The American Prospect
by Michael Roston

10/12/05

So Republican senators have finally stood up to President Bush. At least, that’s what people said when Senator John McCain and 45 of his fellow Republicans approved a McCain-sponsored amendment intended to eliminate the abuse of detainees. The legislation, which passed in a 90-9 vote on October 6, even drew the support of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who said, in a letter to McCain, that the legislation 'will help deal with the terrible public diplomacy crisis created' by the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Not so fast. However much McCain might want to stop the abusive practices, his bill will not reduce the use of torture by agents of the United States engaged in the global war on terrorism. Nor will it help America's image abroad. The legislation will not end the Bush administration's shadow war, which includes the use of torture as a tool...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=1040


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Sheldon Richman

10/12/05

Everybody is good at something, and George Bush is good at insulting our intelligence. As if he hasn’t provided enough evidence, he recently obliged with two more demonstrations. First came his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. By picking Miers he is telling the American people she is the most qualified person in the country to join the court. Oh really?

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0510d.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Charles V. Pena

10/13/05

Ultimately, the recent security alert for the New York City subway system is a microcosm for the larger task of homeland security. And the lesson to be learned is best summed up by what the Irish Republican Army told the British after a failed assassination attempt against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984: 'Today we were unlucky, but remember, we only have to be lucky once -- you will have to be lucky always.' On 9/11, we were unlucky. Thankfully, we have been lucky since. But eventually our luck will run out .... The paradox of homeland security is that we must build defenses against terrorist attack, but defending against terrorism is a Maginot Line because a determined terrorist will eventually find ways to circumvent those defenses. And since it is unrealistic to believe that we can kill each and every al-Qaeda terrorist, this only accentuates the imperative to change U.S. foreign policy...

http://www.antiwar.com/pena/?articleid=7588


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Financial Times
by Guy Dinmore

10/11/05

Even among the strongest advocates in Washington of the war in Iraq there is a sense of alarm these days, with harsh criticism directed particularly at the draft constitution, which they see as a betrayal of principles and a recipe for disintegration of the Iraqi state. Expressions of concern among conservatives and former Iraqi exiles, seen also in the rising disillusionment of the American public, reflect a widening gap with the Bush administration and its claims of 'incredible political progress' in Iraq. Over the past week, two of Washington's most influential conservative think-tanks, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Heritage Foundation, held conferences on Iraq where the mood among speakers, including Iraqi officials, was decidedly sombre...

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7e70a06a-3a72-11da-b0d3-00000e2511c8.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

My Way News

10/12/05

The Pentagon is looking at the possibility of using federal troops to enforce a quarantine in the event of an outbreak of pandemic bird flu in the United States, a senior official said on Wednesday. President George W. Bush said last week he would consider using the military to 'effect a quarantine' in response to any outbreak of avian influenza, but provided few details. Bush at the time also suggested he might place National Guard troops, normally commanded by state governors, under federal control as part of the government's response to the 'catastrophe' of such a flu pandemic...

http://tinyurl.com/dhaz4


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNN

10/12/05

Regarding Syria's eastern neighbor, Iraq, [Bashar] Al-Assad said the United States should re-examine its policy there because of the negative consequences of the war. 'We should re-evaluate what's going on in Iraq,' he said. 'What did we achieve, what did they achieve from that war in Iraq,' he asked. 'It's a very simple question. What did they achieve economically, politically, fighting terrorism? ... We didn't achieve anything'...

http://tinyurl.com/cf9tt


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Las Vegas Review-Journal

10/12/05

The White House tried Wednesday to patch a growing fissure in the Republican Party over Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers by pointing to her conservative religious beliefs. 'Part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion,' President Bush said. Bush defended his nomination, saying Miers was highly qualified, a trailblazer in the law in Texas and someone who would strictly interpret the Constitution -- something his conservative supporters want evidence to support. He said his advisers' comments about Miers' churchgoing were meant to give people a better understanding of his little-known nominee...

http://tinyurl.com/955ya


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC

10/12/05

It has been weeks since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast; since gas prices began spiking to record highs; and since Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, held her antiwar vigil outside President Bush’s Texas ranch. But, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, the fortunes of the Bush administration and the Republican Party have not yet begun to recover. For the first time in the poll, Bush’s approval rating has sunk below 40 percent, while the percentage believing the country is heading in the right direction has dipped below 30 percent...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9672058/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Suddenly, Democrats see a possibility in 2006 they have long dreamed of: a sweeping midterm election framed around what they describe as the simple choice of change with the Democrats or more of an unpopular status quo with the Republican majority.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101305N.shtml

As dread descends on the White House, all of Washington waits for the Valerie Plame endgame.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101305M.shtml

A review by former intelligence officers has concluded that the Bush administration "apparently paid little or no attention" to prewar assessments by the Central Intelligence Agency that warned of major cultural and political obstacles to stability in postwar Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101305I.shtml

13.10.05

Der ehemalige CDU-Generalsekretär Heiner Geißler fordert von der wahrscheinlichen Kanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) eine Änderung ihres sozialpolitischen Kurses. Der Wählerwille habe der "neoliberalen, man kann sagen marktradikalen" Programmatik der Union eine Absage erteilt, sagte Geißler am Mittwoch dem Südwestrundfunk (SWR). Merkel habe die Wahl verloren, weil die CDU den Menschen Rezepte vorgelegt habe, die ihnen Angst gemacht hätten. "Die Leute brauchen mehr Geld in der Tasche, die Handwerker brauchen Aufträge, und nicht weitere Kürzungen mit Mehrwertsteuererhöhung und noch höheren Abgaben für die Menschen", betonte er. Pläne, den Flächentarifvertrag abzuschaffen, die Nachtarbeitszuschläge abzubauen und den Kündigungsschutz zu lockern seien Einzelkonzepte ohne irgendeinen Zusammenhang.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12046

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101305Y.shtml



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

Informationen über die Vermögensverteilung in Deutschland

14.9.2005

http://www.arbeiterfotografie.com/sozialraub/2005-09-14-ein-prozent.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1817081,00.html


Informant: NHNE

Mobiltelefone müssen in Thailand zukünftig bei der Regierung registriert werden.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21134/1.html

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/CAUGHT_RED__0923.html


Informant: Lowell Byrd

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20051012/2005-10-12T192302Z_01_SCH268992_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-BIRDFLU-USA-PENTAGON-DC.html


Informant: friends2b

http://tinyurl.com/cayw7
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10621.htm

by Max B. Sawicky, TomPaine.com

With no luck on Social Security, Bush is pushing tax reform -- paying off his friends by raising taxes on the middle class.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051013/the_next_great_theft.php

by Ralph G. Neas, TomPaine.com

What's wrong for John Roberts can't be right for Harriet Miers.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051013/bush_plays_the_faith_card.php

Today, virtually the entire population is impregnated with a certain number of substances, some of which are toxic to development or carcinogenic. Numerous epidemiological and toxicological data show the link between this generalized chemical pollution and the growth of modern epidemics.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205H.shtml

It seemed like a no-brainer: changing the law to allow the federal government to buy food in Africa for Africans facing starvation instead of paying enormous sums to ship it from the American heartland, halfway around the world. Not only would the food get to the hungry in weeks instead of months, the government would save money and help African farmers at the same time. So why is this seemingly sensible, cost-effective proposal near death in Congress?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205F.shtml

Molly Ivins: Senator John McCain proposed an amendment to the military appropriations bill that would prohibit "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of prisoners in the custody of the US military. But the Bush administration actually managed to find some weasel words to create a loophole in this longstanding commitment to civilized behavior.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205D.shtml

Maureen Dowd: Since there is no breathtaking Miers judicial record to pore over, I was eager to read more breathless Miers missives to a president she describes as the most brilliant man she has ever met. How could I get the notes from the White House, given how opposed Mr. Bush is to leaks? I called Scooter and Karl and they sent the secret documents right over.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205E.shtml

The videotaped beating of a New Orleans resident offers but a small sample of the widespread brutality, deprivation and railroading that have come to characterize the city’s response to alleged crimes.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2475


From Information Clearing House

Outside the blind trusts he created to avoid a conflict of interest, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist earned tens of thousands of dollars from stock in a family-founded hospital chain largely controlled by his brother, documents show.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10603.htm

There are signs that prosecutors now are looking into contacts between administration officials and journalists that took place much earlier than previously thought.

http://tinyurl.com/93svn


From Information Clearing House

In two appearances before the federal grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative's name, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, did not disclose a crucial conversation that he had with New York Times reporter Judith Miller in June 2003 about the operative, Valerie Plame.

http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2005/1011nj1.htm


From Information Clearing House

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/politics/12877168.htm


From Information Clearing House

"People are interested to know why I picked Harriet Miers," Bush told reporters at the White House. "They want to know Harriet Miers' background. They want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1206541


From Information Clearing House

Tony Blair today insisted the case for holding terrorism suspects without trial was "absolutely compelling" as the government published new legislation allowing detention for 90 days without charge.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,15935,1590525,00.html

Full Text: Terrorism Bill:
Pdf file

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Politics/documents/2005/10/12/terrorismbill.pdf


From Information Clearing House

Windows Media.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10605.htm

In the latest official Syrian comment on the increasing pressure on Damascus, Premier Naji Otari said "all the gates of hell will open on the U.S. if it attempts to attack Syria."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10604.htm

Mr Bush has at last admitted what we all knew: the Lynndie England's and all the other poor soldiers who have been punished for torturing and mistreating their captives in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere were in fact following orders. Mr Bush has now admitted as much. Which is more than Mr Milosevich, former president of Yugoslavia/Serbia, has admitted in his trial at the Hague for war crimes.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10599.htm

US and Britain used stories of Al Qaida operatives to justify the war on Iraq. Loretta Napoleoni exposes the truth.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7574


From Information Clearing House

Even among the strongest advocates in Washington of the war in Iraq there is a sense of alarm these days, with harsh criticism directed particularly at the draft constitution, which they see as a betrayal of principles and a recipe for disintegration of the Iraqi state.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10602.htm

A newly released report published by the CIA rebukes the Bush administration for not paying enough attention to prewar intelligence that predicted the factional rivalries now threatening to split Iraq.

http://tinyurl.com/9eqb2


From Information Clearing House

Within 10 days of arriving in Australia, the new French Ambassador says the invasion of Iraq is to blame for breeding terrorism around the world.

http://tinyurl.com/dmfok


From Information Clearing House

The vehemence with which those who defend selfishness and insensitivity, individualism and disdain for the poor tells us a lot about ourselves and who we are as Americans. This "Americanism" is the yardstick by which we measure what has become our uniquely American ethos. The "American Dream" is a fantasy created in another time, the idealized vision of a make-believe parallel universe -- It is a false dream in a golden ghetto.

"The American Dream never did exist for one group of Americans--the poor. And if life has become more difficult for all working people, it is a disaster for the growing numbers thrown on the trash heap in the richest country in the world." (Alan Maass, Case for Socialism, 2003 - Haymarket Bks)

Continued --> http://pnews.org/ArT/ImP/AmeR.shtml

--------

The Heat Death of American Dreams

A number of news reports and commentary on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have linked the disasters to global warming. Almost nobody noticed a crucial scientific finding, two weeks earlier, that foreshadows disasters on a far greater scale in the decades to come.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/101205EB.shtml

There are at least 2,225 child offenders serving life without parole (LWOP) sentences in US prisons for crimes committed before they were 18 years old, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a new joint report published today.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205R.shtml

Former Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday he had no intention of ever running for president again, but he said the United States would be "a different country" if he had won the 2000 election, launching into a scathing attack of the Bush administration.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205Q.shtml

This newsletter is intended to be a combined effort of CASE OHIO, J30 Coalition, AND OHIO VIGILANCE, and any citizen activists involved in Election reform. This newsletter will include applicable news and events, it is not intended to promote any specific agenda but instead be inclusive.

This mailing is from CASE Ohio mailing list.

Bob Koehlers most recent article: "Ballot and Soul" http://www.commonwonders.com/

REFORM OHIO NOW:

The summary below is from Common Cause website. CASE Ohio, J30, and Ohio Vigilance have NOT officially endorsed RON. While not speaking for anyone but myself, the groups above are most concerned about Issue 2, in that early voting appears to be open to fraud.

Common Sense Reforms for Ohio http://www.ReformOhioNow.org ,

Common Cause Ohio is working with our partners who make up the Reform Ohio Now (RON) coalition to restore faith and integrity in government through four common sense reforms. These reform measures are central to our mission of holding power accountable and, if passed, would form one of the most comprehensive reform packages in the country. They will appear on the November 8th ballot as Issues 2, 3, 4 and 5 and will do the following:

Issue 2 - Allow Ohioans to vote early or to vote by mail, ensuring easy access to elections

Issue 3 - Put tough limits on campaign contributions, reducing the influence of money in politics

Issue 4 - Create an independent redistricting commission to take the power to draw legislative districts out of the hands of partisan lawmakers

Issue 5 - Remove partisan politicians from the administration of state elections

Our effort will succeed because of grassroots power and volunteer like you. Please sign up to volunteer today and visit this site often to learn what you can do to clean up Ohio.

For more info: http://www.ReformOhioNow.org


DIEB-THROAT

The following story broke on Bradblog http://www.bradblog.com and was subsequently confirmed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I am reprinting only a small part of the entire article here.

Blogged by Brad on 9/22/2005 @ 12:31am PT...

DIEB-THROAT Weighs in on Diebold's Stunning 15.5% Wednesday Stock Plunge a BRAD BLOG Exclusive late last week.

That "Cyber Security Bulletin", little-noticed by the media, and apparently wholly ignored by Diebold when it was originally posted in late August of 2004 is still available on the US-CERT website . It warns of an "undocumented backdoor" in Diebold's GEM Central Tabulator software used with its electronic voting machine systems. The security vulnerability could allow a local or remote user to modify vote tallies stored in the system according to the warning and corroborated by several different sources.

"This backdoor means that one malicious person can change the outcome of any Diebold election," DIEB-THROAT said in our previous article. "Diebold's election system," the source added, "is one of the greatest threats our democracy has ever known."

HAND COUNT PAPER BALLOT NEWS - 10/10/05

Marj Creech, Victoria Parks and I (Jo Anne Karasek) are going to speak on the hand count paper ballot constitutional initiative and parallel elections on October 12 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The group that has invited us is the Women’s Progressive Activists, and they are interested in sponsoring a hand count paper ballot constitutional initiative in Michigan. Victoria Parks will also be singing her songs about the election debacle before the event begins.

The draft constitutional initiative for hand count paper ballots in Ohio is being revised. This is because of the additional security procedures suggested in "Voting on Paper Ballots" by Douglas W. Jones at http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/paper.html. Douglas W. Jones is an Associate Professor at Iowa State in computer science with an election administration background.

To sign up to help with the constitutional initiative for hand count paper ballots, please contact Jo Anne Karasek, Coordinator, at jakarasek@cinci.rr.com

Ohio HB 3:

Inside information is that the Republican leadership in the house intends on adding an amendment to HB3 to require a photo ID to vote, thereby avoiding debate in committee or in the public domain, and they plan to bring the bill to a vote soon after the November election. Nationally a photo ID requirement will disenfranchise 357,000 currently eligible voters in Ohio while solving a problem that does not exist. (Four voters have been charged with fraudulently voting in Ohio in 2005)

BOARD OF ELECTIONS:

Franklin County has a contract to work with Election Science Institute to ensure an accurate election. Other counties, such as Cuyahoga, have similar voting machines but are expecting the public to trust the equipment without this oversight. There is some concern that ESI is a Trojan Horse. Regardless, this response from Matt Damschroeder, BOE director in Franklin Co, recognizes the many issues and vulnerabilities of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines.

"We are working with ESI to do a complete review of the ES&S including a line by line review of the source code. Since we here at the BOE are not electronic security or programming experts, we are asking the experts brought in by ESI to help us identify shortcomings in the ES&S system for ES&S to either change or for us to create mitigating processes. We are also working with ES&S to make recommendations for the conduct of our post election canvass (audit). Also, with the ES&S machines, it creates a real time electronic log of all transactions, which is written to a removable flash card. Franklin County’s goal is to develop the procedures and technology so that in addition to posting the tabulated results of the system, that we will also post to the web the flash card data from each individual machine as well as .pdf’s of the VVPAT for each machine. Obviously, that will take some time to download and scan, so it probably won’t be election night, and again, we have to develop some procedures and acquire some additional technology to do this … but our objective is to have all of the material out there so that our posted results are transparent and independently auditable". Matt Damschroder (email from Matt Damschroeder to Pete Johnson, 9/26/05)


Exit Polls : On Friday October 14th, Steve Freeman Ph.D. will debate Warren J. Mitofsky of Mitofsky International, which was contracted to perform an exit poll for the National Election Pool. This debate may eventually be televised on CSpan.

The two will square off in lectures and discussion on Friday, October 14, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the University of Pennsylvania Terrace Room, Logan Hall, 249 South 36th Street in Philadelphia. They will be part of ASAP's fall meeting, which includes a third talk on the use of two remarkably powerful statistical methods to make the best use of clinical trial data.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=54651

CUYAHOGA COUNTY (CLEVELAND):

Cuyahoga County Board of Elections

Public Meeting to "unveil" the Diebold Touch-Screen Voting Machines (DRE's) "Roadmap to Electronic Voting, 2004-2005"

Date: Monday, Oct 17th, 2005

Location: Myers University Club, 3813 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH

Time: 10am to 4pm

ELECTION AUDITS

Lucas County, Ohio

A second election audit of the Lucas County, Ohio, November 2004 General Election was done on October 7, 2005. The first was done in June, 2005

Twelve volunteers: Troy Seman, Stuart Wright, Marj Creech, Evan Davis, Denis Logan, Adam Kopchian, John Willey, James Marek, Bev & John Peterson, Debbie Dalke, and Jo Anne Karasek worked on digitally photocopying the signature books and poll books. There has been a public records request to audit the ballots, but no date has been set yet.

To sign up to participate in Lucas County audits, please contact Jo Anne Karasek at jakarasek@cinci.rr.com

Clermont County, Ohio

A public records request to audit the ballots, signature books and poll books of the Clermont County, August 2004 Special Election has been issued and a preliminary date has been set to discuss arrangements on Friday, October 14. We are requesting a videographer is for this.

To sign up as a videographer or to participate in Clermont County audits, please contact Jo Anne Karasek at jakarasek@cinci.rr.com


TECHNOLOGY ISSUES : Open Voting Consortium has recently had success convincing the Sec of State in California to study the use of "open source code in voting systems in California". To view the letter: http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/sos-letter-926.pdf

Carter Baker Commission

for full report:
http://www.american.edu/ia/cfer/report/report.html

For an excellent article from Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/18/AR2005091801364.html

The Commission made 87 recommendations, one of which has generated significant controversy:

"The most controversial recommendation calls for all voters to produce a standard photo identification card before being allowed to vote. The commission proposes that, by 2010, voters be required to use either the Real ID card, which Congress this spring mandated as the driver's license of the future in all states. For about 12 percent of eligible voters who do not have a driver's license, the commission says states should provide at no cost an identification card that contains the same key information."

Carter says Gore won 2000 election ( sept 22, 2005)

from
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Carter_says_Gore_won_2000_el_0922.html

John Byrne

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter delivered a shocker at an American University panel in Washington Monday: RAW STORY has learned he told the crowd he was certain Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election. There is "no doubt in my mind that Gore won the election," the erstwhile President declared, saying the 2000 election process "failed abysmally." He also snubbed the Supreme Court for getting involved, saying it was "highly partisan."


FOR MORE INFO: http://www.ohiovigilance.org/
CASE Ohio: http://www.caseohio.org/
Ohio Honest Elections: http://www.ohiohonestelections.org/
J30: http://users.cjb.net/j30/
Ohio Vigilance: http://www.ohiovigilance.org/
Free Press: http://www.freepress.org/

Important newspaper articles:"What Went Wrong in Ohio?" by Mark Crispin Miller in Harper's Magazine

fairnessbybeckerman.blogspot.com/2005/07/harpers-magazine-forum-what-went-wrong.html

"Way to go Ohio" by David Bernstein in the Boston Phoenix.

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/04823487.asp

"Ohio's Odd Numbers" by Christopher Hitchens in Vanity Fair.

http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/050214roco05

New Book: "How the GOP Stole America’s 2004 Election $ is Rigging 2008" by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman.
http://www.freepress.org/


This newsletter edited by Pete Johnson, as a result of a vote taken at the J30 meeting but intended to be representative of the entire election reform movement. Please submit comments and articles for the next newsletter to pjohnso6@insight.rr.com .

Get Disarmament Moving! Jump-Start Disarmament!

The UN General Assembly is currently discussing how to get real progress on nuclear disarmament. Many countries are moving to prevent any one countrys ability to block all negotiations, and letting the world's desire to abolish nuclear weapons move forward. This discussion is taking the shape of a resolution currently being put forward in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly. (Draft text of the resolution at the end of this email)

The resolution, announced on October 6th, will establish four ad-hoc committees under the General Assembly and provide an opportunity for governments to address nuclear disarmament, preventing an arms race in outer space, a treaty that would ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons production, and negative security assurances.

Please write, phone, and fax your heads of states, foreign ministers, and UN missions in NYC and ask them to support the resolution that will be voted on in the First Committee at the end of October and forwarded to the General Assembly.

A letter from Abolition-2000 to all UN missions, and from Australian NGOs to Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer are below, followed by draft text of the resolution itself.

For your governmentâs contact information, visit:

http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/govcontacts/govindex.html

Some fax numbers that might be useful (Foreign ministries and UN missions) are:

Australia - foreign minister Alexander Downer - 61-2-6273-4112 or 61-2-8370-8166 Australia - UN Mission 1-212-351-6610 New Zealand Foreign Ministry - 64-4-472-9596 UN Mission 1-212-758-0827 Japan UN Mission 1-212-751-1966 Germany - Foreign Ministry - 49-30-1888-17-3402 UN Mission -1-212-940-0402 Norway - foreign ministry - 47-2224-9580 UN mission 1-212-688-0554 South Africa Foreign Ministry - 27-12-351-0253 UN Mission 1-212-692-2498 United States - President Bush 202-456-2461 UN Mission 1-212-415-4443 Russia - foreign ministry - (095)244- 4112 President Putin7-095-205-4219 Russia- UNmission 1-212-628-0252 UK- Tony Blair - 44-207-925-0918 UN Mission 1-212-745-9316 China (UN mission) 1-212-634-7626 France Foreign Ministry - 011-33-147-42-2465 UN Mission 1-212-421-6889 India Foreign Ministry - 011-91-11-301-6857 UNmission 490-9656 Pakistan (UN mission) 744-7348 Israel Foreign Ministry 011-972-266-4838 UN mission 1-212-499-5515 Iran UN mission 867-7086

They need to hear from us to help them stick to their intentions to make this 60th anniversary year of living with the bomb, the year the world got serious about eliminating the nuclear scourge.

