q/depesche 2005-12-12T18:18:31

Datenspeicherpflicht: Ein Eurofighter pro Jahr

Nach ersten Schätzungen österreichischer Internet-Provider wird diese Überwachung der Benutzer jährlich 80 bis 120 Millionen Euro kosten. Die Kosten, umgerechnet eine 13. Monatsgebühr, werden Konsumenten und Steuerzahler zu tragen haben. Fest- und Mobiltelefonie erwarten ebenfalls Belastungen im mehrstelligen Millionen Euro Bereich.


Subject: Datenspeicherpflicht kostet einen Eurofighter pro Jahr Date: Montag, 12. Dezember 2005 09:31

Datenspeicherpflicht (Data Retention) kostet einen Eurofighter pro Jahr

Nach ersten Schätzungen österreichischer Internet-Provider wird diese Überwachung der Benutzer jährlich 80 bis 120 Millionen Euro kosten. Die Kosten, umgerechnet eine 13. Monatsgebühr, werden Konsumenten und Steuerzahler zu tragen haben. Fest- und Mobiltelefonie erwarten ebenfalls Belastungen im mehrstelligen Millionen Euro Bereich.

Die Justiz- und Innenminister der EU Staaten sowie die EU Kommission sehen vor, die Verbindungsdaten jeglicher Kommunikation über Telefon, Mobilfunk und Internet aller 450 Millionen Europäer aufzuzeichnen. Dies wird offenlegen, wer mit wem über Festnetz-, Mobil- und Internet-Telefon gesprochen hat, wer wem eine E-Mail geschickt hat, welche Websites ein Nutzer besucht hat und sogar, wo Menschen mit ihren Mobiltelefonen waren.

Telekomunternehmen und Internet-Provider wären gezwungen, alle Verbindungsdaten ihrer Kunden aufzuzeichnen und zu speichern. Polizei und Geheimdienste in ganz Europa hätten Zugriff auf diese Verbindungsdaten. Als Speicherdauer dieser Aufzeichnungen sind bis zu vier Jahre vorgesehen.

Nicht einmal in den USA, wo als Folge der Anschläge vom 11. September 2001 Bürgerrechte zum Teil empfindlich eingeschränkt wurden, gibt es eine Datenspeicherpflicht (engl. data retention) von Verbindungsdaten. Der US-Kongress hat entsprechende Gesetzesvorhaben mehrfach mit der Begründung abgelehnt, dass eine Vorratsdatenspeicherung zu weit in die Grundrechte eingreife.

Ein breiter gesellschaftlicher Konsens von Wirtschaftskammer, Arbeiterkammer, Datenschützern bis zur Internet Service Provider Association Austria (Links zu den Stellungnahmen unten) hat sich gegen dieses Vorhaben ausgesprochen.

Folgende Argumente sprechen gegen das geplante Vorhaben der Vorratsdatenspeicherung:

1. Die Speicherung personenbezogener Verbindungsdaten ist nach Artikel 8 der Europäischen Menschenrechtskonvention untersagt. Artikel 10a des Staatsgrundgesetzes sowie das Datenschutzgesetz 2000 stellen sicher, dass das Fernmeldegeheimnis nicht verletzt werden darf und Ausnahmen nur über richterliche Befehle gemäß bestehender Gesetze zulässig sind.

2. Die Verhältnismäßigkeit ist nicht gegeben:

Da durch eine Speicherung von Verbindungsdaten Straftaten nicht verhindert werden können. Die von der Kommission geforderten Maßnahmen sind trotz ihrer Änderungsvorschläge weder notwendig, noch effektiv. Im Kontrast zu Behauptungen der Notwendigkeit und Effektivität dieser Maßnahme ergibt die einzige bisher durchgeführte Studie keinen Nutzen einer Strafverfolgung durch Vorratsdatenspeicherung. Selbst die European Confederation of Police hat dazu ihre deutlichen Zweifel geäußert. Personen, die ihre Identität verschleiern möchten, können auf eine ganze Reihe von Möglichkeiten wie anonyme Accounts, Pre-Paid-Handies oder öffentliche Internet-Terminals zurückgreifen.

3. Eine Speicherung von Verbindungsdaten birgt ein enormes Risiko, da erst mit den gespeicherten Daten Delikte wie Wirtschaftsspionage möglich werden. Ebenso besteht die Gefahr, dass das Arzt-, Redaktions- und Anwaltsgeheimnis untergraben wird.

4. Sind die Daten einmal gespeichert, kann der Zweck von der in der Direktive geforderten Verwendung gegen Terrorismus oder organisiertes Verbrechen schnell erweitert werden. In aktuellen Entwürfen ist bereits von einer Ausdehnung auf minderschwere Vergehen und Überwachung von Filesharing-Netzen die Rede.

5. Die bereits bestehenden Möglichkeiten der Untersuchung und Verfolgung von Straftaten stellen der Exekutive ausreichende Mittel zur Verfügung. Zudem ist bei diesen Maßnahmen durch richterlichen Befehl der Einsatz klar geregelt.

6. Die Kosten für diese Maßnahme haben alle europäischen Konsumenten zu zahlen. Das würde europaweit zu einer Kostenexplosion bei der Mobil- und Festnetzkommunikation sowie bei Internetdiensten führen. Die Folge wäre eine geringere Nutzung moderner Kommunikationsmittel und damit ein massiver Wettbewerbsnachteil für den Wirtschaftsstandort Europa.

Weiterführende Informationen finden Sie unter:

http://www.arbeiterkammer.at/www-192-IP-24419.html
http://portal.wko.at/wk/sn_detail.wk?AngID=1&DocID=405619&StID=203171
http://www.ispa.at/downloads/86dad947a09f_ISPA_Positionspapier_Data-Retention.pdf
http://wien.arbeiterkammer.at/www-397-IP-24419.html
http://www.rechtsanwaelte.at/www/getFile.php?id=709&nav=1
http://www.quintessenz.at/data_retention/
http://wiki.dataretentionisnosolution.com/

-- Quintessenz - Verein zur Wiederherstellung der Bürgerrechte im Informationszeitalter http://www.quintessenz.at -- VIBE!AT - Verein für Internet-Benutzer Österreichs http://www.vibe.at/

relayed by Chris

Online Version:
http://quintessenz.at/cgi-bin/index?id=000100003437

Cindy Sheehan asks, "Why do we as Americans sit complacently by and watch our government use chemical weapons in Iraq? George Bush says that Saddam Hussein is 'a bad man' because he used chemical weapons against his own people. What does that make George Bush and the leader of the War Department? I think that makes them bad men. Why do we allow it to continue?"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205N.shtml



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

12.12.05

Die Behindertenbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Karin Evers-Meyer, unternimmt einen neuen Vorstoß für ein Antidiskriminierungsgesetz. Es schockiere sie jedes Mal aufs Neue, in welcher Form zum Beispiel Behinderte von Diskriminierungen betroffen seien, sagte die Politikerin der "Neuen Osnabrücker Zeitung". Das gelte insbesondere für das Tourismus- und Beherbergungsgewerbe, aber auch für Versicherungen und Banken. Auch der Bundesagentur für Arbeit warf Evers-Meyer eine Vernachlässigung behinderter Menschen vor.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12494

12.12.05

Kurz vor Beginn der WTO-Ministerkonferenz in Hongkong haben die Behörden laut Medienberichten Einreiseverbote gegen Globalisierungskritiker verhängt. Einem Bericht der Sunday Morning Post zufolge gibt es eine schwarze Liste mit 300 Globalisierungskritikern, denen die Einreise verweigert wird. Auch der bekannte französische Bauernaktivist José Bové wurde nach Angaben des globalisierungskritischen Netzwerks Attac am Flughafen in Hongkong zunächst zurückgewiesen. Attac und die NGO Weed verurteilten die Einreiseverbote gegen WTO-Kritiker. Mit solchen Einschränkungen der Demonstrations- und Meinungsfreiheit werde "die Legitimationskrise des ungerechten Welthandelssystems verstärkt", meint Oliver Moldenhauer von Attac. Die entwicklungspolitische Organisation Germanwatch redete einem Protektionismus das Wort: Eine Marktöffnung sei nur ein Dogma und nütze den Entwicklungsländern nicht. Diese müssten ihre Märkte vielmehr vor den Agrar- und Nahrungsmittelindustrien schützen können.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12491

12.12.05

Der Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) und 18 weitere Verbände haben Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel aufgefordert, sich für eine konsequente Umsetzung der EU-Chemikalienreform REACH einzusetzen. REACH steht für Registrierung, Evaluierung und Autorisierung von Chemikalien. Vor der morgigen Abstimmung des EU-Wettbewerbsrates wendeten sich die Verbände in einem offenen Brief an die Regierungschefin. Sie erinnerten Merkel daran, dass sie in ihrer Amtszeit als Bundesumweltministerin eine Selbstverpflichtung der Industrie zur Chemikaliensicherheit ausgehandelt habe, die über die derzeit diskutierte REACH-Regelung hinausgehe.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12495

12.12.05

Die Kritik an der geplanten europaweiten Speicherung aller Telefon-, Handy- und Internetverbindungsdaten reißt nicht ab. Einen Tag vor der geplanten Beratung im Europaparlament warnte der Verband Deutscher Zeitschriftenverleger, die Pläne würden den Informantenschutz untergraben und damit die Pressefreiheit gefährden. Informanten müssten befürchten, enttarnt zu werden. Doch gerade in Zeiten des Terrorismus, in der der Staat Bürgerrechte vermehrt beschränke und geheim agiere, sei jede Demokratie auf eine effektive und robuste Pressefreiheit angewiesen. Am Wochenende hatten weitere Organisationen kritisiert, die Richtlinie stelle 450 Millionen EU-Bürger unter Generalverdacht. Sie warnten, dass einmal geschaffene technische Möglichkeiten über kurz oder lang Begehrlichkeiten weckten, diese Möglichkeiten auch zu nutzen. Sie verwiesen als Beispiel auf die Forderungen, die eigentlich nur zur Maut-Erfassung gedachten Kameras auch zur Fahndung einzusetzen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12490

12.12.05

Die deutsche Rüstungsexportpolitik stößt bei den beiden großen Kirchen in Deutschland auf scharfe Kritik. "Wenn deutsche Waffen im vergangenen Jahr in 122 Länder exportiert worden sind, ist das ein Besorgnis erregender Beitrag zur weltweiten Militarisierung", sagte der evangelische Vorsitzende der "Gemeinsamen Konferenz Kirche und Entwicklung" (GKKE), Stephan Reimers, am Montag bei der Vorstellung des GKKE-Rüstungsexportberichts 2005 in Berlin. Auch 2004 sei Deutschland als viertgrößter Lieferant hinter Russland, den USA und Frankreich in der Spitzengruppe der Rüstungsexporteure geblieben. Ebenfalls am Montag kritisierte die christliche Kampagne gegen Rüstungsexport, dass am Ende des Jahres 2005 die Bundesregierung immer noch nicht ihren Rüstungsexportbericht 2004 veröffentlicht habe. Damit verhindere die Bundesregierung nach Ansicht sowohl eine zeitnahe Diskussion durch das Parlament als auch eine kritische Würdigung durch Friedens- und Menschenrechtsorganisationen. Der GKKE-Vorsitzende Karl Jüsten hielt Rot-Grün vor, ihren selbstgesetzten Ansprüchen zur Begrenzung der Rüstungsexporte nicht gerecht geworden zu sein.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12489

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) threatened yesterday to strip Democrats of the power to filibuster if they block the vote on Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205Y.shtml

World Can’t Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime Calls on President Bush to Step Down in full-page New York Times ad.

Today, The World Can’t Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime organization placed a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for George W. Bush to step down from office, and take his program with him (page A17). Similar calls for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, or Dick Cheney have appeared, but this is the first time an organization has run an ad in a national media outlet calling for the removal of the entire Bush regime and their program.

The World Can’t Wait-- Drive Out the Bush Regime’s Call states that “your government” has not only waged a "murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq,” but is "moving closer each day to a theocracy”. It spells out the reasons why they should step down before the 2008 election. The Call’s list of signers includes Gore Vidal, Harold Pinter, Cindy Sheehan, Kurt Vonnegut, Jonathan Kozol, Jane Fonda, and Cornell West.

The Call ends with the point that “history is full of examples where people who had right on their side fought against tremendous odds and were victorious” but it is also “full of examples of people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond which they never imagined.” The ad calls for a nationwide action intended to “drown out” Bush’s State of the Union address in January. This will consist of local actions as well as a national demonstration in Washington D.C. on the Saturday following the State of the Union Address.

http://www.worldcantwait.org


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


Informant: C. Clark Kissinger

From ufpj-news

Anfang 2003 hat der Europäische Rat der US-Regierung angeblich die "Benutzung von Transiteinrichtungen" gestattet, weswegen womöglich die EU-Regierungen von den CIA-Flügen lieber nicht wissen (wollen).

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21550/1.html

Villagers in West Felton have formed a protest group to try to stop a mobile phone mast being switched on in their area. Campaigners were knocking on doors yesterday, collecting signatures for a petition.

The 50-foot structure was put up near The Avenue in the village near Oswestry in September by mobile phone giant Orange.

