FCNL

This week, thanks to all your letters, emails, and phone calls, the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee cut funding for the nuclear "bunker buster" weapon. However, our work is not done. The Senate military authorization bill, which senators could vote on next week (by October 7), contains funding for the bunker buster.

Your senator is one of seven key members of Congress who could provide a crucial vote to cut funding for the nuclear bunker buster weapon. When the military authorization legislation comes to the floor of the full Senate, Sen. Ted Kennedy (MA) will offer an amendment to delete funding for the bunker buster. Please contact your senator to tell him or her to support the Kennedy amendment to the defense authorization bill.

Take Action Today

Senators Bayh (IN), Domenici (NM), Ben Nelson (NE), Bill Nelson (FL), Smith (OR), Snowe (ME), and Specter (PA) could provide the critical votes that will determine the outcome of the Kennedy amendment. They especially need to hear messages from their constituents asking them to support the Kennedy amendment on bunker busters.

Please email your senator and tell him or her to support the Kennedy amendment to the defense authorization bill. You can write to your senator from FCNL's web site:

http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=8070211&type=TA.

You will need to enter your zip code to see the sample letter.


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


Informant: David Culp

The universe of federal political appointees goes beyond Cabinet secretaries and their deputies and principal assistants. Lower-level "Schedule C" and other appointed jobs pay at the civil service scale and don't need to be confirmed by the Senate. Their numbers grew 24 percent from 2000 to 2004 and are included in the Plum Book, which is formally known as "United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/093005K.shtml

Records on file with the Federal Election Commission show that since 2003, Blunt's political action committee has paid $94,000 in salary to the consulting firm of Jim Ellis, a longtime associate of DeLay. Ellis has been indicted in the same case as DeLay, for allegedly conspiring to illegally influence the outcome of Texas legislative elections by channeling corporate money to Republican candidates.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/093005J.shtml

Reuters has told the US government that American forces' conduct towards journalists in Iraq is "spiraling out of control" and preventing full coverage of the war reaching the public.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/093005I.shtml

URGENT -HAS TO BE DONE TODAY

Sorry for the short notice, but this comment WILL count. PLEASE SEND FAR AND WIDE AS SOON AS YOU HAVE SENT YOUR EMAIL. Remember to include your name and address.

We have 36 hours to help ensure that every American vote will be counted in the 2008 election and beyond. The Federal Election Assistance Commission closes the public comment period on their proposed Voluntary Voting System Guidelines at 5 p.m. this Friday, September 30, 2005.

NOW IS THE TIME!!!

Please send an email with the following phrase or whatever you would like to express on the proposed guidelines immediately to votingsystemguidelines@eac.gov . Many technical people are submitting detailed comments, but we learned yesterday that governments around the world are WATCHING to see what America - YOU - think.

I want Section 6.8 to require a voter-verified paper audit trail for ALL voters and voting systems. It should be mandatory. The reasons why should be obvious.

The current proposal does NOT require voter-verified paper audit trail.

(I also added the following:)

Also to be included in the proposed guidelines:

- No secret, proprietary code for any voting systems.

- No voting machine companies to be used as the "central tabulating" center during elections or in any other capacity.

- No voting machine employee or executive, no state official or state employee that is involved in election planning or execution can be associated with any particular party's political campaign. (e.g. Blackwell as Sec. of State of Ohio AND Chairman of the Republican Party in Ohio - ridiculous and obviously flagrant conflict of interest.)

Signed,

Your name and address.

For fair elections, Nancy Wallace Co-founder, TrueVoteMD.org
Bobbie Brinegar Senior Political Adviser, VerifiedVoting.org

Nancy Wallace
nwallace@fastmail.fm


Informant: Andrea Ball

Ziervögel: Artenschützer fordern Wildvogel-Importverbot (30.09.05)

Anlässlich des Welttierschutztages am 4. Oktober macht die Artenschutzorganisation Pro Wildlife auf "das tödliche Geschäft mit Wildvögeln" aufmerksam: Etwa 3,5 Millionen Vögel würden jährlich der Natur entrissen, um die Nachfrage nach Papageien, Beos, Prachtfinken und anderen "Ziervögeln" allein in der EU zu decken. Die Hälfte dieser Tiere sterbe bereits bei Fang, Lagerung und Transport in den Herkunftsländern, die restlichen 1,75 Mio. Tiere würden "in Kisten gepfercht" und "völlig legal" in die EU gebracht. Eine Studie der Artenschutzorganisation von PRO WILDLIFE zeige, wie dieser Handel immer neue Arten an den Rand der Ausrottung treibe. Mit 87 Prozent der Importe sei die EU mit Abstand weltgrößter Abnehmer von Ziervögeln aus freier Wildbahn. Weit über 200 Tier- und Naturschutzverbände forderten von der EU, "den grausamen Vogelimport endlich zu verbieten". Auch zur Bekämpfung der Vogelgrippe sei ein solcher Schritt "längst überfällig", heißt es bei Pro Wildlife.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11971

V wrote:

We are going to see huge climate changes into the near future. The polar ice caps are melting not because the greenhouse effect, but because the increasing solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth. We are into an enlightening process that takes place also in the physical world, which is good news for sungazers.

The following info is from
http://www.worldclimatereport.com/index.php/2005/05/10/global-warming-something-new-under-the-sun/

Judging from three papers in the May 6 issue of Science, the amount of incoming solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth has increased dramatically in the last two decades.

If we average the results of Pinker et al. and Wild et al., we get 3.55 W/m2 for the period 1985 to 2000. To this we add 2.06 W/m2 from 2000 to 2004 and get 5.61 W/m2. If we divide this by 0.6 W/m2 (the total change in greenhouse forcing from 1985 to 2004, we get 9.35. The added forcing from increased solar radiation reaching the earth's surface has contributed nearly 10 times as much energy as greenhouse changes!

Enhanced greenhouse gases are inconsequential compared to the tremendous increase in solar energy hitting the surface. Apparently few want to admit to this.

The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, in 1991, lowered the amount of incoming solar radiation by about 1.5 W/m2 and subsequently dropped the surface temperature about a half of a degree within two years. A clear cause and effect. The rises now purported in solar radiation are several times larger than that.

If somehow we are wrong (a rare event), then greenhouse warming is over, as the sensitivity of the earth's temperature to carbon dioxide has been grossly overestimated. Believe us, we'd like to hope the latter is correct, but we have to call things in the most logical fashion.


Petre

Please find a new paper attached:

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/lebm_balmori.pdf

I hope it contributes to clarify the environmental and health serious problem of the mobile telephony. Thanks for your interest.

Best regards,

Alfonso Balmori.
Spain


From Mast Sanity

RESIDENTS have vowed to fight plans to build a mobile phone mast in the heart of their Chester community.

Vodafone wants to install a 15m pole at the Fox Barracks to introduce 3G coverage in the Moston area.

Householders near the proposed development received letters from the firm outlining its plans and asking for views and comments.

The mobile phone company chose the barracks after plans for a mast in the Demage Lane area were dropped following consultation with residents.

But the new site is likely to meet with similar opposition. One resident, Hayley Noden, said she was extremely worried about the plans.

Mrs Noden, a mother-of-two and who also has a step daughter, said: “I am really concerned about this mast being put there. We do not want to be living near a mast, especially when it has not been proved that they are safe. There will be children living and playing near this mast and that really worries me. It also concerns me that it is a 3G mast and they operate at an even higher frequency. Apart from that I think it would be a bit of an eyesore. This mast is not going to be hidden.

“We are only a small community and we are all against this. We do not want this mast here.”

A spokesman for Vodafone said: “Vodafone is in the process of securing a suitable site at Fox Barracks for a new radio base station in order to introduce 3G service to the Moston area.

Equipment

“The proposed mobile base station would consist of a 15m-high parallel column with three antennas and associated ancillary equipment. It is considered that at this height, the installation will be better assimilated into the street scene and therefore not have a detrimental impact upon the visual amenity of the area, However, we are inviting comments on this proposal in advance of our formal planning submission to Chester City Council.”

http://www.chestereveningleader.co.uk/ihome3/detail.asp?storyid=472&officeid=15

NOW goes inside the management mess at FEMA.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092905P.shtml

Two of three men charged with the mob-style hit of a businessman a few months after he sold a fleet of casino boats to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff were ordered held without bond Wednesday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092905J.shtml

David Sirota explores how the Katrina catastrophe proves that conservatives' tax cut zealotry has left America vulnerable to disaster.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092905G.shtml

Yesterday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) represented one of the most significant blows the party has suffered in a year replete with problems. Bush has been the party's public face. But in Washington, DeLay has been an iron force. With muscle and determination, DeLay ruled the inside game, and his indictment is therefore all the more significant.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092905B.shtml

From: CODEPINK <codepink@democracyinaction.org>

September 29, 2005

We have just come out of a glorious week of anti-war activities. CODEPINK activists from all over the c ountry converged on Washington DC to join over 300,000 others in a massive rally and march on Saturday, while others participated in spirited rallies in cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.

In DC, w e started the day with a fabulous pre-rally in the morning, where we were joined by Cindy Sheehan, Joan Baez, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, actress Margot Kidder, Iraq veteran Camilo Mejia and thousands of supporters. We then moved together in a sea of pink to join the march, keeping up a joyous tone w ith our chants, our songs and our “sister spirit.” The march was so huge that you couldn’t find the beginning or the end -- just waves and waves of people united in our call to end the killing.

On Monday many CODEPINK women took our anti-war message to the halls of Congress, joining more than 800 others in the largest-ever pro-peace lobby day organized by United for Peace and Justice. We urged our representatives to take every action to stop this war, support legislation to bring the troops home, stop building permanent bases in Iraq, and forbid schools from sharing student information with military recruiters without parental permission.

Also on Monday, a CODEPINK contingent went to the gate of the White House to deliver boxes and boxes of ‘reasons to end the war’ gathered from our www.onemillionreasons.org site, as well as from organizations such as MoveOn, Progressive Democrats of America and True Majority. Following that, a group of religious leaders sat in prayer in front of the White House, and 375 of us -- including Cindy Sheehan and other military families, veterans and 36 CODEPINK women -- joined them. Protesting in front of the White House in today’s America is a crime, and because we refused to move, we were arrested for “demonstrating without a permit.” One by one, we were dragged off, handcuffed, put in a paddy wagon or a bus, and shepherded through a LONG bureaucratic process of booking and fingerprinting that went on until the wee hours of the morning. We left exhausted but elated by our act of civil disobedience and the camaraderie we felt with each other.

Our week of action also included organizing an anti-corruption squad that protested in front of the DC office of Halliburton, a peace flotilla that went out in paddle boats onto the DC Tidal Basin with the call “Make Levees Not War,” A large vigil at Walter Reed hospital in support of wounded soldiers and vets, a premiere showing of Patricia Foulkrod’s searing film Ground Truth about the shattered lives of returning Iraq vets, a beautiful event at the Green Festival with authors from our Stop the Next War Now book, and a booth at the Peace and Justice fair on the Washington Mall. On top of that, we helped Cindy Sheehan with her packed schedule of talks, interviews and congressional meetings. Whew!!!

Please check out the amazing photos and blogs on our site http://www.codepink4peace.org/gallery.phpto see the breadth and depth of our actions this week. We are now home catching our breath, reuniting with our families, planning for what is next and recharging our batteries for the work ahead. We want to send a huge thanks to all who joined us in Washington or their local rallies, to the staff and volunteers who worked so hard to make this such an amazing week, and to all of you whose generous support and encouragement keep us going.

With hope and thanks,

Alicia, Andrea, Dana, Farida, Gael, Grace, Jodie, Medea, Rae, and Tiffany


Informant: Martin Greenhut

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 29, 2005 11:01 AM


CONTACT: Meet with the Mothers, http://meetwiththemothers.org Karen Pomer 310.463.7025 Shay Lohman 626.833.0105

Cindy Sheehan Holds US Leaders 'Feet to the Fire' on Iraq - DC

WASHINGTON - September 29 - Cindy Sheehan Meets With Top Democratic and Republican Representatives: Urges Them to Increase Their Leadership in Ending the War in Iraq Thursday's Schedule Includes House Democratic Leader Pelosi, Sen. Dole, Sen. Obama, and Sen. Durbin

Sheehan and her Supporters Pledge to Hold Both Democratic and Republican Leaders ‘Feet to the Fire’ to ‘Bring the Troops Home Now’ From a War That a Record Two-Thirds of Americans Recently Polled Say President Bush is Mishandling

WHEN: Thursday, September 29th at 5:30 PM

WHERE: NEW LOCATION DUE TO RAIN: Outside office of Sen. Barack Obama 713 Hart Senate Office Building.

WHAT: Media availability with Cindy Sheehan to discuss meetings with top Democratic and Republican representatives, her week in Washington, including Saturday's 100,000 - 300,000 person march and rally against the war, and her arrest outside the White House along with 370 others. Sheehan will be flying back to California after the media availability.

Cindy Sheehan, the grieving military mother whose August vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas focused the nation's attention on the human cost of the Iraq war, will be available for interviews on Thursday, September 29, after meetings with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Senator Barack Obama (D-ILL.), Senator Richard Durbin (D-ILL.), and Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), regarding their leadership in bringing our troops home from Iraq immediately.

Sheehan's son Casey, of Vacaville, CA, was killed in Sadr City while serving in the Army in April 2004.

“So far this month 43 American troops and many more Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq. Our Representatives and Senators must take responsibility for this war, and take action to bring an end to it,” Sheehan said.

''We have gone after Democrats as strongly as Republicans leaders. We believe a strong—a good Democratic or Republican leader or candidate has to stand up and say, it‘s a war based on lies. We should never have gone there. We shouldn't be there. And let‘s lead our troops out now."

In addition to urging Congress members to bring the troops home from Iraq, she will also implore them to use U.S. tax dollars to pay for hurricane relief and reconstruction instead of war and destruction in Iraq.

"We intend to hold these Democratic or Republican leaders 'feet to the fire' until they lead the way Americans wants them to. According to recent polls a record two-thirds of Americans say the war is being mishandled by President Bush and a majority want to cut spending to the war to pay for hurricane relief,'' said Sheehan.

