What is actually implied here is the empire of the private transcontinental companies, directed by the cosmocrats. The 500 most powerful of these companies last year controlled 52 % of the gross world product, i.e. of the entire wealth produced on the planet.

http://www.crisispapers.org/guests/ziegler.htm


From Information Clearing House

Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter charged Monday that the reason Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi stepped down earlier this month was the growing scandal surrounding the use of uranium munitions in the Iraq War.

http://www.sfbayview.com/012605/headsroll012605.shtml


From Information Clearing House

The US Congress has voted to trim an extension of the anti-terror law known as the Patriot Act down to a month.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4551434.stm


From Information Clearing House

What would happen today if a swarthy Middle Eastern man without wealth or political connections suddenly appeared in front of the White House proclaiming such a radical doctrine of mercy, forgiveness, charity, self-abnegation and love – love even for the "evildoers" who "want to destroy our way of life"?

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=362&Itemid=1


From Information Clearing House

President George Bush faced a rare challenge from the judiciary yesterday when two courts questioned the legality of his expansion of presidential powers in the war on terror.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1673196,00.html


From Information Clearing House

An Italian judge has issued European arrest warrants for 22 purported CIA operatives wanted for the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric, a prosecutor said Friday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5500374,00.html


From Information Clearing House

"I'll say this for Vice President Dick Cheney: he puts it right out there, whether it is trying to ensure legal protection for those torturing prisoners, or insisting-as he did on Tuesday-that a wartime president "needs to have his powers unimpaired."

http://www.counterpunch.com/mcgovern12232005.html


From Information Clearing House

While most media treatment of the McCain torture “ban” is repeating politicians’ spin, civil libertarians see compromise legislation has rendered it largely toothless and possibly added to the problem.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2702


From Information Clearing House

On his November trip to the U.S., Ahmad Chalabi, Iraqi deputy prime minister in the “interim government” arising from the invasion he helped plan, visited Richard Perle in the latter’s suburban Washington home. There the two -- who go way back, friends since 1985 -- were joined by a Syrian gentleman named Farid Ghadry.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec05/Leupp1222.htm



Chalabi’s defeat puts U.S. friends in quandary:

Should his backers go with his view that it was a fraudulent election?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10575121


From Information Clearing House

Huge marches allege vote fraud.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10585658/


From Information Clearing House

By Robert Parry

The choice is clear to American citizens. Either they accept the Imperial Presidency that gives Bush the authority to do whatever he wants in the name of fighting terrorism – from imprisonments without trial to detainee abuse to spying on anyone deemed a security threat – or they act now.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11365.htm

By David E. Kaplan

In search of a terrorist nuclear bomb, the federal government since 9/11 has run a far-reaching, top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area, including mosques, homes, businesses, and warehouses, plus similar sites in at least five other cities, U.S. News has learned. In numerous cases, the monitoring required investigators to go on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the program. Some participants were threatened with loss of their jobs when they questioned the legality of the operation, according to these accounts.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11369.htm

The new antennas law passed on the 21.12.2005 with the third call (three calls to pass a law) in the parliament. The government meant to delay the vote on the law Until the last moment, in order to insert a few changes but finally the law passed in its original form.

The NON IONIZING RADIATION LAW or ANTENNAS LAW comes to put in order the issue of the radiation in Israel by creating a body that will set the radiation standards.

Three main subjects that were put in order in the law

1. Informing the public on the locations of (new) antennas and giving to every citizen the right to resist to the antennas.

2. Compensations that will be given by the cellular companies to the local authorities for reduction of property value lawsuits because of the proximity to antennas.

3. Setting distances from sensitive places.

The National Authority for Planning and Construction is expected to discuss the division of responsibility between the cellular companies and the municipalities.

(From: the antennas law passed at the third call, By Eran Gabai, The Marker 21.12.05)


Iris Atzmon

LEWIS HANNAM

23 December 2005 12:48

An annual charity football match had to be cancelled after a mobile phone firm carved up the pitch while putting a mast next to the touchline.

The long-standing Boxing Day game in Spixworth was called off by organisers appalled at the mud-bath workers left behind.

Three teams that regularly use the pitch, next to Spixworth Village Hall in Crostwick Lane, are now seeking a new venue to fulfil their fixtures.

Former Norwich City player Peter Mendham, who uses the pitch when he turns out for Spixworth Veterans, said: "This is a real shame, the area has raised a lot of money for the air ambulance in the past.

"I had just got some new goal-posts from Norwich City's training centre for the pitch too."

The festive fixture has taken place in Spixworth for more than 10 years, this year's proceeds were set to go to East Anglian Air Ambulance and the Clare School.

Players for the game are drawn from willing volunteers in the village.

Peter Gilbert, 37, manager of Spixworth Sunday football team, one of the teams affected by the fiasco, said: "It is disgusting. There is no way we were going to be able to play football on that pitch.

"There are huge ridges in the surface from the machines used to put up the mast.

"There is no way the county football association or its insurers would sanction the use of this.

"Also, there are health and safety issues with regard to players actually running into this mast as it so close to the pitch."

The mobile phone mast was installed by telecommunications firm Hutchinson 3G two weeks ago and according to Mr Gilbert the structure is only a metre from the byline.

The phone firm put metal sheets over the pitch to try and protect the surface, but due to the wet weather the damage was severe.

Father-of-three Mr Gilbert, a courier who lives in Orchard Road, Spixworth, said the village's veteran and under 16s team would also be seeking new pitches to fulfil their remaining fixtures.

Lynn Jeffrey, chair of the village hall management committee, which owns the land, said: "We are really sorry this has happened and we are talking to the mobile phone company to resolve it.

"The football club was made aware the mast was going up and we did not receive any complaints from them over it.

"We have offered them the use of the smaller pitch for the charity match but they have refused.

"We have also spoken about moving the pitch markings forward but they do not seem to be interested."

Mrs Jeffrey said the phone mast netted the committee £4,000 a year, a vital stream of revenue for the hall, which loses £2,000 a year.

A spokesman for Hutchinson 3G said: "If the pitch has been damaged then we will make sure it is returned to how it was.

"We are going to look at the site and we will evaluate the situation after that."

He admitted it would be very different to move the mast now it had been sited.

The Evening News's long-running Put Masts On Hold campaign has called for no more mobile phone masts to be installed near homes and schools until proper studies of possible health risks have been completed.

Are you battling a mobile phone mast application where you live? Telephone Evening News reporter Peter Walsh on (01603) 772439 or e-mail peter.walsh@archant.co.uk

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/News/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=enonline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED23%20Dec%202005%2012%3A48%3A23%3A670

After reporting on America's spying operations for 25 years, James Bamford is speaking out against Bush's FISA runaround. He says the wiretapping is illegal.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122305M.shtml

Congress rejected the Bush administration's request for war-making authority "in the United States," in negotiations over the joint resolution passed days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to Daschle.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122305L.shtml

The National Security Agency, in carrying out President Bush's order to intercept the international phone calls and emails of Americans suspected of links to al Qaeda, has probably been using computers to monitor all other Americans' international communications as well, according to specialists familiar with the workings of the NSA.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122305K.shtml

Cindy Sheehan writes that we need to learn a new language of peace and love that we can speak - even shout - to our leaders, who only understand the language of greed and murder.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122305I.shtml



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

by InfoNature.Org

Information & Education, Activism & Volunteering on: Nature, Human Rights, Animal Rights

LET THESE INFORMATIONS BECOME KNOWN - SEND THIS NEWSLETTER TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS

New report shows what our Christmas shopping is costing to the Earth

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has today released a report that measures the environmental cost of Australia's Christmas shopping. The report The Hidden Cost of Christmas: The environmental impact of Australian Christmas spending calculates the environmental impact of Australia's Christmas spending on books, confectionary, clothes, alcoholic beverages and electrical appliances.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.acfonline.org.au/uploads/res_Xmascost.pdf

The research shows:

- Every dollar Australians spend on new clothes consumes 20 litres of water and requires 3.4 square metres of land. Last Christmas, Australians spent $1.5 billion on clothes, which required more than half a million hectares of land to produce.

- Approximately 42 gigalitres of water (or 42,000 Olympic sized swimming pools) were used in the production of our Christmas drinks last December. Most of this water was used growing barley for beer and grapes for wine.

- Before we even plugged in the DVD players and coffee makers we bought last Christmas, they had created 780,000 tonnes of greenhouse pollution. A third of this was due to fuel consumption by the manufacturers of the appliances; greenhouse pollution embodied in steel contributed to a quarter of the pollution.

- If you spend around $30 on chocolates and lollies this Christmas, you'll be consuming 20kg of natural materials (even if the box of chocolates weighs only 1 kilogram) and 940 litres of water.

ACF's Executive Director, Don Henry, asked shoppers to consider the environmental cost of their spending. "If your bank account is straining under the pressure of Christmas shopping, spare a thought for our environment. It's paying for our Christmas presents with water, land, air and resources. These costs are hidden in the products we buy."

"We can all tread more lightly on the earth this Christmas by eating, drinking and giving gifts in moderation, and by giving gifts with a low environmental cost, such as vouchers for services, tickets to entertainment, memberships to gyms, museums or sports clubs, and donations to charities," said Mr Henry.

Tips for treading lightly at Christmas time

- Don't over indulge - eat, drink and give gifts in moderation.

- Organise a Kris Kringle with family or friends.

- Wrap gifts in newspaper or re-used paper.

- Save money and the environment by spending the hours you usually spend shopping in the company of people you don't see enough.

- Give gifts with a low eco-impact: Vouchers for services: massages, facials, gardening, housecleaning; Tickets: movies, concerts, sports events, theatre; Memberships: gyms, charities, sports clubs, zoos, museums, galleries; Personal favour vouchers: 3 hours of childcare, 2 breakfasts in bed, a month of lawn mowing, 4 car washes; Gifts that give: charity donations, overseas aid project sponsorships and donations, memberships and subscriptions to environmental organisations; Organic food hampers.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.acfonline.org.au/uploads/res_Xmascost.pdf

Common Dreams
by Gary Alan Scott

12/22/05

How bitterly ironic is it that the Bush Administration bottled up the release (until the 2004 election had concluded) of documents showing that the pretext for the Vietnam War was faked and hyped just like the Iraq war. Indeed, there was no aggression by the North Vietnamese against U.S. vessels in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. And now we learn that King George has defied the law and dusted off Nixonian tactics for spying on U.S. citizens. If the country had known either of these things prior to the 2004 election, Dubya might have been able to take an even longer vacation at the ranch, after all that hard work of being President!