Local people, who knew nothing of the plans, fear that it could pose a health risk. They say it is already a blot on the landscape.

Oswestry Borough Council says Orange went through all the proper legal channels in 2002 to get permission for the 15-metre high 3G mast, although new rules mean that councils now have to inform people near mast sites when they are about to be put up.

Protestor Carol Corbett said: “We are fighting for the total dismantling and removal of the mast and have organised a meeting in our village hall on January 18 at 7.30pm.”

“Our MP Owen Paterson is giving us his support and has agreed to present the petition for us.”

The full version of this story appears in the Oswestry edition of tonight’s Shropshire Star.

http://www.shropshirestar.com/show_article.php?aID=40249

Lib Dems oppose ex-church scheme

Lucy Harvey

A MOBILE phone mast will be built on top of a Grade II listed former church in Sheffield if city councillors follow planning officers' advice, even though some of their colleagues on the authority object to the plan.

Plans to site the mast on top of the former Walkley Ebeneezer Methodist Church on the corner of South Road and Greenhow Street have provoked concern among residents and strong objection from three local councillors. Previous planning applications to site a 6.5 metre-high flagpole antenna on top of the two-storey building, now used as student accommodation, were refused after residents raised a petition and collected hundreds of signatures.

But a different applicant has now asked permission to use the site to mount smaller flat panel antennae on each face of the building's south-west chimney. The firm has requested an equipment cabinet be based in the cellar of the building with cabling and power feed to the antennae run through a mock drainpipe.

The proposals have prompted 11 letters of objection, including comments from Liberal Democrat councillors Diane Leek, Veronica Hardstaff, and Jonathan Harston.

Objectors highlight possible health implications from the mast and say it is inappropriate in a residential area, close to community groups and a medical centre; it will have a negative impact on local businesses and discourage people from moving to the area.

They also believe it will devalue property and have a detrimental effect on the appearance and character of the listed building.

And they fear because the mast is at the bottom of a hill the signal will be restricted and lead to similar applications for a taller mast in the future and say there is existing mobile phone coverage in the area.

But at the west and north planning and highways board tomorrow planning officers will recommend planning permission is granted.
"The first application proved having a mast there is not the right thing and it was refused on good grounds. Now another company has come in and they think they can do better, but that is against all common sense," said Coun Leek.

"They were very crafty jumping in on the back of the last application and a lot of local people didn't realise there was a new application.

"We have already got masts nearby. This is in the wrong location at the bottom of the hill so it is not going to be able to reach the signals and it sets a dangerous precedent for them to make it bigger in the future. I would not trust them.

"It still has not been proved that the radiation that comes from them is not harmful.

"There is a high concentration of people in the area and it's in a shopping location."

Planning officers report: "Owing to the size, design and stealth appearance of the antennas the development is not considered to detrimentally affect the character and appearance of the listed building or visual amenities of the locality.

"The external finish of the antennas will not be prominent or obtrusive from both short and long distance vantage points of the building. The applicants have discounted a number of alternative sites, which they say are unacceptable from design and siting perspectives and for technical coverage reasons."

12 December 2005

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1084&ArticleID=1282950

The fate of Stanley Tookie Williams now rests in the hands of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't spare Williams's life. On the one hand, Schwarzenegger is under pressure from right-wing Republicans to refuse clemency. But there's also high-profile pressure on him in California to grant clemency and prove his campaign claims that he really is a moderate.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205Z.shtml

Christian Science Monitor
by Daniel Schorr

12/10/05

Speaking to a group about politics in the spring of the year 2000 when the primaries had hardly gotten under way, I was challenged to predict who would be the next president. Not having the foggiest idea, I said, deadpan, that the Democratic convention would break up in chaos, unable to nominate anybody, the Republicans would nominate George W. Bush, who would run unopposed -- and lose. It was just a joke, mind you, but it is now happening that Americans, fed up with Republicans and not seeing much better among the Democrats, are more and more inclined to express their disillusionment with the political system by saying, 'a plague on both your houses'...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1209/p09s02-cods.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The American Prospect
by Robert Gordon & Josh Lynn

12/09/05

Progressive critics of the budget reconciliation bills now being melded together by a joint House-Senate conference committee usually attack the measures as tax breaks for the wealthy, paid for with budget cuts for the poor. That’s true, as far as it goes. Many of the cuts now being considered -- reductions in Medicaid, Food Stamps, and child support enforcement, together with increases in interest rates on student loans -- wouldn’t even finance one-seventh of the recent tax breaks for Americans making over $380,000. But progressives might get more traction by arguing a slightly different point: that conservatives are pushing to eliminate incentives for the work of poor Americans as a way to reduce taxes on the accumulated wealth of the most fortunate. In tax policy, many progressives already complain -- and rightly so -- that President Bush is shifting the tax burden away from capital and onto labor. But the argument equally applies to cuts in programs that provide work incentives by offering the working poor benefits like health care and child care...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10704


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Derrick Z. Jackson

12/10/05

' ... 'Twas two weeks before Christmas, and all through the House, $50 billion was cut for those considered a mouse. Tax breaks instead hung by the chimney with care, for investors and CEOs, hands already there. America's rich nestled all snug in their beds as $95 billion danced in their heads. It was expected, of course, that the House of Representatives would do the deed they promised to do before Thanksgiving. They cut $50 billion last month from programs serving low-income Americans. This week they passed the final part of what amounts to $95 billion in tax cuts. It represents a height of taking from the poor to give to the rich. Out went billions for student loans, Medicaid and food stamps. In came billions for stock dividends and capital gains. Regardless of political leanings, economists know where the money is going...

http://tinyurl.com/9f8fu


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Free fall

The American Prospect
by Terence Samuel

12/09/05

The holidays are coming, people are not broke and they are feeling pretty good about themselves, and that for the moment may have arrested George W. Bush’s downward spiral in the polls. It’ll be interesting to see how Democrats react to that piece of good news for the White House. In fact, the Democrats have one, simple job for the next 11 months: to not do anything stupid to get in the way of the GOP’s overall campaign of self-immolation. And to that end, the evidence suggests that, at least for a little while, they shouldn't say anything at all. For one thing, there is a credible argument to be made that no one is listening anyway. And there is an even larger fear that they will say the wrong thing. The recent attempts by President Bush to rescue his Iraq policy offer yet another example of why the biggest thing Democrats have in their favor is a White House that has lost its swagger. Their biggest problem may be a Democratic Party that can’t seem to find its own mojo...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10703


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

(2nd of 2 parts)

Boston Globe
by Jeff Jacoby
12/11/05

Last month, by a vote of 237-4, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a pastoral statement calling for an end to the death penalty. ... The bishops acknowledge in passing that Catholic teaching has never banned the death penalty outright or declared it 'intrinsically evil.' Nevertheless, they insist, since the modern state 'has other nonlethal means to protect its citizens, the state should not use the death penalty.' ... But the new document is shockingly blunt in brushing aside the suffering of the victims, or the viciousness of the murder, as irrelevant to the question of capital punishment. 'No matter how heinous the crime,' it says, 'if society can protect itself without ending a human life, it should do so.' Executing killers, in other words, has nothing to do with justice. No act of murder, however calculated or cruel or catastrophic, requires as a matter of sheer decency that the murderer forfeit his life...

http://tinyurl.com/bvqqf


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Alexander Cockburn

12/11/05

The Bush era has brought a robust simplicity to the business of news management: where possible, buy journalists to turn out favorable stories and, as far as hostiles are concerned, if you think you can get away with it, shoot them or blow them up. As with much else in the Bush era, the novelty lies in the openness with which these strategies have been conducted.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12102005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Atlantic Monthly
by Nir Rosen

12/11/05

At some point -- whether sooner or later -- US troops will leave Iraq. I have spent much of the occupation reporting from Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul, Fallujah, and elsewhere in the country, and I can tell you that a growing majority of Iraqis would like it to be sooner. As the occupation wears on, more and more Iraqis chafe at its failure to provide stability or even electricity, and they have grown to hate the explosions, gunfire, and constant war, and also the daily annoyances: having to wait hours in traffic because the Americans have closed off half the city; having to sit in that traffic behind a US military vehicle pointing its weapons at them; having to endure constant searches and arrests. ... There is no panacea. ... But a continued US occupation can only get in the way...

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200512/iraq-withdrawal


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by Global Exchange staff

12/12/05

Corporations carry out some of the most horrific human rights abuses of modern times, but it is increasingly difficult to hold them to account. Economic globalization and the rise of transnational corporate power have created a favorable climate for corporate human rights abusers, which are governed principally by the codes of supply and demand and show genuine loyalty only to their stockholders. Several of the companies below are being sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a law that allows citizens of any nationality to sue in US federal courts for violations of international rights or treaties. When corporations act like criminals, we have the right and the power to stop them, holding leaders and multinational corporations alike to the accords they have signed...

http://www.alternet.org/story/29337/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Rebirth of Reason
by Tibor R. Machan

12/12/05

Does President Bush believe that by his announcing that critics of the Iraqi war dampen morale among the troops he will have managed to prevent such criticism? Does he believe his words will silence critics and heighten troop morale? Ladies and gentlemen, this is America and if Americans share a common trait it is most likely rebellion at those who wield power over them too overtly. Well, they used to, anyway -- most of them. Because the country was born in revolution. Those who wage revolutions usually know what they are doing, why, how others ought to pay attention, and how pointless it is to try to still it...

http://tinyurl.com/7dbrj


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Joe Republican?

Slate
by John Dickerson

12/09/05

George Bush can't stop talking about Sen. Joe Lieberman. For the last two weeks, the president has been citing the Connecticut Democrat in his major speeches about the war in Iraq. Bush has quoted Lieberman as saying that we have made progress in Iraq and have a strategy for winning, then he declared: 'Sen. Lieberman is right.' Vice President Dick Cheney also quoted Lieberman approvingly this week. Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman and White House spokesman Scott McClellan name-checked Lieberman, too. Last January, George Bush gave Lieberman a kiss on the cheek before the State of the Union. The way things are going, this January Bush might give him a back rub. Why so much affection? Lieberman, a conservative Democrat, has credibility, and Bush is trying to regain his...

http://www.slate.com/id/2131900/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

12/12/05

The official end date of the UN investigation into Hariri's assassination is Dec. 15, but you can be sure that Bolton and the rest of the get-Syria crowd will try to ensure that its life span is extended. They are determined to gin up another war, and they don't care how transparently false the pretext is: these people have raised lying into a sophisticated art form, of which the Mehlis propaganda blitz is just the beginning. They don't care how far-fetched the indictments of their targets appear, nor how often they are debunked: what they're counting on is the residue left by 'news' stories trumpeting 'evidence' that Syria killed Hariri and is wreaking havoc in Lebanon. The debunking takes place on the back pages, while the initial charges were given front-page headlines. This is how the propaganda assault works: keep flinging dirt in the hope that at least some of it will stick. If your 'evidence' turns out to be false, and your 'witnesses' start recanting, then don't backpedal – instead, invent new charges. Attack, attack, attack!

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8233


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.reason.com/hod/bo120905.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

12/11/05

Months before Karl Rove corrected his statements in the Valerie Plame investigation, his lawyer was told that the president's top political adviser might have disclosed Plame's CIA status to a Time magazine reporter. Rove says he had forgotten the conversation he had on July 11, 2003, with Time's Matt Cooper. But the magazine reported Sunday that in the first half of 2004, as President Bush's re-election campaign was heating up, Rove's lawyer got the word about a possible Rove-Cooper conversation from a second Time reporter, Viveca Novak...

http://tinyurl.com/cklep


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

USA Today

12/11/05

Melting glaciers, the shrinking ice cap, warming oceans and rising sea levels — all are urgent concerns around the world, and cause for frustration among many nations that believe the United States has set a glacial pace toward reversing the onset of global warming. Critics said the Bush administration's isolation at the United Nations-brokered international climate talks that ended last week in Montreal doesn't make much sense...

http://tinyurl.com/dcmge


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

(FTD) Unmittelbar nachdem der Chef der deutschen Industrie- und Handelskammer in der Bild am Sonntag einen besseren Schutz deutscher Marken gefordert hatte, legt Bundesjustizministerin Zypries einen Gesetzentwurf vor, der seinen Wünschen entgegenkommt.

Erst vor wenigen Tagen lehnte Zypries es ab, sich um die Menschenrechte von Gefangenen und durch den US-Geheimdienst Verschleppten zu bemühen: es sei ausreichend auf eine Erklärung der amerikanischen Regierung zu warten. Zypries war bereits verantwortlich für das Gesetz zum EU-Haftbefehl, das die Rechte der Betroffenen soweit minimierte, dass das Gesetz im Sommer dieses Jahres vom Bundesverfassungsgericht als verfassungswidrig gekippt wurde. Während sich Brigitte Zypries in dieser Weise desinteressiert an der Durchsetzung von Bürger- und Menschenrechten zeigt, erkennt sie offensichtlich allerhöchste Priorität im Schutz der Interessen der Industrie und ihrer Produktmarken. Aus ihrer Reaktion am Folgetag nach der Forderung des Hauptgeschäftsführers der DIHK Wansleben nach besserem Markenschutz zeigt uns, dass sie sich offenbar an einer sehr kurzen Leine der deutschen Konzerne befindet. Da wir uns ein wenig für den Ablauf solch vordringlicher Regierungsgeschäfte interessieren, fragen wir uns, ob die DIHK und ihr Geschäftsführer Wansleben so zuvorkommend waren, Frau Zypries den Gesetzentwurf rechtzeitig vor ihrem heutigen Auftritt per Post zu übermitteln.: Gegenüber solch hochwichtigen Maßnahmen sind Menschenrechte natürlich absolut nachrangig: sie könnten die wichtigen diplomatischen Kontakte zur amerikanischen Regierung gefährden, anstatt die Interessen und Umsätze auch der US-Konzerne wie Nike & Co. zu fördern.

