary principle was at the Rio Summit in 1992 principle 15: “in order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by states according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”

That principle survived renegotiation attempts during the Johannesburg Summit in September 2002, and was reaffirmed in the Plan of Implementation that resulted from the Summit .

Why has this not been adopted by scientists and policy-makers? There can be only one reason: cynicism of not disturbing powerful political and economic interests.

It is highly disturbing to realise how long it takes for poisonous chemicals to be banned after scientific evidence emerged that they were harmful.

* Benzene was demonstrated as powerful bone marrow poison in 1897

* Acute respiratory effects of asbestos was identified 1898

* The ability of PCB to induce chloracne was documented in 1898

But it was not until 1960-70s that significant progress was made in restricting damages caused by these agents.

Independent scientists vilified

Efforts were made to discredit independent critics, as in the case of Richard Lacey and Mark Purdey in BSE, & Arpad Pusztai in GM food, and too many other examples.

Data and reports have been regularly suppressed or publishers intimidated, as in the Great Lakes chemical case.

The Southwood Committee on BSE believed a ban on the use of all cattle brains in human food chain might be justified, but considered that politically unfeasible.

There was also incompetence: the Department of Health was not informed by MAFF (the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, now disbanded) about the emergence of new disease (BSE) until 17 months after MAFF was first alerted.

Pervasive mistrust of science and scientists

No wonder that there is a pervasive mistrust of science and scientists. But the roots for this go deep.

First, the Rothschild revolution under Thatcher made the funding of science much more subservient to business interests. Over the past two decades, getting finance for scientific inquiry inimical to the commercial and political establishments has become increasingly difficult. The science is owned by a tiny number of very large companies and they only commission research which they believe will further their own commercial interests. And when that turns out not to be the case, as when research turns up results which may be embarrassing to the company, they are most often dubbed “commercially confidential” and never published.

In addition, companies have learned that small investments in endowing chairs, sponsoring research programmes or hiring professors for out-of-hours projects can produce disproportionate payoffs in generating reports, articles, reviews and books, which may not be in the public interest, but certainly benefit corporate bottom lines. The effects of corporate generosity - donating millions for this research laboratory or that scientific programme – can be subtly corrosive. Other universities regard the donor as a pote ntial source of funds and try to ensure nothing is said which might jeopardise big new cash possibilities. And academics raising embarrassing questions (as they should) - such as who is paying for the lab; how independent is the peer review; who profits from the research; is the university's integrity compromised? – would soon learn that keeping their heads down is the best way not to risk their career, let alone future research funding. The message is clear: making money is good, and dissent is stifled. Commerce and the truth don't readily mix.

A second reason why there is such pervasive mistrust of science and scientists is that the scientists staffing the official advisory committees and Government regulatory bodies in a significant number of cases have financial links with the industry they are supposed to be independently advising on and regulating. A recent study found that of the five scientific committees advising ministers on food and safety, 40% of committee members had links with the biotechnology industry, and at least 20% were linked to one of the Big Three – Monsanto, AstraZeneca, or Novartis. Nor is that an accident. The civil servants who select scientists for those bodies tend to look for a preponderant part of the membership, and particularly the chairperson, to be ‘sound', i.e., can be safely relied on not to cause embarrassment to the Government or industry if difficulties arise.

Third, the culture of spin and intimidation is far more pervasive than should ever be allowed. The shocking sacking and vilification of Dr Arpad Pusztai, when he produced GM research results inconvenient to the Government, bio-tech industry and the Americans, was no doubt, deliberately intended as a warning to others if they stepped out of line. And the threats and insinuations made clear to the only two independent scientists on the UK Government's GM Science Panel, Dr Carlo Leifert and Andrew Sterling, demonstrates all too clearly how viciously the Establishment will fight to safeguard its own interests.

And on spin, how many times have we heard the false argument that is still regularly deployed by ACRE , the Government's main GM advisory committee, when it announces that, “there is no evidence that this GM product is any greater risk to human health than its non-GM counterpart”. In fact they have not sought such evidence directly, merely relied on the biotech companies telling them that their GM product was ‘substantially equivalent' to its alleged non-GM analogue.

Fourth, science is not, and never has been, a value-free search for the truth. It is a social construct influenced by a variety of rules, peer group pressures, and personal and cultural expectations. It is developed, like all human thought, from preconceived built-in judgements, assumptions and dogmas, the more powerful because they are often unconsciously held.

So what is to be done?