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1222-30.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Guardian [UK]
by Philip James

12/22/05

Is America becoming what it most fears: a big brother state ruled by diktat, where no one is protected from eavesdropping by the secret police, and everything is permitted in defence of the homeland, including torture? Perhaps I'm naive, but I grew up believing that America was somehow different, that alongside the corporate greed, brash materialism and barely functioning social safety net, a unique society prospered. This America was a land of limitless opportunity, a magnet to those escaping oppression, offering prince and pauper alike the possibility to dream big.This America still exists, but it is being eroded by an administration that believes it can rule outside the rule of law. They are fast replacing the American dream with an American nightmare, an Orwellian world where memos defending torture are penned in the department of justice and judges are made redundant in the public interest...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1671984,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Unknown News
by Helen & Harry Highwater

12/23/05

So the Bush administration is spying on Americans, without going through the process required by law. It's an impeachable offense, but Bush and Cheney have both said they intend to continue the spying. In the coverage of this, I haven't seen any mention of who it is that Bush Cheney et al are spying on, but the answer is obvious. The White House is spying on reporters and activists. This ain't rocket science, it's just a short process of elimination. Maybe you figured it out before I did...

http://www.unknownnews.org/051223a-hh.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Boston Globe
by Thomas Oliphant

12/22/05

In attempting to understand the shameful puniness of the response by President Bush and Congress to the post-Katrina Gulf Coast, I ran across an interesting number the other day. That number is $29 billion. This is presumably the sum just voted for the task of shifting from cleanup to actual reconstruction -- of both properties and lives. I say presumably because the number turns out to be a fraud. In fact, it represents the allocation of large sums of money that Congress has already appropriated. ... Perhaps you recall the atmosphere in September in the immediate aftermath of the horror that Katrina wreaked. Within three weeks, Congress had passed, and Bush had signed into law, roughly $62 billion in appropriations to pay for the massive cleanup. Nearly four months later, depending on which agency's figures you prefer, no more than a third of that money has been spent. ... Always inventive, what the government really did was repackage all this 'assistance' for the purpose of creating the illusion in the current budget mess that something meaningful is happening when nothing could be further from the truth...

http://tinyurl.com/d7erx


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

National Ledger
by William Fisher

12/22/05

President Bush's do-it-yourself eavesdropping notwithstanding, the Pentagon could soon have legal authority to 'covertly' gather intelligence on American citizens in the United States -- a power taken from them because of excesses during the Vietnam War. The Senate Intelligence Committee, meeting in closed session, last month quietly approved a request from the Department of Defense (DOD) to allow it to conduct surveillance operations within American Muslim communities. The DOD said the cooperation of these communities could help fight insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

... But civil liberties groups and leaders of the Muslim community say the Pentagon is using the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to resume the domestic spying powers that Congress banned after those powers were used to spy on Americans during the Vietnam era...

http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_27262269.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Philadelphia Inquirer
by staff

Some Americans seem willing to accept any incursion into their civil liberties if the President tells them it's needed to catch terrorists. But over time, more and more citizens will come to realize that the President's refusal to obey the mild, flexible requirements of U.S. law regarding wiretaps for such purposes did not stem from urgency to fight terrorism. It stemmed from an arrogant habit of his White House: the quest to expand executive power secretively and without accountability... [Editor's note: But how much more 'time' do we have? - MLS](12/22/05)

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/13461236.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Atlanta Journal Constitution
by Bob Barr

12/21/05

When President Bush explained, over the course of three days, his administration's secret interception of communications involving American citizens without court approval, he repeatedly cited three authorities for such action. One of these was Article II of our Constitution, which provides authority for the president to serve as commander in chief of the armed forces. Not relying on my memory -- which has proved faulty from time to time (rarely, of course) -- I reread Article II to determine if in fact there was language in it that I had missed previously, that when the president serves as commander in chief, he can order federal agencies to violate the law. Of course, I found no such authority, because none exists...

http://www.bobbarr.org/default.asp?pt=newsdescr&RI=698


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by G. Pascal Zachary

12/23/05

Given the likelihood that Bush's allies will find no legal basis for his actions, Bush's confession ought to be viewed as a triumph of lawlessness over law. After all, the president had options. Many commentators and critics have noted that he could have asked Congress to approve his spying program. He did not. Instead he chose lawlessness. And now he is boasting about it. His confessions -- for he keeps repeating himself, as boasters will -- are calculated, a means of positioning himself as a troubadour of conscience, the nation's chief advocate of lawlessness. His posture is not just the act of a desperate president whose own Republican Party stalwarts are abandoning him. Bush's advocacy of lawlessness lies at the heart of the right-wing agenda to remake America...

http://www.alternet.org/story/29995/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

12/21/05

The Bush administration's decision to sometimes bypass the secretive U.S. court that governs terrorism wiretaps could threaten cases against terror suspects that rely on evidence uncovered during the disputed eavesdropping, some legal experts cautioned. These experts pointed to this week's unprecedented resignation from the government's spy court by U.S. District Judge James Robertson as an indicator of the judiciary's unease over domestic wiretaps ordered without warrants under a highly classified domestic spying program authorized by President Bush...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_Domestic_Spying.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC

12/22/05

The House cleared the way Thursday for a $453 billion defense spending bill that funnels $29 billion in hurricane aid to the Gulf Coast and $50 billion more for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The action came on the heels of a move to give one month more life to the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism powers under the Patriot Act. The $50 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is to carry the Pentagon until Congress acts on another emergency war supplemental next year, which lawmakers expect to be from $80 billion to $100 billion...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10574911/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Houston Chronicle

12/22/05

A state appeals court has rejected motions filed by U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay to help him get a speedy trial, an essential step in the Sugar Land Republican's efforts to regain his congressional leadership post. In an order made public today, the intermediate appeals court rejected DeLay's bid to be tried on a money laundering charge while prosecutors appeal the dismissal of a related charge accusing DeLay of violating the election code...

http://tinyurl.com/9xkck


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Yahoo! News

12/22/05

One state representative said it resembles Gestapo-style tactics of government, and there could be changes coming on the streets of Ohio's small towns and big cities. The Ohio Patriot Act has made it to the Taft's desk, and with the stroke of a pen, it would most likely become the toughest terrorism bill in the country. The lengthy piece of legislation would let police arrest people in public places who will not give their names, address and birth dates, even if they are not doing anything wrong. WEWS reported it would also pave the way for everyone entering critical transportation sites such as, train stations, airports and bus stations to show ID. 'It brings us frighteningly close to a show me your papers society,' said Carrie Davis of the ACLU, which opposes the Ohio Patriot Act...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wews/3133362


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Tampa Tribune

12/22/05

The Bush administration formally defended its domestic spying program in a letter to Congress late Thursday saying the nation's security outweighs privacy concerns of individuals who are monitored. In a letter to the chairs of the House and Senate intelligence committees, the Justice Department said President Bush authorized electronic surveillance without first obtaining a warrant in an effort to thwart terrorist acts against the United States...

http://tinyurl.com/9w2g2


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3834/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3835/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://openpr.com/news/2422

One year more we send you the information that we have gathered of news published in the press in Spain on cluster of cancer and other serious illnesses and phone masts 2000-2005.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/cancer_cluster_spain_2000_2005.xls

With best regards

AVAATE Asociación Vallisoletana de afectados por antenas de telefonía
http://www.avaate.org

--------

Cancer Clusters in Vicinity to Cell-Phone Transmitter Stations
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/580224/

SERIOUS CONGLOMERATES OF CANCER AND OTHER PATHOLOGIES THAT HAVE BEEN TIE BY THE POPULATION NEXT TO ANTENNAS OF TELEPHONY http://omega.twoday.net/stories/466717/

45 DIED AROUND AN ANTENNA OF TELEPHONY
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1349013/

--------

Votre Cluster en ligne:
http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=nouvellesdumonde

Next-up
Marie-Pierre

By Steve Ivey
Washington Bureau
Published December 23, 2005
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512230327dec23,1,6382213.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of communities in the U.S., including more than two dozen in Illinois, would not learn as quickly about the extent of pollution from businesses in their locales if the Bush administration's proposed toxin reporting rules are adopted, according to a new report by an environmental advocacy group.

Under Environmental Protection Agency regulations, businesses can emit up to 500 pounds of chemicals annually before reporting to the Toxics Release Inventory exactly how much of each pollutant companies release into the air, water or disposal sites. The EPA has informed Congress that it wants to increase that threshold to 5,000 pounds annually.

According to an analysis released this month by the National Environmental Trust, residents in 922 ZIP codes nationwide would lose all data for their communities under the proposed changes because the amount of the pollution would not reach the higher threshold. Meanwhile, 1,608 ZIP codes would lose detailed information about the pollution from at least half the companies in their communities, according to the group. The report says 8,927 ZIP codes include at least one facility that reports to the EPA database.

"Generally, [the database] is not used as often to shut down plants, but to get plants to be more careful about emissions and spills," said Megan Lewis, a spokeswoman for the Sierra Club, another environmental group. "Just by being one of the worst emitters in the database is a source of embarrassment, and they wind up being more careful."

But EPA officials say easing reporting requirements for businesses will save them time and money and aid the agency's push for efficiency. EPA figures show U.S. manufacturers spend about $650 million each year on compliance with the reporting forms. Under the proposed changes, the EPA estimates about a third of the 26,000 companies that report to the database would save about 165,000 hours of work annually.

"This does not affect any [emissions limits] set by EPA programs," said Mike Flynn, the agency's director of the office of information analysis and access. "What we've striven for in the proposals is looking for burden reduction while maintaining the information that's available to the public. On a national level, we will still get 99 percent of the same information we get today, but in a more efficient, streamlined way."