G.Wendebourg / metainfo hamburg

Link zum Beitrag / Hintergrundinfo oder Pressehinweis:
http://www.hh-online.com?lid=23168 und
http://links.net-hh.de?lid=23168

WE NEED THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE OPPOSITION RIGHT NOW

One issue that unites activists of many persuasions is their distrust of the Patriot Act, the provisions of which megalomaniacs inside our government were pushing for years before America was attacked, and for whom those attacks were nothing more than the excuse they'd been waiting for. The fact is these unlimited powers are ALREADY being abused, and they have not made us safer. With all the emphasis on airline security the best they can do is murder confused passengers in cold blood as we saw this week. Please contact your members of Congress now and tell them to vote AGAINST the conference report.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.millionphonemarch.com

And the cat killer is out of the bag as Frist stated today that if there was a possible filibuster against Sam Alito their trigger fingers would go right back to the nuclear option. The cowardly capitulations of the past have gained us precisely nothing, just as we argued at the time. This is all the more reason to reject not only Alito, but any hardcore, biased, right wing agenda driven nominee they might put up in his wake. We must tell our Senate that NO conservative is acceptable as a replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor. Otherwise there will be nobody left to protect us when the outrageous dictatorial new powers being seized by the President are challenged in court, as they surely must be. Please speak out now while we have the chance.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.nocrony.com

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

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

Juan Cole, professor of modern Mideast history at the University of Michigan, an expert on Shiism and jihadism, and a prolific writer and commentator on Iraq is interviewed on his thoughts prior to the war in Iraq and the possible government that could develop due to the US presence.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121105H.shtml

After the US forces and the bombings, Iraqis are coming to fear those bands of men in masks who seem to operate with the Iraqi police.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121105C.shtml

More than a year before President Bush declared in his 2003 State of the Union speech that Iraq had tried to buy nuclear weapons material in Africa, the French spy service(DGSE) began repeatedly warning the CIA in secret communications that there was no evidence to support the allegation.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121105B.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroeuro


Informant: beefree

From beefree:

For those who want to understand our soon to be..... US constitution go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law

8 trillion in debt, avian flu, bombing Iran, weather manipulation etc...and now this !

http://www.asiantribune.com/show_article.php?id=2620

Pentagon devising scenarios for martial law in US

By Patrick Martin – World Socialist Web Site

According to a report published Monday by the Washington Post, the Pentagon has developed its first ever war plans for operations within the continental United States, in which terrorist attacks would be used as the justification for imposing martial law on cities, regions or the entire country.

The front-page article cites sources working at the headquarters of the military's Northern Command (Northcom), located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The plans themselves are classified, but "officers who drafted the plans" gave details to Post reporter Bradley Graham, who was recently given a tour of Northcom headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base. The article thus appears to be a deliberate leak conducted for the purpose of accustoming the American population to the prospect of military rule.

According to Graham, "the new plans provide for what several senior officers acknowledged is the likelihood that the military will have to take charge in some situations, especially when dealing with mass-casualty attacks that could quickly overwhelm civilian resources."

The Post account declares, "The war plans represent a historic shift for the Pentagon, which has been reluctant to become involved in domestic operations and is legally constrained from engaging in law enforcement."

A total of 15 potential crisis scenarios are outlined, ranging from "low-end," which Graham describes as "relatively modest crowd-control missions," to "high-end," after as many as three simultaneous catastrophic mass-casualty events, such as a nuclear, biological or chemical weapons attack.

http://www.rbi-aktuell.de/cms/front_content.php?client=1&lang=1&idcat=30&idart=2916

--------

Strahlend ins Internet - WLAN
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1054573/

FBI put peaceful protesters in terrorism files:

The names and license plate numbers of about 30 people who protested three years ago in Colorado Springs were put into FBI domestic-terrorism files, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado says.

http://tinyurl.com/c736h


From Information Clearing House

The waters have receded but the mainly black, low-income citizens of New Orleans are now the victims of rising rents, forced evictions and plans that favour the better off, reports Peter Beaumont.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1664630,00.html


From Information Clearing House

The ultimate neocon goal is a U.S. war with Iran over the nuclear issue.

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/March_2005/0503032.html


From Information Clearing House

Military's Information War Is Vast and Often Secretive:

The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States government's objectives, though its commander acknowledges that those stories are one-sided and their American sponsorship is hidden.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11285.htm



It Takes a Potemkin Village:

WHEN a government substitutes propaganda for governing, the Potemkin village is all. Since we don't get honest information from this White House, we must instead, as the Soviets once did, decode our rulers' fictions to discern what's really happening. What we're seeing now is the wheels coming off:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11286.htm

The Bush era has brought a robust simplicity to the business of news management: where possible, buy journalists to turn out favorable stories and, as far as hostiles are concerned, if you think you can get away with it, shoot them or blow them up.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12102005.html


From Information Clearing House

The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11276.htm

Harold Pinter: "The Crimes of the United States Have Been Systematic, Constant":

Harold Pinter, British playwright and this year's Nobel Literature prize winner, on Wednesday delivered a searing attack on US foreign policy.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,389251,00.html


From Information Clearing House

British Petroleum, Shell and Chevron Win Iraqi Oil Contracts.
http://www.warprofiteers.com/article.php?id=7989


From Information Clearing House

He has harsh words for the Bush administration and its policies in the Mideast as well as for the yellow-ribbon crowd that refuses to question U.S. leadership. "Occupation breeds resentment," he said. "When you have a boot on someone's neck, they don't appreciate it."

http://www.charleston.net/stories/default_pf.aspx?newsID=58041


From Information Clearing House

The ignorance of the American strategists and their allies -- Ahmed Chalabi, Rend Rahim, Kinaan Makiyah, Falih Abdul-Jabar, and the like -- who theorised the US invasion of Iraq is such that they took their interests as reality, forgetting Iraqis' pride in their free will and independence, and in their Arab-Muslim identity which passes to them from father to son.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11278.htm

By Harold Meyerson

This is a story that implicates all of us. Torture, and fear of torture, are factors in holding costs down in our new-age globalized production system.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11274.htm

By "Der Spiegel

Since Sept. 11, the CIA has played a vital role in the war on terror. But what role is it? Operating in the shadows, American secret services have been given wide-ranging powers by the Bush Administration. And they include murder, abduction and torture.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11284.htm

An Ethiopian claims that his confession to al-Qaeda bomb plot was signed after beatings

By David Rose in New York

Binyam Mohammed, 27, says he spent nearly three years in the CIA's network of 'black sites'. In Morocco he claims he underwent the strappado torture of being hung for hours from his wrists, and scalpel cuts to his chest and penis and that a CIA officer was a regular interrogator.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11277.htm

Incalculable Pain

The Pentagon is underreporting the number of American soldier casualties in Iraq, say House Democrats.

By Mark Benjamin

A group of seven House Democrats wrote President Bush this week, accusing the Pentagon of underreporting casualties in Iraq. It's a shocking charge. The letter writers argue that Pentagon casualty reports show only a sliver of the injuries, mostly physical ones from bombs or bullets. But war doesn't work like that, the Democrats declare, adding that the reports skip a horrible panoply of accidents, illness, disease and mental trauma.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11287.htm

q/depesche 2005-12-12T01:26:37

Die Datensüchtigen jubeln, denn ihnen ist fast unbemerkt ein riesiger Beschaffungscoup namens Registerzählunsgesetz gelungen. Praktisch alle Datenbanken der öffentlichen Hand und der Sozialversicherungen werden endlich im Innenministerium zusammenlaufen.

Der Trick: Den Bürgern wird erzählt, sie bräuchten hinkünftig bei Volkszählungen keine Fragebögen mehr auszufüllen, alles laufe elektronisch. Das Anonymisierung oder Verschlüsselung der Daten nicht geplant ist, wird als Detail am Rande nicht mal ignoriert.

heise online berichtet: Die Opposition (SPÖ und Grüne) hat der Regierungsvorlage im Nationalrat aufgrund datenschutzrechtlicher Bedenken ihre Unterstützung versagt: Durch das Gesetz werden im Innenministerium personenbezogene Daten zusammengeführt. Dies sei für die Volkszählung gar nicht erforderlich, schaffe erhebliche Missbrauchsgefahr und ermögliche die "Rasterfahndung auf Vorrat gegen jeden Österreicher", kritisiert SPÖ-Verfassungssprecher Peter Wittmann. Er wirft der Regierung außerdem vor, das neue Gesetz am Datenschutzrat vorbeigeschleust zu haben, indem der amtierende Vorsitzende keine Sitzung einberufen habe.
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/67224

Es geht um Daten ohne Anonymisierung aus dem Melderegister, der Sozialversicherung, den Bildungsanstalten (Schulen, Universitäten und anderen), den Finanzämtern, dem Arbeitsmarktservice, dem Unternehmensregister sowie dem Gebäude- und Wohnungsregister; dazu können das Zulassungsregister für Kraftfahrzeuge, das Familienbeihilfenregister, das zentralen Fremdenregister, die Datenbanken der Sozialhilfeträger (die dank /Vorsorgeuntersuchung Neu/ bestens gefüllt werden), die Daten von Bund, Ländern und Gemeinden in ihrer Eigenschaft als Dienstgeber und wer/weiß/was/sonst/noch kommen...

Grundsätzlich aber ist die SPÖ für ein Registerzählungsgesetz.

Der Treppenwitz: Die Städte prophezeien, dass aufgrund der schlechten Datenqualität weiterhin Fragebögen die Runde machen müssen.


relayed by Babuschka

Online Version:
http://quintessenz.at/cgi-bin/index?id=000100003436

Weaselly Rice Tortures Facts
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1211-25.htm

--------

Does the secretary of state think anyone is buying her spiel?:

Our secretary of state's tortuous defence of supposedly non-existent CIA torture chambers in Eastern Europe was an acid flashback to Clintonian parsing.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1211-25.htm


From Information Clearing House

THANKS. Suddenly, ALL of contemporary and past History makes sense, if there is any sense at all to be enslaved by GREED & HATE, INC.

----- Original Message -----
From: Gregory Delaney
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 10:01 AM
Subject: The Lost Science of Money

A free copy of Stephen Zarlinga's $60.00 book, "The Lost Science of Money" is now available for free download at: http://tinyurl.com/djg7m

This is the book that has the bankers eating extra doses of nerve medicine and anti-acids. Here's the write up:

Ninety-five percent of the world's problems are caused by money. Those who control money do not want the rest of us to understand money. Even the politicians and the economists either do not know what money is or they purposely avoid the problem. This very readable history and perceptive insight will draw away your confusion and place you firmly into the light of knowledge of what is money and how does money work? And what happens when people do not know what money is.

WHAT'S GONE WRONG?

Unheard of wealth concentrates into very few, largely undeserving hands. Americans work harder and produce more than ever but increasingly fall into debt and bankruptcy while corruption rules and predators plunder society by merely shuffling papers. Less than 1% of the population now owns about 50% of the wealth, and receives 70% of the income! The Lost Science of Money shows how a false concept of money allowed it to happen, and tells how to reverse it.

SECRET POWER UNMASKED

Here are the keys that unlock the mystery of the money power - the hidden force secretly exercised by those holding society's monetary reins.

The Lost Science of Money exposes the mythology created to protect those who are embezzling from society, under cover of a deceptive ideology of money.

This group has immorally used economic theory as a tool of class war for the past three hundred years, while screaming accusations of "class warfare" against those who question their power!

The author provides the weapons needed to protect self, family, nation, and humanity from the predations of this gang that has shrouded itself under cover of "econo-speak" for so long.

These ideas are presented accurately, but in "down-to-earth" language, without the confusing economic jargon that has usually served to obfuscate the subject. Historical cases with 119 illustrations help to convey the author's unique message.

A GENERATION MISLED

The gates protecting America have been left undefended. September 11th demonstrated only one aspect of this problem. Our people have been under monetary attack from within and from abroad for most of our history; and the physical, financial and psychological damage has far exceeded the terrible losses at New York's Twin Towers.

An entire generation has been led astray into market worship and other forms of religious fundamentalism. A dysfunctional media focuses on the elections and sex habits of politicians while the real outcomes in society are determined behind the scenes by the structure of the nation's money system.

This problem goes much deeper than accounting and stock fraud, and even beyond the graduate schools of business that inculcate such criminal behavior. The deeper causes lie hidden in the structurally corrupt core of our banking system and our schools of economics. It arises from the falsehoods they have spread on the nature of money, allowing their patrons to control the money power, and in turn, to dominate our society.