They will be under tremendous pressure from the US and its allies--so please act now to let your government know that the other superpower--the people of the world--want governments to do the right thing and ban the bomb.

To build support for nuclear disarmament in your own community, urge your mayor, parliamentarians or congress members to endorse the Joint Mayors and Parliamentariansâ Statement on Nuclear Disarmament - www.pnnd.org -that will be presented at the United Nations on UN Day, October 24th to support the draft UN resolution.

For more information, visit http://www.abolitionnow.org


This letter from Australian NGOs was faxed yesterday to foreign minister Downer. It is followed by a letter from Abolition2000 to all UN missions.

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AUSTRALIA
MEDICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PREVENTION OF WAR (MAPW)
PEOPLE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT (PND)W.A.
PEOPLE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT (PND) NSW

Alexander Downer, Foreign Minister,
6273-4112, 08-8237-7950 6261-2151 Australian UN Mission 1-212-351-6610 Foreign Minister, Norway 47-2224-9580 Norway UN Mission 1-212-688-0554 Foreign Minister South Africa 27-12-351-0253 RSA UN Mission 1-212-692-2498 UN Mission Chile, 1-212-832-8714 UN Mission Romania 1-212-682-9746 UN Mission Indonesia 1-212-972-9780 UN Mission UK 1-212-745-9316

RE: UNGA FIRST COMMITTEE PROPOSAL 'Initiating Work on Priority Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Issues'


Dear Foreign Minister Downer, and representatives of the Seven Nation Initiative,

We are writing to urgently request Australia's and the Seven Nation Initiatives support for the proposal to be submitted by Canada, Mexico and Malaysia on Oct 6 in UNGA First Committee, "Initiating work on priority disarmament and non-proliferation issues" intended to break the paralysing deadlock in nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation negotiations that has prevailed over the past few years.

That resolution, would address the following vital issues: - Nuclear disarmament - A treaty to prevent the weaponisation of space - The Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty - Negative security assurances.

As you will be well aware, the recent NPT Review ended with no final agreement because a very small group of nations, and often only one nation, held up consensus.

You will also be well aware that nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation did not even figure on the agenda of the M+5 Summit in spite of pleas by Secretary - General Kofi Annan for progress to be made on it, in large part because of the actions of US ambassador to the UN John Boltons actions. Kofi Annans reaction to its exclusion from the M+5 agenda was that this was 'inexcusable'.

The Seven - Nation initiative was welcomed by Kofi Annan as a ray of hope against that dark background. It would therefore be highly appropriate and helpful for it to lend its support to other initiatives such as the Canada/Mexico/Malaysia one, designed to cut through the current nuclear disarmament deadlock. A process that does not allow this deadlock to happen but that accurately reflects the will of the overwhelming majority of peoples and governments is essential. A small number of governments - often only one government - that thwarts the overwhelming wish of the world as a whole to move toward the elimination of nuclear weapons is intolerable.

I trust and hope that both specific members of the Seven Nation initiative and the Initiative as a whole may find it possible to give their full support to the proposal emanating from Canada, Mexico, and Malaysia.

I draw your attention also to the letter on the same subject that UN Missions will have received from Abolition2000, with which we would wish to be fully identified.

John Hallam Nuclear Weapons Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Australia Tilman Ruff, Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW) Jo Vallentine, People for Nuclear Disarmament W.A., Cameron Schraner, People for Nuclear Disarmament NSW


October 7, 2005


Dear Ambassador,

We are writing to you as representative members of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons - a network of over 2,000 organizations and municipalities in more than 90 countries, working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. As you well know, the 2005 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference ended with no final document and no agreement on how to implement the hard won promises made by nuclear weapon states in 1995 and 2000, including the unequivocal undertaking for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Nor were the nations, bound by rules of consensus, able to address the increasing danger of nuclear proliferation, since only one or two countries were able to block any meaningful commitments for further measures to secure nuclear materials and deal with other issues of nuclear proliferation. Additionally, the Conference on Disarmament ended its ninth consecutive year without agreement on a program of work - another demonstrable failure of the current multilateral disarmament machinery caused by a lack of political will on the part of the few.

Once again, at the Millennium +5 Summit, leaders of governments were unable to deal with the critical issues of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Every single reference to those matters was removed from the final document by a group of governments powerfully led by a few, thwarting the democratic will of the majority of the world’s people to make our world more secure by eliminating the nuclear scourge.

For these reasons, we urge your support for a resolution that is being put forward in the First Committee of the General Assembly to move these critical issues forward. This resolution, announced on October 6, will establish four ad-hoc committees under the General Assembly - a truly multilateral body, not bound by consensus. These committees, operating in Geneva, would begin work on the following issues:

- Negative security assurances. - Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space - Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty - Nuclear disarmament

The failure of the CD to act on these issues is largely attributed to the misinterpreted consensus rule of procedure, and the stubborn blockage by one member state. This resolution is not attempting to modify the mandate of the CD, nor is it opening a Pandora’s box of reform issues. Instead, it will provide ALL member states of the UN with an opportunity to contribute substantively to these important issues, affording an opportunity to move forward with discussions and deliberations that can set the legal, technical and political framework for substantive action on these items by the CD once it agrees to do so. However, if the CD fails to agree to a program of work, discussions will not be forced to end. This resolution provides an opportunity for negotiations to begin, and for those who deliberately boycott or sabotage those negotiations to pay a political price - and no longer be able to hide behind the consensus rules of the CD. On issues as critical as the collective security of our planet we cannot allow any chance of progress to be blocked by the obstinate refusal of a handful of states to the detriment of the great majority of nations.

We urge you to demonstrate your concern for the preservation of global security and support for the will of the world’s majority by supporting this resolution in the First Committee.

Sincerely,

Abolition Global Council Monika Szymurska Abolition 2000 Coordinator

215 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1001 New York, NY 10016

e-mail: monika@abolitionnow.org phone: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160


NON-PAPER Draft Elements of an UNGA60 First Committee Resolution "Initiating work on priority disarmament and non-proliferation issues"

The General Assembly,

1. Recognizing the importance of resuming substantive work on priority disarmament and non-proliferation issues,

2. Concerned with the protracted impasse in the Conference on Disarmament which has prevented it to date from adopting a Programme of Work,

3. Mindful of the need to ensure complementarity and avoid duplication between the work of the General Assembly and the Conference on Disarmament,

1. Decides, pending agreement on a Conference of Disarmament Programme of Work, to establish open-ended Ad Hoc Committees on the four priority issues as enumerated in paragraphs a-d below.

a) The first Ad Hoc Committee shall negotiate, with a view to
reaching agreement on effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. These arrangements could take the form of an internationally binding instrument.

b) The second Ad Hoc Committee shall deal with nuclear disarmament. The Ad Hoc Committee shall exchange information and views on practical steps for progressive and systematic efforts to attain this objective and, in doing so, shall examine approaches towards potential future work of a multilateral character. In discharging its functions, the Ad Hoc Committee will take into account current efforts and existing proposals and views, as well as proposals that may emerge from the study and discussion.

c) The third Ad Hoc Committee shall negotiate, on the basis of the report of the CD's Special Coordinator (CD/1299) and the mandate contained therein, a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

d) The fourth Ad Hoc Committee shall deal with the prevention of an arms race in outer space. The Ad Hoc Committee shall identify and examine, without limitation, any specific topics or proposals, which could include confidence-building or transparency measures, general principles, treaty commitments and the elaboration of a regime capable of preventing an arms race in outer space, including the possibility of negotiating relevant international legal instruments. In doing so, the Ad Hoc Committee shall take appropriate account of the need to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and the prevention of an arms race there, while also promoting international stability and respecting the principle of undiminished security for all.

2. Decides that upon adoption of a Programme of Work in the Conference of Disarmament, the work of the relevant Ad Hoc Committees will cease and the results obtained shall be transmitted to the President of the Conference on Disarmament.

3. Decides to appoint _________ as the Chair of the first Ad Hoc Committee; ________as the Chair of the second Ad Hoc Committee; _________as the Chair of the third Ad Hoc Committee and ___________ as the chair of the fourth Ad Hoc Committee. Each Chair will report to the 61st session of the General Assembly.

4. Decides that the work of the Ad Hoc Committees will take place in Geneva and convene for up to six one-week meetings of five sessions each.

5. Decides that, in 2006, the Ad Hoc Committee under 1 a) shall meet as follows: 23 January -27 January; 20 February - 24 February; 20 March - 24 March; 29 May - 2 June; 26 June - 30 June; and 21 August - 25 August.

6. Decides that, in 2006, the Ad Hoc Committee under 1 b) shall meet as follows: 30 January - 3 February; 27 February - 3 March; 21 March - 31 March; 5 June -9 June; 31 July - 4 August; 28 August - 1 September.

7. Decides that, in 2006, the Ad Hoc Committee under 1 c) shall meet as follows: 6 February - 10 February; 6 March - 10 March; 15 May - 19 May; 12 June - 16 June; 7 August - 11 August; 4 September - 8 September.

8. Decides that, in 2006, the Ad hoc Committee under 1 d) shall meet as follows: 13 February - 17 February; 13 March - 17 March; 22 May -26 May; 19 June - 23 June; 14 August - 18 August; 11 September - 15 September.

9. Decides that the above schedule could be subject to modification pursuant to agreement by the Chairmen concerned

10. Requests the Secretary-General to provide within existing resources the necessary support to convene the work of the four aforementioned Ad Hoc Committees.

22.09.05


From FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3479/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

A mobile phone company is set to steamroll over public opinion by erecting a mast next to schools and a health centre in Southfields.

The Southfields community is powerless to stop Vodafone putting up a 13.4m mast in Revelstoke Road.

The telecommunications equipment would emit radiation despite Wimbledon Park Primary School, two nurseries and the Revelstoke Road Surgery lying within a 300 yard radius.

Vodafone has applied for prior approval from Merton Council, who can only prevent masts going up if they are more than 15m or are next to sensitive locations such as conservation areas and listed buildings.

It means the council is virtually powerless to stop the Vodafone mast and will have to grant approval on the September 22 deadline. Nationwide mast planning guidance has come down as a Government directive.

Wimbledon Park Councillor Tariq Ahmad said hundreds of signatures had been collected against the mast.

Coun Ahmad said: "More recent guidance out of the Office of the Deputy Prime calls for extensive consultation and taking into the account the views of residents, particularly where children are being impacted."

However a Vodafone spokeswoman said the radiation limits complied with international guidelines.

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

She said: "If you want to use our mobile phones in cities we must have masts for that to work."

http://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.640773.0.mobile_phone_mast_likely_to_get_goahead.php

Hartz IV – SGB II

Dokumentation der Fachtagung im März 2005 von REGSAM (Regionalisierung Sozialer Arbeit in München) zu den aktuellen Auswirkungen von Hartz IV (Schwerpunkt München)(pdf; 103 Seiten)

http://www.regsam.net/docs/HartzDokumentation.pdf



ALG II und Kinder/Jugendliche

„Zu wenig für zu viele“

Kinder und Hartz IV: Eine erste Bilanz der Auswirkungen des SGB II
(Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende) herausgegeben vom Paritätischen Wohlfahrtsverband – Gesamtverband – vom 24. August 2005. (pdf-24 Seiten)

http://www.infothek.paritaet.org/pid/fachinfos.nsf/65e974296cf7e729c12569f9007071a6/1a9bbe1f92ccff53c1257067005cd498/$FILE/Teil_1_Expertise.pdf



ALG II und Wohnen

Hartz IV-Wohnungsräumungen mit Menschenmauern des zivilen Ungehorsams verhindern – Sozialproteste verbreitern!

„Das Aktionsbündnis Sozialproteste – ein Zusammenschluss von ca. 80 Bündnissen zu Montagsdemonstrationen/Sozialprotesten in den Städten – hat auf einer bundesweiten Aktionskonferenz am Samstag, 1.10.05 in Kassel beschlossen, den von Zwangskündigungen betroffenen Hartz IV-Empfängern durch drastische Formen des zivilen Ungehorsams ihre Wohnungen zu sichern. Die Anwesenden verständigten sich darauf, in nächster Zeit in den jeweiligen Städten Notrufnummern für Hartz-Betroffene einzurichten, denen ein unzumutbarer Auszug aus ihren Wohnungen droht. Als letztes Mittel sollen die anstehenden Zwangsumzüge durch eine „Menschenmauer des zivilen Ungehorsams“ systematisch verhindert werden…“ Pressemitteilung des Aktionsbündnisses Sozialproteste vom 2.10.2005 (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/pm_absp_021005.pdf

siehe dazu auch: Aktionsbündnis Soziale Proteste – ABSP

Die Homepage des Bündnisses mit weiteren aktuellen Informationen und Links http://www.die-soziale-bewegung.de


» Hartz IV: Kommunen müssen Mietern sämtliche Kosten ihrer Wohnung bei der Miete erstatten

„Nach einer Entscheidung des Sozialgerichts Mannheim (Urteil vom 3. Mai 2005, Az. S 9 AS 507/05) muss eine Kommune einem Mieter im Rahmen von Arbeitslosengeld II die tatsächlichen Aufwendungen seiner Wohnung erstatten. Erstmalig hat damit ein Gericht in Deutschland festgestellt, dass ein Mieter nicht nur Anspruch auf die Regelleistungen, sondern auch auf die Erstattung der tatsächlichen Kosten für Unterkunft, Heizung, Kaltwasser und Warmwasser – also auch auf die Nebenkosten – hat. Dieses war bislang ein Streitpunkt unter den Beteiligten…“ Presseerklärung des VNW - Verband norddeutscher Wohnungsunternehmen e.V. vom 27.09.2005

http://www.verbaende.com/News.php4?m=33308



Sonstige Proteste

ARGE Bonn: „Erwerbslosen Forum Deutschland“ wiegelt die Hartz-IV-Empfänger auf

„Heute Morgen (07.10.2005) trafen sich einige Aktivisten der Initiative „Erwerbslosen Forum Deutschland“ vor der ARGE Bonn (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Arbeitsagentur und Stadt Bonn), um betroffene Hartz-IV-Empfänger über die Entscheidung des Mannheimer Sozialgerichtes zu informieren. Die ARGE Bonn bezeichnete die Aktion als „Aufwiegelei“ und „Störung des Arbeitsablaufes“ und drohte den Aktivisten mit dem Ordnungsamt…“ Presseerklärung des Erwerbslosen Forum Deutschland vom 07.10.2005

http://www.elo-forum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2256


Aus: LabourNet, 13. Oktober 2005

Ver.di-Info “Ein-Euro-Jobs” Nr. 1/2005

Einen umfangreichen, 10-seitigen Newsletter zum Thema „Ein-Euro-Jobs“ hat die ver.di-Bundesverwaltung, Bereich Politik und Planung, herausgegeben. Aus dem Inhalt: „Eine Zwischenbilanz: Befürchtungen bestätigt, unsere Proteste begrenzen Missbrauch“, „Gerichte beschränken illegale Praxis“, Betriebs- und Personalräte handeln“, „Nützliche Internetseiten“ (leider ohne das LabourNet)“ sowie rechtliche Regelungen. Das Info “Ein-Euro-Jobs” Nr. 1/2005 (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/verdiinfo_0105.pdf



Proteste gegen 1-Euro- Jobs

Offener Brief eines 1-Euro-Job-Verweigerers

„Künftig und für alle Zeit möge man davon absehen, mich in sogenannte ‚In-Jobs’ zu vermitteln. Ich stehe nicht zu Diensten. Ameisenhaufen macht man zu Krabbelgruppen, Bienenstöcke zu Summvereinen. Milch und Honig für Paläste, Suppe und Hartz in den Hütten. Was nun, kleiner Mann ?...“ Offener Brief von Bernard Jäger aus Bremen vom September 2005. (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/obrief_jaeger.pdf



Ein-Euro-Jobs abschaffen! Tariflich abgesicherte Arbeitsplätze statt Billigjobs & Zwangsarbeit

„Das Netzwerk für eine kämpferische und demokratische ver.di fordert tariflich abgesicherte Arbeitsplätze statt Billigjobs & Zwangsarbeit Die Arbeitslosigkeit ist nicht gesunken. Geschaffen wurden seit Inkrafttreten von Hartz IV zehntausende rechtloser "Arbeitsgelegenheiten" ohne reguläre Entlohnung. Dem Gesetz nach müssen all diese Tätigkeiten "zusätzlich" sein und dürfen keine regulären Arbeitsverhältnisse verdrängen. Zahlreiche Betriebs- und Personalräte berichten jedoch davon, dass genau dies passiert: ver.di klagt inzwischen in einigen Fällen. Zudem ist die Finanzierung der Ein-Euro-Jobs teuer - für den Steuerzahler. Die Ein-Euro-Jobs zerstören die Tarifstrukturen und führen dazu, dass reguläre Arbeitsverhältnisse abgebaut werden. Sie setzen die Beschäftigten unter Druck, unter immer schlechteren Arbeitsbedingungen zu arbeiten. Das Netzwerk fordert, Ein-Euro-Jobs in reguläre, tariflich bezahlt und abgesicherte Arbeitsplätze umzuwandeln, Mindestlohn 10 Euro pro Stunde, Arbeitszeitverkürzung zur Verteilung der vorhandenen Arbeit auf alle: 30-Stunden-Woche bei vollem Lohn- und Personalausgleich.“ Flugblatt des Netzwerkes für eine kämpferische und demokratische ver.di vom Oktober 2005. (pdf)

http://www.netzwerk-verdi.de/hartz/ein-euro-flugblatt.pdf



Träger der 1-Euro-Jobs

Hängt ihn höher – Recht und Ordnung in KL-City

Artikel von Ralf Pandorf über einen alltäglichen Skandal in Kaiserslautern

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/klcity.html



Offener Brief an den Gesamtpersonalrat der Stadt Hannover

„Lieber Kollege Jürgen Homann, Anfang des Jahres hieß es auch von Seiten des Gesamtpersonalrats, die Stadt Hannover müsse sich an der Errichtung von Arbeitsgelegenheiten mit Mehraufwandsentschädigung nach Hartz IV, den so genannten 1-€-Jobs - beteiligen. Bei der Stadt, so das Argument, seien die Betroffenen durch die Personalräte besser geschützt, als in privaten gemeinnützigen Vereinen. Mittlerweile konnten wir durch Gespräche mit Betroffenen, über einen Informationsbesuch im Stützpunkt Hölderlinstrasse und einer Diskussion mit dem Personalrat der Hölderlinstrasse diese Behauptung überprüfen. Das Ergebnis ist weder für die Stadt Hannover oder die ARGE, noch für den Gesamtpersonalrat schmeichelhaft….“ Offener Brief des ver.di-Bezirkserwerbslosenausschusses an den Gesamtpersonalrat der Stadt Hannover vom 05.10.2005. (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/hilfe/offenerbrief_verdi_hh.pdf



Träger der 1-Euro-Jobs > 1-Euro-Jobs im Bildungsbereich

GEW: „Ein-Euro-Jobs gefährden qualifizierte Bildungsarbeit“

„„Wir brauchen an den Bildungseinrichtungen mehr gut qualifizierte Arbeitskräfte – und keine Ein-Euro-Jobber“, sagte Ulrich Thöne, Vorsitzender der Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW), heute zum Weltlehrertag am 5. Oktober. Der Tag steht unter dem Motto: „Qualifizierte Lehrkräfte für qualifizierte Bildung“. Von den bislang eingerichteten gut 300.000 sog. Arbeitsgelegenheiten („Ein-Euro-Jobs“) sei, so Thöne, der überwiegende Teil an Schulen, Kitas und Hochschulen angesiedelt. Ein-Euro-Jobs in Bildungseinrichtungen würden für pädagogische, technische und Verwaltungsaufgaben eingerichtet, die in der Regel zu den Pflichtaufgaben des Staates gehören…“ Pressemitteilung der GEW Bildungsgewerkschaft zum Weltlehrertag am 5. Oktober

http://www.gew.de/GEW_Ein-Euro-Jobs_gefaehrden_qualifizierte_Bildungsarbeit.html

Zwischenbilanz. Acht Monate Hartz IV. Acht Monate Ein-Euro-Jobs auch an den mittelhessischen Universitäten Marburg und Gießen.

Pressebericht der FAU Lahn vom 27.09.05 im Marburger Magazin Express Nr.37/2005

http://www.fau.org/ortsgruppen/lahn/art_050927-191322


Aus: LabourNet, 13. Oktober 2005

Protesters are celebrating after plans for a phone mast just yards from a nursery school were booted out by planners.

Protesters are celebrating after plans for a phone mast just yards from a nursery school were booted out by planners.

Residents were furious when they discovered phone giant Hutchison 3G wanted to put up a 12.5m mast on Stubley Lane, Dronfield.
Over 70 people objected to the proposal when it went before NE Derbyshire District Council planners on Tuesday, claiming it could affect their health.

But the scheme was kicked out because it was 'visually intrusive in a prominent location'.

Resident Penny Collinson (41), said: "We are ecstatic. The proposed mast was in the very heart of the community and it shouldn't be in a residential area because there are children living right in its shadow."

Hutchison claimed there was a need for 3G coverage to give people access to video technology, saying scientific evidence had shown radiowave exposure from a base station was 1,000 times less than from a mobile phone.

13 October 2005

http://www.chesterfieldtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=728&ArticleID=1219588

MORE than 80 residents in Warndon Villages waved banners and balloons as they united in protest against a proposed mobile phone mast which they fear will damage their children’s health.

People of all ages gathered together at the junction of Dugdale Drive and Woodgreen Drive on Sunday (October 9) where O2 are soon expected to put up the 33ft mast.

The protest was organised by the Warndon Phone Mast Committee - a group of residents who are spearheading a campaign to prevent the mast from being raised near to their homes.

The city council approved planning permission for the mast in July despite 52 letters of objection from worried residents and a petition signed by a further 81 people.

Mast committee member Peter Limbrick, from Pitt Avenue, said residents feared its location would make the area less attractive and jeopardise young people’s health through radiation emissions.

“On their website O2 claim they won’t put up a mast if the majority of residents are opposed to it. They also say that they will talk to residents but they have only met with us once and since then we’ve heard nothing from them,” said Mr Limbrick.

“We decided if they were not going to sit down and listen to our concerns then we needed to show them publicly how many people are incensed by this.”

The committee will continue fighting O2 in a bid to get the company to consider alternative sites which the group have identified.

“We are angry but hopeful we can still change things at the last minute. It’s a case of watch this space!,” he said.

Paul O’Connor, principal planning officer at the city council, said mast applications had to meet strict international safety standards and there was no hard evidence to suggest they posed a serious health risk.

