It's an odd situation. Foreigners have in effect been financing 43 percent of the cost of the Iraq war, a war many of them oppose. Now they will help to finance the federal government's cost of Katrina, a disaster their press tells them was badly managed initially.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0919/p16s02-cogn.html


From Information Clearing House

Video

Police pull plug as she finishes speaking
http://thirdplanetvideo.com/CindySheehan.html


From Information Clearing House



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

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050920/sun_rising_over_new_orleans.php


Informant: Martin Greenhut

From:
Patricia Gracian

This message is all about ACTION and how we can magnify our voice to defeat John Roberts. (Vote is expected before Thursday 9/22/5)
The task may seem daunting, but if each of us participates in these actions, we will create the volume to force a reaction by our Senators.

There are at least 4 immediate reasons why John Roberts must be rejected for Chief Justice of our Supreme Court.

As someone who has sided with Bush against our critical right for due process, his confirmation must be defeated or we may be facing another 40 years of Bush control and erosion of our precious rights!!

We must magnify our voice to the Senate and to the media on these 4 reasons for rejection and for censure or impeachment by pressuring all of our elected representatives from the ground up!

1. John Roberts is a lying partisan judge. Therefore, nothing he says during the hearing should reassure anyone that his past work does not characterize his character and will not affect his future decisions. Why do I say he is a lying partisan judge?
He claimed he had not been a member of the Federalist Society. Past records clearly show was on the steering committee of this extreme right-wing group. This in itself is enough for ME to reject this unworthy candidate. Such a person should be tried for perjury, if the statements are made under oath.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/24/AR2005072401201.html
or at

http://www.napervilledemocrats.org/node/992

2. John Roberts is dishonest and lacks the proper judicial temperament and ethics. Why do I say that? Everyone that knows the facts will agree that someone who decides a case to the benefit of one of the parties AT THE SAME TIME that that party is rewarding the judge with the highest Judicial position in the land, has just accepted BRIBERY and has no sense of ETHICS!!! You do not have to be a lawyer nor a judge to know this. In addition, the resulting judgment is DEEPLY FLAWED and this judge SHOULD BE IMPEACHED. Here's an article on this:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lubet13sep13,0,1515736.story
Read the details and send a letter to your Senators:
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=19554

3. John Roberts has something to hide. As if we needed more reasons to reject him! When immediately after a visit by Bush lawyers to his judicial files, those files disappear, there is no doubt that there is something further to fear from this man. This devious destruction of records should be enough reason to reject this candidate.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2005/08/17/build/nation/65-roberts.inc

4. John Roberts is a War Profiteer, having placed himself in a position to benefit from the destruction of Iraq. Why do I say that?
A man or a woman benefits from having a spouse that works for a company that directly benefits from the destruction of Iraq by advertising themselves as experts in procuring reconstruction jobs in Iraq.As such, John Roberts and his wife should be tried as War Profiteers.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/072105Burns/07-21-05_Burns.pdf

Any one of these transgressions by John Roberts should be ample reason for immediate rejection of this unworthy candidate. I personally would press for prosecution, censure, and impeachment.

Even more frightening, is that those are not the only 4 reasons why he should be rejected. In crucial decisions, he has sided for corporate interests, partisan politics, and strong-armed federal government against individual citizen's rights.

In addition, Mr. Roberts has issued statements that show a disturbing penchant for deciding according to his personal biases and opinions, rather than from precedence and constitutional law. He has no respect for our constitutional rights and our fundamental freedoms and has just recently proved it by allowing President Bush to solidify a greater executive power and also denied rule of law to the American people! He has no respect for the balance of powers and has moved to destroy that balance. Why do I say that? Please scrutinize his record. The evidence is all there. He has already shown his hand, helping corporations over individual rights.

P.S. Here's other great info:

http://www.slate.com/id/2124603/
http://feinstein.senate.gov/05speeches/s-roberts912.htm
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091305A.shtml
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091305Z.shtml
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/september_11th/docs/Roberts_Testimony_91205.pdf
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091205Z.shtml

One citizen's wording:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=8028061&content_dir=ua_congressorg

Now for the actions to push for the rejection of John Roberts:

1. PLEASE compose the best letter you can, to your Senators, expressing your OUTRAGE that he is being considered for this position. State in your own words in whatever order, in your own organized way, these HUGE lapses in ethics and include one or more of the links from above as proof of what you say.

State your case, and urge your Senators to protest this candidacy and to DEMAND that he be withdrawn and prosecuted for his past transgressions: http://www.trotn.com

Save a copy of this letter to edit for your next action:

2. Write a similar letter, and aim your message at your government representatives at all levels, pressing them to protest the inaction of your Senators. Demand that they pressure your Senators (at www.senate.gov )to highlight and prosecute the ethics lapses revealed in John Roberts' past decisions. Contact these levels of government at:

Mayor: http://usmayors.org/USCM/cgi-bin/database_search4.asp

City Council members and local government:
http://www.firstgov.gov/Agencies/Local_Government/Cities.shtml

State Governor:
http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.42b929b1a5b9e4eac3363d10501010a0/?vgnextoid=d54c8aaa2ebbff00VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=curgov

State Legislators: http://www.ncsl.org/public/leglinks.cfm

Congress: http://www.house.gov

3. Compose a similar letter to the TV and radio media - national and local, and demand that they expose these blotches in the John Roberts record. Send them full details with links to these news stories. Contact them with the following tool, 5 at a time, and use your back arrow icon repeatedly to reach as many of the media outlets as are listed for your zip code:

http://www.savethecourt.org/site/c.mwK0JbNTJrF/b.882409/k.CDF8/Activist_Media_Tips.htm

Send emails demanding media coverage of these ethics transgressions. Here are some national media email addresses:
2020@abc.com , thisweek@abc.com , nightline@abcnews.com , 48hours@cbsnews.com , 60m@cbsnews.com , 60w@cbsnews.com , bpc@cbsnews.com , evening@cbsnews.com , earlyshow@cbs.com , efm@cbsnews.com , ftn@cbsnews.com , mkx@cbsnews.com , pma@cbsnews.com , rbc@cbsnews.com , sundays@cbsnews.com , grain@cbsnews.com , InsideScoop@cbsnew s.com , dateline@nbc.com , mtp@nbc.com , nightly@nbc.com , today@nbc.com , niteline@abc.com , Ted.Koppel@abc.com , nightline@abcnews.com , NETAUDR@abc.com , wnn@abcnews.com , 2020@abc.com , thisweek@abc.com , cnn@cnn.com , Colmes@foxnews.com , Jack.Cafferty@turner.com , jconason@observer.com , LarryKingLive@turner.com , Lateedition@cnn.com , sidney_blumenthal@yahoo.com , aaron.brown@turner.com , am@cnn.com , 360@cnn.com , andrea.koppel@turner.com , bill.schneider@turner.com , bruce.morton@turner.com , candy.crowley@turner.com , carol.lin@turner.com , crossfire@cnn.com , daryn.kagan@turner.com , david.ensor@turner.com , daybreak@cnn.com ,
kurtzh@washpost.com , inthemoney@cnn.com , crossfire@cnn.com , jeanne.meserve@turner.com , jeff.greenfield@cnn.com , jim.walton@turner.com , deirdre.walsh@turner.com , kelly.wallace@turner.com , kyra.phillips@turner.com , livefrom@cnn.com , livetoday@cnn.com , lou.dobbs@turner.com , loudobbs@cnn.com , miles.obrien@turner.com , moneyline@cnn.com , newsnight@cnn.com , Paula.Zahn2@cnn.com , paula.zahn@turner.com , tom.hannon@cnn.com , wam@cnn.com , wolf@cnn.com , KOlbermann@msnbc.com , dennis.sullivan@msnbc.com , hardball@msnbc.com , countdown@msnbc.com , abramsreport@msnbc.com , dshuster@msnbc.com , norville@msnbc.com , imus@msnbc.com , joe@msnbc.com , jtrippi@msnbc.com , Lesterholt@msnbc.com , msnbcinvestigates@msnbc.com , feedback@msnbc.com , rreagan@msnbc.com , viewerservices@msnbc.com , dateline@nbc.com , mtp@nbc.com , nightly@nbc.com , today@nbc.com , feedback@ap.org , jloven@ap.org , lmargasak@ap.org , msilverman@ap.org , npickler@ap.org , rfournier@ap.org , sjohnson@ap.org ,
pr@ap.org , thunt@ap.org , traum@ap.org , Editors@newsweek.com , howardfineman@aol.com , patricia.wilson.reuters.com@reuters.net , todd.eastham@reuters.com , arshad.mohammed@reuters.com , editor@reuters.com , randall.mikkelsen@reuters.com , steve.holland@reuters.com , john.whitesides@reuters.com , investigations_desk@upi.com , politics_desk@upi.com , greg.hitt@wsj.com , jeanne.cummings@wsj.com , dkeil@bloomberg.net , wroberts@bloomberg.net , ghall@bloomberg.net , hprzybyla@bloomberg.net , alan@alan.com , ontherecord@foxnews.com , MPossley@tribune.com ,

International: ipi@freemedia.at , editor@ipsnews.net , headquarters@ips.org , farai@ips.org , latam@ipslatam.net , rjaura@ips.org , ipsasia@ipsnews.net , ipsun@aol.com , support@themoscowtimes.com , almaeena@arabnews.com , editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk , foreign@guardian.co.uk , politics@guardian.co.uk , politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk , foreigneditor@independent.co.uk , newseditor@independent.co.uk , newsonline@bbc.co.uk , online@tnr.com

4. Massage your letter slightly into a "letter to the editor" and in your letter, include the contact information: the webpage http://www.senate.gov and toll-free Capitol phone number 877-762-8762 and urge your fellow Americans to call, FAX, and email their Senators with their demands. Send to as many newspapers - national and local- as you can. Use your back arrow icon to resend to more newspapers: http://www.moveonpac.org/lte/

Here's some letters to the editor additional email addresses: letters@charleskrauthammer.com , Letters@newsweek.com , letters@time.com , letters@taipeitimes.com , letters@guardian.co.uk

5. Using the idea from our friends at The People's Email Network, forward this email to your favorite progressive, liberal, Green, environmentalist, rights-watch, women's-rights, GLBT, black-justice, etc. groups, websites, and radio stations- all of who will LOSE everything with a traitorous Chief Justice- so they will join the battle and post our entreaty on their webpages and to their email action groups. Also call in to your radio stations to keep them focused on this topic:

WEB SITE ACTIONS

All progressive blogs must FEATURE a prominent Stop Roberts action center. If you have a web page of any kind, the absolute bare minimum is to have in the top fold of your main index page (if not on every page of your site) the toll-free Capitol telephone number (877-762-8762), plus an exhortation to call your senators specifically to oppose Roberts, and not in teeny-tiny type, but in large bold type that nobody could miss.

If you have a mailing list of any kind of your own opt-ins, do a mailing emphasizing the importance of this action and provide a link to your John Roberts Action Page.

RADIO ACTIONS

All progressive radio personalities must dedicate part of EVERY show to giving out the toll-free Senate phone number (877-762-8762) and to rally your listeners to take action on this. Don't just assume people know it already or can find it on their own. PROMOTE it. Talk is not enough, not even close. We must convert advocacy into ACTION. In the same way that a single run of an ad on your radio station will not have sufficient impact standing alone, you must make this a recurrent theme of your show and keep REPEATING it, at least for the next week or so.

At the same time you can give out the URL of the main action page, http://www.trotn.com, or any other easy to say and remember web address you like, to get people to email or phone or fax their members of Congress. In addition all the other things above that apply to other web sites apply to you as well. Feature the Senate toll-free phone number and action links and do it prominently on your main page, your blogs, and ideally on ALL your pages at least in one of your side columns.

And as a listener of your favorite progressive radio show, call in. Encourage them to get on the case to give out the toll-free number, and to give out web links and post them on their sites. Talk about this on the air when they put you on.

We must communicate to our members of Congress in every way that this is a deal breaker for us. This particular nominee is a threat to absolutely anything else Congress might try to do in the future, as he UN-legislates from the bench. Any democrat who votes for this nominee or even for cloture must never hold public office in any capacity again and they must be made to understand this by our emails, our faxes, our phone calls, and our letters to the editor. We stopped Bolton (at least in the Senate) and we can and will stop this nominee as well.

Additional ARGUMENTS:

1. CONCEALMENT OF CRITICALLY RELEVANT DOCUMENTS
The administration has refused to disclose documents relevant to the consideration of the nominee. They have totally frustrated any meaningful opportunity to cross-examine this nominee by stonewalling access to any of his memos from the last 20 years, materials that previous administrations have always disclosed as to other Supreme Court nominees.

The senators on the other side and the nominee in particular have repeatedly complained about being asked about 20 year old documents. Well, guess what, because of the bad faith refusal of the administration to cooperate that's all we have to work from. Mr. Roberts the lawyer would never even consider trying a case without access to ALL the documents and evidence he had a RIGHT to review. And just like Bolton, this nominee must be rejected until and unless all relevant documents are produced.

2. BUSH HAS USED UP HIS POLITICAL CAPITAL
The primary argument we have heard from the other side is that he's the president's choice and that should be enough. They are saying in essence, "Ha, ha, we won the last election, too bad." And yet now, just 10 months later, Mr. Bush is the most UNPOPULAR second term president in history. His bad judgment in crisis after crisis has brought shame and destruction to our country and cost thousands if not tens of thousands of innocent American lives. There are now too many dead bodies for even them to hide, though they've tried that in New Orleans too. Bush's nominee Bolton, who he stubbornly rammed through over the objections of the good judgment of the Senate, has done nothing but create chaos and disruption at the UN already, to the dismay of even our closest ally, Great Britain. His selection of partisan cronies for FEMA management positions crippled that agency's ability to protect us. We no LONGER trust the choices of Mr. Bush. If there were to be an election today, with his popularity in free fall, there is no doubt Bush would be soundly defeated.


3. ROBERTS HAS NOT BEEN CANDID ABOUT HIS TRUE AGENDA
The Republican senators on the judiciary committee have repeatedly encouraged the nominee to NOT answer questions on the merits, to be evasive and call it integrity. Roberts has testified at length and said absolutely nothing of substance, like the enormously slick lawyer he is. But one interesting thing he did say is that as a lawyer he could take EITHER side of a case and make a reasonable argument. And you better believe that in ruling against us time after time, he will always find a CLEVER way to make extremism sound reasonable, and that is precisely why he is so dangerous. He said it is not the job of a lawyer to have a position on the issues. But ultimately it IS the job of a judge.

Additional info about Roberts:
"Frustrated by Roberts, and Unsure How to Vote," The New York Times, September 16th, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=911

For quick facts:
http://www.SaveTheCourt.org/Roberts

For in depth analysis:
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund report: (PDF)
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=908

The National Women's Law Center reports:
http://www.nominationwatch.org/

The People for the American Way report:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=910

Here's another way to reject John Roberts: View this ad:

Windows Media Player or Quicktime and donate to get it aired: https://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16852

AirAmericaRadio is available to you at these locations:
http://www.airamericaradio.com/stations


Informant: Martin Greenhut

Growing STOP ROBERTS movement

From:
The Pen
activist.gb@gmail.com

THE BOLTON PRECEDENT REQUIRES REJECTION OF JOHN ROBERTS

TAKE ACTION NOW at http://www.nocrony.com

The first thing we need to understand is that we the people have the unilateral POWER, right now by ourselves, to stop John Roberts as chief justice of our Supreme Court. All that is required is the WILL for us to do it. He CAN be stopped.

The second thing we need to understand is that Roberts represents game, set and match for the dismantling of EVERY progressive court decision we hold so dear. He MUST be stopped.

Roberts' proponents say that the president warned us he would put forward a judge in the mold of Scalia and Thomas. We all know their extreme biases. And yet in his hearing Roberts has repeatedly denied that he has any policy values of his own, just as he has denied that he was a member of the Federalist society (where he had a leadership role). Therefore, he is not only a reactionary ideologue, he is a LYING reactionary ideologue, a walking Trojan Horse of right wing policy initiatives. And that makes him all the worse.

HOW WE'RE GOING TO DO IT (a practical plan)

Let's get right to the HOW. There are 44 Democratic senators and one independent. Let us assume we will get no Republican votes against. It is pointless to appeal to their constituency, who are in fact in the minority if the truth be known. All we have to do is mobilize our OWN constituency. If we just do that we can have a filibuster and we WIN.

Mobilize means for us, ALL of us, to get serious about getting people to talk to their members of Congress. That is how the other side has always done it. This is what we must do:

1. WEB SITE ACTIONS

All progressive blogs must FEATURE a prominent Stop Roberts action center. If you have a web page of any kind, the absolute bare minimum is to have in the top fold of your main index page (if not on every page of your site) the toll-free Capitol telephone number (877-762-8762), plus an exhortation to call your senators specifically to oppose Roberts, and not in teeny-tiny type, but in large bold type that nobody could miss.

If you want to do more, we have a dedicated action page at http://www.nocrony.com that you can link to. It will send a personal message directly to both of your senators, the senate judiciary committee itself, and at the same time you can automatically send a Letter to the Editor of your nearest daily newspaper all with just one click. If you have another action page somewhere you like post a PROMINENT featured link to that instead, but for heaven's sake DO something.

If you have a mailing list of any kind of your own opt-ins, do a mailing emphasizing the importance of this action and provide the toll-free number AND link to http://www.nocrony.com. Direct email is one of the most effective tools for generating messages to Congress.

2. RADIO ACTIONS

All progressive radio personalities must dedicate part of EVERY show to giving out the toll-free Senate phone number (877-762-8762) and to rally your listeners to take action on this. Don't just assume people know it already or can find it on their own. PROMOTE it. Talk is not enough, not even close. We must convert advocacy into ACTION. In the same way that a single run of an ad on your radio station will not have sufficient impact standing alone, you must make this a recurrent theme of your show and keep REPEATING it, at least for the next week or so.

At the same time you can give out the URL of the main action page, http://www.nocrony.com, or any other easy to say and remember web address you like, to get people to email or phone or fax their members of Congress. In addition all the other things above that apply to other web sites apply to you as well. Feature the Senate toll-free phone number and action links and do it prominently on your main page, your blogs, and ideally on ALL your pages at least in one of your side columns.

And as a listener of your favorite progressive radio show, call in. Encourage them to get on the case to give out the toll-free number, and to give out web links and post them on their sites. Talk about this on the air when they put you on.

We must communicate to our members of Congress in every way that this is a deal breaker for us. This particular nominee is a threat to absolutely anything else Congress might try to do in the future, as he UN-legislates from the bench. Any democrat who votes for this nominee or even for cloture must never hold public office in any capacity again and they must be made to understand this by our emails, our faxes, our phone calls, and our letters to the editor. We stopped Bolton (at least in the Senate) and we can and will stop this nominee as well. To any remaining doubting Thomas's we say this to you, "Defeatism is the treason of our own minds."

THE ARGUMENTS:

1. CONCEALMENT OF CRITICALLY RELEVANT DOCUMENTS

Some people thought that the compromise on the filibuster would doom any opposition to offensive nominees, and indeed, some very offensive ones were allowed to pass to obtain that compromise. And yet, just three days later the Senate sustained a filibuster of John Bolton (which continued to hold), on the grounds that the administration was refusing to disclose documents relevant to the consideration of the nominee. That is exactly the situation here. They have totally frustrated any meaningful opportunity to cross-examine this nominee by stonewalling access to any of his memos from the last 20 years, materials that previous administrations have always disclosed as to other Supreme Court nominees.

The senators on the other side and the nominee in particular have repeatedly complained about being asked about 20 year old documents. Well, guess what, because of the bad faith refusal of the administration to cooperate that's all we have to work from. Mr. Roberts the lawyer would never even consider trying a case without access to ALL the documents and evidence he had a RIGHT to review. And just like Bolton, this nominee must be rejected until and unless all relevant documents are produced.

2. AN UNPOPULAR PRESIDENT HAS NO PREROGATIVE

The primary argument we have heard from the other side is that he's the president's choice and that should be enough. They are saying in essence, "Ha, ha, we won the last election, too bad." And yet now, just 10 months later, Mr. Bush is the most UNPOPULAR second term president in history. His bad judgment in crisis after crisis has brought shame and destruction to our country and cost thousands if not tens of thousands of innocent American lives. There are now too many dead bodies for even them to hide, though they've tried that in New Orleans too. Bush's nominee Bolton, who he stubbornly rammed through over the objections of the good judgment of the Senate, has done nothing but create chaos and disruption at the UN already, to the dismay of even our closest ally, Great Britain. His selection of partisan cronies for FEMA management positions crippled that agency's ability to protect us. We no LONGER trust the choices of Mr. Bush.

If there were to be an election today, with his popularity in free fall, there is no doubt Bush would be soundly defeated. And by calling on people to contact their members of Congress, what we are doing is calling for a NATIONAL REFERENDUM, by email, by fax, by phone call and by letter to the editor, not only on this nominee, but on the Bush presidency. If the other side wants to rest their argument on whether this president has any mandate, then let us demonstrate just how little support Bush actually retains. Roberts will wreck the Supreme Court just as Bush has wrecked every other aspect of our lives, and we must speak out now to stop the looming catastrophe.