What all this means is that science can only be fully trusted if it is pursued with the most rigorous procedures that guarantee total independence and freedom from commercial and political bias. That is far too often not the case today. The implications for policy are clear.

One, if the Government truly wants independent research, it has to be prepared to pay for it, not lay down, as it has, that 25% of finance for publicly funded research should come from private sources, thus forcing the universities into the hands of corporate sponsors.

Two, the Government should also require that no member of its advisory committee or regulatory bodies should have any current or recently past financial or commercial link with the industry concerned.

Three, contributors to scientific journals should be required to make full disclosure of current and prior funding sources, so that any conflicts of interest can be exposed and taken into account.

Four, we need above all a Government with the political gumption to stand up to the United States and those demanding calls from the White House, to stand up to the biotech companies, and to stand up to big business, and make clear that there will be no succumbing to dominant political /economic interests, e.g. no growing of GM crops in this country until proper, systematic, independent, peer-reviewed research, which is totally absent at present, has been carried through and made public which demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt whether GM foods are safe or not.

We should never forget the words of Winston Churchill, who said “Science should be on tap, not on top”.

This is an edited version of Michael Meacher's keynote address to the Green Network Conference, Science, Medicine and the Law, 31 January to 2 February 2005 , Royal Institute of British Architecture, London , UK , which will be published in issue 26 of Science in Society http://www.i-sis.org.uk

Besides France and Germany, several countries, notably Spain, the Netherlands and Turkey, rose up against Washington's desire to obtain an extension of the mandate for the International security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan - taken over by NATO in August 2003 - to mix it in with that of Operation Enduring Freedom. Now, while the former is a stabilization and peacekeeping force, the latter indulges in war missions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505H.shtml

Sidney Blumenthal: Bush's entire presidency and reelection campaign were organized around one master idea: He stood as the protector and savior of the American people under siege. After Katrina, the country no longer believes in Bush the protector. His presidency is ruined. Bush's America is gone with the wind.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505D.shtml

In some ways, Hurricane Katrina seems to have taken a vibrant real estate market and made it hotter. Large sections of the city are underwater, but that's only increasing the demand for dry houses. And in flooded areas, speculators are trying to buy properties on the cheap, hoping that the redevelopment of New Orleans will start a boom. Many of the city's poorest residents could end up being forced out.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505B.shtml

Molly Ivins: Some of you may have heard me observe a time or two that the trouble with George W. is that while he is good at politics, he stinks at governance. It bores him, he thinks government is bad to begin with and everything would be done better if it were contracted out to corporations. We can now safely assert that W. has stacked much of the federal government with people like himself. And what you get when you put people like that in charge of government is ... what happened after Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505A.shtml

Infos ASL

ASL vient d’apprendre par le Dauphiné Libéré du 15 Septembre 2005 que le site internet de la Mairie de CREST avait été piraté en juin 2005, qu’une enquête de ?. . . La brigade des recherches de Valence qui dispose d’un spécialiste en nouvelles technologie? Avait? Après plusieurs réquisitions et investigations? abouti à l’interpellation du ? hacker?

http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/di/16092005/dl_15_09_2005.JPG


ASL rappelle que le 13 décembre 2004
http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/di/16092005/doc_di_315092005.htm , son tout premier site internet avait lui aussi été piraté, plainte avait été déposée
http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/di/16092005/di_15092005.htm , les matériels, ordinateur, disque dur, clef USB a été saisie pour l’enquête effectuée par la même brigade spécialisée de recherche de Valence.

Sans être profileur, en fonction des divers paramètres de l’intrusion ASL a bien sûr son idée.

Les investigations ainsi qu’une réquisition ou requête ont été effectuées pour faire progresser l’enquête.

Depuis plusieurs mois le compte rendu provisoire de l’enquête est comme on dit "bouclé".

L’Avocat d’ASL est intervenu sans succès à ce jour auprès de Monsieur le Procureur de la République de Valence afin que soit fait un point sur l’état de l’enquête et que celui-ci soit rendu public.

Les légitimes questions que se pose ASL :

Quels sont les résultats provisoires des investigations et de la réquisition effectuée en un lieu précis par les Gendarmes spécialisés?

Quelles sont leurs constatations en ce lieu précis?

Ces réponses sont-elles très embarrassantes pour l’image de certains?

Ces réponses posent-elles problèmes, au point de ne pas les rendre publique? . . .

Notre République peut-elle tolérer deux poids et deux mesures?