No one from O2 was available to comment at the time of going to press.

http://www.worcesterstandard.co.uk/news/default1.asp?id=1633

The Bush Administration and Congressional leaders are shamelessly exploiting Hurricane Katrina as the latest excuse to hand over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the oil industry.

Given the massive oil spills still devastating the Gulf Coast, it defies belief that our leaders are rushing headlong to hand over America's greatest wildlife sanctuary to the oil lobby.

Instead of making America more energy efficient -- the fastest way to meet our energy needs and avoid oil supply shocks -- they would sponsor yet another corporate raid on our natural heritage.

This cynical exploitation of a national tragedy has revealed, as nothing else could, the complete bankruptcy of President Bush's pro-polluter energy policies -- policies inspired by nineteenth-century oil barons.

Five years of coddling the oil industry has given us higher gas prices and left us more vulnerable than ever to oil shortages -- not to mention oil spills, air pollution, despoiled public lands, and catastrophic global warming.

You and I must not let the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge become the next preventable casualty of this president's failed policies.

Within the next few weeks, Congress will cast its make-or-break vote on a Budget Reconciliation Bill that would allow oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge. I urge you to pour your heart and soul into defeating that bill.

If you've alerted five friends to the urgency of this effort, mobilize five more:

http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/redfordarctic/tellafriend.asp

Make a donation so that the NRDC Action Fund can run ads mobilizing the public in key Congressional districts:

https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/arcticad/donate.asp

Write a personal, hand-written letter to your Representative:
http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/redfordarctic/arcticvoters.asp

Please do what it takes to win. Because all the beauty and wildness we've worked so hard to protect over the past 30 years could be lost in a single day.

We can win this fight, but only if we build overwhelming public pressure on Congress one person at a time. Thank you for joining with me to make it happen.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford NRDC Action Fund


Informant: Martin Greenhut

HLV INFO 159/AT

13-10-2005

Dr. Cornelia Waldmann-Selsam
peter.selsam@t-online.de
12.10.2005

Neuer Bericht

Dr. med. Regina Vogt-Heeren
Frauenärztin
Hindenburgstr.17
90556 Cadolzburg


Erfahrungen mit dem DECT-Telefon

Als ich im Herbst 2004 begann, an Zeichen eines „Überlastungssyndroms“ zu leiden (Erschöpfungs- zustände, Durchfälle, dazu anfallsweise auftretende Blutdruckkrisen), war für meine Umgebung klar, dass diese mit meiner Lebenssituation zusammenhängen. „Das ist der Stress“, „Setz’ dich mal aufs Sofa und leg’ die Beine hoch!“ oder „Machen Sie mal Urlaub“ waren die gutgemeinten Ratschläge, und vielleicht auch naheliegend. Eine Familie mit 4 Kindern, Berufstätigkeit in Gemeinschaftspraxis und diverse ehrenamtliche Aufgaben ließen für Außenstehende keinen Zweifel daran, dass ich zu lange über meine Kräfte gelebt hatte. Irgendwann glaubte ich auch so halb daran, kamen diese „Zustände“ immer häufiger und intensiver.

Das erste Mal konsultierte ich einen internistischen Kollegen Ende September in einem derartigen „Anfall“. Wenn ich schildern darf, was ich fühlte, waren das v.a. massive Angstgefühle, der Eindruck, nicht klar denken zu können; aufgrund des Druckgefühls im Brustkorb dachte ich an einen Herzinfarkt, und ich hatte wirklich Angst, nun tot umfallen zu müssen. Der Blutdruck schnellte auf 160/90 hoch (normalerweise habe ich eher einen niedrigen Blutdruck), begleitend stellten sich Durchfall und Muskelzittern, ähnlich einem Schüttelfrost, ein. Diese Angstzustände besserten sich zunächst spontan nach ca. 30 Minuten.

Diagnostisch wurde zunächst durch EKG und Troponinschnelltest der akute Infarkt ausgeschlossen. Es folgten Belastungs-EKG, später Langzeit-EKG, Blutdruckmessung, Herz- und Oberbauchultraschall. Allerdings hatte ich damals, als die Manschetten am Arm hingen, keine derartigen Anfälle und da die Blutdruckwerte lediglich im oberen Normbereich lagen, verzichteten wir zunächst auf eine Behandlung.

Diese Anfälle, bevorzugt in den späten Abendstunden und nachts, häuften sich jedoch, sie wurden auch immer länger; außerdem nahm der Blutdruck im Anfall immer höhere Werte an (aus völliger Ruhe heraus bis 180/110). Ich begann eine Medikation, gleichzeitig wurde ich auf das „Phäochromozytom“ hin untersucht (meist gutartiger Nebennierenrindentumor, der anfallsartig „Stresshormone“ ausschüttet und insofern durch Blutdruckkrisen auffällt). Das Ergebnis war negativ.

Zwei Wochen später wurde ich im präkollaptischen Zustand aus meiner Praxis heraus zum Internisten gefahren, wiederum in einer Blutdruckkrise.

Nun zeigte sich der internistische Kollege doch offensichtlich besorgt. Er veranlasste ein sofortiges NMR des Kopfes, zum Ausschluss eines evtl. Hirntumors, gleichzeitig ein CT Abdomen, um durch Darstellung der Nebennieren nochmals das Phäochromozytom auszuschließen. Die Blutdruckmedikation wurde gesteigert, was wiederum für ca. 2 Wochen mich ziemlich „anfallsfrei“ leben ließ.

In der letzten Oktoberwoche traten wiederum oben besagte „Zustände“ auf, heftiger als je zuvor, da ich zudem nachts nicht mehr schlafen konnte. Ich hatte aufgrund der Durchfälle 2 kg in einer Woche abgenommen, die Erschöpfungszustände verstärkten sich immer mehr. Teilweise schüttelte es mich am ganzen Körper. Nach drei Nächten, in denen ich wirklich kein Auge zugetan hatte, war ich am Ende meiner Kräfte und, mit Rücksprache mit meinem Internisten („ich mache mir ernsthafte Sorgen, vielleicht steckt irgendetwas Seltenes dahinter“) ging ich freiwillig in die Klinik nach Nürnberg.

Am belastendsten für mich in dieser Situation war die ausgeprägte Angst, die ich unentwegt spürte.

Der Blutdruck bei Aufnahme betrug 170/110; da die Klinik sehr voll war, musste ich bis nachmittags auf ein freies Bett warten. Innerhalb von 2 Stunden waren Blutwerte abgenommen worden, das Aufnahmegespräch und die orientierende Untersuchung wurden durchgeführt und ich hing wieder an Langzeit-EKG und -blutdruckmessung. Langsam und allmählich sank der Blutdruck, und das ohne jede Medikation! – bis er abends Normalwerte angenommen hatte. Durch Sammlung von 24 Stunden Urin sollte ich wiederum auf das „Phäochromozytom“ hin abgeklärt werden. Merkwürdigerweise war hier im Krankenhaus keine einzige „Blutdruckkrise“ zu verzeichnen; im Gegenteil, die Werte betrugen stets um die 120/80!! Sie können sich vielleicht denken, wie ich mir da vorkam!

Wegen des langen Wochenendes am Feiertag des 1.11. wurde ich von Samstag bis Montag beurlaubt, da die Untersuchungen noch nicht abgeschlossen waren. Gleich in der ersten Nacht zeigte ich erneut das gewohnte Bild (ich möchte mich nicht dauernd wiederholen) und ich wurde eigentlich immer verzweifelter. Nach dem Wochenende drei Tage wieder in der Klinik zur Durchführung eines speziellen Szintigramms: keinerlei Symptome! Im Entlassungsbericht wurde vermerkt: „Ein Anhalt für eine organische Ursache der Hypertonie fand sich nicht. (...) Grundsätzlich wären Entspannungsmaßnahmen bzw. Änderung der Lebensgewohnheiten, sofern im Praxisalltag möglich, zu empfehlen. Entlassungsmedikation: Metoprolol 1-0-0.“

Selbstverständlich beginnt Frau dann an sich selbst zu zweifeln; eine psychische Ursache, zumindest mit verantwortlich, erschien mir naheliegend. Ich begann also, entsprechend den Empfehlungen mit Entspannungsübungen, außerdem mit einer leichten Hormonbehandlung unter der Vorstellung, dass dies evtl. etwas ungewöhnliche Wechseljahrserscheinungen sein könnten. Zumindest traten die „Anfälle“ nicht mehr auf und der Blutdruck ließ sich – vorübergehend – besser einstellen.

Das ging wiederum ca. 3 Wochen gut. Nun traten die Schlafstörungen in immer massiveren Formen auf. Ich konsultierte eine Neurologin, zur Frage einer evtl. larvierten Depression. Das durchgeführte EEG kommentierte sie mit den Worten „Etwas chaotisch!“ Das mir mitgegebene Antidepressivum hatte ich in den folgenden 6 Wochen öfter in der Hand und habe mich gefragt: „Soll ich das nun nehmen oder nicht?“ Im Nachhinein bin ich froh, dass ich es nie begonnen habe, hätte es wahrscheinlich die Symptomatik unterdrückt und wären wir letztendlich doch nicht so bald auf die Ursache meines Leidens gekommen.

Nun stand Weihnachten vor der Tür, und wir hatten 1 Woche Urlaub gebucht, eine Zeit, in der ich hoffte, doch etwas mehr Ruhe zu finden.

Wieder schlief ich in den letzten drei Nächten vor unserer Abreise nicht. In der Urlaubswoche spürte ich aber doch eine gewisse Erholung.

Wieder zu Hause (die Schlafstörungen hatten sich prompt wieder eingestellt) wurde ich immer verzweifelter. Ich musste die Blutdruckmedikation stetig steigern, um noch den gleichen Effekt zu erzielen, bekam aber abends und nachts doch oft keine Ruhe. Ich konsultierte einen uns befreundeten Psychotherapeuten, der mir die Empfehlung gab, doch evtl. eine Therapie zu beginnen. Außerdem musste ich tageweise auf Tabletten zurückgreifen, um überhaupt noch schlafen zu können.

Ich begann mir ernsthafte Gedanken darüber zu machen, wie ich meine Praxis würde weiterbetreiben können; jedenfalls konnte ich mir im Januar 2005 nicht vorstellen, so weiterarbeiten zu können, wenn die beschriebenen Symptome sich nicht bald bessern würden. Ich fühlte mich ziemlich am Ende meiner Kräfte und war verzweifelt, hatte ich gar keine Idee, woher diese seltsamen Symptome stammten.

Um diese Zeit fiel meinem Mann ein Artikel in die Hände, der von den hohen Strahlungsemissionen von DECT-Telefonanlagen handelte. Wir hatten im Sommer 2003, also ein Jahr vor Auftreten der ersten Symptome, ein solches Telefon installieren lassen. Unwissend wie wir waren, lag die Basisstation im Arbeitszimmer, das neben dem Schlafzimmer liegt (Auskunft des Telekommitarbeiters damals: „Das macht nichts!“) .

Vielleicht weil ich immer wieder berichtet hatte, wie „frei“ ich mich draußen im Wald, fühlte, und weil auch mir aufgefallen war, dass es mir doch manchmal in diesen zahlreichen schlaflosen Nächten gelang, wenigstens für 2 Stunden Ruhe in einem der Zimmer unserer Kinder zu finden, schlug mein Mann mir vor, doch unsere Zimmer mal auf Hochfrequenzstrahlung messen zu lassen. Das war Anfang Februar 2005. Ehrlich gesagt, glaubte ich nicht an einen Zusammenhang, ja wusste bis dahin nicht einmal so genau, wie ein solches Telefon überhaupt funktioniert!

Das Ergebnis war erschütternd: über meinem Bett waren im Hochfrequenzbereich Spitzenwerte um 390 Mikrowatt/Quadratmeter (von Baubiologen empfohlen sind ca. 5 Mikrowatt/Quadratmeter als sog. „schwache Anomalie“) messbar, im Niederfrequenzbereich ca. 520 V/m (auch hier empfohlen max. 5 V/m).

Dennoch war ich immer noch skeptisch; so viel hatte ich schon versucht, und bei keiner meiner Theorien zur Entstehung dieser seltsamen – für mich „Krankheit ohne Namen“ – hatte ich eine anhaltende Besserung erfahren. Warum sollte mein Problem daran liegen? Aber gut, in der Verzweiflung greift man nach jedem Strohhalm.

Eine Woche, nachdem wir unser Haus mit Netzfreischaltern versorgt und die Telefonanlage ins Erdgeschoss verbannt hatten, hörten die Durchfälle auf. Nach einer weiteren Woche schlief ich zum ersten Mal seit fast einem Jahr einigermaßen gut, ohne öfter aufzuwachen.

Wenn ich diesen „Zustand“, den ich nun erleben durfte, beschreiben müsste, ich würde es so tun: als würde eine Last von meiner Seele abfallen: so muss sich jemand fühlen, der von einer schweren Krankheit genesen darf. Eigentlich merkte ich erst jetzt, wie schlecht es mir vorher gegangen war.

Zwei Wochen nach Umstellung der Anlage begann ich, die Blutdruckmedikation auszuschleichen, die ich Ende April habe absetzen können. Langsam und allmählich besserten sich die Angstzustände und traten immer seltener auf. Was mir seitdem blieb, ist ein etwas „dünneres Nervenkostüm“ als ich meine, es vorher gehabt zu haben.

Durch Kontakte zum Bund Naturschutz erfuhr ich erstmals vor kurzem, dass es für diese „Krankheit“ – die für mich immer noch die „Krankheit ohne Namen“ gewesen war – einen Begriff gibt: „Mikrowellensyndrom“. Im Nachhinein interpretiere ich die Störungen, die bei mir auftraten, als einen Zusammenbruch sämtlicher vegetativer Funktionen durch langandauernde Stresseinwirkung. Während des ganzen Jahres unter dem Einfluss der Telefonanlage war ich nie in eine Tiefschlafphase gekommen, die dem Körper erst wirkliche Erholung bietet. Und insofern hatte meine Umgebung mit der „Stresstheorie“ doch recht!! – stammte dieser Stress jedoch nur von einer anderen, ungewöhnlichen Quelle.

:

Ich spreche zu Ihnen aus drei Gründen:

Gerade als Ärztin ist es mir ein Bedürfnis, dass wir alle bei Symptomen wie beschrieben differentialdiagnostisch Hochfrequenzstrahlung als mögliche Ursache unklarer vegetativer Beschwerden – nach Abklärung der organischen – in Betracht ziehen.

In meinem Fall hätte man bereits nach meinem Krankenhausaufenthalt im November dran denken können, wäre nur mehr über diese „Krankheit“ bekannt und würden auch mehr Kollegen einfach darüber etwas wissen.

Seriöse Forschungen über die Auswirkungen von Hochfrequenz auf den menschlichen Organismus müssen intensiviert werden, was letztendlich auch finanziell von durchaus volkswirtschaftlicher Bedeutung ist (immerhin mussten in meinem Fall Rechnungen von mehr als 4000 Euro beglichen werden – für nichts! Ein wahrhaftig teures Telefon!). Sicher ist nicht jeder Mensch gleich empfindlich, und hier beginnt schon die Schwierigkeit: ich brauche eine Versuchgruppe „elektrosensibler“ Personen. Wie bei einer Medikamenteneinnahme sind Grenzwerte festzulegen, die sich am „schwächsten“ Organismus orientieren. Gerade die Effekte durch Langzeiteinwirkung (> 1 Jahr) sind hier von Bedeutung und bisher wenig erforscht und damit bekannt.

Inzwischen sind etliche Fälle bekannt und gesammelt worden mit einer ähnlichen Geschichte, wie ich sie Ihnen jetzt vorgetragen habe. Hätte ein Medikament ein derartiges Nebenwirkungsspektrum, wäre es vermutlich schon lange vom Markt genommen worden!! Leider haben wir es bisher in Deutschland nicht geschafft, Grenzwerte zu etablieren oder auf die möglichen Gefahren (z.B. Warnhinweise beim Kauf von Handys oder DECT-Telefonen) hinzuweisen. Im Gegenteil: Menschen, die aufgrund dessen erkrankt waren oder sind oder die lediglich vor den Gefahren warnen, werden allzu oft in die Ecke der Hypochonder oder „Spinner“ gestellt. Aber: Es kann jeden treffen!!!


Dr. med. Regina Vogt-Heeren
Frauenärztin
Hindenburgstr.17
90556 Cadolzburg

http://openPR.de/in/64089
http://www.news4press.com/1/MeldungDetail.asp?Mitteilungs_ID=71596

Two of the trustees for this EMF Biological Research Trust (a "Charity") are identified as being associated with National Grid. Note "the real concerns expressed in the abstract from the seminar!!! Take care - Joanne

Joanne C. Mueller Guinea Pigs R Us
731 - 123rd Avenue N.W.
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55448-2127
USA
Phone: 763-755-6114
Email: jcmpelican@aol.com (10-12-05)


EMFs...Bernal lect'04..."no COMPELLING evidence???"FUNDING!!See Trustees also
From: JCMPelican@aol.com
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 23:13:05 EDT

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2005 Jun 29;360(1458):1223-30.

The Bernal Lecture 2004 are low-frequency electromagnetic fields a health hazard?

Crumpton MJ.

Scientific Advisory Committee, The EMF Biological Research Trust, South Croydon, UK. brt@emfields.demon.co.uk

Electric power is an essential commodity of the developed world, and is critical to the continuing progress of our technology-based society, as well as to the growth of less privileged societies. In contrast to its overwhelming benefits, there is a suspicion that the magnetic component of the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) associated with power distribution and electrical appliances has adverse health effects, especially a small increased incidence of childhood leukaemia. The possibility that environmental EMFs represent a health hazard has serious economic implications for government, the electricity industry and society, as well as raising several profound scientific challenges, including, in particular, biophysical mechanisms, experimental replication and scientific uncertainty. These challenges are explored in relation to the experiences of the EMF Biological Research Trust, a UK medical research charity which funds basic research on the biological effects of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs). As judged from these experiences, at the present time there is no compelling experimental evidence that environmental ELF-EMFs induce biological responses.

PMID: 16147518 [PubMed - in process]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16147518&query_hl=14

Accessed via PubMed 10-12-05 for EMR Leukemia file/jcmueller/guinea pigs r us

* *

ALSO: From EMF Biological Research Trust website (10-12-05 for jcmuellerLeukFile): http://www.emfbrt.org/

EMF Biological Research Trust is a UK-based medical research charity which funds basic research on the biological effects of the environmental extremely-low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF EMF) commonly associated with the distribution of electric power. It is funded by donations from National Grid Transco plc. The research programme is recommended and administered by a Scientific Advisory Committee, which is independent of the electricity supply industry. The Trust encourages publication of results of the work it funds and the content of such publications is entirely the responsibility of grantholders. The trust is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities.

* *

ALSO: From National Grid website (10-12--05 for jcmuellerLeukFile): http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=ngg

National Grid plc, a utility company, engages in the transmission and distribution of electricity and gas in the United Kingdom and the United States. It owners and operates gas and electricity transmission and gas distribution networks in the United Kingdom and the United States, and electricity distribution networks in the United States. The company owns and operates the high-voltage electricity system in England and Wales, and the high pressure gas transmission system in Britain. It also owns electricity transmission systems in the northeastern U.S. and manages a range of electricity transmission operations for utilities in the U.S. Midwest. National Grid had a gas transmission network comprised of approximately 4,300 miles of high pressure national transmission pipelines; the U.K. gas distribution system of approximately 82,000 miles of distribution pipelines; the U.S. electricity transmission systems of approximately 14,000 circuit miles of transmission and subtransmission lines; and the U.S. electricity and gas distribution systems of approximately 72,000 circuit miles of electric distribution lines located on rights-of-way in New England and New York, and approximately 8,500 miles of gas distribution pipelines located on rights-of-way in New York, as of March 31, 2005. National Grid distributes electricity in the northeastern U.S. to approximately 3.3 million customers and gas in upstate New York to approximately 565,000 customers. In addition, it provides infrastructure and related services in areas, such as wireless network infrastructure for broadcast and mobile telephones, metering, grain liquefied natural gas import, interconnectors, and property. The company was formerly known as National Grid Transco plc and changed its name to National Grid plc in July 2005. National Grid plc is based in London.



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=low-frequency

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/energy/pr/?postId=5263


Informant: Chris

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/print.asp?ID=3688


Informant: Anna Webb

Links:

http://www.chetday.com/
http://www.vaccination.inoz.com/ingredie.html
http://66.70.140.217/vaccines/ingredients.html
http://www.informedchoice.info/cocktail.html
http://curezone.com/topic/vaccination/
http://www.909shot.com/
http://www.vaccineexemption.org/
http://www.vaclib.org/legal/stateresource.htm
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/02/17/cdc_knew_mercury_in_vaccines_induces_autism.htm
http://vaccine.elehost.com/contents.htm
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/649/


Informant: beefree

by David Sirota
Working for Change blog
October 4, 2005

As any quick look at Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' record shows, the distinguishing feature of her career has been her blind loyalty to President Bush. Few have argued that her selection is anything more than a reward for her loyalty - it certainly isn't because of her highly controversial legal career helping defraud investors. And we need look no further than America's founding fathers to see just how antithetical they viewed such a nomination.

Just look at the Federalist Papers #76, in which Alexander Hamilton discusses why the founding fathers gave the U.S. Senate the power to confirm - or reject - the President's Supreme Court nominees:

"To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment..." (emphasis added) [...] Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/9gmr4 Aren't these guys who are going along with Bush members of the Federalist Society? I guess I am getting forgetful or something ...


© Virginia Metze

Non-judge to Receive Crash Course in Judging, President Says

by Andy Borowitz
October 4, 2005

One day after nominating a non-judge, Harriet Miers, to the United States Supreme Court, President George W. Bush presented his nominee with a book entitled "Judging for Dummies" which he said would provide her with "a crash course in judging."

The book, which includes definitions of such basic judging terms as "docket" and "gavel," will be invaluable in preparing Ms. Miers to serve on the highest court in the land, the president said.

While nominating someone with no judging experience on her resume to the Supreme Court raised eyebrows in some legal circles, Mr. Bush told reporters that although Ms. Miller had no experience as a judge she had decades of experience as a crony. [...] Read the rest of another great Borowitz report at http://tinyurl.com/9fpcy


© Virginia Metze

by Jack Allis, Consultant

Entrepreneur and author, Karl Schwarz is running for President of the United States in 2008, representing a brand new independent third political party, and he intends to win. As crazy as this might sound at first, Schwarz makes a very compelling case, and after listening to him talk about his plan, you begin to see that these are extraordinary times we live in, and a rare opportunity indeed exists to have the type of impact Ross Perot had on the election in 1992, and far greater. You too start to believe. This is not only possible. It just might happen.