Indeed, even the last election would certainly have gone the other way had it not been for widespread vote fraud and suppression, COMBINED with the corrupt collaboration of the corporate mainstream media in suppressing or ignoring any stories negative to Bush's election prospects, and exaggerating the importance of any stories smearing his opponents. Just yesterday there was a story on the AP wire service with the headline "Roberts DODGES questions about abortion," and yet within hours the word "dodge" had disappeared from the Yahoo site and was REPLACED with a spin job using the word "rebuff" and the word "abortion" was gone too. This is scary, SCARY stuff. There's a Greek chorus out there of big media voices trying to sell the public on this nominee like it's a foregone conclusion, but still they have NOT heard from we the people yet. Be ye not conned, this is not over no matter what the talking heads say.

3. ROBERTS HAS NOT BEEN CANDID ABOUT HIS TRUE AGENDA

Who are they trying to kid? We ALL know exactly how Roberts is going to rule. He's going to vote AGAINST us, we the people, and in favor of every corporate special interest, in favor of absolute power for the chief executive, every single time and without exception. They know it, we know it, and Roberts himself knows it. That's why all the most extreme reactionaries in the country are so hot for this guy. And the shame of it is that this nominee will not even admit he has an opinion on PAST cases upon which we have come to trust on and rely. Even worse, for all his theoretical legal platitudes about stare decisis he has been breathtaking in leaving the door open that under him it would be open season on revisiting just about every progressive court decision of the last 100 years, if only a case were to come before him.

The Republican senators on the judiciary committee have repeatedly encouraged the nominee to NOT answer questions on the merits, to be evasive and call it integrity. Roberts has testified at length and said absolutely nothing of substance, like the enormously slick lawyer he is. But one interesting thing he did say is that as a lawyer he could take EITHER side of a case and make a reasonable argument. And you better believe that in ruling against us time after time, he will always find a CLEVER way to make extremism sound reasonable, and that is precisely why he is so dangerous. He said it is not the job of a lawyer to have a position on the issues, but ultimately it IS the job of a judge. The law is not just a mechanical exercise in applying precedents to the facts. All judges have values that they bring to every case, which they at last must fall back on. And in not disclosing the agenda that his entire career strongly suggests that he has, he does NOT deserve and cannot be trusted with the job of a Supreme Court judge, let alone chief justice.

The American people now understand that they were sold a dishonest bill of goods in the last election and are having big time buyer's remorse. As recently as a year ago Mr. Bush seemed to many like a wise and capable leader, but now many more realize the depth of his perverse bad judgment. The only reason why he has not ALREADY been called out for impeachment for his many crimes and catastrophes is because the Republican party cares more about their own power than the good of the American people. He has wrecked our economy, our budget, our military, and in the exercise of his criminal negligence now an entire major U.S. city. But still he will be removed eventually. It is not so easy to remove an equally destructive Supreme Court chief justice.

And superficially Mr. Roberts may seem like a nice, reasonable guy. That is the biggest lie of all. His hearing responses bear an uncanny resemblance to a press conference with Scott McClellan, only infinitely more smooth. He might as well have said over and over, "Again, we're not going to get into playing the agenda game." In fact, for all we know he is WORSE than the flaming reactionary that peeks through some of his early memos, he's just gotten a lot better at concealing it. A person who claims to stand for nothing is the very DEFINITION of someone with an agenda. If he would just be honest with the American people, we might consider him on that basis. His failure to evidence any such candor makes his rejection mandatory.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Nobody expected Roberts to beat himself. We all expected a masterful exercise in dodging any questions about what he really stood for. The reactionary elements who are pushing this guy were not going to repeat the Bork mistake, who spoke freely and was quite forthcoming about his positions on the issues, and who left a wide paper trail of statements, writings and speeches. Instead they have spent decades grooming a stealth candidate, with little visible record, and are trying to hustle him into the top slot of the Supreme Court before anybody else can get a handle on what they are really voting for.

Never before has a judge been pushed upward with such rash haste. The idea that a president with plummeting popularity should have carte blanche to appoint any closet reactionary he likes is absurd. We don't want a pig in a poke for chief justice. Give us a nominee for the Supreme Court with a track record. Give us a nominee with enough opinions out there so that we know who it is that is actually going to control every aspect of all of our lives for the rest of all of our lives. Tell your senators that if Roberts gets the job IT WILL SURELY COST THEM THEIR OWN. They will get the message and we will win.

We stopped Bolton and everyone thought it was a miracle. It was not. We generated 30,000 emails opposing Bolton, each to two senators. And we're going to stop Roberts, all we have to do is believe. It is said that evil can only prevail when good people do nothing.

TAKE ACTION NOW at http://www.nocrony.com

We must reach out to our fellow citizens every way we can. Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

Or if you want to cease receiving our messages, just use the function at http://www.usalone.com/out.htm

Powered by The People's Email Network
Copyright 2005, Patent pending, All rights reserved


Informant: Martin Greenhut

Den grössten teil des enthüllenden 9/11-VIDEOS von POWER HOUR mit frühen, unzensierten aufnahmen davon, was am 9/11 in manhattan und beim pentagon WIRKLICH geschah, kann man sich nun erstmals gratis herunterladen, und zwar hier:

http://tinyurl.com/5v3rz

dieses video räumt mit so ziemlich allen spekulationen auf, bei 9/11 sei es "mit rechten dingen" zugegangen. getrost kann man die bush`sche verschwörungsTHEORIE dann ad acta legen. bitte seht selbst. SEHR ZU EMPFEHLEN.

liebe grüsse

gabriel stetter

DIE SCHWEIZER CHEMTRAIL WEBSITE THE SWISS CHEMTRAIL WEBSITE

http://www.chemtrails.ch


Nachricht von Ruth Gill

by Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield
MBBS LRCP MRCS

Medical Advisor to Thyroid UK

There is a daunting amount of research studies showing that the widely acclaimed benefits on fluoride dental health are more imagined than real. My main concern however, is the effect of sustained fluoride intake on general health. Again, there is a huge body of research literature on this subject, freely available and in the public domain.

But this body of work was not considered by the York Review when their remit was changed from “Studies of the effects of fluoride on health” to “Studies on the effects of fluoridated water on health." It is clearly evident that it was not considered by the BMA (Britsh Medical Association), British Dental Association (BDA), BFS (British Fluoridation Society) and FPHM, (Faculty for Public Health and Medicine) since they all insist, as in the briefing paper to Members of Parliament - that fluoridation is safe and non-injurious to health.

This is a public disgrace, I will now show by reviewing the damaging effects of fluoridation, with special reference to thyroid illness.

It has been known since the latter part of the 19th century that certain communities, notably in Argentina, India and Turkey were chronically ill, with premature ageing, arthritis, mental retardation, and infertility; and high levels of natural fluorides in the water were responsible. Not only was it clear that the fluoride was having a general effect on the health of the community, but in the early 1920s Goldemberg, working in Argentina showed that fluoride was displacing iodine; thus compounding the damage and rendering the community also hypothyroid from iodine deficiency.

Highly damaging to the thyroid gland

This was the basis of the research in the 1930s of May, Litzka, Gorlitzer von Mundy, who used fluoride preparations to treat over-active thyroid illness. Their patients either drank fluoridated water, swallowed fluoride pills or were bathed in fluoridated bath water; and their thyroid function was as a result, greatly depressed. The use in 1937 of fluorotyrosine for this purpose showed how effective this treatment was; but the effectiveness was difficult to predict and many patients suffered total thyroid loss. So it was given a new role and received a new name, Pardinon. It was marketed not for over-active thyroid disease but as a pesticide. (Note the manufacturer of fluorotyrosine was IG Farben who also made sarin, a gas used in World War II).

This bit of history illustrates the fact that fluorides are dangerous in general and in particular highly damaging to the thyroid gland, a matter to which I shall return shortly. While it is unlikely that it will be disputed that fluorides are toxic - let us be reminded that they are Schedule 2 Poisons under the Poisons Act 1972, the matter in dispute is the level of toxicity attributable to given amounts; in today’s context the degree of damage caused by given concentrations in the water supply. While admitting its toxicity, proponents rely on the fact that it is diluted and therefore, it is claimed, unlikely to have deleterious effects.

They could not be more mistaken

It seems to me that we must be aware of how fluoride does its damage. It is an enzyme poison. Enzymes are complex protein compounds that vastly speed up biological chemical reactions while themselves remaining unchanged. As we speak, there occurs in all of us a vast multitude of these reactions to maintain life and produce the energy to sustain it. The chains of amino acids that make up these complex proteins are linked by simple compounds called amides; and it is with these that fluorine molecules react, splitting and distorting them, thus damaging the enzymes and their activity. Let it be said at once, this effect can occur at extraordinary low concentrations; even lower than the one part per million which is the dilution proposed for fluoridation in our water supply.

The body can only eliminate half

Moreover, fluorides are cumulative and build up steadily with ingestion of fluoride from all sources, which include not just water but the air we breathe and the food we eat. The use of fluoride toothpaste in dental hygiene and the coating of teeth are further sources of substantial levels of fluoride intake. The body can only eliminate half of the total intake, which means that the older you are the more fluoride will have accumulated in your body. Inevitably this means the ageing population is particularly targeted. And even worse for the very young there is a major element of risk in baby formula made with fluoridated water. The extreme sensitivity of the very young to fluoride toxicity makes this unacceptable. Since there are so many sources of fluoride in our everyday living, it will prove impossible to maintain an average level of 1ppm as is suggeste d.

What is the result of these toxic effects?

First the immune system. The distortion of protein structure causes the immune proteins to fail to recognise body proteins, and so instigate an attack on them, which is Autoimmune Disease. Autoimmune diseases constitute a body of disease processes troubling many thousands of people: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosis, Asthma and Systemic Sclerosis are examples; but in my particular context today, thyroid antibodies will be produced which will cause Thyroiditis resulting in the common hypothyroid disease, Hashimoto’s Disease and the hyperthyroidism of Graves’ Disease.

Musculo Skeletal damage results further from the enzyme toxic effect; the collagen tissue of which muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones are made, is damaged. Rheumatoid illness, osteoporosis and deformation of bones inevitably follow. This toxic effect extends to the ameloblasts making tooth enamel, which is consequently weakened and then made brittle; and its visible appearance is, of course, dental fluorosis.

The enzyme poison effect extends to our genes; DNA cannot repair itself, and chromosomes are damaged. Work at the University of Missouri showed genital damage, targeting ovaries and testes. Also affected is inter uterine growth and development of the foetus, especially the nervous system. Increased incidence of Down’s Syndrome has been documented. Fluorides are mutagenic. That is, they can cause the uncontrolled proliferation of cells we call cancer. This applies to cancer anywhere in the body; but bones are particularly picked out. The incidence of osteosarcoma in a study reporting in 1991 showed an unbelievable 50% increase. A report in 1955 in the New England Journal of Medicine showed a 400% increase in cancer of the thyroid in San Francisco during the period their water was fluoridated.

My particular concern is the effect of fluorides on the thyroid gland

Perhaps I may remind you about thyroid disease. The thyroid gland produces hormones which control our metabolism - the rate at which we burn our fuel. Deficiency is relatively common, much more than is generally accepted by many medical authorities: a figure of 1:4 or 1:3 by mid life is more likely. The illness is insidious in its onset and progression. People become tired, cold, overweight, depressed, constipated; they suffer arthritis, hair loss, infertility, atherosclerosis and chronic illness. Sadly, it is poorly diagnosed and poorly managed by very many doctors in this country. What concerns me so deeply is that in concentrations as low as 1ppm, fluorides damage the thyroid system on 4 levels.

1. The enzyme manufacture of thyroid hormones within the thyroid gland itself. The process by which iodine is attached to the amino acid tyrosine and converted to the two significant thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and liothyronine (T3), is slowed.

2 . The stimulation of certain G proteins from the toxic effect of fluoride (whose function is to govern uptake of substances into each of the cells of the body), has the effect of switching off the uptake into the cell of the active thyroid hormone.

3. The thyroid control mechanism is compromised. The thyroid stimulating hormone output from the pituitary gland is inhibited by fluoride, thus reducing thyroid output of thyroid hormones.

4. Fluoride competes for the receptor sites on the thyroid gland which respond to the thyroid stimulating hormone; so that less of this hormone reaches the thyroid gland and so less thyroid hormone is manufactured. These damaging effects, all of which occur with small concentrations of fluoride, have obvious and easily identifiable effects on thyroid status. The running down of thyroid hormone means a slow slide into hypothyroidism. Already the incidence of hypothyroidism is increasing as a result of other environmental toxins and pollutions together with wide spread nutritional deficiencies.

141 million Europeans are at risk

One further factor should give us deep anxiety. Professor Hume of Dundee, in his paper given earlier this year to the Novartis Foundation, pointed out that iodine deficiency is growing worldwide. There are 141 million Europeans are at risk; only 5 European countries are iodine sufficient. UK now falls into the marginal and focal category. Professor Hume recently produced figures to show that 40% of pregnant women in the Tayside region of Scotland were deficient by at least half of the iodine required for a normal pregnancy. A relatively high level of missing, decayed, filled teeth was noted in this non-fluoridated area, suggesting that the iodine deficiency was causing early hypothyroidism which interferes with the health of teeth. Dare one speculate on the result of now fluoridating the water?...

Displaces iodine in the body

Do you think it should be marketed? Fluoridation of the nation’s water supply will do little for our dental health; but will have catastrophic effects on our general health. We cannot, must not, dare not, subject our nation to this appalling risk....

References: L Goldemberg - La Semana Med 28:628 (1921) - cited in Wilson RH, DeEds F -"The Synergistic Action Of Thyroid On Fluoride Toxicity” Endocrinology 26:851 (1940).

G Litzka - “Die experimentellen Grundlagen der Behandlung des Morbus Basedow und der Hyperthyreose mittels Fluortyrosin” Med Wochenschr 63:1037-1040 (1937) (discusses the basis of the use of fluorides in anti-thyroid medication, documents activity on liver, inhibition of glycolysis, etc.).

W May - “Behandlung der Hypothyreosen einschlieblich des schweren genuinen Morbus Basedow mit Fluor” Klin Wochenschr 16: 562 - 564 (1937).

Sarin: (GB: isopropyl methylphosono-fluoridate) is a colorless, odorless volatile liquid, soluble in water, first synthesized at IG Farben in 1938. It kills mainly through inhalation.

Cyclosarin (GF) and Thiosarin are variants. Pennsylvania Department of Health
http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/cwp/view.asp?a=171&q=233740

Sarin: (GB: CH3-P(=O)(-F)(-OCH(CH3)2) Source: A FOA Briefing Book on Chemical Weapons
http://www.opcw.org/resp/html/nerve.html
Gerhard Schrader, a chemist at IG Farben, was given the task of developing a pesticide. Two years later a phosphorus compound with extremely high toxicity was produced for the first time. IG Farben: “...the board of American IG Farben had three directors from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the most influential of the various Federal Reserve Banks. American IG Farben. also had interlocks with Standard Oil of New Jersey, Ford Motor Company, Bank of Manhattan (later to become the Chase Manhattan Bank), and AEG. (German General Electric) Source: Moody’s Manual of Investments; 1930, page 2149.”
http://reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/chapter_02.htm

The full text of this article can be found in Namaste Magazine Vol.7 Issue 1

http://www.namastepublishing.co.uk/The%20Effects%20of%20Fluoride%20on%20the%20Thyroid%20Gland.htm

This article is extracted from Namaste Magazine Vol. 7 Issue 1 PO Box 127, Shrewsbury SY3 7WS Email: info@namastepublishing.co.uk Tele: + 44 (0)1743 341303


From: Millions of Health Freedom Fighters - Newsletter timbolen@northamericanconsumersagainsthealthfraud.org

ADA Gets "Kiss of Death"...

Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen

Sunday, September 18th, 2005

It had to happen sooner or later. The ADA (American Dental Association) has had a long run - with the posse chasing them. I'm surprised they've lasted this long.

They'll scream, they'll holler, they'll whine, they'll whimper. They'll threaten, and they'll lash out - but in the end it won't matter - the American Dental Association is finished. Nail their doors shut. Board up their windows. It's soon to be all over for them.

The ADA, as we know in the Health Freedom Movement, stateside, is an organization designed to protect the status quo in US dentistry. Never mind that the methods they protect are from two centuries ago.

We also know that a significant part of the ADA's annual income comes from "product endorsement" (about 42%), and I have a strong feeling that to encourage that "endorsement," the ADA uses its contact with State Dental Boards, to prosecute Dentists that use products NOT endorsed - leaving a distinctive chill on the market.

To read the whole article, click on the URL below:

http://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/ADA%20kissofdeath.htm


From ECOTERRA Intl.

The Bush administration is seeking to appoint a lawyer with little immigration or customs experience to head the troubled law enforcement agency that handles those issues, prompting sharp criticism from some employee groups, immigration advocates and homeland security experts.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092005N.shtml

During his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Roberts, ever the clever advocate, used an all-American sports metaphor when he said that he saw himself as an umpire whose duty it was to call balls and strikes but not set the rules. The trouble is that umpires can vary the strike zone to make hometown calls—and home for John Roberts is the right-wing of the Republican Party.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092005M.shtml

President George W. Bush's faltering performance after Hurricane Katrina, like his decision to invade Iraq, show his priorities are at odds with actions needed to keep Americans safe, anti-war protesters said on Monday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092005L.shtml



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

http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/images/cage_123.gif

Infos www.next-up.org

Infos ASL

Extrait Journal Le CRESTOIS du 16 Septembre 2005
http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/presse/cr_16092005.gif
(Cliquer et afficher visualisation plein écran)

Glück gehabt?

New Orleans ist auch Standort von Hochsicherheitslabors zur Forschung an Biowaffen, Tausende Versuchstiere starben in der Folge des Orkans Katrina, angeblich drang kein gefährlicher Erreger nach außen.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20970/1.html

The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner

09/19/05

One thing we learned from Hurricane Katrina is that America still has a lot of poor people, who are disproportionately black and mostly invisible to the affluent and to the media. Behind the glitzy stage set of the quaint New Orleans tourist economy was a grindingly poor city. Most poor people work for a living, just like most middle-class people do. They are the people who the Rev. Jesse Jackson famously said ''take the early bus,' and take care of other people's young children and aging parents, sometimes at cost to their own families. In this decade, the working poor have not done well. The Labor Department reports that wages of nonmanagement workers have lagged behind inflation, and those of low-income workers in particular...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10331


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Blah 3 Blog
by Stranger

09/17/05

The only other reason for the delays - and it's a nasty notion - is that FEMA is intentionally foot-dragging the response so people will get fed up and give Bush the 'expanded role of the military' he seems to want so badly. Even I don't want to admit to that level of cynicism...

http://www.blah3.com/article.php?story=20050917021325201


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Leigh Saavedra

09/19/05

Today, the rights of all peace activists go on trial. Representing us are four Catholic antiwar activists who have already stood trial for their stand against the invasion of Iraq. Now, more than two years later, cleared of the original charge of criminal mischief, they are being charged with conspiracy and will be tried again. ... Whether our constitutional right to freedom of speech will live or not is the point. What happens in Binghamton in the coming week or weeks will probably be a barometer. If Daniel, Clare, Peter, and Teresa are found guilty of conspiracy, then all those who vocally support them are guilty. And if we are, then our worst fears about the so-called PATRIOT Act have grown as real as a match held up to our Constitution...

http://www.counterpunch.org/saavedra09192005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Libertarian Enterprise
by Ron Beatty

09/19/05

The final lesson, and one of the most important, is this: The government is not your friend. As we have seen in New Orleans, government agents will evict you from your home, steal your property, threaten you, arrest you, and in general treat you like scum for the crime of surviving without government aid. We have seen reports that indicate that survivors are being put into refugee camps, which they will not be allowed to leave for months, if ever. In summation, it is up to each and every one of us to make preparations and plans to take care of ourselves, should the need ever arise...

http://www.ncc-1776.com/tle2005/tle337-20050918-05.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Libertarian Enterprise
by Herself

09/19/05

The national perception has been that New Orleans was a sort of wide-open dive, filled with strippers and queens, butch lesbians, hustlers, mad masquers of all sort. And now it is being raided, in precisely the manner of a Vice raid on a dive. The Mayor's ordered all the freaks out: stubborn little old ladies, quiet (and loud) urban survivalists, the folks keeping open the bar the never closes in the French Quarter, street people, whatever -- out! And the Feds are beaming with joy. Surely it must indeed be God's Work, their oh-so-concerned expressions tell us, to rid the city of the impoverished hangers-on, the people too cantankerous to depart, the young and careless, the queer, the odd and similar trash! (Were you wondering why the Feds were so slow to proffer help, even to express concern, compared to their usual performance before the cameras when disaster strikes? Is it clearer now?))

http://www.ncc-1776.com/tle2005/tle337-20050918-04.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Truthout
by Cindy Sheehan

09/19/05

This week I arrive in Washington DC to begin my Vigil at the White House just like I did in Texas. But this time I'll be joined by Katrina victims as well. In your America we are all victims. The failed bookends of your Presidency are Iraq and Katrina. It is time for all of us to stand up and be counted: to show the media, Congress, and this inept, corrupt, and criminal administration that we mean business. It is time to get off of our collective behinds to show the people who are running our country into oblivion that we will stand for it no longer. That we want our country back and we want our nation's young people back home, safe and sound, on our shores to help protect America. That it is time for a change in our country's "leadership." That we will never go away until our dreams are reality.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905Z.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Minnesota Daily News
by staff

09/19/05

About a quarter of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay are engaged in a hunger strike, and 18 prisoners are being force-fed through tubes or intravenously after about a month of not eating. The prisoners are protesting the frightening reality that detainees have gone three years without trials. ... Unfortunately, few sympathize with the detainees because they simply do not know about them. That aside, these detainees need a trial or some judicial process. While morality and ethics are abstract ideas, justice is more concrete, hence why there are laws. Guantanamo and the actions that have been taken by our government against the detainees violate the Geneva convention, the Bill of Rights, and our Constitution. Justice is not merely a conditional idea...

http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2005/09/16/65165


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Offset opportunity
Cato Institute
by Chris Edwards

09/20/05
Offset opportunity

09/20/05

As Hurricane Katrina's financial costs continue rising, Republicans have been reluctant to offset disaster aid with restraint elsewhere in the budget. President Bush offered no spending offsets in his Thursday address. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay recently said the budget was already 'pared down' and challenged critics to show him possible spending cuts. Fiscal conservatives didn't used to have to tell Republican leaders where to cut -- Mr. DeLay and others were leading the charge. In the 1990s, high deficits and bloated government prompted the GOP to push for cuts to dozens of programs. They achieved some restraint and passed a budget in 1997 to bring the deficit down to zero. Republican leaders today seek no major spending cuts and have no plan to end the deficit. Why not?