Smaller businesses--such as metal-plating facilities or electronics companies--would benefit most from the changes, Flynn said. Many of those plants produce a small amount of lead waste that all goes to recycling and is never emitted, he said.

According to the National Environmental Trust's analysis, 1,130 businesses in Illinois provide information to the Toxics Release Inventory. Of those, 207--about 18 percent--would no longer be required to provide the detailed information. Residents in 27 ZIP codes statewide would lose access to all detailed data.

In Cook County, the report says 88 of 415 businesses--about 21 percent --could change to less detailed reporting. Residents in nine Cook County ZIP codes would lose access to all detailed information.

The report identified a Weber-Stephen Products Co. plant in Palatine, Ill., as a facility that would switch to the shorter reporting form. Chris Childers, a manager of regulatory affairs for the grilling equipment manufacturer in Chicago, said citizens may still have ways to monitor their emissions.

"We're in a water reclamation district," Childers said. "That means we have to report to Cook County, the state of Illinois and the federal government. We use an environmental consultant to help us make sure we're in compliance. But it makes it a simpler reporting process for us."

But Tom Natan, research director for National Environmental Trust, said any lost information could have dangerous effects.

"This is monumentally ill-conceived," he said. "After what we've seen in the gulf from Hurricane Katrina [where Toxics Release Inventory data helped identify toxins in the floodwaters], I don't think there's a good reason for justifying putting polluter interests ahead of public health and safety."

Flynn said EPA will accept public comments on the proposed changes through Jan. 13.

sivey@tribune.com

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

--------

*EPA To Cut Toxics Reporting
http://www.net.org/health/tri.vtml

* The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed to cut the amount of information about toxic chemical releases that industrial facilities must report. The proposed cuts pose a risk to communities and to first responders such as police and firefighters. Read more http://www.net.org/health/tri.vtml *

Update:* Press briefing mp3 available.

Click here
http://www.net.org/health/tri_data/epa_comment.doc
to find out how to submit a comment to EPA.

* * * *

Group decries EPA plan to limit reports of toxins

By Steve Ivey Washington Bureau Published December 23, 2005
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512230327dec23,1,6382213.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of communities in the U.S., including more than two dozen in Illinois, would not learn as quickly about the extent of pollution from businesses in their locales if the Bush administration's proposed toxin reporting rules are adopted, according to a new report by an environmental advocacy group.

Under Environmental Protection Agency regulations, businesses can emit up to 500 pounds of chemicals annually before reporting to the Toxics Release Inventory exactly how much of each pollutant companies release into the air, water or disposal sites. The EPA has informed Congress that it wants to increase that threshold to 5,000 pounds annually...


Informant: Teresa Binstock

Bauleitplanung ist keineswegs wirkungslos
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1291879/

Haben Kommunen Einflussmöglichkeiten bei der Standortfrage von Mobilfunkmasten?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1231284/

Bauhöhe gilt auch für Anlagen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/791024/

Mobilfunk - was die Kommunen derzeit tun können
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/682673/

Planungshoheit der Gemeinden
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/400143/

Beschränkung von Mobilfunkanlagen durch Verabschiedung entsprechender Bebauungspläne
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/352950/

Thema Mobilfunk wandert in Ausschuss
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/352894/

Sendemasten für Mobilfunk sind in Kriftel bisher nur an der Peripherie der Gemeinde zu finden: T-Mobile ließ Antennen an den riesigen Strommasten der RWE im Läusgrund und entlang der A 66 montieren, Vodafone hat sie auf einem Bürogebäude nahe der Autobahn am Holzweg postiert. Im Ortskern beherbergt nur die katholische Kirche St. Vitus im Kirchturm mehrere Antennen von T-Mobile. Bereits 1999 hatte der Verwaltungsrat der Pfarrgemeinde mit dem Konzern einen Vertrag über eine Laufzeit von 20 Jahren abgeschlossen. Jetzt könnten weitere Antennen im Ortskern hinzu kommen.

Lange schon haben die Mobilfunkbetreiber auch das Josef-Wittwer-Haus als idealen Standort für ihre Anlagen ausgekundschaftet. Das Parlament hatte vor drei Jahren auch grundsätzlich grünes Licht gegeben, dass auf gemeindeeigenen Gebäuden und somit auch auf dem Seniorenheim Sendemasten aufgestellt werden dürfen. Die Gemeinde hätte dafür pro Jahr mehrere tausend Euro Miete kassiert. Doch nach massiven Protesten von Mobilfunkgegnern, die einige hundert Unterschriften gegen die Antennen sammelten, hat Bürgermeister Paul Dünte signalisiert, dass er keine Masten aufs Seniorenheim lässt, solange die Ängste der Bürger wegen einer eventuellen Gesundheitsgefährdung durch die Strahlenbelastung nicht aus der Welt zu räumen sind. Deshalb sind die Unternehmen nun auf der Suche nach Privathäusern, auf deren Dächer sie ihre Mobilfunkanlagen stellen können. Anscheinend ist ein Betreiber bereits fündig geworden und möchte seine Antenne auf einem Mehrfamilienhaus an der Kreuzung Bahnhofstraße/Friedrichstraße errichten. Eine entsprechende «formlose Mitteilung» des Mobilfunkkonzerns ist Ende Oktober im Rathaus eingegangen. Das bestätigte der im Bauamt zuständige Mitarbeiter Christian Schwarz . Doch weiter sind die Bemühungen des Betreibers, der größten Wert darauf legt, dass sein Name nicht bekannt wird, offenbar noch nicht gediehen.

Bei der Bundesnetzagentur in Eschborn etwa ist nach Angaben von Pressesprecher Manfred Küster noch keine Standortbescheinigung beantragt worden. Diese müsste das Unternehmen bei der Kommune vorlegen, um seiner offiziellen Anzeigepflicht nachzukommen. Dass in dem Kataster der Bundesbehörde ein Standort markiert ist, der bereits auf einen Mast in der Bahnhofstraße hinweist, sei leider ein Versehen, klärt Küster den Verdacht auf, sein Amt habe seine Zustimmung bereits gegeben. «Das Fähnchen ist uns verrutscht, eigentlich sollten damit die Antennen in St. Vitus gekennzeichnet werden», so der Pressesprecher.

Auch ein Bauantrag für einen Mast in der Bahnhofstraße, der dann zu stellen wäre, wenn dieser höher als zehn Meter werden soll, wurde beim Main-Taunus-Kreis als zuständiger Bauaufsichtsbehörde noch nicht eingereicht.

Marianne Kirst

Marluddin Jalil, a Sharia judge who has ordered the punishment of women for not wearing headscarves, was uncompromising: "The tsunami was because of the sins of the people of Aceh." Thundering into a microphone at a gathering of wives, he made clear where he felt the fault lay: "The Holy Koran says that if women are good, then a country is good."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122205WA.shtml

Two patients who died from avian influenza in Vietnam had developed resistance to the antiviral drug Tamiflu, scientists are reporting today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122205HA.shtml

An unprecedented lawsuit stemming from the gruesome killing of four American civilians in Iraq is slowly making its way through the US legal system, closely watched by companies estimated to field up to 100,000 contractors alongside the US military.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205R.shtml

"The president is not above the law; he is not King George. Yet, with sorrow, we are now learning that in this great land we have an administration that has refused to follow well-crafted, longstanding procedures that require the president to get a court order before spying on people within the United States. With outrage, we learn that this administration believes that it does not have to follow the law of the land." - Senator Edward Kennedy

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205Q.shtml

http://www.brojon.org/frontpage.html

Not sure if this is accurate, but it tells whether HAARP is on or off. Might be interesting to work with.


Claudia

People For the American Way

[Personal message: I don't trust anything that Bu$h does....]

As you may already know, President Bush has nominated Judge Samuel Alito to a lifetime position on the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Alito has a long, documented record of right-wing activism on the bench, and if confirmed, he could threaten our basic rights and freedoms -- privacy, civil rights, reproductive freedom, environmental protections, workers' rights, women's rights, consumer protections, and individual liberties. This nomination could affect all of our lives for decades.

People For the American Way (PFAW) is taking a stand against this nomination and is collecting names for a petition urging the Senate to oppose Judge Alito. PFAW can help make sure that your senators see your signature and hear your call to oppose this nomination.

If you agree with me that Alito is bad news for America, please sign the petition and join this campaign.

You can sign the petition and get your own personal petition page by clicking here:
http://petition.savethecourt.org/fwd/campaigns/savethecourt/accept/cc8e09775cbb45e40dde5b78d4240b89/


Thanks,

Rolf

L'Actualité en 60 secondes
http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=dernieresinfos&date_news=2005-12-23

Clip Vidéo "le portable et les enfants":
L'imagerie de l'irradiation du cerveau et les commentaires:
http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=ilsontdit

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1222-37.htm



A New Phase of Bright Spinning Lies about Iraq

Norman Solomon: What's on the horizon for 2006 is that the Bush administration will strive to put any real or imagined reduction of US occupation troop levels in the media spotlight. Meanwhile, the Pentagon will use massive air power in Iraq. The Bush administration is eager to downplay the escalation of this air war. In 2006, the anti-war movement must do the opposite.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122305C.shtml

He who lies most, lies worst
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/december2005/221205liesworst.htm


Informant: Our bill of rights

http://prisonplanet.com/articles/december2005/221205totaldefeat.htm


Informant: Our bill of rights

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3831/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3832/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1664207,00.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Bush’s defense of his phone-spying program has disturbing echoes of arguments once used by South Africa’s apartheid regime. Arlene Getz tells why Americans should examine the parallels.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205F.shtml

Suddenly this week, scattered outposts in the media have started mentioning the “I” word, or at least the “IO” phrase: impeach or impeachable offense. The sudden outbreak of anger or candor - or, some might say, foolishness - has been sparked by the uproar over revelations of a White House approved domestic spying program, with some conservatives joining in the shouting.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205E.shtml



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

Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist under indictment for fraud in South Florida, is expected to complete a plea agreement in the Miami criminal case, setting the stage for him to become a crucial witness in a broad federal corruption investigation, people with direct knowledge of the case said.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205A.shtml

22.12.2005 | Netzcode: 10809142

Der Vilsecker Stadtrat genehmigt mit 17 zu drei Stimmen diesen Standort für eine Mobilfunkanlage

Vilseck. (zip) Über die Zuweisung von Standorten für Mobilfunkanlagen im Außenbereich diskutierte der Stadtrat Vilseck ausführlich in seiner letzten Sitzung. Stellung dazu nahm auch Regierungsrat Matthias Steck von der Baugenehmigungsbehörde des Landratsamtes Amberg-Sulzbach.