The numbers are definitely there. The key to toppling the Republicans and the Democrats from their stranglehold of power is a plan that will unite all those Americans who are sick and tired of the lies, the corruption and the criminal acts of the two-major parties, and who have lost all hope in the current system. If this segment of the population can be reached, mobilized and united, it can unquestionably receive a plurality in an election with the Republicans and the Democrats. "That's our objective," Schwarz says, and as he never tires of repeating, "Over seventy-million eligible voters didn't vote in the 2004 election. That's almost one-third of the total electorate." [...] Read the rest and decide for yourself... and, by the way, where IS Perot these days? http://www.karlschwarz.com/



An Emergent Progressive Majority

Americans are tired of voting against someone. It’s time to recruit leaders who’ll speak clearly to people’s real needs and problems.

By Gloria Totten
Issue Date 10.05.05

Progressives should be optimistic as we look toward the 2006 midterm elections. A recent CNN/ Gallup Poll shows that a record-high 54 percent of Americans believe that the United States made a mistake in going to war in Iraq. Surging gas prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and struggles to keep up with the cost of living are fueling widespread pessimism about President Bush’s handling of the economy. According to recent Associated Press polls, only 28 percent of voters think the country is heading in the right direction. An August Harris poll showed that 58 percent of respondents believe Bush is doing an “only fair or poor” job as president, while several new polls at press time recorded his approval at barely 40 percent -- the lowest in his presidency. And there’s blame to spare: Only 37 percent of the public approves of the way the Republican-controlled Congress is doing its job, the worst grade for lawmakers in eight years.

But optimism alone won’t regain control of the Congress or the majority of state legislatures in 2006. It won’t elect a progressive president in 2008. And it won’t reverse decades of conservative ascent. [...]

Americans are tired of voting against someone. They are seeking candidates who are willing to stand up for something. If progressives want to win elections, they need to recruit leaders who will speak clearly to people’s real needs and problems.

That’s the challenge my organization and others with similar vision have set out to address. In 2004, Progressive Majority launched the only exclusive, comprehensive program to recruit and train a “farm team” of progressive candidates to run for state and local office. We piloted the program in Washington state, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania in 2004, running 100 candidates -- and winning 41 of our races. Notably, of the 59 candidates who lost, 33 continue in the program and are running again. Even when we lose, we grow. [...] Read the whole article at the American Prospect Online: http://tinyurl.com/c8gl5


© Virginia Metze

by: Virginia Moran, Grass Valley
Published: October 5, 2005 at 08:53 on YubaNet
also on TruthOut

I went with my friend, Kim and her friends. We left from the West Carrollton Station and took the Metro. From the moment we entered the parking lot at the Metro station until midnight that night, we were surrounded by incredibly determined, kind, funny, angry, sincere, interesting, opinionated, strong, discouraged, depressed, desperate, sad, fearful like-minded souls and it felt great. Not in a misery loves company kind of way--but in finding a sane home for awhile. Separately, we tear our hair and wring our hands. Collectively, we change the world.

The air felt like it was destined to be changed. We were like a wave, one big beautiful wave of caring, action, and democracy and for a little while, we were going to subject our nation's capitol to some democracy since it rarely experiences any these days. [...] Reading this makes you feel you were there. http://tinyurl.com/cgpav for the Yubanet copy; http://tinyurl.com/drhlg for the TruthOut copy.


© Virginia Metze

http://www.thegoldenstar.net/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=100&cat=23&id=508527&more


Informant: NHNE

Hessischer Landesverband mobilfunksenderfreie Wohngebiete e.V. Kettelerstr.3
63486 Bruchköbel


OFFENER BRIEF

An den Main-Kinzig-Kreis Erster Kreisbeigeordneter Herrn Günter Frenz Barbarossastrasse 24
63571 Gelnhausen


cc. Landrat Erich Pipa GEW Hessen Schulleitung Main-Kinzig Schule Politik, Schulen, Elternbeiräte


10. Oktober 2005


“Mit dem Laptop in den Unterricht“ - HA 20.09.2005 “Fortschritt – aber ohne Risiken“ - HA 08.10.2005


Sehr geehrter Herr Frenz,

der HESSISCHE LANDESVERBAND MOBILFUNKSENDERFREIE WOHNGEBIETE e.V. (HLV) hat mit großem Interesse von Ihrer o.g. Pressemitteilung im HANAUER ANZEIGER Kenntnis genommen. Dazu wurde über den Pressesprecher des HLV’s, Herrn Alfred Tittmann, via eines Leserbriefes am 8.10.05 im HA ein kurzes Statement abgegeben.

Wir möchten zu diesem Komplex auch Sie noch einmal persönlich ansprechen.

Fortschritt ist in jedem Fall zu begrüßen, auch der Einsatz von Laptops in Schulen mag hierzu einen Beitrag darstellen.

Seriöse Studien und Aussagen von Wissenschaftlern, Ärzten und Baubiologenbestätigen allerdings, dass beim WLAN Einsatz, infolge der periodisch gepulsten Strahlung der Basisstationen und der Funknetzkarte im Laptop selbst, gesundheitsgefährdende Strahlungen nicht auszuschließen sind. Deswegen erfolgen explizite Empfehlungen, auf diese Technik in den Schulen zu verzichten und an deren Stelle, die zwar aufwendigere, aber dafür sicherere drahtgebundene Datenübertragung zu nutzen.

Angesichts dieser Erkenntnisse sollten auch Sie “das Rad“ nicht neu erfinden wollen; zumindest erübrigen sich Analysen und die Begleitung des Objektes durch eine Referendarin, soweit dies die WLAN-Funktion betrifft.

Wir möchten Sie daher bitten, sich ausführlich mit dieser Thematik zu befassen und diese ggf. im Kreistag zu behandeln, bevor Sie Ihr evtl. Vorhaben umsetzen sollten.

Nun konkret zu Hinweisen, Empfehlungen und Warnungen wegen der Strahlenbelastungen:

1. GEW Hessen/Berlin (Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft) Verstrahlte Zukunft - Gesundheitsgefahren durch kabellose Laptops. von Dr. Siegfried Schwarzmüller, GEW Hessen http://www.gew-hessen.de/index.php?&id=350&backPID=350&tt_news=2603&cHash=a670dd5d94 http://www.gew-bergstrasse.de/downloadseite.htm http://www.gew-berlin.de/blz/3073.htm

Omega siehe auch "Gesundheitsgefahren durch kabellose Laptops" unter: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/191214/ http://tinyurl.com/88sg2

2. WLAN ECOLOG-Institut - Schulstudie im Auftrage der Westfälischen Landesregierung 11/2003

http://www.munlv.nrw.de/sites/arbeitsbereiche/immission/pdf/literatur.pdf

3. Gutachten der Universität Bremen 2001 zur EMVU-Belastung zu WLAN
http://www.dmn.tzi.org/wlan/wlan/-emvu-gutachten-bremen.pdf

4. Öko-Test Magazine 11/2002 und 10/2003 Verlag GmbH Frankfurt/Main

5. WLAN-Anwendungen für “Hot Spots“ Dr.-Ing. Martin H. Virnich Ingenieurbüro für Baubiologie und Umweltmesstechnik
41063 Mönchengladbach
http://www.borg-aussee.at/schule/wlan/virnich.pdf

Weiterhin werden wegen der Gesundheitsgefahren in der Maiausgabe von Öko-Test 05/2004 ab S.139 Messungen an Laptops (oder Notebooks) vorgestellt. An acht Laptops wurde die Strahlung gemessen, ohne WLAN. Die anerkannte schwedische TCO Norm für Bildschirmarbeitsplätze wurde häufig überschritten.

Ausserdem mahnt Öko-Test 05/2004 zur Vorsicht bei eingebauten WLAN Karten, da die meisten Laptops nach dem Einschalten Kontaktversuche zum nächstgelegenen Zugangsknoten (Access Point) starten, ob erforderlich (Zugang zum Internet oder Netzwerk) oder nicht. WLAN sollte zur Vermeidung zusätzlichen Elektrosmogs nur dann aktiviert werden, wenn es benötigt wird.

In der ECOLOG-Studie (s.2. Hinweis) werden auf Seite 84 unter Punkt 6.5 “Anlageplanung“ speziell die Funk-Netzwerke in Schulen wegen auftretender Hochfrequenz-Expositionen als problematisch angesehen.

So heißt es dort u.a.:

“Ein besonderes Problem stellen Funk-Netzwerke in Schulen dar. Die in Funk-Netzwerken auftretenden Hochfrequenz-Expositionen liegen zwar deutlich unter denen, die durch Nutzung von Handys verursacht werden, können aber gerade an Endgeräten mit körpernah installierten Antennen nicht unerheblich sein. (s.5.1).

Die Anwendung des von der SSK empfohlenen Minimierungsprinzips (s.o.) ist gerade beim Schutz des in der Entwicklung befindlichen kindlichen Organismus geboten. Dazu gehört insbesondere die Vermeidung jeder unnötigen Exposition.

Wo die Einrichtung eines drahtgebundenen Netzwerks in Schulen möglich ist, sollte dieses einem Funk-Netzwerk vorgezogen werden.“

Nun noch ein Blick über den Tellerrand des Main-Kinzig-Kreises und Deutschland hinaus:

Dr. med. univ. Gerd Oberfeld vom Amt der Salzburger Landesregierung, Landessanitätsdirektion - Referat Gesundheit, Hygiene und Umweltmedizin Postanschrift: Postfach 527, 5010 Salzburg, ÖSTERREICH Adresse: Pfeifergasse 3 gerd.oberfeld@salzburg.gv.at http://www.salzburg.gv.at/umweltmedizin

empfiehlt keine Verwendung von WLAN in Schulen!

http://www.salzburg.gv.at/schule_und_elektromagnetische_strahlungen.doc

Am 7.07.2005 erschien in der Österreichischen Presse nachfolgende Pressemitteilung:

07.07.2005 05:05

Funktechnologie: Verstrickt mit "Kabellos"

Funktechnologie ist eine Alternative, wenn man vom Kabelsalat genug hat. Ein Schülerprojekt zeigt jedoch die Gefahren durch Elektrosmog auf.

CHRISTIAN HUEMER

Schnurlos-Telefone, Bluetooth, kabellose Computernetzwerke, auch Wireless Lans genannt und die allseits beliebten Handymasten. Alles Alternativen, wenn man vom Kabelsalat genug hat. Und dennoch gibt es nicht nur Vorteile. Eine Schülergruppe des Erzherzog-Johann-Borg Gymnasium in Bad Aussee ist der Sache unter dem Titel "Wie gefährlich ist Kabellos" auf den Grund gegangen.

Volksschule miteingebunden. Auch die Volksschule in Bad Aussee war in das Projekt unter der Leitung des Physiklehrers Harald Gerstgrasser miteingebunden. Er hat sich übrigens in den letzten Jahren durch verschiedene Forschungen einen Namen auf dem Gebiet des Elektrosmogs gemacht und wird gerne zu Rate gezogen, wenn Bürgerinitiativen gegen einen geplanten Sendemast ins Feld ziehen.

Information über die Gefahren. "Wir haben in unserem Projekt mit Gerd Oberfeld von der Umweltmedizin in Salzburg, einem der bedeutendsten Elektro-Smogspezialisten, zusammengearbeitet", so Gerstgrasser. Er sieht seine Aufgabe in erster Linie in der Information über die Gefahren von Elektrosmog auf die Gesundheit. "Mein Credo ist dabei gar nicht das Verhindern, sondern die umfangreiche Aufklärung und eine daraus resultierende Reduktion der Strahlenbelastung."

Staatspreis verliehen. Für das Projekt bekamen er und seine Schüler den Staatspreis von Unterrichtsministerin Elisabeth Gehrer verliehen. Aus österreichweit 96 eingereichten Projekten machten die Ausseer im AHS-Bereich mit "Kabellos" den ersten Platz.

http://www.kleinezeitung.at/nachrichten/regionen/steiermark/ennstal/artikel/_708799/index.jsp

Der Projektleiter Herr Prof. Dr. Harald Gerstgrasser vom Erzherzog-Johann- Gymnasium in Bad Aussee teilte dem HLV bezüglich seiner Erfahrungen mit WLAN folgendes mit:

„Ich betreue schon einige Jahre Projekte an unserer Schule zum Thema Elektrosmog durch Mobilfunk und WLAN in Zusammenarbeit mit Dr. Oberfeld. In einer Umfrage im Jahre 2004 über Beschwerden durch Elektrosmog sind wir durch Befragung unserer etwa 500 Schüler an unserem Bundesschulzentrum (wir haben eine Handelsakademie, ein Oberstufenrealgymnasium und eine Höhere Lehranstalt für wirtschaftliche Berufe) zu dem Ergebnis gekommen, dass die Beschwerden in Klassen mit WLAN scheinbar stärker ausfallen (natürlich ohne Anspruch auf wissenschaftliche Kausalität). Sämtliche Ergebnisse finden Sie unter
http://www.borg-aussee.at/schule/wlan/wlan.htm

Ausserdem stützen sich meine Empfehlungen und Vorsichtsmaßnahmen auf Informationen von Dr. Virnich
http://www.borg-aussee.at/schule/wlan/virnich.pdf und Erkenntnisse eines Gutachtens aus Bremen
http://www.borg-aussee.at/schule/wlan/gutachten.pdf . Weiters ein Beitrag aus Ihrem Bundesland Hessen
http://www.borg-aussee.at/schule/wlan/wlanverstrahlung.htm und natürlich die Informationen von Dr. Oberfeld.

Ich selbst unterrichte hauptsächlich am Oberstufenrealgymnasium unter Mitverwendung in der Handelsakademie (2 getrennte Direktionen). Die Handelsakademie verwendet WLANs, das Oberstufenrealgymnasium verwendet unter meiner Beratung und Durchführung der Projekte und Absprache mit dem Direktor ausschließlich kabelgebundene Vernetzung. Die Entscheidung ist schulautonom und wird sich nach dem derzeitigen Kenntnisstand über Elektrosmog auch nicht ändern. Auch der Landeselternverband der Elternvereine an Pflichtschulen in unserem Bundesland Steiermark fährt eine sehr kritische und vorsorgliche Linie
http://www.geocities.com/landesverband1/Elektrosmog1.html .

Im August warnte die Wiener Ärztekammer ausdrücklich vor der Verwendung von Handys für Jugendliche unter 16, als Reaktion auf die REFLEX-Studie. WLAN ist ja die selbe Technologie, als Dauerbelastung im Klassenzimmer (Funkkarten sehr nahe am Köper) ein höchst unnötiges Gefährdungspotential.

Weiterhin beschreiben Untersuchungen von Prof. Hecht aus Berlin aus der russischen Literatur das weit unterschätzte Langzeit-Risiko.
http://www.borg-aussee.at/schule/handy/Prof.%20Hecht.pdf

In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kinderbüro Graz ist außerdem ein Informationsfolder über Nutzerverhalten im Umgang mit Mikrowellenstrahlung entstanden, können Sie herunterladen.
http://www.borg-aussee.at/schule/handy/folder_kinderbuero.pdf

In diesem Schuljahr plane ich in Zusammenarbeit mit den Volksschulen (6 - 10 jährige Schüler) unserer Umgebung ein Projekt zum Umgang mit Handys, also wieder Aufklärung von ganz unten.

Unsere Schlussfolgerungen und Maßnahmen:

Finger weg von WLANs in Schulen

Ausschließlich kabelgebundene Vernetzung, auch wenn sie teurer ist

Anwendung des Vorsorgeprinzips

Aufklärung und nocheinmal Aufklärung (auch der Schulbehörde; bei uns referierte Dr. Oberfeld im Landesschulrat)

Einbeziehung der Eltern

Die Details aller unserer Projektaktivitäten finden Sie unter
http://www.borg-aussee.at (projekt handy2001, projekt kabellos2004)

Herzliche Grüße aus dem Ausseerland, Harald Gerstgrasser Erzherzog-Johann-Gymnasium Bad Aussee Bahnhofstraße 150
8990 Bad Aussee“

Auf der Website der vorgenannten Schule
http://www.borg-aussee.at/schule/wlan/wlan.htm finden Sie u.a. folgenden Hinweis

Im Rahmen des Workshops wurde ein Fragebogen von 144 Schülern ausgefüllt. Die Auswertung finden Sie hier.

Die Grafiken geben die prozentuelle Anzahl der jeweiligen mit ja beantworteten Fragen.

Bemerkenswert der hohe Prozentsatz von Schülern mit Kopfschmerzen, aber auch Konzentrationsstörungen und Rückenschmerzen.

Auch an unserem Bundesschulzentrum wurde der Fragebogen ausgewertet. Insgesamt 399 Schüler aller drei Schulen beantworteten die Fragen. Es handelte sich dabei um Klassen des Gymnasiums, der HLW (Höhere Lehranstalt für wirtschaftliche Berufe), der HAK (Handelsakademie) und der HIT (Handelsschule für Informationstechnologie). In der HIT gibt es eine Laptopklasse(verkabelt) und eine Klasse mit Funklan. Interessant sind die unterschiedlichen Ergebnisse im Bereich Rückenschmerzen und Konzentrationsstörungen.


Sehr geehrter Herr Frenz,

die besonderen gesundheitlichen Gefahren insbesondere für Kinder und Jugendliche durch die derzeit angepriesene (Mobilfunk-und) WLAN-Technik in Schulen (niederfrequent gepulste Signale auf hochfrequenten Trägerwellen) ist, da hinreichend wissenschaftlich belegt, nicht mehr von der Hand zu weisen und erfordert eine Besinnung auf die damit verbundene pädagogische Verantwortung aller im Bereich der Erziehung handelnden Personen und Institutionen.

Die schnelle Ausweitung der modernen Kommunikationstechniken bringt gesundheitliche Risiken mit sich, an denen die Verantwortlichen, Politiker und Schulen zugleich, nicht vorbeisehen können. Der Bildungsauftrag und die pädagogische Verantwortung gegenüber der heranwachsenden Generation erfordern es, dass sich alle Bildungseinrichtungen der brisanten Thematik annehmen. Dies gilt im Besonderen für Schulen, weil Kinder und Jugendliche ein deutlich höheres Strahlenrisiko eingehen. Diskutiert werden als biologische Effekte unter anderem Veränderungen von Membran- Rezeptor- und Chromosomeneigenschaften, von Gehirntätigkeit, Reaktionszeiten, Schlafzeiten sowie Einfluss auf Krebsentstehung. Immer mehr Studien belegen die gepulste Hochfrequenz als mögliche Ursache von Erkrankungen, und eine zunehmende Anzahl von tatsächlichen Erkrankungen bestätigt dies.

Wenn Sie, sehr geehrter Herr Frenz, als verantwortungsbewusster politischer Entscheidungsträger und insbesondere noch dazu in Ihrer Funktion als Schuldezernent dieses Bündel an Informationen sorgfältig zur Kenntnis nehmen, können Sie nur zu dem Entschluss kommen, Ihre bisherige Intention der evtl. Ausweitung des Pilotobjektes auf andere Schulen aufzugeben.

Auch wäre angesichts der erforderlichen Risikominimierung eine diesbezügliche Information unter Einbeziehung einer Korrektur der jetzigen Situation für die Kinzig-Schule Schlüchtern geboten.

Ihrer Stellungnahme sehen wir mit großem Interesse entgegen.


Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Für den Vorstand
gez. Prof. inv. Dr. med. H.-J. Wilhelm
Dr. E. W. Braun

Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Alfred Tittmann - Kettelerstr. 3 - 63486 Bruchköbel

--------

WLAN in Schulen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1053669/

WLAN via Laptops
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1041099/

Elektrosmog im Klassenzimmer
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1870495/

Gewerkschaft warnt vor W-LAN im Klassenzimmer
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2877989/

http://www.net.org/petition.php?partner=CBD


This message was sent by Care2 Connect member: Christina Eavyn Warner

Doris Haddock: The political issues that divide the American people are great issues, with severe consequences for the moral life of the nation and the fate of the planet. These are issues equal to the issues that divided us in 1860, and we should fear the historical similarities.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101105E.shtml

Senators yesterday demanded disclosure of the secret that top Bush aide Karl Rove told a conservative activist last week to reassure him about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101105A.shtml

Apparently working under the assumption that no one has been paying attention over the past two and a half years, Bush delivered a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy Thursday in which he dismissed calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=57218&ntpid=0President created terror mess he describes :

Apparently working under the assumption that no one has been paying attention over the past two and a half years, Bush delivered a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy Thursday in which he dismissed calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=57218&ntpid=0

Experts Predict US Attack on Iran:

Scott Ritter - ex of the US Marine Corps and former chief UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq - was unequivocal. Plans for an attack on Iran are being drawn up and acted upon “right now….as we speak”.

http://tinyurl.com/e39me


From Information Clearing House

Sen. Russ Feingold says it's time to admit the war was a disaster -- and accuses his fellow Democrats of going along with Bush out of fear.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10594.htm

Hutchinson 3G said the mast was only temporary

Council chiefs have turned down a retrospective planning application for a temporary mobile phone mast in Aberystwyth.

The 15-metre structure was put up by Hutchinson 3G near homes and schools without permission in June.

The company will now have to dismantle the mast, although it does have an option to appeal against the decision.

Hutchinson 3G said it would not comment until it had discovered why the application had been turned down.

A petition and 26 letters opposing the mast were sent to Ceredigion Council after it was erected 30 or 40 metres away from homes and more than 300 metres away from three schools.

But Hutchinson 3G said the mast has not been switched on and that any level of emissions would be "minute".

County councillor Paul James said he was "delighted" with the planning committee's decision on Wednesday.

"I think the planning committee made the right decision. It was not about teaching them (Hutchinson 3G) a lesson, the mast was just visually obtrusive," he said.

Verity Stanford of Hutchinson 3G said: "We will wait for the decision notice from the council and then review the reasons behind the decision before we make further comment."

The schools, more than 300 metres away, claimed they had not been informed about the development.

Hutchinson 3G said they had not contacted them because they were beyond the distance that they normally consulted.

Ceredigion Council said last week that it was not illegal to erect the mast without permission but was unauthorised.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/4335136.stm

Eight days after the nomination, conservative opposition to Miers continues to grow. Michael Scherer writes that the initial effort by the White House to spin her as a loyal dark horse has met an increasingly angry response from the GOP base.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205M.shtml

Mr. Fitzgerald's pursuit now suggests he might be investigating not a narrow case on the leaking of the agent's name, but perhaps a broader conspiracy.... Lawyers familiar with the investigation believe that at least part of the outcome likely hangs on the inner workings of what has been dubbed the White House Iraq Group ... which included Messrs. Rove and Libby, that worked on setting strategy for selling the war in Iraq to the public in the months leading up to the March 2003 invasion.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205I.shtml

Actuellement le débat sur la Téléphonie Mobile et les antennes relais est présent sur plusieurs centaines de sites et forums. L'équipe de next-up en analyse au jour le jour un certain nombre.