A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll , reported that 59% said they considered the 2003 invasion of Iraq a mistake, 63% said they wanted to see some or all U.S. troops withdrawn from that country and 54% told pollsters they favor cutting spending on the war to pay for disaster relief.

Only 39% said the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to have done. Support for Bush's management of the war in Iraq has dropped to 32%, with 67% telling pollsters they disapproved of how Bush is prosecuting the conflict.

Since Sheehan’s vigil in Crawford ended on Aug. 31, she and other military families, Iraq war veterans, and peace activists have taken the vigil to congressional district offices throughout the country, in an effort to hold members of Congress and the President accountable for the devastation in Iraq.

In a letter she wrote to Congress in late August, she said, “President Bush sent our sons and daughters to war in Iraq. Congress gave him the authority to do so. That's why we are now turning to you, the elected officials who have the power to declare wars -- and end wars.”

So far, Sheehan has visited the offices of Senators John McCain, Richard Lugar, John Kerry, Hilary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, and Edward Kennedy, as well as Congressmen Tom Delay, Mark Kirk, Dennis Hastert, Charles Rangel, Henry Waxman, Lloyd Doggett, and others. During the meetings, she asks Congress members the simple questions she wanted to ask President Bush: What is the "noble cause " that brave Americans like Casey Sheehan have died for? How many more lives are we as a country willing to sacrifice in Iraq? How many are you personally willing to sacrifice? What are you specifically doing to bring our sons and daughters home from this needless war?

Meet with the Mothers is the new Congressional Campaign of Cindy Sheehan and Gold Star Families for Peace. Gold Star Families for Peace is taking the same questions that Cindy was seeking answers to from the President and now taking them to every Member of Congress and Senator for their response. They are working to hold every Member of Congress and Senator accountable along with the President.

http://meetwiththemothers.org


Informant: John Calvert



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

by Kim Petersen

Since right-wingers have successfully co-opted supposedly left-wing political parties (examples are rife: Clinton’s neoliberalism under the sponsorship of the Democratic Party in the United States; Blair and the Labour Party in Britain; Chrétien and Martin with the Liberal Party in Canada; and most glaringly, Deng Xiao Peng’s obliteration of the people’s revolution led by the Communist Party in China), it would hardly be surprising that right-wingers have masterly encroached into progressive media. Indeed right-wing sources fund many progressive media. Having said that, a serious problem of method and principle arise when decidedly progressive writers and keen observers of the American Empire adopt the analytical methodology and vocabulary of imperialist decision makers and their think tanks. In addressing such a phenomenon, I must emphasize that it seems rather odd that at a moment such as this when reactionary, criminal forces control the West and when all progressive elements of society must harness their energy to confront the enemies of civilization sitting in Washington, London, Paris, Ottawa, and Moscow, I have to take on progressive writers....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Petersen0929.htm

by Nicholas Birns

Our perception of Lori Berenson has been clouded by a bewildering recent series of rulings and counter-findings surrounding her case. Lori Berenson has been imprisoned in Peru for almost ten years for allegedly conspiring with terrorists. (The grim anniversary of her imprisonment is upcoming in November). New challenges and complications in the Andean region and its neighbors have only exacerbated the situation. In his Second Inaugural Address, President Bush strongly endorsed liberal-humanitarian interventionism, saying: “The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.” Yet the reach of this rhetorical vision of freedom is not meant to stretch to every corner of the globe. In spite of this shortcoming, we must reanimate our awareness of the Berenson case, placing it in the new context of the Bush administration’s worldwide proactive democratic aspirations. This article will illuminate why this case is so important to any reexamination of the values of American foreign policy....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Birns0929.htm

by Ray McGovern, TomPaine.com

With the worst of the photos on the way, we cannot let enlisted soldiers take the fall for a criminal chain of command.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050930/abu_ghraib_command_responsibility.php

Some voice doubt leader will return to House position

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | September 30, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The united front Republicans built to support ousted House majority leader Tom DeLay showed signs of crumbling yesterday, with conservatives threatening a leadership challenge and some moderate Republicans saying they don't think DeLay, facing criminal conspiracy charges in Texas, will ever come back to House leadership.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/30/cracks_seen_in_gop_front_on_delay/


Informant: John Calvert

This is an incredible Power Point Presentation sent in from Richard L. If anyone has a way to convert this over to another format for those who can't view Power Point please do so and repost. Very good shots.

Dani

The Great USA Katrina PowerPoint Presentation

Full of Pictures From Katrina. 3.29 MB

Right Click And Save Target As
http://www.wendellstill.com/Uploads/TheGreatU_1_[2].S.A.rar

Just moments ago, the U.S. House of Representatives hastily - and narrowly - approved the first major changes to the Endangered Species Act since 1988. This vote represents the most serious attack on endangered species protections I have seen in the nearly 30 years I have been working on these issues.

As the debate on this legislation moves to the Senate, Environmental Defense is calling on leaders there to proceed more cautiously. In the days and weeks ahead, we will be enlisting your support as the fight in the Senate heats up.

Today's vote in the House takes direct aim at our endangered species protections. It complicates both listing new species and implementing recovery plans for species already on the list. Unfortunately, the losers are the nation's bald eagles, ocelots, grizzly bears, ivory-billed woodpeckers and other endangered species. Learn more about the vote:

http://actionnetwork.org/ct/51aYwHs16ztY/

The Senate has an opportunity to act more responsibly, and we urge them to do so.

The Senate stepped between the overly-hasty House and rare plants and animals once before. In 1978, the House was roiled that the Supreme Court stopped construction of a dam in Tennessee to protect endangered fish. It passed a bevy of crippling amendments to the ESA. The Senate rejected virtually everything the House had done and the Endangered Species Act survived.

Because the Senate stood strong, whooping crane numbers have increased ten-fold, California condors soar in the Grand Canyon, wolves roam in Yellowstone and black-footed ferrets are once again found in the Great Plains. The ESA has also helped restore our national symbol, the American bald eagle, from a few hundred pairs to over 8,000 pairs in the continental United States.

If successes such as these are to continue, the Senate must again reject the overreaching of the House.

In the weeks and months ahead as the fight to protect endangered species moves to the Senate, we need your help to win the battle there, so please stand by.

Thank you for your commitment to protect America's natural heritage.

Sincerely,

Michael Bean
Chairman of the Wildlife Program Environmental Defense

Today, a RAW STORY investigation has turned up more intrigue surrounding Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's affiliation with his family's booming for-profit hospital chain, HCA.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10452.htm

Ronnie Earle is the local district attorney in Austin, Texas. What he cares about most is rooting out public corruption. Over the years, he’s indicted more than a dozen politicians, including a U.S. senator, the state’s attorney general, and a sitting Texas Supreme Court justice.

http://tinyurl.com/4dr6d


From Information Clearing House

It was like watching Suzanne Sommers play Lady Macbeth; poor Brownie was in way over his head. The ex-FEMA chief stuck close to his Karl Rove script and didn't give an inch to the blustery congressmen.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10453.htm

The Army Corps in New Orleans is now led by the official who formerly oversaw contracts in Iraq. The Lower Ninth Ward may never exist again, but already the barroom and strip-joint owners in the French Quarter are relishing the fat days ahead, as the Halliburton workers, Blackwater mercenaries, and Bechtel engineers leave their federal paychecks behind on Bourbon Street.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10446.htm

Thousands of prisoners were abandoned for days when Katrina hit New Orleans; more than 500 are still missing.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10447.htm

Is the U.S. willing to use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear adversary that is an NPT signatory, thus risking universal condemnation? Several statements and documents from the Defense Department suggest that it is indeed fully prepared to do so.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10449.htm

On Iraq Blair is not simply discredited: his personal pride has become a fundamental obstacle to any rational discussion about what now needs to happen. It has been obvious for some time that the presence of British and American troops is causing more problems than it solves.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1580655,00.html


From Information Clearing House

If the leaders of a less powerful nation had invaded a country under false pretenses – touching off a war that left tens of thousands of civilians dead – there surely would be demands for war crimes prosecutions before the International Criminal Court at the Hague. But not for Bush and his War Cabinet.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/092905.html


From Information Clearing House

I had a huge grin on my face when I was getting arrested. I have received a lot of flak for smiling. Apparently I am not supposed to smile, but I had some really good reasons for doing so.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10443.htm



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

by Charles Sullivan

No one is more effectively enslaved by the power brokers in government than those who wear the chains of servitude but think they are free. Unfortunately, the average American has no conception of how effectively their perceptions are shaped and manipulated by the media propaganda they unwittingly feed into their unsuspecting minds.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10448.htm

by Walter C. Uhler

We simply cannot permit the Bush "war party" to run roughshod over America's democracy once again.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10441.htm

Pete McCloskey, the Republican former congressman who co-authored the Endangered Species Act in 1973, says he will run against ESA nemesis Richard Pombo if no other Republican challenger can be found. "The Republican values that I grew up with, Pombo is not espousing," said McCloskey.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/092905EC.shtml

Craig Morris, a New Orleans native living in Germany, gives his impressions from abroad of Katrina, global warming and the US response.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/092905EA.shtml

Bob Herbert: Make no mistake: government officials have blood on their hands. Men, women and children - some of them handicapped, some of them elderly or already desperately ill - were condemned to horrible suffering and, in many cases, agonizing deaths. Human beings were left to drown in their flooded homes, in hospitals, in nursing homes and in the street. The American people deserve to know why.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092905S.shtml

The "American Street" Speaks: Will the Democratic Party Listen?
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0929-31.htm



America Speaks: Will the Democratic Party Listen?

Even Democrats who are not veterans of Iraq need to find the courage to speak out on the war if they are effectively to challenge the Republicans. Simply waiting around for things to get worse in Baghdad is a dangerous strategy, not so much because the situation is likely to improve any time soon but because the American people want real leadership on this issue and they know they are not getting it from Bush.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/100105Z.shtml

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16769025%255E1702,00.html


Informant: Kev Hall

30 September 2005 11:49

Families have reacted angrily to plans to put up a lamppost-style mobile phone mast near their homes.

Mobile phone firm Orange has submitted proposals to put a 37ft mast at the junction of Aylsham Road and Boundary Road in Norwich.

The plans have caused concern among families living nearby, because the health implications of such masts are still unclear.

Sales rep Michelle Adams, 32, of Bolingbrooke Road, who has a seven-year-old son Christopher, said: “I wish the rules meant they could not put masts close to places where lots of people live.

“I know they need these masts, but it's a shame they have to try to put them close to places where children live. No one knows whether these things are safe or not.”

Orange said it would put the mast on a pavement at the side of the busy junction if it got approval from city council planners. A similar scheme is also planned for Chartwell Road.

Self-employed builder Mark Welsh, 40, of Appleyard Cresent, who has two children, Alice, seven, and Reece, 13, said: “I use my mobile all the time, so I understand these masts have to go up.

“But surely it should be possible to put them in places away from where lots of people live.

“It's not something I have really thought about before, but I am sure quite a few people will be worried about this.”

The Evening News has campaigned for families to be given greater rights to object to the positioning of mobile phone masts on health grounds.

At present, planning laws do not permit any mast application to be turned down over fears it could cause medical complaints.

Norwich North MP Ian Gibson, a long-time supporter of our campaign, says the Government is on the verge of adapting the planning rules to make it tougher for mobile phone firms to put up masts.

A spokeswoman for Orange said: “We have consulted the parish council and ward councillors over this and there have not been any objections.

“As far as health and safety is concerned, we have to adhere to strict government guidelines; and health issues cannot be considered in relation to planning requirements.”

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

She said the mast, and accompanying cabinet, would be contained in a lamppost-style structure at the roadside. The proposals will go before City Hall planners soon.

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED30%20Sep%202005%2011%3A49%3A21%3A180

TWO years ago, Joseph Geldert fought plans to put up a mobile phone mast outside his back door.

He tried everything to stop Hutchison 3G putting up a mast, including raising a petiton from neighbours worried about a possible risk to their children's health.

But their pleas fell on deaf ears, and the 73-year-old has since had to put up with a 40ft mast behind his house.

Now the pensioner has been left stunned after being told a second phone company wants to put up a mast – just yards away from the first.

Joseph, of Burford Gardens, Tunstall, said the O2 application was "ridiculous".

The firm has picked the rear of his house as a perfect site for their new mast, just 20 yards from the 3G mast.

An O2 spokesman said: "We searched the area thoroughly and this site had the least impact on the local community.

"We try to blend the masts in with the streetscapes as much as possible to mininmize the effect on the area and the local community."

Joseph said: "It's ridiculous. From their point of view I'm sure it's on high ground, but it's not screened away from view at all.

"They didn't even consider a site a 100 yards away that is screened from sight."

As well as the visual intrusion the mast will cause, Joseph is also worried about possible health implications for his neighbours.
The new mast will stand next the old mast at the same height of 40ft, but the phone company has moved to quell health fears.
The O2 spokesman added: "A vast amount of research into mobile phone technology has been done in the last four years and to date nothing has come up with a link.

As far as we are concerned, there is no risk to people's health."

Omega this is not true. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/ and
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

30 September 2005

http://www.sunderlandtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1107&ArticleID=1208089

http://tinyurl.com/8d4c9



Interview: Cindy Sheehan, Our Imploding President

As Sheehan approaches, she's mobbed. She hugs some of her greeters, poses for photos with others, listens briefly while people tell her they came all the way from California or Colorado just to see her, and accepts the literal T-shirt off the back of a man, possibly a vet, with a bandana around his forehead, who wants to give her "the shirt off my back." She is brief and utterly patient. She offers a word to everyone and anyone.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092905Q.shtml




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

Critics Say
http://www.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe248.html

FAMILIES who opposed an application for a mobile phone mast have heaved a sigh of relief after the council refused planning permission.

Public notices displayed to provide residents with information about the proposed development on Queen’s Drive, Ossett, failed to say it was a telecommunications mast and showed an incorrect council telephone number leaving residents unaware of the situation.

The deadline for objections was extended to last Friday due to the mistake and concerned homeowners collected hundreds of signatures against the proposal.