Those who really want to get to the bottom of the problem will find this book's message timely and valuable.


From ECOTERRA Intl.

The Star-Ledger [Newark, NJ] Sunday, December 11, 2005

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1134279889280670.xml&coll=1

Rutgers students march on Marine recruiting office

BY JOHN WIHBEY, Star-Ledger Staff

Marine Capt. Sharon Dubow sat calmly doing paperwork yesterday afternoon in her New Brunswick recruitment office.

It was just another day on the job. Almost.

A group of 50 or so Rutgers University students and anti-war activists were howling "Liar" and holding signs that said "Killing Iraqis is Not a Career" just a few feet behind her. A pane of glass separated the Marine from protesters.

"I think that it's their right, and we respect it," Dubow said afterward. She said there have been "no big changes" in recruiting numbers from last year to this year.

But the revved-up group of anti-war campaigners wanted to change that.

Rafael Greenblatt, a Rutgers graduate student and event organizer, told a crowd that marched from the school to downtown Monument Square the solution is "to starve the military of the recruits they need to keep this war going."

Speaking in front of a Christmas tree, Greenblatt said, "The only way to resolve these human rights abuses in Iraq is to bring the troops home."

Two activists were arrested last week on Rutgers' New Brunswick campus for disrupting a government recruiting session, and protesters said yesterday they were energized by that event.

One of those arrested last week, Tom Howard, 27, a writer from Mendham Township, said it had been "time to take a principled stand" against what he believed was a CIA recruitment event. He was the final speaker at yesterday's rally, where he and other members of a workers' solidarity group led anti-war chants.

President Bush and administration officials were the ultimate targets of the day's speeches.

"They are filling their pockets on the blood of our children," said Sue Niederer, a Mercer County resident whose only son, Army 2nd Lt. Seth Jeremy Dvorin, 24, was killed in Iraq while defusing a roadside bomb on Feb. 3, 2004. "We must ask them, 'Why aren't your children fighting?'"

The protesters were seeking everything from an end to the war to a change in the military's policy on gays. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week on whether universities receiving federal funds could ban military recruiters because of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" rule.

One of the Rutgers protesters' chief gripes yesterday was an advertisement Dubow and the Marines had placed in the student newspaper in October offering "free helicopter rides" to students.

Alex Van Schaick, a senior at the university, said it was an attempt "to get people to feel real macho" to seduce them into joining the Marines.

Dubow said the newspaper notice merely had informational value.

"A lot of people don't know Marines fly. That's why we do it," she said. "When we're up in the air, it's not as if we tie you up and make you sign something."

Two counter-protesters showed up waving American and Iraqi flags and a banner that read "Support Our Troops." One wore sunglasses and gave his name as Tom Dolan. Police told him to leave the area because he did not have a parade permit.

"We're just having a peaceful protest, and they're here trying to block us," Dolan said of an anti-war activist who batted at his flags.

Bruno Corry, a 58-year-old former Marine Corps reservist, said he saw the Iraq war as "a repeat of Vietnam." He and Dolan's compatriot engaged in a shouting match.

"He's trying to tell me they're not using dirty tactics to recruit," Corry said. "I know it's a damn lie."


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


Informant: William K. Dobbs

From ufpj-news

12/11/2005 01:00:00 AM

By Katy Human
Denver Post Staff Writer
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3298451

In the Amazon, chopping trees to plant crops can warm the weather almost as much as extra greenhouse gases do. In Colorado, turning woodlands to wheat may counteract global warming, according to a new study.

Land-use changes profoundly affect local and regional climates, scientists wrote in a paper in Friday's issue of Science.

"The bottom line is we've changed the climate system in more significant ways than we realized," said one co-author, Linda Mearns, with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

"Land use is a major change that will have important impacts on regional climates. They may not be as strong as greenhouse gases, but they're certainly nontrivial."

Colorado State University climatologist Roger Pielke Sr. said the new study should "finally" make international climate scientists recognize that the planet's climate system is far more complicated than they once thought.

"I feel vindicated. Very much so," said Pielke, who has argued for a decade that land use can affect climate. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, emitted during fossil-fuel combustion, are only part of the climate story, Pielke said.

On Colorado's Front Range, for example, the expansion of irrigated crops has made summers cooler and wetter than they were a few decades ago, he said.

Pielke is not an author of the new study, but commented on it in Science.

"I think Roger (Pielke) thinks this is a bigger deal than I do," said Johannes Feddema, a University of Kansas geographer and the lead author of the new paper.

For the new analysis, Feddema's team plugged land-use changes into a computer model of Earth's climate and asked how the changes would affect climate. In the tropics, converting forest to agriculture warmed the land, accelerating warming caused by greenhouse gases.

In other regions - such as most of the United States - cutting trees for crops actually counteracted warming, Feddema said.

The effects were triggered by a complicated interplay of soil-moisture level, rainfall, snow and albedo - the tendency of the land's surface to absorb or reflect sunlight.

The authors conclude that to predict Earth's future climate, modelers must take land-use changes into account. "We have a long way to go," Feddema said.

Still, he and Mearns said, greenhouse gases generally influence climate much more powerfully than do land-use changes.

In Colorado, for example, a conservative computer model predicts that doubling the carbon-dioxide level in the air will lead to a warming of about 5.5 degrees by 2100, Mearns said. Converting forest into crops might counteract part of that, leading to 3 degrees of warming, she said.

Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com


Informant: binstock

For first-time visitors, finding Kevin Flynn's house in the Santa Cruz Mountains takes detailed instructions, an eagle eye for weathered signposts and, often, a plaintive last-minute cell-phone call from the road.

In this remote neighborhood near Los Gatos, homes are nestled along narrow roads that dip and curve through a fragrant redwood forest, and residents draw their water from mountain streams.

It is a close-knit, eclectic community -- artists, doctors, lawyers, police officers, people who work in Silicon Valley, families, retired couples -- that has galvanized in recent months to oppose a logging proposal by the San Jose Water Co. that residents say will ruin their idyllic neighborhood.

The privately held company wants to chop down many of the largest coast redwoods and Douglas firs in the forest near their neighborhoods.

"It will be a fight to protect our community," said Flynn, 46, a marketing manager in the Internet security field who lives in Chemeketa Park, one of several woodland neighborhoods near the 1,000-acre logging site.

On one side of the battle are residents, who fear that logging will muddy their creeks with sediment, increase the risk of forest fires and landslides, and disrupt their peaceful existence with buzzing chain saws, whining tractors, whirring helicopters and rumbling logging trucks.

On the other side of the debate is the water company, which says the logging will comply with state laws designed to protect the health of the forest, including its creeks and hillsides, and will reduce the fire hazard posed by dense tree stands on the property, which was clear-cut more than 100 years ago and has not been logged since.

"We own a lot of land, and it's our fiduciary duty to ratepayers and to shareholders to manage it as best we can," said Andrew Gere, a civil engineer and director of operations for the water company, which provides water service to more than 1 million customers.

Gere said proceeds from the logging will help fund expensive work in the watershed, such as repairing historic fire roads, terracing steep creek banks to stem erosion and removing brush and hardwoods by hand.

"In the long run, you're going to see an improvement in water quality, if anything, certainly not a degradation," he said.

Terry Clark, 56, who has lived in the mountains for nearly two decades, criticized the company, saying, "They want to turn this watershed into a tree harvesting farm."

Clark, a recreation program planner in Los Gatos, questioned the company's decision to log the largest redwoods in the forest, some of which are more than 3 feet in diameter.

"Those are the trees that survive fires," said Clark, a member of Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging, which is fighting the logging proposal.

Because the proposal has generated so much controversy, Santa Clara County has hired Thomas Lippe, an environmental attorney whose client list includes the Sierra Club, to scrutinize the plan.

"He is going over the plan with a fine-tooth comb and will identify which issues are of primary concern," said Rachael Gibson, an aide to Santa Clara County Supervisor Donald Gage, who represents people living in the Santa Cruz Mountains. "We really need some help because we don't have any foresters on our staff."

In a 450-page plan submitted to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in October, the water company proposed harvesting the forest in stages, sending loggers into 100-acre parcels every other year.

The company's ability to log trees on the property, which is located within the 5,000 acres it owns in the Los Gatos Creek watershed, is limited by special rules governing logging in the state's coastal forests.

Trees must be individually selected for logging, and the impact of removing trees on the health of the remaining stands -- and their soil, streams and wildlife -- must be taken into account.

Andrew Morse, a forester with Big Creek Lumber Co., the water company's logging partner, said selective harvesting reduces fire risk by decreasing the number of trees whose branches are touching. It also creates gaps in the forest canopy that allow intermediate-size trees to get more sunlight and nutrients.

"A big part of what we do when we're marking trees for harvesting is look for trees that will benefit from creating some of those small gaps in the canopy," he said.

One of the rules governing selective harvesting allows the water company to remove up to 60 percent of the largest trees (measuring 18 inches or more in diameter) and up to 50 percent of the smaller trees (measuring 12 to 18 inches in diameter) in a forest.

That is a prospect that has caused widespread alarm among people living near the site.

"It would be fair to say it scares the heck out of us, too," said Gibson.

In its proposal, the company said it will log up to 40 percent of the largest trees, 20 percent less than the maximum allowed. So far, though, its attempts to convince critics it will stick to the lower percentage have failed.

"We're left with them wanting us to take them at their word," Gibson said. "That would make anybody nervous."

She said the stakes are high because the plan, once approved, will forever govern logging on the property.

The water company's Gere insists the water company will be a responsible steward of the forest.

"In 15 years, the volume of timber that was removed from a given parcel will have replaced itself," he said. "We can't remove any more trees until that happens."

To address concerns of residents about the impact of logging on forest fires, the water company has hired an independent fire scientist who is creating a model showing how fire will behave in the forest as it exists today, and after it has been logged.

Gere described the $125,000 study -- expected to be completed by spring -- as a good-faith effort to convince residents it is serious about reducing fire hazards.

"When we get those results, we're going to share them with our neighbors," he said.

Clark, of Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging, said people who live in the Santa Cruz Mountains know the area is prone to fires. "We are certainly in favor of responsible fire prevention," she said. "But that's not what San Jose Water's proposal is all about. It's about commercial logging."

Critics of the logging plan say the company can reduce the fire risk by thinning trees instead of logging the forest.

That is how the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission handles fire suppression in the 23,000-acre watershed around Crystal Springs Reservoir, said spokesman Tony Winnicker.

"We do an annual survey of our lands, and selectively thin vegetation, especially in areas that are close to urban centers or homes and businesses," he said. "We selectively and strategically eliminate trees and clean some of the ground cover. That tends to be brush and eucalyptus trees, which are rapidly growing and extremely combustible."

The state forestry department, which has completed its first review of the San Jose Water Co. plan, has sent it dozens of questions seeking clarification and additional information.

A variety of government agencies are reviewing the plan, including the California Department of Fish and Game, the California Geological Survey, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District.

A public hearing on the plan is expected to be held in early 2006.

E-mail Kathleen Sullivan at ksullivan@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/11/BAGLCG6CNT1.DTL


Informant: OLYecology

http://911review.org/Wiki/OperationMockingbird.shtml
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/cia-media.htm
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/mockingbird.htm
http://www.whale.to/b/mock.html
http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/06-07-05/discussion.cgi.55.html
http://operation-mockingbird.blogspot.com/2006/08/operation-mockingbird.html
http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_louise_01_03_03_mockingbird.html



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Mockingbird

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
Fri Dec 9, 7:22 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Republican leaders will press for passage next week of a new Patriot Act to combat terrorism, but a Senate filibuster looms on a measure that liberal and conservative critics alike say is a threat to individual liberties.

"Just as the Senate did four years ago, we should unite in a bipartisan way to support the Patriot Act, to stand up for freedom and against terror," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Thursday as GOP negotiators from the House and Senate sealed their White House-backed compromise.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, issued a statement saying the measure would aid "in the detection, disruption and dismantling of terrorist cells before they strike."

Key provisions cover the ability of law enforcement officials to gain access to a wealth of personal data, including library and medical records, as part of investigations into suspected terrorist activity.

The measure provides a four-year extension of the government's ability to conduct roving wiretaps - which may involve multiple phones - and to seek access to many of the personal records covered by the bill.

Also extended for four years is the power to wiretap "lone wolf" terrorists who may operate on their own, without control from a foreign agent or power. An earlier, pre-Thanksgiving stab at compromise had called for seven-year extensions of these provisions.

Yet another provision, which applies to all criminal cases, gives the government 30 days to provide notice that it has carried out a search warrant.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, described the final product as "not a perfect bill but a good one," and credited the White House with helping bring the House and Senate negotiators together.

But lawmakers in both parties attacked the measure. "This battle is not over," said Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., who complained that the bill lacked "adequate safeguards to protect our constitutional freedoms." He vowed to do everything he could, including a filibuster, to stop the bill from passing. [...] Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/7fz7u

Read a statement by Senator Feingold on the Patriot Act Conference Report at Truthout on December 8: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/120805A.shtml


© Virginia Metze

By MAUREEN DOWD
December 7, 2005
New York Times OP-ED columnist

Our secretary of state's tortuous defense of supposedly nonexistent C.I.A. torture chambers in Eastern Europe was an acid flashback to Clintonian parsing.