Ce jour un article mérite une attention particulière, nous vous le proposons. Y a-t-il un psychanalyste dans la salle ?

http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=dernieresinfos&date_news=2005-10-12

Written for the web by Elizabeth Bishop, Internet News Producer

Vacaville mother and anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan plans to go to the State Capitol today to ask Gov. Schwarzenegger to pull California's National Guard troops out of Iraq.

So far, the governor's office has not agreed to meet with Sheehan.

Sheehan has toured the nation protesting the war since her son, Casey, died in Iraq last year. In August, she camped outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, hoping to meet with him to confront him about the war.

Sheehan wants to deliver a letter to the governor. The letter reads, in part: "California is suffering each day as its law enforcement, corrections and firefighters are called to a war in Iraq which does not protect the people of California, leaving the state in a weakened position. California tax dollars are also disproportionately spent on this war. California men and women are killed and maimed in this war, and their families are left in ruins, as I too well know."

http://www.news10.net/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=13602


Informant: John Calvert



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

by Linda S. Heard,
Special to Gulf News

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=186135


Informant: Neo Mulder

Der Sozialverband VdK hat die künftige Bundesregierung zu einem Umsteuern in der Sozialpolitik aufgerufen. Was die Menschen mit der "Agenda 2010" an Kürzungen erlebt hätten, "darf so nicht weitergehen", sagte Verbandspräsident Walter Hirrlinger der "Berliner Zeitung". Er hoffe, "dass die neue Regierung sich besinnt und die in den vergangenen Jahren herrschende Politik der sozialen Grausamkeiten nicht fortführt."

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12034

12.10.05

Nach Auffassung der Partei Arbeit & soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative (WASG) steuert die Berliner Republik auf eine "große Koalition der Arbeitgeberinteressen" zu, die mit Kanzlerin Angela Merkel "den politisch gescheiterten Agenda–Kurs von Schröder" fortführen wolle. Das eigens für mediale Interessen inszenierte Schauspiel der politischen Eitelkeiten könne nicht verdecken, dass "die Politik der Ausblutung der Staatseinnahmen und der Zerschlagung der Sozialsysteme in den letzten Jahren von der SPD und den Unionsparteien gemeinsam getragen wurde". Schon vor Beginn der Verhandlungen über die so genannte "Koalition der neuen Möglichkeiten" stehe es fest, dass eine von der Union und der SPD getragene Bundesregierung den sozialökonomischen Abwärtstrend politisch verstärken werde.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12027

[ please forward widely ]

By Mark Danner
New York Times, Sep 10, 2005

Mark Danner is a professor of journalism and politics at the University of California at Berkeley and Bard College and the author, most recently, of Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror.

Not another simplistic discussion on whether we are safer in the post-9/11 era, Mark Danner reviews just where America and the world stand after President Bush announced he would rid the world of "evil" and fight the good fight against the "global war on terror."

http://www.chronogram.com/issue/2005/10/news/index.php


Informant: John Calvert

heroay wrote:

WILL AN AVIAN FLU OUTBREAK BE THE EXCUSE FOR MARTIAL LAW?

The so-called "avian flu" is a fake.

So-called "Bird Flu" is being used as fear propaganda. This virus, H5N1, has not mutated to one that can cause human disease. The reports of deaths from "bird flu" (actually Legionnaire's Disease) in Toronto are false. It has been ruled out as the cause, but the media will continue to lie about it. There is no indication that it will mutate to a human pathogen. But the Communicable Disease Center and probably NIH have resurrected and reconstructed another much more deadly virus.

The 1918 influenza pandemic was caused by the highly communicable H1N1 virus. It was another strain of bird flu, H1N1, that DID mutate and become a dangerous pathogen. As we know, this H1N1 virus has been recovered from corpses and cultured in British and American laboratories.. If this variety is seeded around the country, the PTB will pretend that it has appeared naturally from birds and it will still be called the H5N1 virus. But it will really be a biowarfare attack by our government against its own people. They seem to be going ahead with the development of a (toxic) vaccine against H5N1, the current fake bird flu scare, but at the given time most politically advantageous, they will probably hit us with the newly strengthened and possibly even more lethal H1N1 Spanish Flu bug.

You are entirely correct in assuming that the vaccine now being developed for H5N1 will actually contain the 1918 Spanish influenza live virus. The panic stricken population will rush to get it, thinking that it will prevent the disease. This would create a huge pandemic and provide ample justification for widespread quarantines requiring martial law.

Col. (Dr.) Byron Weeks


AIDS was made in a Petri Dish in CO university, and added to vaccines given to homosexual men.

The Virus Cancer Program (1964-1980): The Birthplace of AIDS and the Kaposi’s Sarcoma Epidemic
(c) 2005 by Alan Cantwell, M.D.

Please share and forward to interested others

Full story at: http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=132&contentid=2803

The Virus Cancer Program (1964-1980): The Birthplace of AIDS and the Kaposi’s Sarcoma Epidemic

2005 by Alan Cantwell, M.D.

The epidemic of HIV/AIDS and the epidemic of “gay cancer”

Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is widely known as the “gay cancer” that often accompanied AIDS when the first cases broke out in gay men in Manhattan in 1979. In 1994 a new “human herpes-8” virus was discovered that is now widely accepted as the cause of all forms of KS. However, it is extremely important to note that the new KS herpes virus (KSHV) is separate and distinct from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). Therefore, it is now important to recognize that two new viruses were “introduced” into gays that produced not only the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, but also the new epidemic of KS (“gay cancer”). Two new viral epidemics erupting exclusively in homosexuals is an unprecedented event in medical science. Such a bizarre and unlikely scenario strongly suggests to me that that the two epidemics of HIV and KS are more likely to have occurred due to the deliberate or accidental “introduction” of new viruses into gay men”—and not from two viruses suddenly appearing “out of Africa.” The widely-held theory is that HIV originated in African primates in the African bush. Somehow the monkey or chimpanzee virus “jumped species” into black Africans to initiate the epidemic which has now killed 20 million people and infected 40 million more. How this sexually-transmitted virus came from black Africa to initially infect only young white gay men in Manhattan has never been explained satisfactorily. Furthermore, the epidemic in America erupted in the late 1970s, at a time when AIDS in Africa was unknown. The AIDS epidemic in Africa appeared in the autumn of 1982, at the earliest.

The man-made origin of HIV/AIDS

The man-made theory of AIDS is generally dismissed as “conspiracy theory.” Nevertheless, AIDS researchers and writers like myself, Dr. Leonard G Horowitz, Dr. Robert Strecker, Professor Robert Lee, and others have proposed for two decades that HIV was seeded into gay men when they volunteered for the experimental hepatitis B vaccine experiment which took place in Manhattan, beginning in November 1978. Additional similar hepatitis B experiments using gay men as guinea pigs continued in other American cities until 1981 —the year the AIDS epidemic became official. Some of the cities included Los Angeles and San Francisco which, along with New York City, became the three big epicenters of the epidemic. My two books on the man-made origin of this disease: AIDS and the Doctors of Death [1988] , and Queer Blood: The Secret AIDS Genocide Plot [1993], provide documented evidence to support this theory. A Google internet search using the key words —man-made origin of AIDS—has 246,000 citations to various websites that explore this issue in detail. Despite all this, the man-made theory remains totally ignored by the scientific establishment and the major media.

The origin of the new Kaposi’s Sarcoma virus

Like HIV, the new KS herpes virus-8 discovered in 1994 is considered to be yet another primate virus out of Africa with a suspected primate “viral ancestor” hiding in the African jungle. We are expected to believe that two primate viruses (a retrovirus and a herpes virus) jumped species in Africa at the same time —and ended up exclusively in the blood of white gay American men to produce a new immunodeficiency disease in 1979, now called AIDS. This proposed scenario suggests to me that such an unlikely African event has the markings of a scientific fairy tale, and I remain stupefied that such nonsense can pass for “science” in the twenty-first century.

The origin of Kaposi’s Sarcoma

KS has a long history dating back to 1872 in Vienna, Austria, when dermatologist Moriz Kaposi described five patients with red-purple skin tumors. Before the AIDS outbreak, KS was a very rare disease affecting mainly elderly Jewish and Italian men. It was never considered a contagious or sexually-transmitted disease. In the 1960s it was discovered that KS was a common skin cancer tumor in blacks in Central Africa, but the disease was never associated with the severe immunodeficiency characteristic of AIDS, nor was there any evidence that KS in Africa was sexually transmissible. KS was rarely, if ever, seen in African-Americans. As a dermatologist for over 30 years I never saw a KS case in a female; and KS in young men of any race or sexual persuasion was as rare as hen’s teeth before the “introduction” of HIV. KS is a medical enigma. How did a previously rare disease like KS in America become a transmissible disease primarily affecting gay men? How did this herpes KS virus escape detection during the first 15 years of the AIDS epidemic? Why did the KS virus and HIV suddenly appear together in young gay men in 1979? Further complicating this picture is the discovery of small bacterial forms known as “mycoplasma”, and the even more recent discovery of extremely tiny virus-like forms of bacteria called “nanobacteria”, as well as my published reports of “cancer bacteria” as important etiologic agents in AIDS and KS. (For details, Google: “alan cantwell” + cancer bacteria.) All these newer bacterial agents are generally ignored by AIDS researchers, who focus exclusively on viruses. I believe some of the answers to questions surrounding the origin of HIV/AIDS can be found in the annual “Progress Reports” reports of the Virus Cancer Program and the Program’s relationship to animal cancer research, genetic engineering of viruses, cancer vaccine research, and to covert biological warfare research. These hard-to-find annual Reports were published by the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Bethesda, Maryland.

The Virus Cancer Program (1968-1980)

The Virus Cancer Program had it roots in 1964 when Congress provided funds to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for intensive research into the possible role of viruses in leukemia. In 1968 the Program, then titled the Special Virus-Cancer Program, was enlarged to encompass all types of cancer. On July 1, 1973 the Special Virus Cancer Program was renamed The Virus-Cancer Program (VCP) “to integrate the Program’s research activities into the framework of the new National Cancer Plan.” The Program combined the talents of many of the nation’s finest virologists, biochemists, immunologists, molecular biologists, epidemiologists, and physicians, in an attempt to uncover the viral cause of cancer. Two classes of cancer-causing viruses were studied extensively: the RNA-type tumor “retroviruses” (like HIV) and the DNA herpes-type viruses (like the KS virus). The main goals were to collect various forms of cancer tissue and test them in animals; to identify animal and human cancer-causing viruses; to grow large amounts of “candidate human viruses” for testing purposes; and to develop vaccines against these cancer viruses. In essence, the scientists wanted to learn how to use viruses to make cancer — and to force “normal” cells to become cancerous by subjecting to viruses. I have studied the annual Virus Cancer Reports (VCP) covering the years 1971-1974 and 1976-1978. Each report is 300-400 pages, and the cumulative volumes refer to thousands of animal cancer virus and genetic engineering experiments.

Biological warfare research, monkey research, and the VCP

The annual VCP Reports must be studied with an awareness that the Program became wedded to secret military biological warfare research in the early 1970s. On October 18, 1971, as part of Richard Nixon’s War on Cancer, the army’s biowarfare research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland, was permanently joined with the National Cancer Institute; and was re-titled . the Frederick Cancer Research Center. Litton Bionetics was named as the military’s prime contractor . The primary task of the new Center was “the large scale production of oncogenic (cancer-causing) viruses and suspected oncogenic viruses to meet research needs on a continuing basis.” Special attention was given to primate viruses (the alleged African source of HIV and the new KS virus)— and to the successful propagation of significant amounts of “human candidate viruses.” Candidate viruses were defined as animal or human viruses that might cause human cancers. Later, the objective was to determine if such viruses could induce (either alone or with other co-carcinogens) human cancers (1977;58). Biowarfare scientists also had a keen interest in the role of human and non-human primate viruses as “helper viruses” in the production of cancer (1978;54). A steady supply of research animals (monkeys, chimpanzees, mice, cats, etc. ) was necessary; and multiple breeding colonies were established for the VCP. For example, a total of 2,274 primates from Africa and Asia were shipped to Litton for military use in 1971.

Forcing cancer viruses into primates and other animals

To induce primates and other research animals to acquire cancer, their immune system was deliberately suppressed by drugs, radiation, or cancer-causing chemicals or substances. The thymus gland and/or the spleen were removed, and cancer tissue and cancer viruses were injected into newborn animals or into the womb of pregnant animals. Some animals were deliberately infected with malaria to keep them chronically sick and immunodepressed. The U.S. is the world's leading consumer of primates, and 55,000 are used yearly in medical research. Primates (especially newborn and baby chimpanzees) are the most favored lab animals because they are most similar biochemically and immunologically to human beings. Humans share 98.4% of their DNA with chimpanzees. Chimps were extensively used by the VCP because there would be no official testing of cancer viruses on humans. Robert Gallo, the discoverer of HIV in 1984, was a project officer of a primate study contracted by Litton Bionetics that pumped cancerous human tissue, as well as a variety of primate and other viruses, into newborn macaques (a small species of monkey used as an animal model for human cancer). The actual number and identity of all the primate viruses created and adapted to human tissue during the 14 years of the SVCP is not known. In addition, some primates were released back into the wild carrying lab viruses with them. This fact is always ignored by molecular biologists searching for “viral ancestors” in the African bush, By the early 1970s, experimenters had transferred cancer-causing viruses into several species of monkeys. Herpesvirus saimiri , a monkey virus discovered in 1967 in the squirrel monkey, has a close genetic relationship to the new KS herpes virus. H . saimiri virus is harmless in the squirrel monkey, but when the virus was forced in the lab to “jump species” into different animal species, such as the owl monkey, marmosets and rabbits, it produces cancer in the form of fatal malignant lymphoma. By 1971 Dharam V Ablashi of the NCI succeeded in transferring H . saimiri, into various cell lines of human origin. (1971;35). Cancer-causing cat and hamster viruses were also engineered into macaques and other monkey species. By the early 1970s it was recognized that forms of human leukemia and lymphoma were associated with herpes-type viruses. Herpes saimiri, a DNA-type virus, became the experimental model for the study of human leukemia and lymphoma. “Thus far, the only DNA viruses associated with natural cancer of animals and man are herpes viruses” (1973;15). Luis Melendez of Harvard studied additional primate herpes viruses ( H . ateles , H . aotus , and H . saguinus ) and determined their ability to induce cancer (1973;247). Attempts were made “to find a suitable method for the large-scale production of high-titer Herpesvirus saimiri ” (1973;264). Researchers knew: “The clinical and immunological picture of human lymphoma and leukemia is closely approximated by the malignant disease induced in susceptible non-human primates by H . saimiri .” (1973;265). By 1976 it was also learned that H.saimiri could spread by “contact transmission” between squirrel and owl monkeys in the laboratory.

A monkey virus injected into humans via polio vaccines in the 1950s

There are inherent dangers in vaccine production. Many vaccines are made on living cells; and accidental contamination with bacteria, mycoplasma, viruses, and newly-recognized “nanobacteria” are constant problems during the manufacturing process. Laboratory additives (such as fetal bovine [cow] serum) may also be a source of contamination. Half the flu vaccine supply for 2004 had to be destroyed due to contamination with disease-causing bacteria. Some researchers believe that injecting living and killed viruses into the body can result in these viruses combining with other viruses normally present in the body, resulting in the formation of new viral disease-causing “recombinants.” The dangers of vaccines are downplayed to assure the public that vaccines are safe. The possibility that cancer-causing primate viruses could have been “introduced” into gays, via the experimental hepatitis B vaccine, cannot be dismissed as paranoid fantasy. In this regard, we are told that HIV is the first primate virus to “jump species” to produce an epidemic in millions of humans. But, in truth, the AIDS epidemic is the second instance in which a monkey virus has been transferred to humans. A cancer-causing monkey virus called “simian virus 40” (SV40) jumped species a half century ago when virus-contaminated polio vaccines were injected into millions of people, including half the U.S. population of that era. (For details, see: www.sv40cancer.com ) Government health officials insist there is no proof that SV40 causes human cancer. However, independent research over the past decade indicates SV40 is clearly associated with rapidly-fatal cancers of the lung (mesothelioma), bone marrow cancer (multiple myeloma), brain tumors in children, and other forms of cancer. A Washington Times report (September 21, 2003) states, “Some of the polio vaccine given to millions of American children from 1962 until 2000 could have been contaminated with a monkey virus that shows up in some cancers, according to documents and testimony to be delivered to a House committee Wednesday.” The SV40 story is detailed in the recently published, The Virus and the Vaccine: The True Story of a Cancer-Causing Monkey Virus, Contaminated Polio Vaccine, and the Millions of Americans Exposed.

The VCP and links to bio-warfare and secret human experimentation

Every annual report of the VCP makes clear that human experimentation with these newly created and genetically-engineered viruses would not be undertaken. However, the 1972 Report (p 262) also states: “Since man will not be used as an experimental recipient, it is necessary to gain proof of oncogenicity by other means.” It is well-known in science that medical doctors will not totally accept laboratory findings in animals as absolute proof. An experimental finding in animals must also be proven in humans. It cannot be assumed that covert human testing of suspected cancer-causing viruses did not take place in the thousands of experiments conducted under the auspices of the VCP, particularly with its strong ties to covert biowarfare research. The U.S. military has a long history of secret human experimentation. For proof, Google: secret human medical experimentation. Merck and Co, Inc. made most of the experimental hepatitis B vaccine that was immediately followed by AIDS cases. Some of the experimental vaccine was manufactured at the NIH. George Merck, who founded the drug company, was the leading biowarfare advisor to President Roosevelt during WW2. He was a central figure in creating the army’s biowarfare laboratory at Ft. Detrick, Maryland, which later became an integral part of the NCI. Merck’s role in the VCP was “to conduct investigations designed to develop vaccines or other agents effective for the prophylaxis and therapy for human neoplasia (cancer) of suspected viral etiology” (1972;139). Great interest was taken in developing anti-herpes virus vaccines. Research involved a new type of herpes vaccine using “purified viral protein vaccines” and a “subunit vaccine” utilizing only a piece of the herpes virus (1977;135). The Merck company declared: “Since live attenuated or killed virus vaccines for potentially oncogenic viruses would not be acceptable for human use due to the danger of transfer of functional genetic material, this project was initiated to determine whether vaccines to purified viral antigens acceptable for use in humans were of practical value.” (1977;160) (This proposed “purified” herpes vaccine was similar in type to the experimental “purified” hepatitis B vaccine injected into gays the following year.) It is my contention that the introduction of HIV and the KS virus into gay people, the most hated minority in America, was not an accident of nature due to monkeys in the jungle. Would scientists deliberately infect gay men with AIDS to finally prove that animal cancer viruses cause cancer? In the January 1987 issue of MD magazine, an Oklahoma internist wrote: “Homosexuality is a sin, deserving the death penalty.” With that kind of mentality not rare in the medical and scientific world, the answer to the question is, undoubtedly, yes.

The VCP and biohazards

The VCP was a biological disaster waiting to happen. What would happen if one or more of these dangerous cancer and immunosuppressive viruses escaped from the laboratory and produced a worldwide biologic holocaust? The 1978 report from the Office of Biohazard Safety of the VCP states: “The inadequate care and handling of animals during the past several years have created a potential for the occurrence of infection of humans with simian (primate) microorganisms and cross infection between species. Such interspecies disease transmission may seriously compromise the integrity of the experiment as well as the health of the experimenter. Due to the magnitude of biomedical research employing tissue cultures. Frequent evaluation of tissue culture cross-contamination is very important .”

The yearly large-scale production of lethal cancer viruses

By the late 1970s the mixing of animal cancer viruses with human cells to produce new “xenotropic” viruses was commonplace. The human cells in question were placenta (“afterbirth”) cells from patients with immune disease, and cells from leukemia (1978, p 192). Xenotropic viruses are viruses taken from one species and transplanted into another different species. All these experiments represent “species jumping” performed in a laboratory. By 1977 the Program was producing “approximately 60,000 liters (15,840 gallons) of tissue culture-grown viruses, propagated in over 40 different cell lines, and distributed in over 1250 shipments to over 250 participating laboratories throughout the world.” Also in 1977 Electro-Nucleonics Laboratories processed 8,044 liters (2,024 gallons) of virus-containing fluids harvested from several tissue culture systems. About half this volume was concentrated xenotropic viruses. That same year Pfizer drug company produced 28,000 liters (7,392 gallons) of virus harvest fluids. The vast majority included primate viruses, such as the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus, woolly monkey sarcoma virus and baboon endogenous virus. (This baboon virus contaminated Gallo’s lab at the NCI). Litton produced 37,438 liters (9,984 gallons) of retrovirus material consisting essentially of four agents: mouse mammary tumor virus, Raucher murine (rat) leukemia virus, Gross murine leukemia virus and baboon leukemia virus. The VCP made clear that: “Attempts are being made to chronically infect cell cultures of human epithelial and fibroblast cells and similar cell cultures from non-human primates (marmosets) with simian sarcoma virus, gibbon ape leukemia virus and baboon endogenous virus” (1977;183). A few years later primates in the African bush would be blamed for starting AIDS and the KS epidemics.

The VCP and the creation of an AIDS-like disease in chimps

In 1969 the military biowarfare experts predicted that a biological agent would be developed within a decade that would have a devastating effect on the immune system and for which there would be no treatment. (For details of this congressional testimony, Google: Donald M MacArthur + biowarfare.) The VCP had a keen interest in acquiring “information and materials from carefully selected patients suffering from immunodeficiency diseases” (1972;318). This is made clear in a 1973 Progress Report (p249) from the University of Minnesota entitled, “The search for tumor virus related information in human immunodeficiency patients with cancer” The researchers proposed “continuation of studies linking immunodeficency, cancer, and oncogenic viruses.” As biowarfare expert MacArthur predicted, new cancer-causing monster viruses (like HIV) were created by the VCP which had a deadly effect on the immune system. In one experiment recorded in the 1973 Report (p169), later published in Cancer Research in 1974, newborn chimps were taken away from their mothers at birth and weaned on milk from cancer virus-infected cows. Some of the chimps sickened and died with two diseases that had never been observed in chimpanzees. The first was Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (later known as the “gay pneumonia” of AIDS); the second was leukemia, a cancer of the blood.

