Chemical Timebomb in your cosmetics cabinet

Be warned: your daily beauty regime could be taking years off your life.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article321838.ece


Informant: Scott Munson

The possible security by-products of the wired society are known. It is possible to listen to everything, record everything, infiltrate everything. Since September 11, we are witness, especially in the United States, to a desire for generalized surveillance. "Big Brother" never ceases perfecting his weapons.

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

Mark LeVine: In one of his periodic attempts to bolster public support for the occupation, President Bush offered the following ad-style summary of American policy in Iraq: "As Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down." This may be easy to say but it will remain exceedingly difficult for Iraqis to stand up as long as America looms over them in a whirl of chaos. Chaos-as-policymaking is a perilous undertaking, even for the globe's lone superpower.

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

The alleged leaking of a CIA operative's name had its roots in a clash over Iraq policy between White House insiders and their rivals in the permanent bureaucracy of Washington, especially in the State Department and the CIA. The internal disputes have been further amplified by a recent string of speeches and interviews criticizing the administration's handling of Iraq.

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

Sen. Patrick Leahy's address on Iraq, delivered Tuesday morning on the Senate floor: Mr. President, this war has been a costly disaster for our country. This war has isolated us from our allies, most of whom want no part of it, and if we continue on the course the President has set, it could also divide our country.

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

Elsy Fors

Havana, Oct 26

(Prensa Latina) Tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts and floods have become everyday news together with regional conflicts and, like them, are becoming ever more violent.

Although many people may not connect natural and human disasters, they could not be more related. Abusive consumption of fossil fuels and water resources, high emissions of carbon to the atmosphere and transgression of environmental laws are to blame for kindling wars, but also for the reaction of nature to man´s aggression to the planet.

Hurricanes in the Caribbean are more frequent and intense and even have been occurring in unlikely places like the ones that hit Spain this year and Brazil in 2004.

Rain and wind have traumatized whole regions, and, with the earthquake, the very earth has proven to be untrustworthy. In Pakistan, people are asking, "If the ground underfoot is dangerous, what is safe?"

That is why the recent cluster of tragedies, from nearby and far off, must be the occasion of more than regret and worry, warns an article by James Carroll published this week by the Boston Globe. Neither should "disaster fatigue" be allowed to dull the sense of urgency with which news of catastrophic suffering is normally received, adds Carroll.

The alleviation of such suffering should be of absolute primacy, and when disaster strikes, nothing matters more than the rush to help. If relief efforts after the fact are slow or inept, those responsible must be called to account. Deeper sources of carelessness or corruption are often exposed during disasters, and they must be confronted, says Carroll.

What's going on with this world? asks the author and affirms if something new is happening, it probably has less to do with the tragic occurrences that have befallen the human population this year, from the tsunami to Hurricane Wilma (although the quickened pace and ferocity of

hurricanes seems a special warning), than with our recently acquired knowledge of the universal character of jeopardy.

The British daily The Independent identifies climate change with the failure of the drive to eradicate poverty. Lord May of Oxford says the cost of dealing with the adverse effects of climate change could soak up all the aid to African countries (negligible to say the least).

Lord May, a former chief scientific adviser to the British government, warned there is mounting scientific evidence to show that global warming is the biggest single threat to the world today -especially for developing countries.

The latest study published October 24 in London, reveals that the rise in man-made greenhouse gases may already be responsible for an increase in drought conditions and risk of famine in eastern Africa.

Research by James Verdin of the US Geological Survey found that rainfall has decreased steadily since 1996 in Ethiopia and neighbouring countries which coincides with a corresponding increase in surface water temperatures in the southern Indian Ocean.

Wealthy countries, says the Independent, have a responsibility to do something about climate change by stabilizing their greenhouse gas emissions.

The United States, however, in spite of being at the head of the list of damaging carbon emissions, has publicly rejected the Kyoto Treaty to curb that threat to the environment.

Global warming can also be caused by illegal logging, and the same newspaper recently called attention to a new satellite survey that revealed the Amazon rainforest is being destroyed twice as quickly as previously estimated.

A team of American and Brazilian specialists have for the first time been able to assess from space the damage done by what is called selective logging, when one or two trees are removed leaving surrounding trees intact.

They found that selective logging of mahogany and other valuable hardwood trees, which is often illegal, is destroying an area of the Amazon equal to that razed by conventional logging.

On average, for every tree removed, up to 30 more can be severely damaged by the timber harvesting operation itself.

That is because the vines that connect the selected trunk pull down the neighboring trees, says Gregory Asner, researcher at the Carnegie Institution in Washington and Stanford University in California.

The satellite data was compared with a field study that confirmed their worst suspicions: that conventional satellite photography had missed about half the damage caused by illegal logging.

The report recognizes the effort of the Brazilian government to enforce existing laws against these logging operations, but the enormous geography of the Amazon puts a limit to what they can accomplish.

The violence continues.

mh/ef/mf


Informant: Walter Lippmann

--------

DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE: A DECLARATION FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL http://omega.twoday.net/stories/990236/

Oread Daily

A Chicago City Council committee yesterday voted to ban the sale of the liver "delicacy" known as foie gras in Chicago restaurants. If the proposal is approved by the full Council, Chicago will join the state of California and a host of countries that have already banned the pricey appetizer. They include the United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Israel.

Alderman Joe Moore, who proposed the Chicago ban, and has been ridiculed by some as a result, says passage of the measure would, "… mean that there will be fewer restaurants serving this product and, hence, fewer ducks and geese being tortured to create this product." The Alderman says the force-feeding of geese and ducks to procure the fatted liver delicacy is inhumane.

Earlier this year, Chicago Mayor Daley ridiculed the proposed foie gras ban as a Big Brother-style government intrusion.

Didier Durand, chef/owner of Cyrano's Bistrot, 546 N. Wells, spoke in opposition to the ban on behalf of the Illinois Restaurant Association. "To take it off our menu would be destroying a time- honored culinary tradition. Every restaurant has the right to serve what they want."

But to animal lovers across the world, the practice of force-feeding
30 million animals a year until their livers swell to up to ten times their normal size is a cruel practice which causes untold suffering. In recent years the movement to abolish force-feeding for foie gras production has gained momentum worldwide

In France, however, politicians have just approved a draft law that protects foie gras and declares it a part of the French national heritage.

Foie gras - translated literally as "fatty liver" - is big business in France, which produces 70 per cent of the 20,000 tons made worldwide each year and accounts for 85 percent of global consumption. The industry employs 30,000 people and the average French person eats the delicacy at least ten times a year.

"How on earth can you say that a barbaric custom, consisting of sticking a funnel or a pneumatic pump down the throat of a caged animal, is a tradition of high culture?" asked the Citizens Initiative for the Abolition of Force Feeding on its website.

The reactionary stance of France over foie gras flies in the face of EU directives dating from as far back as 1998, which warn that: "No animal shall be provided with food or liquid in a manner ... which may cause unnecessary suffering or injury".

Foie gras is made from the grotesquely enlarged livers of male ducks and geese. Birds have up to 2 pounds of food per day pumped into their stomachs through long metal pipes that are shoved down their throats. The cruel ordeal often causes severe injuries that make it painful or even impossible for birds to drink. Those who survive the feedings suffer from a painful illness that causes their livers to swell to eight to 10 times their normal size. Many birds become too sick to walk and are reduced to pushing themselves across their cages with their wings. When the birds are slaughtered, their livers are sold for foie gras.

The Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Welfare for the European Union found many examples of abuse as a result of force- feeding, including:

• Birds are routinely confined to small cages or crowded pens.

• Birds are force-fed tremendous amounts of feed via a 12- to 16- inch plastic or metal tube, which is shoved down their throats and attached to a pressurized pump.

• The force-feeding may be performed twice daily for up to two weeks for ducks and three to four times daily, for up to 28 days for geese.

• Force-feeding causes the liver to increase in size about 6-10 times compared to the normal size for a bird.

• Increased liver size forces the abdomen to expand, which makes moving difficult and painful. An enlarged abdomen increases the risk of damage to the stretched tissue of the lower part of the esophagus.

• Force-feeding results in accumulated scar tissue in the esophagus.

• The liver can be easily damaged by even minor trauma.

Force-fed birds have been found to have chronic heart disorders; ruptured liver cell membranes; cirrhosis; traumatic esophagitis; and lesions in their gizzards and intestines. Dead birds have been found by investigators with food filling their esophagi and spilling out of their nostrils.

Sources: Chicago Sun Times, NBC5 (Chicago), CBS2 (Chicago), Scotsman, Foie Gras: Delicacy of Despair, Human Society of the United States.