But the council this week said the T Mobile application to erect a mast had been refused

Linda Neville, 33, of Queen’s Drive, gathered 195 signatures against the proposal. She said: “I'm totally relieved. I honestly thought we were doomed and it would go up.

“I’m so pleased for my little girl because I was really worried about how it would effect her health. She’s only 22-months-old and that is one of the reasons I organised a petition.

“The government released a white paper deterring the use of mobile phones by children and though it didn’t include phone masts there’s got to be some significance for children living near them. I didn’t think this was a suitable area for a phone mast to be. It’s a highly-populated residential area.

“It was worth collecting all those signatures. I would advise people who live near proposed masts to fight them because you can win.

“I’m going to be able to sleep soundly at night now knowing my daughter will grow up healthy.”

Wakefield Council planning officer Sarah Bird said: “Prior approval for the siting and appearance has not been granted.

“Because the initial notice didn’t include the word telecommunication we issued new notices and extended the consultation period as soon as this was brought to our attention.”

The proposed mast would have be attached to a lamppost on the pavement outside the Two Brewer’s pub.

Campaigners said equipment for the mast, which would have been placed in a box on the pavement, would have restricted mobility for people using the walkway.

Anti-mast campaigner Maureen Thorpe, of Towngate, also collected 180 signatures objecting to the proposal.

She said: “The deadline was extended because they missed ‘telecommunications’ out of the description on the public notice.

“Most people had no idea there was an application for a phone mast. I think there was insufficient information.”

30 September 2005

http://www.wakefieldtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=704&ArticleID=1206845

Bridgnorth Journal 30.09.05

A controversial mobile phone mast will be built in the centre of Bridgnorth after being passed “through the back door” at an appeal hearing, it is claimed.

Plans to install the mast on top of the New Road telephone exchange were refused by councillors in February.

But they have now been passed at a planning appeal — much to the surprise of residents and councillors.

People living around the telephone exchange made their views against the mast clear, but an appeal on August 24 went against Bridgnorth Town Council and the district council’s decisions and granted permission.

The application is by telecommunication company “3” to install a flagpole, housing three antennae, on the telephone exchange to boost signals for mobile phone users.

Town and district councillor, Brian Jones, said he was very disappointed with the outcome of the appeal.

“It is almost literally through the back door,” he said. “I certainly wasn’t aware of it until I read the planning minutes and I don’t think people are aware of it. “I don’t think they will be very happy about it. I know it was campaigned against quite vigorously.

“We got views from local residents and virtually 100 per cent said they were against it.

“The whole population of Bridgnorth is pretty much against it so I am dismayed to see it has gone through on appeal.”

Councillor Jones said both the town and district council planning committees voted unanimously to refuse the proposal, saying it would spoil the historic skyline of Bridgnorth.

And he said despite being a member of the district planning committee, he had no idea the appeal was taking place.

“I shall be asking the question at the next meeting why we were not informed,” he added.

East Castle Street resident Kinda Ireland said she was very angry at the way the decision had been made.

“Why the inspector even bothered to come and have a look is a mystery. The government has its own agenda of agreeing to these masts and what local councillors and residents think doesn’t make any difference.”

Another resident, Doreen Watkiss, said she felt sorry for her neighbours in the street who had children as there were still worries about whether the masts contributed to leukaemia.

“It is also going to be very visible from the approach to the town. Bridgnorth is an old place, and we do not want these obstacles on the skyline.”

Campaigner Joe Anson said local people were not happy about the application. “I suppose they will be sprouting up all over the town like mushrooms now,” he said.

Les Jones of Jones Electrical in East Castle Street said he wasn’t convinced by claims that the mast would be safe.

“In our line of work you get to know about radiation, and you get a lot of warm radiation just from a mobile phone. I think the damage from a mast like this could be quite serious.”

When the application was made, Verity Stanford, spokesman for 3, said the mast would be operated well below the indicated emission guidelines.

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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/ocregister/indirect-911.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt117.html



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

There is going to be an Israeli TV investigation show in the national news today, about the misleading way in which the British Interphone results were reported to the public. Reports all over the world quoted Reuters, and said that it was safe to use the phone for 10 years with no tumors, but the media didn't report the 80% increase after 10 years. Of course if tumors develop after 10 years it is evidence for damage that is done during the first 10 years, so something does happen during the first 10 years so that's very misleading to say that 10 years are "safe". This time it's not the media's fault. The researchers themselves didn't report accurately on their own findings to the media! The media also reported "no cancer risk" whereas the study was on benign tumors, it was a good PR for the companies. See here the english version of Haaretz newspaper on that.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/631007.html

Cell phone cancer link misreported

By Tamara Traubman

The world's approximately 1 billion cellular telephone users received good news at the end of August: new research showed the devices did not increase the chance of cancer, even among those who used them for a decade or more. But the research included another part not reported in the press that experts have called "a warning light."

Among those who used cell phones for more than 10 years, the risk of developing acoustic neuroma, a nervous system tumor, was almost twice that of people who did not use them.

The good news was reported by hundreds of media outlets worldwide, including Haaretz. Cellular carriers could not have hoped for better PR: "Cell phones don't cause cancer!"

However, the press all relied on a press release penned by the researchers that did not include the worrisome findings.

Channel 2 reporter Chico Menashe uncovered the story, which will be reported today. Menashe, who reported the complete findings, said he began to look into the matter when Channel 2 newsroom staff began to wonder why his report differed from those published worldwide.

The findings do not unequivocally determine that cell phones are dangerous to health. According to the researchers, the study did not include enough subjects, and suffers from methodological weaknesses.

Scientists in four Scandinavian countries and the United Kingdom conducted the research. It is part of a larger World Health Organization study involving scientists in 15 countries, including Israel. Some researchers began releasing the results of the studies in their own countries, including Professor Anthony Swerdlow's study published in the British Journal of Cancer. The scientific journal reported the entire findings; however, a press release only mentioned the "good news." The first to report the study was Reuters, a central news source for thousands of newspapers and television and radio stations. About 300 media outlets around the world picked up the story.

Dr. Sigal Sadetzki, who heads the Israeli team participating in the WHO study, says: "A 10-year study is insufficient to determine if cell phones increase the chances of cancer. Even the results of smoking are not evident in such a time period. To examine the effect of cell phones, 20 or even 40 years must be examined," she says.

"The results aren't strong enough for me to accept as a scientist," she explains. "On the other hand, they are a red warning light."

Swerdlow responded to a Haaretz email inquiry, explaining that the findings that suggest a connection between cellular use and morbidity were omitted from the press release in order to use language clear to the general public. "Press releases are inevitably compressed and simplified," Swerdlow writes. "The article gave full details of the research, and the press release included a link to the full results."

Sadetzki refrains from criticizing Swerdlow, but believes the entire findings should have appeared in the press release, with the requisite explanations and reservations. "A scientist can say `don't take these results as carved in stone,' but must publish complete findings. There's a difference between publishing partial findings and the interpretation of findings."

A comment by Reuters was unavailable by press time.

© Copyright 2005 Haaretz. All rights reserved


Informant: Iris Atzmon.

--------

Soviet studies concluded decades ago - that any exposure to EMF has consequences that become irreversible AFTER 7 YEARS OF EXPOSURE.

ITS NOT THE RESEARCHER THAT MISINFORM - ITS THE MEDIA AND THE INDUSTRY THAT PUT SUCH SPIN ON RESEARCH RESULTS mostly not even mentioning them in the first place read what was on-line since 1995 - and the old EMF-L archives I posted those finding then and warned about the long term fall out but even in that forum this FACTfrom research was belittled by Roy Beavers then simple because it was from the "old enemy" and could not be right.

Omega see the EMF-L archives under: http://www.wave-guide.org/archives/emf-l/

The future will show how much "irreversible" damage has been done finally some take notice - maybe too late already.

Hate to say - told you so - that long ago.

Greetings

Wolfgang

--------

Yes that's true, but in this SINGLE time, the reason for the bias was an email written by the researchers themselves. The media reported exactly the words of that email, and the email itself did not report on the accurate findings.

So - note that I refer to a specific case.

Iris Atzmon.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Michael Meyer michael_meyer@aon.at
Risiko Mobilfunk Österreich Plattform Sozialstaat Österreich - Netzwerk Zivilcourage
A - 5165 Berndorf,
Stadl 4
Tel/Fax 0043 - 6217 - 8576


BOTSWANA: Verhaftete Buschmänner gewinnen “Alternativen Nobelpreis”.

29.09.2005

Fünf Tage nachdem ihre Anführer verhaftet und geschlagen worden sind gab es heute eine dramatische Wendung zugunsten der Buschmänner der Kalahari, als sie erfuhren, dass der diesjährige „Alternative Nobelpreis“ an sie geht.

“First people of the Kalahari (FPK), die Basisorganisation der Gana und Gwi Buschmänner von Botswana, die für deren Recht auf Rückkehr in ihr angestammtes Heimatgebiet kämpft, gewann heute Schwedens “Right Livelihood Award”, der als “Alternativer Nobelpreis” bekannt ist.

Der Preis ging für den "resoluten Widerstand gegen die Vertreibung vom Land ihrer Vorfahren und für ihr Festhalten an dem Recht, ihren traditionellen Lebensstil beizubehalten" an die Buschmänner.

Vor fünf Tagen waren die Führungspersonen der FPK unter 28 Buschmännern, die von Polizeikräften verhaftet und davor mit Tränengas und Gummigeschossen angegriffen worden waren. Die Buschmänner hatten versucht Nahrungsmittel und Wasser zu ihren Verwandten im Inneren des Zentral Kalahari Wildreservats zu bringen, aus dem die meisten Buschmänner vertrieben worden sind. Die Buschmann Anführer wurden brutal geschlagen, nachdem man sie mit Handschellen gefesselt hatte.

FPK hat bereits einen langen Kampf hinter sich, um den Gana und Gwi Buschmännern ein friedliches Leben in dem Reservat, welches deren Heimatgebiet umschließt, zu ermöglichen. Die reichen Diamantenvorkommen des Reservats sind von vielen Seiten her als Grund für die Vertreibung der Buschmänner durch die Regierung angeführt worden. Das Unternehmen De Beers, das alle Diamantenminen in Botswana betreibt, sieht sich nun einem weltweiten Boykott gegenüber.

Weitere Informationen zum “Alternativen Nobelpreis” finden Sie unter:

http://www.rightlivelihood.org/recip/2005/first-people-of-the-kalahari--roy-sesana.htm

Mehr Informationen zu den Buschmännern erhalten Sie von Miriam Ross per Telefon unter +44 20 7687 8731 oder per E-Mail: mr@survival-international.org


Stichpunkte für Redakteure:

Vorherige Preisträger sind unter anderem auch der kenianische Umweltschützer Wangari Maathai (der darauf folgend den Nobelpreis erhielt), sowie der Nigerianer Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Der FPK's Anführer Roy Sesana ist der erste in Botswana geborene Preisträger.


'Wir stammen von diesem Land ab und wir werden für dieses Land sterben.' Mama Yosepha Alomang, Amungme, Papua, 2004.

Weltweit kämpfen Stammesvölker darum, auf ihrem Land leben zu dürfen.

Besuchen Sie unsere Webseite http://www.survival-international.de und lesen Sie ihre Geschichten.

Wir helfen Stammesvölkern ihr Leben zu verteidigen, ihr Land zu schützen und ihre Zukunft selbst zu bestimmen.

Johanna Havemann (tel: +49-(0)7071-287063

Survival International Deutschland
Postfach 35 06 61
10215 Berlin
Tel: +49-(0)30-29 00 23 72
Fax: +49-(0)30-29 04 39 00
jh@survival-international.de
info@survival-international.de
http://www.survival-international.de

--------

mit freundlichen Grüßen übermittle ich diese Medieninformation.

Bitte nehmen Sie diese Gelegenheit wahr und informieren sich hier aus erster Hand über die ungeheurliche und menschenrechtswidrige Situation der Buschmänner der Kalahari und helfen Sie mit deren Lebensraum zu erhalten, der ausschließlich aus kaltem, nüchternen Profitdenken westlicher Investoren und lokaler Handlanger massiv bedroht wird. Den Lebensraum zu erhalten ist die einzige Möglichkeit den schleichenden Genozid der Stämme noch zu stoppen.

Michael Meyer michael_meyer@aon.at
Risiko Mobilfunk Österreich Plattform Sozialstaat Österreich - Netzwerk Zivilcourage
A - 5165 Berndorf, Stadl 4 Tel/Fax 0043 - 6217 - 8576

----- Original Message ----- From: Survival Deutschland info@survival-international.de
To: press releases Deutschland ; press releases Österreich ; press releases Schweiz
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 9:15 AM
Subject: TRÄGER DES ALTERNATIVEN NOBELPREISES AM 11.DEZEMBER IN BERLIN

SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESSEMITTEILUNG

28.11.2005

Roy Sesana, Träger des Alternativen Nobelpreises 2005, wird am 11. Dezember im Ethnologischen Museum Berlin-Dahlem auftreten.

Der botswanische Menschenrechtsaktivist Roy Sesana, dem mit seiner Organisation OFirst People of the Kalahari¹ (FPK) der ORight Livelihood Award¹ 2005 verliehen wurde, wird Anfang Dezember Berlin besuchen. Er wird am Sonntag den 11. Dezember um 18:30 im Rahmen einer öffentlichen Gesprächsrunde auf dem ³Markt der Kontinente² im Ethnologischen Museum Berlin auftreten.

Am Montag, 12. Dezember 05 von 10:00 ­ 18:00 Uhr sind Roy Sesana (FPK), Jumanda Gakelebone (FPK) und Stephen Corry (Survival International) telefonisch im Berliner Büro von Survival International erreichbar. T 030 29 00 23 72 F 030 29 04 39 00

Die Veranstaltung findet zwei Tage nach der offiziellen Preisverleihung im schwedischen Parlament in Stockholm statt und wird der erste öffentliche Auftritt des etwa 56-jährigen aus der Zentralkalahari in Deutschland sein. Er wird u.a. begleitet von seinem langjährigen Mitstreiter Jumanda Gakelebone und Stephen Corry, Generaldirektor von Survival International aus London.