Bürgermeister Hans-Martin Schertl gab zu Beginn einen Rückblick auf die bisherige Entwicklung des Verfahrens. Demnach beabsichtige der Mobilfunkbetreiber Vodafone D 2 wie berichtet, bei der Ortschaft Drechselberg einen Mobilfunkmast zu errichten. Zu dem 2004 eingereichten Bauantrag habe der Stadtrat Vilseck das gemeindliche Einvernehmen versagt, weil der Mast das Orts- und Landschaftsbild im Umfeld der Ortschaften Drechselberg und Axtheid-Berg verunstalte.

Gutachten gibt Ausschlag

Daraufhin habe der Stadtrat beschlossen, Konzentrationsflächen für Standorte von Mobilfunkanlagen auszuweisen. Damit solle insbesondere vermieden werden, dass Mobilfunkmasten an Standorten errichtet werden, wo sie aus städtebaulichen Gründen unerwünscht seien. Als Grundlage für die Standortzuweisungen sollte ein bei der Landesgewerbeanstalt Nürnberg in Auftrag gegebenes Gutachten dienen. Dieses Gutachten liege nun vor und sei auch bereits bei einer Informationsveranstaltung der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt worden.

Stadtrat Ertl meldete in der Sitzung Bedenken gegen das Gutachten an, da es seiner Ansicht nach nicht den Zielsetzungen des Stadtrats folge, andere Positivstandorte als Drechselberg auszuweisen. Er regte an, für Positivstandorte städtische Grundstücke vorzuschlagen.

Eine Konzentrationsfläche

Der Stadtrat beschloss abschließend mit 17 zu drei Stimmen, den Standort Drechselberg als Konzentrationsfläche für Mobilfunkanlagen im Außenbereich auszuweisen. Vor der Beschlussfassung werden die Gründe für die Entscheidung von den Stadtratsmitgliedern Albert Trummer und Josef Götz nochmals dargelegt. Die genaue Abgrenzung der Fläche ist von dem mit den Planungsarbeiten beauftragten Planungsbüro Röth in einem Vorentwurf darzustellen, der dem Stadtrat zur Beschlussfassung vorzulegen ist.

Die Entscheidung pro Drechselberg begründete der Stadtrat damit, dass laut dem Gutachten der Drechselberg der am besten geeignete Standort sei. Eine Mobilfunkversorgung des Stadtgebiets mit mehreren Standorten würde aufgrund der vorhandenen Topographie auch mehrere neue Masten erfordern. Diese müssten in einer ähnlichen Größenordnung ausgeführt werden, wie sie bereits von der Vodafone D 2 GmbH beantragt worden sei, wobei das Gebiet um Drechselberg nur schwerlich ausgespart werden könnte. Das Gutachten zeigt, dass das Ziel der Stadt, nämlich im Umfeld von Drechselberg keine Standorte auszuweisen, nicht verwirklicht werden könne.

Die städtebaulichen Gründe für die Versagung des gemeindlichen Einvernehmens bestünden zwar nach wie vor, denn das Vorhaben beeinträchtige Belange des Orts- und Landschaftsbildes und des Denkmalschutzes. Demgegenüber sei laut Stadtrat zu bedenken, dass durch das Ausscheiden des Standorts Drechselberg mindestens zwei, unter Umständen auch noch mehr Funkmasten erforderlich wären, um den Mobilfunk im Stadtgebiet zu gewährleisten.

Diese Masten würden in der freien Landschaft stehen und, wie der bei Drechselberg geplante Mast auch, das Landschaftsbild erheblich beeinträchtigen. Am Standort Drechselberg werde diese Beeinträchtigung insoweit abgemildert, als der Mast in einem Waldstück stehe und erst über den Baumwipfeln das Landschaftsbild störe. An den anderen Standorten stünden die Masten ohne jegliche Einbindung frei in der Landschaft.

Geringste Immissionen

Die Folge sei, dass ein einziger Mast bei Drechselberg verhindere, das das Landschaftsbild an mehreren anderen Standorten durch Funkmasten beeinträchtigt werde. Hinzu komme, dass, um eine Versorgung des Stadtgebiets zu erreichen, auf den Standort Drechselberg wohl ohnehin nicht verzichtet werden könnte. Nicht außer acht gelassen werden dürfe, dass die Immissionsbelastung für das Stadtgebiet am Standort Drechselberg am geringsten ausfalle und bei allen anderen Lösungen ein wesentlich größerer Bevölkerungsanteil höheren Immissionen ausgesetzt wäre.

Gesetzt den Fall, die Stadt würde den Standort Drechselberg nicht als Konzentrationsfläche ausweisen, würde zwar voraussichtlich das Landratsamt die beantragte Baugenehmigung nicht erteilen. Aber der Umstand, dass ohne den Standort Drechselberg die Versorgung des Stadtgebiets nur lückenhaft abgedeckt werden könnte, gäbe begründeten Anlass zu der Befürchtung, dass eine gerichtliche Anfechtung der Baugenehmigung vor dem Verwaltungsgericht Erfolg haben könnte, so der Stadtrat.

Eingriff auszugleichen

Die Stadtverwaltung wird auf Beschluss des Stadtrats in Verhandlungen mit der Vodafone D 2 GmbH klären, ob anstelle des Gittermasts ein Schleuderbetonmast errichtet werden kann, der nach Ansicht mehrerer Stadträte das Landschaftsbild weniger stören würde.

Regierungsrat Matthias Steck wies darauf hin, dass der durch den Mast verursachte Eingriff in Natur und Landschaft durch geeignete Maßnahmen auszugleichen sei. Das Landratsamt werde einen entsprechenden landschaftspflegerischen Begleitplan zum Bauantrag fordern.

Der Stadtrat hielt es für wahrscheinlich, dass der Vodafone-Mast auf dem Drechselberg auch von anderen Mobilfunkbetreiber genutzt werde. Man werde darauf hinwirken, dass dann der Betrieb von bereits bestehenden Stationen eingestellt und die Immissionsbelastung reduziert wird.

© 2003-05 | Oberpfalznetz powered by Kinetiqa GmbH

http://www.zeitung.org/onetz/809142-129,1,0.html

From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored. MI5 will also use the database.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/article334686.ece


From Information Clearing House

The lengthy piece of legislation would let police arrest people in public places who will not give their names, address and birth dates, even if they are not doing anything wrong.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/5580743/detail.html


From Information Clearing House

The vote was on the GOP budget bill , It passed by 6 votes. Take a look at the official roll call and you'll see that 6 Democrats didn't show up to vote. They are...

http://tinyurl.com/cye2x


From Information Clearing House

The United States, which used Islamic fundamentalists against communism in Afghanistan in the 1980s, has embarked on an operation to use communists to bring about the end of the Islamic regime in Iran.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EF21Ak03.html


From Information Clearing House

Mail Opening:

For a period of approximately two decades, agencies of the U.S. government ran operations which opened the mail of some American citizens.

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/vol4/contents.htm


From Information Clearing House

Church Committee Reports:

These 14 published reports of the Church Committee contain a wealth of information on the formation, operation, and abuses of U.S. intelligence agencies.

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/contents.htm


From Information Clearing House

This show explores the personal effect it and related new laws have had on American citizens.

http://www.aclu.tv/video/pat-windls.html


From Information Clearing House

The presiding judge of a secret court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases is arranging a classified briefing for her fellow judges to address their concerns about the legality of President Bush's domestic spying program, according to several intelligence and government sources.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002698174_spying22.html


From Information Clearing House



Congress to Probe Domestic Spying:

A prominent Republican senator promised to hold public hearings, the House of Representatives Democratic leader and the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee said they had objected to the programme, and a California Democratic Senator said a number of legal authorities had told her that the president's actions rose to the level of impeachable offences.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11357.htm

We allege that the breaches committed by the UK Government and the USA in coalition partnership during the period 2002 - 2005 outlined as a selection in summary are as follows...

http://stopwar.org.uk/Bennletter.htm


From Information Clearing House

A few weeks ago General Odom said, 'I think the army is already broken.'

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11362.htm

The U.K., Italy and South Korea are making plans to reduce or even withdraw their troops by the end of next year, following other nations, such as Ukraine and Bulgaria, that have already started to depart. "It is not a matter of if, but how,'' said Roberto Minotti, senior research fellow at the Aspen Institute in Rome.

http://tinyurl.com/75g5s



Iraq rebels 'intensify violence':

AN Iraqi Sunni leader said insurgents will intensify attacks to drive out US troops and violence will worsen if a Shiite-led government returns to power, as seems likely.

http://tinyurl.com/combo


From Information Clearing House

The U.S. military uses these funds to run programs generally paying out up to $2,500 per victim to the families of those killed, and smaller amounts to those who are injured or have property destroyed or who were detained.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20051219-110921-5499r.htm


From Information Clearing House

By Gary Hart

Today, one has only to consider the behavior of the Bush administration during the Iraq war to appreciate how soon we forget, how little we learn and how pervasive is the tendency to violate civil and constitutional liberties in the name of war. Virtually all of the reforms recommended by the Church Committee — many of which were passed into law — have been evaded, ignored or violated in the name of the "war on terrorism."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11359.htm

By Kate Martin
Center for National Security Studies

The President claims he has authority as the Commander-in-Chief to conduct warrantless wiretaps of Americans. But when Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978, it expressly rejected the President’s claim of inherent authority to conduct warrantless wiretaps. It then went further and made it a crime to conduct such wiretaps.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11360.htm

Early Warning

By William M. Arkin

We must pledge allegiance to a certain post 9/11 Order, abandon the rule of law, compromise our values, turn against our neighbors, enlist in a clash of civilizations, all in the name of defeating the terrorists.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11358.htm

Imageschäden: Deutsche Bank gibt offenbar Geschäft mit indonesischem Zellstoffkonzern auf (22.12.05)

Nach Angaben der Umweltschutzorganisation Robin Wood zieht sich die Deutsche Bank endgültig als Finanzberater aus einem stark kritisierten Übernahmegeschäft in der indonesischen Zellstoff-Industrie zurück. Die Organisation bezieht sich hierbei auf Angaben des "Umweltmanagers" der Großbank, Michael Hölz, und führt die Entscheidung auf den "Druck von Robin Wood und weiteren Umweltorganisationen" zurück. Das an der Börse in Singapur notierte Unternehmen United Fiber System (UFS) plane, seine Zellstoffproduktion weiter auszubauen und das Zellstoffwerk Kiani Kertas in Südkalimantan zu übernehmen. Die Deutsche Bank habe bislang dieses millionenschwere Geschäft koordiniert.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12588

In Großbritannien wird mit Tausenden von Kameras zur Nummernerkennung ein nationales Überwachungssystem für die Bewegung von Fahrzeugen aufgebaut.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21635/1.html

Rep John Conyers has just released a 273 page report entitled " The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution and Coverups in the Iraq War "

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/5769

Attached is the executive summary.