To see the NEW Oread Daily Blog: http://oreadaily.blogspot.com/


Informant: reg

by Susan Van Haitsma

Not one more death. Not one more dollar. Dollars and death are connected in more ways than one. The old adage claims that death and taxes are the only certainties in life, but it is the connection between taxes and death that is the real certainty. The grinding machinery of war needs fuel: soldiers and money. A majority of Americans indicate they want the machine to stop. Parents and students, veterans and military families are working together to withhold human resources from the war. Cindy Sheehan has movingly expressed the ways that one death has been one too many. But what happens when the majority of Americans want war to stop, and the money to wage it keeps flowing in?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Haitsma1026.htm

by Kim Petersen

The New York Times is having a heck of a time dodging scorn and maintaining any semblance of authenticity these days, apologizing for its Jayson Blairs, bogus WMD reporting, and Judith Millers. Even owner Arthur Sulzberger’s feet are being held to the fire now. Yet, the paper persists in its role as a stenographer for the US government. The Times’ coverage of the UN report by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis on the slaying of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, and 20 others, is a further example. It is of great importance to note that the Mehlis Report was exclusively an investigation into the possible involvement of Syrians and Lebanese in the assassination of Hariri. Excluded, a priori, with standard imperialistic manipulation of course, was the role of the powers that effectively benefited from the assassination...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Petersen1026.htm

Tell Your Senators to Protect Endangered Species.
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/esa_senate

by Charles V. Peña, TomPaine.com

Defense and foreign policy think tanks are controlled by interests unwilling to debate national security. That's dangerous.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051026/emancipate_the_think_tanks.php

by Robert Dreyfuss, TomPaine.com

American casualties just hit 2,000. Iraq's constitution was passed in rigged elections. Could civil war be next?

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051026/iraqi_vote_lights_the_fuse.php

What are we going to say to Teddy?

from Karen W.
via artjar

Teddyfones marketed at 4-9 year olds are now being avertised for sale. And they're FREE. No hidden costs, just the price of calls.

Do we want Teddyfone to know what we think of this deliberate marketing strategy which will expose very young children's delicate brains to microwaves, despite government recommendations to the contrary?

Order hotline number: 0870 700 3115

They've already had one call.

--------

Children and mobile phones
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1063256/

--------

Have a "free" child-phone, complete with attitude. What a world.......

See: http://www.scarlet.nl/scarlet-one/ Disgusting, or what!!!

Approx translation: Skarlet are the simplest and most advantageous ring way and at Internet. Entirely with this breathtaking offer: Internet on double speed plus free child mobile still for only a lousy 39.95 per month! SECONDARY EDUCATION needs no subscription than KPN. You never get a better account than KPN.

Best wishes

Alasdair

Revised translation:

"Yes, I want Scarlet One"

Scarlet is the simplest and cheapest way to phone and surf the Internet.

Completely free with this offer: Internet on double speed plus a free child mobile all for that lousy 36,95 (euro) a month!

With Scarlet One you don't need a subscription to KPN (wired phone
operator). You will never receive another bill from KPN again.

Alasdair

--------

Sorry to have been out of touch for ages and come back cynical - to me a statement about the precautionary principle will be something which will be a tick box to prevent the operators getting sued - I cant find any more information yet about what it is actually supposed to be

cn

--------

re teenage cancer
To: NancyEWatts@aol.com, daih@dstec.co.uk, p.h.johnson@staffs.ac.uk, liz.silver@bbc.co.uk

Not very bright these doctors, in ten years it will be an epidemic, possibly not many teenagers left.

Phil Watts

--------

Teens 'forgotten tribe' of cancer

NICE has called for more age specific cancer facilities

Teenagers are the "forgotten tribe" of cancer victims and more research is needed to stop them dying, the UK's first Professor of Teenage Cancer says.

Tim Eden - from Manchester's Christie hospital - was appointed on Thursday.

He called for more studies into a 50% increase in incidence of the disease in young people since 1975. Six teenagers a day are now diagnosed with cancer.

Professor Eden said there were too few trials on teenagers, and their survival rates had improved less than others. Better health education for young people and health professionals about the physical warning signs of cancer was also needed, he said. Cancer 'voice' Some 2,200 adolescents die of cancer every year in the UK. The Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT), which sets up specialist care units around the country, appointed Professor Eden.

We know it will result in a better quality of life for many thousands of teenagers

Myrna Whitestone Teenage Cancer Trust

It has invested ?2.5m over 10 years to fund his team. It said the team would act as a voice on teenage cancer issues and increase research, international collaboration and clinical trial opportunities. TCT chairwoman Myrna Whiteson said: "The appointment of a TCT teenage and young adult cancer chair highlights the growing importance of this field of medicine. "It provides a focus to extend the parameters of knowledge within the field, and will hopefully lead to improved outcomes. "We know it will result in a better quality of life for many thousands of teenagers." 'Age appropriate' In August, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said cancer services for children and young people had to be reformed. The NHS advisory body issued guidance to standardise cancer treatment for young people in England and Wales. Among its recommendations, it called for "age-appropriate facilities, provided as locally as possible". Professor Eden will be based at the University of Manchester, Christie Hospital and Central Manchester & Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust. He has worked in Christie Hospital's 13-bed Teenage Cancer Trust Unit since its founding in 1998.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4366606.stm

--------

Would it be a good idea if someone contacted the CTC and TIm Eden to raise the raditaion issue?

thanks sarah

--------

Aren't they free? Good publicity stunt though. Gary we could all buy one and then cerimonially bin them !

cn

Ein verlockendes Angebot! Mobilfunkantennen aufs eigene Dach und jahrelang „rieselt“ das Geld in die Kass’. Das Für und Wider einer Mobilfunkantenne auf dem eigenen Dach sollte aber sehr gut überlegt sein, auch wenn der Aspekt der regelmäßig eingehenden Mietzahlungen von dem Mobilfunkbetreiber über viele Jahre - meist 20-jährige Vertragslaufzeiten - ein sicheres Geschäft darstellen!

Aber, wenn die Strahlen nicht nur die Nachbarn treffen, sondern durch Reflektionen und Nebenkeulen wie ein Bumerang zurück ins eigene Haus kommen! Wer kann schon im Voraus sagen, wer und wie jemand auf die „hautnahe“ Mobilfunkstrahlung reagiert. Besonders gefährdet sind ältere Menschen, Kranke, Schwangere und Kinder. Ein Trauma - die Vorstellung, dass man dieses große Risiko nur wegen des Geldes eingehen will, dass neben der Nachbarschaft auch die eigene Familie über Jahre hinweg darunter leiden könnte. Denn so schnell kommt kein Vermieter eines Daches aus dem Vertrag wieder heraus! Bei der heutigen Beweislast, die beim Erkrankten oder Elektrosmogsensiblen liegt, ist dies ein schier hoffnungsloses Unterfangen. Auch Versicherungen klinken sich haftungsmäßig gegenüber Mobilfunk aus!

Es ist bekannt, dass die deutschen Grenzwerte sehr hoch sind und nie erreicht werden. Im Klartext, Unwohlsein, eine Erkrankung oder Verschlimmerung einer Erkrankung können eintreten und der Erkrankte muss beweisen, dass die Mobilfunkstrahlung hierfür ursächlich ist! Es können viele Faktoren zusammen kommen, die letztendlich das Fass zum Überlaufen bringen. Das heißt, es wird sicher keine vorzeitige Vertragsauflösung möglich sein! Je weiter entfernt man aber von einer Anlage lebt, umso besser für das eigene Wohlergehen, wenn man kein notorischer Handynutzer ist. Trotz der vielen internationalen wissenschaftlichen Studien und der Erfahrung von zunehmend mehr elektrosmogsensiblen Menschen, wird deren Erkenntnis, dass gepulste Mobilfunkstrahlung eine Gesundheitsgefährdung darstellt, permanent öffentlich ignoriert. Die nichtthermischen Effekte werden völlig außer acht gelassen!

So ist letztendlich auch denkbar, dass der Vermieter eines Daches eines Tages die erzielten Einnahmen in teure Abschirmmaßnahmen für sein eigenes Haus investieren muss. Dennoch bliebe die Außenanlage, der Garten oder eine schöne Terrasse für die Familie ungeschützt. Die Lebensqualität sinkt! Bei einer vermieteten Immobilie könnte das Objekt langfristig unvermietbar werden – und vom Werteverlust des eigenen Hauses und der Nachbarhäuser ganz zu schweigen!

Obige Nachzeichnung eines Funkwellenstrahls ist aus der Broschüre „Mobilfunk auf dem Kirchturm,“ ein Gemeinschaftswerk der katholischen und evangelischen Umweltbeauftragten. Den Herausgebern lag daran, mit Sachbeiträgen von verschiedenen Autorinnen und Autoren einen Beitrag zur gesellschaftlichen Auseinandersetzung über die Risiken des Mobilfunks zu leisten und dem vorsorgenden Gesundheitsschutz ein besonderes Gewicht zu verleihen.

