http://prisonplanet.com/articles/october2005/251005Karpinski.htm

--------

COL. JANIS KARPINSKI, THE FORMER HEAD OF ABU GHRAIB, ADMITS SHE BROKE THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS BUT SAYS THE BLAME "GOES ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP²

Democracy Now!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/26/1423248


Informant: NHNE

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Head of Abu Ghraib: Blame "Goes All the Way to The Top”
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94845;show_parent=1
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94849;show_parent=1

The New York Times is reporting Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA Director Porter Goss met with Senator John McCain last week to urge him to back exempting CIA officers from a proposed Senate ban on torture. Three weeks ago the Senate voted 90 to 9 to ban the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of any detainee held by the government. Cheney reportedly said the CIA needed to be exempt because the president needs maximum flexibility in fighting the so-called war on terrorism. Tom Malinowski, of Human Rights Watch, responded to the news by saying "They are explicitly saying, for the first time, that the intelligence community should have the ability to treat prisoners inhumanely." Meanwhile the American Civil Liberties Union announced Monday at least 21 detainees have died in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ACLU reached that number based on released Pentagon documents.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/25/1412234


Informant: John Calvert

by Mike Whitney

Can Bush survive in a post-Rove world? Not likely. The Bush persona is mainly the invention of its author, Karl Rove: a careful stitching together of religious and western imagery, of pious moralizing and cowboy “straight-talk”. Originally, Bush was nothing more than a formless glob of clay that ber-advisor Rove tenderly sculpted and brought to life. In many ways Bush is nothing more than the political vehicle for the aspirations, ambitions, and objectives of his constituents. He wasn’t chosen as a presidential nominee for his abilities, but for his for his willingness to follow orders and carry out the corporate agenda without question. His utter lack of curiosity about anything beyond the range of his immediate experience has proved to be a real godsend in his new assignment. In fact, Bush may be the perfect candidate: a self-absorbed malingerer who flawlessly reflects the identity of the person whispering through his hidden earpiece...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Whitney1025.htm

by Leilla Matsui and Stella La Chance

The catastrophic success of Hurricane Katrina in carrying out the Bush administration's second term agenda in only a few short days should have been cheering news for the beleaguered war prez. Even though he is being forced to lick his wounds publicly while the key players of “Operation Hurrah Katrina” celebrate “Mardi Graft” behind closed doors, the president should have had plenty of reason to rejoice along with them, if he hadn't already outlived his usefulness both publicly and within his own party. Having secured New Orleans as ground zero for a long awaited ethnic cleansing, while laying out the blueprint for a police state nationwide, Bush is now in the awkward position of having to appear penitent while signaling “Mission Accomplished” to his dwindling base. Already we can see the damage he's inflicted on his trademark smirk, as he snorts and wheezes through his openly scripted public appearances. Not even his renewed hard line stance against Syria can re-ignite his fizzling approval ratings. Funny how the plight of homeless Somalis swimming around in your own backyard tends to put a damper on even the heartiest appetites for destruction. Add a grieving Gold Star mother left to bake outside your Texas ranch and you've got yourself a public relations nightmare. And that's not even counting Tom Delay's recent arrest for money laundering, Bill Frist's SEC woes, and Karl Rove's impending indictment in the Valerie Plame affair. Clearly, Bush is living off the chump change left over from his much vaunted and mostly illusory “political capital.”...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Matsui-LaChance1025.htm

Europäisches Patentamt: Greenpeace warnt vor verfaulendem Saatgut (25.10.05)

Nach Darstellung der Umweltschutzorganisation Greenpeace hat das Europäische Patentamt in München hat einem Patentantrag zur Sterilisierung von Saatgut durch die so genannte "Terminator"-Technologie stattgegeben. Das Patent EP 775212 B vom 5. Oktober 2005 umfasse alle Pflanzen, die gentechnisch so manipuliert worden seien, dass ihre Samen nicht mehr keimen könnten. Offenbar wurde auch ein "Verfahren zur Herstellung eines nicht lebensfähigen Samens" angemeldet. Einmal geerntete und wieder ausgesäte Samen könnten nach diesem Verfahren keine neuen Pflanzen produzieren: "sie verfaulen in der Erde", so Greenpeace. "Wird mit der 'Terminator'-Technologie zum Beispiel Soja, Weizen, Raps oder Baumwolle sterilisiert, sind die Landwirte gezwungen, Saatgut jedes Jahr neu zu kaufen", kritisiert die Organisation. Die Landwirte sollten sich darüber im Klaren sein, dass "weltweit die Firmen in den Startlöchern stehen, um die Kontrolle über ihr Saatgut durch Genmanipulation zu erlangen."

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12127

As we mark the sad milestone of the 2000th service member killed in Iraq, t r u t h o u t would like to remind everyone that they are not just numbers. They are real people who leave behind families and loved ones. Over the next week, we will present to you interviews from both the families of the fallen and families of those still deployed in Iraq who live with the fear that their loved one will be next.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102505Y.shtml

Growing Trend
http://growingtrend.com/

URGE FITZGERALD TO EXPAND INVESTIGATION TO INCLUDE 9/11

New York Congressman Nadler has called on the CIA-leak prosecutor to expand his investigation to include deception regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Now is a great time to urge Nadler to also request an investigation into 9/11. Below is a suggested letter -- feel free to customize it to make it your own! We invite you to fax it to Congressman Nadler so that it gets his attention. Find additional Congressional fax numbers here: http://www.aspb.org/publicaffairs/state_fax_nmbrs.cfm

To reach a congress member by telephone, call the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121. (Fitzgerald himself is hunkered down and may not be listening to input from anyone other than Congress, so we strongly recommend that you focus your efforts on Congress at this time. However, if you feel drawn to contact Fitzgerald himself, his fax number is (312) 353-2067.) Via Facsimile (212) 367-7356 Hon. Congressman Jerry Nadler 2334 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Representative Nadler: I am writing to support your call that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald expand his investigation to include a criminal investigation.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny08_nadler/FitzgeraldwarMemo102005.html

However, I URGE you to also call for an examination into the President and Vice President's role in allowing – actually, causing – the September 11th tragedy.

As a New York representative, you must take note that a poll by Zogby International, the well-known polling organization, found that HALF of New Yorkers believe that U.S. leaders "had foreknowledge of impending 9-11 attacks and 'Consciously Failed' to act" and that 66% called for a new probe of unanswered questions concerning 9/11. See http://www.zogby.com/search/ReadNews.dbm?ID=855

Indeed, the following high-ranking current and former U.S. Government officials have also called for the truth about 9/11 to be disclosed: A current U.S. congresswoman; Former chief economist for the Department of Labor under George W. Bush, who was also director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis; Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Reagan, listed by Who's Who in America as one of the 1,000 most influential political thinkers in the world; Former director of the U.S. "Star Wars" space defense program in both Republican and Democratic administrations, who was a senior air force colonel who flew 101 combat missions (who is also a Catholic Archbishop); Former senior CIA analyst, who prepared and presented Presidential Daily Briefs and served as a high-level analyst for several presidents; Former Deputy Secretary for Intelligence and Warning under Nixon, Ford, and Carter; Former US Ambassador and Chief of Mission to Iraq; Former Deputy Director to the White House Task Force on Terrorism; Former US Department of State Foreign Service Officer; and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg (as well as a who's who of liberals and independents). See http://911proof.com/ And the following religious leaders have called for the truth regarding 9/11: Renowned theologian and professor emeritus, Dr. David Ray Griffin; Rev. George Pixley, retired Baptist minister and Professor of Biblical Studies (Ph.D. University of Chicago); Rev. David E. Roy, Ph.D.; Rosemary Radford Ruether, Carpenter Professor of Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA; Kent Mayfield, Unitarian Minister; Amir Salih Erschen, Madison Muslim Dawa Circle; and Dr. James Goulding, Adjunct Member of Religious Studies Faculty at Edgewood College and Professor of Religion Emeritus at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. See http://mujca.com/endorsers.htm .

Clearly, 9/11 is a story of national significance and importance, and of even greater interest and concern to your constituents in New York. And yet, it is now unambiguous that neither Congress nor the 9/11 Commission got to the bottom of what really happened. Thank you for your call for a greater investigation. We urge you to also call for an investigation into the most important event in modern American history: 9/11.

Thank You in Advance,
{Your name here}


"Growing Trend", "The Trend Behind the Headline", and "Positive Trends Behind the Headline" are Trademarks (TM) of GrowingTrend.com. All rights reserved.


Informant: Mofmars3

This only takes a few clicks -- the letter is already written for our local newspapers. Let's do it!! Nancy

Dear Operation Truth Supporter,

More than 2000 American Troops have now been killed in Iraq. As we pass this grim milestone, the media has briefly turned their attention away from celebrity gossip and fad diets, and on to the human cost of the war.

But for over two years, the media have failed to adequately honor the sacrifice of America’s Servicemembers. Putting the names of the fallen on Page A-10 is an insult to America’s Troops and to the families of the fallen, and is yet another example of poor media coverage of the war.

As Veterans of this war, we are asking you to please write to your local newspaper now , and urge them to honor the sacrifice of America’s Troops by publishing daily casualty reports on Page One. It takes only three clicks to send a letter with our easy-to-use tool. You can do it in less than a minute.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=47825693&url_num=1&url=http://operationtruth.com/honorthefallen

Your email will do more than just help sway newspaper editors. The “Letters to the Editor” are one of the most widely-read sections of the newspaper, and are often watched by elected officials. Politicians need to hear that you consider the war a priority issue.

Every email makes a difference. Once you send your letter, forward this email to your friends. It’s is an easy way to make a concrete change in war coverage in your community, and to honor the sacrifice of the American Troops that have died in Iraq.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=47825693&url_num=2&url=http://www.operationtruth.com/honorthefallen

Thank you for REALLY supporting the Troops,

Paul

Paul Rieckhoff, OIF Veteran Executive Director Operation Truth http://www.operationtruth.com


Informant: Andrea Ball

Stand by for 911 press release...Sending email addies for you to use...be sure to add your own comments

The people are moving and their voice is loud...Please join efforts and ready yourselves to join in all the activism

We each can help and live to see the needed change, our children so need for the future

Keep this site... Click here: All media, newspapers, television news networks, magazines and elected officials

http://websearch.cs.com/wm/boomframe.jsp?query=media+and+elected+officials&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D8bfefceec8e33d5a%26clickedItemRank%3D2%26userQuery%3Dmedia%2Band%2Belected%2Bofficials%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.congress.org%252Fcongressorg%252Fstate%252Fmain%252F%253Fstate%253DGA%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3Dwmtsearchsearch%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.congress.org%2Fcongressorg%2Fstate%2Fmain%2F%253Fstate%253DGA
http://tinyurl.com/9lbtg

Look around and get to know it...Shoot bullets of truth to all those who work for "US" in your own locality...Then if you will...get a zip code list>>> Click here: Results for "zip code"

http://websearch.cs.com/wm/search?fromPage=wmtsearchsearch&query=zip+code&x=9&y=10
http://tinyurl.com/bew35

...and cover as much of the USA as you can

We can make them all, finally, listen...They know we're watching and wide awake.

Tell them in your own words, concerning this urgent issue of 911, as well as all other important issues to our people, that we are coming for them and demanding truth and justice on all fronts

"We The People United Movement" We are many Political and Patriot Groups joining together, to help right the wrongs in America..."United We Will Stand"


Informant: Mofmars3

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=1460


Informant: Neo Mulder

Erstmals verlangt die US-Regierung damit explizit eine Foltergenehmigung - Bis Morgen hat das Pentagon noch Zeit, einem Gerichtsurteil nach Freigabe weiterer Folterbilder von Abu Ghraib nachzukommen.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21207/1.html

We're off to an amazing start, confronting the religious right on several fronts, from a courthouse in Dover, PA to the Supreme Court in Washington, DC.

Over 9,000 Americans have already joined the DefCon community. Thanks to your help, we have sent nearly 6,000 emails to governors and senators, urging them to uphold the First Amendment's guarantee of separation of church and state.

And we've seen a lively and varied discussion on the DefCon blog,

http://ga3.org/ct/J7_o9Yd1VRdf/

where many of you have posted your concerns and thoughts. In the upcoming weeks, look for more guest blog appearances from the author of The Republican War on Science, Chris Mooney, Chip Berlet and others.

With lots of issues brewing, we'll keep you posted with breaking news and ways that you can speak out for America's true traditional values: freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Feature of the Month: End Times Theology Every month, we'll take an in-depth look at some aspect of the threat to American democracy posed by the religious right. This month we're focused on Dispensationalism,

http://ga3.org/ct/-p_o9Yd1VRdX/

an ideology based on the belief that god's faithful will be raptured to heaven in a single instant, leaving the earth and non-believers behind to suffer death and destruction. While the theory sounds outlandish, 55% of Americans believe it will occur.

Do you know what the Rapture is?

Did you know that Tim LaHaye's series based off this ideology is the most popular adult fiction series in literary history?

Are you aware of the impact LaHaye and his followers have had on U.S. policy - from the environment, to the Middle East and beyond?

If not, check out this feature on our web site.

http://ga3.org/ct/-p_o9Yd1VRdX/

Intelligent Design
The nation's attention may have moved on from the intelligent design trial in Pennsylvania, but it is still taking place. Thousands of you took action already, telling your governors to make sure that science curricula in your states are based on scientific fact, not religious ideology (for those who missed it, you can still take action here!)

http://ga3.org/campaign/teachscience/ws867xx4z5tdwmn?

Stay tuned to our newsroom

http://ga3.org/ct/J1_o9Yd1VRd4/

and blog for updates regarding this landmark trial.

http://ga3.org/ct/J7_o9Yd1VRdf/

Judicial Nomination of Harriet Miers
Last Wednesday, President Bush came to his Supreme Court nominee's defense, saying: "People are interested to know why I picked Harriet Miers. ...They want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion."

And, in recent days, reports have made it clear that Karl Rove gave special notice to James Dobson and possibly to other leaders of the religious right in advance of the Miers announcement.

Bush's words, presenting Miers' religion as a primary credential to serve on the bench, come dangerously close to violating a fundamental principle of our Constitution: "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." And, the Rove/Dobson closed-door meeting reminds us how insidious the religious right is and what incredible access to power they have.

If you haven't already, take 60 seconds to demand that President Bush talk about Harriet Miers' legal credentials, not her religious beliefs.

http://ga3.org/campaign/miers/ws867xx4z5tdwmn?

It's been a fantastic first two weeks. We are excited and encouraged by the success achieved in this short period. Keep the feedback and comments coming. This campaign is crucial to all of us.

More to come,

Your friends at DefCon

© 2005 DefCon: Campaign to Defend the Constitution. info@defconamerica.org


Informant: Anna Ball

My Way News
by Donna Cassata

10/22/05

"It's a nightmare prospect that Republicans have trouble fathoming: legal problems that could drive some of the president's most powerful aides from office. A special prosecutor and grand jury are closing in on a deadline to decide whether to lodge criminal complaints against presidential adviser Karl Rove and White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby in the outing of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, the wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson. If it comes to pass, administration officials and GOP consultants expect President Bush to turn to a few individuals to fill any void in his inner circle. ... And what if the unthinkable happens and Cheney is indicted? Cheney has said he is not interested in pursuing the Republican nomination for president in 2008. So Bush's choice to replace his running mate would tip the president's hand on his preference for 2008. Florida governor and first brother, Jeb Bush?

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051022/D8DD4I8G0.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
by Taegan Goddard

10/24/05

As our insider source told us over the weekend, Republican senators on the Judiciary committee do not want to confirm Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, President Bush gave them their way out. The Los Angeles Times reports that Republican senators have joined Democrats in asking for the White House 'to release documents relating to' Miers' 'service as White House counsel, with some warning that she might not win confirmation otherwise.' One of them, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) is a consistent Bush ally. This afternoon, CNN notes President Bush refused the Senate request, saying 'It's a red line I'm not willing to cross.' Bush insisted that complying with such requests 'would make it impossible for me and other presidents to be able to make sound decisions.' Now, our sources say, the White House can withdraw the nomination over principle and not out of political necessity. They may still wait to see if the circumstances change in the coming days, but they've given themselves a way to at least partially save face...

http://tinyurl.com/c8zut


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Washington Times
by Nat Hentoff

10/24/05

The rebellion by prominent conservatives against the president's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court has included charges of 'cronyism' and a now clearly mistaken desire to avoid a blistering confirmation fight in the Senate. Also at issue are not her qualifications as a lawyer but her track record, if any, of constitutional expertise. ... But syndicated columnist George Will, an independent conservative -- in his scathing column, 'Can This Nomination Be Justified?' -- cut to the core of the president's misjudgment: 'He has neither the inclination nor the ability to make sophisticated judgments about competing approaches to construing the Constitution. Few presidents acquire such abilities in the course of their pre-presidential careers, and this president particularly is not disposed to such reflections.' On the basis of the Bush administration's revisions of the Bill of Rights in the Patriot Act ... I think it is fair to say the president is not an engaged student of the Constitution...

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20051023-103413-7733r.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by Michael Tomasky

10/24/05

Last Wednesday, October 19, was the day that Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Colin Powell at the State Department, decided he couldn’t take it anymore. In a lunchtime talk to the New America Foundation moderated by Steve Clemons, Wilkerson ripped into the Bush administration 'cabal' that was guilty of 'aberrations, bastardizations, perturbations' in a decision-making process that shocked him. Then, a few days later, Jeffrey Goldberg's New Yorker profile of Brent Scowcroft hit the news cycle right between the eyes. Scowcroft, like Wilkerson, was known already to be an opponent of the neocon way of doing things. But neither had ever spoken for the record as they did last week, and the cumulative effect was nuclear. But it occurs to me that there are still others who need to speak out -- which takes us back to October 19...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10493


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Washington Times
by Richard W. Rahn

10/24/05

The president's tax reform panel's report is due at the end of this month, but don't hold your breath if you were looking for the reform that is really needed. Preliminary signs are the panel will recommend relatively modest (but several desirable) changes to the federal tax system. For decades the present income tax system, with its tens of thousands of rules and regulations, has been widely recognized as so complex no one human, no matter how talented, can understand it. The present system puts even those who fully intend to comply with the code at risk of being convicted as tax felons because it is impossible to know with certainty when one is or is not in compliance (even federal tax courts rulings sometimes rule contradict other federal tax courts). The short, but correct, word for such a system is tyranny. It is also extraordinarily expensive to administer, both by the government and the private sector...