Cancer-Causing viruses and “helper” viruses

As the 1970s began it was clear that some cancer-causing viruses could not produce cancer unless a “helper” virus was present. Certain chicken, cat and mouse sarcoma viruses were found to be “defective” and unable to induce cancerous changes. However, when a “helper” leukemia virus was added to the mix, the sarcoma virus was able to induce cancer. Mixing of a mouse sarcoma virus with a cat leukemia virus produced a “hybrid virus” which could grow continuously in cat cells. Such a “hybrid virus” was adapted to human embryonic (fetal) cells (1971, p22). Thus, it is obvious that “species jumping” experiments were commonplace during the years of the VCP. By the late 1970s it was known that “type C RNA viruses” (the retroviruses connected with sarcomas and lymphomas and leukemias) existed normally in cells as “endogenous viruses” within the cellular genomes of many mammalian species. By 1977, the year the experimental hepatitis B vaccine was being made, scientists in the VCP aimed “to determine the oncogenic potential of putative human viruses” and “to begin viral vaccine (conventional or other) testing and immunization programs” (1977;32). The exact methods by which this was to be accomplished was not stated.

Primate virus contamination of human cells

The possibility that animal cancer viruses could cause contamination of viral laboratories and viral research was an accepted risk for the VCP. Primate virus contamination problems have plagued the laboratories of the world’s most famous AIDS researchers, much to their embarrassment. A decade before Gallo discovered HIV, he reported a “new” and “human” and cancer-associated “HL-23 virus” that was eventually determined to be not one but three contaminating primate viruses (gibbon-ape virus, simian sarcoma virus, and baboon endogenous virus). The baboon virus was discovered in the early 1970s at the Southwest Foundation for Research and Education in San Antonio, Texas, which hosted a chimpanzee breeding colony and produced simian viruses for research. The baboon virus somehow made its way into the blood cells of a Texas women with leukemia. When the infected cells reached Gallo’s lab they were apparently joined with an additional monkey virus and an ape virus. How these three viruses contaminated Gallo’s lab is unknown. However, George Todaro, an equally famous virologist, was quoted as saying, “You can get three viruses into a virus preparation easily just by being sloppy, and Gallo had plenty of sloppy people.” (See John Crewdson’s Science Fictions: A Scientific Mystery, A Massive Cover-Up, and the Dark Legacy of Robert Gallo, p20). As late as 1986 Max Essex of Harvard “discovered” a new human AIDS retrovirus that he found in the blood of healthy Africans. Eventually this virus also proved to be a monkey virus that originated in a nearby primate colony. Somehow the animal virus had worked its way into Essex’s lab and blood samples. Interestingly, both Gallo and Essex, the two foremost American AIDS researchers, were the leading proponents of the African green monkey theory of AIDS. Now the more widely accepted theory, proposed by Beatrice Hahn (who worked in Gallo’s lab when he proposed the green monkey theory), claims the virus traces back to chimpanzees in the African wild. Hahn has never commented on the primate contamination problems in Gallo’s lab. Could the primate “ancestors” of the RNA-type HIV retrovirus and the DNA-type herpes saimiri-like KS herpes virus have accidentally —or deliberately—worked their way into the experimental hepatitis B vaccine? The extremely high incidence of both these “new” viruses in the gay men who volunteered for the hepatitis experiments certainly provide enough additional circumstantial evidence to make the man-made theory of AIDS as plausible as the monkey out of Africa theory.

The gay hepatitis B experiments (1978-1981)

The experimental hepatitis B vaccine injected into gays was unlike any other vaccine previously made. It was developed in chimpanzees and manufactured in a year-long process of sterilization and purification of the pooled blood of 30 gay men who were hepatitis B virus carriers. During the first gay experiment (November 1978—October 1979) at the New York Blood Center, there was great concern that the vaccine might be contaminated. According to June Goodfield’s Quest for the Killers, p 86, “This was no theoretical fear, contamination having been suspected in one batch made by the National Institutes of Health, though never in Merck’s.” The men were given three inoculations of the vaccine over a period of time. The vaccine was successful with 96% of the men developing protective antibodies against the hepatitis B virus. It has been assumed by some that these men were immunosuppressed due to their promiscuity and history of venereal disease. Although the young men in the study were indeed “promiscuous” (this was a requirement for entrance into the study), they were in excellent health. Despite many previous sexual partners, these volunteers had never contracted evidence of hepatitis B infection. Furthermore, immunosuppressed people often do not respond to the vaccine. The men in the Manhattan experiment had the highest rate of HIV ever recorded for that time period (over 20% of the men were HIV-positive in 1981, and over 40% in 1984). Therefore, it must be assumed that many, if not most, of these men eventually died of AIDS. The actual number of AIDS deaths among the men in the experiment has never been revealed, nor have their medical records been studied. Attempts to secure this information have been rebuffed due to the “confidential” nature of the experiment.

The end of the VCP and the birth of AIDS

By 1980 the VCP came to an inglorious end with the inability to prove that viruses were involved in human cancer. More than any other program it built up the field of animal retrovirology, which led to a more complete understanding of how cancer and immunosuppressive retroviruses caused disease in humans. The VCP was the birthplace of genetic engineering, molecular biology, and the human genome project. I am convinced the VCP (and not Africa) is the birthplace of HIV/AIDS as well. As the VCP was winding down in the late 1970s, the gay experiments began in New York City, and continued in other cities, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. These cities would rapidly become the three primary epicenters of the new and unprecedented “gay-related immune deficiency syndrome,” later known as AIDS. The introduction of HIV and the KS herpes virus into gay men (along with some “novel” and now-patented mycoplasmas discovered at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology) miraculously revived the career of Robert Gallo and made him the most famous virologist in the world. And, of course, turned the “failure” of the VCP into a triumph. When Gallo’s blood test for HIV became available in the mid-1980s, the New York Blood Center's stored gay blood specimens were reexamined. Most astonishing is the fact that 20% of the gay men who volunteered for the hepatitis B experiment in Manhattan were discovered to be HIV-positive in 1980 (one year before the AIDS epidemic became "official" in 1981). This signifies that Manhattan gays in 1980 had the highest incidence of HIV anywhere in the world, including Africa, the supposed birthplace of HIV and AIDS. In addition, in 1982, in an AIDS trial in New York City one out of five gay men (20%) tested positive for the new KS herpes-8 virus when stored blood samples were re-examined by epidemiologists at the NCI in 1999. Rarely mentioned by AIDS historians is the fact that the New York Blood Center established a chimp virus laboratory for viral vaccine research in West Africa in 1974. One of the purposes of VILAB II, in Robertsfield, Liberia, was to develop the hepatitis B vaccine in chimps. The lab also prides itself by releasing "rehabilitated" (but virus-infected) chimps back into the wild. Also conveniently forgotten in the history of AIDS is LEMSIP (The Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery), the primate colony located outside New York City. For many years, until disbanded in 1997, LEMSIP supplied scientists with primates and primate parts (and unknown primate viruses) for transplantation and virus research. Primate parts (and primate viruses) were experimentally transplanted in human beings as early as the 1960s . LEMSIP was also affiliated with New York University Medical Center, where the first cases of AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma were discovered in 1979. Researchers at NYU were also heavily involved in the development of the experimental hepatitis B vaccine used in gays. According to Leonard Horowitz, author of Emerging Viruses: AIDS and Ebola, NYU Medical Center received government grants and contracts connected with biological warfare research beginning in 1969. The evidence gathered here is a tiny fraction of the circumstantial evidence supporting the man-made theory of AIDS. Scientists have a long and proven history of covertly experimenting on people “in the name of science.” Anyone who takes the time to study the reports of the VCP will recognize that human experimentation with cancer viruses was undoubtedly considered and ultimately desired. Is the fact that HIV/AIDS appeared within a decade of this dangerous cancer virus experimentation a coincidence? Should AIDS be blamed on human sexuality, gays, blacks, and monkeys? I think not. There is nothing wrong or unpatriotic or “conspiratorial” in presenting the vast amount of evidence that connects out-of-control animal cancer experimentation and biowarfare research with the birth of AIDS. What is wrong, however, is the unwillingness of the scientific establishment and the media and the public to look at it.

[Dr. Cantwell is a retired dermatologist and has written two books on the man-made origin of AIDS; and two books on the infectious origin of cancer, all published by Aries Rising Press, PO Box 29532, Los Angeles, CA 90029 ( http://www.ariesrisingpress.com ). Email: alancantwell@sbcglobal.net . Many of his writings can be found on http://www.google.com by typing in “alan cantwell” + articles. His latest book is Four Women Against Cancer: Bacteria, Cancer and the Origin of Life. His books are also available on
http://www.amazon.com and also through Book Clearing House @ 1-800-431-1579]

Alan Cantwell M.D.
alancantwell@sbcglobal.net
http://www.ariesrisingpress.com


FOUR WOMEN AGAINST CANCER
On Oct 11, 2005, at 12:09 AM,
Sallie wrote:

AIDS was made in a Petri Dish in CO university, and added to vaccines given to homosexual men.

Alan Cantwell M.D.
alancantwell@sbcglobal.net
http://www.ariesrisingpress.com


From ECOTERRA Intl.

HLV INFO 158/AT

12-10-2005

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

mit unserer HLV INFO 156/AT v. 8.10.2005 hatten wir Sie bereits über die Thematik WLAN in Schulen informiert und ein detailliertes Schreiben an die politischen Verantwortlichen, dem Landrat, Schulderzernten, Politkern des Kreistages des Main-Kinzig-Kreises sowie die Information an die GEW und die Main-Kinzig-Schulleitung in Schlüchtern sowie deren Elternbeiräte angekündigt.

Siehe „WLAN via Laptops“ unter: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1041099/

Anliegend erhalten Sie die Informationen, die wir Ihnen zur evtl. eigenen Verwendung freistellen.

Wir bitten Sie um großflächige Verbreitung, damit dem lobbyistisch geprägten, monetären Vorhaben generell ein Riegel vorgeschoben wird.


M.f.G. Alfred Tittmann
c/o HESSSICHER LANDESVERBAND MOBILFUNKSENDERFREIER WOHNGEBIETE e.V.


Hessischer Landesverband mobilfunksenderfreie Wohngebiete e.V., Kettelerstr.3,
63486 Bruchköbel


An Politiker des Main-Kinzig-Kreises

12. Oktober 2005

“Mit dem Laptop in den Unterricht“ - HA 20.09.2005 “Fortschritt - aber ohne Risiken“ - HA 08.10.2005


Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

Sie engagieren sich erfreulicherweise für die Politik im Main-Kinzig-Kreis; Sie sind in Gremien tätig, an Entscheidungsprozessen und der politischen Gestaltung des MKK’s haben Sie einen entsprechenden Anteil.

Mit anliegendem Schreiben an den Ersten Kreisbeigeordneten Herrn Günter Frenz interveniert der Hessische Landesverband mobilfunksenderfreie Wohngebiete e.V (HLV) bezüglich einer möglichen Intention, WLAN-Funksystem in Schulen des MKK einführen zu wollen.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/hlv_frenz_laptop_in_schulen.rtf

Der HLV, dem über 120 mobilfunkkritische BI’s angeschlossen sind, bemüht sich um eine sachliche Information und Beratung seiner Mitglieder, wobei diese auf der Zielrichtung eines gesundheitsverträglichen Mobilfunks basieren.

Da auch Sie für die politische Organisation des MKK Verantwortung tragen, bitten wir Sie, sich ebenfalls mit der zugrunde liegenden Thematik zu befassen und dafür zu sorgen, dass entsprechend dem Vorsorgeauftrag des Grundgesetzes, eine Ausweitung des WLAN-Funksystems in Schulen des Main-Kinzig-Kreises unterbleibt.


Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Für den Vorstand

gez. Prof. inv. Dr. med. H.-J. Wilhelm Dr. E. W. Braun

Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Alfred Tittmann - Kettelerstr. 3 - 63486 Bruchköbel


Anlagen

http://openpr.de/news/64008.html
http://www.news4press.com/1/MeldungDetail.asp?Mitteilungs_ID=71504

--------

W-LAN in Hessischen Schulen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3023595/

Mit dem Laptop in den Unterricht
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1054537/

Gewerkschaft warnt vor W-LAN im Klassenzimmer
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2877989/

WLAN via Laptops
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1041099/

Gesundheitsgefahren durch kabellose Laptops
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/191214/
http://tinyurl.com/88sg2

Here's a roundup of the best blogging on Plamegate -- reporting you sure as heck won't find these days in The New York Times.

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#6424

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101325_pf.html

by Harold Meyerson, The Washington Post

A decently paid working-class job has become a defining oxymoron of our time.

http://www.tompaine.com/

by John Prados, TomPaine.com

Two new reports reveal Porter Goss' ongoing 9/11 cover-up and an admission that Iraq intelligence may have been politicized.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051012/director_of_censored_intelligence.php

by David Corn, TomPaine.com

The Harriet Miers nomination put conservatives on notice that the president values loyalty over ideology.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051012/the_end_of_the_trustme_presidency.php

Christian Science Monitor
by Dante Chinni

10/11/05

There are plenty of reasons for conservatives in particular and supporters of President Bush in general to be unhappy with his selection of Harriet Miers to the current Supreme Court vacancy. Ms. Miers has never been a judge. That in itself is not a deal breaker, but it means her paper trail is shorter than your average celebrity marriage. There are no opinions to illuminate her views on any issues and precious few articles and/or briefs. She's another close friend of the president, making the cronyism charge easier to make. ... And some, including Senate Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter, have suggested that Miers may have a less-than ideal grasp on constitutional law. ... What has been harder to grasp in the past week is the anger from the political right on Miers not being conservative enough...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1011/p09s01-codc.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by Michael Tomasky

10/11/05

Some of you are going to think the dog spiked my cactus juice when you read this, but I have to say I actually admire some of the conservative dissent on Harriet Miers. Yes, the vast majority of the criticism centers on the fact that Miers doesn't appear (to them, anyway) to be a reliable conservative. She voted for tax hikes while on the Dallas City Council, she sponsored a speaker series at SMU that featured liberal women, and so on. ... But there has also been a second line of criticism complaining that she just isn't a serious enough choice. George Will, Charles Krauthammer, et al. certainly have intelligence; that Bush chose Miers insults it. I can't argue with that, and I even applaud it. It had to start sometime. Maybe the Miers fiasco will mean that some on the right will finally take a stand in defense of their principles instead of always making political excuses for the administration"...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10398


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Liberty For All
by Ed Lewis

10/12/05

The writer might warn that human torture is not a matter to be treated delicately, that he is not going to tone down his language, as humans torturing humans (or any other animal) is about as sick as people can be. Maybe a bit of shocking will help wake up the dulled indoctrinated minds that flourish here in America. This writer as an un-indoctrinated thinking man that also happens to have a conscience simply cannot believe the comments concerning torture that have been made by soldiers, both officers and enlisted, and by different spokespeople of different organizations, including those absolutely useless organizations - the current administration, congress, and the judiciary - and the other agencies or whatever created by the most corrupt administration to ever pollute the lives of the American people and the world...

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/oct15/prisoners.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Dave Lindorff

10/11/05

When it comes to a reputation for selling snake oil, surely the army recruiter has long been right down there in the muck with the used car salesman and the patent medicine huckster. It's common knowledge that the promises made by recruiters about postings and future positions and training are worthless, and that once someone signs on as a recruit, her or his fate is at the whim of the military. That said, recruiters these days, desperate to fill the pipeline to Iraq's slaughterhouse with new bodies, are resorting to an interesting new spiel .... Word comes in from students in the Philadelphia area that recruiters at area high schools are warning them to enlist now, when they can pick the type of service they'd like to do, 'because there's a draft coming next year and then you'll have no choice'...

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff10112005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Libertarian Enterprise
by Dave Earnest

10/09/05

Our Society has reached a point where too many people have too much to worry about, Mortgage, rent, car payments, TAXES, alimony, child support, credit card bills, TAXES, gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, cell phone, broadband cable, satellite TV, groceries, Did I mention TAXES? Oh yeah Health, death, car, homeowners, renters, flood, earthquake insurance and the almighty 401k, IRA, annuities, and add your own stuff here...

http://www.ncc-1776.com/tle2005/tle340-20051009-03.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Self-Sovereign Individual Project
by Kitty Antonik Wakfer

10/05

The real power to wage a war or stop a war (though war has never actually been declared by Congress) is in the hands of the actual soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors. If these everyday people say NO and put down their weapons and cease initiating force or stop providing direct support to those doing the force, then all the orders/edicts/threats from Washington will be just so much hot air. This is what needs to be understood and acted upon by those in Iraq and Afghanistan and those 'at home' wanting them to return...

http://selfsip.org/dialogues/misc/preferencing_support.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by Molly Ivins

10/12/05

According to the Bushies, if the United States is holding a prisoner on foreign soil, our soldiers can still subject him or her to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment -- the very forms of torture used by the soldiers who were later prosecuted for their conduct at Abu Ghraib. Does this make any sense, moral or common? So deeply does President Bush feel our country, despite all its treaty commitments, has a right to torture that he has threatened to veto the bill if it passes. This would the first time in five years he has ever vetoed anything. Think about it: Five years of stupefying pork, ideological nonsense, dumb administrative ideas, fiscal idiocy, misbegotten energy programs -- and the first thing the man vetoes is a bill to pay our soldiers because it carries an amendment saying, once again, that this country does not torture prisoners...

http://www.alternet.org/story/26701/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Reason
by Julian Sanchez

10/12/05

Even in an administration packed with appointees whose highest qualification for their posts seems to be their undying fealty to the president, George W. Bush's choice of Harriet Miers to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's Supreme Court Seat came as a shock. But probably not as shocking as what happened next: Conservative pundits, legislators, and intellectuals actually began to object, loudly. ... A few more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger expressions of doubt whether the former Texas lottery commissioner was the most qualified jurist (well, potential jurist) available would have come as no surprise. The uproar, however, seems to have utterly surprised the White House. Yet it shouldn't have. Conservatives (and libertarians) have long had ample cause for powerful buyers' remorse about Bush...

http://www.reason.com/links/links101105.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com

by Justin Raimondo

10/12/05

According to the democratists, it isn't just the Middle East that suffers from a 'democracy deficit.' Ukraine, Russia, the vast reaches of Central Asia, China, and a great deal of South America -- all are backward in the sense that they haven't quite reached the 'end of history,' as Francis Fukuyama and his fellow Hegelians would put it. The invasion and conquest of Iraq, and the imposition of a 'democratic' regime at gunpoint, is intended to be a model of the Bush Doctrine in practice. But it doesn't look like the experiment is working. In fact, it shows every sign of boomeranging ...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7597


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Climate scientist John M. Wallace tried to steer Vice President Al Gore away from global warming theories back in 1994. Today, Wallace has changed his thinking and has joined the overwhelming scientific consensus that says that climate change is a serious threat to the planet.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/101105EB.shtml

ASL: Mesures Officielles de Contrôles ... Premiéres réactions (14 octobre 2005)

http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/main.php?param=presseradiotv

- Premières photos de protection des locaux d'ASL contre l'irradiation par les CEM des antennes relais de la macro-station d'Orange dans la basse ville de Crest. Les locaux d'ASL sont situés à environ 75 mètres faces aux antennes relais, il faut savoir que le petit Léon et d'autres VIVENT à moins de 30 mètres des antennes relais !

http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/main.php?param=cartographie102mesures


Pour vulgarisation nationale sur les mesures officielles de contrôles, il a été réalisé: - Un document de synthèse avec imageries qui sera mis en ligne dans quelques jours. - Un documentaire vidéo professionnel (en cours de montage) sera disponible en téléchargement.



-1er Dossier ét ude CNRS / CSO:
Contreverses et Mobilisations autour des Antennes Relais de Téléphonie Mobile (Financée par France Télécom R & D, SFR et Bouygues Télécom)

- 2ème Dossier: IUT de Nantes
Cours de CEM (notions élémentaires)

http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=doc_professionnelle

Outside the blind trusts he created to avoid a conflict of interest, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist earned tens of thousands of dollars from stock in a family-founded hospital chain largely controlled by his brother, documents show.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205Z.shtml

From: Mel Riser
[UBRON]

This article appears in the Oct. 14, 2005 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

´The Greatest Strategic Disaster in U.S. History´ by Michele Steinberg

Eyewitness reports from U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq, as well as from exiled Iraqis who have just visited Baghdad after many years, establish, without question, that the United States must immediately initiate the process to leave Iraq now—while such an exit is still possible. The only question remaining, one retired Special Forces officer told this news service, is whether the United States can "walk out of Iraq," or whether it has to "fight its way out." The U.S. occupation has destroyed the nation of Iraq, and has so botched the drafting of a so-called "constitution," that one retired Army officer and specialist on Iraq, told EIR, that the United States had better hope that the constitution is voted down, so that there is another chance to draft a new one. The present constitution is so divisive, and punishing toward the Sunnis, that the result will be civil war. These officers are only two of a number of high-ranking officers, both British and American, who say the Iraq War has not only become a quagmire, but that the Bush Administration has already lost the war.

Since the end of September, Washington has been the scene of powerful interventions by top military and retired military figures, saying it is necessary to force the White House to withdraw. At the same time, polls show George W. Bush´s Iraq War policy with only a 33% approval rating. And, an increasing number of Republican members of the Congress and the Senate are breaking with the White House on that war policy. In the House of Representatives, the number of Republican co- sponsors of legislation to force Bush to draw up a withdrawal policy, is now five, out of a total of 60 co-sponsors. The Republicans are: Walter Jones (N.C.) and Ron Paul (Tex.), who were both orginial co- sponsors, and Jim Leach (Ia.), Wayne Gilchrist (Md.), and John Duncan (Tenn.). In the Senate, the backlash against the Iraq policy was reflected in the landslide vote of 90-9, to ban the U.S. use of torture on military prisoners, and put the treatment of these prisoners under international law (see article, p. 28).

But, it appears that the more the American population, and the President´s own Republican Party, weigh in against the war, the more fanatical are the warmongering speeches given by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, as demonstrated in their respective speeches on Oct. 6 and Oct. 5. The Administration´s fanaticism, including Bush´s Oct. 6 call for further wars against Syria and Iran, makes the intervention by the military against the Iraq War all the more urgent. ´Why Not Cut and Run?´

On Sept. 28, retired Lt. Gen. William Odom, the ex-head of the National Security Agency (NSA), joined Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hi.), and other members of the House of Representatives, at a news conference in Washington, to support their bipartisan legislation to withdraw from Iraq. Odom not only supported the legislation; he called the invasion of Iraq "the greatest strategic disaster in United States history." Odom added, "We need a broad coalition of Europeans and our allies in Asia to put things in order.... We cannot do that as long as we are in Iraq. The precondition for a serious and effective strategic engagement to stabilize this region requires withdrawal and admittance to others that we may have made an error."

But that was not all. On Oct. 3, General Odom wrote an article titled, "What´s Wrong With Cutting and Running?" (See www.Antiwar.com.) "If I were a journalist," he wrote, "I would list all the arguments that you hear against pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, the horrible things that people say would happen, and then ask: Aren´t they happening already? Would a pullout really make things worse? Maybe it would make things better." Odom refutes in a devastating way, the arguments that the Administration usually puts forth as its only reason for "staying the course." For example: Leaving would "risk civil war," and would "encourage terrorists."