Clark


Executive Summary of the Conyers Report

This Minority Report has been produced at the request of Representative John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee. He made this request in the wake of the President's failure to respond to a letter submitted by 122 Members of Congress and more than 500,000 Americans in July of this year asking him whether the assertions set forth in the Downing Street Minutes were accurate. Mr. Conyers asked staff, by year end 2005, to review the available information concerning possible misconduct by the Bush Administration in the run up to the Iraq War and post-invasion statements and actions, and to develop legal conclusions and make legislative and other recommendations to him.

In brief, we have found that there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice President and other high ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war with Iraq; misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and other legal violations in Iraq; and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration.

There is a prima facie case that these actions by the President, Vice-President and other members of the Bush Administration violated a number of federal laws, including (1) Committing a Fraud against the United States; (2) Making False Statements to Congress; (3) The War Powers Resolution; (4) Misuse of Government Funds; (5) federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; (6) federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other individuals; and (7) federal laws and regulations concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence.

While these charges clearly rise to the level of impeachable misconduct, because the Bush Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have blocked the ability of Members to obtain information directly from the Administration concerning these matters, more investigatory authority is needed before recommendations can be made regarding specific Articles of Impeachment. As a result, we recommend that Congress establish a select committee with subpoena authority to investigate the misconduct of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq war detailed in this Report and report to the Committee on the Judiciary on possible impeachable offenses.

In addition, we believe the failure of the President, Vice President and others in the Bush Administration to respond to myriad requests for information concerning these charges, or to otherwise account for explain a number of specific misstatements they have made in the run up to War and other actions warrants, at minimum, the introduction and Congress' approval of Resolutions of Censure against Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. Further, we recommend that Ranking Member Conyers and others consider referring the potential violations of federal criminal law detailed in this Report to the Department of Justice for investigation; Congress should pass legislation to limit government secrecy, enhance oversight of the Executive Branch, request notification and justification of presidential pardons of Administration officials, ban abusive treatment of detainees, ban the use of chemical weapons, and ban the practice of paying foreign media outlets to publish news stories prepared by or for the Pentagon; and the House should amend its Rules to permit Ranking Members of Committees to schedule official Committee hearings and call witnesses to investigate Executive Branch misconduct.

The Report rejects the frequent contention by the Bush Administration that there pre-war conduct has been reviewed and they have been exonerated. No entity has ever considered whether the Administration misled Americans about the decision to go to war. The Senate Intelligence Committee has not yet conducted a review of pre-war intelligence distortion and manipulation, while the Silberman-Robb report specifically cautioned that intelligence manipulation "was not part of our inquiry." There has also not been any independent inquiry concerning torture and other legal violations in Iraq; nor has there been an independent review of the pattern of coverups and political retribution by the Bush Administration against its critics, other than the very narrow and still ongoing inquiry of Special Counsel Fitzgerald.

While the scope of this Report is largely limited to Iraq, it also holds lessons for our Nation at a time of entrenched one-party rule and abuse of power in Washington. If the present Administration is willing to misstate the facts in order to achieve its political objectives in Iraq, and Congress is unwilling to confront or challenge their hegemony, many of our cherished democratic principles are in jeopardy. This is true not only with respect to the Iraq War, but also in regard to other areas of foreign policy, privacy and civil liberties, and matters of economic and social justice. Indeed as this Report is being finalized, we have just learned of another potential significant abuse of executive power by the President, ordering the National Security Agency to engage in domestic spying and wiretapping without obtaining court approval in possible violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

It is tragic that our Nation has invaded another sovereign nation because "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy," as stated in the Downing Street Minutes. It is equally tragic that the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress have been unwilling to examine these facts or take action to prevent this scenario from occurring again. Since they appear unwilling to act, it is incumbent on individual Members of Congress as well as the American public to act to protect our constitutional form of government.



Conyers releases 'Constitution in Crisis' report, asks 'citizen cosponsors' to sign up

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3828/


informant: jensenmk


From ufpj-news

The National Security Agency story has pushed military spying on anti-war groups off the front pages, and the Pentagon appears to have seized upon administrative error to explain away its slide into domestic spying.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205Y.shtml

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3828/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

The coming year could be a doozy. Democrats ought to be building a progressive agenda as things continue to fall apart for Bush.

http://www.tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#7078

by Aziz Huq, TomPaine.com

The administration seems to believe Congress has signed off on an "anything goes" approach to counterterrorism.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051222/the_freewheeling_executive.php

by David Corn, TomPaine.com

Republicans are once again trying to brand Democrats as caring more about politics than defending America.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051222/the_gops_insecurity_card.php

by Robert Dreyfuss, TomPaine.com

The victory of the Shiite religious bloc means the big winner in the Iraqi elections is Iran. Next stop: civil war.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051222/iraq_game_over.php

Bolton warned UN member states, specifically the 132 developing nations, that if they don't play ball with the United States, Washington may look elsewhere to settle international problems.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205O.shtml

Max J. Castro writes: "La Loi, c'est moi; I am the Law." That is what George W. Bush, so anti-French, so unlike the Sun King and yet so monarchical, has in effect told those who question the president's right to do whatever he wants under the guise of the "war against terrorism."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205N.shtml

Undercover New York City police officers have conducted covert surveillance in the last 16 months of people protesting the Iraq war, bicycle riders taking part in mass rallies, and even mourners at a street vigil for a cyclist killed in an accident, a series of videotapes show.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205K.shtml

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter said Wednesday that he remains skeptical about a government surveillance program, despite an explanation from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205J.shtml

Some of the judges said they are particularly concerned that information gleaned from the president's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to gain authorized wiretaps from their court.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205I.shtml

Six months ago, Congressional leaders and administration officials intervened to block legislation that would stop torture and ill-treatment from occurring in U.S. detention centers around the world. But last night we achieved a significant milestone: passage of the Anti-Torture Amendment introduced by Senator John McCain. President Bush has indicated he intends to sign this vital piece of legislation into law.

This victory would not have been possible without vocal support for the Anti-Torture Amendment across the country. Over the past several months, tens of thousands of Amnesty International activists have contacted their Members of Congress advocating in favor of the Anti-Torture Amendment. Your work has resulted in meaningful change:

* Thanks to you the U.S. government has reaffirmed the absolute prohibition on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

* Thanks to you there will now be unified standards for the treatment of detainees being held by the Department of Defense that conform to the U.S. Army Field Manual.

* And thanks to you Congress has made clear that all U.S. government agents must operate in a manner consistent with the best of American values and in accordance with U.S. and international law.

While this victory is significant, there is still much work ahead to ensure that we stop torture and ill-treatment in the "war on terror" once and for all. Along with the Anti-Torture Amendment, the Senate also passed the Graham / Levin / Kyl amendment that would allow Military tribunals to consider evidence obtained by torture, and limit the rights of detainees to challenge their detention and conditions in custody. Amnesty International looks forward to working with you to address these issues and secure more human rights victories.

For more on today's good news, see "Amnesty International hails senate passage of Anti-Torture Amendment ."

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M7130635910612138222090965

Sincerely,

Eric Sears
Project Manager, Denounce Torture Initiative
Amnesty International USA
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M7130633010612138222090965

CounterPunch
by Ben Saul

12/21/05

"Terrorism does not demand that we torture to defend ourselves. To the contrary, the threat of terrorism reminds us of the importance of protecting human dignity, even of terrorists. Law necessarily draws moral lines in the sand which cannot be crossed; the inevitability of torturing the innocent is a price too high to pay to save the lives of others...

http://www.counterpunch.org/saul12212005.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

iFeminists.Com
by Wendy McElroy

12/21/05

FIRE's new Guide -- the fifth in a series of ideological survival manuals for college students -- describes both the manner in which the right of conscience is being attacked on campus and how the tide is turning toward individual rights. Three common ways in which universities limit a student's access to ideas are speech codes, mandatory 'diversity' tests or training, and 'non-discrimination' policies...

http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2005/1221.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Derrick Z. Jackson

12/21/05

It is a way of life to talk about our way of life, without questioning the way our lives are headed. In Sunday's address to the nation, President Bush said terrorists 'object to our deepest values and our way of life.' ... With all this talk about soldiers dying for our way of life, with all the pontifications about the Patriot Act and with the calls for national fortitude against John Murtha, you would think the 'way of life' being protected here is quite serious. It cannot be about protecting our freedoms, since Bush rather proudly admits -- after it was exposed -- that he secretly ordered the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on those he suspects of terrorism without obtaining warrants. The truth, magnified by the materialistic marketing of the holiday season, is embarrassing for a nation that loves to talk about military sacrifice. While the sons and daughters of the middle and lower classes die in Iraq, the wealthy count their toys, literally...

http://tinyurl.com/8bwjn


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Tom Paine
by Karen Dolan

12/21/05

House Republicans are home now decrying the 'War on Christmas,' their houses festooned with lights and pretty red bows. It's hard not to wonder if their Christmas spirit is blunted at all by the big lump of coal they recently gave America's poor and working families. Republicans have wished the nation’s least privileged citizens a 'Merry Christmas' by whacking our already anemic social safety net system. Eager to return home for the holidays, GOP leaders in the House and their counterparts in the Senate rushed out a budget agreement that’s stingy enough to put the Grinch to shame. They agreed on a budget that doles out $39.7 billion in cuts over five years, including spending reductions for Medicaid and Medicare, child support enforcement, foster care, welfare system benefits and student loans. The changes to the welfare program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), are particularly offensive because the House Republicans sneaked them into the bill. Normally, changes to welfare rules are debated and voted on as separate bills, and the changes snuck into this bill have been defeated four years in a row...