Just as Bill Clinton pranced around questions about marijuana use at Oxford during the '92 campaign by saying he had never broken the laws of his country, so Condoleezza Rice pranced around questions about outsourcing torture by suggesting that President Bush had never broken the laws of his country.

But in Bill's case, he was only talking about smoking a little joint, while Condi is talking about snatching people off the street and throwing them into lethal joints.

"The United States government does not authorize or condone torture of detainees," she said.

It all depends on what you mean by "authorize," "condone," "torture" and "detainees." [...] Read the rest at
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/12/07/opinion/07dowd.html or http://tinyurl.com/ctxue


© Virginia Metze

OMB Watch
Published on 12/01/2005

OMB Watch released a report entitled: "Dismantling the Public's Right to Know: EPA's Systematic Weakening of the Toxic Release Inventory." The report details how under the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is slowly dismantling its flagship environmental information tool: the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

The program has been protected and improved for over the last 15 years, since it was put in place during the Reagan administration. The TRI database enables the public to learn about the environmental risks in our workplaces and communities by providing information about hundreds of toxic chemicals released into the environment. Moreover, the TRI program has served as a constant example of the vital role information plays in a democracy, and the importance of the public's right to know. Unfortunately, the program's success has made it a target for those that seek to reduce corporate oversight and accountability. [...] Read it all at: http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3199/1/1


© Virginia Metze

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: December 9, 2005
Op-Ed columnist
The New York Times

Sometimes reconstruction delayed is reconstruction denied.

A few months after the invasion of Iraq, President Bush promised to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure and economy. He - or, at any rate, his speechwriters - understood that reconstruction was important not just for its own sake, but as a way to deprive the growing insurgency of support. In October 2003 he declared that "the more electricity is available, the more jobs are available, the more kids that are going to school, the more desperate these killers become."

But for a long time, Iraqi reconstruction was more of a public relations exercise than a real effort. Remember when visiting congressmen were taken on tours of newly painted schools?

Both supporters and opponents of the war now argue that by moving so slowly on reconstruction, the Bush administration missed a crucial window of opportunity. By the time reconstruction spending began in earnest, it was in a losing race with a deteriorating security situation.

As a result, the electricity and jobs that were supposed to make the killers desperate never arrived. Iraq produced less electricity last month than in October 2003. The Iraqi government estimates the unemployment rate at 27 percent, but the real number is probably much higher.

Now we're losing another window of opportunity for reconstruction. But this time it's at home. [...] Read the rest at the New York Times: http://tinyurl.com/dp5bn or at http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2005/12/krugman-promiser-in-chief.html or http://tinyurl.com/9kcs8


© Virginia Metze

Article by Sydney Blumenthal
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11245.htm


Informant: Lew Rockwell

What the regime has done to American standing in the world. Article by Paul Craig Roberts.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts135.html

Bill Walker on the myth of world energy shortages.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/walker/walker16.html

Why I threw out all my toothpaste, and my family brushes with Ivory Soap (not Dove or any other soap)....we have no dental bills...except cleaning's and our dentist say's we dont even need that! If you know of someone with dental problems tell them to try Ivory Soap as a toothpaste for a month or two...get ready for a happy experience.

beefree


Article:

At first glance, fluoride seems harmless enough. It is a naturally occurring element that has dental protection properties, right? Wrong, look at where fluoride comes from and you will soon begin to see the problem. It is a toxic waste by-product from the aluminium manufacturing process. Highly toxic with proven unwanted side effects. It is harmful to all animal life and is to be avoided at all costs. Fluoride is linked to 10,000 cancer deaths yearly. Fluoridation is also responsible for 40 million cases of arthritis, dental deformity in 8 million children and allergic reactions in 2 million people. - Dr. Dean Burke and Dr. John Yiamouyiannis, National Cancer Institute, USA, 1997

The best solution to oral hygiene would be a natural one, free from alcohol, sodium lauryl sulphate and fluoride. Increasingly, responsible manufacturers are offering a complete range of dental products, specifically designed for families who want safe, yet powerful, dental care - from keeping cavities at bay and plaque under control to eliminating tooth decay and bad breath.

http://www.kjay.com/01/

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3757/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121005D.shtml


Informant: Russ Ferriday

Von: chaos-update-owner@lists.ccc.de

Nächste Woche wird es konkret im Europaparlament: Die Vorratsdatenspeicherungs-Richtlinie steht am Dienstag zur Diskussion im Plenum und soll am Mittwoch in erster Lesung abgestimmt werden. Der Bürgerrechts-Ausschuss (LIBE) des Europaparlaments hatte sich zwar auf gemeinsame Änderungswünsche geeinigt, allerdings haben die beiden großen Fraktionen (Sozialdemokraten und Konservative) auf eigene Faust einen Kompromiss mit dem EU-Council beschlossen. Dieser soll von der "Großen Koalition" im Europaparlament beschlossen werden und bedeutet nicht wirklich eine Entschärfung der Richtlinie. Unsere Abgeordneten wollen an die Bedeutung ihrer Entscheidung erinnert werden - hilf mit!

Wer das Europaparlament und seine Arbeitsweise kennt, weiss, dass es dort nicht wie im Bundestag funktioniert. Koalitionen gibt es nur bei Themen und die können wechseln. Auch sind die bunt zusammengewürfelten Fraktionen sehr divergierend in ihren Ansichten. Hier kann jeder ansetzen. Vermutlich sind sich die meisten Abgeordneten nicht wirklich bewusst, was sie am Mittwoch abstimmen werden und welche Konsequenzen die Richtlinie für Grund- und Freiheitsrechte in Europa bedeuten. Bei den Plenumsdiskussionen nehmen meist nur die Fachpolitiker des Themas teil, die wiederum für ihre Fraktionen "Voting-Lists" erstellen, quasi Wahlempfehlungen.

Die Tagesordnung am Mittwoch sieht folgendermaßen aus: Es gibt nur zwei unterstützenswerte Änderungsanträge. An erster Stelle steht ein Antrag der grünen Fraktion auf Ablehnung der gesamten Richtlinie. Dieser ist natürlich der weitestgehende und sollte im Optimalfall von den Abgeordneten unterstützt werden. Aber selbst die Liberalen sind gespalten und werden vermutlich mehrheitlich für den Kompromissantrag der "Großen Koalition" stimmen. Der zweite unterstützenswerte Änderungsantrag kommt von der Schwedin Charlotte Cederschiöld und betrifft Artikel 10 der Richtlinie. Hier geht es um die umstrittene Frage, wer denn die Kosten für die Vollüberwachung übernehmen soll. Während der Kompromiss die Kosten auf die Industrie abwälzen will, die wiederum alle neu entstehenden Kosten an die Verbraucher witer geben wird, fordert der Änderungsantrag die Kostenübernahme durch die Regierungen. Also das Verursacherprinzip. Würde dieser Änderungsantrag durchkommen, wäre eine zweite Lesung notwendig und es wäre Zeit gewonnen für mehr Diskussionen. Jedesmal sind 370 Stimmen notwendig. Das Problem ist, dass die "Große Koalition" die absolute Mehrheit hat, aber längst nicht so einig sind wie im Bundestag. Aber auch die Liberalen werden wohl mehrheitlich für die Vorratsdatenspeicherung stimmen und leider nur in einer Minderheit für die Ablehnung der Richtlinie.

Deutschland hat insgesamt 99 Abgeordnete im Europaparlament, wo vermutlich die wenigsten von wissen, was auf dem Spiel steht. Der Bundestag hat letztes Jahr in einem interfraktionellen Antrag [1] geschlossen eine Vorratsdatenspeicherung abgelehnt.

Was kann man jetzt noch tun?

Wichtig ist, bei den Abgeordneten anzurufen [2], Faxe zu schicken und Mails zu schreiben und auf die Risiken der Richtlinie hinweisen. Den meisten dürfte echt nicht bewusst sein, was ihre Fraktionsvorsitzenden ihnen am Mittwoch bei einer Richtlinie mit dem komisch klingenden Namen "Data Retention" zur Abstimmung empfehlen. Wenige Tage sind hierfür noch Zeit. Starten sollten man immer bei den eigenen Europaabgeordneten. Schaut also nach, wer für Euch im Europaparlament sitzt. Direkt anrufen ist am sinnvollsten, meist hat man einen Mitarbeiter am Telefon, wenn man Glück hat, auch den Abgeordneten. Faxe schreiben ist auch gut, ein Fax halten die Mitarbeiter in der Hand und müssten sich das erstmal durchlesen. Mails sind leider nicht sehr effektiv, da die Abgeordneten viel mehr Mails als Faxe und Telefonanrufe bekommen. Wichtig ist vor allem, höflich und argumentativ am Telefon zu sein. Ihr wollt ja jemanden überzeugen und nicht beschimpfen!

Verbreitet die Nachricht weiter und mobilisiert mehr Menschen, sich jetzt gegen eine Vorratsdatenspeicherung und damit eine flächendeckende Überwachungsinfrastruktur in Europa einzusetzen. Nächste Woche ist es zu spät und dann können wir nur noch auf die Gerichte hoffen.

Hier ist ein aktuller Artikel aus der Zeit über die Vorratsdatenspeicherung und was sie bedeuten wird: Jeder unter Verdacht [3]. Über eine gestrige Anhörung im Europaparlament berichtet Reuters: Compromise on EU data storage rules spurs backlash. Die meisten Informationen hält das Wiki [4] unserer "Data retention is no solution"-Kampagne [5] bereit. Viele Informationen bietet auch netzpolitik.org [6]. Am einfachsten findet man diese, wenn man "Vorratsdatenspeicherung" in die Such-Maske eingibt. Heise fasst die neuesten Entwicklungen auch nochmal zusammen: Abstimmungskrimi bei Richtlinie zur Überwachung der Telekommunikation erwartet [7].

[1] http://dip.bundestag.de/btd/15/045/1504597.pdf
[2] http://www.europarl.eu.int/members/public.do?language=de
[3] http://www.zeit.de/2005/49/Vorratsspeicherung
[4] http://wiki.dataretentionisnosolution.com:81/index.php/Main_Page
[5] http://www.dataretentionisnosolution.com/
[6] http://www.netzpolitik.org/
[7] http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/67133

In a shocking charge a group of seven House Democrats wrote President Bush this week, accusing the Pentagon of under-reporting casualties in Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121105X.shtml

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47840


Informant: ireland

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?thold=-1&mode=nested&order=0&sid=23133

Commander-In-Thief

Ted Rall: 'Giving Democracy The Bird: Bush Asks Congress For Martial Law'

Posted on Wednesday, October 12 @ 10:19:24 EDT

Ted Rall, Yahoo

NEW YORK--Soldiers brandishing automatic weapons, a defining characteristic of life in Third World dictatorships, have become commonplace at airports, bus and train stations, government offices and highway checkpoints since 9/11. Now troops are becoming our first responders to situations, such as natural disasters and flu outbreaks, which normally fall under civilian jurisdiction.

Everything's gone topsy-turvy: The National Guard, charged with keeping order here at home and legally under the control of state governors, has been shipped off to Iraq and Afghanistan, shanghaied by the federal government. Here in the U.S., whatever comes up, the Bush Administration's first reaction is to send in the regular army troops who are supposed to be in Iraq. Whether it's a sinister plot against American democracy or the most sustained large-scale foolishness in history, the Bush Administration is tearing down the traditional wall between overseas military action and domestic law enforcement.

Creeping militarism leapt into full view with Bush's October 4 request to Congress to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits the use of the military in domestic policing except for the purpose of quelling a revolution. Citing the theoretical possibility that Asian avian flu, now only transmittable from bird to human, could mutate into a human-to-human form, Bush said: "If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And who best to be able to effect a quarantine? One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move. I think it's an important debate for Congress to have."

Overturning Posse Comitatus would allow troops to break into houses and apartments and sweep the streets for flu victims, and forcibly contain them in Guantánamo-style camps. They could seal off cities or whole states. These extreme measures could also be deployed against U.S. citizens after hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, or even election disputes--whenever and wherever a president decides they are necessary.

Bush laid the groundwork for his assault on Posse Comitatus on September 26, when he explained his decision to unleash the 82nd Airborne upon Hurricane Katrina-devastated New Orleans: "I want there to be a robust discussion about the best way for the federal government, in certain extreme circumstances, to be able to rally assets for the good of the people." The Louisiana National Guard, meanwhile, was stuck in Iraq.

"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's School of Public Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness. Redlener called Bush's proposal to deploy troops on American soil an "extraordinarily Draconian measure." Even Gene Healy, senior editor at the right-wing Cato Institute, said Bush's proposal would undermine "a fundamental principle of American law" that "reflects America's traditional distrust of using standing armies to enforce order at home, a distrust that's well-justified."

All this over avian flu, which to date has killed fewer than 100 people worldwide.