But, Odom says, there already is a civil war. "Iraqis are already fighting Iraqis. Insurgents have killed far more Iraqis than Americans. That´s civil war. We created the civil war when we invaded; we can´t prevent a civil war by staying.

"For those who really worry about destabilizing the region," Odom adds, "the sensible policy is not to stay the course in Iraq. It is rapid withdrawal, reestablishing strong relations with our allies in Europe, showing confidence in the UN Security Council, and trying to knit together a large coalition including the major states of Europe, Japan, South Korea, China, and India to back a strategy for stabilizing the area from the eastern Mediterranean to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Until the United States withdraws from Iraq and admits its strategic error, no such coalition can be formed.

"Those who fear leaving a mess are actually helping make things worse...."

There is a similar groundswell against the Iraq War, in Britain. On Oct. 2, the London Sunday Telegraph published a chilling article, citing British military historian Col. Tim Collins (ret.), who says that British forces have been decisively defeated in southern Iraq, and may soon be chased across the border into Iran.

Collins, described in the article as a respected officer whose "eve of battle address during the Iraq war has been praised as among the greatest in British military history," warned that the "incompetence and lack of direction" of the political leadership has created a situation in which "the danger is that we could face defeat in the field. We could be overwhelmed. The Army could be chased over the border into Iran." Asked how humiliating that would be for Britain, he answered, "It would be historic." He called on Prime Minister Tony Blair to "fall on his sword" for presiding over a "right rollicking cock-up."

These two military leaders are just the latest voices of warning. On Sept. 15, at an informal hearing called by Rep. Lynne Woolsey (D- Calif.), Gen. Joseph Hoar (USMC-ret.), and former Sen. Max Cleland (D- Ga.), a decorated Vietnam War vet, testified that not only is the situation in Iraq getting worse and worse, but the Army itself is "broken," and the United States is going bankrupt, paying for the no-win war. After the four-hour hearing, in which about 30 members of Congress questioned Hoar, Cleland, and other expert witnesses, the Administration could be likened to Hitler in the bunker in the early part of 1945, when World War II was lost for the Nazis, but Hitler dreamed up ever wilder expansions of the war. U.S. Creates Failed State

The reality of what is happening in Iraq is that the U.S. and U.K. forces have already been defeated. From a military standpoint, it is already a hopeless situation. EIR´s reports from a number of highly qualified military sources match precisely what Colonel Collins told the Sunday Telegraph. The situation in Iraq cannot be salvaged, so long as American and British forces remain there.

The main exit routes out of Iraq—to Jordan and Kuwait—will soon be totally in the hands of insurgents. We may soon be faced with the need to literally shoot our way out of the country. Already there are reports, in western Iraq, of Shi´ite atrocities against Sunni villages. There is no longer any area where the U.S. military is in control. The British have withdrawn from Basra, the largest city in the south, and cannot control the region. Even worse, there is a likelihood, with the continuing threats by Cheney to attack Iran, that the Iraqi Shi´ites will launch their own insurgency against the United States, in the event of a U.S. and/or Israeli attack on Shi´ite Iran.

It is already an ugly civil war. U.S. Marines who recently returned from Anbar province in Western Iraq, say that the U.S. is facing a "widespread, hard-core, nationalist insurgency," which should be understood as analogous to the French resistance to the Nazi occupation. Eventually, these returning Marines warned, the entire population opposed the Nazis, and that is what is happening now in Iraq. The hatred of the U.S. occupation is also fueled by revenge killings being carried out by Shi´a troops accompanying the U.S. forces. These Shi´a forces are not under U.S. military "fire control," and have been killing Sunnis in their villages, as revenge for the Sunni massacres of Shi´ites during the failed, U.S.-backed Shi´a uprising under President George H.W. Bush.

The brutality of the civil war—with the U.S. clearly involved in allowing pro-occupation gangs to carry out mass murders—is beginning to find its way into media reports. On Oct. 5, the website TomPaine.com noted recent reports by CBS News and the Chicago Tribune, about Iraqi Shi´ite commandos, working for the new Iraq government, who have targetted Sunnis, terrorizing families in the middle of the night, and killing Sunni men on a mass scale. Much better known, and reported sensationally in the Western media, are the actions claimed by the al-Zarqawi terrorist group that have killed hundreds of Iraqi Shi´ites in bombings of mosques and marketplaces. It is, as General Odom reports, already a civil war. But the report in TomPaine.com notes an additional element: The Shi´a forces involved in targetting of Sunnis are officially working for, and trained and equipped by the United States, in the name of stability. Meltdown in the Washington Command

On Sept. 28, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, all hell broke loose, when U.S. Army Gen. George Casey, Commander of the U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, said that there is only one battalion of "fully capable" Iraqi troops. After months of hearing reports from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and speeches by President Bush that there are 150,000 to 170,000 "trained" Iraqi security forces, the Senators went ballistic. After all, a battalion unit is approximately 300 to maximum 1,000 personnel, according to the Army´s official site.

Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) blasted General Casey, who was testifying, demanding to know: "You had three battalions, now we´re down to one...." And a distraught Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.) told Rumsfeld and the generals that these numbers cause a "loss of public confidence.... It doesn´t feel like progress when we hear ... that there is only one Iraqi battalion fully capable."

Rumsfeld tried to blow off the Senators´ criticism with a sneer, saying, "I think reality is these folks are not going to end up at a level of U.S. forces, period." But, for once, the Senators closed ranks and continued to demand answers. Pressed by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D- Mass.), about reports that insurgents are joining up for the Iraq police to get training, equipment, and weapons, Rumsfeld admitted it was true, then babbled, "It´s a problem faced by police forces in every major city in our country, that criminals infiltrate and sign up to join the police force."

This showdown at the Senate sent the White House and Secretary of Defense´s office into a panic. On Sept. 29, the White House announced that Bush would dedicate "all" his time and effort to the war in Iraq, with major speeches to be made by him and Vice President Cheney. On Sept. 30, Rumsfeld called a special briefing at the Pentagon, where he literally shoved General Casey aside, when reporters were pursuing questions about why the number of "capable" battalions had shrunk, and how long it would take to build them up.

According to the Defense Department transcript, Casey replied, "I think it will be a while. I think before we see much movement from one to two, it´s going to be a couple of months...."

Then, as another reporter began his question, a frantic Rumsfeld abruptly took over:

Q: "General —"

Rumsfeld: "You know, this is—just a minute. This is—there are an awful lot of people chasing the wrong rabbit here, it seems to me. And let me put up this chart; it´s illustrative. I don´t want you to write anything —"

Q: "The reason I ask is much was made of this on the Hill yesterday —"

Rumsfeld: "That´s my point. I think folks are chasing the wrong rabbit."

Needless to say, Rumsfeld´s "wrong rabbit" response did nothing to stanch the criticism of the war, but what followed from Cheney and Bush, was far worse.

According to media reports, and EIR´s sources in the Washington intelligence community, there were high-level meetings at the White House that were a combination of damage control, and flight-forward planning for attacks on Syria, to be conducted in "hot pursuit" of "terrorists" who would be fleeing an American offensive in the western Anbar province of Iraq. U.S. military strikes against Syria, and the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, remains high on the agenda of Cheney and his neo-con cabal.

While no military action has been announced against Syria, as of Oct. 6, the speeches by Cheney and Bush indicate that they fully intend to expand the Iraq war to Syria and Iran.

Speaking at the Association of the U.S. Army, on Oct. 5, Cheney shamelessly pledged more American blood for his perpetual war policy, while claiming his policy had made Iraq more secure. Cheney raved that "the only way the terrorists can win is if we lose our nerve and abandon our mission.... We will help Iraqis build a nation that is free and secure and able to defend itself; we will confront our enemies on this and every other front in the war on terror...."

And Bush´s "major speech on Iraq," delivered to the National Endowment for Democracy on Oct. 6, was a fanatical call to return to the domino theory approach of the Cold War, while threatening immediate war on Syria and Iran. Bush´s speechwriters deftly morphed Iraq into the home of Osama bin Laden, and Bush warned that if Iraq falls to Zarqawi and bin Laden, there will soon be a "radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia."

In response to calls to get out now, Bush said there would be "no concession, bribe, or act of appeasement," and that only "complete victory" would be accepted.

He then went into a psychotic litany attempting to prove that the war on terror is just like the war on communism. Five times he repeated: "Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy Islamic radicalism...."

Most ominously, included in the speech is a description of Syria and Iran, by name, as "state sponsors" of terrorism, who "share the goal of hurting America and moderate Muslim governments," saying that "they deserve no patience." In the most blatant threat of more war, he said, "The U.S. makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor them, because they´re equally guilty of murder.... And the civilized world must hold those regimes to account."

There is no question that Bush and Cheney feel the walls of reality closing in on them, as the multiple criminal investigations are coming to a head, particularly the possible indictments of top White House personnel for the revenge leaking of the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, and the indictments of House Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

But, feeling the political squeeze, Cheney and Bush, are planning new wars to get themselves a little "Lebensraum."

Posted by Mel Riser


Informant: Martin Greenhut

http://csmonitor.com/2005/1011/dailyUpdate.html


Informant: dmetke

From ufpj-news

From: "Jim Dean, Democracy for America" info@democracyforamerica.com

The war in Iraq began two years ago on a promise of security -- and a web of deception. Now the mistruths have fallen away -- and we see a presidency, and American prestige, sunk in a quagmire.

The cost: almost 2,000 American lives lost. Over $300 billion spent. A growing tab for our children and grandchildren, in the form of the largest budget deficit in our country's history. And for the Iraqi people, a stable democracy -- and peace -- remain nowhere in sight.

We captured a tyrant, but made no provision for keeping the peace. An insurgency took off. Terrorists moved in. And now, we have a country in the heart of the Middle East breeding extremist violence -- and verging on civil war.

This is unacceptable. We have to address this issue and resolve it. But from Washington, we hear little but presidential excuses and the quiet wringing of hands.

Someone needs to take a stand. Here's the deal: that someone can be you.

Take the pledge to send to Washington only those leaders with the courage to face the Iraq mess head-on. Do it today:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/iraqpledge

We can shake our heads at Bush and shake our fists at the Congress. In the end, though, we make the Congress. We elect it. It answers to us. And in 2006 and 2008, we can get Congress' attention by telling our elected officials to face the facts -- or go home.

Use your power. As the time draws closer to select candidates for the next United States Congress, pledge the following:

I pledge to only support candidates who:

1. Acknowledge that the U.S. was misled into the war in Iraq
2. Advocate for a responsible exit plan with a timeline
3. Support our troops at home and abroad

As we sign the pledge, our names will appear on the Democracy for America pledge map. Let's fill it from coast to coast -- so that candidates and the media can't help but see it.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/iraqpledge

Why sign the pledge? Because you know America can't afford to take more of this. It's time for the public servants we send to Washington to face the truth.

We expect our leaders to show courage and honor for the sacrifices of our soldiers in Iraq. The best way to do that: face the crisis that has killed thousands, emptied our treasury, and destroyed our credibility.

You have shown that courage. Let's tell Washington we expect it to do the same.

Thank you.

Jim Dean
Democracy for America

P.S. If 10,000 patriots sign the pledge today, that would make a great start. But 100,000 signatures would begin to set the nation's agenda. Help us reach that goal -- sign today:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/iraqpledge


Informant: Martin Greenhut

Der aktuelle Stand

Der Binnenmarktausschuss des Europäischen Parlamentes hat am 4. Oktober beschlossen, die Abstimmung über die Dienstleistungsrichtlinie auf den
20./21 November zu verschieben. Die Abstimmung im Plenum wird voraussichtlich in der Januar-Plenarsitzung des Parlamentes stattfinden, d.h. zwischen dem 16.und 19. Januar 2006. Die Konservativen und Liberalen im Binnenmarktausschuss brachten in letzter Minute vor der Sitzung noch neue Kompromissänderungsanträge ein, die inhaltlich weit von den von Evelyne Gebhardt ausgehandelten Kompromissanträgen entfernt waren. Mit diesem Manöver wollten die im Binnenmarktausschuss vertretenen Konservativen um jeden Preis verhindern, dass die von Evelyne Gebhardt vorgeschlagenen Kompromisse bald verabschiedet werden. Diese sehen insbesondere die Ausnahme der Dienste im allgemeinen wirtschaftlichen Interesse aus dem Geltungsbereich der Dienstleistungsrichtlinie, den Ausschluss jeglicher Änderung des Arbeitsrechts, insbesondere des Entsendungsrechts, durch die Dienstleistungsrichtlinie und eine tragfähige Alternative zum Herkunftslandprinzip vor: Der Zugang zum Markt soll nach den Regeln des Herkunftslandes geregelt werden –d.h. ob ein Unternehmen ein rechtmäßig niedergelassenes Unternehmen ist, entscheidet das Herkunftsland, die Erbringung der Leistung hingegen muss nach den Bedingungen des Empfängerlandes erfolgen… Siehe dazu auch:

Grenzenlos dienen Kritik aus den westlichen EU-Ländern könnte dafür sorgen, dass die europäische Dienstleistungsrichtlinie nur in abgeschwächter Form in Kraft treten kann. Artikel von Korbinian Frenzel in Jungle World vom 12. Oktober

2005 http://jungle-world.com/seiten/2005/41/6428.php

Unabhängig davon finden statt:

Europäischer Aktionstag am 15. Oktober und Demonstration am 25. Oktober in Straßburg gegen die EU-Dienstleistungsrichtlinie

Against the Bolkestein directive, we need to mobilize ! Contre la directive Bolkestein, mobilisons nous ! Englisch-französischer Aufruf für die Demo am 15. Oktober (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/eu/sopo/bolke151005a.pdf

15. Oktober in den Wohnorten. 25. Oktober Demonstration in Straßburg: Europa darf nicht zur Billiglohnzone werden! Ver.di-Aufruf (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/eu/sopo/bolke151005b.pdf

Attac-Sonderseite zu Bolkestein:
http://www.attac.de/bolkestein/


Aus: LabourNet, 12. Oktober 2005

Dangerous Illusions, or Why the Bush Regime Must Still Be Driven Out!

Frank Rich, the liberal columnist in the New York Times, recently compared George W. Bush to the Wizard of Oz, once Toto pulled the curtain open. He’s all image, according to Rich, and essentially over. The pendulum done swung. Rich goes on:

"What comes next? Having turned the page on Mr. Bush, the country hungers for a vision that is something other than either liberal boilerplate or Rovian stagecraft. At this point, merely plain old competence, integrity and heart might do it."

(The New York Times Week in Review, Sunday, September 18, 2005)

Is it true? Have falling "approval ratings" rendered Bush into a toothless old carnival barker, all smoke and mirrors, with no more ability to do damage? Has "the page been turned"? Or has Rich himself fallen victim to--and become a purveyor of--a most dangerous illusion? The Last Month

Take a look at what the supposedly "all-over-but-the-shouting" Bush regime has managed to do in just the past month or two.

Begin in Iraq, where 149,000 U.S. troops continue to enforce an occupation that gets bloodier by the day. Where the army just quietly announced adding "a few thousand" more troops for the constitutional elections in October. Where three American soldiers last week exposed the ongoing, widespread, and systematic use of torture by the U.S. army, after having their complaints suppressed within the "proper army channels" for 17 months. Look over at Iran, where U.S. commandos busily prepare the ground for military action. And then note well the refusal of any prominent Democrat to attend last week’s antiwar rallies.

Now return to the United States itself, where in early September the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government could indefinitely imprison Jose Padilla--a U.S. citizen apprehended on U.S. soil--as an enemy combatant, simply by claiming he is a "terrorist." Padilla has now languished in jail for over three years, with no formal charges. Even mainstream newspapers noted with alarm that this ruling effectively wipes out habeas corpus for political opponents of the regime.

And then there was this week’s confirmation of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Roberts is a man whom the Christian Fascists found totally acceptable and who, from what little is known of his record, is clearly anti-affirmative action and anti-civil rights, anti-abortion and anti-women’s rights generally, and strongly in favor of expanding the repressive powers of the state. He was approved as Chief Justice by 78 (!) senators. Go back then to August, when the Senate unanimously approved an even more repressive version of the "Patriot Act" and when news leaked out of a secret Pentagon plan for martial law in the U.S., complete with plans to dispatch troops to key areas and begin roundups.

Move on to Lancaster, Pa., where people are fighting against the doctrine of "intelligent design," which is being used as a battering ram to undercut and eventually eliminate the teaching of evolution. Then remember that in August both Bush and Senate majority leader Bill Frist argued that intelligent design should be taught in the schools.

Finally, take a look in New Orleans, where Bush continued and intensified his administration’s racist policy toward Black people. Note his murderous actions (and inaction) during the flood’s first few days, including his "no tolerance for looters" order. Take stock of his policies since then--eliminating affirmative action and "living wage" measures in the rebuilding, dispersing people all over the country and doing nothing to reunite families, and maintaining a high degree of repression in the shelters. Look at how Bush has used the flood to further promote Christian Fascism--beginning with FEMA’s listing of Pat Robertson’s swindle operation as the number three recommended charity, and moving on to the promotion of church-sponsored charter schools and church-based operations as a central part of the relief efforts, while the government does nothing to meet the people’s just demands. And last, but unfortunately not least, ponder the orgy of racist slander and lies unleashed by his armies of fascist radio commentators, administration supporters, and Bush’s mother herself!

Even this brief list belies Frank Rich’s view that "the page has been turned" on Bush. Each and every outrage over these past six weeks has had very serious, life-and-death consequences for millions of people and, on top of that, has put into place more of the norms and infrastructure of a fascist state.

In this light, we should recall the hubbub just a few short months ago over Karl Rove’s involvement in "outing" a CIA agent. Remember? This too was about to usher in a pendulum swing. But what in fact happened? Nothing.

We should also listen to Daniel Ellsberg, the man who broke the Pentagon Papers and who is well-acquainted from the inside with "how government works." Ellsberg recently warned that the Bush administration is counting on another 9/11-type incident to change public opinion and enable the regime to bring in a military draft and a clampdown "that will make the Patriot Act look like the Bill of Rights." ("How the Antiwar Was Won," Philip Weiss, New York, October 3, 2005)

The world truly cannot wait! Deeper Reasons

But Bush himself is part of something bigger. For the past 15 to 20 years, powerful forces within the U.S. ruling class have come together around the need to change the governing "consensus" on what makes the government legitimate, and the morality and ideology underlying the "cohesion" of society--and to change it to something quite different from what has gone before. These forces are going for a much more openly imperialist policy toward the world and a fascist form of rule within the U.S., which will at minimum include a very large element of fundamentalist Christianity. Within this most unholy alliance, the Christian Fascists make up a powerful battering ram and driving force, and these forces are not going to be satisfied, as Bob Avakian has written, until this country is ruled as "a biblically based, militarized, patriarchal and male supremacist, and yes, white supremacist society--that is in essence the Christian Fascist program. And, yes, this means that their religious fundamentalist epistemology must be in command." ( Revolution, #1, May 1, 2005, "Changes in the World and the ‘Clash of Civilizations’--Within This Civilization".)

This is not transitory. Over the past 15 to 20 years, a hard-core Christian fascist social base has been nurtured and developed; it has placed its people in key positions in the courts and armed forces, developed its own massive institutions and infrastructure, and, in the process, influenced the whole of the society.

Nor is this arbitrary. It arose in the face of serious new challenges to U.S. imperialism. These include: the breakup of the old arrangements among the imperialist powers and the scramble for the U.S. to establish itself as the new Rome; the huge socio-economic changes brought on by globalization, including massive immigration, urbanization, and integration of women into the modern workforce outside the home, all of which have introduced tremendous uncertainty and dislocation into people’s lives worldwide, and shaken the old assumptions; the ‘60s legacy of critical thinking, rejection of blind patriotism, belief in equality for Black people and other oppressed nationalities, and for the emancipation of women; the ‘90s thinking, ironically enough, of "get rich quick" (with its unwillingness to "sacrifice for the country"); and other changes as well. In the face of this, an increasingly influential--and determined--section of the ruling class decided that they needed the new, and very radical, cohering norms and have systematically and relentlessly brought this movement forward.

The material underpinnings of the secular, liberal "social contract" of the "New Deal" and "Great Society" (which themselves, let us not forget, were based on imperialist plunder) have vanished, and the Democrats find themselves with no answers other than to move increasingly to the right. And so we now have Hillary Clinton echoing Bush that the war in Iraq is a "noble cause"; we have the same Clinton calling for "common ground" with anti-abortion fanatics and the Democratic Party moving to run anti-abortion candidates in the 2006 elections; and we see the Democrats conceding to the breakdown of the separation between church and state and voting for the renewed Patriot Act. This is not because they are "spineless" or "unresponsive"; it is because they share the overall objectives and fundamental assumptions of empire with the Republicans, and they do not have a coherent program of their own to deal with what our Party has called this "period of transition with potential for great upheaval."

(The above has necessarily been a broad-strokes sketch of some very complex phenomena. Readers are urged to check out the upcoming pamphlet by Bob Avakian, "The Coming Civil War And Repolarization for Revolution in the Present Era" and "The Truth About the Right-Wing Conspiracy. . . And Why Clinton and the Democrats Are No Answer" at revcom.us for a fuller analysis.) Urgently Needed: Independent Historical Action

When you look again at the past month or two and consider the deeply rooted forces driving the Bush regime’s agenda, the urgent need to act NOW stands out acutely, as does the self-defeating character of attempting to influence the Democrats--even if you call it "holding their feet to the fire." Above all, the crying need for mass action independent of the dead-end framework of politics-as-usual asserts itself with extreme urgency. November 2 must be the day when DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME resounds throughout society and the world--for we really can’t wait!

People will and should come at November 2 from many different views and with many different objectives. In our view, the ultimate goal of this movement cannot and should not be a return to the previous liberal consensus which, we must emphasize again, rested on the foundation of terrible imperialist plunder. The point must be to go forward--to resolve these murderous social contradictions through a socialist revolution, led by the re-envisioned communism of Bob Avakian. Such a revolution would carry forward the best impulses and values of the ‘60s, in the only way that can truly be a step toward emancipating humanity. (See online at revcom.us/chair_e.htm)

At the same time, we all urgently need NOW to join forces and to debate the future WHILE WE ACT DECISIVELY, TOGETHER, TO DRIVE OUT THIS REGIME. It matters a great deal to people all over the world whether we resist and reverse the direction that this regime is daily bolting into place--or whether, in the name of illusionary pendulum swings and a futile hope for saviors from the Democratic Party, we allow it to go forward. It matters a great deal whether November 2 marks a new turn in society--a day that history begins to change.