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4820


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

NewsDay

09/19/05

Cindy Sheehan brought her anti-war message to a Brooklyn church last night, earning thunderous applause while urging her supporters to help press Congress to end the war in Iraq. 'We are just doing what we believe is right,' Sheehan told 400 people at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene -- the latest stop on the national Bring Them Home Now tour that will culminate with a massive protest in Washington Saturday through next Monday...

http://tinyurl.com/8dx4t


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

by Fatema Abdul Rasul and Scott Paul, TomPaine.com

The U.N. Summit almost had something to celebrate, but John Bolton gutted months of effort and momentum.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050920/un_reform_bolton_the_spoiler.php

From: Eileen O'Connor
Subject: Eye, Eye
Date: Mon, Sep 19, 2005, 9:38 AM

Private Eye, 16 Sept. 05 HP Sauce, Conference Special,

The Social Market Foundation (SMF) has published its list of corporate sponsored fringe meetings at the upcoming Labour party conference in Brighton - and it will be business as usual at a string of wine-and-policy meetings with ministers.

The Mobile Operators Association is paying for a meeting with science minister Lord Sainsbury, where its director Mike Dolan will join a platform discussion on health scares in the media. Buoyed by recent studies showing no link between mobile phones and cancer, the phone firms want government backing against planning objections to new mobile masts.

Mobile company '3' meanwhile is sponsoring a meeting with culture secretary Tessa Jowell, Burnley MP and former special adviser to Patricia Hewitt Kitty Usher and Roy Hattersley.

Though the mobile firms are cuddling up to Labour, they aren't always so friendly. Collectively they currently have a claim working its way through the European Courts demanding a £3billion VAT rebate from Chancellor Gordon Brown for the 3G phone licences they bought from him.

The other way they hope to recoup some of the cash they paid for the new 'picture phones' licences is - porn.

For example, 3 sell its phones by advertising a 'top shelf' service which includes "slide shows and videos, from Playboy, Mayfair, Escort, Men Only, Club International, and Men's World" on your handset. (hands free operation optional)...(article continues with other big biz. chums of New Labour)

--------

I was just looking at my friend's yesterdays Daily Mail and there was an article about children looking at porn on their mobiles at school and passing it arouond the classroom. Some companies have a block that only the parents can remove but O2 do no and said they do not see it as a problem [well they would not would they.] The expected revenue from the porn on phones over the years is expected to be a nice little earner for the phone companies, millions and millions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sue g

--------

That, and gambling, will be needed to kick start the revenues.

Today's Independent carried this:

"Gambling by mobile phones is booming"

Martin Hickman

Gambling by mobile phone has rocketed, with the number of betting pages downloaded expected to approach 3 million this year; a rise of 367 per cent in 2004.

The conclusion of research by Mintel has sparked concern that the almost unlimited access to gambling provided by mobile phones will fuel a rise in adiction. Another potential problem is children gambling by phone.

Overall the researchers estimated mobile phones would receive 30 million downloads this year - a 25-fold rise.

etc.."

And don't forget that 3G phones will become the target of marketeers: once you let yourself be "registered" for anything you could open the floodgates to phone spam. Phones are not just for the caller, or for talking; they are for persuading and selling: anything. And what is the majority of email spam about??

Bad news.

Andy

--------

From Karen Barratt

The Yvette Cooper story was supplied to Private Eye by Mast Sanity. They carried our original Keith Hill story too:

WHAT is it with planning ministers and anti-mobile phone mast campaigns? Back in Eye 1129 it was Keith Hill MP, then minister for planning, merrily campaigning against a giant mobile phone mast near a park in his Lambeth constituency - after spending months staunchly defending his department's unwillingness to tackle the feeble planning laws applying to masts. Now the current planning minister Yvette Cooper is tangling with Vodafone over plans for a 28ft mast on a housing estate in her Pontefract and Castleford constituency, where the company wanted to talk to objectors individually rather than face them at a public meeting. Back in July she told the Commons that on the matter of mobile phone masts: "Parliament has given local planning authorities the responsibility for development control in their areas. The secretary of state does not seek to interfere with the jurisdiction of local planning authorities unless it is necessary to do so." Yet there she was backing the 500 objectors to the mast, writing to Vodafone to insist on it consulting residents properly and telling the local press that she was "appalled" by the company's behaviour. Cooper's department recently commissioned Arup to find out whether mobile phone companies are obeying the voluntary commitments they made to things like, er, public consultation meetings. Looks like she has her answer...

House NEPA Task Force Shutting Out Environmentalists.
http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000289.php

At a bare minimum, it should have been an opportunity for the ensemble of the world's political classes to symbolically assert their solidarity. Yet all that can be decanted from the summit is the image of a planet drowning in the pettiness of national interests.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905H.shtml

Senator John Kerry

Katrina is a symbol of all this administration does and doesn't do. Michael Brown - or Brownie as the President so famously thanked him for doing a heck of a job - Brownie is to Katrina what Paul Bremer is to peace in Iraq; what George Tenet is to slam dunk intelligence; what Paul Wolfowitz is to parades paved with flowers in Baghdad; what Dick Cheney is to visionary energy policy; what Donald Rumsfeld is to basic war planning; what Tom Delay is to ethics; and what George Bush is to "Mission Accomplished" and "Wanted Dead or Alive." The bottom line is simple: the "we'll do whatever it takes" administration doesn't have what it takes to get the job done.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905E.shtml

Nikki Finke says that Media moguls, not looters, killed Katrina’s truth tellers.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905C.shtml

More than a dozen current and former intelligence officers knowledgeable about Iraq spoke with TIME in recent weeks to share details about the conflict, and they voiced their growing frustration with a war that they feel was not properly anticipated by the Bush Administration. The officers believe its a war fought with insufficient resources and a war that almost all of them now believe is not winnable militarily.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905B.shtml

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings have ended and the jig is up. Although Roberts characterized his judicial role as merely an "umpire," he consistently played hide the ball about his views during the questioning, Marjorie Cohn explains. Nevertheless, Roberts' disingenuousness came through in spite of his evasions. And the senators have enough information about Roberts' record to know he would move the Court dramatically to the right, eviscerating the hard-earned gains of the civil rights movement.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905A.shtml

The author was Elliott Abrams roomate at Harvard when Abrams was a leader in the Young People's Socialist League in the late 60's. See Steven Kelman's memoir, "When Push Comes to Shove".

http://www.dissentmagazine.org/ George Bush's Philosophers

by Benjamin Ross

The politics of George W. Bush, unlike earlier American conservatisms, is animated by ideas and not merely by interests. That is, at least, what Bush's friends assert, and what his foes usually concede. But is it so?

The ideas in question are well known, so much so that I need not enumerate them here. I will rather examine, as a whole, a school of thought and two groups of thinkers who adhere to it. The school is called neoconservative, its ideas match current policies, and its adherents often implement those policies. The question at hand is this: What is the direction of causation? Are the policies consequences of the ideas? Or were the ideas fabricated to justify the policies? The question is answerable only in the mean—any assemblage of humankind will include some knaves, some sincere fools, and various mixtures of wisdom with knavery and foolishness—but it is still worth asking.

My method will be to look at historical origins. I will compare two groups that came together in the neoconservative movement of the late 1990s: the Straussians and the Shachtmanites. The thinkers they followed were obscure during their common lifetime, but the importance of both has grown in retrospect. Leo Strauss (1899–1973) taught philosophy at the University of Chicago. Max Shachtman (1904–1972) led a grouplet that evolved from Trotskyism to right-wing social democracy. Both left legacies of oral teaching and discipleship that far outweigh their writings.

Today, what remains of the once wide divide between these two schools of thought is little more than a division of labor. Some Straussians (Paul Wolfowitz comes to mind) direct armies; others (such as Leon Kass, head of the President's Council on Bioethics) retain a focus on philosophical issues. Shachtmanites such as the National Endowment for Democracy's Carl Gershman and the American Enterprise Institute's scholar in residence Joshua Muravchick specialize, as bureaucrats or writers, in intellectual forms of combat.

The two schools began with very different doctrines. I don't mean to set Shachtman's leftist activism against Strauss's philosophical conservativism. Strauss's students dropped their teacher's avoidance of worldly involvement early on, and the Shachtmanites could not help but change their minds along the way from revolutionary Marxism to Reaganism. One must compare the elements of Shachtman's thought that survived the migration to the right with the Straussianism of Strauss's followers. Even so, sharp contrasts remain. Consider these:

• Straussian politics focuses on ideas; Shachtmanite politics expresses interests. • Straussians seek to preserve hierarchies; Shachtmanites to level them. • For Straussians, history is made by heroes; for Shachtmanites, by social forces. • Straussians prefer the creative elite to the dull masses. Shachtmanites help sturdy masses conquer an effete elite.

The two groups did share a rejection of "relativism," but the fixed principles for which they rejected it were very different. Straussians embraced natural law. The Shachtmanites, who early in their evolution abandoned Marx's historical relativism, proclaimed democracy as the universal value.

Today's neoconservatism rises above these concerns. Each group has identified its own fixed principle with the military strength of the United States, ignoring whatever aspects of its doctrine get in the way. The intellectual maneuvers that this convergence effected were executed with a remarkable lack of effort. Agonizing reappraisals were rare, confessions of error infrequent, earnest efforts at theoretical reconstruction few. Common ambition and instinctive affinity made rethinking superfluous.

To be sure, both Straussians and Shachtmanites had long advocated an activist American foreign policy. This was a precondition to the confluence of the two schools, but it does not suffice to explain their fusion. Each grouping, in its earlier incarnation, had been found indigestible by political near-neighbors—too self-centered, overly focused on esoteric doctrines. Combining two such groups should have been doubly difficult, but instead all obstacles vanished.

Indeed, the two schools jettisoned attitudes they shared as easily as they did those that separated them. Both had stressed obligations and institutions that mediate between the individual and the state. Their views were far from identical—Straussians emphasized the obligation of noblesse oblige while the Shachtmanites' paradigmatic institution, even after the abandonment of Marxism, was the trade union—but they joined in rejecting the libertarian view of human beings as individuals whose social relationships consist of contracts freely entered into. All criticism of laissez-faire economics has, of course, been dropped from the new neoconservative synthesis, which greets attacks on trade unionism and efforts to shred the social safety net with deafening silence—when it does not actively join in.

If ideas did not bring Straussians and Shachtmanites together, what did? Anne Norton's recently published Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire offers some guidance. Norton writes of the Straussians as a student of philosophy, who enjoyed a close personal acquaintance without being part of the inner circle. My own relation to the Shachtmanites as an activist undergraduate in the late sixties was analogous, and I found behavioral and cultural similarities almost leaping out of Norton's pages. Ideological differences seemed irrelevant.

The resemblance is, first of all, organizational. Both groups started far from the mainstream, engaging in activism that was tightly linked with their intellectual activity. Each began as an intellectual brotherhood of sorts. (I say brotherhood intentionally—the atmosphere was distinctly male.) Each possessed an esoteric doctrine of political philosophy. In introducing its doctrine to the world of political power, each evolved into a tightly bound patronage network, offering the skills of young believers to patrons in exchange for jobs, influence, and advancement.

This was accomplished through informal networks, with little organizational structure. The Straussians have never had any more formal structure than a Web site. The Shachtmanites retained for a while the leftist habit of forming "front groups" decorated with illustrious names, but there was no rear behind the front. After winning control of the former Socialist Party in 1973, they allowed the renamed Social Democrats USA to wither into little more than an excuse for occasional reunions of old comrades.

As time went by, doctrine faded in importance. The power and influence of the networks came more to be ends in themselves and less means for the propagation of beliefs. Those who would not follow this evolution were hived off. Left Straussians disappeared early on. Shachtmanites loyal to labor lingered on the scene, everyday political opponents who retained a vestigial usefulness when hawkish foreign policy initiatives needed a bipartisan veneer.

Along with this common organizational pattern comes a similarity of intellectual style. Even at the groups' origins, in very different environments, with altogether incompatible intellectual outlooks, the resemblance is strong. Norton's depictions of academic Straussians echo Irving Howe's description of Shachtman's Trotskyist followers in the 1930s.

Here is Norton: Strauss read and taught as political theorists have done from time immemorial. He would read a passage in a text and ask: "What does it mean?" "Why is this said?" . . . In the shul and the madrasa, in seminaries and Bible study groups, sacred texts are still studied in this way.

Compare the above to Howe, writing in his memoir, A Margin of Hope: The training we received in the movement was narrow—a training in the explication rather than examination of texts, in games of debate rather than play of mind. It was not very different, I suppose, from the training yeshiva students or Jesuit novices have been given over the centuries.

Norton again: The student armed with the sacred text believes himself armed to take on all comers. The student who believes all knowledge rests in the canon is exempted from reading anything else, and loudly presents his laziness as the inevitable entitlement of cultural superiority.

Howe: Clever enough in responding to familiar cues, we had little capacity for turning back on our own premises. Against opponents sharing Marxist premises, we could argue well, but against those who did not we were sometimes bewildered. We had a keen sense of intellectual honor, but only a feeble appetite for intellectual risk. And finally, Norton:

Ambitious students were unleashed. They learned the pleasures of a common endeavor and the pleasures of contest. They learned to like the taste of their professors' blood. They learned, quickly enough, to be something more than students. They learned that when they succeeded most fully they would not be praised. They would be fought as rivals, they would be resented.

And Howe: In the course of these fights, all energies were mobilized. The movement came to resemble a medieval convocation of theologians locked into months of debate on a proper interpretation of doctrine. People have been burned for less, but we could not burn, nor did many of us want to; so we hurled documents, speeches, polemics against one another.

These common patterns go far to explain the ease with which the disciples of Strauss and Shachtman came together and their joint success in approaching the corridors of power. How some of these habits prepare for political combat is obvious enough. Other correspondences point, perhaps, to psychological commonalities more complex than I can fathom.

What of the question that began this inquiry? What does this history tell us about current events?

Many things unite today's neoconservatives. They share a facility with argument, a taste for debate, an appetite for influence, a talent for networking, a desire for gainful employment, and perhaps some hard-to-pin-down psychological predispositions as well. What they lack in common is an animating ideal. The arrival of two philosophical brotherhoods, the Straussians and Shachtmanites, at the same end point owes much to their resemblance as brotherhoods and very little to their widely disparate philosophies.

Although neoconservatism has had an immense influence on the tone of contemporary conservatism, its substantive effect on the actions of government has been much smaller. The claim that the behavior of the Bush administration derives from neocon principles does not stand up, because principles are not what gathered the neocons themselves together. Their purposes are not to be found in philosophies, but in politics.

The ideas of George W. Bush's Republicanism accommodate prevailing interests and justify the accumulation of power; they do not inspire policy. The interests at stake at home—the enrichment of the wealthy and the protection of the privileged—are easy to identify. The wellsprings of what is done abroad are harder to sort out, a topic for another day and another author. But philosophy is not the place to look. Who searches for the intellectual roots of George W. Bush searches in vain.

Benjamin Ross is a community activist who writes frequently for Dissent.

This article is from Dissent Magazine
http://www.dissentmagazine.org

Michael Pugliese


From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3414/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

The Power to Hold Anyone
http://www.counterpunch.com/gorman09192005.html


From Information Clearing House

Congress has always avoided amending Posse Comitatus, the law that has kept active-duty soldiers out of civilian law-enforcement affairs since Reconstruction.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10328.htm

The neocon program is obviously to create a string of client-states in what it calls the "Greater Middle East"---an empire dripping with oil, bedecked with U.S. military bases, spread-eagled for U.S. corporate investment.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10333.htm

The prime minister's role has been to find excuses for America.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1573131,00.html


From Information Clearing House

Mike Whitney

I have a word of advice I would like to offer Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon chieftains who currently preside over the hunger-strikers at Guantanamo Bay, 20 of whom are near death. For God's sake, let them die.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10334.htm

Posted by Caroline Ruth Vernon,
Carolina1961@aol.com
UBRON

The Blood of the Righteous
By William Rivers Pitt t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Monday 19 September 2005

During the Vietnam war, a number of anti-war activists were prosecuted and jailed for taking direct action against recruiting stations and draft board offices. Files were burned and blood was poured on records. Few activists during this time were as dedicated, or as prosecuted, as the brothers Daniel and Philip Berrigan.

In 1967, Philip Berrigan poured his own blood on Selective Service records in Baltimore, and handed out Bibles while waiting to be arrested. In 1969, Berrigan used home-made napalm to incinerate 378 draft files in Catsonville, Maryland. In 1980, the Berrigan brothers entered a General Electric nuclear missile factory in Pennsylvania, hammered on the nose cones, again poured their own blood, and again were arrested.

In every instance, the Berrigan protest actions were grounded in their Christian beliefs. Both brothers were Roman Catholic priests. After the 1969 Catsonville action, Philip Berrigan said, "We confront the Catholic Church, other Christian bodies, and the synagogues of America with their silence and cowardice in the face of our country's crimes. We are convinced that the religious bureaucracy in this country is racist, is an accomplice in this war, and is hostile to the poor."

As the American people grew more and more hostile towards the Vietnam war, actions of conscience taken by people like the Berrigan brothers became more and more threatening to those in government who wished to see the war continue. Punishments became harsher, threats became more dire, all in an effort to derail a popular wave of resistance against the war, and against those who pushed the war.

The wheel has come around again.

Today in New York, a Federal trial has begun against four anti-war activists who went into an Ithaca recruiting office on St. Patrick's Day in 2003 and poured their own blood on the walls, windows and the American flag. The protesters - Daniel J. Burns, 45; Clare T. Grady, 46; her sister, Teresa B. Grady, 40; and Peter J. De Mott, 58 - believed the young would-be recruits in the office had been seduced by video games and government propaganda videos, and wanted to remind them what war was really about. All four opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq. All four are members of the Catholic Worker movement, and model their activism after their heroes, the Berrigan brothers.

"War is bloody," said the four protesters in a statement they read after their action in Ithaca. "The blood we brought to the recruiting station was a sign of the blood inherent in the business of the recruiting station. Blood is a sign of life, which we hold to be precious, and a sign of redemption and conversion, which we seek as people of this nation. The young men and women who join the military, via that recruiting station, are people whose lives are precious. We are obligated, as citizens of a democracy, to sound an alarm when we see our young people being sent into harm's way for a cause that is wholly unjust and criminal. Blood is a potent symbol of life and death."

"Blood is the sacred substance of life," they continued, "yet it is shed wantonly in war. As Catholics, when we receive the Eucharist, we acknowledge our oneness with God and the entire human family. We went to the recruiting center using what we have - our bodies, our blood, our words, and our spirits - to implore, beg, and order our country away from the tragedy of war and toward God's reign of peace and justice."

This trial is not the first time the St. Patrick's Four have faced prosecution for their 2003 action. Initially, they were tried in Tompkins County for felony criminal mischief in April of 2004. All four were offered a plea bargain to avoid trial, and all four refused. The trial itself, to the dismay of the local prosecutor, became a forum on the Iraq war. The four plaintiffs represented themselves. After hearing at length the motivations and life stories of the protesters, the jury in the trial deadlocked, with nine members voting for acquittal.

The prosecutor knew he could not win a re-trial, and referred the case to Federal authorities. Today, the protesters face a variety of serious charges including damaging government property and conspiracy to impede an officer of the United States. If convicted, the four face up to six years in prison and fines of $250,000. Many fear that if the St. Patrick's Four are successfully prosecuted, it will set a national precedent which would allow non-violent protesters to be charged with conspiracy in Federal courts.