Die Gana und Gwi OBuschmänner¹ wurden 1997 und 2002 von der botswanischen Regierung von ihrem angestammten Land, dem Zentral Kalahari Wildreservat, vertrieben. Die meisten von ihnen leben heute in tristen Zwangsansiedlungslagern fernab ihrer Heimat und geraten zunehmend in den Sog von Perspektivlosigkeit, Langeweile, Alkoholismus, Prostitution und AIDS. Dies versucht die botswanische Regierung der Weltöffentlichkeit als "Entwicklungsmaßnahme" zu verkaufen.

Roy Sesana und die von ihm gegründete Organisation "First People of the Kalahari" (FPK) kämpfen seit Jahren für eine Rückkehr ihrer Leute in ihre Heimat. Dafür werden sie von den Behörden drangsaliert und mitunter massiv bedroht. Roys Bruder starb im Jahr 2000 an den Folgen tagelanger brutaler Misshandlung durch die Polizei. Im September 2005 versuchte ein Konvoi von "Buschmännern" Wasser und Nahrung zu ihren hungernden Verwandten in das von der Polizei abgeschirmte Reservat zu bringen. Dabei wurden Roy Sesana, Jumanda Gakelebone und alle weiteren Führungsmitglieder der FPK verhaftet, verprügelt und vier Tage ins Gefängnis gesteckt. Ihnen allen droht nun in ihrer Heimat ein Prozess und Haftstrafen wegen "unerlaubter Versammlung".

Im Anschluss an die moderierte Gesprächsrunde, zu der Journalisten herzlichst eingeladen sind, stehen Roy Sesana und Jumanda Gakelebone explizit der Presse zur Verfügung.

Am darauf folgenden Montag, den 12. Dezember, werden sie außerdem von 10:00 ­ 18:00 Uhr telefonisch im Büro von Survival International unter 030 29 00 23 72 für Ihre Fragen zur Verfügung stehen. Weitere Termine für Interviews in der Zeit zwischen dem 12. und 16. Dezember können arrangiert werden.

Sonntag,11. Dezember 2005

18:30 Uhr Öffentliche Gesprächsrunde mit Roy Sesana (FPK), Jumanda Gakelebone (FPK) und Stephen Corry (Survival International) mit anschließender Interviewmöglichkeit für Journalisten.

"Markt der Kontinente" Museen Dahlem ­ Kunst und Kulturen der Welt Lansstraße 8 14195 Berlin

Am Montag, 12. Dezember 05 von 10:00 ­ 18:00 Uhr sind Roy Sesana (FPK), Jumanda Gakelebone (FPK) und Stephen Corry (Survival International) telefonisch im Berliner Büro von Survival International erreichbar. T 030 29 00 23 72 F 030 29 04 39 00

Weitere Termine für Interviews in der Zeit zwischen dem 12. und 16. Dezember können arrangiert werden unter: T 030 29 00 23 72 F 030 29 04 39 00 M info@survival-international.de


Wir helfen Stammesvölkern ihr Leben zu verteidigen, ihr Land zu schützen und ihre Zukunft selbst zu bestimmen.

Survival International Deutschland Postfach 35 06 61
10215 Berlin
Tel: +49/30/29002372 Fax: +49/30/29043900
info@survival-international.de
http://www.survival-international.de

editorial@hamhigh.co.uk
30 September 2005
Katie Davies

RESIDENTS in a West Hampstead housing complex are threatening to use the Human Rights Act to prevent Vodaphone putting a phone mast on their roof.

The freeholder of Weech Hall, Geoffrey Gay, has agreed to let the phone company put up the mast - if it gets permission from Camden Council.

But residents and people who work near the block in Fortune Green Road are concerned that the mast would be a health risk.

Resident Camilla Hallett said: "The plans show there would be four masts directly over the heads of people when they are sleeping.

"I've read numerous health studies which show how dangerous they are."

Ms Hallett, who has lived in the block for three years, has spent £30,000 renovating the flat in the hope of selling it in order to move to Australia. However, she is worried that the mast would affect the value of the property.

"We are trying to get a solicitor to fight out the case under the Human Rights Act," she said.

"It should be taken into account in London, we are all just sitting ducks for these companies."

Jonathan Wiseman only moved into the block on Saturday but claims that no mention was made of the phone mast.

He said: "It would have made me think twice about buying or it certainly would have made me think about how much I was paying."

Headteacher of nearby Fortune Green Playcentre, Sarah Kochanovsky, said: "A lot of parents are worried about the risks. I live in Hampstead and I know people opposed one and got it stopped. I don't know if it will work here."

But Vodaphone, which has not yet submitted a planning application for the site, said: "It is a site that is required to provide coverage for the area.

"Glass reflective plastic will be placed over the antennas so the base station will look like a chimney pot from the ground.

"Vodaphone deals with the complaints of residents seriously and is currently involved in extensive consultation with local residents at this site."

Freeholder Geoffrey Gay told the Ham&High: "There is no evidence that mobile phone masts reduce the value of houses. As we own a flat in Weech Hall we are in the same position as all of the other occupiers."

Omega there is evidence that mobile phone masts reduce the value of houses. See "Affects on Residential Property Value as a Consequence of Telecom Instalations" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1019472/ and
"Masts and your property: it’s time to be heard" under:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/994544/


katie.davies@hamhigh.co.uk

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

September 29, 2005

RF-Induced DNA Breaks Reported in China

Research scientists in China have found that relatively low-level RF radiation can lead to DNA breaks, according to a briefing paper prepared for the cell phone industry obtained by Microwave News.

At the 4th International Seminar on EMFs and Biological Effects, held in Kunming China, September 12-16, Zhengping Xu of the Zhejiang University School of Medicine reported that cells exposed to a pulsed 1800 MHz RF radiation at an SAR of 3 W/Kg for 24 hours showed a statistically significant increase in DNA damage. The Mobile Manufacturers Forum (MMF), an industry lobbying group based in Brussels, circulated the news in a September 22 Research Briefing.

Xu's Bioelectromagnetics Laboratory now joins a growing number of other labs that have found RF-induced DNA breaks. The effect was first reported more than a decade ago by Henry Lai and N.P. Singh of the University of Washington, Seattle (see MWN, N/D94). From the outset, Lai and Singh's work has been repeatedly assailed by the cell phone industry and their consultants - most recently by Sheila Johnston and Vijayalaxmi, two members of the board of directors of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (see March 29 entry below. They claimed to have refuted the Lai-Singh findings.

Last year, the European Union-sponsored REFLEX Project announced that 1800 MHz radiation could lead to DNA breaks. Those results were published this summer in Mutation Research.

The MMF also noted that C.K. Chou of Motorola (a member of the MMF) complained at the meeting that it is difficult to publish "negative" results in China. (WHO 's Mike Repacholi made a similar charge at the last Chinese EMF seminar held in Guilin in 2003, according to the MMF.) Xu disputed this, the MMF added.


panayis zambellis luton

(excerpt)

I have just received a letter from one of my contacts in Sweden, who tells of a Swedish man, Mr. Donald Forsberg who has charged the Swedish prime minister and the Swedish government to the police authority in Stockholm for being guilty of rolling out the 3G network without concern for the health of the Swedish people, against better knowledge.

It has already hit the press in Sweden.


Best regards.

Agnes

In These Times
by US Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)

09/29/05

No one disputes that the military bases are of a physically permanent character. The only question is whether Iraq will be under permanent U.S. military occupation. If you are inclined to believe the president, we will be in Iraq, in his words 'as long as necessary, and not a day longer.' Members of the Bush administration, including the president, have been at pains to dispel any notion that they have plans for a permanent military presence in Iraq. On April 13, 2004, President Bush said, 'As a proud and independent people, Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation and neither does America.' On February 17, 2005, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, testifying before the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate, said, 'We have no intention, at the present time, of putting permanent bases in Iraq.' The circumstances on the ground, however, tell another story...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2323/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Nation
by Ari Berman

09/28/05

The Republican Party's once copious political capital is quickly eroding. As we go to press, House majority leader Tom DeLay has just been indicted by a Texas grand jury on one count of criminal conspiracy in a fast-moving money-laundering case. 'I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader,' DeLay said in a statement following the stunning final day of the grand jury's term. The Republican Party's go-to guy, famously nicknamed 'The Hammer,' finally got whacked. ... DeLay's modus operandi -- the ruthless accumulation of money and favors to benefit corporate interests and far-right Republicans -- may ultimately secure his demise. In essence, he got caught for doing business as usual...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051017/berman


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by Robert B. Reich

09/29/05

Who will end up paying for Katrina and Rita? Don't expect an answer from the White House. The president hasn't called for any national sacrifice other than asking Americans to drive less. Yet Katrina and Rita are likely to demand widespread sacrifice nonetheless. Normally, hurricane destruction improves the nation's economy because of all the rebuilding that has to be done. Conveniently, the national income accounts don't subtract what's been destroyed. They only register what's being built. This time may be different. The $200 billion tab for rebuilding will stimulate the economy in the short run, but we don't have a clue how we're going to pay for it. Worse yet, consumers hit by high energy prices are likely to slash their spending. That means a slower economy...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10359


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Sierra Times
by Vincent Fiore

09/29/05

Now that the John Roberts nomination is a virtual lock, Senate Democrats can get down to the real business at hand. That 'real' business I speak of would be the destruction of nearly anyone President Bush nominates to fill the vacancy left upon the Supreme Court by departing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. But is it Senate Democrats that conservatives around the country should be overtly worried about? ... Unless Bush happens to nominate someone who is thoroughly palatable to Senate Democrat heavyweights like Charles Schumer and Ted Kennedy, the word of the day in Washington seems to be 'warning.' It should then come as no surprise that when the Senate takes to the floor this week in regard to John Roberts' pending vote, what will, in fact, be the topic of discussion is the president's next nominee to the Supreme Court...

http://www.sierratimes.com/05/09/29/152_163_100_12_42789.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MichNews
by Marty Lich

09/19/05

I was brought up to believe in my Constitutional rights as an American citizen. I was taught that to change things, one must be willing to speak up, to be educated in said matters, and finally to believe in a democratic republic United States government founded upon 'For the People, By the People.' Our country was founded on Rule of the Law. Our president even says so in his September 14, 2005, Address to the Nation. Our country was based on the Constitutional visions of our forefathers who fought for our freedom, who fought for our rights, and who fought believing in 'So help me God' and 'In God We Trust.' Where did it go wrong? Pointing fingers, passing the buck, making excuses, and pardoning oneself from the laws that govern this country...

http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_9545.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Thomas Oliphant

09/29/05

Where the Supreme Court is concerned, Senator Edward Kennedy is different. Where most of us saw reassurance in John Roberts's confirmation hearing as chief justice, Kennedy saw spin. Where most of us saw the absence of a solid, evidentiary peg on which to hang a no vote, Kennedy saw the absence of a basis for a yes vote that is too important to be cast on traditional grounds of qualification and temperament. Where most of us saw a detail-dominated mind resembling a grounded conservative like Anthony Kennedy, Kennedy saw disturbing similarities to a revolutionary who masked his views 14 years ago: Clarence Thomas. The only suspense left is whether Roberts will exceed 70 yes votes, because the question has split Democrats (a compliment more to Roberts's skill as a witness than to President Bush's vision in nominating him)...

http://tinyurl.com/dux4v


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Gary Handshumacher

09/29/05

On Monday, 9/26, Cindy Sheehan and I were arrested together; along with more than 350 other good citizens. We had committed the crime of going to the White House to deliver a list of the names of those who have been murdered in Iraq in the latest version of US Government empire building. I hadn't planned to be arrested, not for fear, I have had the experience on a few occasions before, but more for convenience, not wishing to miss my early Tuesday AM flight. But, as I marched with friends to the White House, my thoughts changed. The logic of, 'If not now, then when? ... If not I, then who?" took over...

http://www.counterpunch.org/handschumacher09292005.html



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

II

Heartland Institute
by Joseph Bast

10/01/05

Governments in the U.S. take approximately 40 percent of the country’s total income in taxes. In other words, nearly half of all the income generated each year is sent to governments to spend. How free are you when governments take half of your income? Serfs in the 16th and 17th centuries typically owed their feudal lords only a quarter of their crops and livestock, and often much less. Our forefathers fought a war for independence over tax levels that were far lower than those we now pay without complaint...

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17803


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

from Reason to Freedom
by Sandra Price

09/30/05

I have some serious questions for the new Republican Religious Conservatives. Is your movement to change the laws within the federal government really based on legislating your moral values or is it merely a power tool for control? What was taught to us in Sunday school was to form a personal relationship with Jesus to improve our ability to be better, more moral individuals. When did this desire turn to wanting control over other people's actions and eventually wanting the government to set the rules?

http://www.reasontofreedom.com/Republican_Religious_Conservatives.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Slate
by John Dickerson

09/29/05

With Tom DeLay's indictment, conventional wisdom has coalesced around the notion that the Republican Party is deeply damaged. This is, no doubt, a gloomy moment to be a member of the GOP. As one veteran Republican strategist outside Washington asked me, 'Is this what it feels like to be in free-fall?' Perhaps. The plunge may continue -- but a parachute may open. ... Just because people are dissatisfied with Republicans doesn't mean that they're rushing into the warm arms of Democratic candidates. Yes, Democrats are seeing visions of 1994, but Newt Gingrich did more than just tear the face off of Democrats in leadership, he nurtured a farm team and presented a set of ideas that dovetailed with his political instinct for the jugular. Democrats have no Contract with America and have to find a Gingrich or some central figure to pitch their message...

http://www.slate.com/id/2127101/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Cato Institute
by Stephen Slivinski

09/30/05

Sounding like Yogi Berra, President Bush gave the best description of his administration's overall fiscal philosophy last week. When asked on September 16 how much his grand program to rebuild the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina will cost, he answered, 'It's going to cost whatever it's going to cost.' And, boy, will it ever. The current estimate of the amount of taxpayer money needed to pay for Bush's grand scheme range from $150 billion to $200 billion. And that's on top of a $612 billion increase in the overall federal budget since he took office in 2001. Adding the $62 billion already appropriated for Katrina relief puts him in the same big-spending league as Lyndon Johnson. The massive cost is just one of the distressing things about Bush's plan. What's also disconcerting is how it broadens the scope of the federal government's response to natural disasters. By doing so he's setting an expensive precedent...