„Es gibt Gefahren, denen zu entfliehen nicht Feigheit ist, sondern höchster Mut, die Kraft, sich selbst zu besiegen.“ (B. Auerbach, 1812-1882)

Marianne Kirst

Republicans began targeting key programs for budget cuts yesterday, from student loans and health care to food stamps and foster care. But the tough measures immediately drew staunch opposition from anti-poverty groups, businesses and moderate Republicans.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102605O.shtml

Maureen Dowd writes that the shocking thing about the trellis of revelations showing Dick Cheney, the self-styled Mr. Strong America, as the central figure in dark conspiracies to juice up a case for war and demonize those who tried to tell the public the truth, is how un-shocking it all is.... It's exactly what we thought was going on.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102605M.shtml

The prosecutor in the CIA leak case was preparing to outline possible charges before the federal grand jury as early as today, even as the FBI conducted last-minute interviews in the high-profile investigation, according to people familiar with the case.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102605L.shtml

When Bush was asked what the United States would do if Syria did not change its policies, he said: "We're going to use our military."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102605K.shtml

"As we all know, the American death toll in Iraq reached 2,000 yesterday. I believe most people in America are in mourning today whether we are pro- or anti-war. I can speak for myself - I am." - Cindy Sheehan

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102605J.shtml



Grim milestone
LewRockwell.Com Blog
by Cindy Sheehan

10/26/05

We held a vigil at the White House yesterday. At 6 PM we lay down to symbolize the unnecessary deaths in Iraq. We each represented one American and 50 Iraqis. Today we took a wreath to Arlington Cemetery to mourn all Americans who have been killed in war, but especially this war. Then we have our vigil at the White House from 12 PM to 8 PM. At 7:30 PM tonight we will lie down again. Tonight, I won't get up when they tell me to. (I am, after all, reading the great libertarian Henry David Thoreau on Civil Disobedience.)

http://eserver.org/thoreau/civil.html

Neither will some others. Outside the presidential mansion, where so many war criminals live and work, we will probably be arrested...

http://blog.lewrockwell.com/lewrw/archives/009170.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Scott Galindez interviews Mimi Evans of W. Barnstable, Massachusetts, whose son serves with the US Marine Corps and was newly deployed to Iraq in August 2005. He is expecting his first child in April 2006.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102605I.shtml

Heulen und Zähneklappern

...Die neue Ehrlichkeit von Koch und Stoiber wären unter diesem Blickwinkel eben nicht einfach unter Alarmismus abzutun. Sie könnten das Feld für einen neuen gesellschaftlichen Diskurs ebnen, bei dem die Opfer bringenden Anständigen den "Schmarotzern an der Sozialgemeinschaft gegenüber gestellt werden. Die Voraussetzungen dafür wären besser als je zuvor. Schließlich hätte man mit der SPD auch große Teile der Gewerkschaften mit im Boot der Koalition der Anständigen. Die 'üblichen Verdächtigen' aus Linkspartei und sozialen Bewegungen könnte man dann um so ungenierter mit dem Stigma belegen, sie schädigten das Gemeinschaftsinteresse. Wenn schon die Arbeitslosigkeit nicht grundlegend beseitigt werden kann, müssen wenigstens Sündenböcke gefunden werden...

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21218/1.html

"Verfestigte Arbeitsmarktmisere": Verbände warnen vor Demagogie bei "Hartz IV"-Missbrauchsdebatte (26.10.05)

Sozial- und Wohlfahrtsverbände wenden sich gegen "Demagogie" im Zuge der Debatte um "Leistungsmissbrauch" im Zusammenhang mit der Arbeitsmarktreform "Hartz IV". "Das ist der Versuch, eine lang verfestigte Arbeitsmarktmisere den Betroffenen zuzuschreiben", sagte der Generalsekretär des Deutschen Caritasverbandes, Georg Cremer, der "Leipziger Volkszeitung". Bezieher von Arbeitslosengeld II könne man nicht Leistungsmissbrauch vorwerfen, wenn sie Gestaltungsspielräume des Gesetzes nutzten etwa bei den Miet- und Untermietverhältnissen. VdK-Präsident Walter Hirrlinger sagte der Zeitung: "Warum soll es im Einzelfall beim Leistungsmissbrauch bei Arbeitslosen anders zugehen als in der Wirtschaft sonst auch?" Nur weil es dort bisweilen Korruption gebe, werde von den Verantwortlichen doch auch nicht die ganze Wirtschaft als korrupt bezeichnet.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12130

Washington, Oct 25 (Prensa Latina) US activist Cindy Sheehan announced Tuesday that, in a continuation of her antiwar crusade, she intends to tie herself to the White House fence to insist the government withdraw its troops from Iraq.

In an interview with ABC News, the Gold Star mother (her son Casey was killed in Iraq in April 2004) said "The police will probably arrest me, but when they release me, I will do it again."

Every US soldier who dies in Iraq is more than a number, it is an unnecessary tragedy. I had been working hard to end this insanity, but after my son died, another 1,400 soldiers lost their lives, she said.

Her son, Casey, 24, was killed in an ambush in Sadr a few weeks after he arrived in Iraq.

Several antiwar groups plan to organize a candlelight procession in front of the White House when the number of US troops killed in Iraq reaches 2,000, which could happen this week.

Since the US government led a coalition in attacking Saddam Hussein in March 2003, 1,999 US soldiers have died and more than 14,300 have been wounded.

Cindy Sheehan made a promise to the people of the United States that she would continue her fight against the war until all the US troops come home.

I will be a heartbroken mother until I die because of the lies that destroyed my son, Sheehan said. I will continue the struggle until the troops come home. Our people are going to Iraq to die and we should stop this at all costs, she insisted.

With Sheehan, the Gold Star Families for Peace have urged the people of the US to mobilize against the Iraq war.

The activist returned to her home in Oakland, California at the beginning of October, where she received a hero's welcome. Sheehan has become the international antiwar paradigm after a month-long vigil at the President's Texas ranch and an extensive trip around the nation.

hr/ccs/jvj


Informant: Walter Lippmann



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

TruthOut
by Cindy Sheehan

10/25/05

I am in Washington, DC, now and along with a coalition of peace groups and local activists, we will be holding vigils at the White House for the rest of the week from 12 noon to 8 p.m. Each day, we will be passing out black wrist bands, and we will have each person who picks one up write a KIA troops' name and number on it. Each wrist band will also stand for 50 innocent Iraqis killed. Every day at 6 p.m., we will have a ';die-in.' We will ask everyone who is present at 6 p.m. to lie down and represent a dead soldier. At that point, the park police will give us three warnings before they arrest us. We are not encouraging people to get arrested. That is a very personal decision. I am planning to not get up on the day after the 2,000th soldier is killed. I may be arrested. Then, when they let me out, I will go back and lie back down. We in America have let this criminal administration get away with murder for too long. Enough is enough. It's time to start practicing non-violent civil disobedience ( C.D.) on a large scale...

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


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Oregon Daily Emerald
by staff

10/25/05

When you access the Internet at the University, who's watching what you type? If the federal government gets its way, law enforcement officials may soon have easier access to your e-mail and Internet telephone conversations. And you may have to help pay for the upgrades that will make tapping electronic communication easier...

http://tinyurl.com/drllf


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Sierra Times
by Kirk Muse

The reason Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House and the Supreme Court is because they have won the 'language war.' President Hoover called himself a 'true liberal,' and President Eisenhower said that cutting federal spending on education would offend 'every liberal -- including me.' 'Liberal' has been made into a dirty word by Republican think tanks. ... How did they do it? The first step was to make the sound of the word 'liberal' seem like something undesirable. Notice the tone of voice used by most so-called conservative politicians and so-called conservative radio and television talk show hosts when they say the word: liberal. They make [it] sound contemptible. ... No doubt, most, if not all, have spend many hours in front of a microphone and video camera practicing and rehearsing their pronunciation of the word: liberal...

http://tinyurl.com/9aebl


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Weekly Standard
by Fred Barnes

10/26/05

If you're a Republican and already worried about your party's prospects in 2006, pollster Frank Luntz, a Republican himself, has a message for you: It's worse than you think. Luntz, who worked with Republicans in 1994 to draft the Contract With America and win a realigning election, said political conditions are as bad or worse now -- only this time for Republicans, not Democrats. Republicans won 52 House seats in 1994 and have held the House since then. In 2006, he said, Republican control of the House -- currently 232 seats to 203 seats -- is 'in jeopardy.' Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats to take over. 'Republicans have a whole year to get their act together,' Luntz said, though they've shown no signs of doing so. 'As angry and p-----off as we were about politics [in 1994], I think it's worse today,' according to Luntz, who spoke yesterday at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor...