So many aspects of this situation are compelling. One cannot help but be moved by four people who went beyond protest marches, pamphleteering and writing letters to the editor, and decided to take direct non-violent action. One cannot help but be gladdened that these four, representing themselves, convinced a jury that their actions were not worthy of prison time. One cannot help but be terrified by the implications of a potential Federal conviction of these four, which would further marginalize the citizen right of protest in a time when more actions, not fewer, are desperately needed.

Yet perhaps the most significant aspect of all this is the simple fact that these four protesters are working to take back the mantle of Christianity from the brigands and radicals who have hijacked and polluted it. When men like Pat Robertson and George W. Bush are allowed to stand as avatars for all things Christian, when hate and fear replaces love and tolerance and violence becomes the chief focus of the so-called faithful, it is all too clear that the words and teachings of Jesus Christ have been subsumed by low people who have more in common with the Taliban than with the fellow called the Prince of Peace.

"Herein lies a riddle," said Philip Berrigan about the very people who have stolen Christianity and perverted it for their own ends. "How can a people so gifted by God become so seduced by naked power, so greedy for money, so addicted to violence, so slavish before mediocre and treacherous leadership, so paranoid, deluded, lunatic?"

One day, perhaps, we will have a solution to that riddle and a cure for the disease which birthed it. In the meantime, four Catholic peacemakers stare down the barrel of a prosecutorial gun today in New York. If you stand against the war, if you stand against the so- called Christians who have so perverted both that religion and our nation entire, if you happen to be the praying type, now would be a good time to put in a word on their behalf.


William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know and The Greatest Sedition Is Silence.

Caroline Ruth Vernon
UBRON


Informant: Martin Greenhut

When the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted to go on strike two weeks ago, the global economy was a top concern. Workers now wonder whether even the most sophisticated US manufacturing jobs can survive in an increasingly brutal global economy - and what, if anything, can be done to protect what remains.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/091905LA.shtml

Bill Clinton revealed new "greener-than-thou" environmentalist credentials last week, privately suggesting to heads of government and industry leaders at his world forum in New York that they should celebrate the recent spike in oil prices as the best opportunity to begin weaning their nations from fossil-fuel dependency.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/091905EC.shtml

A bipartisan pair of California congressmen has scheduled hearings this week on their bill to change the Endangered Species Act. Environmentalists say the changes will gut the act and make it nearly impossible to add new species to the endangered list.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/091905EA.shtml

Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, last night brought her campaign to end the war to New York. When they finally arrived, Ms. Sheehan, whose son Casey, 24, was killed last year, was treated like a rock star, as children and adults crowded around her, clamoring to shake her hand or get an autograph.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905S.shtml


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

On April 24, 1971, Vietnam Veterans Against the War were among the leaders of 500,000 people who converged on Washington to end the Vietnam War. Scott Galindez reports that on September 24, 2005, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, and Veterans for Peace will be leading another huge march against today's war. As the call goes out far and wide to gather in the nation's capitol, history stands to be made again.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905Q.shtml

I've been saying this all along...interesting we attacked Iraq just after their announced plan of converting to Euros from US dollars to sell oil. Notice the other countries comprise the "axis of evil" - the others who are converting to Euros from US dollars for this purpose also. A must read article IMO.

Anna

...To understand this true weapon of mass destruction, you must understand the position the American Dollar holds in the world economy.

http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20050916054129788

Source: Defenders of Wildlife
Posted by: Defenders of Wildlife - archive
Posted on: Sep 19, 2005 @ 12:09 pm

http://www.ems.org/nws/2005/09/19/assault_on_endan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 19, 2005

Contact:
Cindy Hoffman 202/772-3255
William Lutz 202-772-0269

ASSAULT ON ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

POMBO MOVING LEGISLATION THAT WOULD CRIPPLE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

Act that Saved the Bald Eagle Now Endangered

Resource Committee Chairman Creates Loopholes that are a Developers' Dream

WASHINGTON - Legislation introduced today by Rep. Richard Pombo
(R-Cal.) would severely undermine the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and punch loopholes in the law on behalf of greedy developers, oil companies, and other special interests. Ironically called the "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005," this legislation strikes at the heart of our nation's wildlife conservation efforts.

"If Rep. Pombo's legislation were part of the original Endangered Species Act, the recovery of the bald eagle, grizzly bear, and peregrine falcon would have been extremely difficult if not impossible," said Rodger Schlickeisen, President of Defenders of Wildlife. "The bill contains provisions that would severely cripple the federal effort to recover endangered plants and animals. It runs counter to the very intent of the Endangered Species Act and flies in the face of Rep. Pombo's earlier professed desire to improve wildlife conservation."

Jamie Rappaport Clark, former Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and now Executive Vice President of Defenders said, "Given Mr. Pombo's past statements about trying to make the Endangered Species Act work better, it's extremely disappointing to see him introduce a bill that does so much to eliminate opportunities for recovery of threatened and endangered wildlife."

"The Endangered Species Act has been extraordinarily successful at preventing the extinction of our nation's precious wildlife. Since
1973, only nine out of the 1800 animals protected by the Act have been declared extinct. Rep. Pombo's legislation would put an end to that astonishing record of success and undermine any hope of protecting endangered plants and animals in the future," Clark said.

An analysis of Congressman Pombo's bill by Defenders of Wildlife points to the following key problems:


* Repeals critical habitat without providing adequate assurances that habitat necessary for recovery would be protected.

* Undermines the requirement of federal agencies to ensure that their actions would not jeopardize the continued existence of listed plants or animals. Cuts wildlife experts out of the loop in determining whether agency actions would harm endangered plants and animals.

* Puts road blocks in the way of the use of the "best available science" and limits the type of science that can be used for endangered species recovery.

* Requires the federal government to pay landowners to not violate the law, setting a terrible precedent in regard to environmental protections. This would create a financial windfall for unscrupulous developers by requiring the government to compensate them for the value of any activity they propose on their land which would result in a take of a listed plant or animal.

* Places endangered plants and animals at risk whenever the federal government fails to meet a 90-day deadline for telling developers whether their actions would take an endangered species. If the government misses the deadline, no matter what the reason, developers get a de facto exemption from the law and wildlife would suffer.

* Eliminates the Endangered Species Committee, the Cabinet-level body created by Congress in 1978 to resolve truly irreconcilable conflicts between species conservation and development.

"At a time when our country is still reeling from the impacts of Hurricane Katrina, one has to wonder why reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act has become the immediate priority of Congressman Pombo and the Resources Committee," said Clark.

For more information and detailed analysis of the Pombo bill and the Endangered Species Act, see http://www.saveesa.org


Defenders of Wildlife is a leadin g nonprofit conservation organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 490,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on endangered species issues.


Peace!

*STRIDER*

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0919-02.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0919-06.htm



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

In a message dated 9/19/05 6:01:38 PM, L BUZZELL writes:

<< Dear Liz,

Tell KVIE and Your Local PBS Station to Pull the Plug on Monsanto!

Right now, Big Agriculture is trying to add public television to its arsenal of advertising tools, and it will succeed if the American public doesn't take back its airwaves. Take action today to stop Monsanto and other industrial agriculture interests from taking over your public airwaves. On September 24, American Public Television (APT), Sacramento's KVIE and PBS member stations across America plan to launch a television series called "America's Heartland" that is paid for by Monsanto and other corporate farming interests. Monsanto wouldn't be paying for this programming if it didn't tell the story Monsanto wants told about genetically engineered crops, and industrial, chemical-based agriculture. These just happen to be the company's core business interests. Thousands of people have written letters and e-mails to APT and KVIE expressing concern about the series, yet neither are willing to discuss the issue with CFS or other concerned organizations, like the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Stations planning to air the show just announced! <> Is your local station airing it?

Call KVIE, and your local PBS station today and tell them not to air the show until underwriters for the series can be found whose business interests are not directly linked to the subject matter of this series!

Call KVIE at (916) 929-5843. To find your local station, click HERE
http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html .

The series' promotional materials, as well as the press releases issued by Monsanto and the Farm Bureau, clearly state that America's Heartland is the result of a "strong partnership between Monsanto Company, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and other U.S. agriculture groups," and that the series is intended to raise "awareness of the agriculture industry, particularly among the nation's opinion leaders," leaving little doubt that business propaganda may take a prominent role.

KVIE, the series' producer, has already shown a strong bias in support of genetic engineering in its "California Heartland" segment called "Brave New Heartland" (episode #545), which was devoted almost entirely to a detailed presentation of the purported benefits of agricultural biotechnology.

This series even fails APT's own tests for "determining the acceptability of proposed program funding arrangements," including its straight-forward Commercialism Test: "Might the public conclude the program is on public television principally because it promotes the underwriter's products, services or other business interests?" According to APT's tests, "The most important factor to be considered is the character and directness of the perceived connection between the program funder and the subject matter of the program." This connection could hardly be clearer or more direct for the sponsors of "America's Heartland."

To protect the public airwaves from being co-opted by corporate interests, it is imperative that American Public Television and PBS's KVIE find underwriters for America's Heartland that do not have a vested interest in the practices, purchases and products of those farmers and to remove from the series any segment that discusses genetically engineered food or crops without also discussing the many scientific and public health concerns surrounding this technology.

Pbs Stations set to air America's Heartland. Is your local station on the list? Call them today!

ETV Update
Spartanburg
SC
8645039371
http://www.etv.state.ms.us
Jackson
MS >>


Informant: hopedance

Project Censored at Sonoma State University
http://www.omega-news.info/project_censored.htm

„US-Firma Blackwater an Rettungsmaßnahmen im Hurrikan-Gebiet beteiligt. Heimatschutzbehörde streitet Einsatz von privaten Sicherheitsdiensten in New Orleans ab. Weil die US-Regierung Tausende Nationalgardisten in den Irak geschickt hat, werden deren Aufgaben in den vom Hurrikan »Katrina« zerstörten Gebieten zum Teil von sogenannten zivilen Sicherheitsfirmen übernommen. So ist das US-Unternehmen Blackwater, für das ein bedeutender Teil der im Irak tätigen Söldner arbeitet, nach eigenen Angaben an den »Rettungsmaßnahmen in der Golfregion« von New Orleans beteiligt.“ Artikel von Norman Griebel und Rüdiger Göbel in junge Welt vom 16.09.2005.

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/09-16/004.php

Der Artikel auf den sich die Autoren der jungen Welt beziehen, findet sich wie folgt:

“Overkill: Feared Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans”

Interview von Amy Goodman mit Jeremy Scahill auf Democracy Now! vom 12.09.2005:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/12/1426242

Siehe dazu auch:

Spezialseite von Democracy Now! zum Hurrikan Katrina mit weiteren aktuellen (englischen) Nachrichten:

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

“Mass Media and New Orleans - From Victims to Vandals”

Englischsprachiger Artikel von James Petras in Counterpunch vom 17/18.09.2005 http://www.counterpunch.org/petras09172005.html



Aus: LabourNet, 20. September 2005

(Englische) Studie der International Labour Organization (ILO) zum 17th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work (pdf)

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/wdcongrs17/intrep.pdf

Siehe dazu auch die Pressemitteilung der ILO zur Veröffentlichung vom 16 September 2005

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2005/36.htm

Aus dem Text: „…The ILO report said reporting systems and coverage of occupational safety and health in many developing countries are poor and in some cases deteriorating. For example, India reports 222 fatal accidents while the Czech Republic, which has a working population of about 1 per cent of India, reports 231, the ILO said, adding that it has estimated the true number of fatal accidents in India at 40,000. The report said such statistics suggested that only a fraction of the real toll of work-related death and disease is covered in a number of developing countries. (…)"Still, every day, on average, some 5,000 or more women and men around the world lose their lives because of work-related accidents and illness. Decent Work must be safe work, and we are a long way from achieving that goal."“

Es ist allerdings zu bezweifeln, ob sich „decent work“ wie vorgeschlagen, (ausschließlich“ durch Sozialpartnerschaft erreichen lässt… Zum Konzept von „decent work“ bzw. „guter Arbeit“ siehe auch:

Arbeitspolitik im Umbruch. ''Gute Arbeit'' als neuer strategischer Ansatz „Angesichts von Massenarbeitslosigkeit, betrieblichen Abwehrkämpfen und der Defensive der Gewerkschaften wird zurecht die Frage aufgeworfen, welche Chancen eine gewerkschaftliche Arbeitspolitik noch besitzt, sich in den aktuellen Prozess der qualitativen Veränderung von Arbeit einzumischen. Gegenüber der Zeit, als die Humanisierung der Arbeit ein weithin akzeptiertes Projekt war, hat sich offensichtlich die Grundkonstellation verändert: Kurzfristökonomie sowie Standort- und Kostensenkungswettbewerb lassen vielerorts die Qualität der Arbeit zu einer Restgröße schrumpfen. Symptomatisch hierfür sind die Auseinandersetzungen um Arbeitszeitverlängerungen. Unter dem Slogan "Hauptsache Arbeit" werden zudem Qualitätsstandards durchlöchert und gesetzliche Schutzniveaus dereguliert mit der gewollten Folge, dass auch die Ansprüche der Menschen, die Arbeit haben oder in Arbeit wollen, weiter abgesenkt werden. Dennoch ist eine Neubelebung arbeitspolitischer Debatten zu registrieren….“ Artikel von Klaus Pickshaus (Leiter des Projekts Gute Arbeit beim Vorstand der IG Metall) beim WISSENTransfer

http://www.wissentransfer.info/wissen/pages/news.php?id=40

Gesunde Unternehmen, gesunder Konsum, gesunde Menschen?

Symbolische Gesundheit und postfordistische Produktionsverhältnisse

Artikel von Regina Brunnett in Fantômas 7: ideologische zäsuren. körper, glaube, raum vom vom Sommer 2005

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeitsalltag/gh/brunnett.html


Aus: LabourNet, 20. September 2005

http://www.omega-news.info/omega298.htm
http://www.omega-news.info/angelos2241.htm
http://www.omega-news.info/lawsuit_over_cell_phone_safety.htm

--------

Is a proposed class action based on Code 16 of the Electronic Communication Code.

It is based on "injurous affection to land and property" (ie loss of value or amenity) and therefore does not require the proof to health effects in order to strike back and force operators to listen to the people whose lives they are damaging.

So long as courts hear "both sides" of the health issues, they will tend to weigh in favour of the establishment. This is just a toe in the door, or a poke in the pocket, in the meantime.

Andy


Masts and your property: it’s time to be heard
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/994544/

by Patricia Goldsmith

In a 1973 court case involving General Motors, documents showed that a GM engineer had created a cost-benefit analysis to decide whether or not to correct a serious defect in the company’s Malibu model. The analyst calculated that GM would pay $200,000 in legal costs for each of the projected 500 lives lost each year due to the defect. Fixing the defect, the study showed, would be more
expensive than paying the costs of litigation. So they didn’t fix it. .

. . George Bush’s failure to protect against the predicted attacks of September 11 and now Hurricane Katrina can only be understood if we’re willing to follow the same unimpeachable logic GM used -- just think in dollars and cents; ask yourself who benefits. Hint: White House political guru Karl Rove has been put in charge of the massive post-Katrina reconstruction effort, and already it is clear that the same folks who got all those sweetheart, no-bid contracts in Iraq will be inking the really big deals....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Goldsmith0919.htm

Federal Troops in Law Enforcement Considered
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050919/pl_usatoday/militarysroleindisastersreconsidered


Informant: Anna Webb

Another view of the event

Please distribute...

There is a rumor on the internet that Cindy Sheehan was arrested today. This is NOT true. Please read stories below.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0538,fergusonshee,67983,2.html

Village Voice

NYPD Unplugs Cindy Sheehan City's Finest pulls move even Bush wouldn't have tried

by Sarah Ferguson September 19th, 2005 5:54 PM

[Cindy Sheehan speaking out in Union Square with Al Zappala, who also lost a son in Iraq photo: Sarah Ferguson]

Cindy Sheehan may be the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement. But that didn't stop members of the New York Police Department from marching into the crowd of about 150 people gathered in Union Square Monday to hear her speak and yanking away the microphone.

The NYPD pulled the plug just as Sheehan was calling on the audience not to lose heart in the fight to end the war in Iraq.

"We get up every morning, and every morning we see this enormous mountain in front of us," said Sheehan, speaking on behalf of the other parents and family members of fallen soldiers who have taken up the crusade to bring the troops home.

"We can't go through it, we can't go under it, so we have to go over it," she continued, just as the cops rushed the makeshift podium.

Police dragged away Paul Zulkowitz, a.k.a. Zool, an organizer with “Camp Casey NYC, the small encampment that he and other activists set up a month ago in Union Square in solidarity with Sheehan's vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. The New York branch existed much to the ire of the city's Parks Department. Today, Zulkowitz was arrested for failing to obtain a sound permit—a charg Moments earlier, Zulkowitz had been chastising Parks officials for refusing to grant a permit to the encampment, and accusing the police of trying to harass the antiwar protest away. Contrasting the liberal Big Apple with the hostile environs Sheehan faced in Crawford, Zulkowitz told the crowd: "You would think that here in New York City, at Union Square—our Hyde Park As the activists hustled away Sheehan and the other family members on the Bring Them Home Now tour, an enraged crowd of about 50 people stormed after the police, chanting, "Shame! Shame!" Meanwhile Iraq war veteran and now peace activist Jeff Key played "God Bless America" on his trumpet.

"Since when can't you talk out here in Union Square?" demanded an Upper West Side social worker who identified herself as Quha, who said she'd taken her lunch break to hear Sheehan because she has a 20-year-old son who is considering enlisting. "I've seen everyone and their mother come out and speak nonsense out here in this park, and for them to shut down Cindy Sheehan is just not right."

"They came in like gangbusters. It was really ridiculous," said Margaret Rapp, a retired teacher from Inwood who added that she planned to file a complaint after an officer forcibly shoved her in the chest. A mother of a 19-year-old, she said she'd come to hear Sheehan because she lost her fiancee during the Vietnam War. "This is very close to home. There is a chord that Cindy hits among people that have lost people in this war and other wars, or who have draft age children like me. We're scared to death.”

Inspector Michael McEnroy, commander of the 13th Precinct, insisted the shutdown order had nothing to do with the content of Sheehan's speech, but was instead about the "provocation" caused by Zulkowitz. “This has been going on for much longer than today, McEnroy said, adding of Sheehan, I don't even know the woman. That last part prompted one pissed-off onlooker to shoot back: Haven't you watched the news or read a paper in the last three months?

Sheehan has been touring the country for the last month with members of Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak out, and Iraq Veterans Against the War. They will be speaking tonight at 6:30 at St. John the Divine (Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street), part of the lead up to Saturday's big anti-war march in Washington, D.C.

--------

Protesters draw link between Katrina and Iraq war
Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:09 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's faltering performance after Hurricane Katrina, like his decision to invade Iraq, show his priorities are at odds with actions needed to keep Americans safe, anti-war protesters said on Monday.

"One of the bogus reasons that George Bush gives for this invasion (and) occupation of Iraq is to make America safer -- and Katrina exposed that clearly he has made America more vulnerable through his policies in Iraq," anti-war activist and bereaved mother Cindy Sheehan told a morning news conference.

U.S. troops fighting an unexpectedly stubborn insurgency in Iraq should come home to help face domestic challenges like the unprecedented humanitarian relief and recovery effort on the Gulf Coast, said the activists, who will stage a march on Washington this weekend.

When Sheehan later spoke in Manhattan's Union Square to a group of about 200 anti-war protesters, New York police broke up the rally and arrested a man over a dispute about whether their permit allowed amplified sound.

Morrigan Phillips, spokeswoman for the Bring Them Home Now Tour, which has been stopping in towns across America on its way to the march in Washington, said the arrest was the first since the group began its campaign earlier this summer.

Leaders of the coalition organizing the September 24-26 protest in Washington include Sheehan, who gained international fame by camping out for weeks outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The anti-war group United for Peace and Justice, spearheading the march on Washington, said National Guard troops and materiel deployed in Iraq were needed to respond to the tragedy in and around New Orleans.

Sheehan is the star attraction for the three-day protest, which will include nonviolent acts of civil disobedience at the White House and an interfaith religious service, organizers said.

After her soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq, Sheehan demanded to meet with Bush while he vacationed in Texas so he could explain why U.S. troops were not being withdrawn from Iraq.

Bush, who had met briefly with Sheehan on a previous occasion, has declined to meet with her again.

"We were alarmed to hear the first company to get a contract in the rebuilding of New Orleans was Halliburton, another nonbid contract," said Leslie Cagan of United for Peace and Justice, which bills itself as the largest anti-war coalition in the United States.

The largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, Halliburton Co.'s subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root has been given a $29.8 million contract to rebuild Navy bases along the Katrina-battered Gulf Coast.

Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton, whose subsidiary secured no-bid contracts in Iraq after the United States toppled Saddam Hussein.

© Reuters

http://olympics.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-09-19T230933Z_01_WRI974261_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-PROTEST.xml


Informant: John Johnson



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

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/article313737.ece


Informant: NHNE

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/313445720
http://www.idealist.org/bbs/cgi-bin/showflat.pl?SID=37596128-46-oBQzC&Cat=&Board=ideas&Number=14211&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&part=&vc=

"Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." John Lennon.