Travel to other countries and you'll find that a society's freedom is inversely related to the number of guys wearing camouflage, brandishing big guns and pulling people over at roadblocks. Blurring the distinction between policing and soldiering, as do the military police in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and Middle Eastern countries like Syria and Jordan, is a defining characteristic of repressive states.

Civilian cops may be rude or even abusive, but they're not supposed to shoot you without a good reason. You're their boss, or at least they work for the mayor you elected. Not so with soldiers. Military troops are responsible only to their chain of command, which is likely to end thousands of miles away in Washington. They shoot sooner and quicker than cops, and they have much bigger guns. Regimes that use the military to maintain order tell their citizens: do what we tell you, or else. They rely upon violence rather than tacit consensus to stay in charge.

Rule under the point of a gun is not democracy.

James Pinkerton of the New America Foundation argues for efficiency over freedom. "When you absolutely, positively, have to get something done right away," he writes in USA Today, "you call in the military. By their very nature, men and women in uniform are oriented toward getting things done. They are trained to complete their mission, or die trying. And as Hurricane Katrina made clear, the rest of the government doesn't hold to such a high standard. So why not the best?"

Federal agencies muffed Katrina because of inadequate budgets and mismanagement, not because they're intrinsically incompetent. Moreover, there's little evidence that militarizing domestic functions makes the trains run on time. The military controls everything from road construction to trash collection, yet Pakistan remains a nation that suffers from systemic corruption, a staggering drug problem and crippling disparity of wealth--not to mention an endless low-intensity civil war. Most European democracies, by contrast, enjoy a higher standard of living--and more efficient government--than the U.S. And they do it without pointing automatic rifles at flood victims lining up for food and water.

But what if military dictatorship could be proven a more efficient form of government than old-fashioned democracy? What if a standing army could do what a bunch of namby-pamby bureaucrats can't? Would it be worth it?

That's the choice George W. Bush is asking Congress, and thus us, to make. The fact that he hasn't been impeached for daring to ask it highlights the dictatorial tendencies of those who share his contempt for personal liberty.

Reprinted from Yahoo:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucru/20051012/cm_ucru/givingdemocracythebird


Informant: Friends

Harold Pinter – Nobelvorlesung
http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture-g.html

Begin forwarded message:

"Avian flu -- as well as SARS, West Nile, and other pandemics -- is the pretext for the militarization of the United States (and the rest of the world), a large-scale project by the Pentagon and Big Pharma"

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/cat_index_30.shtml
Editors' Blog

Editor & Publisher: Bev Conover Assistant Editor: Linda L. Starr Associate Editors: Larry Chin & Kellia Ramares

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Tamiflu linked to 64 cases of psychological disorders and 2 suicides; China reports 3 persons infected with bird flu Tamiflu, the "world's first line of defense" against the avian flu (purported to be spreading -- or being spread -- throughout the world) has now been linked to 64 cases of psychological disorders and two teen suicides, according to media reports from Japan.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20051113a2.htm

According to western media, such as Reuters, the FDA is "investigating." http://tinyurl.com/8445o

Meanwhile, China is hit with three cases of humans infected with bird flu. A SARS-type crisis throughout the region appears imminent.

Three issues 'must be considered:

Avian flu -- as well as SARS, West Nile, and other pandemics -- is the pretext for the militarization of the United States (and the rest of the world), a large-scale project by the Pentagon and Big Pharma.

Population control, depopulation, and fear are key Peak Oil-related control measures. It is called "demand reduction."


Informant: John Calvert

Military operations, under the guise of a news organization, use soldier-generated material from a psychological operations unit to turn out a "truthful message" while concealing the one-sided American sponsorship.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121105Y.shtml

Reuters
Sunday, December 11, 2005; 11:10 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress will reach an agreement with the White House on a defense bill that would ban the torture and inhumane treatment of detainees, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Sunday.

Frist said on Fox News Sunday that negotiators were discussing the issue of "degrading" suspects.

The amendment, pushed by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, had passed the Senate with a 90-9 majority, but the White House fiercely opposed it. Vice President Dick Cheney led an unsuccessful bid to exempt the CIA from the torture ban, saying it would hinder the war on terrorism.

"I think there will be clarification of what we mean, how aggressive can one be to get information?" said Frist, who did not specify what would be banned.

"Not torture. What does degrading mean? Do you not want to degrade a terrorist, not hurt them, but degrade them, if they are going to take out your family, if they are going to assassinate you? That's the question that is being worked out," he said.

Frist voted for the amendment pushed by McCain, who was tortured while a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

A congressional aide said on Thursday that Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives had accepted the amendment.

Frist said he expected there would be an agreement.

"An agreement will be reached and we will come to some understanding which will allow us in ways consistent with our values, that is legal, to get the appropriate information to protect us," said the Tennessee Republican.

The White House has argued that putting the anti-torture rules into law would hamper interrogators' ability to obtain information from prisoners by making them less fearful.

Facing broad support in Congress for McCain's amendment in the wake of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and harsh interrogation practices at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, the administration negotiated with the Senate on the final bill.

The measure faces final passage in the House and Senate as Congress scrambles to conclude business this week before breaking for the year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/11/AR2005121100367.html


Informant: John Calvert

Sunday, December 11, 2005

By ROBERT M. COOK
Staff Writer
bcook@fosters.com

An IBM worker wheels cartons tagged with RFID, or radio frequency identification, devices past a tag reader at the company's testing center in LaGaude, France. (New York Times News Service file photo)

The state's proposed law The state's proposed law

Key provisions of proposed House Bill 203:

No consumer product or identification document which has a tracking device attached to it or implanted in it shall be sold to a consumer without a label containing a universally accepted symbol.

Identifying labels shall be affixed to the consumer product or identification document by the entity that implants the tracking device or the entity that imports products with tracking devices. Any entity that is convicted of this portion of the law shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

No person shall implant or attempt to implant a tracking device into any individual without informed, written consent by that individual or the individual's legal guardian. Any person convicted of breaking this law would be guilty of a felony.

The state, or political subdivision, department or agency shall not issue, permit others to issue on its behalf, any identification document that contains a tracking device or uses tracking devices to locate an individual except under these circumstances: 1) To locate a person who is incarcerated in state prison or county jail, is housed in a mental health facility after having been charged with a crime, is subject to court-ordered electronic monitoring, or is a resident of a county hospital, nursing care facility or assisted living facility.

Establish an 11-member commission to study the use of tracking devices in government and business and monitor their effect on the economy and society.

Sources: New Hampshire House of Representatives Commerce Committee and Legislative Services, Concord. Related Articles and Media Article: Author founds activist group

State lawmakers have crafted a bill that, if passed, would make New Hampshire the first state in the nation to regulate so-called "spy chips" in an effort to protect consumer privacy.

The full House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the measure, House Bill 203, in January.

State lawmakers and advocates say it represents the most complete effort so far among the states to address the use of radio frequency identification, or RFID, microchips.

RFID microchips are smaller than grains of sand. Each chip is linked to an ultrathin antenna strip that can be printed on product packaging labels or built into products themselves. Retailers can use them to track products at a distance.

The antennas pick up electromagnetic energy beamed at them from reader devices stores or other businesses can install. When they pick up the energy, the chips send a unique identification number back to the reader device, remotely identifying the item, potentially unknown to customers.

They work up to 30 feet away and continue to operate long after the initial sale. If shoppers buy the item with a credit card, connecting their names with the product numbers, a record of their travels could be constructed automatically, then shared, as the technology becomes more widespread.

Four states — Massachusetts, California, Utah and Missouri, have attempted to pass legislation to address RFID, according to Katherine Albrecht, founder of the national group CASPIAN, or Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, an advocacy group focused on consumer privacy. But legislatures in each state so far have not passed related bills.

CASPIANalso has crafted federal legislation against RFID, named the RFIDRight to Know Act of 2003, but it too has languished, she said.

New Hampshire's House Commerce Committee first took up the state's RFIDbill last February and retained it for study, according to committee chairwoman Rep. Sheila Francoeur, R-Hampton. A subcommittee added an amendment this fall that outlines what retailers would be required to do if products contain RFID chips.

Francoeur said one provision would require retailers to inform consumers if a RFID chip is embedded in a product or its packaging at the time of a sale, giving buyers the chance to ask to have the chip removed if they prefer.

The bill also would make it a felony to implant human beings with a "spy chip" without their consent. It would set up a commission to track the technology's growth and monitor its affect on individual privacy rights.

Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, who worked on the amendment, said the state doesn't want to deny retailers use of a possibly helpful technology. But they want retailers to disclose a chip's presence.

"With all technology, it helps you and it hurts you, and the Legislature is trying to make sure the gains outweigh the pains," Kurk said.

RFID, or radio frequency identification, microchips are adhered to product boxes with a label for shipping purposes. (New York Times News Service file photo) The technology, used and managed properly, could have beneficial uses outside the retail sector, he said. For example, if someone had a chip implanted in their skin detailing their medical history and they were involved in a motor vehicle accident, a doctor could access that data immediately and treat them, Kurk added.

But he also warned some companies and the government could abuse the technology. If agencies such as the Department of Defense use data gathered by retailers to create dossiers on individual spending habits as away to track potential terrorists, that could constitute abuse, he argued.

"My concern is that it is not any of the government's business," Kurk said.

Wal-Mart is the only national retailer currently selling products with boxes or packaging with RFID chips embedded, according to the company and CASPIAN. The products include Hewlett-Packard digital printers.

The labels with RFID chips look like typical bar codes. Company officials say the chips help them ensure stocks of high-demand products are adequate.

Wal-Mart's plans call for more than 1,000 stores, clubs and distribution centers to use RFID microchips by the end of 2006, according to a statement from the retailer. Wal-Mart expects the next wave of 300 suppliers to start shipping tagged cases and pallets by January 2007, bringing the total to more than 600 suppliers, according to the same statement.

Members of New Hampshire's CASPIAN chapter have staged protests against the RFID technology at Wal-Mart stores in Bedford and Amherst. They plan more protests in the Concord or Seacoast areas soon, according to Joel Rauch, the chapter's founder.

Anything could have an RFID tag in it, he said, from clothes to appliances to books, letting retailers track spending and lifestyle habits to launch more effective marketing campaigns.

Rauch said he's pleased New Hampshire is passing a law to regulate RFID chips.

"You need to answer the basic question," Rauch said, "of who owns your information when you make a purchase?"

Wal-Mart officials at the retailer's corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., have said the technology is helping them better serve customers. Company officials would provide only previously released statements for this story.

"We can certainly understand and appreciate consumer concern about privacy," the company wrote in a statement last year when it first introduced the technology.

Kurk said he hopes if New Hampshire passes an anti-RFID law, other states will follow.

"My sense is that we will be a glowing beacon that will be like a firefly that will inspire other states to do this," he said.

Federal law could trump New Hampshire's because national retailers such as Wal-Mart ship goods across state lines, Kurk said. But he called that possibility not a reason to prevent the state from acting.

Robert M. Cook can be reached by calling 742-4455, ext. 5396 or via e-mail at bcook@fosters.com.

© 2005 Geo. J. Foster Company

http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051211/NEWS01/112110062/-1/CITIZEN

Hier mein Kommentar auf Seite http://iddd.de/umtsno/recht.htm#schein zu -

Nach zwei Jahren Prozess ein Vergleich - Vom 08.12.2005,

Von Yasmin Hameed

Scheingefechte

Scheinaktivitäten gehören zur Scheindemokratie !

Kommentar von Krzysztof Puzyna webmaster@umtsno.de

8.12.05

Eine in Hamburg gut funktionierende taktische Maßnahme zur Verkürzung einer Demo ist den Demonstranten im Demozug zu verbieten zu laufen. Dann laufen die jungen ProtestlerInnen schnell und lange um nach einiger Zeit erschöpft aufzuhören. Sie sind müde, aber überzeugt der polizeilichen Übermacht eins ausgewischt zu haben.

Dass sie nichts erreicht, sondern nur die Energie verloren haben - wird nicht reflektiert. Wir – terrestrische Mobilfunk Bekämpfer - sollen der Übermacht der Diktatur der Mobilfunkindustrie in die Augen schauen, Scheinaktivitäten vermeiden und die politischen Ursachen der Konflikte in Angriff nehmen.

Die Übergabe von über 36 000 Unterschriften des Freiburger Appells an John F. Ryan, http://iddd.de/umtsno/100aerzte.htm#abgabe einen EU-Referenten war eine Scheinaktivität - man hatte den Vorsitzenden des EP-Umweltausschusses, CDU- Mann Herrn Karl-Heinz Florenz geschont. http://www.karl-heinz-florenz.de/

Der ungerechte Boykott in Deutschland und in Österreich der Petition gegen Repacholi zeigt, dass in unserer Bewegung trojanische Pferde sehr oft durch zwar -schöne aber Scheinarbeit sich eingeschlichen haben und teilweise Wirkung entfalten, weil wir es nicht reflektieren und diese Pferde so laut wiehern können..

Scheinaktivitäten gehören zur Scheindemokratie !

Die Petition an die WHO
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/409444403 zur Absetzung Herrn Dr. Repacholi beschäftigt sich mit den Wurzeln des Übels und darum ist sie keine Scheinaktivität. http://iddd.de/umtsno/puzen.htm#send5

Ihre Unterschriften sind weiterhin wichtig !