Ironically, Frank Rich himself, during the Terri Schiavo ordeal, pointed out that fascists in power need only a hard core of support in society at large, if everyone else is disorganized and unable or unwilling to act. At the time, Rich put the figure at 20% of the population. Well, the Christian Fascists probably do make up about 20% of the U.S. right now and, if anything, have become even more energized in recent months. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, Rich seems to have shrunk from the implications of his earlier insight.

But there is a real need to break with wishful thinking and plenty of reason to take heart from the potential that does in fact exist--and which can be tapped, IF WE ACT. The very depth and foulness of the changes afoot actually create the basis to reach out to the millions who are agonizing over them and urgently turning over in their minds and hearts what to do about it. November 2 is an answer, the only answer with the courage and audacity and vision to recognize the real stakes and the enormity of the challenge, and to call forward people in a way commensurate with those stakes and that challenge.

Bill Moyers, in his recent speech "9/11 And The Sport of God," discussed the "unique . . . intensity, organization and anger" of "the radical religious right," and reported on yet another burgeoning strain of this movement: "Patriot Pastors," self-styled "Christocrats," gladiators "for God marching against the very hordes of hell in our society." These forces are NOT, in other words, going gently into the night. Moyers went on to say that the success of the "the radical Christian right. . . has come in no small part because of our acquiescence and timidity." He ended by recalling the joke about the Irishman who happened on a street fight and asked if it were a private brawl--or could anyone join in?

November 2 must mark a break with this timidity and acquiescence, a turning to resistance, and the beginning of a truly two-sided fight. As the call to November 2 states,

We must, and can, aim to create a political situation where the Bush regime’s program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has been taking society is reversed. We, in our millions, must and can take responsibility to change the course of history.

Act. Now.

Revolution #017, October 9, 2005, posted at revcom.us This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolution Online http://revcom.us Write: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654 Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545



Informant: C. Clark Kissinger

From ufpj-news

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46697


Informant: NHNE

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=93344;show_parent=1
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=93349;show_parent=1

Stunning New Poll

By a margin of 50% to 44%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if (like there's any doubt!) he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org and conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs , the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company.

http://democrats.com/bush-impeachment-poll-1

More Polls on Impeachment Coming Soon

The poll above was paid for by your donations. On September 30, we set a goal of raising $10,000 to pay for this and additional polls, and thus far you've raised $9,034. Nice work!!! Now, let's see if we can dig deep and find that last $966.

DONATE FOR POLLS:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/polling

More Organizing Badly Needed

As public pressure builds for impeachment, we need resources in order to organize an effective movement. We don't waste a dime, and we don't back down. Can you help out?

DONATE FOR ORGANIZING:
http://elandslide.org/elandslide/edonate.cfm?campaign=ads

Tell the Pollsters to Poll on Impeachment
Tell every polling company to poll on impeachment!
http://www.democrats.com/bush-impeachment-polls

Tell Your Representatives to Impeach Bush
http://democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/65

Urge the Senate to Reject Harriet Miers

George Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers is an outrage. As a corporate attorney, Miers ran a firm that paid $22 million to settle a suit asserting that "it aided a client in defrauding investors." For the past 10 years, Miers has been destroying evidence of George Bush's crimes. These include:

* his string-pulling admission into the Texas Air National Guard, ahead of 500 other applicants

* his desertion of the Texas Air National Guard with two years left to serve

* his role in the outing of Valerie Plame

* his role in approving torture of captured prisoners

In the coming months and years, Bush could be indicted for his crimes. Under no circumstances should Harriet Miers serve as Bush's personal lawyer on the United States Supreme Court.

Write your Senators:
http://democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/71

Worth Reading:

Danish PM faces Iraq war lawsuit
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3530

Iraq war now costing $6 billion a month
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3520

Terror Threats: MSNBC's Countdown Counts 13 Coincidences
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3506

No Lie Left Untried: Recruiting in the Schools
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3505

A U.S. Senator Starts Talking Some Sense
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3503

Tell Us Who Fabricated the Iraq Evidence
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3486

Karl Rove Lied to the FBI
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3463

Time for Miller to come clean
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3460

Conyers, Harman and Thompson Seek Specifics on Terror Plots
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3446

3rd Year Anniversary of Bush Lies in Cincinnati
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3429

Upcoming Events

David Swanson, Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet, will speak this event in Denver on October 15: http://www.btc-usa.org

2,000 U.S. Deaths in Iraq is 2,000 Too Many! (UFPJ)

Organize an Anti-War Action the Day After the U.S. Announces the 2,000th U.S. Soldier Death in Iraq

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3538

On the Frontlines
National Counter-Recruitment Conference
October 22-23 at UC-Berkeley Sponsored by the Campus Antiwar Network and Military Out of Our Schools - Bay Area

http://www.campusantiwar.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=86&Itemid=34

National "Not Your Soldier" Youth and Student Day of Action
Thursday November 17th at a high school or college campus near you....

http://www.nyspc.net/notyoursoldier.php

--------

Poll: Americans Favor Bush's Impeachment
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:55:02 -0400
From: David Swanson

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3528 For Immediate

Release: October 11, 2005

Poll: Americans Favor Bush's Impeachment If He Lied about Iraq

By a margin of 50% to 44%, Americans say that President Bush should be impeached if he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

The poll was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,001 U.S. adults on October 8-9.

The poll found that 50% agreed with the statement:

"If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable by impeaching him."

44% disagreed, and 6% said they didn't know or declined to answer. The poll has a +/- 3.1% margin of error.

Those who agreed with the statement were also more passionate: 39% strongly agreed, while 30% strongly disagreed.

"The results of this poll are truly astonishing," said AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder Bob Fertik. "Bush's record-low approval ratings tell just half of the story, which is how much Americans oppose Bush's policies on Iraq and other issues. But this poll tells the other half of the story - that a solid plurality of Americans want Congress to consider removing Bush from the White House."

Impeachment Supported by Majorities of Many Groups

Responses varied by political party affiliation: 72% of Democrats favored impeachment, compared to 56% of Independents and 20% of Republicans.

Responses also varied by age and income. Solid majorities of those under age 55 (54%), as well as those with household incomes below $50,000 (57%), support impeachment.

Majorities favored impeachment in the Northeast (53%), West (51%), and even the South (50%).

Support for Impeachment Surged Since June

The Ipsos poll shows a dramatic transformation in support for Bush's impeachment since late June. (This is only the second poll that has asked Americans about their support for impeaching Bush in 2005, despite his record-low approval ratings.) The Zogby poll conducted June 27-29 of 905 likely voters found that 42% agreed and 50% disagreed with a statement virtually identical to the one used by Ipsos.

After the June poll, pollster John Zogby told the Washington Post that support for impeachment "was much higher than I expected." At the time, impeachment supporters trailed opponents by 8%. Now supporters outnumber opponents by 6%, a remarkable shift of 14%.

Support for Clinton Impeachment Was Much Lower

In August and September of 1998, 16 major polls asked about impeaching President Clinton
http://democrats.com/clinton-impeachment-polls . Only
36% supported hearings to consider impeachment, and only 26% supported actual impeachment and removal. Even so, the impeachment debate dominated the news for months, and the Republican Congress impeached Clinton despite overwhelming public opposition.

Impeachment Support is Closely Related to Belief that Bush Lied about Iraq

Both the Ipsos and Zogby polls asked about support for impeachment if Bush lied about the reasons for war, rather than asking simply about support for impeachment. Pollsters predict that asking simply about impeachment without any context would produce a large number of "I don't know" responses. However, this may understate the percentage of Americans who favor Bush's impeachment for other reasons, such as his slow response to Hurricane Katrina, his policy on torture, soaring gasoline prices, or other concerns.

Other polls show a majority of U.S. adults believe that Bush did in fact lie about the reasons for war. A June 23-26 ABC/Washington Post poll found 52% of Americans believe the Bush administration "deliberately misled the public before the war," and 57% say the Bush administration "intentionally exaggerated its evidence that pre-war Iraq possessed nuclear, chemical or biological weapons."

Support for the war has dropped significantly since June, which suggests that the percentage of Americans who believe Bush lied about the war has increased.

Passion for Impeachment is Major Unreported Story

The strong support for impeachment found in this poll is especially surprising because the views of impeachment supporters are entirely absent from the broadcast and print media, and can only be found on the Internet and in street protests, including the large anti-war rally in Washington on September 24.

The lack of coverage of impeachment support is due in part to the fact that not a single Democrat in Congress has called for impeachment, despite considerable grassroots activism by groups like Democrats.com http://democrats.com/impeach .

"We will, no doubt, see an increase in activism following this poll," said David Swanson, co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org. "But will we see an increase in media coverage? The media are waiting for action in Congress. Apparently it's easier to find and interview one of the 535 members of Congress than it is to locate a representative of the half of the country that wants the President impeached if he lied about the war. The media already accepts that Bush did lie about the war. We know this because so many editors and pundits told us that the Downing Street Memo was 'old news.' What we need now is journalism befitting a democracy, journalism that goes out and asks people what they really think about their government, especially George Bush."

The passion of impeachment supporters is directly responsible for the Ipsos poll. After the Zogby poll in June, activists led by Democrats.com urged all of the major polling organizations to include an impeachment question in their upcoming polls. But none of the polling organizations were willing to do so for free, so on September 30, AfterDowningStreet.org posted a request for donations to fund paid polls http://afterdowningstreet.org/polling . As of October 10, 330 individuals had contributed $8,919 in small donations averaging $27 each.

AfterDowningStreet.org has commissioned a second poll which is expected soon, and will continue to urge all polling organizations to include the impeachment question in their regular polls. If they do not, AfterDowningStreet.org will continue to commission regular impeachment polls.

Footnotes:

1. AfterDowningStreet.org is a rapidly growing coalition of veterans' groups, peace groups, and political activist groups that was created on May 26, 2005, following the publication of the Downing Street Memos in London's Sunday Times on May 1. The coalition is urging Congress to begin a formal investigation into whether President Bush committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war.

2. Here are the complete tables from the Ipsos poll, plus the definitions of regions used by Ipsos and the U.S. Census Bureau.

3. Zogby asked: "If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable by impeaching him through impeachment."

4. Pollsters have offered various reasons for refusing to poll on impeachment. For example, Gallup said it would do so "if, and when, there is some discussion of that possibility by congressional leaders, and/or if commentators begin discussing it in the news media."

LINK TO THIS RELEASE http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3528


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


Informant: Bob Reuschlein

From ufpj-news




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

The following letter-to-the-editor was published in late September of this year in the St George-Sutherland Shire Leader, apparently the community newspaper with the bigest coverage in Sydney. It is about the forthcoming government sell of of the remainder of Telstra and Anne makes a very important point. Telstra did not respond to it for obvious reasons!

From Anne Wagstaff

Dear Editor

Telstra’s sale appears to be full of omissions, as well as contradictions. (Your View, September 20)

This time last year Telstra warned that insurance against any risk associated with electromagnetic radiation is becoming more difficult to obtain because insurers are becoming less willing to provide cover or charging prohibitive prices. Telstra acknowledged this insurance problem in the risks section of its 2004 Annual Report*, stating “The establishment of a link between adverse health effects and electromagnetic energy (EME) could expose us to liability or negatively affect our operations.”

However, this year Telstra appears to have omitted to tell shareholders, present and potential about such insurance problems. I wonder why?

Regards

Anne Wagstaff Oatley NSW 2223

*EXTRACT of Innovation Everywhere, Telstra Annual Report 2004 under the heading Risk factors on pages 10 -11(hard copy)/pages 12-13 (soft copy)

http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/investor/docs/companyoverview.pdf

The establishment of a link between adverse health effects and electromagnetic energy (EME) could expose us to liability or negatively affect our operations

The consensus of national and international scientific opinion is that there is no substantiated evidence of public health effects from the EME generated by radio frequency technology, including mobile phones and base stations, when used in accordance with applicable standards.

In our operations, we comply with the EME levels permitted by legislation and applicable standards. While to date we have been able to obtain limited insurance against these risks, the preparedness of insurers to give this type of insurance cover is reducing and even this limited insurance cover may not continue to be economically viable. There is a risk therefore that an actual or perceived health risk associated with mobile telecommunications equipment and facilities could:

? lead to litigation against us;

? adversely affect us by reducing the number or the growth rate of mobile telecommunications services or lowering usage per customer;

? precipitate the imposition of more onerous applicable legal requirements which are more difficult or costly to comply with; or

? hinder us in installing new mobile telecommunications equipment and facilities.

Any of these, or a combination of more than one, could have a negative effect on our results or financial position. For more information on EME, see “Information on the Company - Networks and systems - Electromagnetic energy”.

Source: http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=266

http://www.mastsanity.org
Advice Line 08704 322 377
Press Office 01962 864 388
Registered UK charity, no. 1109757

Highfields, Brantham Hill, Manningtree, Essex CO11 1SD

Mast Sanity Press Release: 11 OCTOBER 2005
(For immediate release)

IS THE COUNCIL TAX PAYER SUBSIDISING MOBILE PHONE MULTINATIONALS?

PENSIONERS ARE BEING JAILED FOR NON-PAYMENT OF COUNCIL TAX WHILE MOBILE PHONE COMPANIES USE LEGAL SYSTEM TO TRY TO AVOID RATES.

Mast Sanity is urging a full investigation into whether mobile phone companies who erect masts on both public and private property and land are meeting all their obligations in paying business rates, following a Court of Appeal ruling last year.

Lord Justices Auld, Thomas and Jacob ruled in the Supreme Court of Judicature Court of Appeal (Civil Division) on appeal in February 2004 that the mobile phone operators are commercial companies and must therefore declare and pay business rates on mobile phone masts.

In the light of the ruling, Mast Sanity believes that not only should business rates be paid but also paid at the correct level. This also means that business rates are payable not only on phone masts on highways land but on all masts including those on Government buildings and in parks. This would also include schools, blocks of private flats, churches and sports stadia. The relevant parts of such premises should be reclassified as business use and full business rates would then be payable.

Mast Sanity has been in touch with a number of local authorities about this court judgment. Some authorities are now investigating whether all the money owed is being collected and whether the District Valuer is satisfied that mobile phone companies are meeting all of their business rates obligations.

"The mobile phone companies are presently going through the European Court claiming VAT back on the 3g licence fees they paid, yet may be keeping very quiet about the significant sums of money they could owe in business rates," says Mast Sanity Trustee Yasmin Skelt.

"Mast Sanity believes there are a number of ‘hidden’ masts of which local authorities have no record, that should be subject to business rates. The fact that no proper records and databases have ever been maintained on phone masts, and many masts have slipped through planning loopholes, means that avoidance of business rates by these multinationals could run into millions. A number of hard working small businesses have been struggling to survive because of increases in business rates imposed on them, yet these multinationals could be avoiding business rates. Pensioners are facing the same increases in council tax and are being jailed because they are unable to pay the huge taxes imposed on them."

Mast Sanity also believes that the case also raises the question of whether these companies should be paying rent on highways and public land land in line with the rents they pay to private landowners.

"The Government should be looking at local authority accounts as a matter of urgency," says Mast Sanity Communications Director Karen Barratt. "Phone masts on highway verges are often close to houses and schools. The companies choose these sites because they are a cheap and easy option. If they are forced to pay rent in addition to the business rates they should be paying they might start looking for more appropriate sites."

Mast Sanity believes this matter should be properly scrutinized and clarified by parliament and it should be established if these commercial companies should be paying rent on public land that they are using to increase their profits. If it transpires that they are not legally obliged to pay commercial rent for use of public land to pursue their business interests then the Government should immediately take steps to change the law so that they do have to pay commercial rent in the same way as other businesses. Mast Sanity questions the basis of why free use of public land should be allowed for commercial purposes since this does not seem to be in the public interest. In effect, it means that ordinary people are subsidizing mobile phone masts through their council taxes.

ENDS

Notes for editors The formal title of the relevant case is:
Orange PCS v Bradford (Valuation Officer) [2004] EWCA Civ 155 (17 February 2004) and the Full text of the Judgement is available from: http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2004/155.html

The article below ("Real Leaders don't indulge popular fears", The Sunday Times, Comment, September 25, 2005) exemplifies the lack of transparency and blatant dishonesty we have to contend with in our EHS campaign. Dr. Don Mac Auley (director of MAIM--Mast Action in Meath) in his response letter to this article ("Tell Whole Story") exposes Sarah Carey's ties with the Irish telecommunications industry. These immediately disqualify her from being capable of presenting her readers with an evenhanded judgement of the merit of anti-mast protests. Yet, she does not pay her readers the courtesy of informing them anywhere in her article that she was employed by Irish Telecommunications. It should be obligatory--as it is in so many other sectors here-- that writers in well-esteemed papers must declare any conflicts of interest they have when publishing articles of this nature.

Best, Imelda, Cork.


For earlier reference to Sligo civil servants to strike over phone antennae see:

http://omega.twoday.net/stories/993605/


THE SUNDAY TIMES, OCTOBER 9, 2005

LETTERS

"TELL WHOLE STORY

I was bemused by Sarah Carey's derision at today's political leaders (Real leaders don't indulge popular fears, Comment, 25 September). Her critical stance towards protest groups and their perceived fears will, in fact, reinforce the public's unease that they are never told the whole story. What Carey did not tell us is that she has been up to her ears in mobile phone controversy for several years now.

When Carey scolds masts protesters she doesn't inform us that she worked for Esat Telecom (now 02) when Denis O'Brien was competing for the second mobile phone licence. Last year she appeared in front of the Moriarty tribunal, which is investigating the awarding of this licence, where she admitted Esat made several financial contributions to Fine Gael [Irish political party].

Carey was also involved in the planning process for rolling out the Esat Digifone (now 02) mobile phone network, which may explain her revulsion towards the civil servants complaining about transmitters in Sligo. In my experience of working with the community, people feel that big business comes before concerns about health and wellbeing. Therefore, on some level I agree with Carey. We do need stronger politicians and political parties who can't be bought but defend the electorate's rights against profiteering.

Dr Don Mac Auley Navan, Co. Meath


THE SUNDAY TIMES, SEPTEMBER 25, 2005

Comment: Sarah Carey

"REAL LEADERS DON'T INDULGE POPULAR FEARS

Civil servants at a pension office in Sligo voted to go on strike last week. Not for any of the usual reasons — better pay or shorter working hours. Instead they’re threatening a walk-out because Vodafone is putting three mobile phone antennae on their roof. The workers believe that the health risks are so great it is their duty to prevent the installation at all costs. They are completely wrong, and yet convinced they are right. How can this be? There are 3.8m mobile phones in Ireland, according to ComReg, the regulator. They don’t keep a count of groups protesting against antennae, but I’d say one for every parish in the country is about right. The protesters are convinced that the non- ionising radiation emitted from the antennae is responsible for a range of conditions, from cancer to Alzheimer’s to migraine.

What these diseases have in common is that nobody is quite sure what causes them. In medieval times, people blamed sin or comets for mystery illnesses. Now we blame modern technology. A harsh comparison, but given the absence of rational thought in each case, we have to ask why there is such a huge gap between actual risk and perceived risk among the general population.

In response to people’s concerns, ComReg monitors the emissions from 400 mobile phone stations throughout the country. The full report for each station is available on its website. Completely at random I read the report on the Slieve Mish mast in Co Kerry. For each radio frequency, a maximum exposure level for the public is recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). On Slieve Mish, the highest emission at the GSM mobile phone transmission frequency was 0.01% of the maximum level recommended. In other words, the emissions are
10,000 times lower than recommended. A pretty comfortable margin of safety.

Protesters will shriek that when it comes to their health, any risk, no matter how small, is unacceptable to them. But this is a lie. Getting out of bed every day is a risk. Whether on foot, by car or by public transport, we run an actual risk of being killed simply by going somewhere. We all, including those civil servants in Sligo, own millions of radiation-emitting mobile phones. The truth is we are quite willing to take big and quantifiable risks every day.

In the case of mobile masts, it is not the level of risk involved, but the manner in which we assess that risk. People assume that the illusion of control, like a talisman, is what protects them. Since they are at the wheel of the car, they think they can overtake the truck before they meet the oncoming bus. The truck or the bus may accelerate, thus undermining the driver’s control of the situation, but this seldom occurs to the driver.

When someone thinks they are in control they will take enormous risks without flinching. When they think someone else, a big company or a government, is imposing a risk upon them, they lose the head.

The Rossport Five are beginning their fourth month in jail because they believe that Shell’s gas pipeline could kill them. Shell wants to build its gas terminal onshore because gas workers are often killed on dangerous offshore terminals, or when the helicopters taking them to and fro crash.

Shell’s pipeline has been designed to take twice the pressure that will be needed. So the chances of an accident in Co Mayo involving Shell are minuscule, and the reaction in Rossport is out of all proportion to the actual risk. But there was no planning process for the pipe, and Shell is a multinational with a nasty reputation and it is wielding compulsory purchase orders. The result is mass hysteria.

In Kinnegad, Lagan Cement has been given permission by Meath county council to burn meat and bone meal (MBM) instead of coal in its furnaces. By burning less coal, the cement company will reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 45%, an indisputably good thing. There is a tiny risk that the MBM may contain CJD, the human equivalent of mad cow disease, so burning it at 2,000C is a reasonably effective way of completely destroying any traces.

Does that satisfy locals? Of course not. There was a huge protest around Kinnegad because people believed they were going to catch CJD. Do they also believe if they sail far enough west they will fall off the edge of the earth? The problem is that, on all of these issues, there is a complete absence of political leadership. Nobody is willing to stand up to protesters and tell them they are simply mistaken. Instead they are indulged. Wherever there are protesters there are politicians who will say things like “Their fears are real” (not “Their claims are real”). They will say that it is their job to “represent the people’s views”. Who decided that was a politician’ s job? Not Michael Collins or Eamon de Valera. Don’t politicians have the slightest obligation to tell their constituents that just because they read a mad report on the internet, that doesn’t make it true? In one sense, it’s hard to blame them because voters have a nasty habit of electing single-issue protest candidates. No TD or councillor in a proposed incinerator constituency wants to be the first to admit that we have to have them and you won’t grow another head if you live near one.

But Irish politicians are doing themselves no favours in the long run. In almost all protest campaigns the politician is ineffective. This is not an accident: it’s because they decided long ago to outsource hard decisions to politically unaccountable bodies such as An Bord Pleanala and the Environmental Protection Agency. Thus they have protected themselves from being forced to decide on tough issues and taking the rap when the hard choice has to be made.

Inevitably when paid professionals take the unpopular decisions, the ineffectiveness of the politician becomes apparent. People begin to wonder what politicians are for, and either don’t bother to vote in the next election or support an independent.

The various party conferences have been given wide coverage over the past month. Amid all these think-ins, did anyone suggest adopting a policy of standing up to protesters? No, that would be called electoral suicide. But as long as they refrain from offering true leadership on these issues, they are destroying themselves anyway. Just more slowly."