http://www.omega-news.info/prescott_second.doc
http://www.omega-news.info/blair_copy_prescott.doc
http://www.omega-news.info/evidence_of_damage_to_human_health.htm

by David Isenberg, TomPaine.com

When we see activity like illegal citizen surveillance in other countries, we usually call them police states.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20060106/the_imperious_president.php

Eric Alterman writes that the willingness of our most powerful media corporations to defer to this White House for reasons that relate far more to political embarrassment than national security is deeply disconcerting.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010606O.shtml

E.J. Dionne Jr. writes that Abramoff, who used to pal around with close Bush allies Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed in the College Republicans, and who has been a central figure in the rise of Republican dominance in Washington, is not a lone wolf.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010606N.shtml

Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said that the Bush administration cannot use recent legislation he helped craft to seek the dismissal of habeas corpus petitions filed on behalf of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, contending that the law applies only to new cases.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010606M.shtml

When Tracy A. Henke assumes a top homeland security job Monday, she will begin under a swirl of controversy. Critics said she had little experience relevant to the job she is about to assume, while others questioned her role in a racial-profiling study last year that resulted in some discord within the Justice Department.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010606K.shtml

Tyco International, whose former CEO became a symbol of corporate corruption, acknowledged Thursday it is the Jack Abramoff client referred to as "Company A" in court documents describing the lobbyist's scheme to funnel millions of dollars in lobbying fees to himself.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010606J.shtml

President Bush continues to push reauthorization of the worst parts of the Patriot Act, but as revelations about warrantless NSA spying continue to shock the nation, the ACLU and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are now calling for a full investigation into his authorization of these illegal activities. This week the ACLU ran the third advertisement in a series of messages sharply criticizing the president for violating the Constitution and lying to the public.

The fight to reform the Patriot Act won a crucial victory at the end of December, when a bipartisan group of Senators successfully filibustered the White House's Patriot Act reauthorization bill. Supporters of freedom sent a clear signal to President Bush that Americans believe that we can be both safe and free.

The Patriot Act in its existing form has been extended for one month, to allow time for the addition of vital reforms that protect the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans.

The failed bill faced staunch opposition for its proposals to make all of the expiring powers permanent. Although the final bill set a four-year expiration date on two of the act's most egregious provisions, it also contained changes that would have worsened the controversial National Security letter powers.

The ACLU and many others have been questioning the administration's assurances about the Patriot Act and government surveillance for a long time. In attempts to assuage the mounting concerns of Americans, they have lied about their actions. The president now must explain assertions made in a speech given in 2004, in which he called for Patriot Act renewal:

Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.

The White House has argued that President Bush was just talking about domestic surveillance, but the NSA's warrantless wiretap program unequivocally applies to communications from American citizens originating in the United States.

This week's ACLU ad also quotes President Bush discussing the Patriot Act on June 9, 2005, stating that law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to engage in electronic surveillance of a suspected terrorist. But, in light of the president's repeated NSA authorizations, our ad asks, "Why did we bother debating the Patriot Act if President Bush could make up his own rules about spying on U.S. citizens?"

The ACLU will be working tirelessly this month in Congress, working closely with lawmakers to ensure that the Patriot Act renewal includes real reform and protections for the privacy and freedoms of innocent Americans.

In advertisements and other grassroots outreach, the ACLU is calling for a special counsel to determine if oaths of office were broken or federal laws were violated. We have also requested records from the NSA and other agencies in our ongoing campaign to reveal and limit unchecked government spying on Americans.

President Bush's secret authorization of the NSA's warrantless spying on Americans violated the law and raises the specter of Nixon and Watergate.

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=T3nJUE6FrQgjKHMG8Q-7WQ..
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/23356prs20060105.html
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spyads/index.html
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=VYt0qa_totGVk1td6GHO6g..