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20051023-103416-6188r.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Hiawatha Bray

10/24/05

"You've got to love black-and-white laser printers. You can get a good one for $150 or so, and each toner cartridge cranks out thousands of pages before you need a refill. Best of all, they don't spy on you. You can't say the same about color laser printers, as we learned last week. Actually, we should have learned it nearly a year ago. That's when PC World magazine reported that makers of color laser printers, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, have programmed their machines to print tiny yellow dots on every printed document. These dots are almost invisible under normal conditions, but can be spotted by anyone with a magnifier and the right sort of lighting. Most of us ignored the news, but not the civil libertarians at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco...

http://tinyurl.com/e3ywf


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by Bill McKibben

10/25/05

It's about time for denial to come to an end. We're no longer talking about theory, about computer models of what might happen. We're talking about what is happening, all around the world, with almost unimaginable speed. Other countries have at least begun to try to deal with the problem, implementing small first steps like the Kyoto Protocol. But here in the United States, there's only a scattering of state and local measures. Washington is governed by a bipartisan consensus that somehow the laws of physics and chemistry don't apply to us. But they do...

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/27034/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

National Review
by Rich Lowry

10/25/05

When New York Times reporter Judith Miller went to jail in July in the CIA leak case, the Times editorialized about her brave sacrifice: 'She is surrendering her liberty in defense of a greater liberty, granted to a free press by the founding fathers so journalists can work on behalf of the public without fear of regulation or retaliation from any branch of government.' But a funny thing happened on the way to this stirring vindication of freedom -- Miller got tired of being in jail. The special-prosecutor investigation into the leak of the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame -- wife of President Bush critic Joe Wilson -- might yet be the undoing of high Bush officials. But it should already have been the undoing of the media's high self-regard. A cause that had been hyped relentlessly as synonymous with freedom and good journalism -- Miller and Time reporter Matt Cooper protecting their sources -- has collapsed into farce...

http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry200510250825.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/10/25/hackett/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Institute for Liberal Values
by Jim Peron

10/24/05

At the core of liberal principles is the idea that each individual has a right, the theologically minded call it a 'God-given' right, to make his own decisions. We may cajole and persuade and argue. But we can't force and take control of their life. We can't strip them of the dignity that they deserve as a fellow human being. And that means they will sometimes make mistakes. Perhaps they won't be nice to people when we think they should be. They may not help the sick, the lame and the halt. They may not say kind words to the widow or feed the hungry. They may even be unpleasant and cruel though I strongly suspect that means they are miserable and unhappy individuals. But none of us have a right to the gentle touch of a caring hand or the soothing words of friendship...

http://tinyurl.com/a9qpr


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

10/24/05

With the continued quagmire in Iraq and the likely indictments of senior Bush administration officials for trying to shore up the shaky rationale for the invasion, one would think that things couldn't get much worse for the administration. But where success has a thousand architects, failure leads to much finger pointing. The administration's latest headache comes from Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff. In a well-publicized recent speech before the New America Foundation, which I attended, Wilkerson lambasted the 'Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal' that got control of U.S. foreign policy from a president 'not versed in international relations and not too much interested either.' Wilkerson's scathing remarks were designed to deflect criticism from his former boss. As one anti-war Republican Senate staff member told me, Wilkerson 'summoned his courage about three years too late.' The typically politically correct, inside-the-beltway audience was too polite to ask why Powell and Wilkerson didn't resign over the invasion of a foreign nation that they privately opposed...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1593


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Liberty For All
by George Phillies

10/25/05

I shall not go on at incredible length. On one hand, we have incredible opportunities. The Republicans have made themselves the party of huge bloated government, expanding the budget faster than any recent President including LBJ. The Republicans have used the Bill of Rights for scrap paper. The Republican War ON Iraq was based on lies about Iraq, made-up tales invented to justify a war already decided upon. The War ON Iraq has included a significant War Crimes Campaign, including torture, hostage taking by senior military officers, bombing of protected places, devastation of entire cities and other hideous acts...

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/oct30/forward.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent [UK]

10/25/05

Scotland Yard's 'shoot to kill' strategy has been widened to include other offences such as kidnapping, stalking and domestic violence, The Independent has learned. However, the decision to shoot a suspect in the head without the marksman giving a warning would only be used under exceptional circumstances, one of the country's most senior police chiefs said yesterday. The Operation Kratos shoot-to-kill policy was adopted to deal with suicide bombers but a review has identified other types of crimes in which a firearms officer could shoot to kill without issuing any challenge...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article322021.ece


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNN

10/24/05

A Senate report presented evidence Monday that it says links illegal oil money from deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime to the political campaign of a British lawmaker and to the accounts of his Jordanian wife. The report accused British Member of Parliament George Galloway of lying under oath about the payments. The 65-page report by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations accuses Galloway of perjury and obstruction of congressional proceedings... [editor's note: In English, this story translates to "Galloway made the Senators look like idiots on the war, so they're going to smear him some more" - TLK]

http://tinyurl.com/b75gq


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Houston Chronicle

10/24/05

With a decision expected this week on possible indictments in the CIA leak case, allies of the White House suggested Sunday that they intended to pursue a strategy of attacking any criminal charges as a disagreement about legal technicalities or the product of an overzealous prosecutor. Patrick Fitzgerald, the special counsel in the case, is expected to announce no later than the end of the week whether he will seek indictments against White House officials in a decision that is likely to be a defining moment of President Bush's second term...

http://tinyurl.com/8pejv


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Fox News

10/24/05

Previously classified documents being released Monday show numerous misuses of FBI surveillance, including improper searches and seizures of e-mails and bank records, The Washington Post reported in Monday's editions. The documents, which were turned over under a Freedom of Information Act (search) lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, show that FBI auditors have investigated hundreds of potential violations related to the agency's domestic surveillance since Sept. 11, 2001, the Post said...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,173172,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

As soon as Fitzgerald announces his decision in a press conference, a walk from the grand jury room to the magistrate's office in US District Court, or a posting on his web site, the political détente will end. The knives will come out. It will be an all-out rhetorical war.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102505O.shtml

The analysis, released Monday, looked at 44 deaths described in records obtained by the ACLU. Of those, the group characterized 21 as homicides, and said at least eight resulted from abusive techniques by military or intelligence officers, such as strangulation or "blunt force injuries," as noted in the autopsy reports.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102505N.shtml

Fitzgerald is probing allegations that senior Bush administration officials committed a crime by blowing the cover of CIA operative Valerie Plame.... The affair cuts to the heart of the allegedly dubious intelligence used to drive the United States into a conflict which has now cost nearly 2,000 US lives.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102505M.shtml

Lawrence B. Wilkerson writes that in President Bush's first term, some of the most important decisions about US national security - including vital decisions about postwar Iraq - were made by a secretive, little-known cabal. It was made up of a very small group of people led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102505L.shtml

Plucked from New York in 2001 to run the Chicago office of the Justice Department, Patrick Fitzgerald, the Brooklyn-born son of Irish immigrants, has a reputation as an incorruptible prosecutor in the mold of Chicago crime-fighter Eliot Ness, who took on Al Capone's criminal empire.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102505K.shtml

The Bush administration has proposed exempting employees of the Central Intelligence Agency from a legislative measure endorsed earlier this month by 90 members of the Senate that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners in US custody.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102505J.shtml

Ban Terminator Campaign – Breaking News October 25, 2005

New Patents on Terminator Granted in Europe and Canada!

Corporations move closer to bringing Terminator to market. The need for a successful Ban Terminator Campaign is clearer than ever.

Delta & Pine Land and the United States Department of Agriculture have been granted new patents on the Terminator technology that they jointly own. On October 11 the Canadian Patent Office granted patent CA 2196410 and on October 5 the European Patent Office granted patent EP 775212B. Applications for similar patents have been filed in Australia, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Turkey and South Africa.

Take Action: A sample letter to write to your government is posted under Take Action at www.banterminator.org – More specific actions and contacts are coming soon. Please stay tuned.

Please see below two press releases with the details:

1. International Press Release: Corporates gain control over nature's seeds as the Terminator patent is granted, October 25, 2005

2. Canadian Press Release: Canada Grants New Controversial Terminator Patent To US Company: Patent on “Suicide seeds” allowed, October 25, 2005

1. Corporates gain control over nature's seeds as the Terminator patent is granted

Amsterdam, 25 October 2005 - Greenpeace today exposed details that the patent for the controversial "Terminator technology" was granted in Europe on 5 October 2005. The Terminator patent (1) has been approved for all plants that are genetically engineered so that their seeds will not germinate. Further research by the "Ban Terminator Campaign", a network of farmers' unions and environmental organisations revealed that a patent was also granted in Canada on 11 October 2005.

Plants created using Terminator technology will produce sterile seeds, creating a monopoly and unnatural control of the seeds. Farmers will not be able to use seeds from such plants for the following season's cultivation. The seeds will rot \in the soil without producing new plants. If this technology is introduced in crops such as soya, wheat, canola and cotton it will force farmers to buy new seeds every year from the same company.

"Farmers should be aware that corporations all over the world are ready to take control of their seeds with genetic engineering (GE). These corporations will control the entire food chain with the help of monopoly patents and Terminator technology," said Christoph Then, Greenpeace International GE campaigner. "We need a global ban on this technology and on any patents on seeds. These corporate instruments will disrupt the backbone of global food supply, making it impossible for the farmers to reuse their own harvest for planting."

So far, the market introduction of the Terminator technology-which was already developed about ten years ago-was successfully prevented through worldwide protest of several groups and stakeholders. But many observers believe that the GE industry will drive towards the legalisation of this technology at the meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in March next year. The grant of the patent could push even harder for market introduction.

"These new patents confirm that corporations are once again actively pursuing Terminator technology and an international ban on the technology is urgently needed," said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator of the new global Ban Terminator Campaign, which involves farmers unions, environmental and Indigenous peoples organisations (2).

Although the GE industry claims that Terminator technology will help contain the spread of GE contamination, Greenpeace believes otherwise. "GE technology can not be controlled by Terminator seeds. On the contrary, it is likely that farmers will find their harvest being contaminated with this Terminator technology, if introduced. This is a real threat for estimated 80% of the farmers all over the world who save their seeds for cultivation."

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses non-violent creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems to force solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.

For further information, contact:

Christoph Then, Greenpeace International GE Campaign, +49 171 8780832

Judit Kalovits, Greenpeace International Communications, +31 621 296914

Lucy Sharratt, Ban Terminator Campaign, +1 613 2412267

Notes to Editors:

(1) The Terminator patent, EP 775212B, was granted to US-based Delta &Pine and the United States of America, represented by the Secretary of Agriculture. According to further data bank research the patent was already granted in similar versions in USA, further applications were filed in Australia, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Turkey and South Africa.

(2) http://www.banterminator.org


2. Canada Grants New Controversial Terminator Patent To US Company

Patent on “Suicide seeds” allowed

Ottawa, October 25, 2005 – Today Greenpeace and the Ban Terminator Campaign revealed that new patents have been granted in both Canada and Europe for a Terminator technology owned jointly by US seed corporation Delta & Pine Land and the United States Department of Agriculture. The patents were granted on October 11 and 5 respectively. The move confirms the greatest fears of farmers’, Indigenous peoples groups and social movements across the world that Terminator technology is once again being pushed towards commercialization.

Terminator seeds are genetically engineered to be sterile after first harvest so farmers cannot use the seed in the next season. It would force farmers to buy seed every year and concentrate even more power in the hands of major biotechnology and seed corporations. Intensive global uproar has kept the technology from being field-tested or commercialized but companies are now pushing for acceptance.

“These new patents confirm that corporations are once again actively pursuing Terminator seeds and an international ban on Terminator is urgently needed,” said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator of the new global Ban Terminator Campaign.

New fears that governments and corporations are working together to push Terminator were first confirmed in February 2005 when the Canadian government shocked the world by trying to overturn the international de facto moratorium on Terminator that exists at the United Nations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Uproar from Canadian and international groups kept the moratorium alive. To address this crisis, the National Farmers Union and other Canadian-based groups including ETC Group, Inter Pares and USC Canada initiated a global Ban Terminator Campaign
http://www.banterminator.org .

“The Canadian government must immediately stop promoting corporate Terminator seeds and protect the rights of farmers by banning the technology,” said Terry Boehm, Vice President of the National Farmers Union, “Terminator is a great threat to farmers in developed and developing countries. The Canadian government should be ashamed to be associated with this technology. Terminator is an attempt to achieve biologically what the government has been unable to do legislatively.”

“Corporate control of seeds is the only goal of Terminator. The corporate attempt to greenwash Terminator by saying it can help prevent genetic contamination is false as the technology itself is not 100% reliable and it can nevertheless contaminate the environment and threaten biodiversity’. This is an outrageous strategy to commercialize a dangerous, anti-farmer and non-ecological technology, ” said Eric Darier, Greenpeace Canada campaigner, “Patents on Terminator can and must be denied for the public good.”

The Ban Terminator Campaign is urging governments around the world to establish national bans on Terminator and to ban Terminator at the major meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity March 20-31 2006 in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.

For more information: Terry Boehm, Vice President, National Farmers Union, Saskatchewan 306 255 2880; Eric Darier, Greenpeace Canada Campaigner, Montreal 514 933 0021 x15 Cell: 514 605 6497; Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator, Ban Terminator Campaign, Ottawa 613 241 2267 Cell: 613 222 6214

If Americans knew how Republicans are trying to starve popular programs of funding this week, they would protest. At least you can.

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#6535

by Jonathan Tasini, TomPaine.com

The Delphi bankruptcy and GM deal are symptoms of a national malaise that only universal health care can cure.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051025/diagnosis_for_america.php

by Bill Moyers, TomPaine.com

The challenge of philanthropy today is to place resources in the hands of those 'on the growing edge' of social justice.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051025/finding_justice_in_charity.php

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051025/ts_afp/iraq_051025110145


Informant: John Johnson

Doug Haddix wrote:

A recent GAO report found the White House used taxpayer funds to create “covert propaganda.” This administration has set aside a quarter billion in taxpayer dollars to push its political agenda.

Join me in urging Congress and the Justice Department to find out what’s being done in our name and with our money. Demand full prosecution of all White House propaganda crimes at:

http://www.freepress.net/action/stopprop

For more information visit the Free Press propaganda campaign at:

http://www.freepress.net/propaganda

I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, first learned about the CIA officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102505Z.shtml

Oct 25 2005

By Nick Capehorn

SIX months after successfully fighting plans for an 11.7m phone mast near their Forest Park homes, two mothers have once again helped keep the unwanted aerial at bay.

Jo Gosling, 29, and Claire Bradbury, 33, fought off the last T-Mobile application for a mast on the Savernake roundabout by organising a 241-signature petition to be handed to Bracknell Forest Borough Council.

And they once again joined forces to alert neighbours to the plans and managed to get 201 objectors to sign up which, along with opposition through on the borough council's website, was enough to see the plans thrown out.

Mrs Gosling, of Upavon Gardens, said: "We are absolutely thrilled to see this rejected. The mast is huge and until we know the health and safety risks we can't believe they put the plans in again.

"When we found out the plans had been resubmitted both mine and Claire's phones were engaged - we were ringing each other!"

Mrs Bradbury added: "I think it is ridiculous that they are allowed to apply again but it is fantastic news for everyone who campaigned to see it rejected.

"It was hard work but all worthwhile. We have just got to keep an eye out."

Despite the victory, both campaigners found the second time round had new challenges - thanks to the fact their children are now much older and Mrs Gosling is back at Cable and Wireless part-time.

She said: "The main problems were that I am back to work part-time after maternity leave and both our children are 10-months. They didn't take too kindly to being wheeled round the streets, but they were well behaved."

T-Mobile spokeswoman Sophia Parviez said on Monday that the company was reviewing its position and considering what options are available. She would not say whether that meant it would make another application.

http://icberkshire.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0400bracknell/tm_objectid=16290919&method=full&siteid=50102&headline=joy-as-battling-mums-see-off-new-mast-plan-name_page.html

Eager to demonstrate success in Iraq, the US military has abandoned its previous refusal to publicize enemy body counts and now cites such numbers periodically to show the impact of some counterinsurgency operations. The revival of body counts, a practice discredited during the Vietnam War, has apparently come without formal guidance from the Pentagon's leadership.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102405C.shtml

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) has introduced a Resolution of Inquiry to demand the White House turn over all white papers, minutes, notes, emails or other communications kept by the White House Iraq Group (WHIG).

"This group, comprised of the President and Vice President's top aides, was critical in selling the Administration's case for war," Kucinich said. "We now know that the Administration hyped intelligence and misled the American public and Congress in their effort to 'sell' the war."

This Resolution must be voted on in the House International Relations Committee by November 9th, 2005. The same committee, on September 14, came within one vote of passing a Resolution of Inquiry into the Downing Street Memo (H. Res. 375).

That near victory came after a great deal of citizen activism. This time we need to persuade all of the Democrats on the Committee to push a little bit harder and a few more Republicans to do the right thing. Co-Sponsorship of the Resolution by members not on the committee helps this effort.

Email Your Congress Member:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/72

More Information and How to Get Involved:
http://www.AfterDowningStreet.org/whig



MARK THE DEATH OF THE 2,000TH U.S. SOLDIER IN IRAQ

The day is coming very soon when the 2,000th U.S. soldier will have died in Iraq. (As of Monday night, the total was 1,997.) After Downing Street supports United for Peace and Justice, American Friends Service Committee, Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, CODEPINK, and Global Exchange in calling for actions on that day.

These events will be at 7 p.m. local time the day after the 2,000th death is announced:

http://www.afsc.org/2000/all_locations.php

These events will be at 6:30 p.m. local time the day after the 2,000th death is announced, unless the announcement is after 3 p.m. ET, in which case it will be two days after:
http://political.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=29

If there's no event near you, we encourage you to organize one.

Not one more US service member or Iraqi should have to give their lives before our government finally admits that the war against Iraq was wrong and it's time to bring our troops home now.


CINDY LEADS WHITE HOUSE VIGILS TO MARK 2,000th DEATH

Cindy Sheehan is in Washington, DC, and along with a coalition of peace groups and local activists, will be holding vigils at the White House for the rest of the week from 12 noon to 8 PM. For more information, see this statement from Cindy:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/3990


ON THE DEMOCRATS.COM BLOG

First Shoe Drops: Cheney Outed Plame http://www.democrats.com/node/6586

US History Quiz http://www.democrats.com/node/6584

In Praise of Senator Frank Lautenberg http://www.democrats.com/node/6582

Pardon Me http://www.democrats.com/node/6578

Corrupt, Incompetent and 'Off Center' http://www.democrats.com/node/6570

Pre-Emptive Pardons? http://www.democrats.com/node/6561

Republicans Screw Elderly, Poor Again on LIHEAP
http://www.democrats.com/node/6559

The Blue and Red State Minimum Wage Divide
http://www.democrats.com/node/6552

See a pattern here? http://www.democrats.com/node/6550

"Analysts Were Wrong"...No, Judith Miller IS Wrong...
http://www.democrats.com/node/6544

Özgür Politika: Schily verbietet Zeitung

Bundesverwaltungsgericht hebt Verbot der PKK-Zeitung »Özgür Politika« auf BVerwG: Kein öffentliches Interesse daran, Erscheinen der Zeitung zu untersagen

„Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht hat das von Bundesinnenminister Otto Schily am 30.8.2005 erlassene Vebot der türkisch-sprachigen PKK-Zeitung »Özgür Politika« mit Beschluss vom 18.10.2005 (Az.: 6 A 4.05) aufgehoben. Einer Pressemitteilung der dpa vom 21.10.2005 zufolge besteht nach Ansicht des sechsten Senats kein öffentliches Interesse daran, das Erscheinen der Zeitung weiter zu untersagen…“ Meldung vom 24.10.2005 beim Institut für Urheber- und Medienrecht

http://www.urheberrecht.org/news/2416/


Aus: LabourNet, 25. Oktober 2005

Democracy Now! 10/24/05
http://www.democracynow.org

Headlines for October 24, 2005

White House Prepares for Possible Indictments

Reuters is reporting White House officials will learn today whether special prosecutor Patrick FItzgerald will seek indictments over the Bush administration's outing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. Reports indicate that the grand jury could indict both President Bush's chief advisor Karl Rove and VIce President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby for perjury or conspiracy. Both Rove and Libby failed to disclose key information about their role in the leak to the grand jury. Late last week Fitzgerald launched a website prompting speculation that he set it up to post the indictments. Fitzgerald has already posted documents that reveal the Justice Department gave him authority two years ago to expand his inquiry to include any criminal attempts to interfere with the investigation.