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051221/tiny_tim_v_scrooge.php


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

In These Times
by Salim Muwakkil

12/21/05

In early December, the 9/11 Public Discourse Project -- a private group formed by 9/11 Commission members after their official term expired in 2004 -- chided the government for ignoring the lessons learned from the Commission's probe of the terrorist attack. But the group's patrician members failed to answer many questions. For example, how, precisely, did the Twin Towers fall? Why did Seven World Trade Center fall despite incurring no structural damage? Why were there no jets to intercept the hijacked planes? What happened to the 'National Command Authority' that supposedly protects us in emergencies? This official reticence, combined with a lack of curiosity from the media, has sparked a grassroots inquiry, publicly dubbed The 9/11 Truth Movement...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2444/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Working for Change
by Molly Ivins

12/21/05

Uh-oh. Excuse me. I'm so sorry, but we are having a constitutional crisis. I know the timing couldn't be worse. Right in the middle of the wrapping paper, the gingerbread and the whole shebang, a tiny honest-to-goodness constitutional crisis. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country: Damn the inconvenience, full speed ahead. On his own, without consulting the Congress, the courts or the people, the president decided to use secret branches of government to spy on the American people. He is, of course, using 9-11 to justify his actions in this, as he does for everything else -- 9-11 happened so the Constitution does not apply, 9-11 happened so there is no separation of powers, 9-11 happened so 200 years of experience curbing the executive power of government is something we can now overlook. ... As an ACLU liberal, I would like to say how proud and honored I am to stand with so many American conservatives on this issue. You do credit to all your heroes. Barry Goldwater would be so proud...

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=20091


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Sheldon Richman

12/21/05

President George W. Bush's 2000 promise of a humble foreign policy that forswore nation-building has long gone the way of his father's 'read my lips: no new taxes' pledge. Now we have it in writing. Bush made the same point in an interview with Fox News's Brit Hume. He explained that transforming societies into democracies is not only good for them; it is also in the interest of the American people. He didn't explain how turning a society into an Islamic state aligned with Iran is a good thing, but most Americans won't ask anyway...

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0512h.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

San Francisco Chronicle
by David Lazarus

12/21/05

President Bush this week vigorously defended his decision to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without obtaining court approval, saying the move was both legal and vital to preventing terrorist attacks. Privacy advocates and people who snoop for a living aren't so sure. At a time when consumers have to be constantly vigilant for identity thieves, phishers, scammers, data aggregators and other traffickers in personal information, now people have to be looking over their shoulders as well for government agents listening in on private conversations...

http://tinyurl.com/cnkv7


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Lincoln Journal Star
by staff

12/21/05

The best line in the controversy over the Bush Administration's spying on U.S. citizens came from Russ Feingold, D-Wis.: 'He's President George Bush, not King George Bush,' Feingold said. Exactly. The republic was founded by Americans who revolted against the sort of monarchial power wielded by King George of England back in the late 18th century. The president's defense of his actions seems to be that he needed to do what he did in order to protect citizens of the United States. No he didn't. Bush could have done exactly what he did by following the law, which was carefully written to provide oversight by a secret court to prevent the sort of abuse that can happen when the executive branch of government's power goes unchecked...

http://tinyurl.com/76qtp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

American Chronicle
by William Grant

12/20/05

Even before the recent revelation that the Bush administration has been secretly spying on Americans in defiance of traditional authority, many people had begun to wonder: how much security are we getting for the things we're giving up? When the government claims it has to go behind our backs to make us secure, are we really secure? What do we do about all those freedoms that those soldiers are supposedly protecting that we are giving up? Can we (as some have said) give them up temporarily to work through this crisis and restore them later? History paints a forbidding picture in its response to those questions. Even the most enlightened governments are reluctant to release power once they have it, and if Bush is the man who erodes our freedoms, it is not him we have to worry about. He just opens the door...

http://tinyurl.com/cbsmk


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Wired
by Jennifer Granick

12/21/05

Ignorance of the law is no defense. Someone should tell the president. ... Statutes prohibit government interceptions of the phone and e-mail conversations of United States citizens unless officials have first sought and obtained court approval, either under the Wiretap Act, for criminal investigations, or under FISA, for national security investigations. The only exceptions are following a declaration of war, when the president has very narrow, time-limited powers to order surveillance to obtain information to prevent attacks, terrorism or espionage, and under special circumstances when no U.S. citizens are involved. The administration's actions clearly fall outside these boundaries. There is no legal justification for these warrantless interceptions, which included calls to and from American citizens...

http://tinyurl.com/9ukp9


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by Jim Hightower

12/22/05

I need -- we need, our country needs something much bigger to strive for than mere possessions. There's a widespread hunger for a sense of national commitment and purpose. We need a connection to a common effort that'll enlist us to stop Washington's and Wall Street's abandonment of our egalitarian values, that'll reverse the growing sense most of us have that our America is headed in the wrong direction, that'll rekindle our democratic idealism. So, Santa, bring me no stuff. Instead, the one and only thing I want is this: A REAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ALIVE AND KICKING!

http://www.alternet.org/story/29788/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Human Events
by Robert Novak

12/22/05

Liberals who reflexively oppose anything Bush supports are overjoyed to welcome four apostates, but in fact they represent doctrinal Republican belief in individual rights against governmental power. That sums up the ingrained philosophy of Craig, who at age 60 has held public office since he was 29 years old and has been one of the Senate's unyielding champions of gun rights. But what was Larry Craig doing consorting with the likes of John Kerry and Dick Durbin as co-sponsors of his amended Patriot Act? Craig told the Senate on Dec. 15 that he knew he faced 'an uphill battle' when he got involved in this fight: 'I knew it would be an uphill battle because Americans have grown to be frightened. But now they have grown to be emboldened when they recognized that some of their freedoms were and are at risk'...

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=11057


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.reason.com/links/links122105.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Charles Pena

12/22/05

It's probably safe to say that the filmmakers are not particularly pro-deregulation and pro-free markets and trade. However, even if its perspective is liberal-leaning, it would be a mistake to dismiss Syriana as a movie not worth watching. Syriana is an important movie because it is a metaphor for the problems of U.S. foreign policy. The central premise of the movie is that U.S. dependence on foreign oil -- particularly from the Middle East -- makes oil a U.S. national security interest. Yet this conventional wisdom is at the heart of what is wrong with U.S. Middle East and national security policy...

http://www.antiwar.com/pena/?articleid=8278


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Strike the Root
by Mark Davis

12/21/05

The clear message from the establishment is that happiness is more important than truth. So shut up and everything will be OK. This lesson remains with too many people far too long into adulthood. Some carry it to their grave in the most militant fashion. Still the light of shining truth must be put on a table for all to see. Those who wish to remain in darkness must be awoken. The surprising story of the year was not that Bush and Company told so many lies that led us into an immoral war, but that so many people fell for it, again...

http://www.strike-the-root.com/52/davis/davis6.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe

12/21/05

In the three-decade struggle by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to win federal tribal recognition -- a key requirement for building a possible Massachusetts casino -- the money that passed hands in September 2003 stands as a turning point. Six members of the Cape Cod tribe gave a combined $12,000 to a political action committee that is led by a California Republican, Representative Richard William Pombo. As chairman of the House Committee on Resources, Pombo has jurisdiction over most matters concerning Indian interests. The donations to Pombo's committee that month also included one from a Detroit casino developer who is bankrolling the tribe's recognition effort. The developer, Herbert Strather, kicked in an additional $2,000. But the biggest contribution to Pombo's committee, $5,000, came from Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist whose firm represented the Wampanoags...

http://tinyurl.com/a9gag


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent [UK]

12/22/05

Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years. Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years. ... 'Every time you make a car journey already, you'll be on CCTV somewhere. The difference is that, in future, the car's index plates will be read as well,' said Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire and chairman of the Acpo steering committee on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR)...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/article334686.ece


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Die Ziele der Politik scheinen sich in Sparplänen, Haushaltssanierung und Anpassung an den globalen Markt zu erschöpfen. Der Schutz der Menschen vor den Gefahren der Gentechnik, atomarer und chemischer Verseuchung oder Elektrosmog rückt zunehmend in den Hintergrund. Es wird so getan, als ob eine ausgewogene Bilanz oder ein ausgewogener Haushalt eine hinreichende Grundlage für unsere Gesundheit und unser Überleben wären. Vorsorge und Umweltschutz werden als unfinanzierbarer Luxus abgetan, während gleichzeitig die Kosten des Gesundheitssystems, nicht zuletzt wegen des weltweit alarmierenden Zustands unserer Umwelt und der einseitig am Gelderwerb ausgerichteten Lebensform explodieren. Unsere neue Regierung will zukünftig bei der Umsetzung der EU-Richtlinien in nationales Recht auf eigene Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten für mehr Umweltschutz verzichten. Dies bedeutet, dass in Deutschland nur noch ökologische Mindeststandards, wie in beigetretenen osteuropäischen Ländern, gelten sollen. Wir engagieren uns für gentechnikfreie, gesunde Lebensmittel, den Ausstieg aus der Atomenergie und mehr Gesundheitsvorsorge und Verbraucherschutz. Durch unsere Informationen, Kampagnen und Aktionen wollen wir auf Gefahren hinweisen und die Sorglosigkeit, manchmal Skrupellosigkeit in Wirtschaft und Politik aufdecken und bekämpfen. Unsere unabhängige Forschungs- und Aufklärungsarbeit ermöglichen Sie als Förderer oder Spender. Mir Ihrer Hilfe können wir weiter für eine lebenswerte Umwelt eintreten, denn auch unsere Kinder und Enkel brauchen gesunde Lebensmittel, sauberes Wasser und reine Luft.