Richard Pierce

http://snipurl.com/l9oq

"The sole topic of conversation inside knowledgeable Washington circles this holiday season is the coming impeachment of Bush and the removal of Cheney from office. And this is not solely restricted to Democrats by any means but also includes a growing majority of Republican lawmakers, the military commands, the senior federal judiciary and those who comprise the so-called Power Elite of this country. Bush is seen as completely out of control. As Bush is a very weak man, he constantly needs reinforcement by those around him to assure him of his manliness and ability. He lacks both but his staff has spent years filling him full of sycophantic and dangerous propaganda to the point that Bush now actually believes that he is divinely protected and a great leader in his own right. Most do not know of currently-discussed plans among certain foreign countries to force Bush and Cheney before the World Court on charges of war crimes to include planned massacres of unarmed civilians, theft of private property, making illegal warfare and lesser charges such as the deliberate killing of foreign journalists. None of this has come to pass. Yet. But the very discussion of the idea in the chancelleries and foreign offices of Europe, and the Middle East is only adding fuel to the fires now lit under two of three branches of the American government."


Informant: ranger116



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

Der Bundesumweltminister: "Die Energieressource Uran ist als erste erschöpft" (06.01.06)

Bundesumweltminister Sigmar Gabriel hat als Konsequenz aus dem aktuellen Gaskonflikt zwischen Russland und der Ukraine eine "ökonomisch und ökologisch nachhaltige Energiestrategie" gefordert. "Im Kern stehen wir vor einer Änderung unserer Energiepolitik", sagte Gabriel am Donnerstag in Berlin. Als gleichrangige Ziele nannte er, Versorgungssicherheit, Stabilität bei den Strompreisen und Erfolge im Klimaschutz zu erreichen. Der Atomenergie erteilte er diesem Zusammenhang eine klare Absage: "Uran ist von allen Energieressourcen die einzige, bei der Deutschland zu 100 Prozent von Importen abhängig ist. Gleichzeitig ist Uran von allen Energieressourcen diejenige, die wir weltweit als erste erschöpft haben werden. Die Menschen, die das erleben werden, sind heute schon geboren", so Gabriel. Der Bundesumweltminister mahnte, die notwendige Diskussion sachlich statt abstrakt und ideologisch motiviert führen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12626

Human Events
by Lt. Col. Oliver North, USMC (Ret.)

01/06/06

A few days after returning from my seventh trip to Iraq for FOX News, I was called upon to comment on the most recent affront to those who are fighting terrorists in Saddam's former fiefdom. The offense occurred during the January 2nd broadcast of ABC News' 'Nightline,' when Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a combat-decorated Marine veteran of Korea and Vietnam, was asked by interviewer John Donovan about the Congressman's willingness to serve in our Armed Forces: Q: 'Would you join today?' A: 'No.' Donovan then opined, 'And I think you're saying that the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying I don't want to serve.' A: 'Well, exactly right'...

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=11316


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by Robert Scheer

01/04/06

Abramoff is now detailing the massive web of corruption he spun inside the Beltway which has already snared a top Bush official, procurement chief David H. Safavian, on charges of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation, and reportedly threatens dozens of other D.C. players. 'When this is all over, this will be bigger than any [government scandal] in the last 50 years, both in the amount of people involved and the breadth to it,' Stan Brand, a former U.S. House counsel who specializes in representing public officials accused of wrongdoing, told Bloomberg News. 'It will include high-ranking members of Congress and executive branch officials'...

http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/30381/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Salon
by Joe Conason

01/06/06

Rarely has the contrast between the rhetoric of the religious right and the behavior of its leaders been so starkly exposed as in the Abramoff scandal. The most obvious example was the manipulation of Christian activists in Louisiana and Texas by Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition, who said he was helping them fight gambling when he was actually using them to promote Indian casinos (and to make a few million bucks for himself). That episode alone should have alerted honest Christians to the moral rot within the Republican leadership that professed to represent their interests. But there is of course much more evidence of the religious cynicism of Abramoff and his cronies... [subscription or ad view required]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2006/01/06/hypocrites


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Liberty For All
by Sean Haugh

01/06/06

The question is fascinating, 'if (I could) pass any three pieces of legislation, without having to worry about the approval of Congress, what would they be?' I always associate legislation specifically with congress or the general assembly. I can relieve that contradiction by framing my answers not as legislation, but rather as executive orders, or even better, edicts. So, as the Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico (my preferred title, after Emperor Norton), here are my first three proclamations ...

http://www.libertyforall.net/2005/dec31/Edicts.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Raw Story