White House Faces Criticism Over CIA Leak, Miers & Iraq

The possible indictments over the CIA leak come at a time that the White House is facing intense pressure on a number of fronts. In Iraq, the U.S. death toll will soon pass 2,000. In Washington, calls are increasing for Bush to withdraw his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. And a series of high profile Republicans have publicly criticized Bush's handling of the country.



Brent Scowcroft Slams Bush Administration

Last week, Colin Powell's former chief of staff Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson accused Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld of running a cabal that is undermining the country's democracy. And now former national security advisor Brent Scowcroft has slammed the Bush administration in an interview with the New Yorker magazine. He directed much of his criticism to the neoconservatives and their handling of Iraq. He said, "This was said to be part of the war on terror, but Iraq feeds terrorism." Scowcroft, who is close friends with George H.W. Bush, admitted it was difficult to criticize the sitting president. When New Yorker reporter Jeffrey Goldberg asked Scowcroft if the son was different from the father, he said, "I don't want to go there." When Goldberg asked him to name issues on which he agrees with the younger Bush, Scowcroft said, "Afghanistan." He then paused for twelve seconds. Finally, he said, "I think we're doing well on Europe." Scowcroft went on to say "The real anomaly in the Administration is Cheney. I consider Cheney a good friend - I've known him for thirty years. But Dick Cheney I don't know anymore."



U.S. Death Toll In Iraq Nears 2,000

In Iraq, the U.S. death toll has reached 1,996. Anti-war groups, including the American Friends Service Committee and Peace Action, have called for demonstrations to be held across the country to mark the 2000th American killed in Iraq. The number of Iraqis killed since the invasion is unknown but estimates put the total over 100,000.



82% Of Iraqis Oppose Foreign Troops

Meanwhile a new poll commissioned by the British military has found that 82 percent of Iraqis strongly oppose the continued presence of foreign troops. Less than 1 percent of the population feels foreign troops have helped improve security in Iraq. The poll also found 45 percent of Iraqis feel attacks against US troops are justified.


Informant: John Calvert

http://www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/ecolabels102405.cfm


Informant: binstock

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7564.shtml


Informant: Sasha Karlik

--------

(If you doubt the below story check out a similar one at the Washington Post)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html


BUSH UNRAVELING AS SCANDALS MOUNT (25 paragraphs)

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7564.shtml

A White House 'Hip-Deep' in Plame Scandal and Cover Up
By DOUG THOMPSON
Capitol Hill Blue Oct 24, 2005, 04:20

Senior White House officials over the weekend warned President George W. Bush to "prepare for the worst" in the ever-deepening Valerie Plame scandal, laying out a scenario that includes indictments of top officials and detailing a direct involvement by the Administration in a concentrated effort to destroy the credibility of Ambassador Joseph Wilson and then conceal the actions from investigators.

Chief of Staff Andrew Card cancelled a weekend schedule of appearances and events to spend the weekend with Bush at Camp David and deliver the bad news personally, White House insiders tell Capitol Hill Blue.

With indictments expected against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Richard Cheney's chief of staff, and possibly White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, Card told Bush that both will have to resign if the administration is to salvage any chance of recovering from the scandal.

"We're hip deep in this and the sharks are circling," Card told the President.

According to multiple White House sources, Card laid out a detailed scenario of White House involvement in a staff-directed campaign to destroy administration critic Wilson. That scenario includes:
* A concentrated effort directed by Libby to monitor Wilson's travel, speeches and activities and develop talking points to attack his credibility and plant false stories about the Ambassador's activities, statements and motives. Libby's plan included "outing" Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, a covert CIA operative. Card told Bush he believes Vice President Cheney was aware of Libby's activities.
* Approval of the program by Rove who helped spread the information to "administration-friendly" reporters, including conservative columnist Robert Novak and New York Times reporter Judith Miller who has since publicly admitted helping spread false administration-based information claiming the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a claim now discredited.
* Attempts by White House personnel to cover up administration involvement in the Plame affair, including Rove-directed public statements by press spokesman Scott McClellan claiming "no White House official is involved" in the leaking of Plame's name.

"As usual, it's not the act itself but the cover up that brings someone down," says retired political science professor George Harleigh, who worked in the Nixon administration. "It's a sad lesson that those in power never learn."

Indeed, indictments the grand jury convened by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald are expected to hand down focus more on the cover-up than the actual leaking of Plame's name to the press, sources close to the investigation say.

With pressure mounting against the White House, even Republicans are looking for ways to distance themselves from the growing scandals surrounding the Bush administration. GOP campaign consultants are advising elected officials and candidates for public office to call for resignation of anyone indicted in the scandal.

Virginia GOP Sen. George Allen, a Bush loyalist, told NBC's Meet the Press Sunday that any administration official indicted in the scandal should resign.

"I think they will step down if they're indicted," Allen said.

In another development, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller admits his newspaper aided and abetted the Bush administration's false claims of existence of weapons of mass destructions in Iraq.

"I wish we had dealt with the controversy over our coverage of WMD as soon as I became executive editor," Keller said in a memo to Times reporters and editors. "By waiting a year to own up to our mistakes, we allowed the anger inside and outside the paper to festerŠ If we had lanced the WMD boil earlier, we might have damped any suspicion that THIS time, the paper was putting the defense of a reporter above the duty to its readers."

Keller admitted reporter Judith Miller has been an administration pawn in the Plame affair.

"Until Fitzgerald came after her, I didn't know that Judy had been one of the reporters on the receiving end of the anti-Wilson whisper campaign," he said. "But in this case I missed what should have been significant alarm bells."

Criag Pyes, a reporter who worked with Miller on other stories, told Times editors in an internal memo that she should not be trusted.

"I do not trust her work, her judgment, or her conduct," Pyes wrote. "She is an advocate, and her actions threaten the integrity of the enterprise, and of everyone who works with her." In the memo, Pyes said Miller took "dictation from government sources" and tried to "stampede it into the paper."

"That charge resonates today, of course, because that's exactly what people suspect Miller did with her inaccurate WMD reporting in the run up to the Iraq war," says Douglas McCollam, a lawyer, former Washington correspondent for American Lawyer, and contributing editor to Columbia Journalism Review. "Miller's sources weren't just wrong, they spun her dizzy and in the process badly damaged the credibility of America's best and most important newspaper."

Times columnist Maureen Dowd says Miller was a stooge for those who wanted to sell the Iraq war to a gullible public.

"Judy's stories about WMD fit too perfectly with the White House's case for war," Dowd wrote in her Times column Saturday. "She was close to Ahmad Chalabi, the con man who was conning the neocons to knock out Saddam so he could get his hands on Iraq, and I worried that she was playing a leading role in the dangerous echo chamber that former Senator Bob Graham dubbed 'incestuous amplification.' Using Iraqi defectors and exiles, Mr. Chalabi planted bogus stories with Judy and other credulous journalists."

Concludes Dowd on Miller: "She never knew when to quit. That was her talent and her flaw. Sorely in need of a tight editorial leash, she was kept on no leash at all, and that has hurt this paper and its trust with readers. She more than earned her sobriquet 'Miss Run Amok.'"

In another ominous sign, special prosecutor Fitzgerald set up a web site for the investigation just a week before his investigation is slated to end.

"You don't open up a Web site if you're ready to shut down an investigation," former attorney general Richard Thornburgh said on CNN's Late Edition.

Thornburgh also said indictments that deal with a cover up are "serious business."

"If there is false testimony given or there's an attempt to corrupt any of the witnesses or evidence that is presented to the grand jury, that's a very serious offense because it undermines the integrity of the whole rule of law and investigatory process," he said.


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


Informant: Bob Reuschlein

From ufpj-news

"The worlds richest economy is also its biggest carbon dioxide emitter, pushing out 5.8 billion metric tons in 2003...China, in second place, emitted 3.5 billion, with all of Western Europe at 3.9 billion...US emissions are projected to keep rising, despite plans to lower carbon intensity, or use per unit of economic growth...The White House wants cuts to be voluntary and resists measures that would impose restrictions on output of such gases as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, seen as culprits behind global warming, saying this would hurt economic growth...

* Anti-Science George Bush Opposed to Kyoto

"With the aid of a new supercomputer model, Inez Fung says she can see the future, and according to her study released last week, it isnt pretty...After decades of collaboration with researchers throughout the country, the director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center finally saw the fruits of her labor: a glimpse of what the Earth might be like in the 21st century if current levels of fossil fuel production continue unabatedhotter, drier and teeming with carbon."

* Consequences of Ignoring Global Warming

Global Warming

A Secret Pentagon report on global warming said it was worst than we thought. And Bush lied. He opposed Kyoto and he has been a pro-energy company, anti-global warming president and lied about doing anything positive about global warming because he never believed in it.

continued:
http://www.g0lem.net/PhpWiki/index.php/AbruptClimateChange


Informant: Hank Roth

FYI - This article appeared in the Andover Advertiser on 21 October. Local campaigners might like to quote this to their councils and get them to do the same!

Jenny

PLEA OVER MOBILE PHONE MAST SITES

Two long serving members of Kennet District Council are calling on the Government to take more note of community health concerns over mobile telephone masts.

Council leader Chris Humphries and Ludgershall councillor Ken Beard have submitted a notice of motion to the council calling on the Government to end the 'apparent presumption in favour of the erection of masts and base stations in areas of high population density.'

The motion adds that concerns are particularlarly acute when the masts are erected near to schools, homes and health care facilities.
The erection of a mobile mast for the police has been a particular matter of concern to some on the southern side of Ludgershall and a group of people got together to fight the erection of a mast for the 'airwave' system.

Councillors Beard and Humphries want district council officers to prepare a policy in local development documents to resist the erection of masts and base operations near homes, hospital and schools.

Ends

Vera Stein's recent victory at the European Court of Human Rights is a cause of jubilation for many with EHS who have suffered similar fates at the hands of psychiatrists and their ilk. Please note below relevant postings on EHS being misdiagnosed as mental illness and the ensuing abuses of Human Rights that such misdiagnosis brings in its trail.

15/9/02 (Citizens' Initiative Omega -- via Google) "Another tragic misdiagnosis of an EHS sufferer who have been locked up and forcibly medicated"
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega20.htm

19/09/02 (Citizens' Initiative Omega--via Google) "EMF & Schizophrenia"
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega25.htm

5/7/03 (Citizens' Initiative Omega--via Google) "Human Rights violations applicable to EHS misdiagnosis"
http://www.grn.es/electropolucio/00omega5_12_03.htm
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega234.htm

13/12/03 (Citizens' Initiative Omega--via Google) "Open letter to Amnesty on EHS Human Rights abuses"
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega131203.htm

21/05/2005 "Everyone of us is part of a vast radiation experiment - result unknown"
(The author suggests in # 5 that "many EHS sufferers
(possibly as high as 50%) are believed to have been misdiagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia.")
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/697613/

21/05/2005 John Manweiler: Vindication for Human Rights Abuses in Mental Health (John was misdiagnosed, sectioned and involuntarily medicated)
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/668071/


Best, Imelda, Cork, Ireland


Critical Psychiatry Critical comment and debate about psychiatry
[ Critical Psychiatry Website's Message Board ]

Sensational verdict of the European Court of Human Rights IP: 84.59.40.59 Posted on June 19, 2005 at 08:03:36 AM by rene

http://www.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?action=read&id=1119186216&user=DBDouble


Dear Friends,

We are happy to announce that on thursday, June 16, the European Court of Human Rights arrived at the sensational verdict that Vera Stein, who in her youth was psychiatrically imprisoned and slandered as being "hebephrenic" [see note at end. I O'Connor], finally after more than 20 years of legal battle, was a victim of the crime of an illegal deprivation of her liberty in the psychiatric prison in Bremen!

This is an historic event because it is a victory on a European level at the highest court in Europe and therefore being influential for the judicial system in the whole of Europe.

For all German speaking readers, there is a livestream report here:
http://demand.radiobremen.de/bb/redirect.lsc?stream=radiobremen/tv/bubi/video/donnerstag.wmv&content=content&media=ms

The part about the verdict beginns 3:30 minutes after the start of the video. In January 2000 our group helped to promote Vera Stein's case by leading the producers of a legal advice program in the First German TV channel, "ARD Ratgeber Recht" to her, which gave her case a lot of publicity in TV for the first time. You can see the report, which is still published by the channel as a live-stream:
http://www.ratgeberrecht.de/sendung/beitrag/rs2000013005.html

(Please click on "Video zum Beitrag". After the film begins, it takes 1 minute until you can see Vera Stein speaking and her drawings, showing how she was tortured in psychiatry.)

Please snowball this important message on your privat e-mail lists and newsgroups!

The verdict is published by the International Association Against Psychiatric Assault ( http://www.iaapa.ch ) in English here:
http://www.iaapa.de/CASE_OF_ST_|0v_GERMANY.pdf

Rene Talbot Irren-Offensive (lunatic offensive) Berlin, Germany

[note: hebephrenia is defined as "A type of schizophrenia characterized by foolish mannerisms, senseless laughter, delusions, hallucinations, and regressive behavior." Also note that the writer, Rene Talbot, considers Vera Stein to have been "slandered" by being erronously defined/misdiagnosed as a hebephrenic. I also insisted in my written submissions that it was a most severe form of slander to wrongly diagnose a patient to be a person of unsound mind]


And below is a BBC news online report:

26 September 2005: 'Years locked in mental institution' Vera Stein, a German woman, describes a harrowing ordeal of being falsely imprisoned in a mental institution, tied to beds and given injections. She emerged from hospital a physical wreck, and will never recover fully from the effects of the drugs she was forced to take.

Forty-seven-year-old Vera Stein clambers into her electric wheelchair and drives into her spartanly decorated lounge.

Her disability is just one of the effects of mental health drugs that were pumped into her against her will.

This year Vera won compensation from the European Court of Human Rights, after it ruled that she had been illegally detained for years in clinics, despite being mentally healthy.

"I was nearly 19 years old, so I was an adult, when my father had me committed to a clinic in Bremen," she told me.

"I was put straight in a locked ward. The necessary court order was not obtained for this. I was given double measures of drugs to pacify me. They used physical force to inject me with 17 different types of drugs."

Under German law, to commit someone to a clinic they must either sign their consent, or a court order must be obtained. But in this case her father simply won the agreement of the health authorities to lock up his daughter.

In total, she spent nearly 20 years in institutions as a result of this. Worse still, her case is not unique.

"The mere possibility of withdrawing a person from legal life in co-operation with a psycho-medical system will always lead to abuse - and there we do have some problems," says psychiatrist Helmut Pollaehne.

He says the control mechanisms to prevent cases like Vera Stein's are not sufficient.

For example, he argues that so-called "visiting commissions" always announce their visits beforehand, weakening their control function - and warns that privatisation in the health sector makes it all the more important for the state to defend the rights of people who are in mental health institutions.

"Within the German legal system, this is a rare case because the victims of psychiatric power are not very successful in taking their case to the court," Dr Pollaehne said.

"But in terms of being a victim - I mean being a victim of the abuse of psychiatry - it was not a rare case in the 1970s and it's not a rare case nowadays."

Ms Stein is now a crusader against the use of psychiatry to lock people up.

"The association of German judges has also complained that forced incarceration, forced treatments, and violations of personal freedoms take place in a legal grey zone," she says.

She adds that a recent study at Goettingen University showed the number of people held in psychiatric clinics against their will has trebled in the last decade.

Country: Germany Organisation:
Source: BBC News Online, 23/09/2005




Excerpt below from "Another tragic misdiagnosis of an EHS sufferer who have been locked up and forcibly medicated" posted at Citizens Initiative Omega

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega20.htm

15/9/02 (Citizens' Initiative Omega -- via Google) Another tragic misdiagnosis of an EHS sufferer who have been locked up and forcibly medicated Von: Imelda O'Connor ehsisreal@yahoo.co.uk

The EHS letter-writer lives in England.

" I had to move out of my flat (due to equipment the neighbour in the flat above me was using . . .It is this equipment which has triggered all my serious hypersensitivity problems. I found it increasingly hard to procure temporary accommodation . . . whilst I reached for suitable longer term accommodation. I therefore, eventually, reminded "my" G.P., the local authority housing departments (where I had been living)--and where I was then living temporarily, and social services that they had a legal obligation to assist anyone "homeless" for medical reasons. I was told (by social services and a doctor) that I could use a room at the hospital from which I would be free to come and go as I searched for long term accommodation. I pointed out that hospitals were not appropriate places for electrosensitive people (fluorescent lights, smoke sensors and other sensors, . . . ) and was told this was a "special" room in a "special part" of the hospital without the devices I was concerned about . .

.. However, I found that the room and ward in question were an ordinary hospital room and ward &, on my very first visit, I began to feel very unwell. I therefore thanked the "hospital" but explained that I would not be able to take up the offer of a room. Thereupon, seven thuggish members of staff were ordered to grab me and drag me down a corridor into a secure psychiatric unit (the "thugs" had been waiting for me in a room into which I had been asked to step). My arms were badly twisted (despite my shouting out that I have osteoporosis), my shoes were dragged off my feet (one shoe was broken in the process). I was covered in bruises & red marks on my skin. I was put on a __[this may be 9.2 but more likely, it is 5.2]. During this, a psychiatrist spent some four minutes with me in a courtyard & declared that because I could not use a phone I must be mentally ill, & put me on a section 2 (28 days). I was force medicated for a while (again very brutally). The psychiatrist in charge of my case saw me twice only (and only during a "review", with students and other people present), & "spoke" to me for some 5 minutes only on both occasions ( & did not in fact enter into any real conversation with me). The mental health reviews tribunal did nothing to help me, and simply endorsed the section (!) Whilst ___[avoiding] (as did, by now, the hospital) that I was electrosensitive the psychiatrist in question then wanted to put me onto a section 3 (up to 6 months & -- [repeatable] for life),--but needed agreement from an independent psychiatrist. When the first one failed to agree with her, a second one was dispatched---- [she] too, however, did not think that I should be placed on any section. By this time, the psychiatrist in que tion ran out of time (the 28 days had been served)--& I was released. Surviving under the numerous fluorescent light units, the smoke __sensors has been very difficult. . . .