http://tinyurl.com/7dj4m


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

10/26/05

In investigating what led to the outing of Valerie Plame, Fitzgerald discovered that a fraud had been perpetrated on the American people and the Congress of the United States. In detailing the case for war, the administration based much of its argument that Saddam was close to acquiring nuclear weapons on a cache of documents that purported to show an agreement between Iraq and the African nation of Niger to purchase 'yellowcake' uranium. The president referred to this, albeit obliquely, in his 2003 State of the Union address. A few weeks after that speech was delivered, however, the White House was forced to retract its statement -- because the documents turned out to be forgeries. Now we discover -- and Fitzgerald no doubt knows more about this than anyone -- that it wasn't an error, another dreaded 'intelligence failure,' that had allowed the Niger uranium forgeries to be marshaled along with similarly bogus intelligence as 'evidence' of Iraqi WMD; it was a deliberate act of deception, carried out at the highest levels of the U.S. government...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7776


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Salon
by Michael Scherer

10/26/05

Tensions between Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the CIA were nearing a peak in the summer of 2003, months after the initial invasion of Iraq. I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, fumed at what he saw as a 'hedging strategy' by the CIA to deflect blame for bad Iraq intelligence. 'I recall that Mr. Libby was angry about reports suggesting that senior administration officials, including Mr. Cheney, had embraced skimpy intelligence,' wrote New York Times reporter Judith Miller, in a recent summary of her meetings from 2003. 'Such reports, he said, according to my notes, were 'highly distorted.'' This is the context in which the White House lashed out against Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who had accused the administration of twisting intelligence to make a case for war, and Valerie Plame, his wife... [subscription or ad view required]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/10/26/questions/



Secrets and lies

Slate
by Christopher Hitchens

12/05/05

Stupidity and propaganda are inseparable from even the noblest war, but this consideration cannot be allowed to excuse everything. One expects that commanders at home and in the field will talk up their successes, play down crimes and errors on the ground that such information is useful to the enemy, do black propaganda in the enemy camp, and try to get their own version into the public record. But sometimes a whole new line is crossed and 'propaganda' corrupts the whole process by becoming a covert operation against one's 'own' side...

http://www.slate.com/id/2131566/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

2000 dead and no end in sight

Village Voice
by Jarrett Murphy

10/25/05

They were mostly white (73 percent of them) and fewer than 50 were women. More than half were younger than 24. California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York are the states that lost the most soldiers. But American Samoa, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, and North Dakota suffered the most deaths per capita. ... Two-thirds were in the Army; most of the rest were Marines, and a quarter of them were reservists or National Guard members. Nearly 60 percent of those killed held ranks lower than corporal, even though they make up only 43 percent of the military. ... These are their names...

http://villagevoice.com/news/0543,murph2000,69325,2.html



2,000 dead -- and for what?

WorldNetDaily
by Pat Buchanan

10/26/05

By the time this column appears, the remains of the 2,000th U.S. soldier to die in a war -- that has lasted longer than World War I -- for the United States will be on the way home. And it is difficult to visualize the end of this war or the victory so often predicted and promised. Even critics now praise the successes of Bush's father: the liberation of Kuwait, unification of Germany, the deft handling of the collapse of the Soviet Empire and breakup of the Soviet Union. But the son's foreign policy is on the precipice of failure. Only a third of the nation still supports him as a war leader, while more than half believe Iraq was a mistake and we should begin to bring the troops home now. A preliminary list of winners and losers from our invasion seems to show that it is our enemies who have prospered and our friends who have suffered. As of today, the principal winner of the Iraq war is Iran...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47048



Iraq's war dead

AlterNet
by staff

10/26/05

This week in Iraq, we reached a heart-breaking milestone: the 2,000th American soldier died in combat, fighting what we now know was always a war of choice and ideological preference. For those who opposed the invasion, it's a moment to mourn our impotence: millions of us around the world did our best to stop this bloody disaster before it started, but we failed. The real human cost, of course, is far greater than 2,000. It includes the 198 members of the 'coalition of the willing' who have died, almost 300 private contractors, 73 journalists, the 15,220 Americans who have been wounded, and the invisible dead from what the Guardian's Julian Borger called the 'extraordinarily high number of accidents, suicides and other non-combat deaths in the ranks that have gone largely unreported in the media.' And then there's the sad fact that those deceased Americans and allies are a fraction of the number of Iraqi dead...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/27353/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



On the 2,000th US Death in Iraq

Fernando Suarez del Solar: Now, two years and seven months later, we have reached 2,000. 2,000 young people, each with a dream, each with enormous potential, each manipulated and deceived for immoral reasons by the group of powerful men who dragged us into a criminal war.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102605B.shtml

Tennessean

10/25/05

Even after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist set up blind trusts to manage his investments, the Tennessee Republican was informed that he and his children received hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock in HCA Inc., the health-care company his family founded. Records filed with the Senate show that trusts held for Frist and his children received as much as $2.3 million in HCA stock between January 2001, when Frist established blind trusts in an attempt to minimize conflicts of interest, and last June, when he ordered his trustees to sell all the stock he had left in the company. Most of the HCA stock was transferred into the blind trusts once family partnerships set up to manage substantial wealth that Frist's parents left to relatives were dissolved, a Frist adviser said...

http://tinyurl.com/cbxoz


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

10/25/05

President Bush tried Tuesday to begin reviving U.S. support for the war in Iraq and reinvigorating his troubled presidency as the U.S. military death toll topped 2,000. 'I know this is a trying time for our military spouses,' Bush said at a Joint Armed Forces Officer Wives' luncheon at Bolling Air Force Base. 'We've lost some of our nation's finest men and women in the war on terror.' 'And the best way to honor the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the mission and lay the foundation of peace by spreading freedom,' he said...

http://tinyurl.com/a24td


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

10/26/05

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed on Tuesday that oil companies be required to use some of their profits over the next two years to pay for new tax incentives to spur development of cleaner, cheaper energy. A 'strategic energy fund' could generate as much as $20 billion a year and go far in helping the United States reduce its dependence on foreign oil, the New York Democrat told a group of investors, entrepreneurs and service providers interested in alternative energy. … Under Clinton's plan, oil companies would pay an alternative energy development fee. The fee would be taken solely out of 'unanticipated profits from the sky-high oil prices,' she said, and would not be passed on to consumers. Companies that use their profits to expand refining capacity, improve fuel efficiency or invest in alternative energy would not have to pay the fee. … Officials at the American Petroleum Institute, the trade group for the oil industry, decried Clinton's proposal, which they said appeared to be calling to reinstate the windfall profits tax imposed on the industry during the 1980s...

http://tinyurl.com/acv39


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

USA Today

10/25/05

Americans are increasingly critical of President Bush and dissatisfied with the Republicans who have controlled Congress for a decade, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll finds. But congressional Democrats -- while favored when it comes to the economy, the war in Iraq and even taxes -- have problems, too. They get a rating only somewhat less negative than the GOP...

http://tinyurl.com/98tul


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Wired News

10/26/05

Iraqi Sunni leaders said on Wednesday they would focus on pressing U.S. forces to pull out after failing to block a controversial constitution, hoping a U.S. death toll of 2,000 will encourage Washington to withdraw. 'Our political program will focus more on getting the Americans out of Iraq,' Hussein al-Falluji, a prominent Sunni who took part in talks on the constitution, told Reuters. 'Our message to the American administration is clear: get out of Iraq or set a timetable for withdrawal or the resistance will keep slaughtering your soldiers until judgment day.' ... Insurgents have resumed deadly attacks again after a relative lull in violence during the referendum and the trial of Saddam Hussein last week. Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of bodyguards for Iraq's minister of water resources in western Baghdad on Wednesday, wounding two people. Police said that the minister, Abdul Latif Rasheed, was not present. Gunmen also killed an official at Iraq's Ministry of Culture, Nabil Moussawi, and seriously wounded his driver in southern Baghdad. Insurgents, who struck in dramatic fashion on Monday with a triple suicide bomb attack on a Baghdad hotel used by foreign journalists, set off new blasts on Tuesday in Baghdad and the normally tranquil city of Sulaimaniya, killing at least 15 people...

http://tinyurl.com/csecv


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indictments in the CIA leak investigation case are expected to be handed down by a grand jury on Wednesday, bringing to a head a criminal inquiry that threatens to disrupt seriously President George W. Bush's second term.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102605Z.shtml

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

Rex 84

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Rex 84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984, was a plan by the United States federal government to accommodate the detention of large numbers of American citizens in case of massive civil unrest or national emergency.

According to scholar Diana Reynolds:

The Rex-84 Alpha Explan
(Readiness Exercise 1984, Exercise Plan), indicates that FEMA in association with 34 other federal civil departments and agencies conducted a civil readiness exercise during April 5-13, 1984.