01/05/06

According to a report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, $100 spent in locally owned businesses provides the town and surrounding area $44.60, while large retail chains only give back $14.10 to local communities, mainly in the form of wages and service. Therefore, local communities lose at least $30.50 for every $100 spent at Wal-Mart. For this holiday season, Wal-Mart's record-breaking sales mean staggering losses for Main Street, U.S.A.: $20.3 billion. Had that $66 billion been spent at locally owned businesses, it would have generated some $29.7 billion for local communities. However, thanks to Wal-Mart, that $66 billion translates to only $9.4 billion going into local economies...

http://tinyurl.com/85uae


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNet

01/05/06

Dozens of federal agencies are tracking visits to U.S. government Web sites in violation of long-standing rules designed to protect online privacy, a CNET News.com investigation shows. From the Air Force to the Treasury Department, government agencies are using either 'Web bugs' or permanent cookies to monitor their visitors' behavior, even though federal law restricts the practice...

http://tinyurl.com/8mcj6


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Houston Chronicle

01/05/06

President Bush on Wednesday appointed a 36-year-old lawyer to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Homeland Security Department despite critics' concerns about her qualifications. Bush's recess appointment of Julie L. Myers was an end-run around the Senate, where her nomination to lead the massive, troubled immigration and customs operation had been stalled...

http://tinyurl.com/a8clg


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

01/06/05

Senate Democrats are considering a plan that could delay a committee vote on Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination for at least a week, slowing what could have been a quick confirmation for President Bush's pick to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter had hoped to hold a committee vote on Alito's nomination Jan. 17, a little over a week from Monday's start of the federal appellate judge's confirmation hearings...

http://tinyurl.com/7lpvf


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Miami Herald

01/06/06

In a stunning blow to the education policies that Jeb Bush has made the centerpiece of his governorship, the Florida Supreme Court struck down the state's tuition voucher program Thursday, saying it violates the state Constitution because it diverts public money to private schools. Although the 5-2 ruling applies only to one of three voucher programs now in existence, it could place all such Florida programs in legal jeopardy. ... The ruling is a major setback for Bush, who won legislative approval for the voucher program as a cornerstone of his ''A-plus'' education policies during his first year in office in 1999. The voucher program allows students in failing schools to take state money and use it in private schools...

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13564494.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.mast-victims.org/index.php?content=news&action=view&type=country&id=86

Hallo. I am from Israel , a very small country were the cellular, industry, with help of govermernt authorities install thousands of cellular antennas with maximum radiation of 45 microwatt, at distance about 40 meter or less from houses. It is very difficult to fight such corruption done only for the greed of money. I am asking - from all citizens suffering electro-pollution radiation all over the world.

TO PUT A BLACK RIBBON or a black flag in the windows, balcony, etc as a protest against this dangerous technology of third generation cellular antenas that is for the only one purpose of children and teens seeing multimedia and games through cellulars. Please put a black ribbon also for all those who have died or will die as consequence of microwave artificial radiation that is in every place, every town, inside our houses, and even this radiation penetrates inside our bodies without any limits.

matredo

Please contribute with YOUR comments and YOUR protest.


Best regards.

Agnes

E-mail: agnes@mast-victims.org
http://www.mast-victims.org

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega137.htm
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega139.htm

http://freespace.virgin.net/mast.action/europe.htm

That's Chris Nunn in Bardsey but Roy Ashwood has also taken his case to the EU but not sure what happened in the end.. its been going on for several years. See his site at

http://freespace.virgin.net/mast.action/index.htm

Chris has helped Mast Sanity in the past as one of our phone line advisors and is currently our North East email Coordinator and Roy helped me set Mast Sanity up.

Cheers

Lisa

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega119.htm

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

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega118.htm

--------

Sparrows and wireless services

Does the coverage of house sparrows correlate with the coverage development of wireless services?

Here you find the coverage of house sparrows:

http://www.bto.org/appeals/house_sparrow.htm#regionaldifferences

There are regional differences in the recent fate of House Sparrows. The latest Breeding Bird Survey figures for House Sparrows (1994-2002) are as follows. Note - this is only a short period. Most declines had happened before the start of BBS in 1994.