Is there any way I can protect myself legally from any repeat of my appalling experiences re. sectioning?"


And to turn to current "reforms" in Ireland of psychiatry and making some amends for long decades of psychiatric abuse. Despite John Manweiler's wonderful legal win some months ago(an Irish jury awarded him the highest monetary award ever), the report in last Thursday's THE IRISH TIMES (see below) paints a gloomy picture of obstructions and general lack of cooperation among Irish psychiatrists to engage in reforms. While this profession has destroyed many people's lives it is now showing no great willingness to make amends and join the Irish tribunals newly set up to review involuntary detention and forced medication. Even Tim O'Malley, the Irish minister of State with responsibility for mental health has found their lack of coperation appalling: "People who are detained against their will for psychiatric care and treatment are among the most vulnerable in our society in terms of their human rights. It is completely unacceptable that those who should be the guardians of those rights, their treating consultants, are the ones who are obstructing reform."


THE IRISH TIMES, THU, OCT 20, 05

"NEGOTIATIONS ON MENTAL HEALTH PANELS FOUNDER [by] Carl O'Brien, Social Affairs Correspondent

The Mental Health Commission, independent watchdog for the mental health sector, will seek to recruit consultant psychiatrists from abroad to take part in review panels for involuntarily detained patients after talks with the main representative body for Irish consultants broke down yesterday.

Negotiations have been taking place for almost a year between health authorities, the commission and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) on plans to set up mental health tribunals to help safeguard the rights of thousands of patients detained against their will in psychiatric institutions.

More than 3,000 psychiatric patients are involuntarily detained in psychiatric hospitals each year. Ireland has one of the highest rates of involuntary detention in Europe - a source of concern for human rights campaigners and patient support groups.

These tribunals, which will review all decisions by consultants to involuntarily detain patients, will consist of three members: a chairperson, who must be a lawyer, a consultant psychiatrist and a lay member.

While lawyers and lay people have been recruited, the IHCA has instructed members not to apply for the positions.

The IHCA says consultants need greater staffing back-up to be able to adhere to very strict timescales accompanying the new tribunals. Failure to adhere to the codes may leave consultants or clinical directors liable to fines of up to €1,500 or two years in jail.

Following the expiry of a deadline set for agreement on staffing the tribunals yesterday, the commission's chief executive, Brid Clarke, yesterday told The Irish Times that the delays were undermining the rights of almost 3,000 psychiatric patients involuntarily detained in hospitals each year.

As a result, she said it intended to re-advertise for consultant psychiatrists to the mental health tribunals.

"We will be advertising within Ireland and internationally and will be providing applicants with the opportunity of full-time/part-time appointments and engagement on a sessional and case-by-case basis," she said.

Minister of State with responsibility for mental health Tim O'Malley expressed his "deep frustration" at the actions of consultants who were "obstructing reform".

"People who are detained against their will for psychiatric care and treatment are among the most vulnerable in our society in terms of their human rights," he said. "It is completely unacceptable that those who should be the guardians of those rights, their treating consultants, are the ones who are obstructing reform."

He said offers of greater resources had been made to consultants, but their stance was "baffling" and cast doubt on their willingness to co-operate with the proposed reforms.

The IHCA and other consultant representative bodies say the mental health sector is understaffed and that not enough clinical back up is available for them to participate in the tribunals.

They point to the recent Inspector of Mental Health Services report, which recommended establishing the equivalent of up to 27 consultants posts, according to estimates by consultants.

It is understood that in talks on tribunals, the Health Service Executive proposed 13 new consultant posts, with the support of junior medical staff and other professionals, at an estimated cost of €6-€10 million."


© The Irish Times

--------

Vera Stein: Als Wrack aus der Psychiatrie entlassen

Der am Donnerstag 17.1. 08 in der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung auf Seite 9 erschienene Bericht über Waltraud Storck, alias "Vera Stein" und deren Fortsetzung des Prozesses, nachdem sie beim Europäischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte Recht bekommen hat, wurde inzwischen von der FAZ vollständig hier veröffentlicht: http://www.faz.net/s/Rub8E1390D3396F422B869A49268EE3F15C/Doc~EEC4A6ED506504567B210DA48C31C1ADC~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

Außerdem sind uns folgende Berichte bekannt geworden: http://www.giessener-anzeiger.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=3369576&template=d_artikel_import&_adtag=localnews&_zeitungstitel=1133842&_dpa= und: http://www.fr-online.de/frankfurt_und_hessen/nachrichten/hessen/?sid=27623141cd9961284b7b03d4b235826f&em_cnt=1272405 http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/0,1518,528786,00.html


Eine Mitteilung des Werner-Fuß-Zentrum
im Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Str. 4
10405 Berlin
http://www.psychiatrie-erfahrene.de

The Forest Service's decision to suspend more than 1,500 permits for activities in national forests - including weddings, mushroom-picking and hunting expeditions for the disabled - should lead to more questions about the real motives of the agency that allegedly protects the nation's forests.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/102405EC.shtml

How will the world cope with drastically less oil and other fossil fuels? Some cities have begun planning now. If we, as citizens, spur our own local leaders to similar action, we may be able to transition to a more ecologically-sustainable, socially just, and spiritually fulfilling future, rather than suffer through systemic breakdown for lack of cheap energy.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/102405EA.shtml

President Bush said Monday he would not release any records of his conversations with Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers that could threaten the confidentiality of advice that presidents get from their lawyers.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102405S.shtml

Former UN Weapons Inspector: Don't Rule Out Staged Government Terror Ritter says Neo-Cons are embattled, surrounded, could resort to desperate measures to further global domination

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones | October 24 2005

Former United Nations weapons inspector and Marine Scott Ritter appeared on The Alex Jones Show and stated that he wouldn't rule out the possibility of the Bush administration staging a terror attack in order to jolt a wavering foreign policy agenda back on track.

Ritter compared the atmosphere within the administration to that during the time of Watergate, where Nixon considered utilizing America's nuclear arsenal to create a devastating diversion from domestic calamity.

"Nothing this administration would do would surprise me, they're desperate right now."

"If you go back and take a look at the Nixon administration during the height of Watergate Nixon was talking about using nuclear weapons against the Soviets in the Middle East, insanity of this nature."

"When you have an irresponsible administration like the Nixon administration, like this current administration, and they start to feel embattled, surrounded, they take on a fortress like mentality where everybody becomes the enemy."

Asked if he thought a staged terror attack was possible, a scenario previously considered by former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, Ritter responded, "Yeah, you have people who have no regard for the rule of law. These aren't people who appreciate the Constitution, to them the Constitution is an impediment, it's an obstacle, it's something in the way, it's something to be avoided. They are married to an ideology of global domination, of global imperialism and they're not going to deviate from this."

Regarding the issue of imminent indictments of top Bush administration officials, Ritter stated, "I think the President should be investigated to determine whether he's committed a crime and if a crime has been committed then the President must be held accountable, fully accountable, to the rule of law."

Ritter dispelled any potential charges of partisanship by stating, "If we're going to go after Bush then we have to go after Clinton."

"We've got to make sure that we set the record straight that this isn't about partisan bashing, Bush bashing. This is about reasserting the rule of law as set forth by the Constitution and reasserting the power of the people."

On the subject of which country will be subject to the next Neo-Con invasion, Ritter commented, "There are elements within the Bush administration, especially Donald Rumsfeld's associates, Doug Fife, Wolfowitz and others whose long goal crossed the line of serving America and they started serving another country out there, Israel."

"This administration wants to go to Syria, wants to go to Iran. Iran has turned into a little more difficult of a proposition both diplomatically and militarily, and financially. So Iran may be pushed to the back-burner right now, doesn't mean it's going away, we should never forget that."

"We're going to go small first and I think that with Syria the feeling in the Bush administration is that this is a very easy target, it's one that would make Israel very happy if we took out this regime."

"I'm not sure it's going to be as easy as they think it's going to be."

Ritter's claims have continually been proven to be accurate even in the face of numerous establishment media and government attempts to defame his character.

Ritter is the latest of a rash of credible people both inside and outside of government to voice concerns that a staged terror attack blamed on Iran or Syria could be used as the pretext to instigate pre-planned invasions and further entrench a police state in the US.

Former CIA analyst and Bush 41 staffer Ray McGovern gave similar sentiments as well as British Member or Parliament George Galloway.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2005/241005weaponsinspector.htm


Informant: Scott Munson

Larisa Alexandrovna and Jason Leopold
Originally published in RAW STORY on Tuesday October 18, 2005.

A senior aide to Vice President Dick Cheney is cooperating with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, sources close to the investigation say.

Individuals familiar with Fitzgerald’s case tell RAW STORY that John Hannah, a senior national security aide on loan to Vice President Dick Cheney from the offices of then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, John Bolton, was named as a target of Fitzgerald’s probe. They say he was told in recent weeks that he could face imminent indictment for his role in leaking Plame-Wilson’s name to reporters unless he cooperated with the investigation. [...] Read it all at RAW STORY http://tinyurl.com/8s9xk


© Virginia Metze

American Progress Action Fund
Talking Points
October 20, 2005

Make no mistake, the importance of the Fitzgerald investigation isn't about who said what to whom – it is about Iraq. It is about the administration manipulating intelligence to lead the country into war and then lying to cover it up. And the responsibility for this misleading of the American public lies with President Bush. [...] Read about it at http://tinyurl.com/9uwrv

See also "Leak Scandal Goes to the Top" in the Progress Report the same day: http://tinyurl.com/9uwrv


© Virginia Metze

Think Progress web site
October 21, 2005

Tom DeLay’s attorney, Dick DeGuerin, claims that the judge presiding over DeLay’s criminal case in Texas, Bob Perkins, should be disqualified. A central part of his claim is that an organization that Perkins has donated to in the past, MoveOn, is selling t-shirts with Tom DeLay’s mug shot: Watch in streaming Quicktime

According to MoveOn’s Washington director Tom Mattzie, this claim is false. Mattzie told ThinkProgress this morning that MoveOn has “never sold any t-shirts with Tom DeLay’s mug shot” on their website or otherwise. You can go to their website and see that he’s right. [...] http://tinyurl.com/b6gma


© Virginia Metze

Dangerous New Conventional Wisdom Forming Off the East Coast
Arianna Huffington
Posted October 20, 2005 at 3:25 p.m. EDT
Huffington Post

Here's a newly minted bit of MSM groupthink that needs to be stamped out before it congeals into conventional wisdom: that only people on the left are upset about the way the White House used lies and deception to lead us into a reckless and unnecessary war. A sub-version of this is that the only people upset about Judy Miller and Plamegate are anti-war types who care about the role Miller and the neocons played in helping the Bush White House market the war.
This nugget first hit my radar screen Tuesday night. I was on CNN being interviewed by Aaron Brown (in my experience, one of the best interviewers in the business), when, to my surprise, he suddenly suggested that "a lot of the animosity that's being directed towards Ms. Miller, a lot of the hits she's taken...are just simply coming from the left, people opposed to the war...[and] what was clearly flawed reporting leading up to the war."

I thought it was an isolated incident. But there I was this morning, still on my first venti latte, reading Howard Kurtz's column , when I came upon the nugget again. After quoting Miller's assertion that people are "upset about the war in Iraq, about the Bush administration; they want to know whether they were misled into this war," Kurtz wrote: "She's right... the passion, especially on the left, is driven by the war." [...] What about we First Amendment folks? Or we social security/health care types? Or the balanced budget types? Or the global warming types? Or the business regulation types? Or the FCC types? Or the anti-outsourcing types? Or the "don't tax the poor to give tax breaks to the rich" types? Or the anti-oil-profiteering types? ... See http://tinyurl.com/avwae for the rest of her post.


© Virginia Metze

Speaking of web sites, there are lots of pictures related to DeLay's indictment saga at http://tinyurl.com/ajemx I especially liked the last one in the series (thumbnails on left, picture comes up on the right): http://tinyurl.com/eysvn

I've seen several death lists lately; one of them had to do with the people who worked with electronic voting, on either side of the issues, and the other is a general list. Are you aware of how the Republicans dug up every possible death that could have any relationship to the Clinton White House? If I find the reference to the voting movement deaths, I will post it. In the meantime, here is the Bush Death List: http://rinf.com/news/oct05/bushdeathlist.html


© Virginia Metze


http://www.georgewalkerbush.net/bushdeathlist.htm

Breaking: A Message from Bill Keller
from Crooks and Liars, John Amato's new On-Line, Virtual Magazine. C&L is averaging more than 135,000 hits a day via Blogads.

Friday, October 21

Check out this memo from Bill Keller at The NY Times to his staff in it's entirety that I have verified from three sources. He touches on many subjects and especially Judy Miller. He rails against her behavior and his own sloppiness in investigating her. Keller also discusses shield laws within the confines of newspapers and their reporters. The NY Times reporting on WMD's is addressed and hasn't that been the real story behind all of this?

Keller: excerpt : "As you can imagine, I've done a lot of thinking -- and a lot of listening -- on the subject of what I should have done differently in handling our reporter's entanglement in the White House leak investigation. Jill and John and I have talked a great deal among ourselves and with many of you, and while this is a discussion that will continue, we thought it would be worth taking a first cut at the lessons we have learned.

I wish that when I learned Judy Miller had been subpoenaed as a witness in the leak investigation, I had sat her down for a thorough debriefing, and followed up with some reporting of my own. It is a natural and proper instinct to defend reporters when the government seeks to interfere in our work. And under other circumstances it might have been fine to entrust the details -- the substance of the confidential interviews, the notes -- to lawyers who would be handling the case. But in this case I missed what should have been significant alarm bells. Until Fitzgerald came after her, I didn't know that Judy had been one of the reporters on the receiving end of the anti-Wilson whisper campaign. I should have wondered why I was learning this from the special counsel, a year after the fact. (In November of 2003 Phil Taubman tried to ascertain whether any of our correspondents had been offered similar leaks. As we reported last Sunday, Judy seems to have misled Phil Taubman about the extent of her involvement.) This alone should have been enough to make me probe deeper. [...] The Keller message to NY Times staff is reprinted at http://tinyurl.com/awrl7 The URL for the web site that has this story, see http://tinyurl.com/am5uu


© Virginia Metze

Ron Nessen
Think Tank Town "Reports from the idea industry"
Washington Post
Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 10/21/2005

It’s no longer news when a conservative Republican publicly criticizes President Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. But it is news when the critic is a conservative Republican who was once nominated to the Supreme Court himself, and was rejected by the Senate.

Yes, the latest critic is Robert Bork, now a Distinguished Fellow at the Hudson Institute.

What also makes Bork's comments worth noting is that he uses unusually harsh language in his criticisms of both Miers and Bush.

First Miers. Bork says flatly that she’s not qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. [...] Read the rest and applaud his slams of Bush and the nominee at http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/thinktanktown/ or http://tinyurl.com/cksen Scroll down; the blog has latest on top.

© Virginia Metze



Slap them silly

San Francisco Chronicle
by Debra J. Saunders

10/25/05

Now Republicans are 'borking' one of their own. Robert Bork himself, the Reagan Supreme Court nominee who was rejected after the Dems barraged him with highly personal attacks, has attacked Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Big Bench as 'a disaster on every level.' Conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan told CNN that Bush 'gave conservatives a wet mitten across the face with this nomination.' I think these two are miffed because Bush didn't select a member of their in-crowd. Bork was rather bald-faced about it, when he explained to CNN that Miers' nomination was 'a slap in the face to the conservatives who have been building a legal movement'...

http://tinyurl.com/bp9xk


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

By DOUG THOMPSON
Oct 21, 2005, 08:12
Capitol Hill Blue

For all practical purposes, governing the nation has stopped at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as aides deal with an increasingly despondent President, mounting scandals and defecting dissidents from the Ship of State.

White House insiders say George W. Bush’s mood swings have increased to the point where meetings with the President must be cancelled, schedules shifted and plans changed to keep a bitter, distracted leader from the public eye.

“He’s like a zombie some days, walking around in a trance,” says one aide who, for obvious reasons, asks not to be identified. “Other times he launches into angry outbursts, cussing out anybody who gets near him.”

Aides say gallows humor has descended on the White House, where the West Wing is now referred to as “death row” and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, along with Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, are known as “dead men walking,” a reference to the last walk death row inmates take to the execution chamber. [...] Read the rest of Thompson's column, "The Rant" at Capitol Hill Blue: http://tinyurl.com/7maz8 I love what he has on the "mast head" of the web site: "because nobody's life, liberty or property are safe while Congress is in session or the White House is occupied"

If you like Thompson's style, there are other recent "rants" listed at the right hand side of the page.

© Virginia Metze

Toledo Blade Op-Ed column
Dan Simpson, retired diplomat
member of editorial board
October 19, 2005

AS I suspected six months ago, and U.S. military and Bush Administration civilian officials confirmed, U.S. forces have invaded Syria and engaged in combat with Syrian forces.

An unknown number of Syrians are acknowledged to have been killed; the number of Americans - if any - who have died so far has not yet been revealed by the U.S. sources, who, by the way, insist on remaining faceless and nameless.

The parallel with the Vietnam War, where a Nixon administration deeply involved in a losing war expanded the conflict - fruitlessly - to neighboring Cambodia, is obvious. The result was not changed in Vietnam; Cambodia itself was plunged into dangerous chaos which climaxed in the killing fields, where an estimated 1 million Cambodians died as a result of internal conflict. [...] Read about it at http://tinyurl.com/cfj7c


© Virginia Metze

http://fairnessbybeckerman.blogspot.com/2005/10/gao-report-concludes-that-integrity-of.html
http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/GAOReport_ElectionSecurity_102105.pdf


Informant: NHNE

America has been lied too and betrayed
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94592;show_parent=1

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0543,lombardiqa,69280,2.html

Informant: NHNE



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

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1023-25.htm


Informant: Lew Rockwell

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051025/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_investigation


Informant: mr_tjsmith

From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3532/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Ich schicke Ihnen einen Artikel aus dem Südkurier von letzter Woche, mit der Bitte um Veröffentlichung im Newsletter. Das macht vielleicht vielen Initiativen Mut.

Viele Grüße,

Wolfgang Blüher


Südkurier, 20.10.2005

Bodensee bald im Funkschatten?