It was conducted in coordination and simultaneously with a Joint Chiefs exercise, Night Train 84, a worldwide military command post exercise (including Continental U.S. Forces or CONUS) based on multi-emergency scenarios operating both abroad and at home.

In the combined exercise, Rex-84 Bravo, FEMA and DOD led the other federal agencies and departments, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secret Service, the Treasury, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Veterans Administration through a gaming exercise to test military assistance in civil defense.

The exercise anticipated civil disturbances, major demonstrations and strikes that would affect continuity of government and/or resource mobilization.

To fight subversive activities, there was authorization for the military to implement government ordered movements of civilian populations at state and regional levels, the arrest of certain unidentified segments of the population, and the imposition of martial rule. [1]

Existence of the Rex 84 plan was first revealed during the Iran-Contra Hearings in 1987, and subsequently reported by the Miami Herald on July 5, 1987. As news of the exercise spread, it was amplified by networks of people pursuing more elaborate conspiracy theories. [2]


References

Diana Reynolds, "The Rise of the National Security State: FEMA and the NSC," CovertAction Information Bulletin, issue #33 (Winter 1990). (see external links below)

External links

• "Reagan Aides and the 'Secret' Government," Alfonso Chardy, Miami Herald, July 5, 1987

• [3] Diana Reynolds article.

• [4] Discussion of Rex 84 conspiracy theories.

• "U.S. Can Confine Citizens Without Charges, Court Rules," Jerry Markon, Washington Post, September 10, 2005; Page A01

• "Foundations are in place for martial law in the US," Ritt Goldstein, Sydney Morning Herald, July 27, 2002

• "Martial Law Concerns," Congressman Jim McDermott, House of Representatives, March 11, 2003

• "Concentration Camps in Okanagon County?," Associated Press (via KXLY News), February 25, 2003


This United States government-related article is a stub.

You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_84

Categories: United States government stubs

Peace, Liz

Liz Rich
151 East 83rd Street Penthouse C
New York, NY 10028
(212) 737-5060
(646) 825-1303 lizrich151@aol.com


Informant: friends2b

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Monday that he wanted to probe a land-condemnation proceeding in 1999 that awarded Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers more than $100,000 for a half-acre of family-owned land in Dallas.

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/12987268.htm


From Information Clearing House

Galloway accused of lying to US Senate:

The MP George Galloway angrily rejected fresh allegations last night from a US senate investigation that he lied under oath about Saddam Hussein's multimillion-pound oil-for-food programme.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10758.htm



Galloway Speak Truth To Power:

Video: Galloway v The US Senate: George Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, delivered this statement to US Senators today (05/17/05) who have accused him of corruption.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8869.htm



U.S. Senate Smears George Galloway Again:
Galloway's wife 'received £100,000 from Iraqis':

An "investigative" committee of the United States Senate says Galloway's wife 'received $149,980,000 from Iraqis'

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10757.htm



George Galloway faces jail for fresh corruption claims: Galloway could be facing a lengthy prison sentence in the United States after a Senate committee last night claimed it had fresh evidence his political organisation and his wife had received nearly £340,000 in oil-for-food allocations from Saddam Hussein and then lied under oath about the deal.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10752.htm



Video report: Galloway claims revenge is the motive:

Galloway claims revenge is the motive: George Galloway has called the allegations against him a "revenge attack" from a "lickspittle right-wing senator". Windows Media.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10767.htm



Galloway rejects senate perjury claims:

A furious George Galloway today challenged US senators to charge him with perjury over claims that he solicited money from Saddam Hussein's oil-for-food programme and lied about it under oath.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10759.htm



Galloway challenges the US Senate committee to charge him:

The Respect MP George Galloway has thrown down a challenge to the US Senate homeland security committee to charge him with perjury and "I'll see you in court". .

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10762.htm

Rupert Murdoch, and Richard Mellon Scaife, and other far rightwing billionaires have deeply corrupted our information environment. They are in part responsible for what happened at the NYT.

http://www.juancole.com/2005/10/rupert-murdoch-and-judith-miller.html


From Information Clearing House

“Did the Bush Administration deliberately mislead Congress about the war?

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


From Information Clearing House

I don't like what Miller represents in journalism. She is not, to my mind, a journalist. She forfeited that claim when she became a conduit of propaganda for the neo-conservative cabal that has its bloody hands on the control levers of the nation.

http://www.counterpunch.com/sugg10252005.html


From Information Clearing House

Team Bush was finalizing its campaign to discredit and undermine special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's conclusions, sources told the Daily News.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/359006p-305893c.html


From Information Clearing House

We speak to former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman on the latest development in the CIA leak case. The New York Times is reporting today that Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff Lewis Scooter Libby first learned the identity of the CIA operative from his boss – Dick Cheney. Real Audio and transcript.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10769.htm



Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Lawyers Report:

Lawyers involved in the case, who described the notes to The New York Times, said they showed that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10756.htm



Cheney aide passed Plame's name to Libby:

Those close to the investigation say that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been told that David Wurmser, then a Middle East adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney on loan from the office of then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton, met with Cheney and his chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby in June 2003 and told Libby that Plame set up the Wilson trip.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Cheney_aide_passed_Plames_name_to_1024.html


From Information Clearing House

The PM warned Iran that life could become "a lot more difficult" if it carries on defying the international community.

http://tinyurl.com/8ar5f



Security Council Split Over Resolution on Syria:

Western nations working on a resolution to pressure Syria to cooperate with a U.N. investigation into the slaying of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri are encountering resistance from other Security Council members -- principally Algeria, China and Russia -- U.S., European and U.N officials said Monday.

http://www.champress.net/english/index.php?page=show_det&id=783



Syria is being Set Up to Fail: A Leaked Letter from Washington:

It explains how Syria is being set up to fail so that the US can isolate it and carry out a process of regime-change at the expense of Iraqi stability and the lives of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. It explains how the US administration's policy of forcing regime change in Syria is trumping the need to save lives in Iraq.

http://tinyurl.com/aftpz



NSC Chief Hadley asked Italy for a Bashar Replacement:

Steven Hadley, the director of the US National Security Council, called the President of the Italian senate to asked if he had a candidate to replace Bashar al-Asad as President of Syria. The Italians were horrified. Italy is one of Syria’s biggest trading partners so it seemed a reasonable place to ask! This is what Washington has been up to.

http://tinyurl.com/9jpa2


From Information Clearing House

George W. Bush has unveiled a new vision for U.S. foreign policy.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10764.htm

Mark Borkowski on the worrying rise and rise of Karen Hughes, George W Bush's 'ambassador for public diplomacy' and the woman behind the throne.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1598485,00.html


From Information Clearing House

TWO AND A HALF YEARS AND $202 BILLION into the war in Iraq, the United States has at least one significant new asset to show for it: effective membership, through our control of Iraq's energy policy, in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Arab-dominated oil cartel.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10765.htm

The nation has to be kept on its toes: - This is why 9/11 was a ‘gift’ ! - It put the country in the ‘proper’ mood.

http://iraquna2.blogspot.com/2005/06/theory-of-perpetual-war.html


From Information Clearing House

President George W. Bush, bracing for the fallout when the U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000, said on Tuesday the Iraq war will require more sacrifice and rejected critics calling for a U.S. pullout.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051025/pl_nm/iraq_bush_dc


From Information Clearing House

"The nearly 2,000 Americans killed in combat (1,998 on October 24, 2005) in Iraq since 2003 are more than were lost in Vietnam combat in the first four years of U.S. combat (1961-1965, when just over 1800 died). This total is more than were lost in the last two years of combat (1971-1972, when just over 1600 died)"

http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20051024.120319&time=13


From Information Clearing House

Could Somebody Recommend a President?

By Paul Craig Roberts

On the basis of the word of a convicted felon and swindler, Condi Rice wants a high level UN Security Council meeting to condemn Syria so the Bush administration can bring about "regime change" in Syria.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10761.htm

By Associated Press

At least 21 detainees who died while in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan were the victims of homicide and usually died during or after interrogations, according to an analysis of Defence Department data.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10751.htm
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=94706;show_parent=1

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1122014,00.html


Informant: Andrea Ball

http://www.ww4report.com/node/1151


Informant: Michael Pugliese

From ufpj-news

Activists Express Outrage at Rising Death Toll Participate in the Online People's Speakout!