(Die Übersetzung - http://iddd.de/umtsno/puzde.htm#repweg2 )

--------

Das zwielichtige Spiel des Dr. Michael Repacholi
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1257501/

Bestechungsvorwurf gegen Repacholi
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1257776/

Repacholi and industry money
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1230638/

Petition to remove Dr. Mike Repacholi
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/877606/

http://www.izgmf.de/scripts/forum/forum_entry.php?id=5419&page=0&category=all&order=time

Scheinaktivitäten gehören zur Scheindemokratie

Hier mein Kommentar auf Seite http://iddd.de/umtsno/recht.htm#schein zu -

Nach zwei Jahren Prozess ein Vergleich - Vom 08.12.2005,

Von Yasmin Hameed

Scheingefechte

Scheinaktivitäten gehören zur Scheindemokratie !

Kommentar von Krzysztof Puzyna webmaster@umtsno.de

8.12.05

Eine in Hamburg gut funktionierende taktische Maßnahme zur Verkürzung einer Demo ist den Demonstranten im Demozug zu verbieten zu laufen. Dann laufen die jungen ProtestlerInnen schnell und lange um nach einiger Zeit erschöpft aufzuhören. Sie sind müde, aber überzeugt der polizeilichen Übermacht eins ausgewischt zu haben.

Dass sie nichts erreicht, sondern nur die Energie verloren haben - wird nicht reflektiert. Wir – terrestrische Mobilfunk Bekämpfer - sollen der Übermacht der Diktatur der Mobilfunkindustrie in die Augen schauen, Scheinaktivitäten vermeiden und die politischen Ursachen der Konflikte in Angriff nehmen.

Die Übergabe von über 36 000 Unterschriften des Freiburger Appells an John F. Ryan, http://iddd.de/umtsno/100aerzte.htm#abgabe einen EU-Referenten war eine Scheinaktivität - man hatte den Vorsitzenden des EP-Umweltausschusses, CDU- Mann Herrn Karl-Heinz Florenz geschont. http://www.karl-heinz-florenz.de/

Der ungerechte Boykott in Deutschland und in Österreich der Petition gegen Repacholi zeigt, dass in unserer Bewegung trojanische Pferde sehr oft durch zwar -schöne aber Scheinarbeit sich eingeschlichen haben und teilweise Wirkung entfalten, weil wir es nicht reflektieren und diese Pferde so laut wiehern können..

Scheinaktivitäten gehören zur Scheindemokratie !

Die Petition an die WHO http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/409444403 zur Absetzung Herrn Dr. Repacholi beschäftigt sich mit den Wurzeln des Übels und darum ist sie keine Scheinaktivität. http://iddd.de/umtsno/puzen.htm#send5

Ihre Unterschriften sind weiterhin wichtig !

(Die Übersetzung - http://iddd.de/umtsno/puzde.htm#repweg2 )

--------

Das zwielichtige Spiel des Dr. Michael Repacholi
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1257501/

Repacholi and industry money
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1230638/

Whether it is a conscious plan to let New Orleans rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121105Z.shtml

Bitte informieren Sie sich über die Zukunft.

Wird diese europäische Richtlinie gebilligt, so hätte dies zur Folge, dass sämtliche Dienstleistungen im Europa der 25 wie gewöhnliche Wirtschaftsprodukte behandelt würden. Grundlegende Bereiche wie Kultur, Bildung, Gesundheitsdienste und sämtliche Dienstleistungen im Rahmen der nationalen Systeme zur sozialen Sicherheit könnten denselben wirtschaftlichen Konkurrenzmechanismen unterworfen werden wie sonstige Waren. Eine solche Entwicklung würde unweigerlich zu einer Verschlechterung der Rechtssysteme bezüglich Renten, Sozialhilfe und der Deckung der Gesundheitskosten zugunsten privater Systeme führen. Sie würde außerdem die Deregulierung unserer Bildungssysteme und schließlich das Ende der kulturellen Vielfalt mit sich bringen. Außerdem hätte die Umsetzung dieser Richtlinie zur Folge, dass die Arbeitnehmerrechte, wie sie in der nationalen Gesetzgebung der EU-Mitgliedsstaaten festgelegt sind, in Frage gestellt würden.

http://www.elo-forum.org/forum/ftopic4162.html

http://www.stopbolkestein.org/index.cfm?Content_ID=4000&R_ID=4000


Seit gestern (10.12.2005) ist die Terminseite an den Start gegangen. Inhalt dieser Seite wird es sein, regionale und überregionale Aktionen, Demonstrationen oder Informationen über geplante Aktivitäten – deutschlandweit zu verkünden. Wir bitten daher alle Aktionen dort zu hinterlegen, da beim millionenfachen Abruf, auch Interessenten aus Ihrer Gegend an den Terminen teilnehmen könnten.

http://www.erwerbslosenforum.de/termin/index.php


Kinderarmut in Deutschland unbekannt?

Eine Studie belegt, dass jedes siebte Kind davon betroffen ist In einer Studie des Paritätischen Wohlfahrtsverbandes (DPWV) wurde aufgezeigt, dass in Deutschland jedes siebte Kind in Armut lebe. Seit Hartz IV eingeführt wurde, stieg die Anzahl der Kinder in Armut auf den Rekordwert von 1,7 Millionen an. Mehr als 1,5 Millionen Kinder leben auf Sozialhilfebasis. Die Dunkelziffer sei laut DPWV wohl noch um 200.000 höher. 14,2 Prozent aller Kinder befänden sich demnach am Rande des Existenzminimums. Während in Westdeutschland 12,4 Prozent in Armut leben, sind es in Ostdeutschland sogar 23,7 Prozent.

http://www.erwerbslosenforum.de/redaktion/kinderarmut.pdf

Niemand sollte die Augen vor der eigenen Haustür verschließen!!!


Für den fleißigen Weihnachtmann (von welchem zu 99,99% aller Ämter die Rute bekommen sollten), steht ab sofort ein Musterwiderspruch zum download bereit. Bitte beachtet dabei, dass fortführende Klagewege alleine bestritten werden müssen und auf eigene Regie erfolgen!!!

http://www.erwerbslosenforum.de/widerspruch/widerspruch_weihnachtsbeihilfe.doc



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bolkenstein

Dritter Akt
http://www.gigaherz.ch/973

--------

Bestechungsvorwurf gegen Repacholi
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1257776/

Repacholi and industry money
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1230638/

Argentina:

http://www.temperleyweb.com.ar/ii20050808-antena.htm
http://www.ducba.com.ar/ (article 12-09-05)
http://www.temperleyweb.com.ar/ii20050228-antena.htm
http://www.launion.com.ar/251111/251111loc01lz.htm
http://www.launion.com.ar/250808/250808loc03lz.htm


Mexico:

http://www.cambiodemichoacan.com.mx/vernota.php?id=34861
http://www.cambiodemichoacan.com.mx/vernota.php?id=34932



From Frans:


Spain:

http://www.lajornadamichoacan.com.mx/2005/12/07/12n1mun.html
http://www.cambiodemichoacan.com.mx/vernota.php?id=34861

Argentina:
http://www.temperleyweb.com.ar/ii20050808-antena.htm

(Google and Babelfish can both do approximate translations)

Here are some research papers sent to me by Olle Johansson.

Andrew


Here is the list of papers:

Johansson O, "Elöverkänslighet samt överkänslighet mot mobiltelefoner: Resultat från en dubbel-blind provokationsstudie av metodstudiekaraktär" (=Electrohypersensitivity and sensitivity to mobile telephones: Results from a double-blind provocation study of pilot character", in Swedish), Enheten för Experimentell Dermatologi, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Rapport nr. 2, 1995, ISSN 1400-6111 [First study on humans of mobile telephony-related effects]

(Cancer) Szmigielski S, "Cancer morbidity in subjects occupationally exposed to high frequency (radiofrequency and microwave) electromagnetic radiation", Sci Total Environ 1996; 180: 9-17

Adey WR, Byus CV, Cain CD, Higgins RJ, Jones RA, Kean CJ, Kuster N, MacMurray A, Stagg RB, Zimmerman G, Phillips JL, Haggren W, "Spontaneous and nitrosourea-induced primary tumors of the central nervous system in Fischer 344 rats chronically exposed to 836 MHz modulated microwaves", Radiat Res 1999; 152: 293-302

Adey WR, Byus CV, Cain CD, Higgins RJ, Jones RA, Kean CJ, Kuster N, MacMurray A, Stagg RB, Zimmerman G, "Spontaneous and nitrosourea-induced primary tumors of the central nervous system in Fischer 344 rats exposed to frequency-modulated microwave fields", Cancer Res 2000; 60: 1857-1863

Hardell L, Nasman A, Pahlson A, Hallquist A, "Case-control study on radiology work, medical x-ray investigations, and use of cellular telephones as risk factors for brain tumors", MedGenMed 2000; E2

Hardell L, Mild K H, Pahlson A, Hallquist A, "Ionizing radiation, cellular telephones and the risk for brain tumours", Eur J Cancer Prev 2001; 10: 523-529

Hardell L, Hallquist A, Mild KH, Carlberg M, Pahlson A, Lilja A, "Cellular and cordless telephones and the risk for brain tumours", Eur J Cancer Prev 2002; 11: 377-386

Hardell L, Mild KH, Carlberg M, "Case-control study on the use of cellular and cordless phones and the risk for malignant brain tumours", Int J Radiat Biol 2002; 78: 931-936

Lonn S, Ahlbom A, Hall P, Feychting M, "Mobile phone use and the risk of acoustic neuroma", Epidemiology 2004; 15: 653-659

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "FM broadcasting exposure time and malignant melanoma incidence", Electromag Biol Med 2005; 24: 1-8

(Microwaves as stressors/non-thermal effects) Daniells C, Duce I, Thomas D, Sewell P, Tattersall J, de Pomerai D, "Transgenic nematodes as biomonitors of microwave-induced stress", Mutat Res 1998; 399: 55-64

de Pomerai D, Daniells C, David H, Allan J, Duce I, Mutwakil M, Thomas D, Sewell P, Tattersall J, Jones D, Candido P, "Non-thermal heat-shock response to microwaves", Nature 2000; 405: 417-418

(DNA-damage/DNA-effects) Sarkar S, Ali S, Behari J, "Effect of low power microwave on the mouse genome: a direct DNA analysis", Mutat Res 1994; 320: 141-147 [Obs! Verkan sedd vid gällande 3G-rekommendation = 10W/m2]

Lai H, Singh NP, "Single- and double-strand DNA breaks in rat brain cells after acute exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation", Int J Radiat Biol 1996; 69: 513-521

Lai H, Singh NP, "Melatonin and a spin-trap compound block radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation-induced DNA strand breaks in rat brain cells", Bioelectromagnetics 1997; 18: 446-454

Phillips JL, Ivaschuk O, Ishida-Jones T, Jones RA, Campbell-Beachler M, Haggren W, "DNA damage in Molt-4 T-lymphoblastoid cells exposed to cellular telephone radiofrequency fields in vitro", Bioelectrochem Bioenerg 1998; 45: 103-110

Pacini S, Ruggiero M, Sardi I, Aterini S, Gulisano F, Gulisano M, "Exposure to global system for mobile communication (GSM) cellular phone radiofrequency alters gene expression, proliferation, and morphology of human skin fibroblasts", Oncol Res 2002; 13: 19-24

Trosic I, Busljeta I, Kasuba V, Rozgaj R, "Micronucleus induction after whole-body microwave irradiation of rats", Mutat Res 2002; 521: 73-79

The REFLEX study
http://www.verum-foundation.de/www2004/html/pdf/euprojekte01/REFLEX_Final%20Report_Part%201.pdf

(Long-term exposure) Repacholi MH, Basten A, Gebski V, Noonan D, Finnie J, Harris AW, "Lymphomas in Eµ-Pim1 transgenic mice exposed to pulsed 900 MHz electromagnetic fields", Radiat Res 1997; 147: 631-640

Sykes PJ, McCallum BD, Bangay MJ, Hooker AM, Morley AA, "Effect of exposure to 900 MHz radiofrequency radiation on intrachromosomal recombination in pKZ1 mice", Radiat Res 2001; 156: 495-502

Santini R, Seigne M, Bonhomme-Faivre L, Bouffet S, Defrasne E, Sage M, "Symptoms experienced by users of digital cellular phones: A study of a French engineering school", Electromagn Biol Med 2002; 21: 81-88

(Mast cell effects/importance for hypersensitivity/allergy/irradiation damage/cancer) Johansson O, Liu P-Y, ""Electrosensitivity", "electrosupersensitivity" and "screen dermatitis": preliminary observations from on-going studies in the human skin", In: Proceedings of the COST 244: Biomedical Effects of Electromagnetic Fields - Workshop on Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (ed. D Simunic), EU/EC (DG XIII), Brussels/Graz, 1995, pp 52-57

Donnellan M, McKenzie DR, French PW, "Effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation at 835 MHz on growth, morphology and secretory characteristics of a mast cell analogue, RBL-2H3", Cell Biol Int 1997; 21: 427-439

Harvey C, French PW, "Effects on protein kinase C and gene expression in a human mast cell line, HMC-1, following microwave exposure", Cell Biol Int 1999; 23: 739-748

Gangi S, Johansson O, "A theoretical model based upon mast cells and histamine to explain the recently proclaimed sensitivity to electric and/or magnetic fields in humans", Med Hypotheses 2000; 54: 663-671

Johansson O, Gangi S, Liang Y, Yoshimura K, Jing C, Liu P-Y, "Cutaneous mast cells are altered in normal healthy volunteers sitting in front of ordinary TVs/PCs - results from open-field provocation experiments", J Cutan Pathol 2001; 28: 513-519

Kimata H, "Enhancement of allergic skin wheal responses by microwave radiation from mobile phones in patients with atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome", Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2002; 129: 348-350

Johansson O, "Screen dermatitis and electrosensitivity: Preliminary observations in the human skin", In: Electromagnetic Environments and Health in Buildings (ed. D Clements-Croome), Spon Press, London & New York, 2004, pp 377-389

Johansson O, "Elöverkänslighet - en form av strålskada"
(="Electrohypersensitivity - a kind of irradiation damage", in Swedish), Tf-bladet 2004; (3): 12-13

Johansson O, "Electrohypersensitivity: Observations in the human skin of a physical impairment", Symposium on "Electrical Sensitivity in Human Beings", Royal Society of Medicine, London, U.K., September 11, 2004 (extend. abstr.)