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5072


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC

09/29/05

The police department said Thursday it is investigating a dozen officers in connection with looting during the lawlessness that engulfed the city after Hurricane Katrina. News reports in the aftermath of the storm put officers at the scene of some of the heaviest looting, at the Wal-Mart in the Lower Garden District. Some witnesses, including a Times-Picayune reporter, said police were taking items from shelves...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9535751/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

USA Today

09/29/05

A senior U.S. official rejected calls on Thursday for a U.N. body to take over control of the main computers that direct traffic on the Internet, reiterating U.S. intentions to keep its historical role as the medium's principal overseer. 'We will not agree to the U.N. taking over the management of the Internet,' said Ambassador David Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy at the State Department. 'Some countries want that. We think that's unacceptable.'

http://tinyurl.com/c4ab9


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

BBC News [UK]

09/29/05

A judge in New York has ruled that pictures of Iraqi inmates abused by US troops should be released. The judge made the order after a request by the American Civil Liberties Union for access to unseen images. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected government arguments that this could fuel anti-US feelings. Pictures of Iraqi inmates being abused at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad last year have caused an outcry around the world. Several US soldiers have been jailed. The ruling represents a huge potential embarrassment for the US administration, says the BBC's Jeremy Cooke in New York. The government has 20 days to consider an appeal. In a first reaction, the head of US Central Command, General John Abizaid, said publication of more pictures could distort reality...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4295324.stm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Traunreut. 17 Jahre lang den Strahlen von Mobilfunksendeanlagen ausgesetzt zu sein, ist nach Ansicht der Piracher Bürger genug. Sie protestierten deshalb bei der Stadt Traunreut gegen eine Vertragsverlängerung der Sendeanlagen auf dem Piracher Wasserturm. Etwa 40 Piracher und Umweltvertreter wandten sich am Dienstagabend an Bürgermeister Franz Parzinger, die bestehenden Verträge nicht mehr zu verlängern und beide Anlagen zum Jahre 2010 zu kündigen.

Mit Kind und Kegel waren die Piracher im Traunreuter Rathaus erschienen, um sich ihre Sorgen und Nöte von der Seele zu reden. In einem Schreiben, das der Sprecher der Piracher Bürger, Reinhold Schopf, an Bürgermeister Parzinger übergab, wird darum gebeten, die bestehenden Verträge nicht mehr zu verlängern. Die Bürger befürchten, "dass ihre Gesundheit und Lebensqualität von der Stadt Traunreut hinter die Mieteinnahmen aus dem Betrieb der Sendeanlagen gestellt wird."

Ihrer Ansicht nach, könne auf beide Anlagen verzichtet werden, da sich zirka 800 Meter nördlich des Ortes eine weitere Sendeanlage befinde. Mit Nachdruck betonen sie, keineswegs einen Alternativstandort zu unterstützen. "Wir möchten nicht verantwortlich sein, dass andere diejenigen Gesundheitsbeeinträchtigungen erleiden, wie diese bei uns jetzt vorhanden sind."

Die Sendeanlagen, gegen die die Piracher von Vorneherein massiven Protest eingelegt haben, der bislang aber nie gefruchtet hat, sind seit 1993 auf dem Piracher Wasserturm installiert. Besitzer des Turms ist die Stadt Traunreut, er steht aber auf Trostberger Gemeindegebiet. Die Verträge hierfür laufen zwar erst 2010 aus, die Piracher Bürger wollen aber erfahren haben, dass die Betreiber vor einigen Monaten in der Stadt Traunreut bezüglich einer Vertragsverlängerung angefragt haben, was Bürgermeister Parzinger in dem Gespräch im Rathaus auch bestätigte.

Deshalb wandten sie sich an beide Kommunen, mit der Bitte, den Sendestandort nicht über das Jahr 2010 hinaus zu betreiben. Die Stadt Trostberg, vertreten durch Bürgermeister Ignaz Sperger, hat sich per Stadtratsbeschluss, über den Traunreut auch informiert wurde, gegen eine Vertragsverlängerung ausgesprochen. Diese Zusage hat die Bürger zunächst veranlasst, die Proteste einzustellen. Man dachte: "Zähne zusammenbeißen und bis 2010 durchhalten."

Immerhin sei man bis dahin 17 Jahre lang den schädlichen Strahlen ausgesetzt, mit dessen Auswirkungen viele zu kämpfen hätten. Die gesundheitlichen Vorfälle, die sich im Dorf seit der Installation der Antennen ereigneten, würden auch aktuelle Studien immer wieder bestätigen, so die besorgten Bürger. Nachdem sich Traunreut bisher nicht zu einer Aufgabe des Sendestandortes geäußert hat, bat man um das Gespräch mit Bürgermeister Parzinger.

Das einstündige Gespräch im Traunreuter Sitzungssaal verlief zwar mitunter emotional aber sehr sachlich. Eine zufriedenstellende Antwort konnten die Piracher jedoch nicht mit nach Hause nehmen. Die Vertragsverlängerung liegt nämlich ausschließlich in den Händen des Werkausschusses.

Wie Parzinger erklärte, hätten die acht Werkausschussmitglieder in nichtöffentlicher Sitzung darüber zu entscheiden, ob die Verträge verlängert werden oder nicht. Die Verträge laufen zwar erst 2010 aus, doch noch im Herbst wolle sich der Werkausschuss mit dieser Thematik befassen, so Parzinger. Er versicherte, die Einwände der Piracher dem Ausschuss mitzuteilen, inklusive dem Schreiben.

Er riet den Bürgern, zunächst das Gespräch mit den Betreibern zu suchen, was denn grundsätzlich geplant sei. Hier gelte es zu bedenken, welche Alternativen stellen diese in Aussicht. Die Alternative eines eigenen Mastens in Pirach wäre wohl die Schlechteste.

Dass derartige Verträge hinter verschlossenen Türen behandelt werden, ist für die Piracher nicht nachvollziehbar. Auch die Tatsache, dass acht Personen über 80 Köpfe hinweg über deren Gesundheit bestimmen, rief Unmut hervor. Es sei deprimierend und unfair, die Verantwortung auf acht Personen abzuschieben. "Hat denn keiner ein Gewissen hier in Traunreut?"

Dem allgemeinen Wunsch, eine Ausnahme zu machen und die Betroffenen mit an der Sitzung teilhaben zu lassen, wollte Traunreuts Bürgermeister Franz Parzinger aus Sicht der Gemeindeordnung nicht mittragen. Es bestehe aber die Möglichkeit, über die Homepage der Stadt Traunreut, in der die Mitglieder namentlich aufgeführt sind, Kontakt zu den Werkausschussmitgliedern aufzunehmen. Außerdem sitze Stadtrat Martin Czepan (Grüne), der bei dem Gespräch mit dabei war und vorschlug, den Sprecher der Piracher in der nichtöffentlichen Sitzung zu Wort kommen zu lassen, als Vertreter im Werkausschuss.

Der Sprecher stützte sich auch auf die Aussage des ehemaligen Traunreuter Bürgermeisters Eduard Wiesmann, dem das Vorhaben seinerzeit offenbar schon Kopfzerbrechen bereitet haben soll, woran sich auch Stadtrat Paul Obermeier (ABU) noch erinnern kann. Demnach soll Wiesmann versprochen haben, die Verträge nach Ablauf nicht mehr zu verlängern. Dieses "Versprechen" will sein Amtsnachfolger ebenfalls dem Werkausschuss vortragen.

Schopf stützte sich auf einen Gemeinderatsbeschluss der Gemeinde Seeon-Seebruck, die in Sachen Antennen seiner Ansicht nach ein positives Zeichen gesetzt habe und mit gutem Beispiel vorangehe. Der Gemeinderat der Chiemseegemeinde hat beschlossen, keine gemeindlichen Gebäude für Mobilfunkantennen zur Verfügung zu stellen.

Würde sich die Stadt Traunreut auch dazu durchringen, würde sie zwar ein Zeichen setzen, das grundsätzliche Problem, dass unter dem Einfluss hochfrequentierter elektromagnetischer Felder gesundheitliche Schäden auftreten können, könne damit aber nicht gelöst werden. ga

29.09.2005

http://www.chiemgau-online.de/lokalnachrichten/text.php?satz=8934


Nachricht von der BI Bad Dürkheim

Are you as ticked off as me that the media hardly gave ANY coverage to our huge marches this last weekend? Let's let them HAVE it! Tell them how you feel ... a short (preferably NASTY) comment or a longer, thought-out version. You can do it all in ONE e-mail if you write your message, put your own name in the TO: line and cut and past the following news sources in the BCC: line (if you have it -- so they don't see you've sent it to everybody else too). But you can also paste them in the Cc line, if you don't have BCC.

However you do it, I hope we BLAST them! This is our democracy and the corporate-owned media are keeping us isolated from each other. Hundreds of thousands made a grand statement against the way our country is being run and most didn't hear about it. An outrage!

THANKS!

Debbie Metke

Send you comments to:

evening@cbsnews.com, nightly@nbc.com, today@nbc.com, totn@npr.org, nightline@abcnews.com earlyshow@cbs.com, today@nbc.com, world@msnbc.com, hardball@msnbc.com, dateline@nbc.com, phil.boyce@abc.com,
2020@abc.com, 60m@cbsnews.com, Foxreport@foxnews.com, Oreilly@foxnews.com


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


From ufpj-news

URGENT: Continue the call momentum opposing John Roberts
When: As soon as possible during Thursday 9/29...

Isn't it astounding and infuriating how our so-called representatives continue to give Bush and his nominees a free ride at our expense?

Remind your Senators of these and any other facts that are relevant:

- that American citizens are fed up with being sold out to Bush - that Bush has used up all of his political capital and is now in debt - that Bush cheated his way into office and does not deserve to have ANY of his nominees confirmed nor any of his legislation passed, and - that Roberts has a hidden agenda which he and the White House are hiding by disappearing his record and refusing to provide it - that John Roberts is a "roll of the dice" and crap shoot that we the American people cannot afford and will not forgive nor forget.

Then urge/implore/demand that your Senator reject and stop John Roberts or face the ire of the American people.

Now get going!

1. Read the details and call the 3 Senators and your own Senators as requested at the action page: http://www.millionphonemarch.com.

2. Forward this message to your friends and relatives to build volume.

3. Post a copy of this message on any blogs you are a member of.

4. Call and email as many more Senators as possible with your message. Contact information for all Senators is at: http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Please take action NOW, so we can save our courts.

Thank you for all you do.

Capitol toll-free numbers:
1-888-818-6641
1-888-355-3588


Use your power to change their minds! do it NOW!


Informant: Scott Munson

by Thomas Palley, TomPaine.com

After years of making the world safe for goods and capital, America has set itself up for a massive labor depression.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050929/the_global_labor_threat.php

It isn't just Tom DeLay. The vast corrupt money machine that funded the Republican Revolution is exploding before our eyes.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092905K.shtml

29.09.05

Eine ungewöhnliche Allianz von Wissenschaftlern, Bauern und Autobauern hat auf der philippinischen Insel Leyte den Teufelskreis aus Zerstörung und Armut durchbrochen. Wie die Zeitschrift Natur+kosmos in der Oktober-Ausgabe berichtet, sei es gelungen, die Tropen nachhaltig zu nutzen. Rainforestation farming heißt das Konzept, das den Raubbau beendet und den Menschen vor Ort ein gesichertes Einkommen ermöglicht. Unter Federführung der Universitäten Hohenheim und Leyte pflanzen die Bauern tropische Bäume. Baum für Baum entstehe auf Kokosplantagen und blanken Hängen neuer Regenwald. Auf diese Weise entwickelten sich neue Lebensräume für seltene Tiere wie den Koboldmaki.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11963

20 Prozent unter Durchschnitt: Arktisches Eis schmilzt offenbar immer schneller (29.09.05)

Die Region der Arktis, die von Treibeis bedeckt ist, wird nach jüngsten Forschungsergebnissen des amerikanischen National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder/Colorado immer kleiner. Die Werte für September 2005 haben nach Angaben des NSIDC einen neuen Tiefstand erreicht. Demnach war in den vergangenen 100 Jahren noch nie so wenig Eis in der Region.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=11955

Monsanto blitzt vor Gericht ab und streut irrtümlich illegales Gentech-Saatgut in Rheinland-Pfalz aus.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21041/1.html

by Ari Berman, TomPaine.com

Tom DeLay joins the swelling ranks of GOP leaders who are finally getting caught for doing business as usual.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050929/the_hammer_gets_hit.php

A big success for Roy Sesana, the organization First People of the Kalahari (FPK), all the Gana and Gwi people and their supporters - and a big shame for the Botswana overlord governance.

ARRESTED BUSHMEN WIN 'ALTERNATIVE NOBEL PRIZE'

29 September 2005

Five days after their leaders were arrested and beaten, there was a dramatic turnaround today in the fortunes of the Kalahari Bushmen as they learnt they have won the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'.

First People of the Kalahari (FPK), the grass-roots organisation of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen of Botswana, who are fighting for their right to return to their ancestral homeland, today won Sweden's Right Livelihood Award, known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'.

The award has been given for the Bushmen's 'resolute resistance against eviction from their ancestral lands, and for upholding the right to their traditional way of life.'

Five days ago the FPK leaders were amongst a group of 28 Bushmen who were arrested by police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. The Bushmen were attempting to take food and water to their relatives still inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, from which most of the Bushmen have been evicted. The Bushmen leaders were badly beaten after being handcuffed.

FPK has been fighting a long battle for the right of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen to live peacefully inside the reserve, which is their ancestral homeland. The reserve's rich diamond deposits have been widely blamed for the government's expulsion of the Bushmen. De Beers, which runs all Botswana's diamond mines, is now the subject of a global boycott.

Past winners of the Prize include Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, and Nigerian Ken Saro-Wiwa.