Thus, life goes by - minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, day-by-day, year-to-year. Tucked away amidst the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains in a small town on Colorado's Western Slope, I have escaped the madness of a modern society that I was an integral part of but four years earlier. Multiple sclerosis and a traumatic brain injury incurred at ground zero in Salt Lake City's tornado of 1999, have, more or less, left me on the sidelines of the insanity posing as life in the 21st century.

Here, on the Western Slope, I have caught my breath and now contemplate the type of life I once lived and observe the current lives of others - lives of survival in a capitalistic world of greed and power, accompanied by unabated consumption and pollution - a world having gone quite mad indeed. Two questions I have put considerable thought toward without resolution are: where are we going as a species and will we reach that place before we lay waste to our home - the Earth? I know not, but as my wood stove clinks out a metallic morning medley in the brisk dawn air, I nestle into my writing chair to ponder the meaning of life from my roost on the west side of the Rockies. Pondering the societal suicide unfolding below - frightening, yet fascinating from a distance. It is this view that led to composition of the following Declaration of Dependence.

Your help is needed. Please read the Declaration carefully and critically. Is my view distorted, or are we, as a species, arranging for our own untimely extinction? Is this our destiny or can we prolong our existence? I wish I knew the answers to these questions, but I do not. Nonetheless, I am an optimist and believe our survival is within our own control. I am confident humankind is up to the task at hand and we can ensure our continued existence. If you agree with the Declaration, please join me and let our leaders know of our concerns and demands. Democracy only works when we, the people, speak out; speak out for what we truly believe. Let us speak now, loudly and clearly!

I have done the writing, all I ask of you is this: 1) make at least three copies of the Declaration, 2) fill in your name, address and sign two of these copies; 3) address, stamp and enclose a signed Declaration in each of two envelopes - one addressed to the UN, one to the White House; 4) address, stamp and send at least one more envelope, with an unsigned copy of the Declaration and this cover letter, to a family member or friend. The more Declarations you mail out, the stronger our voice democracy in action. Thanks.

Peace always - Cliff Seigneur


In Paonia, Colorado, the United States of America, on Earth; this twenty-first day of March, 2005.

A DECLARATION FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL

When, in the course of human events, it becomes apparent that the activities of humankind are causing severe and potentially catastrophic injury to the land, air and water that compose our home - the Earth - it becomes necessary to declare humanity's innate Dependence on the Earth, and demand that governments take immediate action to redress such harmful acts and make elemental changes to prevent further injury to the Earth. Such declaration requires the causes that impel such demands be set forth.

I hold these truths to be self-evident: that all humans are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; that humans are but one life-form amidst the chaotic perfection weaving the web of life that exists on Earth; that should human activity damage the web, life, as it is now known, will cease to exist; that time is of the essence. That to safeguard these rights and ensure the continuity of Homo sapiens as a viable species, Governments are instituted among People, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. - That when world business practices coalesce with the laws of governments to harm life on Earth, it is the right of people to bring an end to such injurious practices and ineffectual laws, and enact new laws; laws that root their foundations in principles that will secure the continued vigor of the web of life, and provide for the prolonged existence and welfare of humanity. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that laws long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that people are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by modifying the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of environmental abuses, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to overwhelm life on Earth; it is their right, it is their duty, to alter such design and demand new laws to protect the web of life, thus securing sanctuary for the human race. Such has been the patient sufferance of humans, and such is now the necessity, which compels them to demand fundamental changes to laws not suited to safeguard the environment. - The history of humanity's relationship with the Earth is a history of greed and power to take from nature without recompense, all having in direct object the establishment of monetary wealth with little, if any, regard for the sacredness of life on Earth.

The world's current and growing population of nearly 6,500,000,000 humans transcends the Earth's capacity to absorb our consumptive and polluting behaviors. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:

I. We are fouling the skies with greenhouse gases that have altered the Earth's atmosphere, initiating global warming. Such warming is causing planetary climatic change that endangers all life forms.

II. We are polluting the air, water and land in, and around, towns and cities of the world so that the health of humans, flora and fauna is imperiled on a global scale.

III. We are diverting, depleting and polluting the Earth's fresh water resources so that humans are oft unable to find clean water and, in many locales, water borne flora and fauna struggle to survive.

IV. We are overfishing and polluting the Earth's oceans, seas, lakes and rivers so that survival of a growing number of aquatic species is threatened.

V. We are endangering and causing the extinction of a wide variety of the Earth's plant and animal species by disrupting, polluting and destroying their habitats.

VI. We are contaminating the Earth's productive soils with fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides; modifying natural crop species via genetic engineering; and paving over and building upon untold acres of fertile land. Taken together, these practices jeopardize the Earth's agricultural bounty.

VII. We are cutting vast tracts of the Earth's natural forests resulting in denuded hillsides that erode in rain showers and, in countless locations, no longer sustain trees that recycle carbon dioxide into oxygen.

VIII. We are mining immense amounts of the Earth's rich ores and minerals causing pollution to land, air and water.

In summary, we are taking freely from the Earth, irresponsibly using her natural resources with a wanton disregard of the future. We now live in fear of our own unyielding needs and desires, which gravely injure life on Earth and threaten our ongoing survival.

In every stage of human activity causing harm to the web of life, citizens have petitioned courts for Redress in the most humble terms. These incessant petitions have been met by new and ever-increasing injury to the Earth. Thus, the laws involved are tainted by every act that despoils the environment and are unfit to shield the Earth from harm.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our governments. We have relentlessly warned them of the daily injuries inflicted upon the Earth and the far-reaching consequences thereof. We have reminded them of our inherent connection to the Earth for everything we have from air, water, food, clothing and shelter to cell phones, palm pilots, computers, automobiles and atom bombs. We have drawn their attention to our birthright on Earth, and appealed to their intrinsic bonds with nature and religion. They too have been deaf to the voices of reason and action. Hence, I must acquiesce in the necessity, which demands immediate attention to humanity's peril on Earth and hold them, as I hold myself and present-day civilization, Enemies to our continued existence.

I, therefore, a human on Earth, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the Universe for the rectitude of my intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good people of the world, solemnly publish and declare: that humans are dependent on the Earth for our survival; that the Earth is in imminent danger of irreparable injury to her life supporting functions; that we have found these functions unique to the Earth in our exploration of the near bounds of space; that now is the time to act firmly, with resolute conviction, to save our home the Earth. And for support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, I pledge my life, worldly goods and sacred honor.

Cliff Seigneur - accompanied by President Thomas Jefferson Citizen of Colorado's Western Slope, United States of America Resident of the Earth


Joined by: ___________________ Signature:: _________________


Address: _____________________________________________


With the Earth enduring ever-increasing environmental harm each ensuing day, is it not time for such a declaration? If so, please join me and send a signed copy of this Declaration to the: Secretary General of the United Nations, UN Headquarters, First Avenue at 46th Street, New York, NY 10017; and the President of the United States, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500. Please also send unsigned copies of this Declaration and/or the following web site address to family members, friends and acquaintances. Together, we can save the Earth. CS


On the Internet:
http://www.declarationofdependence.us/pages/1/index.htm

This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Cliff Seigneur


http://openpr.com/in/221

--------

A Declaration of Interdependence
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1330852/

Storm Rita May Be the Coup de Grace for the American Economy and Many of Us As Well http://omega.twoday.net/stories/996521/

Where To Hide From Mother Nature
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/989950/

Apocalypse Now: How Mankind Is Sleepwalking to the End of the Earth http://omega.twoday.net/stories/996763/

We Can't Say We Weren't Warned
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/996958/

What to do in a failing civilization
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1000054/

The catastrophe we are watching unfold along the U.S. Gulf Coast is a wake-up call for decision makers around the globe
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1000100/

A Moral Compass For Life's Journey Compass
http://tinyurl.com/5u4l8

by Michelle Spitzer
Associated Press

September 19, 2005

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050920/D8CNN9A80.html


RELATED STORM WATCH LINKS:

National Hurricane Center:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Hurricane RSS News Feeds:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutrss.shtml

Tropical Cyclone Advisory Mailing Lists:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/signup.shtml


Informant: NHNE

Stop the Sneak Attack in Congress on Organic Standards!

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) needs your immediate help to stop Congress and the Bush administration from seriously degrading organic standards. After 35 years of hard work, the U.S. organic community has built up a multi-billion dollar alternative to industrial agriculture, based upon strict organic standards and organic community control over modification to these standards.

Now, large corporations such as Kraft, Wal-Mart, & Dean Foods--aided and abetted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are moving to lower organic standards by allowing a Bush appointee to create a list of synthetic ingredients that would be allowed organic production. Even worse these proposed regulatory changes will reduce future public discussion and input and take away the National Organic Standards Board's (NOSB) traditional lead jurisdiction in setting standards. What this means, in blunt terms. is that USDA bureaucrats and industry lobbyists, not consumers, will now have more control over what can go into organic foods and products. ( Send a quick letter to your Congressperson online here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm )

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 20, acting in haste and near-total secrecy, the U.S. Senate will vote on a “rider" to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill that will reduce control over organic standards from the National Standards Board and put this control in the hands of federal bureaucrats in the USDA (remember the USDA proposal in 1997-98 that said that genetic engineering, toxic sludge, and food irradiation would be OK on organic farms, or USDA suggestions in 2004 that heretofore banned pesticides, hormones, tainted feeds, and animal drugs would be OK?).

For the past week in Washington, OCA has been urging members of the Senate not to reopen and subvert the federal statute that governs U.S. Organic standards (the Organic Food Production Act's OFPA), but rather to let the organic community and the National Organic Standards resolve our differences over issues like synthetics and animal feed internally, and then proceed to a open public comment period. Unfortunately most Senators seem to be listening to industry lobbyists more closely than to us. We need to raise our voices. ( Send a quick letter to your Congressperson online here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm )

In the past, grassroots mobilization and mass pressure by organic consumers have been able to stop the USDA and Congress from degrading organic standards. This time Washington insiders tell us that the “fix is already in.” So we must take decisive action now. We need you to call your U.S. Senators today. We need you to sign the following petition and send it to everyone you know. We also desperately need funds to head off this attack in the weeks and months to come. Thank you for your support. Together we will take back citizen control over organic standards and preserve organic integrity.

For more information go to the SOS section on our website
Click here to donate money to OCA's SOS ”Save Organic Standards” Campaign
Call the Capital Switchboard here: 877-762-8762
Send a quick letter to your Congressperson online here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm


Thanks,

ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION
6771 South Silver Hill Drive
Finland, MN 55603
Phone: (218)-353-7454 Fax: (218) 353-7652

--------

Tuesday, Sept. 20, the U.S. Senate will vote on a "rider" to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill that will reduce control over organic standards from the National Standards Board and put this control in the hands of the USDA.

Please phone/write/protest this rider.

Thank you,
Carolyn

To send email:

http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html
http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm







This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Stacy Bergot Campbell

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=91703;show_parent=1



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

http://tinyurl.com/a86ff


Informant: NHNE



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

IAHF Webmaster: Breaking News, Codex Emergency, Whats New, What to Do

IAHF List:

Much is happening right now that threatens to destroy the USA and force us under martial law. We're being conditioned for this right now. See the HOT ITEMS listed below to increase your awareness of what is swirling around us right now.

The purpose of the unfolding chaos we're witnessing is amp up the level of government control in order to force us into the Free Trade Area of the Americas via which the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act would be harmonized to CODEX for genocidal purposes.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

It is imperative that we help break thru the mainstream news spin by forwarding the following information to more people so they can see whats REALLY going on. Another huge hurricane is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, expected to be as big as Katrina. Lets hope it does not hit Houston and all the refineries there. See more about how to stop CODEX SPECIFCALLY below.

HOT ITEMS:

Hurricane Rita Bearing Down on Key West RIGHT NOW, Expected to Nail Texas Coast----- Will it Hit Houston & More Refineries? Check it out:

http://headlines.accuweather.com/news-story.asp?partner=accuweather&myadc=0&article=0

Army Times Refers to US Citizens in New Orleans as "INSURGENTS" http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1077495.php

(IAHF observation: FEMA Cut Emergency Phone Lines, FEMA Blocked Water from being delivered, FEMA blocked unloading of diesel fuel delivered by the Coast Guard. Under those circumstances, if you had a family to feed and needed water, wouldn't YOU break into a store to get what you needed if the whole city you were in were flooded and you were fighting for SHEER SURVIVAL? How the hell would YOU feel under those circumstances if you were suddenly branded a "looter" or an "insurgent"??? What about the ban on firearms in Louisiana? With no police able to come to your aid, isn't it wrong that law abiding citizens aren't even allowed to arm themselves?

Alex Jones Interview With Paul Craig Roberts, former Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan LISTEN TO THIS!!!
http://www.prisonplanet.tv/audio/050905roberts.htm

N.O. Was INTENDED To Push Martial Law "to empower the image of a police state emerging to "save the day""with article posted at:


"Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury on New Orleans: "Americans Are Being Brainwashed""
http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Sept05/060905brainwashed.htm

Steve Watson/Alex Jones | September 6 2005 which also says:

"Mentality is "like that of the brown shirts that followed Hitler" /...shoot to kill policy was part of the overall operation in order get an awful precedence set to aid the military industrial complex takeover of America./...American people are being "brainwashed" and no longer believe what the founding fathers said over and over, that your worst enemy is always your own government and never confuse Patriotism with support for the government....

"It does look like there is a push coming from inside the bowels of the police authorities and it seems to be independent of whoever the President is or who or whatever party is in office. It just gets worse and it's hard to say that it's Bush doing it, he may not even know what's going on...".../...appears to be INTENTIONAL incompetence..."...Furthermore they did nothing ON PURPOSE in order to provoke the resulting chaos and anarchy so they could say "look how out of control everything is - we have to have limits on freedom and troops on the streets."

ORDO AB CHAO (Order out of Chaos) is the motto of these people.

Can we STOP Their CODEX Agenda?

Damn RIGHT!

How? By helping more people see through the mainstream news spin, and by organizing meetings in your area to get more people to watch Kevin Miller's block buster DVD "We Become Silent" which helps people understand the Codex issue. We must organize to overcome the spin coming from the pharma dominated vitamin trade associations.

Increasingly health food stores are quitting NNFA as the truth gets out there!! You can help accelerate this trend by ordering the DVD and by organizing local people to show it to health food store owners and others.

You can watch Miller's documentary on the web at
http://www.welltv.com and order it from IAHF along with the one hour audio tape of the talk I gave in PA in July for just $30: IAHF 556 Boundary Bay Rd., Point Roberts, WA 98281

Miller is being sued by a controlled opposition group for making this DVD. We need to get him the funds to make an expanded version in order to stop the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) via which our dietary supplement laws would be harmonized to Codex:
(See "The Growing Threats to DSHEA" by Paul Taylor at
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/us/index.html


For Health Freedom,
John C. Hammell,
President International Advocates for Health Freedom
556 Boundary Bay Road Point Roberts, WA 98281-8702 USA
http://www.iahf.com jham@iahf.com
800-333-2553 N.America
360-945-0352 World


"When the power of love becomes stronger than the love of power, we will have peace." Jimi Hendrix


Informant: DitziSis

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2005/09/57261.htm

MWM: Don't you feel safer now?

By Pete Dolack

The New York City Police Department forcibly broke up this afternoon's rally for Cindy Sheehan, moving in as Cindy was speaking at about 3 p.m. in Union Square.

Keywords:

Government
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/government/archive.html

War & Peace
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/warandpeace/archive.html

Local
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/local/archive.html

Activism
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/activism/archive.html

The New York City Police Department forcibly broke up this afternoon's rally for Cindy Sheehan, moving in as Cindy was speaking at about 3 p.m. in Union Square. The rally had been underway for about an hour, and was about to conclude as Cindy spoke following several other speakers, including a few who are traveling with her on her caravan.

As Cindy was speaking, a large platoon of police massed behind from the interior of the park, then formed a circle behind her, the speakers' area and a few dozen people who were deployed in an arc behind her. Overall, about 200 people were in attendance, with the crowd steadily increasing in size as the rally progressed. As the police formed their arc just behind, the men and women immediately behind Cindy linked arms. A captain made a cutting motion at his throat, signalling he wanted no more free speech. He waited about 30 seconds, then the police moved in. They didn't dare arrest Cindy, but they immediately moved in and grabbed zool, the event's organizer and one of the main organizers of Camp Casey-NYC, pulling him away and arresting him. I do not believe anyone else was arrested; at least I didn't see any other arrests. I was nearby, and there was no hesitation on the part of the police in specifically targetting zool.

The police also took the microphone and sound system. The crowd shouted "Shame! Shame!" at the police and asked what they were so afrraid of, but made no response. There was a moderate press presence, even a bit of corporate media there, although the only television crew covering the rally was RTV from Russia.

No warning of any kind was given, and this was a permitted rally. Other than the captain making his cut motion, 30 seconds before forcibly breaking up the rally, there was no warning, verbal or in any other fashion. The police had massed perhaps three or four minutes before moving in. Until then, the rally had gone smoothly, starting just after 2 p.m. as scheduled. Cindy and the rest of the caravan arrived sometime after 2:30; the rest of the rally was comprised of speakers from the caravan. Many groups were in attendence besides Camp Casey-NYC, including Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families for Peace, the Troops Out Now Coalition, the No Police State Coalition and the Green Party, among others.

As several people confronted the police in the minutes following the arrest of zool and the stealing of the sound equipment, a woman from the caravan said they had done more than 100 events in 51 cities, and nothing like this had ever happened to them. There is no free speech in Crawford, Texas -- Camp Casey has been under attack there -- and there is no free speech in New York City. The police have attacked Camp Casey-NYC on at least two previous Mondays, have taken the camps's tents, confiscated banners and made arrests. This is merely the latest example of Bloomberg's contempt for opinions that challenge the authorities, particularly Republican Party authorities. And where are our supposed policital leaders? Nothing but silence.

Free zool now! Defend free speech in New York City!


Informant: Michael Mandeville



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

From Nineveh to New Orleans
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-1771432,00.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

http://slate.msn.com/?id=2126321&nav=tap1/


Informant: Lew Rockwell

EXCLUSIVE: UP IN FLAMES
http://tinyurl.com/canub


Informant: Anna Webb

by Joseph Stiglitz, TomPaine.com

Katrina revealed the markets' harsh limitations and the government's essential role.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050919/markets_climate_and_katrina.php

Cindy Sheehan: It is time for all of us to stand up and be counted: to show the media, Congress, and this inept, corrupt, and criminal administration that we mean business. It is time to get off of our collective behinds to show the people who are running our country into oblivion that we will stand for it no longer.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905Z.shtml



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

Are we to conclude that the depopulation of New Orleans went according to the Bush administration's plan? The Progressive Populist claims that the dispersal of hundreds of thousands of Democrat-leaning voters from New Orleans could turn Louisiana from a swing state to a Republican lock. And the stricken area of Mississippi has a Democratic congressman, so it might have been considered expendable as well.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905L.shtml

And who can honestly deny that race is a major reason America treats its poor more harshly than any other advanced country? To put it crudely: a middle-class European, thinking about the poor, says to himself, "There but for the grace of God go I." A middle-class American is all too likely to think, perhaps without admitting it to himself, "Why should I be taxed to support those people?"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905K.shtml

The money missing from all ministries under the interim Iraqi government appointed by the US in June 2004 may turn out to be close to $2bn. Of a military procurement budget of $1.3bn, some $200m may have been spent on usable equipment, though this is a charitable view, say officials.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905J.shtml

"What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government goes into the market and borrows money from other countries to finance Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and our tax cuts," Clinton said.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091905I.shtml

MTN My Choice Top-Up / K Muller / 630

Ruling of the: ASA Directorate
In the matter between:
Karl Muller Appellant
MTN Service Provider (Pty) Ltd t/a MTN & Another Respondent

28 Apr 2005

Mr Muller lodged a consumer complaint against a CNA radio commercial, for an MTN product, that was flighted on Highveld Stereo on 6 January 2005.

The commercial features a little girl telling her teacher about what she did during her holidays. The girl states, inter alia, “…I did it all on my Nokia thirty two twenty, with camera, polyphonic ringstones and games that my Mom got me on MTN’s My Choice top-up…”

COMPLAINT

The complainant submitted that the commercial:

• Encourages children to use cell-phones for non-essential purposes.

• Is manipulative as it directly undermines the social fabric by encouraging children to feel that they know more than adults.

The complainant further submitted that the respondent should be forced to issue a compensatory commercial, stressing that it does not wish to be seen to be marketing to children.

RELEVANT CLAUSES OF THE CODE OF ADVERTISING PRACTICE
In light of the complaint the following clauses of the Code were taken into account:

• Section I, Clause 1.2 – Responsibility to the consumer

• Section II, Clause 13 – Safety

• Section II, Clause 14 - Children

RESPONSE

The First Respondent submitted, inter alia, that:

* It is not its intention to advertise to children or take advantage of them in any way.

* The advertised products can only be purchased by adults.

* The CNA creative team produced the commercial, and the First Respondent was not given an opportunity to approve the commercial prior to broadcast. The First Respondent can therefore not be held responsible for the advertisement that was produced in error by the CNA creative team.