Johansson O, "Electrohypersensitivity: Observations in the human skin of a physical impairment", WHO Workshop on "Electrical Hypersensitivity", Prague, Czech Republic, October 25-27, 2004 (extend. abstr.)

Johansson O, "Elektro-Hypersensitivität: Beobachtungen von physikalischen Schäden an der menschlichen Haut", "2nd National Congress for Afflicted Persons by Electrosmog", Olten, Switzerland, November 13, 2004 (extend. abstr.)

Rajkovic V, Matavulj M, Johansson O, "Histological characteristics of cutaneous and thyroid mast cell populations in male rats exposed to power-frequency electromagnetic fields", Int J Radiat Biol 2005; 81: 491-499

Rajkovic V, Matavulj M, Johansson O, "The effect of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields on skin and thyroid amine- and peptide-containing cells in rats: An immunohistochemical and morphometrical study", Environ Res 2005; 99: 369-377

Rajkovic V, Matavulj M, Johansson O, "An immunohistochemical and morphometrical study of the power-frequency electromagnetic field influence on skin and thyriod amine- and peptide-containing cells in rats", BioEM 2005, Dublin, Ireland, June 19-24, 2005 (abstr.)

(Memory/behaviour/EEG) Lai H, Horita A, Guy AW, "Microwave irradiation affects radial-arm maze performance in the rat", Bioelectromagnetics 1994; 15: 95-104

Krause CM, Sillanmäki L, Koivisto M, Häggqvist A, Saarela C, Revonsuo A, Laine M, Hämäläinen H, "Effects of electromagnetic field emitted by cellular phones on the EEG during a memory task", NeuroReport 2000; 11: 761-764

Croft R, Chandler J, Burgess A, Barry R, Williams J, Clarke A, "Acute mobile phone operation affects neural function in humans", Clin Neurophysiol 2002; 113: 1623

Huber R, Treyer V, Borbely AA, Schuderer J, Gottselig JM, Landolt HP, Werth E, Berthold T, Kuster N, Buck A, Achermann P, "Electromagnetic fields, such as those from mobile phones, alter regional cerebral blood flow and sleep and waking EEG", J Sleep Res 2002; 11: 289-295

(Sleep/wakefulness) Borbély AA, Huber R, Graf T, Fuchs B, Gallmann E, Achermann P, "Pulsed high-frequency electromagnetic field affects human sleep and sleep electroencephalogram", Neurosci. Lett. 1999; 275: 207-210

Hamblin DL, Wood AW, "Effects of mobile phone emissions on human brain activity and sleep variables", Int J Radiat Biol 2002; 78: 659-669

Huber R, Treyer V, Borbely AA, Schuderer J, Gottselig JM, Landolt HP, Werth E, Berthold T, Kuster N, Buck A, Achermann P, "Electromagnetic fields, such as those from mobile phones, alter regional cerebral blood flow and sleep and waking EEG", J Sleep Res 2002; 11: 289-295

(Eye cancer) Stang A, Anastassiou G, Ahrens W, Bromen K, Bornfeld N, Jöckel K-H, "The possible role of radiofrequency radiation in the development of uveal melanoma", Epidemiology 2001; 12: 7-12

(Blood-brain barrier/nerve cell damage) Albert EN, Grau L, Kerns J, "Morphologic alterations in hamster blood-brain barrier after microwave irradiation", J Microw Power 1977; 12: 43-44

Albert EN, "Light and electron microscopic observation on the blood-brain barrier after microwave irradiation", In: Symp Biol Eff Measure Radiofr/Microwaves, FDA 77-8026 (ed. DG Hazzard), HEW Publications, Washington, DC, 1977, pp 294-304

Persson BR, Salford LG, Brun A, Eberhardt JL, Malmgren L, "Increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier induced by magnetic and electromagnetic fields", Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1992; 649: 356-358

Salford LG, Brun A, Sturesson K, Eberhardt JL, Persson BR, "Permeability of the blood-brain barrier induced by 915 MHz electromagnetic radiation, continuous wave and modulated at 8, 16, 50, and 200 Hz", Microsc Res Tech 1994; 27: 535-542

Persson B, Salford LG, Brun A, "Blood-brain barrier permeability in rats exposed to electromagnetic fields used in wireless communication", Wireless Network 1997; 3: 455-461

Leszczynski D, Joenvaara S, Reivinen J, Kuokka R, "Non-thermal activation of the hsp27/p38MAPK stress pathway by mobile phone radiation in human endothelial cells: Molecular mechanism for cancer- and blood-brain barrier-related effects", Differentiation 2002; 70: 120-129

Salford LG, Brun AE, Eberhardt JL, Malmgren L, Persson BRR, "Nerve cell damage in mammalian brain after exposure to microwaves from GSM mobile phones", Environmental Health Perspectives, doi:10.1289/ehp.6039 (available at http://dx.doi.org/), 29 January 2003

(Influence on bacteria) Shcheglov V, Alipov E, Belyaev I, "Cell-to-cell communication in response of E. coli cells at different phases of growth to low-intensity microwaves ", Biochim Biophys Acta 2002; 1572: 101

(Base stations/cellular phones/health effects) Santini R, "Cellular telephones and their relay stations: a health risk?"
(in French), Presse Med 1999; 28: 1884-1886

Santini R, Seigne M, Bonhomme-Faivre L, "Danger of cellular telephones and their relay stations" (in French), Pathol Biol (Paris) 2000; 48: 525-528

Santini R, Santini P, Seigne M, Danze JM, "Symptoms notified by people living near cell phone relay stations" (in French), Presse Med 2001; 30: 1594

Santini R, Santini P, Danze JM, Le Ruz P, Seigne M, "Investigation on the health of people living near mobile telephone relay stations: I/Incidence according to distance and sex" (in French), Pathol Biol (Paris) 2002; 50: 369-373

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Does GSM 1800 MHz affect the public health in Sweden?", In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop "Biological Effects of EMFs", Kos, Greece, October 4-8, 2004

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "1997 - A curious year in Sweden", Eur J Cancer Prev 2004; 13: 535-538

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Long-term sickness and mobile phone use", J Aust Coll Nutr & Env Med, 2004; 23: 11-12

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Mobile handset output power and health", Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine 2004; 23: 229-239

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "FM broadcasting exposure time and malignant melanoma incidence", Electromag Biol Med 2005; 24: 1-8

(Radio-/TV-masts/cancer/health effects) Goldsmith JR, "TV broadcast towers and cancer: The end of innocence for radiofrequency exposures", Am J Ind Med 1997; 32: 689-692

Magras IN, Xenos TD, " RF radiation-induced changes in the prenatal development of mice", Bioelectromagnetics 1997; 18: 455-461

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Melanoma incidence and frequency modulation (FM) broadcasting", Arch Environ Health 2002; 57: 32-40

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Har tusentals personer offrats i onödan sedan 1955?" (="Have thousands of persons unnecessarily been sacrificed since 1955?"; in Swedish), Nord Tidsskr Biol Med 2002; 2: 26-27

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Cancerdödlighet och långtidssjukskrivning" (="Cancer mortality and long-term sick leave"; in Swedish), Tidskriften Medikament 2002; 7: 40-41

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Cancer trends during the 20th century", J Aust Coll Nutr & Env Med 2002; 21: 3-8

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "Malignant melanoma of the skin - not a sunshine story!", Med Sci Monit 2004; 10: CR336-340

Hallberg Ö, Johansson O, "FM broadcasting exposure time and malignant melanoma incidence", Electromag Biol Med 2005; 24: 1-8

(General) Södergren L, Johansson O, "Commentary: Mobile telephones - will the golden goose become the mad cow?", J Aust Coll Nutr & Env Med 2001; 20: 29-30

Bistolfi F, "Are microvilli and cilia sensors of electromagnetic fields?", Physica Medica 2002; 18: 85-94

Weinberger Z, Richter ED, "Cellular telephones and effects on the brain: The head as an antenna and brain tissue as a radio receiver", Med Hypotheses 2002; 59: 703-705

The Stewart Report (no. 2; no. 1 December 2000)
http://www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/publications/documents_of_nrpb/pdfs/doc_15_5.pdf

[And there are so many more...!]

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

Jack N. Rakove advises Americans to enjoy the upcoming holidays while we can because when they are over the Senate Judiciary Committee will open its hearings on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, and we will then have to withstand a rambling disquisition of the Constitution.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121005H.shtml

A Seattle peace activist symbolically refuses to pay "war tax" on his Qwest phone bill, representing a pocketbook protest against what he sees as misuse of US military power.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121005E.shtml

Five years ago, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman was one of President Bush's arch political rivals. Now, due to his stance on Iraq, many in his party complain that he sounds more like Bush's running mate.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121005A.shtml

America is the biggest food producer of the world. We ship gargantuan piles of it to hungry foreign countries. Fifty four percent of the world’s exported corn is from the United States.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_julian_e_051209_american_hunger_3a_are.htm


From Information Clearing House

Most Americans carry cellphones, but many may not know that government agencies can track their movements through the signals emanating from the handset.

http://tinyurl.com/87p9s


From Information Clearing House

A DECADE ago Newt Gingrich’s Republican revolutionaries seized control of Congress after 40 years of Democrat rule by promising to end the culture of graft and corruption on Capitol Hill.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1918775,00.html


From Information Clearing House

Lieberman is so much of service to the Bush Administration that the Prince of Darkness himself, Dick Cheney, bestowed praise upon him in a speech on December 6 to another gathering of troops.

http://progressive.org/mag_wx120705


From Information Clearing House

The Bush administration seems to be losing sight of the fact that the rules also say the majority party of the moment may not use its powers to strip citizens of their rights, politicize the judicial system or rig the election process to keep itself in office.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/05/opinion/edvoting.php


From Information Clearing House

The U.S. government, in an unusual retreat, urged a federal appeals court on Friday to set aside its ruling that allowed the United States to hold an American citizen as an enemy combatant without being charged.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11268.htm

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said yesterday that the U.S.-led war on terror has undermined the global ban on torture. Her statement did not go over well with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton, who called Arbour's statement "inappropriate and illegitimate."

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2005/12/bolton_now_whin.html


From Information Clearing House

THE row over treatment of terrorist suspects by the US showed no signs of abating yesterday as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she could give no guarantee that terrorism detainees would not be abused despite clear rules against torture.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2373312005


From Information Clearing House

They know, that information is power. So they fabricate it (Niger uranium documents), disseminate it through the corporate press (Judith Miller), pay for positive spin in that "free press" (Armstrong Williams), stage favorable press briefing questions, set up "unrehearsed" encounters between the president and troops (October 2005 teleconference), buy positive press coverage of the U.S. occupation in the "free" Iraqi press.

http://www.counterpunch.com/leupp12092005.html


From Information Clearing House

A U.S. investigation into allegations that the American military is buying positive coverage in the Iraqi media has expanded to examine a press club founded and financed by the U.S. Army.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-12-08-media-probe_x.htm


From Information Clearing House

In reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.

http://www.10news.com/news/5504608/detail.html


From Information Clearing House

All that's new is the openness about it

By Naomi Klein

In Iraq the dirty work is already being handed over to Iraqi death squads, trained by the US and supervised by commanders like Jim Steele, who prepared for the job by setting up similar units in El Salvador.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11271.htm

By Cihan, aa

As the presence of foreign troops in Iraq is under debate, the largest Shiite and Sunni groups issued a declaration on Friday demanding a deadline announcement for the US pullout.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11272.htm



If America Left Iraq

The case for cutting and running

By Nir Rosen

At some point—whether sooner or later—U.S. troops will leave Iraq. I have spent much of the occupation reporting from Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul, Fallujah, and elsewhere in the country, and I can tell you that a growing majority of Iraqis would like it to be sooner.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11273.htm