The FPK's leader Roy Sesana is the first Botswana-born winner of the prize. For more information about the award go to: http://www.rightlivelihood.org/news/event05.htm


SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE Read this press release online: http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=1065 For more information about the Bushmen please contact Miriam Ross on (020) 7687 8731, email mr@survival-international.org or see: http://www.khoisanpeoples.org


2005 RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARDS HONOUR PIONEERS FOR JUSTICE, FAIR TRADE AND CULTURAL RENEWAL Alternative Nobel Prize honours bushwo/men

29. Sept. 2005

The 2005 Honorary Right Livelihood Award goes to one of Mexico’s greatest living artists and community philanthropists, Franscisco Toledo.

The SEK 2 million Award is shared by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke from Canada, Irene Fernandez from Malaysia, and the organisation First People of the Kalahari, and its founder Roy Sesana, from Botswana.

The Jury’s citations in respect of the 2005 Right Livelihood Awards are as follows:

Francisco Toledo (Mexico) - … for devoting himself and his art to the protection, enhancement and renewal of the architectural and cultural heritage, natural environment and community life of his native Oaxaca.

Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke (Canada) - … for their exemplary and longstanding worldwide work for trade justice and the recognition of the fundamental human right to water.

Irene Fernandez (Malaysia) - … for her outstanding and courageous work to stop violence against women and abuses of migrant and poor workers.

The organization First People of the Kalahari, and its founder Roy Sesana (Botswana) - … for resolute resistance against eviction from their ancestral lands, and for upholding the right to their traditional way of life.

Founded in 1980 the Right Livelihood Awards are presented annually in the Swedish Parliament and are often referred to as “Alternative Nobel Prizes”. They were introduced “to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today”.

Jakob von Uexkull, a Swedish-German philatelic expert, sold his valuable postage stamps to provide the original endowment. Alfred Nobel wanted to honour those whose work “brought the greatest benefit to humanity”. Von Uexkull felt that the Nobel Prizes today ignore much work and knowledge vital for our world and future.

A press conference with the recipients will be held in Stockholm on Wednesday, December 7th. The award presentation ceremony in the Swedish Parliament will be held on December 9th.

There were 77 candidates from 39 countries on the confidential list of nominations this year: 4 from Africa, 4 from the Arab world, 20 from Asia, 1 from Australia, 26 from Europe, 12 from Latin America and 10 from North America.

Further information on the new recipients can be downloaded from http://www.rightlivelihood.org

For more information: Kerstin Bennett, Administrative Director Right Livelihood Award, Stockholm. Tel: +46-8-702 03 40 Fax: +46-8-702 03 38 E-mail: info @ rightlivelihood.org Website: http://www.rightlivelihood.org


ECOTERRA Intl.

As of 11:30am, there was a protest at Holyoke Community College, MA against military recruiters. The protesters were not blocking the recruiters, but were just trying to counter protest and provide real information about what the military does.

The police arrived and started knocking people to the ground and macing them. The College Republicans were there encouraging the police to attack the protesters. Reportedly, the College Administration called the police.

Please immediately call 413-538-7000 and register your outrage with the President's office at the College's attack on peaceful protest on a public campus.

Thank you!

For more information, please contact Charles Peterson of the HCC Anti-War Coalition charlest.peterson@gmail.com

More news on this situation will follow.

Forwarded by Charles Jenks, Traprock Peace Center after a phone update from a witness.


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


From ufpj-news

--------

I just got this message from activists at Holyoke Community College in Northampton MA. They were engaged in peaceful counter-recruitment at their school and were attacked by police. Read below and call the school immediately.

--Ashley

As of 11:30am, there is a protest at Holyoke Community College against military recruiters. The protesters are not blocking the recruiters, but are just trying to counter protest and provide real information about what the military does.

The police arrived and started knocking people to the ground and macing them. The College Republicans are there and are encouraging the police to attack the protesters.

Please immediately call 413-538-7000 and register your outrage with the President's office at the College's attack on peaceful protest on a public campus and tell them to pull the police off of the protesters.

Thank you!

For more information, please contact Charles Peterson of the HCC Anti- War Coalition charlest.peterson@gmail.com

-- Jason

The American Prospect
by Robert Dreyfuss

09/28/05

Bill Frist -- senator, majority leader, and would-be president -- has a far bigger scandal lurking in the wings than whether or not he illegally sold stock in his family’s health-care company, Hospital Corp. of America (HCA). It’s one that goes back to the very start of his political career in the early 1990s. Investigative journalists looking, belatedly, at Frist’s ties to HCA ought to take notice. In 1993, Frist ... was hardly on the political radar in Tennessee. At the time, the Volunteer State was represented in the Senate by Jim Sasser, a wily Democrat who’d established himself as a leading expert on health-care policy. Sasser began holding investigative hearings into Medicare fraud by doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers. Medicare fraud was becoming an enormous issue ... and Sasser wanted to know the extent of the problem. Little did Sasser know that the very biggest offender was none other than Tennessee’s own Hospital Corp. of America...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10358


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Big government deja vu

Boston Globe
by Jeff Jacoby

09/28/05

It is 1965. ... In the America receding behind you, the president is Lyndon Johnson. The landslide winner of last year's election, he is forging ahead with his 'War on Poverty' and 'Great Society,' spending billions of taxpayer dollars and creating vast new entitlement programs. His fellow Democrats control Congress and easily brush aside GOP complaints about creeping socialism and reckless federal spending. ... The time machine slows to a halt. You climb out and set off to explore 2005. Many things have changed, you discover. ... But one thing that seems familiar is budgetary politics. One political party is still running the show in Washington and still spending as mindlessly as ever. ... The incumbent in the White House, a Texan named Bush, burns through money even more extravagantly than the Texan named Johnson you left behind in 1964...

http://tinyurl.com/92hqo


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



Big Government: Where Does It Come From?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi45.html

Christian Science Monitor
by Ray Takeyh

09/29/05

Last week's vote by the International Atomic Energy Agency branding Iran in breach of its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) commitments has given impetus to the United States to call for the deferral of Iran to the UN Security Council. Tehran is adamant that it wants nuclear power for generating electricity. Yet, Washington policymakers and their European counterparts subtly argue that Iran's previous treaty violations indicate a more sinister motive to subvert its neighbors and export its Islamic revolution. Such alarmism overlooks Iran's realities. In the past decade, a fundamental shift in Iran's international orientation has enshrined national interest calculations as the defining factor in its approach to the world. Irrespective of the balance of power between conservatives and reformers, Iran's foreign policy is driven by fixed principles that are shared by all of its political elites...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0929/p09s02-coop.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
by staff

09/27/05

Hundreds of thousands of Americans around the country protested the Iraq War on the weekend of September 24-25, with the largest demonstration bringing between 100,000 and 300,000 to Washington, D.C. on Saturday. But if you relied on television for your news, you'd hardly know the protests happened at all. According to the Nexis news database, the only mention on the network newscasts that Saturday came on the NBC Nightly News, where the massive march received all of 87 words. (ABC World News Tonight transcripts were not available for September 24, possibly due to pre-emption by college football.) Cable coverage wasn't much better. CNN, for example, made only passing references to the weekend protests. ... Another feature of the protest coverage was a tendency to treat a tiny group of pro-war hecklers as somehow equivalent to the massive anti-war gathering. ... In a headline that summed up the absurdity of this type of coverage, the Washington Post reported (9/25/05): 'Smaller but Spirited Crowd Protests Antiwar March; More Than 200 Say They Represent Majority.' Perhaps this 'crowd' felt that way because they've grown accustomed to a media system that so frequently echoes their views, while keeping antiwar voices -- representing the actual majority opinion -- off the radar...

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2677


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Jim Lobe

09/29/05

The decision Tuesday by a U.S. immigration judge in Texas to deny Venezuela's request to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, whom Caracas has dubbed 'the Osama bin Laden of Latin America,' was greeted with surprise and disappointment by Latin America activists and even some former U.S. officials. Venezuela wants Carriles to stand trial for the October 1976 bombing of a civilian Cubana Airlines flight that killed all 73 people aboard shortly after it took off from Barbados. Venezuela's ambassador here, Bernardo Alvarez, accused the George W. Bush administration of using a 'double standard' on terrorism. He said the White House and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which represented the administration before the court, 'virtually' collaborated with Posada by failing to contest statements by one defense witness that Posada would be tortured if he were returned to Caracas. ... 'if we examine our respective records on torture, a prisoner is more likely to be tortured in the custody of the U.S. government than in the custody of Venezuelan officials'...

http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=7434


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Salon
by Michael Scherer
09/29/05

At its height, the first great political machine of the 21st century worked like this: In Congress, Texas Rep. Tom DeLay controlled the votes like a modern-day Boss Tweed. He called himself 'the hammer.' His domain included a vast network of former aides and foot soldiers he installed in key positions at law firms and trade groups, a network that became called the 'K Street Project.' He gathered tithes in the form of campaign cash, hard and soft, and spread it out amongst the loyal. He legislated for favored donors. He punished those who disobeyed, and bought off those who could be paid. For a while, the whole operation seemed unstoppable. But the machine may now be coming to an end... [subscription or ad view required]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/29/delay/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

WolfesBlog
by Claire Wolfe

09/28/05

For me, that one spare paragraph, that one bland, banal, business-as-usual bureaucratic cruelty, encapsulated everything that's wrong -- and increasingly wrong, I fear -- with the human race. If 'one death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic,' then for me the single unspeakable refusal to rescue a tiny animal -- forcing a desperate man to kill the creature he'd loved and saved -- drew all the cruelties of institutionalized culture into one Goya-like image in my mind's eye. And I simply haven't found a way to go on conducting the ordinary business of life when I'm a member of a species that routinely behaves with such rottenness...

http://www.clairewolfe.com/wolfesblog/00001699.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

San Francisco Chronicle

09/28/05

The gap between high-income and low-income Americans is widening, the ranks of the poor in California and nationwide are swelling, and middle-class workers have lost ground compared with the 1970s, several national and state studies show. A disturbing new picture of low- and middle-income family finances is emerging from U.S. Census studies and from analyses of census and other data by the California Budget Project, the Brookings Institution, UC Berkeley researchers and organizations studying specific demographic or geographic groups. 'The increase in inequality in income is a longtime trend, but the pressure on middle- and low-income workers is going up rapidly,' said Alice Rivlin, an economist at the Brookings Institution and vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 1996 to 1999. 'Especially if they live in an area where there are high housing and gas prices, like California'...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/28/MNGF8EV3UL1.DTL


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Yahoo! News

09/28/05

As its hurricane relief donations near the $1 billion mark, more than double all other charities combined, the American Red Crossis encountering sharp criticism of its efforts and mounting pressure to share funds with smaller groups. The complaints -- that Red Cross operations were chaotic in some places, inequitable in others -- have stung deeply within an organization that is proud of its overall response to Hurricane Katrina, by far the most devastating natural disaster it has confronted on U.S. soil. ... The frustration stems partly from the fact that the Red Cross has worked to avoid a recurrence of the humbling fundraising controversy that flared after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Back then, the Red Cross raised about $1.1 billion -- its record so far for a single disaster -- but the organization was assailed when donors belatedly learned that $200 million of their gifts were being earmarked to prepare for future crises rather than to help victims...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050928/ap_on_re_us/katrina_red_cross_hk4


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent [UK]

09/29/05

The Labour Party was forced to make a humiliating apology to an 82-year-old party member last night after he was thrown out of the conference for heckling Jack Straw.

Walter Wolfgang, a party member for 57 years, was bundled out of the conference hall by stewards after shouting 'nonsense' as Mr Straw, the Foreign Secretary, defended Britain's role in Iraq. He was later stopped under anti-terrorist powers as he tried to re-enter the hall. The heavy-handed treatment of Mr Wolfgang revived criticism of the 'control freakery' associated with New Labour and even drew comparisons with the way the Communist leaders in Russia and China stifled dissent. Mr Wolfgang fled Nazi Germany as a teenager for the freedom of Britain. He said: 'I shouted out 'nonsense.' That's all I said. Then these two toughies came round and wanted to manhandle me out'...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article315804.ece


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Detroit Free Press

09/28/05

Saying they were caught off-guard by the number of people in need, FEMA officials closed a relief center early on Wednesday after some of the hundreds of hurricane victims in line began fainting in triple-digit heat. The midday closing of the Houston disaster relief center came as officials in areas hit hardest by Hurricane Rita criticized FEMA's response to the storm, with one calling for a commission to examine the emergency response...

http://tinyurl.com/c5ym6


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050928/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/corpse_photos


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

09/29/05

The biggest corruption trial in Chicago in decades opened Wednesday with a federal prosecutor launching a blistering attack on former Republican Gov. George Ryan, saying he betrayed the public's trust by taking cash and gifts to help insiders land lucrative state contracts. ... Ryan, 71, is accused of giving a lobbyist friend, Larry Warner, free rein to steer contracts to his clients in exchange for gifts and favors during Ryan's term as Illinois secretary of state in the 1990s. Ryan faces 18 corruption counts, including conspiracy and fraud. Warner, a co-defendant, faces 12 counts...

http://tinyurl.com/cqojt


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Las Vegas Review-Journal

09/28/05

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted by a Texas grand jury Wednesday on a charge of conspiring to violate political fundraising laws, forcing him to temporarily step aside from his GOP post. He is the highest-ranking member of Congress to face criminal prosecution. A defiant DeLay said he had done nothing wrong and denounced the Democratic prosecutor who pursued the case as a 'partisan fanatic.' He said, 'This is one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history. It's a sham'

http://tinyurl.com/bov48


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



DeLay Indictment

http://tinyurl.com/8ct4p


Informant: Debi Clark

The growing specter of a full-scale civil war in Iraq - and the likelihood that such a conflict will draw in neighboring states - has intensified a summer-long debate here over whether and how to withdraw US troops.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805J.shtml

Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy: Compounding the federal government's stumbling and tragically inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina, now FEMA has announced that it will reimburse churches. Now more than ever, the government needs to do its job and let the religious community do our job, without confusing the two.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805F.shtml

Iraqis have reacted furiously to the three-year jail sentence imposed on Lynndie England, provoking outrage across the world. Last night she was jailed and dishonorably discharged from the US Army, but ordinary Iraqis said that it was not enough.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805E.shtml



The invention of porno torture
CounterPunch
by Liaquat Ali Khan

09/28/05

Torture is by no means an exclusive American practice. Almost all states, including Muslim nations, practice atrocious forms of torture. Porno torture, however, is unique. It is unique not because it is harsher but because it is unusual. Very few states have been reported to practice porno torture. So a question arises: Why has the US Torture Establishment invented porno torture to degrade and torment Muslim men, women, and children? .... It is no surprise that the military court that convicted Lynddie England found no porno torture in the case. In fact, England was not even charged for committing any form of torture. She has been found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees, and one count of committing an indecent act. No Iraqi detainees were summoned as witnesses to tell their story of shame, degradation, pain and suffering that porno torture inflicted on their bodies, minds, and souls. Meanwhile, the Torture Establishment has buried thousands of pictures of porno torture in confidential files to avoid responsibility...

http://www.counterpunch.org/khan09282005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Four years after the nation's deadliest terror attack, evidence is accumulating that a super-secret Pentagon intelligence unit identified the organizer of the Sept. 11 hijackings, Mohamed Atta, as an al Qaeda operative months before he entered the US.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805D.shtml

The upcoming battle over a successor to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor threatens to plunge the Senate into another bitter confrontation over filibusters and the "nuclear option," with Democrats already threatening to use any means possible to thwart President Bush if he nominates someone they regard as too conservative.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805C.shtml

Hundreds of thousands of Americans around the country protested the Iraq War on the weekend of September 24-26 in Washington, DC. But if you relied on television for your news, you'd hardly know the protests happened at all.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805B.shtml

House Republicans on Wednesday will launch a rapid-fire assault against environmental protections on the pretext of helping the US oil and gas industry recover from hurricane damage, environmental groups charge.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805A.shtml

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/pets_act_house/step1.tcl



REALLY IMPORTANT FOR ALL PETS and their families!!