Twenty-nine months after President Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq, while standing dressed up as a soldier under a banner that read “Mission Accomplished” on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the number of Iraqis killed far surpasses 100,000. Iraqi villages and cities have been completely destroyed, families torn apart, children killed, parents tortured. The number of U.S. war dead has now reached 2,000. More than 1,860 U.S. servicemen and women have died since Bush’s odious photo-op session on the aircraft. Public opinion in the United States has decisively turned against the war in Iraq just as it turned against the war in Vietnam three decades ago. U.S. troops should be brought out of Iraq immediately. The people of Iraq should be paid reparations for the wholesale destruction of their country and the staggering loss of human life. Bush, Cheney and other officials in the Bush administration should be held accountable for their criminal conduct. None of the mothers, fathers and loved ones of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq will ever forget that Bush, in an example of extreme arrogance on July 2, 2003, told the Iraqi armed resistance “bring ‘em on.” Bush and Cheney are willing to fight this illegal war until the last drop of other people’s blood. As the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq hits the 2,000 figure, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and VoteNoWar members and supporters are coming out in local protests against the illegal and criminal war and occupation in Iraq. These local protests come on the heels of the September 24 demonstrations, when more than 300,000 people surrounded the White House, and tens of thousands more protested in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.

The Online People's Speakout: Now that we are back in our respective towns and cities, and continuing our antiwar work, a pressing need of the movement is to stay connected. As we all move forward with local activities, it is essential that we stay in touch and share our experiences with our sisters and brothers fighting for justice and peace worldwide. It is important to remember that we are an enormous force, truly representing the majority sentiment opposed to this criminal war. To help fulfill this communications need, A.N.S.W.E.R. and VoteNoWar have announced a brand new feature - the Online People's Speakout. Activists can now post reports and pictures directly onto the VoteNoWar and A.N.S.W.E.R. sites for the world to see. The corporate media functions as a propaganda vehicle for the White House, the Pentagon, and the religious right. This system allow us to get the truth out. Every antiwar organization and individual connected to the movement can now participate directly. Using our stories and our pictures of the activities that are taking place in local areas throughout the United States and around the world, each one of us as an individual, or as a local antiwar group has the opportunity to communicate with millions of people. This is also a resource to connect with media outlets, and particularly alternative media sources, which have not been able to cover the antiwar movement with the breadth that they would like to. Now there's a system to hear directly from antiwar activists all over the country, as they report back on their activities.

For today and tomorrow's demonstration: Post pictures and brief descriptions of your local antiwar activities. Post pictures and brief descriptions of your experiences at September 24th. Click below to directly participate in the global People's Speak Out. Participate in the Speakout by clicking here (Easy to use - try it!)

http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=2Y-_aixF5y9_i9olEWKlBQ..


Informant: Mofmars3

Crises environnementales à conséquences sanitaires: La Science et l'Etat face à leurs échecs.

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

When American corporations come up against inconvenient science, say, a study showing that mercury in fish can damage a developing fetus, they call in the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). Industry-funded ACSH is the most aggressive debunker of pesky research reports emanating from government and academia.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/102505HA.shtml

New ads from big oil companies urge conservation as a solution to high gas prices. But it "sticks in the craw," Motavalli says, because: "Big Oil, never previously a friend of alternative energy or of energy-related regulation, used its lobbying power to lead us straight to where we are today - in a real mess."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/102505EC.shtml

It's time for the denial to end, but Washington is governed by a bipartisan consensus that somehow the laws of physics and chemistry don't apply to us.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/102505EA.shtml

Congressional negotiators are feeling heat from the White House and constituents as they consider whether to back a Senate-approved ban on torturing detainees in US custody, or weaken it as the White House prefers.

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

Italy's intelligence chief met with Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley just a month before the Niger forgeries first surfaced.

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

The 2,000th soldier has died in Iraq. The Pentagon announced that Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas, died Saturday in San Antonio of injuries sustained October 17. Protests today have commenced after this milestone was announced and will continue throughout the week in Washington. Also, there will be combined vigils and protests in cities across the country tomorrow.

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

http://websearch.cs.com/wm/boomframe.jsp?query=cindy+sheehan+and+october+2005&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D462170e8fa26f64%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery%3Dcindy%2Bsheehan%2Band%2Boctober%2B2005%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.michaelmoore.com%252Fmustread%252Findex.php%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DWMBoom%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelmoore.com%2Fmustread%2Findex.php


Informant: Mofmars3



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

http://www.justiceinbelgium.com

The contents of this Site will show you step by step several procedures before the Belgian justice, some of the proceedings 12 years in course without any date of audience. In the contents you’re going to note in one of the recordings that the victim was well present at the hearing and the judge in the sentence says that he and his layer weren’t present, in another procedure, first the judge pronounces in favour of the victim, as he should, than with more proof in the file, he refuses to admit the evidences, in the contents exposed, you’re going to verify: "Corruption, Xenophobia, Discrimination", violations of Civil Rights, Article 1.382 of the Belgian Civil Code, the Penal Code and the Constitutionals Rights Arts. 10, 11 and 191, violation of Art. 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties of the 4 of November 1950 and violation of Art. 10 of the Universal Declaration of Humans Rights of the 10 of December 1948, etc….. the last time I was present at a hearing, the person that was before me, his affaire was 30 years old before the tribunals, I was stoned, 7 others persons died in that issue, he seems to come form an eastern European country, he also had to change three times lawyers, from what was read at the hearing, his old lawyers didn’t do their job properly, as always is the case, the Belgian judicial system has destroyed that man’s personality and dignity, it’s impossible to arrived a such conclusions unless the judges give reason to those who pay the higher price, another Site has just appeared, I suggest you visit this Site: http://www.boudiaf.net, he will confirm what has been exposed on my Site but far worse, I have been very modest, the contents will reveal proof of what has been already exposed and far worse that any one could imagine, the Belgian authorities reacted by arresting him when he has no blood or intended to have blood on his hands, they try already to kill him 5 times, more than two weeks after his arrest, his family don’t know his were about, very soon an explication of the facts will be added on this Site under "Citoyens et Injustices", he never shot any one or had the intention of doing it, the Belgian government has violated the Art. 10 of the European Humans Rights of 4th November 1950, it’s impossible to have justice in an equitable manner in Belgium under such conditions, I’m not the only case, like my cases, there’re thousands of other victims, that’s how justice really works at the present time in Belgium.

Capernaun

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Les exposées dans cet Site vous démontrera pas à pas diverses procédures en justice, certes encore en cours depuis 12 ans sans que la justice belge se prononce où te communique un date d’audience. Dans le contenu de l’un des exposés, vous allez constater que la victime était bien présente à l’audience et le juge dans la sentence dise que la victime ni son avocat ne se sont pas présenté à l’audience, dans une autre exposé, le juge premièrement se prononce à faveur de la victime, comme il doit, en suite, avec plus des preuves dans le dossier, il refuse d’admettre les évidences, dans les exposées vous allez constater : "Corruption, Xénophobie, Discrimination", violations des Droits Civiles, Article 1.382 du Code Civil belge, violation des Articles Pénales et Constitutionnels, Arts, 10, 11 et 191, violation de l’article 6 de la Convention Européenne de Sauvegarde des Droits de l’Homme et les Libertés Fondamentales du 4 de novembre 1950 et l’article 10 de la Déclaration Universelle des Droits de l’Homme du 10 décembre 1948, etc….. la dernière fois que j’étais au tribunal, la personne qu’étais devant moi, il avait l’aire de venir d’un pays de l’est de l’Europe, son affaire était 30 ans en cours, j’ai resté raide, 7 de ses collègues ont péris dans l’accident, il a du changer trois fois d’avocat, d’après la lecture des conclusions, ses anciens avocats ont mal mené son affaire, comme est habituellement le cas, le système judiciaire a détruite ça dignité et personnalité, il est impossible d’arriver à des telles conclusions, sauf si les juges donnent raison à ceux qui payant le prix le plus élevé, un nouveau Site viens d’apparaître, il vous confirmera l’exposé dans ce Site, je suis encore très humble dans l’exposée, les faits vont vous démontrer ce qu’est déjà exposé, mais de façon non imaginé, je vous conseille d’aller visiter ce Site: www.boudiaf.net cet fois plus explicit et aggravant que personne pouvait l’imaginer, les commanditaires des assassinats des enfants belges, leurs identité est publié, las autorités belges ont réagi en lui placent sous mandat d’arrêt, il n’ai pas de sang sur ses mains, il na’ pas tué personne ou avais l’intention d’en tuer qui qu’il soit, plus de deux semaines après son arrestation, ça famille ne sais pas toujours où il est, très bientôt il va être ajouter une explicative sur cet Site, sous "Citoyens et Injustices", violation de part du Gouvernement belge de l’article 10 de la Convection Européenne des Droits de l’Homme du 4 novembre 1950, avec des tels conditions aujourd’hui il est impossible d’avoir une justice équitablement, je ne suis pas le seul cas, comment mes cas, il y a des milliers d’autres victimes, c’est comme ça qu’au présent la justice est rendu/fonctionne en Belgique.