Widerstand gegen Mobilfunk-Antennen in der Region besonders stark - Netzbetreiber erwägen Abzug der Investitionsmittel

Von Peter Ludäscher

Konstanz - Beim Mobilfunk könnte die Bodenseeregion bald den Anschluss an die technische Entwicklung verlieren. Diese Befürchtung äußerten Sprecher der Marktführer T-Mobile und Vodafone in einem Gespräch mit dieser Zeitung. Hintergrund ist der Widerstand aus Teilen der Bevölkerung und der Kommunen gegen den Bau neuer Antennen. Die Mobilfunkbetreiber bauen gerade die Netze für den neuen UMTS - Standard auf. Damit lassen sich Daten in hoher Geschwindigkeit auf Handys übertragen.

„Vodafone hat in der Bodenseeregion bisher erst ein Drittel des für 2005 geplanten Netzes installieren können“, berichtet Vodafone Pressesprecherin Margarete Steinhart. Auch T-Mobile liege deutlich hinter der Planung zurück, ergänzt Andreas Fuchs, Pressesprecher von T-Mobile. In 13 Gemeinden komme der Netzausbau nur sehr zögerlich oder gar nicht voran. Steinhart: „Es gibt hier im Bodenseeraum eine Blockadehaltung mit der Absicht, Mobilfunk am liebsten ganz zu verhindern“.

Die Netzbetreiber haben nach Angaben der beiden Sprecher die See-Umgebung als eine wichtige UMTS-Region definiert, weil es hier zahlreiche innovative Unternehmen gibt, die Wert legen auf gute Netzabdeckung, Sprachqualität und hohe Daten-Übertragungsraten. Zudem sei der Bodensee als Touristenmagnet von Bedeutung. Daher liege das Bodensee-Umland auf der Prioritätenliste der Netzbetreiber weit oben. Der Schwarzwald hingegen wird noch einige Zeit auf UMTS verzichten müssen. Hier konzentrieren sich die Betreiber auf größere Städte wie Freiburg oder Villingen-Schwenningen.

Wegen des Widerstandes gegen neue Antennen drohe am See nun die Gefahr, dass die budgetieren Ausgaben in andere Regionen umgeleitet werden, sagte Steinhart. „Dann würde sich die ganze Region vom technischen Fortschritt abkoppeln.“ Die Betreiber sehen auch Gefahr für das bestehende GSM-Netz, denn die zunehmend ablehnende Haltung gegen Mobilfunkantennen gefährde die Verlängerung der Mietverträge für bereits installierte Anlagen.

Die Pressesprecher betonen, dass ihre Unternehmen bei der Installation neuer Antennenanlagen stets zur Lösungssuche bereit sind. „Wir suchen Alternativ-Standorte, wenn Bedenken gegen den ursprünglich geplanten bestehen.“ Allerdings gebe es beim UMTS-Netz technische Zwänge, die bei der Standortsuche berücksichtigt werden müssten. So werden mehr Antennen benötigt, und sie müssen sich „sehen“ können. Die Zellgröße ist geringer als beim bestehenden GSM-Netz. Zudem muss das Netz regelmäßig sein. Fuchs: „Wenn ein wichtiger Standort nicht realisiert werden kann, leidet das ganze Netz in der Umgebung.“

Es fällt den Pressesprechern schwer, den Widerstand einiger Kommunen zu verstehen. Die Unbedenklichkeit der Antennen sei nachgewiesen und die Grenzwerte würden strikt eingehalten. In Norddeutschland gebe es kaum Widerstand gegen die Antennen.

Omega die Unbedenklichkeit der Antennen ist keineswegs nachgewiesen. Siehe „Ärzteappelle gegen ungezügelten Mobilfunk“ unter:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1064751/ und „Grenzwerte werden strikt eingehalten“ unter: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1087994/

Nach Süden zu, besonders in Bayern und Baden-Württemberg, werde die Abneigung größer. Am Bodensee haben die Netzbetreiber eine Hochburg der Gegner ausgemacht. Dabei handle es sich aber um „eine lautstarke Minderheit“, die gegen den Mobilfunk zu Felde zieht.

Beunruhigt stellen die Netzbetreiber fest, dass manche Gemeinde nicht bereit ist, sich an die vor vier Jahren zwischen Mobilfunk-Unternehmen und Kommunen geschlossene Verbändevereinbarung zu halten. Darin ist der Aufbau des Netzaufbaus geregelt: Die Netzbetreiber informieren die Gemeinden frühzeitig über geplante Erweiterungen. Daraufhin haben die Kommunen Gelegenheit, zum geplanten Standort Stellung zu nehmen oder Alternativen vorzuschlagen. Am Bodensee gingen aber einige Kommunen dazu über, mit baurechtlichen Erschwernissen die Installation nach Möglichkeit ganz zu verhindern. Dies führe dazu, dass die Betreiber Standorte auf privaten Gebäuden suchten. „Aber es gibt immer Verzögerungen, Kosten oder ein schlechteres Mobilfunknetz“, so Fuchs.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7510.shtml


Informant: Gomez

.ausgestrahlt-Newsletter
Montag, der 24. Oktober 2005

SPD und Union verhandeln schmutzigen Deal in der Atompolitik: Schrottreaktoren Biblis A & B, Brunsbüttel und Neckarwestheim 1 sollen noch länger am Netz bleiben!

Offener Brief an die Verhandlungsführer in den Koalitionsverhandlungen gestartet

Unterschreiben Sie noch heute: http://www.campact.de/atom/sn/signer

"Steinzeit-Aktion" vor der CDU-Zentrale

Kommen Sie zur bundesweiten Demonstration am 5.11. nach Lüneburg.

Laden Sie FreundInnen und Bekannte dazu ein:
http://www.erneuerbare-statt-atom.de/demo/recommend


Nun ist die Katze aus dem Sack: Union und SPD überlegen, in den nächsten vier Jahren keinen einzigen Reaktor vom Netz zu nehmen, obwohl laut Atomgesetz die Abschaltung der Schrottreaktoren Biblis A und B, Brunsbüttel und Neckarwestheim 1 vorgesehen ist. Dies umgehen sie mit einem Trick: Sie verteilen die von Rot-Grün garantierten Reststrommengen von neueren Meilern auf die alten um. Damit verkommt der ohnehin windelweiche Atomkonsens zur völligen Farce. Wir meinen, dass wir einen wirklichen Atomausstieg brauchen und keine Laufzeitverlängerung durch die Hintertür.

Unterzeichnen Sie den Offenen Brief an die Verhandlungsführer!

Doch noch ist nichts beschlossen. Fordern Sie mit unserem Offenen Brief die Verhandlungsführer in Sachen Atom Sigmar Gabriel und Klaus Lippold auf, ein Comeback der Atomenergie zu verhindern und sich für einen raschen Atomausstieg einzusetzen! Beteiligen Sie sich unter: http://www.campact.de/atom/sn/signer

Steinzeit-Aktion vor der CDU-Zentrale

Heute morgen um 10.30 Uhr vor der CDU-Zentrale: Merkel und Stoiber trommeln im Steinzeitlook auf Atomfässern für ein "Zurück in die atomare Steinzeit". Hinter ihnen pfeift ein in Nebel gehüllter Schrottreaktor aus dem letzten Loch. Mit dieser Aktion machte .ausgestrahlt zusammen mit der IPPNW Druck gegen eine Weiterführung der Atomkraft. Denn im Konrad-Adenauer-Haus wird heute auch um die Zukunft der Energiepolitik in Deutschland gepokert. Am Morgen tagte der CDU-Bundesvorstand, am Nachmittag kommen die Verhandlungsführer/innen zu ihrem zweiten Koalitionsgespräch zusammen. Viele Bild- und Fernsehjournalisten machen Aufnahmen. Bilder von der Aktion unter:
http://www.ausgestrahlt.de/atom/press/fotos

Die Steinzeit-Aktion im Fernsehen

Am kommenden Donnerstag um 23.30 Uhr wird das ARD-Magazin Polylux über die heutige Aktion berichten. Schauen Sie sich den Beitrag an.

Demo am 5. November in Lüneburg: "Erneuerbare statt Atom!" - Informieren Sie Freunde und Bekannte

Am 5. November wollen Tausende ein starkes Zeichen für Erneuerbare Energien und gegen Atomenergie in Lüneburg setzen. Kommen auch Sie zu der bundesweiten Demonstration und fordern Sie mit einer E-Mail Freunde und Bekannte auf mitzukommen:
http://www.erneuerbare-statt-atom.de/demo/recommend

Proteste gegen den Castor-Transport nach Gorleben vom 19. bis 22. November. Mehr dazu unter http://www.castor.de


Mit herzlichem Gruß

Jochen Stay

John Clark, professor of philosophy and environmental studies, spoke at this weekend¹s Bush crimes commission about systemic racism and the discrimination in the response to Hurricane Katrina. He says the Bush administration is guilty of not preparing for the disaster, inadequately responding, and botching the recovery process.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/24/1414218


From Information Clearing House

A Syrian official, deputy Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, said the pressure on Syria was because of America's aim of dominating the region.

http://tinyurl.com/8d6oe


From Information Clearing House

http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=77


From Information Clearing House

The CIA leak inquiry that threatens senior White House aides has now widened to include the forgery of documents on African uranium that started the investigation, according to NAT0 intelligence sources.

http://tinyurl.com/7a7bu


From Information Clearing House

--------

[please forward widely]

Walker's World: Bush at bay
By MARTIN WALKER
United Press International Editor

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The CIA leak inquiry that threatens senior White House aides has now widened to include the forgery of documents on African uranium that started the investigation, according to NATO intelligence sources. ••• Nonetheless, the forged documents appeared, on the face of it, to shore up the case for war, and to discredit Wilson. The origin of the forgeries is therefore of real importance, and any link between the forgeries and Bush administration aides would be highly damaging and almost certainly criminal.

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20051023-104217-9679r


Let Justice Be Done Though the heavens fall… by Justin Raimondo, Oct. 24, 2005

"...This isn't just about the 'outing' of deep cover CIA agent Valerie Plame anymore, if it ever truly was. Scooter-gate is about one of the biggest and most brazen lies used by this administration to drag us into an unjustified and reckless war: the Niger uranium forgeries...."

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7743


Informant: John Calvert

Children who are acutely malnourished are literally wasting away, and for severe cases their condition can be fatal. Acute malnutrition sets in very fast and is a strong indicator of the overall health of children.

http://www.unicef.org/emerg/media_9419.html


From Information Clearing House

The American government is hiring private security firms to stabilise Iraq — and paying them a fortune to do it. But many of them are unregulated and operate outside the law. Jon Swain joins the hired guns on the streets of Baghdad — and assesses the real cost of privatising war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10738.htm

The human toll for the U.S. military in the Iraq war is not limited to the nearly 2,000 troops deaths since the March 2003 invasion. More than 15,220 also have been wounded in combat, including more than 7,100 injured too badly to return to duty, the Pentagon said.

http://www.maconareaonline.com/news.asp?id=12320


From Information Clearing House

Welchen Wert haben Grenzwerte beim Mobilfunk?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1005975/

Grenzwerte werden eingehalten
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/974397/

Mobilfunkstrahlung als schwerwiegendes Risiko für biologische Systeme und Gesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/790254/

Grenzwerte werden deutlich unterschritten - Keine Gefahr für Anwohner durch Mobilfunk?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/768857/

Argumente der Mobilfunkbetreiber widerlegt
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/327522/

Grenzwerte und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/242821/

RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS #828
http://www.rachel.org
October 13, 2005

LIFE AFTER CHEAP OIL -- APOLLO AND BEYOND

by Tim Montague
http://tinyurl.com/9xebv

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was given considerable information about his stake in his family's hospital company, according to records that are at odds with his past statements that he did not know what was in his stock holdings.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102405N.shtml

A TIME investigation shows the lobbyist now at the center of a federal probe had a good friend eager to open doors at the White House: former Christian Coalition chief Ralph Reed.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102405M.shtml

Senators Discuss Leak Case

Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) said yesterday that he expects White House officials will step down if they are indicted this week but stressed that speculation should cease until special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald announces the results of his investigation into the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102405K.shtml

Cindy Sheehan, the military mother who made her son's death in Iraq a rallying point for the anti-war movement, plans to tie herself to the White House fence to protest the milestone of 2,000 US military deaths in Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102405J.shtml



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

Gegen 'Renaissance der Atomkraft': Bundesweite Anti-Atom-Demo am 5. November in Lüneburg (24.10.05)

Ein breites Bündnis aus Umweltverbänden, Friedens- und Anti-Atom-Initiativen sowie weiteren Organisationen hat zu einer bundesweiten Demonstration gegen Atomkraft am 5. November in Lüneburg aufgerufen. Unter dem Motto "Atomkraft Nein Danke - Erneuerbare Energien Jetzt!" wollen sie vor dem Hintergrund des für November geplanten Castor-Transports nach Gorleben sowie einer "von Industrie und Politik heraufbeschworenen 'Renaissance der Atomkraft'" daran erinnern, dass ein Großteil der Bevölkerung gegen Atomkraft ist. Gleichzeitig verstehe sich die Demonstration als Auftakt für eine bundesweite Anti-Atom-Kampagne anlässlich des 20. Jahrestages der Reaktorkatastrophe von Tschernobyl im April 2006.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12114

Arbeitslose "nicht erreichbar": Bundesagentur erhöht Druck auf Langzeitarbeitslose (24.10.05)

Die Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) will die Kontrollen von Beziehern des Arbeitslosengeldes II verstärken. Eine Sprecherin des Bundeswirtschaftsministeriums kündigte am Montag in Berlin an, dass die seit Juli laufenden stichprobenartigen Telefonate zur Erreichbarkeit der Leistungsempfänger ausgeweitet werden sollen. Die Sprecherin verwies darauf, dass eine "große Anzahl" von "Hartz IV"-Empfängern bei den bisherigen Telefonaten durch Call Center der Bundesagentur nicht erreichbar gewesen sei. Der Bundesdatenschutzbeauftragte hatte die Telefon-Aktion scharf kritisiert. "Wesentliche datenschutzrechtliche Grundsätze" seien nicht berücksichtigt worden.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12115

In einer Öffentlichen Petition, die beim Deutschen Bundestag eingereicht wurde, wird eine Veränderung des Zinsgeldsystems gefordert, da es das Grundgesetz verletze.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21193/1.html

http://futurezone.orf.at/futurezone.orf?read=detail&id=276545


Aus: q/depesche 2005-10-24

http://www.kleercut.net/nov3events

Kleenex sells 180 billion sheets of tissue paper each year and NOT ONE of them has any recycled content. They can make a tissue that stops the spread of the flu but they can't make them out of something besides 10,000 year old forests? Kleenex even goes as far as to boast on their website that their tissues are made from 100% virgin fiber. Kleenex and parent corporation Kimberly-Clark are felling ancient forests to flush them down the toilet. Phooey!

More than 90,000 folks have sent messages to tell Kimberly-Clark and Kleenex to change their ways. We know that Kimberly Clark is wiping out ancient forests for disposable tissues, but we need your help to spread the word and STOP the destruction.

Join Greenpeace and other groups for an International Day of Action on November 3rd. Visit the day of action events center at http://www.kleercut.net/nov3events?lst to find and RSVP for an event in your area, or list your own event!

If you can commit to flyering for an hour at your local grocery store, list it so others can join you. Every flyer, poster, phone call and petition signature turns up the heat on these tissue tyrants. We’ve put together a downloadable day of action kit with everything you’ll need, including event how-to’s, flyers, posters, and petitions.

On November 3rd, tell your neighbors, your friends, your family, and your local grocery store shoppers that buying Kleenex is blowing away one of the oldest and rarest forests on Earth.

Feel free to email usa@kleercut.net if you have any questions or need advice. And be sure to check out http://www.kleercut.net for more info.

See you in the streets!

PS…If you haven’t already, don’t forget to visit our action center to send a message to Kimberly-Clark!

http://www.kleercut.net/sendamessage?lst

Challenge the Corrupt Two-Party System Don't Participate in It

by Kevin Zeese

Recently, on the anti-Bush, Democratic Party leaning website Daily Kos an open letter

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2005/10/19/194016/27/85#85

was published urging me to run as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Maryland rather than independent of the two political parties. Below is my response to the suggestion...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Zeese1024.htm

Just as Bono's herculean efforts mobilize thousands, the poverty problem gets exponentially worse.

http://tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#6528

by Beth Shulman, TomPaine.com

When Republicans say the nation can't afford to pay for both food stamps and the Katrina recovery, they're lying.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051024/robin_hood_in_reverse.php

by Robert Dreyfuss, TomPaine.com

If you thought failure in Iraq and multiple investigations at home would moderate the neoconservatives, think again.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051024/syria_the_next_iraq.php

IN RESPONSE TO ARTICLE RE "KENNEDY RESPONDS TO CORPORATE POLLUTERS" - Milwaukee Sentinel - Business & Your Money - October 2005 - http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/oct05/364925.asp

Dear John: I am "very angry also!!!" Angry that no politician has the guts to respond to my pleas to report name of person responsible for hiding away the EMF Interagency Committee Report that will trigger the release of information that "prudent avoidance" of certain EMF/EMR (electromagnetic fields/electromagnetic radiation) exposures should be taken particularly on behalf of children toward the prevention of childhood Leukemia as well as all of the quality-of-life health problems such as asthma, sinus infections, ear infections, headaches, poor sleep, ADD, ADHD, gastrointestinal problems and more that occur prior to the development of Leukemia!!! Not surprisingly the government site ( http://www.niehs.nih/gov/emfrapid/home.html ) carefully disguises the fact that this very important report has never been reviewed by Congress and minimizes the results by designating EMF's as a Class 2B carcinogen ("possibly cancer-causing") when former President George HW Bush allowed the EPA to get away with changing classifiication from "probable" to "possible" in regard to carcinogenicity.

The public deserves to know that simple, inexpensive action such as moving electric appliances/devices from close proximity to one's bed -- "anyone's bed, not just children," may prevent or greatly reduce every health problem all the way from poor sleep to cancer. Electrical wiring behind one's bed and/or high frequencies on wiring throughout a house that can be greatly reduced by placement of filters ( http://www.electricalpollution.com ) is another way of reducing electrical pollution.

We citizens of this great country -- the United States of America -- were "ripped off" by a major scam commonly referred to as "EMF RAPID Study!!!" Information leaked to Dr. Louis Slesin, Editor of "Microwave News," ( http://www.microwavenews.com ) revealed the EMF Interagency Committee Report finding "causal connection to immune deficiency and Leukemia" to low levels of EMF's may never be released to Congress!!!! The EMF RAPID Study came about as result of many years of reports of adverse effects from low levels of EMF/EMR and is/was well-known for decades by the Russians as well as our U.S. military!!!

I am including an email I sent to prospective "2008 Presidential Candidate Kerry" that also has gone unanswered.

If you have some way of providing this information to Robert Kennedy, perhaps he will be able to drum up enough anger to properly deal with this tragic situation? If someone doesn't, our health system will continue to plummet toward a disastrous end. Alzheimers will become prevalent in younger and younger persons. We won't have citizens capable of anything let alone running even a corrupt government!!!