* It instructed the responsible advertising agency to withdraw the commercial immediately when the commercial was brought to its attention.

In a further response, the Second Respondent confirmed that the advertisement will not be used again in future in its current format.

ASA DIRECTORATE RULING

At a meeting held on 5 April 2005 the Directorate considered the relevant documentation submitted by the respective parties.

The First Respondent submitted that it instructed the responsible advertising agency to withdraw the commercial immediately when the commercial was brought to its attention. The Second Respondent confirmed that the advertisement would not be used again in future in its current format.

The Directorate accepts the above submissions as an undertaking to withdraw the commercial.

The undertaking is accepted on condition that the commercial:

* Is withdrawn in its current format with immediate effect within the deadlines stipulated by Clause 15.3 of the Procedural Guide; and

* Is not used again in future.

The complainant has submitted that the respondent should be forced to issue a compensatory commercial, stressing that it does not wish to be seen to be marketing to children.

The Directorate is of the opinion that the advertisement in question does not warrant the imposition of sanctions as it appears ex facie that the respondent did not deliberately circumvent and/or flagrantly disregard the Code. In addition, the commercial was immediately withdrawn.

http://www.asasa.org.za/ResultDetail.aspx?Ruling=2265

KEY WEST, Fla. Sep 19, 2005 — Officials ordered residents evacuated from the lower Florida Keys on Monday as a strengthening Tropical Storm Rita headed toward the island chain, threatening to grow into a hurricane with a potential 8-foot storm surge.The evacuation covered 40,000 people living from below Marathon to Key West. Visitors were ordered to clear out of the entire length of the low-lying Keys, which are connected by just one highway.The weather was clear Monday morning but expected to deteriorate through the day with the approach of Rita's outermost bands of rain.

• Hurricane Warnings Posted for Florida Keys •

ResidentsHurricane warnings were posted for the Keys and Miami-Dade County, and the storm's eye was expected to pass between the islands and Cuba on Tuesday. Rita, which strengthened Sunday into a tropical storm, had sustained wind of 65 mph by late morning, up from 60 mph earlier in the day, and could be a Category 1 hurricane by the time it passes the Keys, the National Hurricane Center said.By the weekend, computer models projected that it could be in the northwest Gulf of Mexico near Texas, but people in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina were warned it could veer in their direction instead. Katrina crossed South Florida into the Gulf last month, killing 11 people, before it turned northward to Louisiana and Mississippi.Key West streets were quiet Monday morning as Mike Pettengill, 54, packed his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. A resident of Stuart, he hoped to beat the rain and traffic heading north and wanted to be able to find gas before stations close or run dry."We walked by a bar (Sunday) and heard there was an evacuation. We were totally shocked. I couldn't believe it. Where did it come from?" he said.Kelly Friend and two workers were boarding up her store in Key West, Audio Video in Paradise Inc., and painted a message on the plywood: "Hey bartender 1 Rita on the rocks to go!""Not that we're afraid of the hurricane, but we want to protect our investment," Friend said. "Plus it gives us an excuse to take a day off and drink."


Informant: Hopedance

--------

Florida Keys Evacuated

KEY WEST, Fla. - Officials ordered residents evacuated from the lower Florida Keys on Monday as a strengthening Tropical Storm Rita headed toward the island chain, threatening to grow into a hurricane with a potential 8-foot storm surge.

The evacuation covered 40,000 people living from below Marathon to Key West. Visitors were ordered to clear out of the entire length of the low-lying Keys, which are connected by just one highway.

The weather was clear Monday morning but expected to deteriorate through the day with the approach of Rita's outermost bands of rain.

Hurricane warnings were posted for the Keys and Miami-Dade County, and the storm's eye was expected to pass between the islands and Cuba on Tuesday.

Rita, which strengthened Sunday into a tropical storm, had sustained wind of 65 mph by late morning, up from 60 mph earlier in the day, and could be a Category 1 hurricane by the time it passes the Keys, the National Hurricane Center said.

By the weekend, computer models projected that it could be in the northwest Gulf of Mexico near Texas, but people in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina were warned it could veer in their direction instead. Katrina crossed South Florida into the Gulf last month, killing 11 people, before it turned northward to Louisiana and Mississippi.

Key West streets were quiet Monday morning as Mike Pettengill, 54, packed his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. A resident of Stuart, he hoped to beat the rain and traffic heading north and wanted to be able to find gas before stations close or run dry.

"We walked by a bar (Sunday) and heard there was an evacuation. We were totally shocked. I couldn't believe it. Where did it come from?" he said.

Kelly Friend and two workers were boarding up her store in Key West, Audio Video in Paradise Inc., and painted a message on the plywood: "Hey bartender 1 Rita on the rocks to go!"

"Not that we're afraid of the hurricane, but we want to protect our investment," Friend said. "Plus it gives us an excuse to take a day off and drink."

The state was sending a National Guard cargo plane to evacuate 22 patients from Key West's hospital to Sebring, near Lake Okeechobee. Several critically ill patients already had been evacuated to hospitals in Miami.

Rita is the 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. That makes this season already the fourth busiest since record-keeping began in 1851. The record is 21 tropical storms in 1933.

Six to 15 inches of rain was possible in the Keys, with 3 to 5 inches possible across southern Florida. A storm surge rising 6 to 8 feet above normal tide levels was predicted for the Keys.

"Right now the biggest concern is the Keys," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency.

Many schools were closed in the Bahamas on Monday as Rita's rain and wind moved through the islands.

Rita passed the Bahamas' southern islands during the night, but residents said the storm's outer bands didn't appear severe.

"Last night wasn't very bad at all," said Samuel Miller, the commissioner of the southern island of Mayaguana.

Cuba activated its civil defense program and placed six northern provinces on cyclone alert.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Rita was centered about 195 miles southeast of Nassau, Bahamas, and about 430 miles east-southeast of Key West. It was moving to the west-northwest at about 12 mph, according to the hurricane center.

Four hurricanes struck Florida last year, killing dozens of people and causing $19 billion in insured losses. Hurricane Dennis brushed by the Keys in July before slamming the Florida Panhandle.

Farther out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Philippe formed late Sunday well east of the Lesser Antilles. At 5 a.m., Philippe had maximum sustained wind near 75 mph, and was centered about 385 miles east of the Leeward Islands. It was moving to the north near 7 mph.

The hurricane season started June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050919/ap_on_re_us/tropical_weather


Informant: Dani Djinn

19.09.05

Was der Hurrikan Katrina an Umweltschäden hinterlassen hat, konnte bisher niemand genau sagen. Nun hat die Umweltorganisation Greenpeace erstmals Satellitenbilder von SkyTruth veröffentlicht und eine erste Bilanz gezogen. Die Bilder zeigen nach Angaben der Organisation kilometerlange Ölteppiche, die von havarierten Ölplattformen im Golf von Mexiko ausgehen sollen. Öltanklager seien leck geschlagen und überflutet, durch den Sturm beschädigte Raffinerien verschmutzen offenbar den Mississippi und New Orleans.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11878

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=60566


Informant: Kev Hall

http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/images/Cage_de_Faraday.png

45 000 sites de Stations de bases de Téléphonie Mobile en France environ 150 000 Antennes Relais.

Infos next-up organisation
http://www.next-up.org

http://www.omega-news.info/save_our_selves.htm

HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=91683;show_parent=1

Here is an excellent article telling most of the absolute truth about the contrived Katrina 'disaster' and its causes. This is a must read and while you are reading put two and two together by recalling the Waco, Murrah Building and Twin Towers murders by our government and understand that Katrina is just the latest of their contrived 'disasters' to afflict their hated constituency: We the People. And as Alan Stang says when ending his Internet radio show on http://www.rbnlive.com/listen.html (1200 to 1400 Eastern Mon thru Fri, "Arm Yourselves" and do not forget food for your babies.

Phil


Lynn Landes: American Meltdown Monday, 5 September 2005, 12:50 pm Opinion: http://www.ecotalk.org - Lynn Landes American Meltdown - Get Ready For Next Un-Natural Disaster

By Lynn Landes ( http://wwwwww.EcoTalk.org )
9/3/05

America is in a meltdown. And the world is watching. We are a nation of haves and have-nots governed by lunatics and liars. I don't know if Bush and his neocon friends are completely incompetent, criminally insane, or just really, really evil. Whatever the case, I'm afraid that another un-natural disaster, worse than Katrina or 9/11, is just around the corner.

According to published reports, the Bush Administration has developed plans to nuke Iran back to the Stone Age, an act which could take a large part of the region with it. Many observers believe that Bush wants to invoke Marshall Law here as well. Rumor has it that Bush will use a 'staged' nuclear attack on the U.S. as pretext for his pillage. It will be an inside job, but blamed on Iran. State-sponsored terrorism against a nation's own citizens is a familiar ruse. Most people won't have a clue, thanks to our criminally-complicit corporate news media.

To succeed with such as plan, Bush would need to hold the American public under tighter control than ever before. To that end, much has been done. America is already a corporately-controlled nation. During elections, domestic and foreign corporations electronically process over 80% of all voters' ballots with no meaningful oversight or transparency possible. Corporations own most of the news media and telecommunications. A private Internet (Global Information Grid, or GIG) is currently under construction for use by the military and government only. So, the public Internet could be shut down easily. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reduced bandwidth for ham (shortwave) radio operators, further restricting low-cost public communications.

Enforcement of the Patriot Act will end civil liberties as we know them. There are reports that South American paramilitary units have been recruited to operate in the U.S. in order to cull dissidents from the general public. They may already be here. Peace activists in Miami suspect that private security personnel from South or Central America have been used by the Miami police during demonstrations there.

Our military is seriously understaffed and underfunded, while private security forces get billions in no-bid contracts. Military installations in America are closing, as private companies build secret prisons and bases around the world.

All these moves are clearly designed to leave Americans completely defenseless against their own government. The rest of the world is also at risk. With Congress in a coma, our military officers and enlisted personnel might consider their options. It looks like we're all are being set-up for a take-down of epic proportions. They've done it before. The free-market fanatics at the helm of this nation have a decades-long track record of death and destruction around the world. We are a nation ruled by thugs. They start wars on helpless countries, outsource American jobs and resources, and pollute the planet for profit. They are relentless.

Today, the "Game Theory of World Domination" is in full play by the Bush Administration. Chaos and confusion is their stock in trade. Shock and awe are their weapons of choice. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

What's important at this point is not their actions, but ours. More and more Americans understand that the common people need to take charge. People from New York and New Orleans know the score. We cannot trust this government. We must be as prepared as possible for any eventuality.

America is imploding. A new world will emerge. Things will change. At the very least, we should never again allow wealth and power to concentrate in the hands of the privileged few. Only respect for the common good will improve our chances for survival on this planet. Until then, may the victims of our cowardice and stupidity forgive us.

ENDS


Informant: Ronda Zeoli

Ernie McCray: You know, we can be so beautiful, at times, like right now. Just look at us, human beings of all colors and sexualities and creeds and beliefs and affiliations reaching out to the many battered souls who survived Katrina's devastating visit.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805H.shtml

President Bush's push to give the military a bigger role in responding to major disasters like Hurricane Katrina could lead to a loosening of legal limits on the use of federal troops on US soil.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805G.shtml

President Bush is taking advantage of the Katrina tragedy to get rid of workers' protections in favor of higher profits for politically connected corporations.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805F.shtml

Diplomacy's most powerful woman, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has turned down a dinner date with other female foreign ministers to discuss women's rights, citing a busy schedule.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805E.shtml

A hunger strike at the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has unsettled senior commanders there and produced the most serious challenge yet to the military's effort to manage the detention of hundreds of terrorism suspects, lawyers and officials say.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805D.shtml

An email message which suggested the Bush Justice Department was looking to blame environmentalists for a break in the New Orleans levee and the ensuing flood has sparked vehement responses among the Democratic caucus in Congress.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805C.shtml

Frank Rich: Once Toto parts the curtain, the Wizard of Oz can never be the wizard again. He is forever Professor Marvel, blowhard and snake-oil salesman. Hurricane Katrina, which is likely to endure in the American psyche as long as L. Frank Baum's mythic tornado, has similarly unmasked George W. Bush.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805B.shtml

New York Times: The unknowns about Mr. Roberts's views remain troubling, especially since he is being nominated not merely to the Supreme Court, but to be chief justice. That position is too important to entrust to an enigma, which is what Mr. Roberts remains.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091805A.shtml

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=210

More on Hutchison 3G dirty dealings
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=242

And still more on Hutchinson’s dirty dealings
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=244
http://www.mast-victims.org/index.php?content=journal&action=view&type=journal&id=11

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

Latham opposed the Iraq war and in February 2003 described U.S. President Bush as the most incompetent and dangerous in living memory.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=c8a4ec6a2cd07368


From Information Clearing House

http://tinyurl.com/cu8co


From Information Clearing House

The handling of aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina is only the latest in a series of missteps and fraud that has plagued this tax-funded government agency. The Sun-Sentinel took a look at 20 recent disasters and found mismanagement and misallocation abound.

http://tinyurl.com/9kls8


From Information Clearing House

Tentative optimism that New Orleans’ death toll from Katrina might be far lower than first projected has given way to somber reality over the past 36 hours as search and rescue squad turn up bodies by the dozen in the hardest hit areas of the city.

http://tinyurl.com/9llpa


From Information Clearing House

The United States has supposedly created new “democracies” in Afghanistan and Iraq, but these endeavors give democracy a bad name.

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/647


From Information Clearing House

Incredible though it may sound there are signs that Tehran may be preparing for a military confrontation with the United States, and has convinced itself that it could win.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10319.htm

Countries that Bush considers partners - China, Russia and India - were banding together to stymie a U.S. and European effort to bring sanctions against Iran for its suspected nuclear weapons program

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/18/news/global.php#


From Information Clearing House

President Bush yesterday won no support from Russian President Vladimir Putin in his bid to bring Iran before the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions and acknowledged that he has not yet forged an international consensus on how to deal with Tehran's alleged nuclear program.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05260/573308.stm


From Information Clearing House

"There is no yearning-to-be-liberated-by-the-U.S. groundswell among Muslim societies -- except to be liberated perhaps from what they see as apostate tyrannies that the U.S. so determinedly promotes and defends," the Pentagon board said in a report.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10320.htm

"If it's an accurate record, Mr Murdoch has provided a fascinating glimpse of his private relationship with Mr Blair," he said. "It may not come as a great surprise that the Prime Minister aims to please Murdoch but it comes as a bit of a shock he goes this far."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article313482.ece



What Tony said to Rupert - and why it speaks volumes:

The PM's extraordinary attack on the BBC has reopened old wounds and raised questions about his special relationships.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article313465.ece



Blair gave Murdoch 'veto' over EU, says PM's ex-aide:

Tony Blair promised Rupert Murdoch that he would be consulted on any change to Britain's policy towards Europe, according to a diary kept by a former Downing Street press officer.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article313480.ece


From Information Clearing House

"Despite all the necessary stuff about taking action 'with a heavy heart' I think he feels it is part of his coming of age as a leader."

http://tinyurl.com/dej35


From Information Clearing House

Tim Collins told his troops this was a war of liberation, not conquest. Now he says that he was naive to believe it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1572844,00.html


From Information Clearing House

Foreign workers firing on civilians, US officials say
http://tinyurl.com/7dqfp


From Information Clearing House

“I went. I saw [my son] lying there, shot in his chest, his stomach, his legs, his hands…” he explained to us as the tears came, breaking his proud appearance and revealing a grieving father.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10323.htm

by Robert Fisk

It is true that most Christians, Jews and Muslims draw on the tolerant, moderate aspects of their tradition. We prefer not to accept the fact that the religions of the children of Abraham are inherently flawed in respect of intolerance, discrimination, violence and hatred.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10321.htm



A Moral Compass For Life's Journey
http://tinyurl.com/5u4l8

The article below suggests progress - of sorts - toward the recognition of a health problem.

Best, Imelda, Cork


THE IRISH TIMES, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2005

Plans for review of phone masts

Martin Wall

The Government is to consider plans for a new committee to examine the safety implications of electromagnetic fields generated by sources such as mobile-phone masts and power lines.

Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey is to bring proposals to Cabinet this week for the establishment of a new inter-departmental group that will look at the effects on health of electromagnetic fields.

The move follows a report by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in June which recommended stronger links between Government departments in this area and the establishment of a new independent board to review, from an Irish perspective, all published data.

The current official position of the Department of Health is that "the consensus of scientific literature to date regarding possible adverse health effects from exposure to electromagnetic fields from facilities such as power lines, mobile phones and their base stations is that there is no evidence of a causal relationship between such exposure and ill health".

However, in his preface to the report last June, the chairman of the Oireachtas committee, Noel O'Flynn, said that there were people who suffered ill effects from using mobile phone handsets or because they lived beside a mast.

He said the members of the Oireachtas committee had "ample experience of meeting with and talking to those who were suffering".

Mr O'Flynn said last night he welcomed the Minister's plans to bring proposals to Cabinet.

He said he believed the committee's report had been received very favourably by the department. He was happy the committee had brought "added value" to the process.

Mr O'Flynn said from presentations made to the committee over recent months there appeared to be no co-ordination between the various Government departments - health, communications and environment - that have responsibilities in this area.

He said the committee also believed it was important the country should not have to rely on an international assessment of scientific literature in this area, and there should be an independent board that would carry out this task from an Irish perspective.

The committee, in its report in June, also called for the establishment of a standing advisory committee to scrutinise and agree standards for the mobile telephony industry.


© The Irish Times

Three weeks have passed since Katrina ravaged New Orleans, Biloxi and the Gulf Coast of the United States, and thousands of displaced individuals are without permanent shelter, employment, income and, unfortunately, members of their families. As a nation, we must ensure that the immediate needs of the victims of this storm and its aftermath are met effectively and expeditiously as possible. But at Redefining Progress, a research and advocacy organization working at the intersection of the environment, the economy, equity and sustainability, we are as concerned with the present as we are with the future.

We are concerned that the lessons we can extract from the disaster of Hurricane Katrina will go unlearned. Redefining Progress urges that as the city of New Orleans, the region and the United States move from discussions of rescue to those of reconstruction, we keep key themes in mind:

* Katrina's immediate and long-term impacts demonstrate our nation's vulnerability to both climate change and the toxic industries which contribute to it. With climate change, these devastating events are likely to become more frequent and even more disastrous.

* Poor populations and communities of color are disproportionately affected by climate change and its effects--and the wake of Katrina has borne out that reality. We must act on climate change now--for the benefit of these communities and for the benefit of our future.

* Residents must lead in the process of the reconstruction of their city. They must harness ownership of all facets of rebuilding--including process, politics and property--to guarantee that the reconstruction reflects and protects their interests.

Read the complete Redefining Progress statement on Katrina, her impact and our response:

http://www.rprogress.org/newprojects/katrina.shtml

Hurricane Katrina's effects have been devastating, disproportionate and destructive. And justice demands that we tend to the needs of the least and the left out immediately.

But justice also demands that we address the systemic environmental, economic and social issues that may make disasters like Katrina more frequent, more dangerous and more devastating. Redefining Progress plans to be at the forefront of that work, on behalf of people, nature and the economy.

To aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, visit the Southern Partners Fund who has set up a Justice Fund for Katrina Relief and Renewal.

http://www.spfund.org/

Redefining Progress, through its support of the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative and the Climate Justice Corps, is well-equipped to help Gulf Coast residents organize around, advocate for and educate their fellow residents, local and state governments and non-profit organizations on effecting positive solutions to the complex issues of rebuilding a safer, healthier and more secure Gulf Coast.

To help support this crucial work, visit Redefining Progress's website:

https://secure.ga3.org/01/redefiningprogress?rphome

We are mobilizing for action: on Saturday, Sept. 17, two emerging leaders of the environmental movement who have gone through RP's Climate Justice Corps program will join executive director Michel Gelobter to announce the expansion of the program at the Clinton Global Initiative gathering in New York City. Nia Robinson, 2003 CJC member with Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice in Detroit, Michigan and Brittany Cochran, 2004 CJC member with the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in New Orleans, Louisiana will share their experience and present the vision of the program to an audience of world leaders, including Tony Blair of Britain, President Jacques Chirac of France, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, President Victor Yushchenko of Ukraine and the United Nations' Secretary General Kofi Annan. More about this program can be found at the EJCC's website. http://ejcc.org/


From EF! Media Center

September 16, 2005

Dear Friend of Sea Shepherd,

I am currently in the midst of my
http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050812_1.html Speaking Tour in Canada. I have just left Calgary, headed for Winnipeg tomorrow, Michigan on Sunday, and Toronto on Monday. The response so far has been great - the attendance has been wonderful, I have done many press interviews, and have garnered much support. Many who attended have been inspired to get involved and are meeting with their local ministers of parliament to voice their objection to the annual seal slaughter.

At the end of next week, I will be heading to South Africa to attend the http://www.seashepherd.org/events.html Hermanus Whale Festival then returning to the Galapagos.

Currently, the Farley Mowat and crew are in the Galapagos where the crew is assisting the park rangers in patrolling the Marine Reserve. There, we will renew our agreement with the Galapagos National park to allow the park to use our patrol boat Sirenian for conservation enforcement work.