Capernaun

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El expuesto en este Sitio les mostrará varios procedimientos paso a paso ante la justicia belga, algunos de ellos 12 años en curso sin aún una fecha de audiencia. En el contenido expuesto, ustedes van a notar en el expuesto auditivo que la víctima estaba bien presente a la audiencia y el juez en la sentencia dice que él y su abogado no se han presentado, en un otro procedimiento, el juez primeramente se pronuncia a favor de la víctima, lo cual es lógico, posteriormente con más pruebas en el expediente, este se niega a admitir las evidencias, en los expuestos, ustedes van a constatar: "Corrupción, Xenofobia, Discriminación", violaciones de los Derechos Civiles, Artículo 1.382 del Código Civil, Código Penal y Derechos Constitucionales, Arts. 10, 11 y 191, violación del Art. 6 de la Convención Europea de Derechos Humanos y Libertades Fundamentales del 4 de noviembre de 1950 y violación del Art. 10 de la Declaración Universal de Derechos del Hombre del 10 de diciembre de 1948, etc….. luna de las veces que yo me he presentado ante un tribunal, la persona que estaba entes de mi, este ya llevaba 30 años en pleitos, parecía venir de un país del este de Europa, que quedé de piedra, 7 de sus colegas habían muerto en la tragedia, ha tenido que cambiar tres veces de abogado, según lo que se ha leído en la audiencia, sus antiguos abogados le habían mal defendido, como suele ser siempre el caso, el sistema judicial belga ha destruido la dignidad y personaje de este pobre hombre, es imposible llagar a tales conclusiones al no ser que los jueces den razón a esos que pagan el precio más alto, los hechos van a demostrarles lo que ya se conoce, pero esta vez más explicito y aún mucho más grave, un nuevo Sitio viene de aparecer, les confirmará lo expuesto en este Sitio pero mucho más agravante, cosas que no te puedes imaginar que un estado y sus políticos hubiesen podido hacer, yo aún he sido muy humilde en mis exposiciones, les aconsejo que visiten este Sitio: www.boudiaf.net las personas que han comanditado los asesinatos de estos niños, religiosos, civiles, etc…, sus identidades están expuestas, las autoridades belgas en causa han reaccionado plazándole bajo arresto judicial, este señor no tiene delitos de sangre sobre sus manos, no ha matado a nadie ni ha tenido la intención de matar a nadie, ya le han querido matarle 5 veces, más de dos semanas después de su arresto, su familia no sabe donde está, muy pronto se agregará un explicativo sobre este Sitio, bajo las referencias "Citoyens et Injustices", violación por parte del Estado belga del articulo 10 de la Convección Europea de Derechos del Hombre del 4 de noviembre de 1950, ante tales condiciones como Uds podrán constatar, es imposible poder tener justicia equitativa en Bélgica, mis pleitos no son los únicos, como mis casos, hay miles de otras victimas que les sucede de mismo o peor, así es como realmente funciona actualmente la justicia en Bélgica.

Capernaun

Today the 2000th US soldier was killed in Iraq.

On Wednesday, October 26th people will gather in communities across the US to say that the country’s pro-peace majority wants Congress to stop the deaths by stopping the dollars that are funding the war.

Click here to find or organize an event in your community.
http://www.afsc.org/2000/


From Common Dreams

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3537/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/booksmags/sfl-bktimmilleroct23,0,1064045.story?coll=sfla-features-books


Informant: Gomez

This was picked up by the mainstream news services today.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20051025/D8DFAHD80.html

For one example with headline "The White House Sidesteps Questions about Cheney"

What's really interesting is that not an hour ago, the headline read "White House Comes to Defense of Cheney" and since then ... a veritable spate of activity is being pumped on the news wires to stir up support for the war, etc.

If you want a better view into the indictments go to http://www.google.com , then choose News.

It's happening.

haley

26.10.2005

LESERBRIEF

Zum Kommentar zur Klage gegen den Handy-Mast der Stadt Naila vom 19. Oktober

„Neue wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse müssen wir gar nicht erst abwarten, die Mobilfunk-Forschung muss nicht noch jahrelang kostenaufwändig weiter betrieben werden, denn die bereits vorliegenden Untersuchungen im Labor als auch mit Anwohnern von Mobilfunk-Sendern, von anerkannten Wissenschaftlern, sind aussagekräftig genug.

Ich erinnere an Dr. Repacholi (WHO): Erhöhtes Krebsrisiko bei Mäusen. Ecolog-Studie: Hinweise auf krebsfördernde Wirkungen, DNS-Brüche und Schäden an Chromosomen, Durchlässigkeit der Bluthirnschranke schon bei geringer Strahlung. Studie von Dr. Cherry: klarer Zusammenhang zwischen Hochfrequenz-Strahlen und Krebs, Geburts- und Fruchtbarkeits-Störungen bei Tieren und mehr. Professor Dr. Kundi: Herz-Kreislauf-Beschwerden, Schwindel und mehr. Professor Santini: Sehstörungen, Reizbarkeit, chronische Müdigkeit, Depressionen, Hautprobleme, Schlafstörungen, Gedächtnisverlust und mehr. Dr. L. v. Klitzing: Veränderung der Hirnströme. Reflex-Studie: DNA-Strangbrüche, Chromosomenschäden. Professor Dr. Zwamborn: deutlicher, statisch signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen UMTS-ähnlichen Feldern und dem Wohlbefinden. Ich könnte diese List fortsetzen. . . Dr. Cherry (raum&zeit 108/2000) spricht von ,überwältigenden Beweisen‘, dass Mobilfunk-Strahlung schädigend und krebsfördernd ist. Als wissenschaftlicher Beweis gilt aber nur, wenn eine Studie wiederholt worden wäre. Aber laut Dr. Cherry ist ein Forschungsergebnis ein Beweis. Wiederholung ist erforderlich, damit ein biologischer Effekt allgemein akzeptiert wird.

Seit zehn Jahren wenden sich erkrankte Menschen an die zuständigen Landes- und Bundesbehörden, es sind inzwischen Tausende. Aber unsere Regierung hat bisher keinerlei Initiative zur Abklärung ergriffen, obwohl sie zur Schadensabwehr verpflichtet ist. Solange es keine epidemiologischen Untersuchungen der Anwohner im Umkreis von Mobilfunkanlagen gibt, kein Schadensfall untersucht wurde, solange dürfen staatliche Stellen auch nicht behaupten, es gäbe keine Schäden durch Mobilfunk. Und auch wenn es nur Einzelfälle wären, wie oft behauptet wird, auch diese hätten ein Recht auf körperliche Unversehrtheit. Man rechnet allerdings mit mindestens 15 Prozent der Bevölkerung. Aus wirtschaftlichen Gründen werden wir noch lange auf ,neue wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse‘ und auf die Anerkennung der bereits vorliegenden warten müssen. Tausende Ärzte sehen besorgt eine stetig wachsende Anzahl von Menschen unter der Mobilfunk-Technologie, dazu gehören auch die DECT-Telefone. Sie fordern die Politiker und Wissenschaftler dringlichst auf, endlich vorsorglich zu handeln, um noch größeren Schaden vom Volk abzuwenden.“

Omega siehe dazu „Ärzteappelle gegen ungezügelten Mobilfunk“ unter: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1064751/

MONIKA SCHUBERTH-BREHM, VORDERE SCHNAID 12, WALLENFELS

http://www.frankenpost.de/nachrichten/regional/frankenwald/resyart.phtm?id=871393

This report sets out very clearly why landowners should not enter into mast wayleave agreements lightly, thinking it will be easy to get out of one of these. Landowners should also consider the possibility of unpleasant backlashes due to mounting adverse health research results and the degrading/blight of other people's property.

Best wishes

Jane

Check out the following link:
http://tinyurl.com/alg6c

Abramoff Used DeLay Aide, Attacks On Allies to Defeat Anti-Gambling Bill

By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 16, 2005; Page A01
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his team were beginning to panic .

An anti-gambling bill had cleared the Senate and appeared on its way to passage by an overwhelming margin in the House of Representatives. If that happened, Abramoff's client, a company that wanted to sell state lottery tickets online, would be out of business.

But on July 17, 2000, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act went down to defeat, to the astonishment of supporters who included many anti-gambling groups and Christian conservatives.