Umweltinstitut München e.V.
Landwehrstr. 64 a
80336 München
http://www.umweltinstitut.org

Patriot Act Extended for Six Months

In a major setback for the White House on a top domestic priority, the Senate on Wednesday passed a mere six-month extension of the Patriot Act - due to expire on December 31 - even though President Bush had demanded that most of the law become permanent.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122205Z.shtml

Organisiert Widerspruch! Die alltäglichen Kämpfe um Einkommen und Existenzsicherung brauchen Selbstorganisierung

„Dieser Aufruf richtet sich an alle Sozialhilfebeziehenden, Erwerbslosen und Beschäftigten mit Anspruch auf ergänzende Alg-II-Leistungen. Denn mit Hartz IV (Alg II, Sozialgeld und Sozialhilfe) werden Millionen Menschen, Tausende vor Ort, einer einheitlichen Armutsleistung unterworfen, deren Spielregeln derzeit ausgefochten werden. (…) Selbstorganisierung und Gegenwehr braucht Erfahrungsaustausch, Arbeitsteiligkeit, Entwicklung und Bündelung von Kompetenzen, die in ausreichendem Umfang nur in solidarischer Zusammenarbeit und gegenseitiger Unterstützung entwickelt werden können. Dazu braucht es vor Ort arbeitsfähige Gruppen. Für die politische und praktische Arbeit gilt es, neue MitstreiterInnen zu finden. Der Aufruf zu regionalen Erwerbslosenversammlungen, an ehemalige Mitglieder von Initiativen, Aktivisten aus anderen politischen Zusammenhängen oder für das Auffinden anderer ‚EinzelkämpferInnen’ kann der Keim einer neuen Initiative sein. Die BAG-SHI und die in ihr zusammengeschlossenen Gruppen werden nach ihren Kräften Unterstützung zum Aufbau dieser Gruppen geben….“

Aufruf von BAG-SHI, Kampagnenteam „Vorsicht!Arbeitslosengeld II“, Arbeitslosenzeitung quer, Tacheles e.V. Wuppertal, Labournet Germany, Arbeitsloseninitiative Kiel, Sozial-IGEL e.V. Itzehoe, AG auspAK Boizenburg, Berliner Kampagne gegen Hartz IV, Kölner Erwerbslosenrat, Widerspruch e.V. Bielefeld, ALSO Oldenburg, AGAB Bremen, AK Erwerbslose im DGB Marburg (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/aktionen/selbstorga.pdf

Dieser Aufruf wurde beschlossen am 30.10.2005 auf der BAG-SHI Bundesfachkonferenz in Bielefeld Für den Aufruf suchen wir weitere Unterstützer- und UnterzeichnerInnen!

Siehe dazu auch die Kampagnenseite bei BAG-SHI
http://www.alg-2.info/politik/selbstorganisation/


Aus: LabourNet, 22. Dezember 2005

Gesundheit und Armut > Krankheit und Armut in der Sozialversicherung

Krank sein in den Zeiten von Hartz IV

Aus der bereits beworbenen Broschüre von Siegfried Dierke heute exklusiv im LaburNet Germany:

Auswirkungen der Sozialreformen auf die gesundheitliche Versorgung und den Anspruch auf Kostenübernahme bzw. Versicherungsschutz

„Die Gesundheitsreform 2004 (GMG) sowie die Sozialreformen (Hartz IV) haben für viele Menschen eine extreme Verschlechterung ihrer Versorgung im Erkrankungsfall mit sich gebracht. Für viele Menschen sind die schmerzlichen Folgen der Ausschluss aus der GKV oder der Verlust des Versicherungsschutzes. Das GMG (Gesundheitsreform 2004) sowie der Verweis im SGB XII auf den Leistungsumfang der GKV bedeuten zudem Einschränkungen des Leistungsumfangs bzw. finanzielle Überforderungen im Krankheitsfalle. Darüber hinaus treten für einige Personenkreise Zuordnungsproblematiken auf, die wiederum auch zu negativen Konsequenzen hinsichtlich der Regelung der Krankenbehandlung führen können. So bestehen dringliche Regelungs- und Änderungsbedarfe zur Sicherung der gesundheitlichen Versorgung….“ Konzept für einen Forderungskatalog zu Krankenversicherung (pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/gesund/kranksein2.pdf


Kapitel 13.: Fazit und Regelungsbedarf (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/gesund/kranksein3.pdf


Wir erinnern an weitere Informationen und das Inhaltsverzeichnis im Flyer (pdf)
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/gesund/kranksein.pdf


Krankenversicherungsschutz und Gesundheitskosten im Alg II-Bezug sind geregelt!

Kleine Handlungshilfe von Siegfried Dierke und Anne Allex (pdf)
http://www.berliner-arbeitslosenzentrum.de/download/handlungshilfe_krank-sein_bei_alg2.pdf


Medizin und Ökonomie

Die Zwei-Klassen-Medizin ist nicht haltbar

Ein Gespräch mit dem SPD-Gesundheitsexperten und Professor für Gesundheitsökonomie Karl Lauterbach über die Reform der Krankenversicherung von Harald Neuber in telepolis vom 03.12.2005

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21480/1.html


Gesundheit und Armut

Krankenversicherung: Warten, bis der Notarzt kommt

„Immer mehr Menschen sind nicht krankenversichert. Beim Versuch, Sozialmissbrauch zu vermeiden, hat der Staat viele aus der Solidargemeinschaft gedrängt, die den Schutz dringend benötigen. Ein Team von Gesundheitsökonomen zeigt Alternativen auf. Ideallösung: eine „Versicherungspflicht für die gesamte Wohnbevölkerung“…“ Artikel mit weiterführenden Informationen aus Böckler Impuls 16/2005 der HBS
http://www.boeckler.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID-3D0AB75D-FCB3C4C/hbs/hs.xsl/32014_48751.html

Siehe dazu auch die Grafik: Immer mehr Erwerbstätige sind ohne Krankenversicherung

http://www.boeckler.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID-3D0AB75D-B3DF9CBA/hbs/hs.xsl/32015_48743.html


Aus: LabourNet, 22. Dezember 2005

By Tom Doggett and Julie Vorman

WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Senate Democrats succeeded on Wednesday in blocking, for now, oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which Republicans sought to add to a massive massive $453 billion war-time military spending bill.

The ANWR refuge, which sprawls along Alaska's northern coast and may hold 10 billion barrels of oil, has been the focus of bitter wrangling in the U.S. Congress for more than two decades.

Most Senate Democrats and some moderate Republicans said the frigid wilderness and its assortment of wildlife, ranging from polar bears to peregrine falcons, should be protected. Republicans said ANWR must be unlocked for drilling to stop a steady slide in U.S. crude oil production.

Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska attached the measure to the unrelated defense bill which sets spending for the military and Pentagon weapons programs in the coming year.

Although few politicians wanted to be seen rejecting a bill that pays the salaries of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, furious Democrats and a half-dozen Republicans who have long opposed ANWR drilling conducted extended debate, known as a filibuster, to delay its passage.

The Republican majority failed to get the required 60 votes in the 100-member chamber needed to cut off debate. The vote was 56-44.

"It is a real victory for the environmental movement all throughout this country," said Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California, who opposed drilling in the refuge.

Leaders of both parties huddled to figure out the next step for the military funding bill.

"ANWR has got to come out (of the defense bill)," said Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi, whose state stands to gain vast amounts of Hurricane Katrina reconstruction aid also in the bill.

Another Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, said he was disappointed that ANWR drilling was blocked but the overall defense bill needed to be passed.

But Stevens, who has fought since the 1980s to pry open ANWR, indicated he would not give up easily.

"I want you to know we're going to be here until (New Years Day) ... We're going to stay here until this is finished," Stevens said just before the vote. "I can't go home for Christmas. I've already canceled (airplane tickets)."

ANOTHER ATTEMPT NEXT SPRING

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages ANWR, describes it as "one of the finest examples of wilderness left on the planet." The refuge is the same size as South Carolina, with most of its land accessible only by plane or boat.

Oil companies say exploration and drilling could be limited to a small area and would not harm the wildlife.

"It is a 2,000-acre limitation," Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said, referring to the amount of land within the refuge that would be opened for drilling. "If we can do anything more to help decrease our reliance on oil imports, we need to do it."

Republican Pete Domenici of New Mexico will try again in the spring to attach ANWR drilling to a filibuster-proof bill, an aide said. Domenici said oil platforms already operate on Alaska's North Slope in an environmentally sensitive way.

"They look like little outhouses," he said. "You won't be able to even see or locate what has transpired (with drilling equipment)."

The defense bill also includes funds for the potential bird flu pandemic and a program that helps poor families pay winter heating bills.

The U.S. House approved the defense bill on Monday.


Informant: John Calvert

The "Canard enchaine" provides perspective on a number of recent controversies swirling around the Bush administration.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122105H.shtml

George F. Will writes: The president's authorization of domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency contravened a statute's clear language. Assuming that urgent facts convinced him that he should proceed anyway and on his own, what argument convinced him that he lawfully could?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122105F.shtml

US President George W. Bush, currently battling a domestic spying controversy, used to assure Americans wary of expanded anti-terrorism powers that tapping telephones required a judge's go-ahead.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122105E.shtml

Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. was warned yesterday by two key senators that he will be expected to comment on the revelation that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to monitor the international phone calls and e-mails of US citizens without seeking a court order.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122105C.shtml

Iraq's elections were marked by widespread intimidation and coercion by paramilitary groups, experts said Tuesday. The first results from the parliamentary election last week show the country is dividing between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122105B.shtml

The Republican-controlled Senate passed legislation to cut federal deficits by $39.7 billion on Wednesday by the narrowest of margins, 51-50, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122105A.shtml

U.S. President George W. Bush calls indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff "an equal money dispenser'' who helped politicians of both parties. Campaign donation records show Republicans were a lot more equal than Democrats.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=arVHles5cKJc&refer=us#


From Information Clearing House

Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist Billing Clients for Face Time with G.W. Bush.