England down 13%
Scotland up 29%
Wales up 63%
Northern Ireland down 34%
SW England stable
SE England down 28%
London down 71%
East England down 22%
East Midlands up 18%
West Midlands stable
NW England down 12%
Yorkshire & Humberside down 11%
NE England too few records received

Here you find a map of coverage of GSM and 3G (by Vodafone):
http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=gb&net=v3

Let us assume that wireless services such as mobile communications, but also radio, television and other wireless services, have always about the same geographical development in time, they grow about the same way. Now check the 3G development.

Where is still few 3G at this moment?
Scotland (sparrows up 29%).
Wales (sparrows up 63% - did they flee from England?)
South West (sparrows stable)
East Midlands (sparrows up 18%)

Where is a lot of 3G already?
England (sparrows down 13%)
Northern Ireland (sparrows down 34%)
SE England (sparrows down 28%)
London (sparrows down 71%)
East England (sparrows down 22%)
West Midlands (sparrows stable)
NW England (sparrows down 12%)
Yorkshire & Humberside (sparrows down 11%)

If the assumption is true, then there is a correlation between wireless services going up and sparrows going down.

Frans


From Mast Sanity/Mast Network

http://tinyurl.com/bg9fg



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

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega114.htm

--------

PROTEIN FOLDING (AMYLOID) - SIMILARITIES BETWEEN RAINDROPS
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/protein_folding_amyloid.htm

--------

Autism/Alzheimer's/heme/beta-amyloid plaques
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/beta_amyloid_plaques.htm



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Protein+folding
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=homocysteine
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=amyloid
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=autism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=autism
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Alzheimer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Alzheimer
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=mercury
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mercury

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega107.htm

Wildlife Vanished at Ouruhia
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1927819/

Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3375463/

The Emerging Global Pattern of Insect Pollinator Decline
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=662

How Shall we Cope With the Increasing Amounts of Airborne Radiation?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3320383/

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_charles__060103_peak_oil_and_the_end.htm


Informant: Scott Munson

The Bush administration is ruthlessly pursuing a scheme to sacrifice the last wild stretches of our national forests to logging and harmful development. We urgently need your help once again to protest this attack and protect our legacy of irreplaceable wildlands.

Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/tongass/takeaction.asp right away and join with other Americans in opposing the Bush administration's repeal of the historic Roadless Rule that banned destructive logging and roadbuilding in pristine national forestlands.

Supported by millions of Americans, the Roadless Rule safeguarded unspoiled areas of America's national forests -- including vast expanses of Alaska's Tongass rainforest, California's Sierra Nevada and Los Padres regions, backcountry habitat in the Rockies and stretches of the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide national scenic trails.

Early last year, though, the Bush administration quietly abolished this crucial safeguard, saying that governors can petition the Forest Service if they wish to keep roadless areas intact, but not assuring that any protections will be granted. Clearly, the administration is aiming to attack our national forest heritage one state at a time.

We can't afford to lose a single wild forest! We have already sacrificed more than half of our national forests -- over 90 million acres nationwide -- to invasive logging and roadbuilding. The Roadless Rule is one of the most important tools we have for preventing chainsaws and bulldozers from destroying the critical habitat of endangered wildlife -- and for preserving these unique wildlands for the enjoyment of millions of Americans.

NRDC is prepared to fight this raid on our natural heritage in the courts, in the media, in the halls of Congress and in corporate offices across the country. At every step, though, we will need proof in hand of how much these lands mean to the American public.

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/tongass/takeaction.asp and speak out against the Bush administration's repeal of the Roadless Rule. We'll collect your signature, along with millions of others, to show the Bush administration that the overwhelming majority of Americans want to keep our national forests wild.

Thank you for taking action to save our last wild national forests.


Sincerely,

Frances G. Beinecke
President Natural Resources Defense Council


Informant: Martin Greenhut

CODE PINK

January 5, 2006

Dear Martin,

Let's do something historic. Let's make 2006 the year we end the war in Iraq, and let's join together with women from every corner of the world to do it!