Hopefully you can help "spread- the-word" and forward my plea to Robert Kennedy!!! 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 [10-24-05]

* * *

[Email by Joanne C. Mueller (contact info below) 6-5-05 to Senator John Kerry. No response as of 10-24-05.]

Dear Senator Kerry: Even tho your platform "Kids First" is primarily re insurance coverage, the phrase "Kids First" applies to my work over the last 14 years.

"Principles -- make sure Washington stands up for needs and interests of American families" also fits right in with my work.

Immune deficiencies in two grandsons were RARE because low IgG subclasses 1 and 3 indicate "ageing." They were toddlers when their beds were moved away from walls opposite electric meters!!! They "GOT WELL" even tho we were asked if children had died in the family and were told they may develop Leukaemia (British spelling because I have appealed to the Charity, "Children With Leukaemia" for help in replicating findings and help re informing the public). IgG subclass deficiencies are "markers for irradiation......"

Cages with two guinea pigs were placed against "powerwall" (wall opposite electric meter) in our own home. Severe blood changes resulted. Several of the blood tests indicated "hypersegmented neutrophils" (slowed DNA synthesis) which is also "a marker for irradiation." The severe neutropenia and lymphocytosis were apparently signs of a collapse of their immune systems. One out of each set of two died within 30 days.

The $46 million EMF RAPID Study's "EMF Interagency Committee Report" has never been presented to Congress. EMF's have been categorized as a Class 2B carcinogen. Leukaemia and immune deficiencies were a couple of the health problems that were included as being related to EMF exposures in the final report.

The 2002 California EMF Report found connections to EMF's as low as 4.0 milligauss and childhood Leukaemia, brain cancer, Lou Gehrig's Disease and miscarriage.

For every positive study, scientists have been paid to come up with inconclusive and misleading studies and the controversy and arguing goes on all the way to the World Health Organization (WHO) that used to recommend "prudent avoidance." The American Cancer Society used to distribute information regarding avoidance of electrical items near beds.

Withholding of information to the public is an absolute crime!!!! Associate Professor Olle Johansson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden is willing to replicate findings re my grandsons and guinea pigs and is currently on his way to Switzerland to attend another WHO meeting in regard to another EMR subject.

In addition to information above, I have found countless persons including my own husband who have been adversely affected by sleeping close to electric clocks and electric clock radios. My husband's neuropsychiatric tests (diagnosed with Alzheimers) "improved" after moving his clock radio!

Michael Boyum (age 23), Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, died from Leukaemia. Bonnie Boyum, Michael's mother phoned to let me know he had an electric clock and a small fan on his headboard (I had written to the Boyum's after reading about their family in the newspaper).

A mother from down our street moved the electric clock radio out of her son's bedroom after I checked milligauss readings at their place and she informed me six months later that he was well for the first time in three years (since they moved in and the clock radio was placed near the bed). He suffered chronic infections as did my grandsons.

Asthma is an economy-breaking health problem that greatly affects many and particularly the poor who can't afford healthcare and who often do not have insurance coverage. Asthma was a major health problem before my grandsons were moved away from walls opposite electric meters. "Little coughs" were the first symptoms I observed in my guinea pigs after placing their cages against "powerwall." Two veterinarians diagnosed "asthma......."

Electrical appliances/devices close to beds are causing literally every health problem all the way from poor sleep all the way to cancer!!!

Electrical pollution on electrical wiring is also causing children all of the above problems plus many more problems including ADD, ADHD and learning problems. The future of our society depends on children with "functioning brains!!!"

The website http://www.electricalpollution.com has information regarding simple steps that can be taken to greatly reduce high frequencies that are on electrical wiring in homes and schools around-the-world. The principal of two schools in Wisconsin, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, can testify to significant improvement after reduction in EMF/EMR exposure on electrical wiring.

I am sending a copy of this email to Dr. Fatih Uckun, currently the head of Parker-Hughes Cancer Center. Dr. Uckun made a significant contribution to the conclusions of EMF RAPID and knows that immune deficiencies are caused by such exposure. Dr. Uckun knows the same gene (BTK) is responsible for immune deficiency and is the same gene as that for Leukaemia.

I appealed to Parker-Hughes by email last fall asking for help to "get the word out" by perhaps providing a pamphlet or flyer in their clinic. I did not receive a response to the emails. Since the NIH partly funded the Hughes Institute, perhaps Dr. Uckun is bound by some sort of agreement "not to speak out???" Or, to "carefully limit what he says???"

Former President George Bush never responded to an appeal I made to him through a Leukemia Society in Texas many years ago even tho the Bush's lost a child to Leukemia. Senator Hillary Clinton never responded to an appeal I made to her. President Bill Clinton never responded to a letter mailed to him on behalf of all children........

Our health system problems will never be resolved until "responsible and speedy action" is taken to begin to inform the public!!! Alarming the public should in no way be a concern and is a ridiculous and irresponsible excuse to cover-up vital information!!! Not only will thousands of children be able to pay attention and learn in school, they will also not be running around feeling angry and depressed because they can't get proper sleep. Adults will also benefit in the same way. I estimate overall health costs will go down by about 51% just by "informing the public" about information that is vital and necessary for the good of all people -- the right of all Americans to live safely in peace!!!!

God help us all if a candidate with a platform of "Kids First" and "Principles" will follow in the "footsteps of greed, minimization and deception!!!! God Bless You if you are willing to help in the effort to inform the public!!!! 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 [written 6-5-05]

à l' École Normale Supérieure en 2004
http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=nouvellesdumonde

Sierra Times
by Jeff Adams

10/22/05

GWB went and picked ANOTHER 'stealth' candidate for the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers. For many conservatives that have doggedly, blindly supported the Republicans, and Bush in particular, this appears to be the straw that has broken the camel’s back. Mind you, this good old boy’s back was broken when Republicans didn’t follow up on their 'revolution' of 1994 and instead started acting like establishment Democrats. I've been wondering how long 'conservatives,' especially those of the evangelical stripe, would continue to back Bush (mind you, I'm an evangelical conservative myself, I just haven't sold out to the Republicans, and I take time to use my brain rather than march in lock-step, like a drone, with an establishment political party). After all, this is the guy who's never seen a spending bill he thought outrageous enough to veto. Outside of cutting taxes, everything that Bush has done while in office would have brought howls from Republicans if these same actions had been taken by Bill Clinton (or, heaven forbid, Al Gore or John Kerry). Right now, the Republicans reek of hypocrisy concerning their 'conservative' credentials... [editor's note: If the "conservatives" ever figure out that it is not about left-right ideology but about empire ... watch out! - SAT]

http://www.sierratimes.com/05/10/22/66_226_205_131_82381.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Washington Times
by Walter E. Williams

10/22/05

President Bush informed the nation, during a press conference, he might seek to use the U.S. military to quarantine parts of the nation if there is a serious outbreak of the deadly avian flu that has killed millions of chickens and 60-some people in Southeast Asia. That's the second time Mr. Bush has expressed a desire to use the military for local policing. The first was in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. 1385) generally prohibits federal military personnel and National Guard units under federal authority from law enforcement within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the U.S. Constitution or Congress. Enacted during Reconstruction, the purpose of the Posse Comitatus Act was to severely limit federal use of the military for local law enforcement. Would Americans tolerate such a gigantic leap in the federalizing law enforcement? I'm guessing the answer is yes. In the name of safety, we've undergone decades of softening up to accept just about any government edict that our predecessors would have found offensive. Let's look at some of it...

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20051021-092504-2826r.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Nation
by Chip Pitts

10/21/05

While natural disasters in the Gulf Coast and the man-made disaster in Iraq continue to grab the public's attention, a constitutional disaster quietly threatens the nation. The USA Patriot Act's renewal is now almost a fait accompli -- accepted by all but the most steadfast civil libertarians in Congress. The House and Senate have separately voted to approve the law with only minor changes, and the final conference committee action and vote is expected within the next week or so. None of the provisions of the law that were slated to sunset now appear likely to do so. This law, enacted during a 'state of emergency' declared by President Bush and intended to be revisited in calmer times, is now effectively being made permanent. California Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher has strongly objected to the reauthorization on this ground...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/pitts


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Daily News and Analysis [India]
by staff
10/23/05

Now don't jump up and get nervous, but at this very moment you could be under surveillance. Someone may be watching you, your phone may be tapped, or someone may have hacked into your email. Or maybe when you went to the milk booth this morning, your movements were captured by a hidden camera. Inquiries, investigations, and sources have revealed that a staggeringly high number of telephones are tapped in the country, often without authorisation. Similar illegal activities, mostly by agencies of the state, are underway to hack into your email, monitor your Internet chats, and record your movements. These intrusions, signs of a growing police state, will only increase as terrorism remains the biggest worry of governments, even though such steps may not be the most effective way of checking the faceless, stateless enemy...

http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=6842


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Weekly Standard
by Fred Barnes

Karl Rove, President Bush's virtuoso adviser, is the most influential White House aide in decades, maybe longer. His departure, if compelled by an indictment in the Valerie Plame investigation, would be demoralizing and a blow to Bush's prospects for a successful second term. Could he be replaced as the most important political and policy adviser to the president? The conventional wisdom in Washington is that no one is irreplaceable. But in my view, Rove is... (for publication 10/31/05)

http://tinyurl.com/8ooav


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by Cindy Sheehan

10/24/05

I would love to support Hillary for President if she would come out against the travesty in Iraq. But I don't think she can speak out against the occupation, because she supports it. I will not make the mistake of supporting another pro-war Democrat for president again, as I won't support a pro-war Republican...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/27089/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

National Review
by Victor Davis Hanson

10/21/05

While no mainstream Democrat has yet gone the McGovern route, it is still politically toxic for any to state publicly that we should be optimistic about the future of Iraq, inasmuch as they are convinced that such an admission could only help George W. Bush. Some of us who are Democrats are baffled that the party that used to decry cynical realism, gave us the Truman Doctrine and JFK's tough stance against Communism, galvanized us to hold steady in WWI, WWII, and Korea, and preached that we must promote and protect democracies, is now either joining the isolationist Right or drifting into quasi-pacifism -- or simply standing against anything that the opposing party is for...

http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200510210831.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Free Market News Network
by Jason Sorens, Ph.D.

10/21/05

So we have now entered the era of 'unlimited government.' Constitutional restrictions on government apparently mean nothing now. There are now virtually no reserved powers for the states anymore; the Courts allow the federal government to get involved with pretty much whatever it wants. The Democrats and Republicans at the federal level are just as bad. Shall I count the number of promises Bush has broken? It would be difficult to name them all, but I'll just mention three big ones...

http://tinyurl.com/cuduc


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Intellectual Conservative
by Bob Cheeks

10/21/05

Review of Resurgence of the Warfare State: The Crisis Since 9/11 by Dr. Robert Higgs: "The author's criticism of the American government is non-political in the sense that, regardless of the party affiliation of the man in the presidency, he is opposed to the constant expansion of state power. He is an honorable reactionary and an advocate of the old republic's first principles .... Higgs, of course, has hit the proverbial nail on the head. President Bush's much touted efforts 'to bring democracy to the Middle East' are fraught with peril and any American history book available to any high school student across the land tells us as much...

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4678.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Spectator
by Jed Babbin

10/24/05

A month ago, even a week ago, it was possible without delusion to believe that Fitzgerald's investigation would end without indictments. But no longer. Thanks to a stream of leaks that have grown to flood stage, it's very likely that Fitzgerald will, this week, indict senior members of the Bush White House staff including, in all probability, Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, and I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, the vice president's chief of staff. Both Rove and Libby were advised last week that they may '... be in serious legal jeopardy,' according to one of the leaks. And they may not be the only White House and CIA employees Fitzgerald may indict. President Bush has had political good times and bad. If these indictments are issued, this will be the worst. Coming at a time of White House political weakness, if the MSM can make its fondest dream come true, Fitzgerald's actions could grow to be as serious politically as Watergate, from as little a seed...

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=8923


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

TechCentralStation
by Arnold Kling

10/24/05

From 1940 on, the air was viewed as a decisive theater of war. Military men spoke of 'air superiority,' 'air supremacy,' or 'command of the skies.' The cheapening of material goods is leading to another paradigm shift in military affairs. It is becoming less and less costly to assemble and deliver weapons that can cause mass casualties and major economic loss. It is becoming commensurately more valuable to be able to figure out who the bad guys are and keep track of what they are up to. What we need in the information age is surveillance supremacy -- command of the spies, if you will...

http://www.techcentralstation.com/102405B.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

WorldNetDaily
by Pat Buchanan

10/24/05

[T]he indispensable enablers of war are the New Democrats and potential presidential nominees, Sens. Kerry, Edwards, Clinton, Biden and Bayh. Fearful that Bush and Rove would use their refusal to authorize war in October 2002 to impeach Democrats' patriotism, they voted to give him a blank check for war. Six months later, Bush cashed it. The Democratic Senate could have slowed the stampede. And if it could not have stopped it, it might at least have gotten answers to crucial questions. How many troops would be needed? What was the probability of guerrilla war? What was our exit strategy? Instead, the Senate surrendered the war powers the Founding Fathers reserved for Congress to the president and abdicated its constitutional duty...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47001


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

...and here comes the swing

Kn@ppster
by Thomas L. Knapp

10/22/05

That the Miers nomination is failing is no secret. What's surprising is that nobody seems to be able to add two and two together and come up with the obvious conclusion: The Miers nomination is failing by design. She's a sacrifice fly. She's the first handoff in a flea-flicker play. She is the nominee before the real nominee.

http://knappster.blogspot.com/2005/10/and-here-comes-swing.html

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

10/24/05

In Washington, D.C., the heavens will surely fall on the heads of several prominent players, including not only the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, but also the president's top national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley; John Hannah, the vice president's chief national security adviser; and David Wurmser, the VP's chief of Middle Eastern affairs. The fate of the more high-profile Karl Rove is in some doubt: he's probably looking at obstruction of justice and/or perjury charges, but the others -- including, perhaps, a number of unindicted co-conspirators -- are looking at some real jail time. The number of the indicted is likely more than just these few, however, especially as rumors that Fitzgerald's investigation has widened considerably harden into near certainty...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7743


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Cincinnati Enquirer

10/23/05

It began with a clumsy forgery, led the president to backtrack on his own State of the Union address, already has sent one person to jail and has ruined another's career as a covert operative. The cast of characters in this latest tale of Washington intrigue - the CIA leak investigation - keeps growing as a federal prosecutor tries to sort out who told what to whom and whether any of it was a crime...

http://tinyurl.com/c499v


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Arizona Republic
'
10/23/05

Democrats have a chance next year to cut into the Republican Party's majority in the U.S. Senate. But they can't do it simply by running as the other party, analysts say. The Iraq war, Bush administration miscues, Republican scandals and other GOP turmoil could help put a dent in the 55-44 seat edge held in the Senate by the Republicans (there is one Independent) as both parties prepare for 33 Senate races in 2006. 'Democrats clearly have an opportunity,' New York-based national pollster John Zogby says, 'especially if these races can be turned into a national message. However, the burden is on the Democrats. It will simply not be enough to say, 'We aren't Republicans...

http://tinyurl.com/7hvax


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The White House is sweating out the possibility that one or more top officials will soon be indicted on criminal charges. But according to Bob Herbert, the Bush administration is immune to prosecution for its greatest offense - its colossal and profoundly tragic incompetence.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102405Z.shtml

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/charts/fpteam.php


Informant: eyeodneedle

http://tinyurl.com/crm5v


Informant: eyeodneedle

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20051023/ap_on_re_us/lobbyist_reed_1


Informant: mojo_j_2000

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=269
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=524
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/?cat=23

--------

Corporate Corruption of Science and Its Effects on Workers and the Environment

Please find enclosed information ‘Corporate Corruption of Science’ from Dr Gerd Oberfeld, Salzburg.

Best wishes

Eileen O’Connor
Trustee – EM Radiation Research Trust
http://www.radiationresearch.org


Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

in der Anlage wird der Beitrag "Corporate Corruption of Science and Its Effects on Workers and the Environment" zgK übermittelt.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/2005_xx_egilman.pdf


Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Dr. med. univ. Gerd Oberfeld
Amt der Salzburger Landesregierung Landessanitätsdirektion Referat Gesundheit, Hygiene und Umweltmedizin
Postanschrift: Postfach 527, 5010 Salzburg, ÖSTERREICH
Adresse: Sebastian-Stief-Gasse 2

--------

Comments on corporate corruption

From Gerald Goldberg:

Hi Don, Read your article on corporate corruption and the charges waged against the AMA. The problem in this country though I suspect it exists in most industrialized countries is that most doctors work for the company store. They are not free agents, which has certain benefits, but there entitlement is based on strict governmental control and regulation of the store. Most of the grants given to universities are allocated by upper level agencies, ie NIH, CDC, which merely the agenda that the government tries to set up For the most part it is an economic entitlement program that benefits the larger corporations, which are interlocked in maintaining control. Thus you see global manifestations of this in the bid to regulate say nutritional suppliments etc. Anyway to use an example in the US 2 years prior to 9/11 the budget for alternative medicine was halved from 5 milliion dollars, IN a system where the healthcare costs account for 600 billion dollars of reimbursement per year, to a mere 2.5 million dollars. In the same year the government opened a new office for bioterriosim with an operating budget of 120 million dollars per year.

After 9/11 most researchers in the US had to shift their priorities in terms of investigation because they had to go out begging to the NIH to get funds. The government had shifted it focus to bioterriosism and most top programs in order to stay alive had to switch priorites. Pork barrelism is alive and well and we should be proactive aginst the taint of MAD CASH COW DISEASE which is becoming endemic and rampant. See my interview posted on mast-victims. The tragedy is that who is kidding who, no pun intended. There is a tragic amount of sophistry around rational approaches when the system itself is irrational and dysfunctional. I quess it is good to be Pharoh, what has changed anyway.

Sincerly

Dr. G. Goldberg, MD

Source: http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=528

--------

http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=betrayal+science

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usclin25,0,6954037.story?coll=ny-nation-big-pix


Informant: Kev Hall

The New York Review of Books has published an excerpt of a report from Human Rights Watch: "Leadership Failure: Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division." Read this to understand how torture has become a "sport" for US soldiers in Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102305X.shtml

Democrat Charles Shumer said that President Bush's Supreme Court choice lacks the votes now to be confirmed. On the 18-member GOP-controlled Judiciary Committee, "there are one or two who said they'd support her as of now," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, who sits on the committee.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102305H.shtml

The federal government, vastly extending the reach of an 11-year-old law, is requiring hundreds of universities, online communications companies and cities to overhaul their Internet computer networks to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to monitor e-mail and other online communications.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102305G.shtml

Kristoff: "Village women are the least powerful people on earth. That's why more than 500,000 women die every year worldwide in pregnancy - and why we in the West should focus more aid on preventing such deaths in poor countries." But Bush and his allies have blocked funds for the UN Population Fund that would have helped these women.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102305E.shtml

The legal and political stakes are of the highest order, but the investigation into the disclosure of a covert CIA officer's identity is also just one skirmish in the continuing battle over the Bush administration's justification for the war in Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102305B.shtml

--------

Leak Case Renews Questions on War's Rationale

By DAVID E. SANGER
Source: NY Times
Submitted by editor on October 23, 2005 - 7:23pm.