On our way to the Galapagos, we stopped at
http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050825_2.html Malpelo, Columbia, where we delivered supplies to the park rangers. We will be returning to Malpelo to enter into an agreement with the Director of the National Parks of Colombia to enforce conservation regulations against poaching in the Malpelo Island Marine Reserve.

In early October, the Farley Mowat will be departing Galapagos for Melbourne, Australia - our next stop in reaching the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, where we will defend and protect endangered whales from the Japanese whaling fleet.

I am pleased to announce that we have added a new section to our website entitled: http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/whales.html Defending Whales. There you will find information on Sea Shepherd's upcoming campaign to Antarctica, our history protecting whales, issues facing whales around the world, and how you can take action to help protect these gentle giants.

For those of you in the Pacific Northwest, you probably know that the http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/whales_attend_makah_hearings.html Makah plan a return to whale killing. In October of 2005, there will be three public hearings held by the United States Federal Government required in federal environmental law to prepare an environmental impact statement. We encourage all who can to attend these hearings and voice your opposition. If you are interested in attending with a group of Sea Shepherd members, please email Connie at mailto:connie@seashepherd.org

On October 8th, Sea Shepherd will be participating with dozens of other organizations in the
http://www.seashepherd.org/taiji/taiji_worldwide_protest.html Japan Dolphin Day in protest of the slaughter of over 20,000 dolphins to take place in Japan. There are demonstrations scheduled at Japanese consulates and embassies around the world around the world. If you are interested in organizing a demonstration in your city at a Japanese embassy or consulate, please contact us at volunteer@seashepherd.org

I also want to let you know about another place where seals are in danger - this time in South Africa. Long-time friend of Sea Shepherd, Francois Hugo, has been working as Seal Alert - South Africa to stop the senseless slaughter of the beautiful Cape fur seals. He is trying to gather a petition to the government and also to raise USD$18,000 to purchase a 24' long by 15' wide catamaran. It will be used as a floating platform that can house rehabilitation equipment, freezer, liquidizer, etc. It will allow Francois to stay abroad for 24-7, and is big enough to accommodate 50 to 100 seals needing rehab. You can read about his campaigns on our http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050819_1.html Seal Alert Page, view slide shows of the Cape Fur seals, learn how to sign the petition, and support his work with a financial donation.

As you can see, we have many battles to wage. Your participation is crucial for the defenseless marine animals we work to protect and I thank you for your continued support.

Captain Paul Watson


Support Sea Shepherd

http://www.seashepherd.org/donate.html

Join and Donate Now

Sea Shepherd and the Whales

http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/whales.html
Whale Campaign Home Page


http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/whales_SSCS_history.html SSCS History Saving Whales

http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/whales_intelligent.html
The Intelligent Whale

http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/whales_world.html
Whaling Around the World

http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/whales_what_you_can_do.html
What You Can Do

Seal Campaign

http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals.html
Seal Campaign Home Page

http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals_boycott.html
Boycott Canadian Seafood - *You have the power to end the seal hunt!*

News Releases

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050916_1.html
Two Good Reasons to Read OUTSIDE Magazine This Month

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050908_1.html
Sea No Walrus, Hear No Walrus, Do Not Speak of the Walrus

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050906_1.html
Bogus Hunt, Bogus Poll, and Bogus Politicians

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050905_1.html
Sea Shepherd Board Member Elizabeth May Receives the Order of Canada

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050826_2.html
Twelve Reasons to Oppose the Plans by the Makah Whales to Murder Whales

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050826_1.html
Shark Killers Get No Favors from Sea Shepherd

Announcements

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050812_1.html
Captain Paul Watson's Canadian Speaking Tour

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050711_2.html
Sea Shepherd Unveils Dead Lobster T-shirt Design - *Order your T-Shirt Today!*

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050513_1.html
Sea Shepherd Unveils it's Seal of Approval Campaign

Commentary and Editorials


http://www.seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_050912_1.html
Report on the Sierra Summit


http://www.seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_050831_1.html
Vancouver Chefs Stand Up to Defend the Fish


http://www.seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_050802_1.html
World Wildlife Fund Validates Sea Shepherd Efforts


http://www.seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_050801_2.html
Watson Vs. Moore in the San Francisco Examiner and the Denver Post


Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization in the U.S. Founded in 1977 by Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd's mission is to defend, conserve, and protect marine wildlife and their habitats.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Sea Shepherd! Working together we will succeed.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society PO Box 2616 Friday Harbor, WA 98250 USA Phone: (360) 370-5650 Fax: (360) 370-5651
Website: http://www.seashepherd.org/
Email: info@seashepherd.org


From EF! Media Center

Center for Biological Diversity

Public's right to know threatened - save NEPA

YOUR COMMENTS NEEDED TO SUPPORT THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT (NEPA) ASK CONGREE TO DEFEND SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN DECISIONS AFFECTING PUBLIC HEALTH AND RESOURCES

The House Resources Committee has formed a NEPA Task Force which will soon make recommendations expected to substantially diminish public and scientific review of federal projects. Write your House and Senate representatives and ask them to fight to maintain, fully fund, and eliminate exceptions to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Reasons to protect NEPA and points you may wish to include in your comments:

1. NEPA ensures that the BEST SCIENCE will be used to design federal projects and minimize damage to public health and public resources

2. NEPA ensures that the public - taxpayers, the owners of public lands and resources - fully participate in decisionmaking about how OUR TAX DOLLARS are spent

3. NEPA ensures that federal agencies consider ALTERNATIVES in order to design projects that minimize risk

4. By minimizing risk and catching bad projects before they are implemented, NEPA AVOIDS UNNECESSARY DAMAGE TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT - as well as costly lawsuits and controversy

5. NEPA is integral to our democracy - it costs money and it takes time, but so do most worthwhile endeavors, including democracy itself.

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Your Congressperson
Your Senators
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Protect democracy, Protect NEPA
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
I strongly oppose any changes to or weakening of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

I use public lands for wildlife watching, research, education, and enjoyment. I frequently participate in the NEPA process.

Many depend on the environment for our livelihood. Wildlife-related recreation (plant and wildlife watching, photography, etc.) generates more than $100 billion in annual economic activity in the U.S. and supports countless jobs and businesses. Healthy ecosystems are essential to strong economies

I rely on NEPA to give land and resource managers the information and analyses they need to avoid unnecessary damage to native plants and their habitats. I also rely on NEPA to allow me - as a taxpayer, voter, and member of the public - to keep track of how our tax dollars and public lands are used. NEPA's environmental analysis, public disclosure, and public review requirements help ensure that federal agencies do not engage in activities that threaten our environment, jobs, industries, economies or public health.

The National Environmental Policy Act is not only central to our ability to conserve plants and their habitats; it is also the law which brings the public and democracy into environmental policy and management.

NEPA requires that the best science will be used to design federal projects and minimize damage to public health and public resources. NEPA requires that federal agencies consider alternatives in order to minimize risks.

I understand that some find NEPA's mandates cumbersome, but high quality land and resource management is a cumbersome process, as is democracy itself. NEPA protects the public from careless or dangerous federal actions. If NEPA is weakened, federal bureaucrats will have ever greater and more arbitrary power to determine how our taxes are used and how our resources and public health are protected.

Finally, chronic and severe underfunding and understaffing of the agencies that implement NEPA, not the provisions o f the law itself, are the greatest barrier to timely and complete NEPA analyses. Underfunding and understaffing also contribute to the inadequacy of many NEPA analyses which leads to unnecessary controversy and even litigation. Instead of weakening the law, Congress should increase funding for implementation of the law so that it can function expeditiously and effectively.

Please maintain a strong NEPA. Thank you for your attention to these concerns.

Sincerely,

(your name)

Take Action! Instructions: Click here to take action on this issue
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/nepa/iw837u2o5wjm6b?

Tell-A-Friend: Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-Friend!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/nepa/forward/iw837u2o5wjm6b?

What's At Stake: The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, another of our bedrock environmental laws, is under attack this Congressional session. NEPA is not only central to our ability to conserve plants and their habitats, IT IS ALSO THE LAW WHICH BRINGS THE PUBLIC AND DEMOCRACY INTO ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND MANAGEMENT. NEPA requires that the federal government provide the public with the opportunity to review the impacts of federal projects - such as highway construction, dam construction, pesticide and herbicide use, logging, grazing, or any other federal project which may affect the environment or public health - on OR off public lands. Under NEPA, agencies are required to prepare environmental analyses, such as environmental impact statements, that use the best science to analyze and disclose possible impacts of federal projects. If a project analysis finds significant environmental impacts, alternatives that minimize or eliminate damage must be developed and also submitted for public review. The Bush Administration and Congress have already limited or eliminated NEPA analysis and review requirements for numerous projects and activities including: . Several types of logging on National Forests, even in roadless areas . Airport expansion . Highway construction . Livestock grazing management plans that can be locked in place without public or scientific review for decades RESOURCES COMMITTEE NEPA TASK FORCE: Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), a longtime opponent to NEPA and other environmental laws, has formed a "NEPA Task Force" to develop "reforms" to the law. The Task Force has held hearings, and plans to issue a report and recommendations in the fall. NEPA supporters from the environmental and scientific community have been systematically excluded from the hearings (see abbreviated news story below). The Resources Committee NEPA Task Force is online . News Article on limits on testimony to Resources Committee NEPA Task Force: August 10, 2005 HOUSE NEPA TASK FORCE SHUTTING OUT ENVIRONMENTALISTS A House Task Force formed in April to gather citizen input for possible changes in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)-- the cornerstone of America's environmental protection framework-- has been shutting out access for pro-environment witnesses.

Created by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) a dedicated opponent of environmental regulations, the task force is chaired by Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-WA). "We don't need to have 10 people say nothing needs to be improved," said McMorris, at a recent hearing in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. "We want to hear from the people who have problems with NEPA."

[1] At a hearing in Texas last month, seven of the nine invitees represented industry, and only two were environmentalists.

[2] NEPA is designed to protect natural resources and support public participation in government. The law requires federal officials to make a careful assessment of potential environmental damage for a proposed project, and offer alternatives when necessary. Frustrated that her group was denied the opportunity to discuss NEPA at the Texas hearing, Phyllis Dunham, of the Southern Plains Sierra Club, told BushGreenwatch, "We requested a chance to speak at the hearing, but they did not offer us an invitation." Environmentalists charge that selective invitations aren't the only way the task force has prevented environmental interests from entering the review process, pointing out that inadequate notification of the hearings' times, locations, and invited witnesses have also filtered out environmental concerns.

The Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, the only two environmental groups invited to the hearing, were faxed invitations only days before it was to take place. The task force required the groups to identify a representative and submit their oral and written comments within 24 hours. According to the Club's website, "Both organizations had to decline given the impossible 1-day deadline, and obligations to the pre-existing Fossil Creek community event." Not even Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), the ranking democratic member of the task force could attend the Texas hearing, citing that he was only given two weeks notice. "The task force needs to be better at publicizing where they will be and including all the people who have a stake in this issue," says Udall. "These so-called public hearings are a well kept secret. They are announced at the last minute, witness panels are not revealed until a couple of days beforehand and are usually dominated by industry representatives, and there is no effort to reach out to the public to get them involved," said the Sierra Club's Dunham.

Campaign Expiration Date: October 1, 2005



From EF! Media Center

#127 WILD NORTHWEST, September 15, 2005 A Message from Conservation Northwest =====Keeping the Northwest Wild=====

Bill Poised to Eliminate Key Provisions of the Endangered Species Act
Your call to Congress could help turn the tide

The Endangered Species Act is America's safety net that protects wildlife, fish, and plants on the brink of extinction. This cornerstone of US environmental protection law has protected hundreds of animals including the bald eagle, grizzly bear, gray wolf, peregrine falcon, and countless others from almost certain extinction.

House Resources Committee Richard Pombo, who has made it his legislative priority to dismantle the Endangered Species Act, has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday, September 20, for a bill that would eliminate key protections in the Endangered Species Act. He is calling for a full committee vote on Thursday, September 22. Please take a moment to call your Member of Congress! The Capitol Switchboard is (202) 224-3121. Ask them to oppose this and any bill that would weaken the Endangered Species Act and endanger our national heritage . Rep. Pombo is out of step with the American people, 86 percent of whom support the Endangered Species Act.

In particular if you live in Representative Cathy McMorris' district in and around Spokane, please make this call. Rep. McMorris serves on the House Resources Committee and so has a very large say in natural resource issues.

Background: It is especially important that members of the House Resources Committee hear from their constituents. Find the names of committee members at
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/fullcommittee/members.htm .

Go to http://www.conservationnw.org/wildlife/PomboBill_Sept05.html for more on Rep. Pombo's draft bill. Find your Representative at http://www.vote-smart.org . For more on the ESA, please visit http://www.saveesa.org . Thank you, as ever, for keeping the Northwest wild!

Erin Moore
Publications Coordinator
Conservation Northwest
1208 Bay St., Ste. 201 Bellingham, WA 98225
360.671.9950 ext. 24


From EF! Media Center

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=91626;show_parent=1



WE CAN STOP ROBERTS AND THIS IS HOW WE'RE GOING TO DO IT

The Bolton Precedent

TAKE ACTION NOW at http://www.nocrony.com

The first thing we need to understand is that we the people have the unilateral POWER, right now by ourselves, to stop John Roberts. All that is required is the WILL for us to do it. He CAN be stopped.

The second thing we need to understand is that Roberts represents game, set and match for the dismantling of EVERY progressive court we hold so dear. He MUST be stopped.

Roberts' proponents say that the president warned us he would put forward a judge in the mold of Scalia and Thomas. We all know their extreme biases. And yet in his hearing Roberts has repeatedly denied that he has any policy values of his own, just he has denied that he was a member of the Federalist society
(where he had a leadership role). Therefore, he is not only a reactionary ideologue, he is a LYING reactionary ideologue, a walking Trojan Horse of right wing policy initiatives. And that makes him all the worse.

HOW WE'RE GOING TO DO IT (a practical plan)

Let's get right to the HOW. There are 44 Democratic senators and one independent. Let us assume we will get no Republican votes against. It is pointless to appeal to their constituency, who are in fact in the minority if the truth be known. All we have to do mobilize our OWN constituency. If we just do that we can have a filibuster and we WIN.

Mobilize means for us, ALL of us, to get serious about getting people to talk to their members of Congress. That is how the other side has always done it. This is what we must do:

1. WEB SITE ACTIONS

All progressive blogs must FEATURE a prominent Stop Roberts action center. If you have a web page of any kind, the absolute bare minimum is to have in the top fold of your main index page (if not on every page of your site) the toll-free Capitol telephone number
(877-762-8762), plus an exhortation to call your senators specifically to oppose Roberts, and not in teeny-tiny type, but in large bold type that nobody could miss.

If you want to do more, we have a dedicated action page at http://www.nocrony.com that you can link to. It will send a personal message directly to both of your senators, and at the same time you can automatically send a Letter to the Editor of your nearest daily newspaper all with just one click. You can copy the "Tell our senators NO" button at the top of this page to put on your site and you'll have the toll-free phone number right here too. If you have another action page somewhere you like post a PROMINENT featured link to that instead, but for heaven's sake DO something.

If you have a mailing list of any kind of your own opt-ins, do a mailing emphasizing the importance of this action and provide the toll-free number AND link to http://www.nocrony.com. Direct email is one of the most effective tools for generating messages to Congress.

2. RADIO ACTIONS

All progressive radio personalities must dedicate part of EVERY show to giving out the toll-free Senate phone number
(877-762-8762) and to rally your listeners to take action on this. Don't just assume people know it already or can find it on their own. PROMOTE it. Talk is not enough, not even close. We must convert advocacy into ACTION. In the same way that a single run of an ad on your radio station will not have sufficient impact standing alone, you must make this a recurrent theme of your show and keep REPEATING it, at least for the next week or so.

At the same time you can give out the URL of the main action page, http://www.nocrony.com, or any other easy to say and remember web address you like, to get people to email or phone or fax their members of Congress. In addition all the other things above that apply to other web sites apply to you as well. Feature the Senate toll-free phone number and action links and do it prominently on your main page, your blogs, and ideally on ALL your pages at least in one of your side columns.

And as a listener of your favorite progressive radio show, call in. Encourage them to get on the case to give out the toll-free number, and to give out web links and post them on their sites. Talk about this on the air when they put you on.

We must communicate to our members of Congress in every way that this is a deal breaker for us. This particular nominee is a threat to absolutely anything else Congress might try to do in the future, as he UN-legislates from the bench. Any democrat who votes for this nominee or even for cloture must never hold public office in any capacity again and they must be made to understand this by our emails, our faxes, our phone calls, and our letters to the editor. We stopped Bolton (at least in the Senate) and we can and will stop this nominee as well. To any remaining doubting Thomas's we say this to you, "Defeatism is the treason of our own minds."

THE ARGUMENTS:

1. CONCEALMENT OF CRITICALLY RELEVANT DOCUMENTS

Some people thought that the compromise on the filibuster would doom any opposition to offensive nominees, and indeed, some very offensive ones were allowed to pass to obtain that compromise. And yet, just three days later the Senate sustained a filibuster of John Bolton (which continued to hold), on the grounds that the administration was refusing to disclose documents relevant to the consideration of the nominee. That is exactly the situation here. They have totally frustrated any meaningful opportunity to cross-examine this nominee by stonewalling access to any of his memos from the last 20 years, materials that previous administrations have always disclosed as to other Supreme Court nominees.

The senators on the other side and the nominee in particular have repeatedly complained about being asked about 20 year old documents. Well, guess what, because of the bad faith refusal of the administration to cooperate that's all we have to work from. Mr. Roberts the lawyer would never even consider trying a case without access to ALL the documents and evidence he had a RIGHT to review. And just like Bolton, this nominee must be rejected until and unless all relevant documents are produced.

2. AN UNPOPULAR PRESIDENT HAS NO PREROGATIVE

The primary argument we have heard from the other side is that he's the president's choice and that should be enough. They are saying in essence, "Ha, ha, we won the last election, too bad." And yet now, just 10 months later, Mr. Bush is the most UNPOPULAR second term president in history. His bad judgment in crisis after crisis has brought shame and destruction to our country and cost thousands if not tens of thousands of innocent American lives. There are now too many dead bodies for even them to hide, though they've tried that in New Orleans too. Bush's nominee Bolton, who he stubbornly rammed through over the objections of the good judgment of the Senate, has done nothing but create chaos and disruption at the UN already, to the dismay of even our closest ally, Great Britain. His selection of partisan cronies for FEMA management positions crippled that agency's ability to protect us. We no LONGER trust the choices of Mr. Bush.

If there were to be an election today, with his popularity in free fall, there is no doubt Bush would be soundly defeated. And by calling on people to contact their members of Congress, what we are doing is calling for a NATIONAL REFERENDUM, by email, by fax, by phone call and by letter to the editor, not only on this nominee, but on the Bush presidency. If the other side wants to rest their argument on whether this president has any mandate, then let us demonstrate just how little support Bush actually retains. Roberts will wreck the Supreme Court just as Bush has wrecked every other aspect of our lives, and we must speak out now to stop the looming catastrophe.

Indeed, even the last election would certainly have gone the other way had it not been for widespread vote fraud and suppression, COMBINED with the corrupt collaboration of the corporate mainstream media in suppressing or ignoring any stories negative to Bush's election prospects, and exaggerating the importance of any stories smearing his opponents. Just yesterday there was a story on the AP wire service with the headline "Roberts DODGES questions about abortion," and yet within hours the word "dodge" had disappeared from the Yahoo site and was REPLACED with a spin job using the word "rebuff" and the word "abortion" was gone too. This is scary, SCARY stuff. There's a Greek chorus out there of big media voices trying to sell the public on this nominee like it's a foregone conclusion, but still they have NOT heard from we the people yet. Be ye not conned, this is not over no matter what the talking heads say.

3. ROBERTS HAS NOT BEEN CANDID ABOUT HIS TRUE AGENDA

Who are they trying to kid? We ALL know exactly how Roberts is going to rule. He's going to vote AGAINST us, we the people, and in favor of every corporate special interest, in favor of absolute power for the chief executive, every single time and without exception. They know it, we know it, and Roberts himself knows it. That's why all the most extreme reactionaries in the country are so hot for this guy. And the shame of it is that this nominee will not even admit he has an opinion on PAST cases upon which we have come to trust on and rely. Even worse, for all his theoretical legal platitudes about stare decisis he has been breathtaking in leaving the door open that under him it would be open season on revisiting just about every progressive court decision of the last
100 years, if only a case were to come before him.

The Republican senators on the judiciary committee have repeatedly encouraged the nominee to NOT answer questions on the merits, to be evasive and call it integrity. Roberts has testified at length and said absolutely nothing of substance, like the enormously slick lawyer he is. But one interesting thing he did say is that as a lawyer he could take EITHER side of a case and make a reasonable argument. And you better believe that in ruling against us time after time, he will always find a CLEVER way to make extremism sound reasonable, and that is precisely why he is so dangerous. He said it is not the job of a lawyer to have a position on the issues, but ultimately it IS the job of a judge. The law is not just a mechanical exercise in applying precedents to the facts. All judges have values that they bring to every case, which they at last must fall back on. And in not disclosing the agenda that his entire career strongly suggests that he has, he does NOT deserve and cannot be trusted with the job of a Supreme Court judge, let alone chief justice.