TODAY, January 5th, CODEPINK is launching a new campaign called "Women Say No to War" to bring together US women like Alice Walker, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Susan Sarandon, Cindy Sheehan and Dolores Huerta with women from countries such as Britain, Canada, Australia, Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, Jordan, Iran and especially Iraq. Our purpose? To tell our leaders - and the world - that women have had enough of the senseless war in Iraq and we want the foreign troops and foreign fighters to leave Iraq now.

So far, more than 200 prominent women - political leaders, military mothers, veterans, actors and authors - have endorsed the "Women Say No to War" campaign, and some 4,000 women have signed the Women's Call for Peace - even before we've officially launched! We want to get at least 100,000 women from around the world to sign this global call by March 8, 2006, when we'll deliver the signatures to the White House and to US embassies around the world.

This effort could be truly historic but to succeed, we need your help: Please sign the call TODAY: Go to
http://www.womensaynotowar.org . Then forward the call to everyone you can think of in every country on the globe.
(To forward the Call, cut and paste from below or click here) Help organize a local Women Say No to War event on March 8 or join us in Washington DC. Mark your calendars for Mother's Day, when we'll launch a vigil outside the White House to keep the momentum going to stop the war in 2006.

Eve Ensler, Margaret Cho, Anne Lamott, Maxine Hong Kingston, Barbara Ehrenreich, Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Cynthia McKinney, Iraqi women's rights advocate Yanar Mohammed, Iraq War Veteran Kelly Dougherty-these are just a sampling of the amazing women who have signed this Urgent Appeal. Please join them - and us - in a sending a powerful message that women worldwide have said "Enough!"

In peace and solidarity, Dana, Farida, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Nancy, Rae, Rouane & Tiffany

Spread the word -- forward this email to your friends!

Women's Call for Peace: An Urgent Appeal

We, the women of the United States, Iraq and women worldwide, have had enough of the senseless war in Iraq and the cruel attacks on civilians around the world. We've buried too many of our loved ones. We've seen too many lives crippled forever by physical and mental wounds. We've watched in horror as our precious resources are poured into war while our families' basic needs of food, shelter, education and healthcare go unmet. We've had enough of living in constant fear of violence and seeing the growing cancer of hatred and intolerance seep into our homes and communities.

This is not the world we want for ourselves or our children. With fire in our bellies and love in our hearts, we women are rising up - across borders - to unite and demand an end to the bloodshed and the destruction.

We have seen how the foreign occupation of Iraq has fueled an armed movement against it, perpetuating an endless cycle of violence. We are convinced that it is time to shift from a military model to a conflict-resolution model that includes the following elements: The withdrawal of all foreign troops and foreign fighters from Iraq; Negotiations to reincorporate disenfranchised Iraqis into all aspects of Iraqi society; The full representation of women in the peacemaking process and a commitment to women's full equality in the post-war Iraq; A commitment to discard plans for any foreign bases in Iraq; Iraqi control of its oil and other resources; The nullification of privatization and deregulation laws imposed under occupation, allowing Iraqis to shape the trajectory of the post-war economy; A massive reconstruction effort that prioritizes Iraqi contractors, and draws upon financial resources of the countries responsible for the invasion and occupation of Iraq; Consideration of a temporary international peacekeeping force that is truly multilateral and is not composed of any troops from countries that participated in the occupation.

To move this peace process forward, we are creating a massive movement of women - crossing generations, races, ethnicities, religions, borders and political persuasions. Together, we will pressure our governments, the United Nations, the Arab League, Nobel Peace Prize winners, religious leaders and others in the international community to step forward to help negotiate a political settlement. And in this era of divisive fundamentalisms, we call upon world leaders to join us in spreading the fundamental values of love for the human family and for our precious planet.