Please take a minute to fill this out. I was horrified by the treatment of the animals after Katrina. After all they cannot help themselves or ask for help!

There is a bill before Congress that will help to create standards and REQUIREMENTS for pets to be included in evacuation plans in future disasters.

"The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, H.R. 3858 (PETS Act), would require state and local authorities to include pets and service animals in their disaster evacuation plans.

You could help save thousands of people and pets from anguish even loss of life during the next major disaster, just by calling, faxing, or e-mailing and asking your U.S. Representative to support this bill."

As an animal lover, PLEASE go to this site and voice your support. We should never have to go through a situation like this again.

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/pets_act_house

Thank you


Informant: Alan Dicey

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-928hurricaneforecast,0,1417049.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla


Informant: NHNE

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092701552.html

by Jennifer Talhelm
Associated Press
Tuesday, September 27, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Peace mom Cindy Sheehan didn't change her opposition to the war in Iraq after meeting Tuesday with one of its supporters, Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam veteran whom she called "a warmonger."

Sheehan thanked McCain for meeting with her, but she came away disappointed.

"He tried to tell us what George Bush would have said," Sheehan, who protested at the president's Texas home over the summer, told reporters. "I don't believe he believes what he was telling me."

McCain, R-Ariz., also seemed disappointed in the meeting, which he said had been misrepresented as including some of his constituents. Only one person in her small delegation has ties to the state, and that person no longer lives there.

The two exchanged views about the war, and McCain described the conversation as "a rehash" of opinions already well known. He said he might not have met with Sheehan had he known none of his constituents was in the group.

Although McCain has criticized the handling of the Iraq war, he has supported President Bush's call to stop terrorism abroad before it reaches the U.S. Sheehan, whose son, Casey, died in Iraq last year, has energized the anti-war movement with her call for troops to be brought home.

"He is a warmonger, and I'm not," Sheehan said after meeting with McCain. "I believe this war is not keeping America safer."

"She's entitled to her opinion," McCain said. "We just have fundamental disagreements."

Sheehan's conference with McCain was one of several scheduled this week as part of her campaign to persuade members of Congress to explain the reasons for the war. She spoke before a massive anti-war rally Saturday on the National Mall and was arrested Monday demonstrating in front of the White House.

Sheehan and McCain had met once before, shortly after the funeral of her son. Sheehan said Tuesday that McCain told her then that her son's death was "like his buddies in Vietnam" and that he feared their deaths were "for nothing." McCain, however, denied he made such a statement.



MEETING WITH CINDY SHEEHAN
By Howard Dean
afterdowningstreet.org
September 27, 2005

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3170

I met with Cindy Sheehan and three activist supporters here in my office at the DNC (two of whom were involved in the Presidential race) on Saturday after the rally. Some of you have met her, but for those who have not, I thought I would share my impressions.

She is a delightful person. She had not a drop of holier than thou zealotry. She is unpretentious and very clear. All this I expected, given the terrible sacrifice she has made, and her willingness to speak out.

What I was surprised at was her ability to be so comfortable in her own skin. After she became a phenomenon in Crawford, the Republican spin team realized she was a real threat. Cindy Sheehan, made a tremendous personal sacrifice. A sacrifice being made by too many American families who have had loved ones killed or maimed in this war.

Cindy has credibility the Administration does not have. Even the President tried to diminish her by saying that she did not believe in fighting terrorism. His minions, of course, did much worse, trying to make out that she was a media savvy manipulator -- and even spreading false rumors that she was anti-Semitic.

No one is untouched in the face of personal attack, but Cindy exudes an inner calm and a self-confidence which made it clear to me that she will not back down. I respect and support what she is doing in standing up and speaking out.

Whether you think the Iraq war is a good idea or not, all of us should support Cindy Sheehan. Perhaps the grossest disservice the Republican leadership has inflicted on our country is not the war, the huge deficits, or even the divisive appeals to the worst fears of voters. Rather it is the notion that it is unpatriotic to disagree with the most partisan President in our life time, and that dissent harms our country. Nothing could be farther from the truth -- we are a strong country because we have the right to dissent.

In fact it is the attempts of the Administration to fight dissent with personal attacks as they did during the Nixon era are that diminish our country in the long term.

Cindy Sheehan is honest in the face of a dishonest and corrupt Washington culture. She is plain spoken in an era of cynicism and propaganda, she in committed and idealistic in a time where our government has abandoned what is right for America in favor of what is right for the Republican party. We need more Cindy Sheehans.


Informant: NHNE



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

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=ySDLf00DWp9Q0TQ2_lPx-w..

Lester M. Crawford's wife has told family members that an unintentional failure to disclose financial holdings prompted his sudden resignation as commissioner of food and drugs last week, her brother said yesterday.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/092805HA.shtml

Time to Connect the Dots

The New York Times: Along with ruined homes and upended trees, the recent hurricanes left behind a revived debate about global warming ... The alarm bells have been ringing for a long time, but Katrina and Rita should serve as yet another warning to an administration that has belittled the science of global warming.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/092805EA.shtml

Roy Blunt (R-MO) has been named to fill in for Tom Delay as the House Majority Leader. Blount, like Delay, has had his own ethics problems.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805S.shtml

US Senator Russ Feingold protests the war on the senate floor in his speech today: "I have spoken before about my grave concern that the Administration's Iraq policies are actually strengthening the hand of our enemies... ."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805R.shtml

Hey, Hey, Woody Guthrie, I Wrote You a Song

William Rivers Pitt discusses recent ethical and legal scandals in the Republican Party. Today, GOP Rep. from Texas, Tom DeLay, was indicted; earlier this week, Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist faced an SEC charge; and a little more than a week ago, the White House's top federal procurement officer, David Safavian, was arrested.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/092805Q.shtml

Solidarität mit Dr. Nikolaus Brauns

Von wegen Pressefreiheit

ZDF berichtete über Polizeiaktion gegen jW-Mitarbeiter. Medienwissenschaftler: Staatlicher Druck auf kritische Journalisten und Informanten wächst. Artikel von Ludwig König, München, in junge Welt vom 29.09.2005
http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/09-29/014.php

Aus dem Text: „…Zu Wort kam in der Sendung auch jW-Mitarbeiter Nick Brauns. »In meinem und ähnlichen Fällen wird der besondere Schutz von Journalisten systematisch ausgehebelt, indem Journalisten Straftaten unterstellt werden, die mit ihrer Arbeit gar nichts zu tun haben, um so an die Daten zu kommen.« (…) Trafen die Polizeiübergriffe bisher linke Journalisten wie den nordrhein-westfälischen VVN-Vorsitzenden Ulrich Sander, die Redaktion von Labournet, die anti-atom-aktuell-Redaktion, die kurdische Tageszeitung Özgür Politika und eben jW-Autor Nick Brauns, so gerieten in den letzten Wochen auch bürgerliche Medien ins Visier der Fahnder…“

Siehe dazu auch:

Journalisten im Visier – Angriff auf die Pressefreiheit. Manuskript der Sendung Frontal 21 vom 27.09.2005 von Steffen Judzikowski und Ulrich Stoll, (pdf)

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/download/0,1896,2002604,00.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 29. September 2005

--------

Solidarität mit Dr. Nickolaus Brauns

München: Erneut Hausdurchsuchungen bei linken AktivistInnen
Presseerklärung des OG München der ROTEN HILFE e.V. vom 19.10.2005

http://www.rote-hilfe.de/content/pe_191005_muenchen.htm

Siehe auch:

Angriff auf linke Strukturen. Ein Ausschnitt aus acht Monaten Repression Info der Roten Hilfe e.V. Ortsgruppe München vom Oktober 2005 (pdf)

http://www.rote-hilfe.de/muenchen/Info2-05.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 21. Oktober 2005

The Bush administration should have learned enough from Mike Brown's downfall about the consequences of putting political hacks in critical positions. Yet, only days after Mr. Brown's forced departure as FEMA director, the administration was asking Congress to approve another unqualified candidate for an important job.

http://tinyurl.com/99ubj


From Information Clearing House

What will black political leadership do to protect us and the nation from Bush’s cynical “Gulf Coast Opportunity Zone”? What good are institutions like the Congressional Black Caucus if they do not offer real alternative visions, hold public hearings, educate the public, and campaign for concrete remedies.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/151/151_dixon_katrina.html


From Information Clearing House

No.2 Republican in U.S. House indicted

The second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, said on Wednesday he would step aside temporarily from his leadership post following an indictment on a campaign-finance charge.

http://tinyurl.com/c8xus



Statements Regarding DeLay's Indictment

"The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom Delay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people." — House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California.

http://tinyurl.com/b86mv



DeLay has often skated near the ethical edge

Tom DeLay often operated close to the ethical edge in his ascension to the powerful job of House majority leader. Today, under indictment, he stands at the precipice.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5640114.html


From Information Clearing House

Bernard Weiner

Introducing a resolution calling for impeachment hearings is the first serious step along that road back to political sanity and moral accountability for our country. Let's demand that our Representatives in Congress do it, and if they won't, we will elect those who will.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10430.htm



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

WHY IS THE PADILLA CASE SO IMPORTANT? Because the right to freedom from arbitrary detention and to a jury trial is one of the fundamental rights for which the American Revolution was fought — it is enshrined in our Bill of Rights.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10429.htm

US President George Bush, whose government believes Iran intends to produce atomic weapons, has however refused the rule out military strikes.

http://tinyurl.com/e26ss


From Information Clearing House

"The West does not seek the elimination of nuclear weapons, but rather the establishment of nuclear monopoly..."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10437.htm

I wanted me to share with you a letter I wrote to the Chief of the United States Park Police regarding the treatment of the 384 protestors arrested outside the White House.

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000256.htm


From Information Clearing House

Here is the transcript. Read and pass it along – it has the power to topple tyrants.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10435.htm

The conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq, including increasing detention and accidental shootings of journalists, is preventing full coverage of the war reaching the American public, Reuters said on Wednesday.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10420.htm

by Mike Whitney

The Padilla case is of particular interest now that we have a genuine case of domestic terrorism we can use for comparison.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10424.htm

by Scott Ritter

Scott Ritter, reveals how the CIA plotted to use a UN weapons inspection to overthrow the Iraqi regime - and how fiasco turned to tragedy when it failed.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10427.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0920_050920_extinct_insects.html


Informant: NHNE

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/article315799.ece


Informant: NHNE

http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm

Over the past week, Organic Consumers Association network members have deluged the U.S. congress with over 55,000 emails and over 10,000 telephone calls. Thank you for your support. This nearly unprecedented grassroots upsurge has temporarily rattled Congress and the industry, delaying the initial Sneak Attack in the Senate on organic standards, resulting in a compromise amendment
(H.R. 2744) September 21 calling for "further study of the issue."

Unfortunately we expect another, possibly even more serious, Sneak Attack in the House/Senate Conference Committee over the next week as Congress members put the final wording together for the 2006 Congressional Agriculture Appropriations Bill. For a list of committee members and contact info, click here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/ofpa-contacts.cfm

Therefore OCA is now calling on consumers and the organic community to apply pressure to their House of Representatives members as well as their Senators to stop the Conference Committee from degrading the standards.

In addition we urge everyone to start applying pressure to the Organic Trade Association (OTA), who are unfortunately spearheading this Sneak Attack.

We ask everyone who has read our SOS Action Alert -- and signed our petition to Congress -- to call your House of Representative member 202-224-3121, as well as the OTA: 413-774-7511.

Recent developments >>
http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm

OCA News Updates >>
http://www.organicconsumers.org/log.html


Informant: JHW369

http://www.politicalmoneyline.com/


Informant: littlebrit1961

Russian Scientists Warn of Impending North American Catastrophic Event as Cosmic Burst Triggers Massive Solar Blast, Lights up New Zealand Skies, Throws Weather Systems into further chaos.

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index820.htm


Informant: Di

MWM: I believe that many things will change more in the next 12 months than they have in the past four years.