A senior aide to then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) helped scuttle the bill in the House. The aide, Tony C. Rudy, 39, e-mailed Abramoff internal congressional communications and advice, according to documents and the lobbyist's former associates. [...] Read it all at http://tinyurl.com/8x7sj or http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101605Y.shtml



© Virginia Metze

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/10/normalization-of-treason-republicans.html

The Criminalization of Politics
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/17/31244/628


© Virginia Metze

Also at Electronic Frontiers Foundation is a copy of the court opinion which indicates that " See http://tinyurl.com/8wbkq The decision of October 14, 2005 is the next to last link in the list at the bottom of the web page. National Stand Down Day - Nov. 18, 2005


© Virginia Metze

End The Iraq War - Demonstrations and Nonviolent Resistance at Recruiting Stations Across the Country

Young Americans sign on to go into harm’s way to defend their country if necessary, but instead they are being turned into harm’s ministers in a war that has claimed more then 100,000 Iraqi lives and nearly 2,000 Americans. The President and Congress have breached a sacred trust with our soldiers and abused their oath to defend the Constitution by leading young Americans to kill and die in a war based on lies.

As the Bush Administration refuses to make plans to bring our troops home, join us for “National Stand Down Day,” as we halt the machinery that takes young Americans off to this illegal and endless war in Iraq. [...] See "Iraq Pledge of Resistance" at http://www.iraqpledge.org/


© Virginia Metze

Study Says

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Page A02

Extreme weather events -- including heat waves, floods and drought -- are likely to become more common over the next century in the United States because of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by Purdue University researchers.

The analysis, which is being published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, examines how heat-trapping gases linked to climate change may intensify precipitation, drought and other weather conditions. Instances of extreme heat will probably increase throughout the country, the scientists concluded, and many areas will experience heavier downpours even if rain becomes less frequent. Read it all at: http://tinyurl.com/8sfc2


© Virginia Metze

Tim Grieve
Salon War Room
posted by Aaron Kinney
Friday October 14, 2005

A dismal week for the Bush administration ended with Karl Rove walking out of a courthouse following more than four hours of grand jury testimony and audio clips demonstrating that the president's video teleconference with soldiers in Iraq Thursday wasn't just rehearsed, it was pretty much scripted.

The revelation Thursday that the president's video conference was rehearsed showed just how disordered the administration has become, as it stumbles from one mishap to another. Even CNN, not a network inclined to rock the White House boat, ran a tape of the embarrassing pre-conference preparations. Like Madonna told her domineering father, "You can't hurt me now," in "Oh, Father," CNN announced to the world, in effect, that it's not afraid of the White House anymore. [...] Read more at Salon "War Room": http://tinyurl.com/72ovy


© Virginia Metze

mediacitizen

A Crash-Scene Investigation at the Crossroads of Old Media and New
Friday, October 14, 2005

Our CEO president continues to treat news as widgets to be fabricated and sold to an unsuspecting public. Witness yesterday's Iraq war charade: a carefully orchestrated White House video link-up with Iraq that used U.S. soldiers as extras to shed positive light on Bush's war strategy.

We know this only because the media stunt was reported as such in the AP, the Washington Post, on NPR and, even "The Today Show." Such dogged objectivity is a new tack for many of our colleagues in the mainstream. But by revealing the man behind the curtain, they also lay bare the machinations of their own public deception.

That some in mainstream media are no longer giving this president a free pass to the front page is news in its own right. Bush's plummeting approval rating might have something to do with their newfound skepticism, which raises another issue altogether: It seems our media eagerly pile scorn upon a president when his numbers are down, but give him the benefit of the doubt when they're up. [...] Read the rest at mediacitizen blog: http://tinyurl.com/7ofa6


© Virginia Metze

'Rule of Law'? That's So '90s
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Op-Ed Columnist
Washington Post
Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Page A25

We are on the verge of an extraordinary moment in American politics. The people running our government are about to face their day -- or days -- in court.

Those who thought investigations were a wonderful thing when Bill Clinton was president are suddenly facing prosecutors, and they don't like it. It seems like a hundred years ago when Clinton's defenders were accusing his opponents of using special prosecutors, lawsuits, criminal charges and, ultimately, impeachment to overturn the will of the voters.

Clinton's conservative enemies would have none of this. No, they said over and over, the Clinton mess was not about sex but about "perjury and the obstruction of justice" and "the rule of law."

The old conservative talking points are now inoperative. [...] Read it all at http://tinyurl.com/deasx


© Virginia Metze

THE BIG MELT, NO ESCAPE: THAW GAINS MOMENTUM
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/science/earth/25arctic.html


Informant: NHNE



The Big Thaw: Global Disaster Will Follow If the Ice Cap on Greenland Melts http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1120-03.htm

http://www.swg-hamburg.de/Demokratiereform/Entdemokratisierung_durch_Zent/entdemokratisierung_durch_zent.html


Nachricht von Gerd Zesar

Allgäuer Zeitung Kaufbeuren

26.10.2005, Allgäuer Zeitung

„Wir wollen nicht so enden wie die Radarsoldaten“

Mobilfunkinitiative Kaufbeuren lässt wegen Antenne am Finanzamt Blutuntersuchungen machen

Kaufbeuren (fro). - „Die Verträge sind durch. Ich rechne im Spätherbst mit der Aufstellung der Mobilfunkantenne am Finanzamt“, sagt Gottlieb Tröber etwas resigniert. Der Vorsitzende der Mobilfunkinitiative Kaufbeuren zeigt sich von der Stadt enttäuscht: Statt auf Bedenken der Bürger einzugehen, verstecke sich die Stadt hinter gesetzlichen Grenzwerten. Nun haben sich die Beschäftigten des Finanzamtes einer freiwilligen Blutuntersuchung unterzogen. Damit soll ihr Blutbild dokumentiert werden, um mögliche gesundheitliche Beeinträchtigungen durch Strahlen der Antenne zu dokumentieren.

Im Finanzamt Kaufbeuren arbeiten 250 Angestellte. Die staunten nicht schlecht, als ihnen mitgeteilt wurde, dass der Mobilfunkbetreiber T-Mobile eine 22 Meter hohe Antenne am Finanzamt bauen will. Sie gründeten mit Anwohnern eine Initiative dagegen, wählten den Personalratsvorsitzenden Tröber zum Vorsitzenden und hatten binnen kurzer Zeit rund 400 Unterschriften gegen die Antenne gesammelt.

Die Initiative, die mittlerweile auch mit der Ostallgäuer Initiative gegen Mobilfunk zusammenarbeitet, wendet sich nicht prinzipiell gegen Mobilfunk. Aber es sei durchaus möglich, „verträgliche Antennenstandpunkte“, also nicht direkt an Arbeitsstätten oder Wohngebieten, auszuwählen. Außerdem sei der Strahlen-Grenzwert in Deutschland gesundheitsschädlich. In Ländern wie Österreich oder Russland gelten deshalb niedrigere Grenzwerte für Mobilfunk.

„Wir wollen nicht so enden wie die Radar-Soldaten oder die Asbest-Kranken“, sagt Gottlieb Tröber. Trotz unabhängiger ärztlicher Untersuchungen sei jahrelang die Gefährlichkeit der Radarstrahlen oder des Asbests verharmlost worden. Mittlerweile wird die Gefährdung zwar tatsächlich anerkannt, aber für die Erkrankten sei das ein schwacher Trost. Jetzt hat sich fast die gesamte Belegschaft des Finanzamtes freiwilligen Blutuntersuchungen unterzogen.

Von Institut untersucht

„Viele Leute haben Probleme, was da mit den Strahlen auf sie zukommt“, erklärt Tröber. Die Blutwerte werden nun von einem Institut untersucht, dass sich auf derartige Untersuchungen spezialisiert habe. Das dokumentiert die Blutwerte und vergleicht sie mit zukünftigen Proben. „Mit den festgestellten Werten können nach Bau und Inbetriebnahme der Funkstation Veränderungen im Blutbild nachgewiesen werden“, erläutert Tröber. Dann könnten die Mitarbeiter versuchen, Schadensersatzforderungen geltend zu machen.

Zitat

Sämtliche Bemühungen der Bediensteten und der Mobilfunkinitiative um einen unbedenklichen Standpunkt sind an der Arroganz von T-Mobile und der Unlust der Stadt Kaufbeuren gescheitert.}

Gottlieb Tröber, Vorsitzender der Mobilfunkinitiative Kaufbeuren

Die Initiative will auch den Anwohnern die Möglichkeit der Blutuntersuchungen anbieten. Außerdem wolle man weiter auf die Stadt einwirken. Schließlich sei diese nach dem Mobilfunkpakt verpflichtet, Gespräche mit Beteiligten zu führen. Zwar habe die Initiative mit der Stadt gesprochen, aber die „redet sich mit den gesetzlichen Grenzwerten heraus“, so Tröber. Andere Städte wie Dachau würden sich freiwillig verpflichten, strengere Grenzwerte einzuhalten. Bei Kindergärten würde die Stadt schließlich auch ein Veto gegen benachbarte Mobilfunkantennen einlegen.

http://www.all-in.de/redsys/c.php/allin/lokales/kf.php?l=de&dom=dom1&id=543358

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

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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.