The American people now understand that they were sold a dishonest bill of goods in the last election and are having big time buyer's remorse. As recently as a year ago Mr. Bush seemed to many like a wise and capable leader, but now many more realize the depth of his perverse bad judgment. The only reason why he has not ALREADY been called out for impeachment for his many crimes and catastrophes is because the Republican party cares more about their own power than the good of the American people. He has wrecked our economy, our budget, our military, and in the exercise of his criminal negligence now an entire major U.S. city. But still he will be removed eventually. It is not so easy to remove an equally destructive Supreme Court chief justice.

And superficially Mr. Roberts may seem like a nice, reasonable guy. That is the biggest lie of all. His hearing responses bear an uncanny resemblance to a press conference with Scott McClellan, only infinitely more smooth. He might as well have said over and over, "Again, we're not going to get into playing the agenda game." In fact, for all we know he is WORSE than the flaming reactionary that peeks through some of his early memos, he's just gotten a lot better at concealing it. A person who claims to stand for nothing is the very DEFINITION of someone with an agenda. If he would just be honest with the American people, we might consider him on that basis. His failure to evidence any such candor makes his rejection mandatory.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Nobody expected Roberts to beat himself. We all expected a masterful exercise in dodging any questions about what he really stood for. The reactionary elements who are pushing this guy were not going to repeat the Bork mistake, who spoke freely and was quite forthcoming about his positions on the issues, and who left a wide paper trail of statements, writings and speeches. Instead they have spent decades grooming a stealth candidate, with little visible record, and are trying to hustle him into the top slot of the Supreme Court before anybody else can get a handle on what they are really voting for.

Never before has a judge been pushed upward with such rash haste. The idea that a president with plummeting popularity should have carte blanche to appoint any closet reactionary he likes is absurd. We don't want a pig in a poke for chief justice. Give us a nominee for the Supreme Court with a track record. Give us a nominee with enough opinions out there so that we know who it is that is actually going to control every aspect of all of our lives for the rest of all of our lives. Tell your senators that if Roberts gets the job IT WILL SURELY COST THEM THEIR OWN. They will get the message and we will win.

We stopped Bolton and everyone thought it was a miracle. It was not. We generated 30,000 emails opposing Bolton, each to two senators. And we're going to stop Roberts, all we have to do is believe. It is said that evil can only prevail when good people do nothing.

TAKE ACTION NOW at http://www.nocrony.com

Forward this email to everyone you know, and encourage its posting on blogs and websites.

Originally posted by The Pen to change-links.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/150/150_scott_explusion_new_orleans.html

Bring the Ruckus! http://www.agitatorindex.org Updated regularly


Informant: Michael Novick

http://www.traprockpeace.org/bring_them_home_now_tour.html


Informant: Charles Jenks

From ufpj-news

CounterPunch
by James Petras

09/16/05

On September 19 the first federal conspiracy trial of civilian war resisters to the US invasion of Iraq will take place in Binghamton, New York, a declining and decaying city in upstate New York, 3 hours northwest of New York City. This is the second trial of the 'St Patrick Four' ... they were acquitted a year earlier by a jury in Ithaca, New York by a 9 to 3 vote in which the presiding Judge David Peeble conceded that the four had represented themselves 'probably better than some of the attorneys that practice in this court.' The trial of the St. Pat Four has national significance because it raises several fundamental issues regarding constitutional freedoms and the Bush-Gonzalez ongoing campaign to silence and intimidate dissent and public expressions of opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars...

http://www.counterpunch.org/petras09162005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Tom Paine
by Nick Penniman

09/16/05

Remember how, when President Bush opened up our public lands to logging, he called it 'Healthy Forests?' And remember how, when he gutted the Clean Air Act, he called it 'Clear Skies?' The plan he rolled out last night to rebuild the Gulf Coast should have been called the 'New Great Society.' As MSNBC's Joe Scarborough remarked during one post-speech spin session, aspects of the $300 billion plan would put Lyndon Johnson to shame. At least, that's how it appeared on TV. The reality is, of course, very different from the rhetoric... [editor's note: This is another cry for "more public funding," in the face of the very real failure of FEMA and the Bushites to even ACT, or release what was already collected for the purpose; as usual, it misses the point entirely in its cry for tax hikes to subsidize more incompetence! - SAT]

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050916/sea_change.php


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Sierra Times
by Robert F. Hawes Jr.

09/17/05

One of the most interesting, but curiously obscure, incidents in American history took place on May 25, 1861. It was on that day, at approximately 2:00 in the morning, that a Maryland man by the name of John Merryman was awakened by federal soldiers, taken from his home and imprisoned at Fort McHenry on the basis that he was involved with a group of armed, pro-secession advocates. Despite the nature of the accusation against him, no warrant was ever issued for Merryman. ... The arrest was carried out solely by military authorities for reasons having to do with 'public safety.' ... Enter the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon. True to the Lincoln paradigm, our federal government reacted by immediately undertaking a series of fiat actions that have significantly undermined our constitutionally protected liberties, all in the name of security...

http://www.sierratimes.com/05/09/17/199_232_229_39_17181.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Robert Kuttner

09/17/05

One thing we learned from Hurricane Katrina is that America still has a lot of poor people, who are disproportionately black, and mostly invisible to the affluent and to the media. Behind the glitzy stage set of the quaint New Orleans tourist economy was a grindingly poor city. Most poor people work for a living, just like most middle class people do. They are the people who the Rev. Jesse Jackson famously said 'take the early bus,' and take care of other people's young children and aging parents, sometimes at cost to their own families. In this decade, the working poor have not done well. The Labor Department reports that wages of nonmanagement workers have lagged behind inflation, and low-income workers in particular...

http://tinyurl.com/bekw9


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Moscow Times
by Chris Floyd

09/16/05

Four years ago, the United States was hit by a terrorist attack. Three days later, the U.S. Congress signed away the people's freedom, writing a blank check for tyranny to a ludicrous little man installed in office after the most dubious election in American history. Last week, the poisonous after-effects of this abject surrender took yet another sinister turn, as Bush factotums in the courts once again upheld the Leader's arbitrary power over the life and liberty of his subjects...

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/09/16/120.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC
by Brian Williams

09/16/05

I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. 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, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it ... jump to certain conclusions. ... It is impossible to over-emphasize the extent to which this area is under government occupation, and portions of it under government-enforced lockdown...

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


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0918-27.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

09/19/05

Just as the Bush administration was looking for an excuse -- any excuse -- to take out after Iraq, the anthrax horror reared its head and silenced any remaining opposition to the war plans of this administration, at least momentarily. It all seems like such a terribly convenient coincidence. In retrospect, it was as much a part of the vortex of fearmongering that sucked us into war as tales of Iraqi WMD palmed off by Ahmed Chalabi's 'heroes in error' and the extravagant effusions of Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice. No, I am not suggesting that the U.S. government or the Bush administration carried out these attacks: yet whoever did surely had in mind making it easier for the War Party to unleash mass death and destruction in the Middle East, a veritable wave of hate that would carry us to Baghdad and beyond...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7312


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

WorldNetDaily
by Vox Day

09/19/05

President Bush's recent speech on his administration's planned long-term response to Hurricane Katrina marked an interesting point in the continued devolution of American conservatism. Whereas his first five years had previously been a strange combination of strategic Wilsonian foreign policy and tactical Keynesian domestic policy, the president managed to make it abundantly clear that in domestic terms, his presidential guiding light is Lyndon Baines Johnson, not Ronald Wilson Reagan. Real conservatives now understand they have been betrayed -- badly -- by this fraudulent man. Compassionate conservatism, as it turns out, is simply another name for Great Society liberalism, and not even the Texas swagger is original. Genuinely conservative Republicans are dismayed by the president's unveiling of his core liberalism and rightly fear for the future of a party which has likely seen its high-water mark already...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46398


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Cato Institute
by David Boaz

09/19/05

You've got to hand it to the advocates of big government. They're never embarrassed by the failures of government. On the contrary, the state's every malfunction is declared a reason to give government more money and more power. Take Hurricane Katrina, a colossal failure of government at every level -- federal, state, and local. Thirteen days after the hurricane, the Sunday Washington Post blared, 'The Steady Buildup to a City's Chaos/Confusion Reigned at Every Level of Government.' And what's the response of the big-government crowd? 'The era of small government is over'...

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4819


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith

09/18/05

[T]he simple truth is that the market acquired its present distorted shape precisely because of regulation. Using government as a tool, the big companies fixed it so it's extremely hard to start a company, and so that long-term survival is much more difficult than it would likely be in a free economy. ... It took me about half of my adult life (so far) to realize, and admit to myself, that Ayn Rand was dead wrong about corporations and the system everybody calls 'capitalism' which is, in fact, the very mercantilism that Adam Smith denounced in Wealth of Nations.

http://www.bibliomania.com/2/1/65/112/frameset.html

I kept wondering why American business didn't recognize us as their intellectual saviors and shower us with grants and campaign donations. For the most part, corporations are evil, and -- here's the important part -- every bit as threatening to individual life, liberty, and property as the government, of which they are, in fact, a malign tentacle...

http://www.ncc-1776.com/tle2005/tle337-20050918-02.html

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)

09/14/05

In a swift and crucial victory for freedom of speech and academic freedom, Brooklyn College has affirmed that prominent professor KC Johnson will not be subjected to an unconstitutional inquisition into his views. The college surrendered mere days after the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) came to Johnson's public defense...

http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/6266.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe

09/18/05

The affluent areas of this city are humming with activity as reconstruction efforts pick up tempo, but many of the black working-class and poor neighborhoods remain deluged in noxious flood water or coated in its putrid residue and populated mostly by dragonflies and National Guardsmen. Even as the nation unites to rebuild this stricken region, New Orleans's longstanding race and class divides appear to persist. The haves are beginning to pick up the pieces of their former lives, while many have-nots may be forced to simply pick up and leave. Recovery is well underway in the French Quarter and in the tony Garden District and Uptown, which largely were spared when the levees broke because they sit on But their lower-lying and often poorer counterparts may remain unsafe and may be uninhabitable for a year or longer, with entire neighborhoods slated for the wrecking ball, said state and federal officials. And with each passing week, former residents of these communities, evacuated around the country, are more likely to start life anew elsewhere, said federal officials and urban affairs specialists...

http://tinyurl.com/ahk43


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Washington Post

09/18/05

Three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck, red tape and poor planning have left thousands of evacuees without basic services, according to local and state officials, public policy experts and survivors themselves. Hundreds of thousands of people from New Orleans and Gulf Coast communities have fled, sometimes to neighboring states and beyond, moving in with friends and family or into shelters, public housing and hotels funded by the Red Cross. With little guidance from federal and state governments -- and no single person or entity in charge of the overall operation -- cities and counties have been left on their own to find survivors homes, schools, jobs and health care. A patchwork of policies has resulted, causing relief agencies to sometimes work at cross-purposes...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/17/AR2005091701392.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

We are here to make a better world. No amount of rationalization or blaming can preempt the moment of choice each of us brings to our situation here on this planet. – Abbie Hoffman Have Mouse, Will Influence ! We've got a lot of mouse-work to do!

In the rule book of email communication, there is a "never-break" rule: Do NOT address more than one topic in a single email. Well, if you know me at all you know that I'm likely to break rules if I think as I go. This email is no exception.

There are a bunch of items which are all important, all need your attention and all need your action. So instead of sending you separate emails I thought it would be most efficient to list the items that need action now and ask you to take action on each of them and then pass this email along to the people in your circle of influence.

In order to make it easy for people on your email list to use the action information in this email, I have not only provided an active link but the URL itself in case the link does not stay active when you send it.

Although each of these action items may seem unrelated, they are all joined by the single, central theme of Health Freedom. Each of them represents a significant threat or opportunity to strengthen our position and position our strength at the same time.

In the weird algebra of Congress, a single email, fax or phone call is equal to the opinion of 13,000 voting constituents!

Your voice counts -- 13,000 times! Action Item #1: Congress Needs a Congressional Briefing

You may remember that there was a Codex Briefing scheduled for Congress this week. That briefing seems to have been the casualty of internal events, NOT Big Pharma playing games with our event. That is good news. It means that getting another Congressional Codex Briefing to come about and actually take place is easier than I feared it might be.

We need to turn the pressure way up on Congress to tell them that they need to hold a Briefing on something they have never heard of! Your letters need to make it clear that we want them to get their information from us since we represent the voice of health and health freedom, not corporate interest.

I am pleased that it was not corporate shenanegans that cost us the opportunity to inform Congress about Codex. But we still need the opportunity and only we can create it.

I urge you to click here to email the members of your Congressional Delegation, http://tinyurl.com/c5jmw , and strongly urge them to set up a Congressional Codex Briefing. You can call the Congressional Switchboard (1-202-225-3121) and tell each of you Congressmen and women to hold a Codex Briefing. Congress is our main defense against dangerous and deadly Codex regulations becoming our laws here in the US. Yet Congress knows nothing about Codex.

Action Item #2: Tell Congress to Protect DSHEA

Congress is considering 5 bills
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/bills, which would overturn or gut the access we have to nutrients, supplements and herbs with no upper limits on their use. That access is assured by DSHEA, the 1994 Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act, passed by unanimous Congressional consent.

The politics here is remarkably simple: Winning is a numbers game. The number of vocal, voting, active people balances the number of corporate dollars. We don't have (and would not spend that way) the dollars that Big Pharma and its big friends have. But we have the votes that every Congressman needs to get through the next primary and the next general election as well.

If we do not raise our collective voices to a roar, the Bigs will win.

Action Item #3s: Join the EPA Scientists to Ban Fluoride

Thousands of concerned scientists from eleven unions of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) are petitioning Congress to remove fluoride from our drinking water even before the scheduled results of an EPA-requested review of the safety of their own fluoridation standards for drinking water that are due to be released in 2006.

A Brief History: American’s municipal drinking water has been fluoridated since the 1940's when the EPA mandated fluoridation of drinking water to decrease dental cavities. The form of fluoride used is hydrofluorosilicate, an unprocessed industrial waste byproduct of aluminum manufacturing. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never approved the ingestion of fluoride.

Fluoridation is ineffective in reducing dental caries but Harvard-based research, hidden from the public and the EPA for years, reveals that fluoridation of water is proved to cause osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, particularly in young boys.

Fluoride is one of the most toxic compounds in nature. It is the active ingredient in several pesticides and rodenticides. Fluoride’s many adverse health effects include:

Enhancement of lead toxicity, even when water and environmental lead levels are low

* Discoloration of teeth

* Damage to bones called skeletal fluorosis, a weakening of bones similar to osteoporosis, causing chronic bone pain and compression fractures

* Worsening of the impact of iodine deficiency, further contributing to serious health problems, notably hypothyroidism

* Contribution to amyloid deposits (associated with Alzheimer’s disease) in brains

* Association with higher rates of violent crime, substance abuse, and learning disabilities

Please Sign the Fluoride E-Petition

http://www.powalliance.org/petition/index.html

Still with me? There are a few more action steps before your mouse keels over with fatigue.

Action Item #4: Join the Eat Safe, Eat Smart Buy-Cott and Say "NO!" to GMOs

1. Contact your favorite companies by email. As the people who make (or market) your favorite foods, supplements, herbs, oils, etc., if the products they provide are free of Genetically Modified Organisms.

2. When the reply comes back, forward it to me.

3. If there are no GMOs in your supplements, foods, etc., we will mount that information on the site.

4. If there are GMOs, we will let people know that, too.

5. If you are involved with a company which sells foods and/or nutrients, contact them and ask for a return email answering yor question

We will post all information recieved so that we have an information exchange we can all learn from.

Action Item #5: Take Tessa on a Date (She is Still Alive, After All!)

Tessa, the heroine of John Le Carre's The Constant Gardener has become a rallying point for spreading the truth and for opposition to the pharmaceutical industry, its greed and corruption. Critically acclaimed, The Constant Gardener it is a must see movie for everyon in the country and beyond. In conjunction with the National Colation of Organized Women, http://www.progressiveconvergence.com/constant-gardner.htm , the Natural Solutions Foundation.
http://www.HealthFreedomUSA.org , is offering free movie tickets for people willing to hand out leaflets at a showing of The Constant Gardner.

This movie is so important that we believe every single person in America should see it. You won't be the same person afterwards.

Action Item #6: Create a Health Freedom Meetup Electronically

Experience Meetup, http://healthfreedom.meetup.org, first hand. It’s simple, it’s easy and it’s a really great political organization tool. Become an organizer and, pick a time, place and date and post it on the Meetup.com site. Then people can find you and come to the meetup. Why? So they form their own Health Freedom Meetup to explore and act on important items and good ideas. Without surrendering your privacy, people can find your Meetup and, throught he bulletin boards, you can create a community-based action unit.

Start a meetup. Go to http://healthfreedom.meetup.com . This site lets you tell others in your area that you are interested in health freedom and lets them find you. You pick a time, a location (a coffee shop or cafe is a typical place) and then you list yourself as the organizer. People will contact you and then, voila, there’s a meetup when and where you create one.

The Natural Solutions Foundation will provide you with Talking Points, Action Steps, Organizational Tools, etc. Just let me know you have organized a meetup by writing to me at info@healthfreedomusa.org. What a terrific way to hook up with others who feel the same way you do!

Don't delay: Meetup.com is one of the most powerful tools available to us. Help us use it.

Action Item # 7: Give Generously: Support the Natural Solutions Foundation

Your financial support is our total income. We have no corporate affilliations whatsoever and depend upon you to give geneously so that we can continue our work for you and your health. Join the Health Freedom 400, http://www.HealthFreedomUSA.org/donate . If only 400 people each gave just $25 we would reach our goal of $10,000 is jig time. We are past the half way point! We have raised more than $5000 because of your generosity. Please support our work. That’s simple and easy, too. Won’t you give generously and help support the fight to keep our natural health options alive? Every penny goes directly into fighting the way. That's my promise to you.

Thanks for exercising your mouse power!


Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD Medical
Director Natural Solutions Foundation rima.laibow@healthfreedomusa.org

ENDORSE the Dec 1 NATIONWIDE STRIKE AGAINST POVERTY, RACISM & WAR!

Download the pdf of the December 1 call/flyer
http://www.troopsoutnow.org/flyers/dec1call.pdf

Click HERE to add your name as an endorser of the call or volunteer to organize a local activity for the NATIONAL STRIKE AGAINST POVERTY RACISM AND WAR:

http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml

WE MUST TURN OUR OUTRAGE OVER KATRINA INTO A MOVEMENT On the 50TH Anniversary of Dec.1,1955 - the day in Montgomery Alabama that Rosa Parks sparked the modern Civil Rights Movement A CALL FOR A NATIONWIDE STRIKE AGAINST POVERTY, RACISM AND WAR No School - No Shopping - No Work local protests and teach-ins through December 2 and 3 Mass March on Wall Street, NYC SHUT THE WAR DOWN The People of New Orleans and the Gulf Must Control the Rebuilding, not Bush's Rich Friends! Solidarity with Katrina Survivors - We demand an Independent Investigation A JOB AT A LIVING WAGE is a human right Healthcare, Housing and Education, not war and occupation BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

The Outrage in New Orleans is a clarion call to the Antiwar and grassroots movement: The time has arrived to take our struggle to a higher level. Let us work together and organize a nationwide strike against Poverty, Racism and War on Dec. 1, 2005, the 50th anniversary of the day that Rosa Parks helped launch the modern civil rights movement.No School - No Shopping - No Work --local protests and teachins through December 2 and 3 -- A Mass March on Wall Street, NYC. It is time for the people to demonstrate that they can stop business as usual coast-to-coast when justice requires it. The war and occupation of Iraq, coupled with the Katrina Outrage, have demonstrated to the world the urgent necessity shut for fundamental change, and a movement that is big enough and determined enough to achieve the goal. Katrina has exposed the ugly truths about class and race, poverty, war and militarism. Our demand to end the war in Iraq and to bring the the troops home now must be backed up by the kind of mass tactics that signal we mean business. Fifty years ago, Black people in Montgomery, Al. were forced by law to sit in the back of public buses, and give their seats to any white person who demanded it. When Rosa Parks, a garment worker and civil rights activist, refused to give up her seat to a white man, she sparked the Montgomery bus boycott against segregation on public buses, one of the most successful and truly mass boycotts in history. The Montgomery bus boycott also introduced to the world a young reverend named Martin Luther King Jr., who became the boycott’s principal public leader.

Dec. 1 Nationwide strike against poverty, racism and war— Initiating organizations: Troops Out Now Coalition, Million Worker March Movement, Teamsters National Black Caucus, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice.

ENDORSE the call today or volunteer to ORGANIZE AN ACTIVITY IN YOUR AREA for the December 1 NATIONAL STRIKE AGAINST POVERTY, RACISM AND WAR!

http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml

For more information:

Troops Out Now Coalition
39 W 14th St Suite 206 New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
info@troopsoutnow.org
http://www.troopsoutnow.org