From - Peoplenomics 9/28

About Our Crash Warning

As we open hump day, facing the prospect of a leisurely trip back to the ranch starting Saturday morning at 0h-dark-thirty, we can see that our Crash Warning issued last Thursday seems more justified now than it was then, based on some developments that just can't be ignored. I mean other than the comments of Alan Greenspan admitting that the U.S. has lost control of its budget deficit because of the costs of war and now storms on top on the housing bubble.

I'd begin by pointing to an article appearing in The Australian today which says the Reserve Bank of Australia - their equivalent of our Fed - is warning of the possibility of a global meltdown. To be sure, Greenspan is lightening up on his warnings a bit, but with storm damage in the billions, one can only look at the weather maps and ask, "Gee, what next?"

While the National Weather Service isn't reporting any new storms in the Atlantic at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov, there are private weather watchers who see the potential for more storms, possibly severe, before this storm season ends. One storm continues, though, and that's the storm over the role of FEMA in New Orleans, and the testimony of Michael Brown is getting some play - as someone has to take the fall.

However, keep in mind the larger context of the federal role in New Orleans - as Alex Jones' site suggests in a dandy Steve Watson read today over at Infowars.net, "Katrina/Rita Fallout Part One Martial Law: Police State America - We're So Close Now".

One reader suggests that maybe, just maybe, the New Orleans response might have something to do with an attempt to nationalize the US oil industry. We think not, but nothing would surprise us anymore.

The Warning from Texodus

America can certainly rebuild from the weather disasters of the past two years - that's no stretch for an economy with the kind of horsepower harnessed self interest under capitalism can turn out. But where things run into a brick wall is if our energy inputs are restrained in a significant way. Our Houston Bureau - in the heart of America's oil patch, offers an assessment today which we fear may prove much more accurate than the happy talk proffered by mainstream media:

"OK, it's bad. There are dozens of rigs and platforms damaged, missing or sunk. Katrina put the whammy on production platforms, and Rita slammed the drilling rigs. I've got some pix to forward to you tomorrow. Some of the rigs are upside down, others are twisted and destroyed, still others are just plain gone...either sunk or drifting.

As I have been telling anyone willing to listen, there really is no such thing as Peak Oil, as far as I can tell. The real problem is a complete lack of infrastructure for moving and refining oil and gas, as well as a serious shortage of drilling rigs, tankers and refineries. The situation was close to dire before the storms. It is critical now.

Over the past couple of decades, there has been little investment in tankers, new drilling rigs and refineries. As a consequence, we may be running out of gasoline while drowning in oil. This is the cause of the disconnect recently between pump price and barrel cost. All the storage areas are full of oil, the problem is there is no scalable means to refine it and/or ship it. Even starting this minute, the supply can not be increased by even one percent for the next three to five years.

Should the next storm
http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/?from=wxcenter_news hit shipping, I can almost guarantee the pump lines we recently saw in Houston will be nationwide. I am fairly sure that we will see them by Christmas, as it is. A cold winter will virtually ensure radical price hikes in natural gas, electricity and heating oil.

While this may sound alarmist, I assure you that I am taking the best information from offshore interests, as well as what I know about the industry into account. The outcome will most likely not be pleasant, and the time frame for the unpleasantness to start is about one month, maybe slightly more. When you hear Bush taking steps to limit gasoline usage in the White House and encouraging people to conserve, you can bet that he knows what's coming.

Your readers should begin to take reasonable and prudent steps, if they have not already. Try to have at least 3/4 of a tank full in your car at all times. Anyone who lives in a city should have several alternative routes out of town that DO NOT utilize the freeways (I tried four of my routes during the Texodus and found them virtually empty). Consider purchasing a good water filter (Big Berkey, for instance) and a small generator to run a deep freeze or refrigerator (never operate one indoors). Keep a good supply of non-perishable food on hand.

These are just prudent suggestions. I see no reason to panic about the situation. It will progress quickly, but those who are looking for the signs will know when things start to go down hill. Until you have spent days looking for a gas station, or gone grocery shopping when nothing was on the shelves, or gone five days without electricity during a heat wave, you can not appreciate the situation. I was well prepared for the storm, but even that would get me through a month or so, with serious rationing.

To summarize, the GOM (Gulf of Mexico) oil and gas industry has been hit pretty hard. ALL oil and 80% of natural gas production is shut in. Four refineries are seriously damaged, needing about a month or more to repair. Dozens of rigs and platforms are sunk, missing or damaged. There is currently about a month's supply of refined petroleum products in storage, and they are decreasing rapidly. Your readers would do well to consider prudent preparations for a severe disruption in energy by year's end.

Sorry to bear bad news, but I don't even have the whole picture yet, and it already ain't pretty. More as things develop."

No matter how grim our reports may sound to the "Ain't no peak oil.!" believers, there are others picking up the same information and piecing it together such as the prestigious Financial Times which reports this morning that Rita caused record damage to oil producing infrastructure.

Thanks to the future scanning technology of http://www.halfpasthuman.com and some just plain luck, Elaine and I will be back in Texas in just over a week. As best I can guess, we will be paying around $3.50 a gallon on average as our travels take us along an "anything but direct" route. Naturally, I'll keep you posted along the way, but it could easily be that the web bot "event" which we're in the midst of right now could be nothing more or less than a sudden public awakening over the next week or two that oil prices of $100 a barrel and $4.00+ gas are in sight by Christmas. Elaine & I are looking at locking in holiday travel plans now as costs for airfare for our kids have gone up 20% in the past week (damn!). If you're able to make investments, locking in airfares might be an interesting play, indeed.

Personal Incomes

The Bureau of Economic Analysis today released State Personal incomes for the second quarter of the year (Ending June 30th). If you're keeping up, you should have seen an increase of 1.5% in personal income for the period. if not, you're falling behind:

Personal income for the nation grew 1.5 percent in the second quarter of 2005, an acceleration from the 0.6 percent growth of the first quarter and a return to the average pace of the last six quarters. Almost all states participated in the acceleration, although in three states (Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina) the growth rate equaled the first quarter’s and in four states (Idaho, New Mexico, Arkansas, and South Dakota) growth slowed from the first quarter. Even so, personal income growth in all states exceeded the second quarter’s 0.8 percent inflation rate (as measured by the national price index for personal consumption expenditure).

Do you notice that Florida, which was hard hit by storms last year, had great gains? That's what I mean when I talk about the resilience of the American economy. It does best when things are bad.

Durables

As if to underscore this phenomena, the durable goods report for August out today says there was a greater than expected 3.3% increase in August, rebounding from a big drop the month previous. Problem is the report doesn't cover Katrina or Rita periods, so next month could be a bit of a bummer, or maybe not, depending on how fast rebuilding orders come in.

Ponderable Quake

Our colleagues at http://www.halfpasthuman.com have an interesting observation about the big quake in Peru this week: "an oddity about the Peru quake. no fore or after shocks that I can find. very odd." Yeah, very odd indeed...

Get Jules Verne on the Line!

There's a science report today that yes, giant squid like the one in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" are real - and pushing 60-feet end to end.

No Snake Conclusion

We have just about an even split on yesterday's excess negative ion induced question, "Can snakes crawl backwards...?" People swear both answers are correct...it's like trying to get a straight answer from an economist, I tell you.

Putin's Next Job?

No, he's not saying what he will do after he steps down in 2008, but Vlad Putin apparently has something up his sleeve. Gee, I thought Putin and and Tony Blair might both hang out shingles at Carlyle... Say, got a fresh cup of coffee and RealPlayer? Take 48 minutes to watch a video online? Skip the first 1 minute 48 seconds...and the English language begins...

Solar Race Results

It's not like the old Tour 'd Sol, but a Dutch Team won the latest big solar-powered car race in Australia. Not much on hills, solar cars are lots of fun on flatlands...but an average speed of 102.75 KPH? That'd be, let me think (ouch!) a bit over 60 MPH? Wowsers...


Best Wishes,
Michael Wells Mandeville,
The Hills of Arizona
USA

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/frank5.html



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

Now there are indications that weak electromagnetic state of the earth is making confused migrating birds spread it in Northern hemisphere. Scientists now predict that a slight genetic alteration can be catastrophic for our civilization. The altered version of the flu could be carried from human to human.

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/4758.asp


Informant: Di

00:00, Sep 28 2005

ic South London

By Mandy Little, The Mercury

A BIG battle with a communications giant is hotting up over an "industrial scale" mobile station just 20ft away from people's homes.

Since 1993, Orange has been granted permission from Greenwich council to install a range of mobile telecommunications equipment on the roof of Westcombe Court, Westcombe Park Road, Greenwich, despite local opposition

At present the station includes six masts, three dishes and related electrical equipment, weighing more than six tonnes.

But the company's lease is now up for renewal and residents of the block and the nearby area are urging the council not to give permission.

Spokesman Jonathan Bond, 38, from the campaign "The Future's GREEN not ORANGE" organised by Vanbrugh Park Estate Residents' Association (VPERA) said: "The main issue is the station is on top of the lift tower, just 20ft from residents' flats. It is unusual and quite shocking. Usually there is a service flat on the top floor which would separate it more - but not in this case.

"It is a heavily residential area. John Roan School is close by, as are a number of nurseries.

"People have been fuming about it for years.

"We don't know the long-term effects of such installations. There must be more suitable locations for it."

Omega we know the long-term effects of such installations see
"The Naila-Study" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/398279/

He added the equipment leant over the internal walkways and staircases of the block and claimed that on two occasions parts had fallen off, posing safety hazards. He said the installation also interfered with access to the lifts for repairs and improvement works.

The dad-of-one, of Combe Avenue, said people were upset about the council's apparent lack of regard for the whole estate, which is in a conservation area.

The residential development was built in 1965 by the same architects of the Barbican Centre -Chamberlain, Powell and Bon. Council-owned, it is occupied by equal numbers of council tenants, leaseholders and freeholders.

The council has requested a report from Orange on the safety issues and Orange is now operating on a week-by-week lease.

A spokewoman from Orange said it was in discussions with the council and was addressing the issues raised by the community.

29. September 2005

Zur Situation auf dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt im Monat September erklärt der Bundesgeschäftsführer der Linkspartei.PDS, Rolf Kutzmutz.

Die Meldung von gestern: Weil 8000 Menschen bei DaimlerChrysler in Deutschland ihren Job verlieren sollen, wird an der Börse ein Drei-Jahres-Hoch der Daimleraktie notiert. Profitmaximierung auf Kosten der Belegschaften deutsche Großkonzerne haben dies in den letzten Tagen zuhauf angekündigt. Die Meldung von heute: 4,65 Millionen Menschen sind in Deutschland ohne Arbeit, 120.000 weniger als vor einem Monat. Das ist gerade wegen der Unternehmensankündigungen kein Grund zur Beruhigung. Zumal die Hauptursache des statistischen Rückgangs bei den Ich-AGen und Ein-Euro-Jobs liegt. Die Arbeitslosigkeit sinkt nicht durch neue existenzsichernde Beschäftigung. Die Politik unterstützt diesen Trend, indem sie auf Niedriglohn und Ein-Euro-Jobs setzt. Arbeitslose werden weiter verwaltet, statt sie endlich in Lohn und Brot zu bringen. Während sich die große Koalition des Sozialabbaus noch mit Personalfragen beschäftigt, liegen die dringendsten Aufgaben brach. Die Fraktion der Linken im Bundestag wird sich damit nicht abfinden. Im Programm für die ersten 100 Tage werden Initiativen gegen Hartz IV, für mehr Ausbildungsplätze, einen Mindestlohn und die mittelfristige Schaffung Existenzsichernder Arbeitsplätze die anderen Parteien zwingen, im Bundestag Farbe zu bekennen.

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=30343

Die Bürgerinitiative Gablitz (Bezirk Wien-Umgebung) gibt ihre Gründung bekannt.

(Gablitz, 29. Sept. 2005 – Die Gründung erfolgte am 23. Sept. 2005; Ziel ist die Verringerung der Strahlungsbelastung durch Mobilfunksender im Gablitzer Wohngebiet; Sendemasten sollen aus dem Ortszentrum verschwinden und in unbewohntes Gebiet verlegt werden; Mobiles Telefonieren soll in Gablitz auch weiterhin möglich sein und das ist auch technisch leicht machbar)

Inhalt: => siehe:

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/big_pr_aussendung_2005_09_29.doc
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/big_forderungstext.doc

Über die Angabe des LINKS
http://www.schutz-vor-elektrosmog.at/buergerinitiative-gablitz.htm in Ihrem Artikel würden wir uns sehr freuen.

Für Rückfragen stehe ich jederzeit zur Verfügung.

PS: Bin heute ab 14:00 Uhr wieder am Festnetz unter 02231-68367 erreichbar.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Mag. Robert Marschall
Erster Sprecher der Bürgerinitiative Gablitz
Anton Haglgasse 14/1/3
A-3003 Gablitz, Österreich
Tel: 02231 / 68367
E-Mail: robert.marschall@ivtk.at
Homepage:
http://www.schutz-vor-elektrosmog.at/buergerinitiative-gablitz.htm

„6,4 Mio. Personen bekommen z. Zt. Alg II oder (als Familienangehörige) Sozialgeld. Alleinstehende müssen mtl. mit 345 Euro Regelsatz plus der als angemessen betrachteten Warmmiete auskommen, im Schnitt zusammen mit etwa 650 Euro. Leben mit diesem Regelsatz bedeutet: 4,23 Euro am Tag für Ernährung und Getränke, darunter 88 Cent für Frühstück und je 1,57 für Mittag- und Abendessen. 0,34 tgl. für Cafe- und Kneipenbesuche = ein Cappuccino die Woche. 60 Cent tgl. für öffentlichen Nahverkehr = eine Fahrt in der Woche hin- und zurück. 60 Cent für Telefonkosten incl. Grundgebühren = 7 Cent täglich für Gespräche. 34 Cent für Zeitungen/Zeitschriften = einmal in der Woche eine Tageszeitung und 15 Cent für Sport- und Freizeitveranstaltungen = alle zwei Monate einmal Kino…“ Das aktuelle Flugblatt des klartext e.V. vom September 2005 (pdf)

http://www.klartext-info.de/flugblaetter/500_Euro_Mindestsatz_050926.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 28. September 2005