There are still lots of real secrets in Washington. But the most secretive White House in modern history has learned the hard way - even while its spokesman reflexively utter the caution, "We don't talk about intelligence," or, "Sorry, that's classified" - that it must reveal a pretty steady stream of secrets all the time.

That is one reason journalists and some government officials are so wary of what might happen next in the C.I.A. leak case, which could conclude with indictments within a week. What began as a narrow case on a specific leak, many fear, has morphed into a broader threat to the way business is done here, a system that often benefits both sides. [...] Read it all at http://tinyurl.com/9jd26 For now the NY Times URL for the Sanger article also works.


© Virginia Metze

An update from http://www.lifeboatnews.com Paul Grignon http://www.lifeboatnews.com
http://www.paulgrignonart.com


WATCH THE BIRDIE

Putting The “Coming Pandemic” Into Perspective

By William Thomas

In Pakistan last March, as the avian bird flu virus decimated poultry across Asia, chicken vanished from home menus as families became vegetarians overnight.

Thousands of people engaged in selling chickens became unemployed.

Yet, not a single case of the feared H5NI avian flu virus had been found anywhere in the country.

By August, Turkey was the 25th country to report an H5N1outbreak— in birds. But the panic was on as governments around the globe shoved money at two giant drug firms for antibiotics completely ineffective against H5N1 at recommended doses, and a non-approved “vaccine” still in trial stages.

By October 2005, Europe was on full “bird flu alert”.

In Turkey and Romania, farmyard birds were being mass-culled.

But H5N1 is passed only to people living in close contact with infected birds. The only known human casualties were in Asia, where many households keep birds for pets, and chickens for food.

Nevertheless, France ordered enough antiviral drugs for everyone in the country— at doses too low to be effective.

Finland announced it would vaccinate its entire population against the disease— even though no vaccine was available.

Vaccine trials were underway in Melbourne, where tests showed that up to 12- times the normal vaccine dosage is needed to trigger an immune response against H5N1.

Unless a more effective replacement is found, crash vaccine programs currently underway will only be able to produce 25 million doses per year.

Once this bird flu strain mutates— which it must in order to ignite a global human pandemic— it will take another 12-18 months to develop and produce a new vaccine.

Is a planet-wiping H5N1 plague as “imminent” as the nuclear-biological attack from Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction previously reported by the same media?

Probably.

As the Centers for Disease Control kept insisting:

The current risk to Americans from the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in Asia is low.

The strain of H5N1 virus found in Asia has not been found in the United States.

There have been no human cases of H5N1 flu in the United States.”

THE ACTUAL EPIDEMIC

In 1997, the first case of H5N1’s spread from a bird to a human was recorded in Hong Kong.

The virus caused severe respiratory illness in 18 people, six of whom died.

In late 2003, early 2004, more than 100 million birds either died from the disease or were killed in order to control an H5N1 outbreak.

Commonly burned or buried alive, the karma from so much mass suffering cast serious doubt on eating chickens.

So far, human infections from H5N1 have been reported in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The death rate for infected humans is an unnerving 50 percent.

But among the 100 or so people reported infected with H5N1, only 64 have died.

INEVITABLY IMMINENT

So far so good. Nevertheless, in yet another reprise of alarms issued every few years, the World Health Organization kept referring to a coming global flu pandemic as “inevitable”, even “imminent.” So did the UN.

That’s like saying you are certain to die in your lifetime.

Evoking the nightmare of 1918, the Times of London warned of a bird flu pandemic that could infects half the world’s population and kill “even more than the 20 to 50 million who died in the ‘Spanish flu’ of 1918-19.”

But bird flu is not spread by humans.

As the CDC kept pointing out, “Human infections with avian influenza viruses detected since 1997 have not resulted in sustained human-to-human transmission.”

This doesn’t mean a major pandemic won’t happen, of course. But it’s a little early to panic in Duluth.

JUST TESTING

Are giant drug companies trying to make us sick by deliberately releasing genetically altered germs?

Or are they just screwing up as usual?

Is there any difference in the result?

All we know for sure is that when Liu Jianlun, a laboratory scientist in Guangdong, became the first SARS victim on March 4, 2003, he was messing around with…H5N1.

This was bad enough. But last April, thousands of scientists around the planet scrambled to locate and destroy vials of a super-dangerous flu strain sent unlabelled among shipments from Meridian Bioscience in Cincinnati to nearly 5,000 labs in 18 countries— to see if their staffs were clever enough to spot it.

Luckily, someone did. H2N2 had already killed as many 4 million people.

RUNNING SCARED

Are we worrying about the wrong things?

“Pneumonia killed 63,000 Americans in 2000,” points out MD Marc Siegel.

Plain old influenza kills another 30,000 Americans every year. But it’s the media-hyped, “relatively minor threats” that are “widely feared.”

So what should we be concerned about?

“A reasonable worry is one that is directly tied to a real danger or impending threat,” advises Dr. Siegel.

To properly assess the bird flu threat, “Look at the statistical probability of what you are afraid of actually happening.”

That’s easy.

If you live in North America, right now— and there is only right now— the chances of bird flu killing you is zero.


William Thomas is the author of Bringing The War Home—the first fully documented book on Gulf War Illness. This article has been edited for brevity. Subscribe to Convergence Weekly, and see the fully illustrated and referenced article here.

OUTTAKES INCLUDED IN THE FULL ARTICLE:

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN Emerging influenza strains make a mockery out of “best guess” vaccines…

AMERICA NOT READY FOR ANYTHING …“If a hurricane which we knew was coming caused so much havoc, what will happen if there's a sudden outbreak of a killer virus?”

A BRIEF HISTORY OF GLOBAL PANDEMICS Pandemics emerge every 30 years or so…

1918 OUTBREAK ORIGINS REVEALED The Spanish Flu of 1918 sprang from vaccines injected into US soldiers. Just like Gulf War Illness…

WHAT’S THE RUSH? Why hurry to get injected with dubious “vaccines” filled with mercury, aluminum and other adjuvents and preservatives—

WHAT VACCINE? …as the CDC states, “There currently is no vaccine to protect humans against the H5N1 virus that is being seen in Asia.”

CHICKENS BEFORE EGGS …The 2 million doses already on order are only enough for about 450,000 people. But it’s unlikely they can be produced, because dead chickens can’t lay the eggs needed to grow the virus to make more vaccines!

SCARING PEOPLE FOR PROFIT Promoting invisible microbial terrorists is a powerful distraction away from a million dead kids in Iraq.

Or the 100,000 Americans who die every year from taking pharmaceutical drugs….

SARS Remember SARS?…

REVENGE OF THE CHICKENS? If avian flu is making birds sicken and die, IndyMedia goes on to suggest, “well then the finger needs to be pointed at the living conditions of the birds…”


Informant: friends2b

Forum for Peace, Human rights and Environment
http://www.geocities.com/minagahet/pinagatputpas


Informant: Raulmax

MWM: These people (a many others) have convinced me to stock up with large quantities of Peroxide, Vit C, Elderberry, Silver Water, Dr. C's Blowtorch Formulae, Zinc tabs, Sea Salt, and other mineral and immune system boosters. Better to spend the money this way than with Dr. Faust's little shots of god knows what pcness.


From: "Isabel Hutchinson" Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2005 23:41:20 +1300 Subject: POLLY WANT A FLU SHOT?

POLLY WANT A FLU SHOT?
by Andrew W. Saul

Reprinted with permission from the Doctor Yourself Newsletter, copyright 2005 by Andrew W. Saul. Dr. Saul is Contributing Editor for the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, and is the author of the books "Doctor Yourself: Natural Healing that Works" and "Fire Your Doctor! How to be Independently Healthy." His peer-reviewed natural healing website, http://www.doctoryourself.com , receives 35,000 hits per day.

My daughter's parakeet is in grave danger.

Need you ask why? Because the Bird Flu is coming!

With all this terrifying talk about bird flu, I have a lingering question: Has anyone thought about protecting the birds? Living near Lake Ontario, I regularly feed entirely too many seagulls. They come inland as well. Just this weekend, I fed a characteristically ravenous flock of them at an interstate highway parking lot. The gulls encircled me like a Hitchcock movie. Another time, I was ungraciously harassed by a renegade herd of emus that I was, perhaps unwisely, attempting to feed. I had to climb up onto some boulders to get out of range.

Nice ol' birds; they just wanted a nosh.

Too bad they are all going to die. And soon, too.

Yes, every one of them. There will not be a gull (or at the lake, a bouy) left standing. Surely, now, if bird flu is truly dangerous, the birds are at terrible risk. All of them. No more starlings. No more pigeons. Goodbye, Mr. Hawk. Goodbye, Mrs. Robin. No more Woody; no more "Beep-Beeps"; Donald is doomed.

And then there's all the gorgeous song birds, all those tiny little dickie birds, like the ones I've held in my hand while they were being banded: they are all dead meat.

What's that you say? That I'm exaggerating? That all the world's bird species are NOT condemned to get Bird Flu? Then I say, Ask yourself how that can be.

After all, no shots means no chance. Or at least that is the gist of our pharmaphilic government's and media's clanging presentations to the public.

Truth be told, this is nothing new. They've tried this before with the colossal Swine Flu panic some thirty years ago. Remember?

The U.S. Government cannot say without qualification that flu shots are either safe or essential.

Here is what the government of the United States said about the infamous Swine Flu vaccine, in a 1976 mass-distributed FDA Consumer Memo on the subject:

"Some minor side effects - tenderness in the arm, low fever, tiredness - will occur in less than 4% of (vaccinated) adults. Serious reactions from flu vaccines are very rare."

So much for blanket claims of safety, for many persons well remember the very numerous and very serious side effects of Swine Flu vaccine that forced the federal immunization program to a halt.

As far as being essential, in the same memo the FDA said this of the same vaccine:

"Question: What can be done to prevent an epidemic? Answer: The only preventive action we can take is to develop a vaccine to immunize the public against the virus. This will prevent the virus from spreading."

This was seen to be totally false; after all; the public immunization program was abruptly halted and still there was no epidemic of Swine Flu. If vaccination were the only defense, literally tens of millions of Americans should have been struck down with the Swine Flu, for a large percentage of the population of the U.S. was not vaccinated.

Surely there are other factors involved in prevention of illness or epidemic. But try telling that to allopathically-oriented health commissioners and doctors. You'd think that monks and nuns who work with the sick would have to get their patients' diseases... but they seldom do. Did the elderly and diminutive Mother Theresa die from leprosy? From AIDS?

If germs or viruses are all around us, why aren't we all dead, or at least deathly ill? And how come crows and vultures regularly eat diseased and decaying road kill, pressing their faces into a maggoty mess, and then fly happily away?

And, as my friends and I used to so energetically search railroad underpasses for sick and injured pigeons to take to our treehouse and nurse back to health, well, I now wonder how we survived at all.

But as for you, you non-bird you, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the medical media say that without a shot, you are a sitting duck for bird flu.

It seems to me, by logical extension, that without vaccinations for all birds, all birds are goners. Ducks included, sitting or otherwise. Without flu shots for birds, there will be no birds. Silent spring.

Birds are seemingly such frail little creatures. Their permanently feverish bodies are already around 104 degrees Fahrenheit every day. A bird with a real fever must be one hot little number indeed. Yet, every year, tiny little chickadees spend entire frigid winters in my backyard. Gale force subzero winds and our typical eight to ten feet of snowfall do not stop them. And they do not have vaccinations. Not a one. They don't even have heated socks. How on earth do they do it?

So: Shall I have my daughter's little green budgie vaccinated? All the more reason, really, since the parakeet is also at risk from all the human flu strains. Yes, Virginia, all those zillions of Human Flu viruses are out there, just waiting to kill your 'keet. And you with it.

Influenza is a serious disease, and historically, has been the Reaper's scythe. About 10 million soldiers were killed in World War I, charging machine guns and getting mowed down month after month. There were nearly a million casualties at the Somme and another million at Verdun. A terrible slaughter went on for four years. Yet, in just the two years following the war, over 20 million people died from influenza. That is more than twice as many deaths from the flu in one-half the time it took the machine guns. There is no way to make light of that.

On the other hand, there is ample reason to now, finally, end our wishful belief that flu shots stop the flu, because generally they don't, not even in the elderly, their target audience.

NBC and the Associated Press http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9438511/ reported on Sept 22, 2005 that

"A new analysis of 40 years of research provides more evidence that flu shots are not as effective in the elderly as commonly believed. But health officials said older people should still be vaccinated. . . The findings are similar to those of a study done by U.S. National Institutes of Health that found flu shots for the elderly in the United States had not saved lives."

And then they add: "Flu shots may be required in all nursing homes. Federal officials urging flu shots for all this year."

Will Rogers sure was right: with stuff like this in the papers, who needs a comedy writer? Congress writes farce so very well, and the news obligingly tosses it straight into to our living rooms.

But wait: there's more!

An interesting if not downright revealing article at medicinenet.com (1) says, in part:

"According to a study appearing in the Sept. 22 online issue of The Lancet, vaccines against influenza are only "modestly effective" in people in long-term care facilities and even less effective for elderly people still living in the community. . . "The vaccine doesn't work very well at all," said study author Dr. Tom Jefferson, an epidemiologist with the Cochrane Vaccines Field in Rome. "Vaccines are being used as an ideological weapon. What you see every year as the flu is caused by 200 or 300 different agents with a vaccine against two of them. That is simply nonsense." Dr. Marc Siegel, author of "False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear," agreed. "We have set up a situation where a fear is created, and then we try to create the treatment for this fear. The public gets the idea that the flu is going to kill them and the vaccine will save them. Neither is true," he said."

For the record, both these critics are medical doctors.

With our century's worth of accumulated scientific hindsight, we must today ask this: Was a lack of vaccinations really the cause of those flu deaths, or was it really wartime stress, and especially war-induced malnutrition, that set the stage in 1918? And now, once again, we have an alarming and rather similar scenario: between nutrient-poor processed convenience foods, McNothing meals and TV news scare stories, we have the basic ingredients for an epidemic.

But we now also have a simple, safe and effective answer. First, the nutrition solution: eat a good, healthy, whole foods natural diet, and take lots and lots of vitamin C. And second: relax! De-stress your life, take it easy, and cheer up. It has been very well said that you are of much more value than any number of birds. You are factory-equipped with a kick-a... mammalian immune system that is a true marvel of nature. To maximize your resistance to any viral disease, including any strain of flu, I think you would do well to stop eating processed junk food, and load up on ascorbate.

You too can be chipper and chirping away, ignoring swine flu hype, SARS scares, bird flu panics, or any other viral bogeymen being used to scare you into a coerced relationship with a flu shot.

Reference:
1. Gardner A. Flu vaccine only mildly effective in elderly. HealthDay Reporter, Sept 21, 2005. http://www.medicinenet.com

MEDICAL DOCTOR CONFIRMS: VITAMIN C CURES BIRD FLU The best presentation I have ever seen on just how vitamin C megadoses prevent and cure avian influenza is posted for free reading at the website of Robert F. Cathcart, M.D.: http://orthomed.com/bird.htm

These online articles may also be of interest:

Flu vaccines are largely ineffective: http://www.jrussellshealth.com/fluvacc.html

Bird Flu Background and Relation to Vitamin C:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/10/08/avian_influenza_are_you_prepared.htm

Bird Flu Dangers Greatly Exaggerated:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/10/19/bird_flu_in_perspective_public_fears_exaggerated.htm


Best Wishes,

Michael Wells Mandeville,
The Hills of Arizona USA at mwman@earthlink.net

Fascinating reading. Much of it may be true. The first part is the hardest to believe, but the articles after that look logical.

Bob Reuschlein


fraser
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 23:29:11 +0100
Subject: up! 0016// Tony Blair, MI5 Agent// Oct 23, 05

Bush-Cheney CIA/Plame Case Indictments Released On Friday BUSH ORDERS FITZGERALD FIRED AND ESPIONAGE INDICTMENTS QUASHED “It’s like the Watergate Saturday Night Massacre!”

Washington, DCOctober 21, 200512:00 EST Today Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald handed over 22 indictments to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, accusing President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney and others of espionage, obstruction of justice, perjury and a variety of other charges in the matter of the CIA/Valerie Plame leak-gate case.

According to intelligence sources who spoke with federal whistleblowers Thomas Heneghan and Stewart Webb, Bush then ordered Gonzalez to fire Fitzgerald and have the indictments quashed and sealed.

Gonzalez (Bush’s former personal White House counsel before receiving a presidential appointment as U.S. Attorney General) refused to release the indictments which have been handed down by the grand jury and ordered served by a judge, subjecting the Attorney General to additional charges of obstruction of justice, the sources said.

The move is reminiscent of the “Saturday Night Massacre” when President Nixon fired Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox in an attempt to save his presidency and obstruct justice.

Intelligence sources added that Bush tried to distract attention from the indictments and delay publicity about his attempt to fire Fitzgerald this afternoon by ordering a diversion regarding a “Capitol Hill police attempt to disrupt a suspicious package in a car near the U.S. Capitol.”

Since Bush was in California this morning, scheduled to speak at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California when Gonzalez received the service of indictments, it can be assumed that Bush’s orders for Gonzalez to refuse receipt of process and fire the prosecutor were discussed over the telephone.

It is open to conjecture whether Bush could be arrested in California before even returning to Washington, given the criminal nature of the indictments.

An attempt to quash indictments and to fire Fitzgerald may also cause a constitutional crisis if Bush and Gonzalez continue to obstruct justice and defy U.S. law and constitutional legal process.

Intelligence sources maintain that the military or U.S. marshals should arrest Bush, Gonzalez, Cheney and others immediately for their criminal acts in keeping explosive espionage, obstruction and perjury indictments hidden from the American people, all of which affects U.S. national security.

Developing……………… [TomFlocco.com exclusive] http://www.tomflocco.com up!

THE WASHINGTON POST, FRI OCT 21, 2005: Several scenarios have begun to emerge if Rove or vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis Libby is indicted and forced out. Senior GOP officials are developing a public relations strategy to defend those accused of crimes and, more importantly, shield Bush from further damage. " People are very demoralised and unhappy ," a former administration official said. "The leak investigation is part of it, but things were not happy before this took pre-eminence " Bush implicitly acknowledged the distractions in answer to a reporter's question, while reassuring the public that he remained focused on the pressing matters of state facing his White House. " There's some background noise here, a lot of chatter, a lot of speculation and opining," Bush said. "But the American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to." up!