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle_new.asp?ArticleID=13


From Information Clearing House

Asked how many members of Congress Abramoff could implicate, the person said only that "cooperation is cooperation; it's full cooperation."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002696177_webabramoff21.html


From Information Clearing House

Multinational corporations are riding high on the trend toward globalization by taking advantage of India's educated work force and deep poverty to turn South Asia into the world's largest clinical-testing petri dish.

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,69595,00.html


From Information Clearing House

In a late-night move that could be worth billions of dollars to a small group of major drug manufacturers, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) inserted language into the fiscal year 2006 Defense Department spending conference report.

http://rollcall.com/issues/51_65/news/11630-1.html


From Information Clearing House

Jim Ramstad tends toward moderation in his comments, as well as in his politics, and so it is worth taking note when this Minnesota Republican spotlights "the most outrageous abuse of power I've seen in my 15 years as a member of Congress."

http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/5793727.html


From Information Clearing House

The big puzzle is why anyone is shocked that President Bush eavesdropped on Americans. The National Security Agency for decades has routinely monitored the phone calls and telegrams of thousands of Americans.

http://www.counterpunch.com/hutchinson12202005.html


From Information Clearing House

Mr Norris also branded US president George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice as liars on the issue.

http://www.online.ie/News/News.aspx?newsId=165799


From Information Clearing House

The Irish Government's support for the war in Iraq is putting Dublin at risk of a terrorist attack, an Oireachtas Committee heard today.

http://www.online.ie/News/News.aspx?newsId=165910

The United States stands to lose major leverage over the entire strategic Eurasian region with the latest developments.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GL21Ad01.html


From Information Clearing House

How could this have happened in a free society? The reasons are many and varied, including a corporate-owned mass media that knew a lot more than it was telling the public.

http://www.crisispapers.org/essays-w/awfulplace.htm


From Information Clearing House

It is now a matter of public record that immediately after the terrible tragedy of 11 September 2001, U.S. Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld and his "Neoconservative" Deputy Paul Wolfowitz began to plot, plan, scheme and conspire to wage a war of aggression against Iraq by manipulating the tragic events of September 11th in order to provide a pretext for doing so.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6050.htm

It's disturbing to think that the president truly believes that Arab and Muslim contempt for his government stems from Arab media detractors, rather than his administration's misguided policies.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/773/op153.htm


From Information Clearing House

The World is at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history. In the largest display of military might since the Second World War, the United States and its indefectible British ally have embarked upon a military adventure, which threatens the future of humanity.

http://tinyurl.com/btj3v


From Information Clearing House

One of the few members of Congress briefed by the White House on a controversial domestic wiretap program took the extraordinary step Monday of unsealing the only copy he made of a 2003 letter in which he raised strong concerns about the secret effort with Vice President Dick Cheney.

http://tinyurl.com/axjxx


From Information Clearing House

President Bush claimed at yesterday’s press conference that he did not have to secure warrants because “after September the 11th, the United States Congress also granted me additional authority to use military force against al Qaeda.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/20/did-not-expand/


From Information Clearing House

For the Bush White House, the good news from Iraq just never stops. But the joy that President Bush has expressed over the country's latest election, though more restrained than his infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech, will similarly come back to haunt him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/irans-victory-in-iraq_b_12661.html


From Information Clearing House

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., called Tuesday for Congress to censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney, saying they misled lawmakers on the decision to go to war in Iraq.

http://tinyurl.com/dk3n2


From Information Clearing House

"This election is completely false. It insults democracy everywhere. Everything was based on fraud, cheating, frightening people, and using religion to frighten the people. It is terrorism more than democracy."

http://tinyurl.com/9dhxm


From Information Clearing House

SUNNI politicians in Iraq launched a fierce attack yesterday on the credibility of last week’s watershed general election, in what could be the first step towards their rejection of the eventual outcome.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11352.htm

By Manuel Valenzuela

Terror new and real will arrive on our shores just in time to once again take possession of our minds, making us, yet again, unthinking animals sustained by raw emotion and instinct, becoming the sheep easily corralled, led and controlled by our masters. We will mobilize once more, marching to the trumpets of war and violence, becoming the instrument the corporatists need to further their goals.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11355.htm

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3823/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Health officials in Brazil have launched an investigation following claims that at least 10 impoverished Brazilians from an Amazon village may have contracted malaria while being used as human "guinea pigs" during a study by an American university.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122105HB.shtml

Today the Senate voted against cloture, opening the way to a filibuster, and effectively blocking the Defense Appropriations Conference Report with its ANWR language. Senator Carl Levin and others objected to the ANWR rider both on its merits and because the way it was attached is a violation of Senate rules.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122105EA.shtml

Ray McGovern: Some hope can be seen in a recent remark by Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, who told reporters: "I took an oath of office to the Constitution. I didn't take an oath of office to my party or to my president." Will enough Republican senators honor that oath?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122105R.shtml

http://www.rockrivertimes.com/index.pl?cmd=viewstory&cat=4&id=11948


Informant: Teresa Binstock

Your voices carried the day to stop the Patriot Act. Your voices carried the day in stopping destruction of the ANWR. And your voices have one last chance to stop the cruelty budget if you speak out now.

TELL THE HOUSE TO REJECT PROGRAM CUTS FOR THE POOR

Today in the Senate, Dick "The Grinch" Cheney flew in just long enough to break a 50-50 tie, further gutting lifeline services for the poor while they plough full steam ahead with abolishing all tax responsibility for the wealthy. This is a battle that should have been won in the House already, but for 6 Democrats who didn't even bother to show up for the vote. Because there were some minor concessions made in the Senate, we have one final chance to reverse this heartless budget if you call your House member at 888-355-3588 or 888-818-6641 and submit the action page at

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

Remember that all members of the House must face reelection next year. In this season when some are complaining about a war to take Christ out of Christmas, we ask again, "Who would Jesus starve?" Consider these words:

"I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." (Matthew 25:43-45)

And yet here we have a bill which will take AWAY food from the hungry, rob medicine from the sick, and steal clothing intended for those who are already naked. What should be the judgement for those who do such things? Perhaps you already know the next verse. Words of true compassion can be found in all faiths. Make the call and send a message to Congress and tell them to show some compassion for a change.

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

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

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11348.htm


Informant: Friends

http://tinyurl.com/85pup
http://tinyurl.com/7ezmx



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

http://www.barbaraboxer.com/diary?id=0032


Informant: Martin Greenhut

http://www.barbaraboxer.com/diary?id=0032


Informant: Martin Greenhut

Millions of Americans spoke and the U.S. Senate listened.

This afternoon the Senate rejected an outrageous attempt by the Republican leadership to attach Arctic Refuge drilling to a "must-pass" defense spending bill. The pro-drilling forces needed 60 votes to break a filibuster of the bill, but they could only muster 56.

You are the true heroes. I want to thank every single one of you who took the time to call your Senators since we first alerted you to this very dangerous bill on Friday. Thousands of you lit up the Capitol Hill switchboard. There's no doubt you helped sway the votes of key Senators who were wavering over these last critical days.

To see how your Senators voted, click here:

http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/arcticphotos/arcticvoters.asp

If your Senator(s) voted to save the Arctic, please click on their name(s) on our webpage to send them a message of gratitude.

Today's showdown was a stinging defeat for those pro-drilling Senators who attempted to hijack the defense bill -- and funding for our troops during wartime -- in order to force their special agenda through Congress.

The Bush White House and its allies in Congress know full well that they can NEVER win a vote by the rules on sacrificing the Arctic Refuge. That's why they've resorted, with increasing desperation, to backdoor maneuvers and abuse of the legislative process like today's shameless ploy to co-opt the defense bill.

As you read this, Senate and House leaders are removing the Arctic drilling provision from the defense bill, and are promising to pass that bill, along with funding for hurricane victims, before the holidays.

Make no mistake: they will come after the Arctic Refuge again next year. But, thanks to you, we will stand stronger than ever in its defense.

Last December, President Bush and Congressional leaders said Big Oil would finally get its way in 2005. But, instead, the tide has turned. A solid majority of Americans now reject the President's drill-it-all mentality and is demanding a new energy policy that will save, not destroy, our natural heritage.

Thanks to your efforts, that solid majority was heard loud and clear on the floor of the U.S. Senate this afternoon. Thank you for speaking out when it mattered most to America's greatest sanctuary for Arctic wildlife. And may you have a wonderful and peaceful holiday season.

Sincerely,

John H. Adams
NRDC Action Fund

--------

A message from Robert Redford

I couldn't let the opportunity pass without thanking you for the huge victory on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which we won yesterday in the United States Senate. Since Friday, you pulled out all the stops and moved mountains. You continue to be the true heroes of this ongoing fight to save one of the last great places on earth.

Right now, Senate and House leaders are advancing a defense bill -- without the Arctic drilling provision. As well, they will act on funding for hurricane victims -- all before the holidays.

Every time I write asking for your help in turning back these cynical attempts to destroy the Arctic wilderness, you continue to respond in one clear, loud voice. In this latest showdown, you swayed key Senate votes that resulted in a resounding defeat of pro-drilling forces.

I wish I could say it will be the last time you'll hear from me on the battle to save the Arctic, but sadly, I am sure I will be writing to you again. But I come to you today with admiration and gratitude for a job well done.

Happy Holidays and Peace on Earth.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford
Board of Trustees
Natural Resources Defense Council

http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/openletter122105.cfm


Informant: Teresa Binstock

http://www.wanttoknow.info/051221votingmachineshacked


Informant: Martin Greenhut

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB24/press20051219.htm


Informant: Kev Hall

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1221-24.htm



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

http://www.traprockpeace.org/london_peace_10dec05.html


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Jacob G. Hornberger on freedom and peace.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/hornberger/hornberger70.html

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3825/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news