Authority Of The Attorney General The letter which appointed Patrick Fitzgerald as Special Counsel granted to him the "authority of the Attorney General .
. .
independent of the supervision or control of any officer of the Department." Careful to confirm the extent of his mandate, he further inquired and was advised that

"It is plenary and includes the authority to investigate and prosecute violations of any federal criminal laws related to the underlying alleged unauthorized disclosure, as well as federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with, your investigation, such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses; to conduct appeals arising out of the matter being investigated and/or prosecuted . . ."

"Plenary" means "absolute and unqualified." In a word, Fitzgerald has all the power of the attorney general, the top law enforcement officer of the federal government himself, to pursue the facts wherever they may lead. It therefore appears he now possesses his own authority, and cannot be legally removed from his position, even by Bush. He has his own operating budget too, direct from the GAO.

For the criminal purposes of the Bush administration, Patrick Fitzgerald is their worst nightmare come true. He is a career prosecutor with a reputation for being not only "frighteningly" brilliant but fearless, and with a driving passion for determining the truth, their most mortal enemy. Indeed, the fastest way to get Fitzgerald’s fur up is to try to lie to him as a witness. See, he's a workaholic already, and liars just make him work harder. UP!


The Most Important Criminal Case in American (and World) History by James Moore // The Huffington Post If special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald delivers indictments of a few functionaries of the vice president’s office or the White House, we are likely to have on our hands a constitutional crisis. The evidence of widespread wrongdoing and conspiracy is before every American with a cheap laptop and a cable television subscription. And we do not have the same powers of subpoena granted to Fitzgerald.

We know, however, based upon what we have read and seen and heard, that someone created fake documents related to Niger and Iraq and used them as a false preteens to launch America into an invasion of Iraq. And when a former diplomat made an honest effort to find out the facts, a plan was hatched to both discredit and punish him by revealing the identity of his undercover CIA agent wife.

Patrick Fitzgerald has before him the most important criminal case in American history. Watergate, by comparison, was a random burglary in an age of innocence. The investigator’s prosecutorial authority in this present case is not constrained by any regulation. Since, if he finds a thread connecting the leak to something greater, he has the legal power to follow it to the web in search of the spider, it seems unlikely that he’d simply go after the leakers and the people who sought to cover up the leak when it was merely a secondary consequence of the much greater crime of forging evidence to foment war.

Fitzgerald did not earn his reputation as an Irish alligator by going after the little guy. Presumably, he is trying to find evidence that Karl Rove launched a covert operation to create the forged documents and then conspired to out Valerie Plame when he learned that her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson was uncovering the plot. Though it sounds like the plot of a John le Carre novel, it also comports with the profile of the Karl Rove I have known, watched, traveled with and written about for the past 25 years.

We may stand witness to a definitive American moment of democracy. The son of a New York doorman probably has in his hands, in many ways, the fate of the republic (and the planet). Because far too many of us know and are aware of the crimes committed by our government in our name, we are unlikely to settle for a handful of minor indictments of bureaucrats. The final thing most of us believe in is the rule of law. We do not trust our government or the people we’ve elected, but our constitution is still very much alive and we choose to believe that destiny has placed Patrick Fitzgerald at this time and this place in our history to save us from the people we elected. If the law cannot get to the truth of what has happened to the American people under the Bush administration, then we all may begin to hear the death rattles of history’s greatest democracy.

Fortunately, there are good signs. Fitzgerald has reportedly asked for a copy of the Italian government’s investigation into the break-in of the Niger embassy in Rome and the source of the blatantly fake papers which purported to show that Saddam Hussein had cut a deal to get yellowcake uranium from Niger, and which turned up after a December 2001 meeting in Rome involving neo-con Michael Ledeen, Larry Franklin, Harold Rhodes, and Niccolo Pollari, the head of Italy’s intelligence agency SISMI, and Antonio Martino, the Italian defence minister.

Is Fitzgerald examining the possibility that rabidly anti-Arab Ledeen was executing a plan to help his friend Karl Rove build a case for invading Iraq? Ledeen, who makes the other neo-cons appear passive, has long ties to Italian intelligence agency operatives and has spanned the globe to bring the world the constant variety of what he calls “creative destruction” to build democracies. He brought the Reagan administration together with the Iranian arms dealer who dragged the country through Iran-Contra and shares with his close friend Karl Rove a personal obsession with Machiavelli.

Is it mere coincidence that some months after he and his neo-con consorts and Italian intelligence officers met in Rome that the Niger embassy was illegally entered, but nothing was stolen other than letterhead and seals. And is it equally coincident that forged papers under those letterheads were slipped to Elisabetta Burba, a writer for an Italian glossy owned by Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, and a backer of the Bush invasion. Unfortunately for the pro-war neo-cons, even the Italian tabloids refused to publish the fake documents, instead turning them over to the CIA and US government in Rome.

The other American attendees at Ledeen’s Roman Holiday are also worthy of scrutiny. Larry Franklin was recently arrested for leaking classified US government information to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Ledeen sprang quickly to his defence but Franklin faces prosecution next year and is most probably cooperating with prosecutor Fitzgerald. Harold Rhode, the other American actor in this tragicomic affair, worked the Office of Special Plans (OSP) at the Department of Defense for Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Characterised as a “counter-intelligence shop,” OSP simply interpreted intelligence in a manner that fit the need for evidence that Iraq had WMD. If the CIA gathered data that said otherwise, OSP ‘analysed’ it differently or ignored the facts and then reported to the vice president precisely what he wanted to hear. Rhode also was the liaison between Ahmed Chalabi, the convicted embezzler the Bush administration was using to feed information to them and Judy Miller about the distortions and lies required to fuel the rush to war.

No great extrapolation is necessary to assume that OSP, sitting inside the CIA, got early word that Joseph Wilson was being dispatched to Niger to investigate the sale of low-grade uranium to Iraq. Rhode needed only to pick up the phone and call the vice president’s chief of staff Scooter Libby, who would tell his boss and Karl Rove. How hard is it for even Republicans to believe, at this point, that Rove is capable of launching a plan to discredit Wilson and punish him by exposing his wife? Rove and his boss were not simply in danger of losing the prime cause for the war; they faced an even graver political wound of being discovered as covert agents who defrauded the government and the public.

I have seen the spawn of Rove’s tortured mind and watched a hundred of his political scams unfold and I am confident I know how this one played out. Rove might have brought it up with his fellow big brains in the White House Iraq Group, a propaganda organisation set up to disseminate information supporting the war. There was likely a consensus to move the plan to smack down Wilson out of the White House.

There you have it, Mr. Prosecutor. To quote an unreconstructed former Republican presidential candidate, “You know it. I know it. And the American people know it.” We expect you also to have sufficient evidence to prove all of this.

There are many of us who are on the verge of losing faith in our democracy. We are convinced there are people within the highest ramparts of American government who are willing to put our country at great risk to advance their geo-political vision. We want our country back. And all we have left is the power of the law. >From what we know, you are the right man come forth at the right time.

Prove to us we still live in a democracy and a nation of laws. UP!


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


From ufpj-news

Authority to Expand CIA Leak Probe
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94524;show_parent=1

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CIA Leak Probe

With possible indictments from the special prosecutor in the outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame expected before week's end, NOW goes inside the story of how her name became public.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102805P.shtml

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94497;show_parent=1
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94499;show_parent=1

http://www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis46.htm

New Weldon Audio and Video Clips on Able Danger
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94532;show_parent=1

Disabling Able Danger
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94544;show_parent=1

(excerpt)

Jack Straw and Condaleeza Rice Keep Such Exquisite Company, Their Syrian Adventure Is Sure To Pay Handsome Dividends

MWM: And that about says it. These Keystone Cops are at it again pushing what the professional German Media believes is another round of bogus, manufactured evidence. How anyone can even look at these two waddle their pomp without bursting into laughter is beyond me. Modern Germans have a pretty trained ear and eye for bogusity, I would listen carefully.

What should be clear, perfectly, is that this Syrian Campaign is all a scripted operation. It has nothing to do with real facts, evidence, etc. This is an info war front which is just a precursor to a campaign to broaden conflict in the Middle East. We the people are still in extreme danger at the hands of war provateurs.


Year: 2005

[] Central witness to Mehlis report revealed as a paid swindler

Hamburg, 22 October - The most prestigious German political news-magazine, Der Spiegel, revealed today that the central witness, Zuheir al-Siddiq on whom Detlev Mehlis had relied during his investigations into the assault on Rafiq Hariri, was a dubious person with a criminal record as a convicted felon and swindler. Even the UN Commission which had submitted the Mehlis report to the UN Security Council yesterday, is raising serious doubts about the reliability and credibility of al-Siddiq's declarations, since it was revealed that the alleged former officer of the Syrian secret services had in reality been convicted more than once for penal offences related to money subtraction.

The German magazine reports that the UN investigating Commission is well aware that it had been lied by Siddiq, who at first had affirmed to have left Beirut one month before the assault on al-Hariri, but then had to admit at the end of September his direct involvement in the implementation of the crime. It is quite evident by now that the witness had received money for his depositions, considering that his siblings reveal to have received a phone-call from him from Paris, in late summer, in which Siddiq announced "I have become a millionaire". Doubts regarding the credibility of the man were further fuelled by the revelation that Siddiq had been recommended to Mehlis by the long-term Syrian renegate Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of the Syrian President who more than once offered himself as "alternative President of Syria".

To Mehlis the central witness Siddiq is supposed to have declared that he had put his apartment in Beirut to the disposition of the conspirators to kill Hariri, among them several Syrian intelligence officials. Of himself he had declared to have gathered intelligence for the Syrian services regarding Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. But the Syrian government, revealed Der Spiegel, had sent weeks ago a documentation regarding the man to various Western governments, hoping that Detlev Mehlis would not get caught in the trap of a notorious imposter.


From Michael Mandeville

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9785606/site/newsweek/


Informant: NHNE

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_FBI_Intelligence_Violations.html


Informant: Gomez

http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt122.html
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94514;show_parent=1

http://www.lewrockwell.com/sheehan/sheehan22.html



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

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051021/NEWS03/510210355/1007


Informant: Gomez

Tuesday Night Forum at the Onion

October 25, 2005 - Tuesday 7:30PM

Militarism in our Schools

The Tuesday Night Forum for Tuesday October 25, 2005 will have a program about "Military Recruiters on High School Campuses." Our speakers will be Michael Novick and Andy Griggs of CAMS (Coalition Against Militarism in our Schools)
http://www.militaryfreeschools.org . Young men and women should document their anti war beliefs NOW if they want to be considered for Conscientious Objector status once the draft starts.

7:30 PM at the Onion, Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society, 9550 Haskell Ave. in North Hills. Take the 405 freeway north, exit left (westbound) two blocks and turn right on Haskell. We are on the right side just north of Plummer.
http://webcom.com/onion/concerns.htm

For information and to confirm speakers please call Ida Hurt at 818 772 1555.


Saturday, November 19, 2005

STOP THE WAR

"Students and Educators to Stop the War" fall conference at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, 4131 S. Vermont, Los Angeles, CA. 90037 8:00 PM to 5:30 PM plus evening social/cultural event. The website is http://www.stopthewarconference.org

NHNE EDITOR'S COMMENT:

It's time once again for the latest flu epidemic -- or "pandemic" this time around -- to start scaring the stuffing out of us. How can we protect ourselves and our loved ones from the newest strain of deadly flu? And what can we do if we, or our loved ones, are unfortunate enough to contract it?

Let me begin by saying that I know now, from my eldest daughter's encounter with a viral infection in Costa Rica
http://www.sunfellow.com/jeremia/, that viral infections can be serious business. They can rain hell down on your body, mind, emotions, loved ones, future plans. They can also maim and kill -- and do every day.

But most of the time, they don't do anything -- especially if our immune systems are strong.

One of these days, I plan to give you a blow-by-blow account of what I went through and learned from my daughter's battle. But for now, I'm just going to offer three bits of advice:

1. Don't trust any doctor, nurse, or mainstream "expert" who acts like they know everything and discounts alternative approaches to healing. I actually had one highly-placed doctor laugh in my face when I asked about Vitamin C fighting viral infections (see below for links to the effectiveness of Vitamin C when it comes to treating all kinds of ailments, including viral infections and cancer). Also keep in mind that mainstream medicine has been grievously wrong about just about everything. Moreover, it has been dragged, kicking and screaming, into adopting a growing number of holistic ideas and practices (ponder, for example, the current battle to introduce healthy food into hospital menus; the effort to evict McDonald's and Burger King from hospital corridors; the embarrassing physical condition of many doctors and nurses who advise others on how to attain health; and the ugly, money-grubbing ways that drug companies have funded dubious research, extracted exorbitant prices, and attempted to crush generic drugs and herbal alternatives).

2. Don't trust any alternative healer, practitioner, or know-it-all holistic health author who acts like they know everything and discounts conventional approaches to healing. While I have a long list of grievances with the way mainstream doctors, nurses, hospitals, insurance companies, government agencies, and other status-quo institutions practice medicine, most of the folks practicing convention medicine that I met are deeply committed to helping people. And they've got some tools, especially diagnostic tools, that can be very helpful. Indeed, when it comes to diagnosis, I think blood work, x-rays, and CAT scans are far more reliable than the diagnostic skills of your average aura reader or psychic healer.

3. And finally, and most importantly, don't allow anyone to decide what you should do with your life, or the life of those you are responsible for. When all is said and done -- when the doctors, healers, practitioners, authors, experts, and philosophers have offered their counsel, provided their treatments, and gone home (or moved on to the next theory about what causes and cures your particular ailment) -- it is you and your loved ones who are left to deal with the ramifications of whatever you chose to do -- or not do. Be sure YOU made the best, most informed decisions you could.

And with that, here's some of the best information I've come across concerning the flu (Asian and otherwise), Vitamin C, vaccinations, and related topics. May you make the choice(s) that work best for you and yours...

David Sunfellow


SOME TAKING CUES FROM THE 'PLAGUE THAT WASN'T' AVIAN FLU COMPARISONS BEING MADE TO THE 1976 'SWINE FLU SCARE' By Andrew Pollack New York Times News Service October 23, 2005

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635155399,00.html

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001024.html


Informant: Todd Richardson

Please, find some interesting reading:

Mobile phones can trigger eye damage, fear scientists
http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/07/nmob07.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/08/07/ixhome.html

Olle Johansson, assoc. prof.
The Experimental Dermatology Unit Department of Neuroscience Karolinska Institute
171 77 Stockholm Sweden


Mobile phones can trigger eye damage, fear scientists
By Peter Zimonjic
(Filed: 07/08/2005)

Prolonged use of mobile phones can lead to permanent eye damage including cataracts, scientists believe.

Medical researchers have found that microwave radiation of the type emitted by mobile phones causes eye tissue to "bubble" - a precursor to the formation of cataracts - and can also interfere with the ability to focus. An eye test The risk of permanent eye damage from mobile phone use has been revealed by radiation tests on calves' eyes

Professor Levi Schächter, who led the Israeli team which conducted the study, warned: "Our results show that microwaves can cause irreparable damage. Our advice to people with mobile phones is not to use them if they have the option of using a land line until we can conduct more research."

The new findings will reignite the debate into the safety of mobile phones, after warnings from a Government minister earlier this year that parents should be "very careful" about how much time children spend talking on their handsets. More than 50 million mobiles are in use in Britain.

The new study, conducted by the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, found clear risk to eyesight.

Scientists exposed lenses taken from male calves - whose eyes, until they are two years old, have close similarities to humans' - to mild heat, comparable to the raised temperature caused by extended mobile phone use, and to microwave radiation no greater than emissions from mobile phones. After two weeks the lenses, kept in a culture medium, were compared with others which had not been similarly exposed, to identify biological changes.

Prof Schächter's team found that the exposed lenses were less able to focus clearly on a beam of light, which would cause an eye to record a blurred image - but found that over time, when exposure stopped, the damage healed. However the exposure also caused bubbles to form within the tissue of the lens, which did not disappear over time - an indication of development of cataracts, or permanent eye damage.

Prof Schächter said: "There has been much research to determine whether mobile phones cause cancer or brain damage, but until now very little on their effects on vision."

Shortly after the study was published in the Journal of Bioelectromagnetics the authors were invited to present their findings to the Israeli parliamentary health committee. The country's health advisory body subsequently urged the Israeli government to fund more such studies.

Last year a major review by the International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation of all published research concluded that there was "no consistent or convincing evidence of a causal relation" between mobile phone use and any adverse health effects.

However, the new findings have provoked consternation in Britain. Dr Michael Clark, a spokesman for the Health Protection Agency, said British researchers should broaden the range of possible dangers being investigated.

"This is a good piece of work that is properly published and we are looking at it carefully," he said. "If future research delivers the same or similar results then public health practices may need to be re-examined."

Publishers wishing to reproduce photographs on this page should phone 44 (0) 207 538 7505 or e-mail syndication@telegraph.co.uk

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005

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Localized Effects of Microwave Radiation on the Intact Eye Lens in Culture Conditions
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1102981/

http://pww.org/article/articleview/7950/1/291/


Informant: mr_tjsmith

From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3528/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

https://secure2.convio.net/cgsef/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=173&JServSessionIdr012=fqeyhee251.app7b
http://www.globalsolutions.org/un21/action.html
http://www.globalsolutions.org/programs/intl_instit/UN_ref/UN21century.html


Informant: Debbie Metke

From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3526/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

In an attempt to further erode the quality of healthcare and expand their bottom line, a big business coalition led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the National Association of Manufacturers is pressing Congress to pass healthcare legislation that undermines the safety and security of the health insurance our families depend on.

We can stop them with your help. Act Now: http://go.care2.com/59797

So what's big business' agenda?

They're pushing to create a loophole that would exempt Associated Health Plans used by many businesses, from more than 1,000 state consumer protection laws. These loopholes will allow them to:

# Severely restrict coverage for critical preventative healthcare such as mammograms, yearly child checkups

# Raise your rates at any time;

# Deny your claim with no guaranteed right to appeal.

The answer to our health care crisis is not to give people less coverage for more money!

Who's Fighting Back?

A coalition of over 1,300 labor, consumer, and local small business groups, and both the Democratic AND Republican Governors' Associations. They all agree that the result will be worse healthcare that's more expensive, provides less coverage and will actually result in fewer people having insurance. In fact, the only folks who benefit are businesses. Please help us now: http://go.care2.com/59798

They think we're not paying attention!

In order to win the fight Congress needs to hear from consumers and activists like you! The House of Representatives approved this bill in August, so it must now be stopped in the Senate. Send a comment to your Senators demanding that they uphold consumer protections in your state by opposing any effort to weaken Association Health Plans.

Sincerely,

Bob Fertik

PS. Your action now can make a real difference in this debate. The coalition opposing this effort is in constant communication with the Senate on this issue – but their message will be strengthened with your letter. Please take action today: http://go.care2.com/59800