Informant: Martin Greenhut

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called for the resignation of Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday, one day after the government dropped Las Vegas from a list of cities considered potential high-risk targets eligible for special anti-terrorism grants.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jan-05-Thu-2006/news/5212776.html


From Information Clearing House

Former “Economic Hit Man”

John Perkins on “The First Truly Global Empire” and its Impact on Latin America.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/03/1435206


From Information Clearing House

The DNA profiles of nearly four in 10 black men in the UK are on the police's national database - compared with fewer than one in 10 white men, according to figures compiled by the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,16518,1678168,00.html


From Information Clearing House

"I don't want to be on the list. I want to fly and see my grandma," the 4-year-old boy said, according to his mother.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060105/ap_on_re_us/terror_list_preschooler


From Information Clearing House

"There seems to be a problem. You've been placed on the No Fly Watch List."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11467.htm

Abramoff raised more than $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, making him an honorary Bush "Pioneer." But the campaign is giving up only $6,000, which came directly from Abramoff, his wife and one of the Indian tribes the lobbyist represented.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11468.htm

Republican Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House, yesterday shed himself of tainted campaign contributions totaling $70,000. He gave the money to an unspecified charity.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0601,ridgeway,71514,6.html


From Information Clearing House

It is commonplace for lawmakers to solicit campaign donations from lobbyists, who routinely offer them in hopes of gaining advantage. Yet Mr. Abramoff also went far beyond routine practice by furnishing lawmakers with lavish trips, free meals and entertainment as well.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Abramoff_says_he_could_implicate_60_0104.html


From Information Clearing House

New York Times reporter James Risen first broke the story two weeks ago that the National Security Agency began spying on domestic communications soon after 9/11. In a new book out Tuesday, "State of War," he says it was a lot bigger than that.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/01/did-bush-wiretap-cnns-christiane.html


From Information Clearing House

The launching of an outright war using nuclear warheads against Iran is now in the final planning stages. Coalition partners, which include the US, Israel and Turkey are in "an advanced stage of readiness".

http://tinyurl.com/7lepw


From Information Clearing House

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signaled Thursday that time is running out for Iran to avoid being hauled before the U.N. Security Council over its disputed nuclear program, and she denied that the threat is mere "saber rattling."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/01/05/national/w080902S64.DTL


From Information Clearing House

THE CIA had evidence from 30 Iraqi weapons scientists that Saddam Hussein had abandoned its weapons of mass destruction programs long before the US invaded, an explosive new book on America's spying operations says.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/01/04/1136050496872.html


From Information Clearing House

Local organizations have planned over 130 Out of Iraq events around the country on or about January 7th. Most of the events are town hall forums, and several will feature members of Congress, including Bobby Scott, Diane Watson, Jim McDermott, Adam Smith, Bob Filner, Martin Sabo, Jim Moran, Marty Meehan, and John Murtha.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/6393


From Information Clearing House

--------

Out of Iraq Events Planned for Saturday in 136 Cities

Sign up for an event near you:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event

Series of events kicked off Thursday evening:

A town hall forum hosted by Congressman Jim Moran and featuring Congressman Jack Murtha packed a large room in Arlington, Va., Thursday evening, and filled an overflow room, and had to turn away another 500 people. The media was well represented.

Both Moran and Murtha spoke strongly in support of ending the war as quickly as possible and pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Murtha complained repeatedly that the Bush Administration contributes only "rhetoric" and no "substance" to this debate.

"Sixty to eighty percent of Iraqis want us out," Murtha said. "And 45 pecent say it's justified to kill Americans. The State Department's own polls say the same thing. It's time to let Iraqis take over this effort. Let them solve their own problems, as we did in the revolutionary war."

"A number of senators running for president called me," Murtha added. "I told them there were two policies. One is redeployment. The other is the President's 'stay the course.' And they're in between. I told them they're missing an opportunity to show leadership. They're so hesitant to take a position."

Report, Audio, and Photos:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/6431

Sign up for an event near you:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event

NEW RESOURCES FOR YOUR EVENTS:

Here's a national press advisory. Local groups can modify it and use it locally. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/6252

Here's an important flyer to hand out at events to help organize people for further action.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/flyerforevents.pdf

Here are scorecards for citizens to use in scoring congressmembers. (Provided by the Backbone Campaign)
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/scorecard.pdf

Make Impeachment signs to post everywhere on Jan 8th.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/6368

Make Call to Conscience flyers.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/6375

There are lots more resources here:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/526

Sign up for an event near you:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event

National Call-In Day on Accountability Planned for January 9th

Tens of thousands of members of Progressive Democrats of America and other organizational members of the After Downing Street Coalition will phone Members of Congress in their district offices on January 9, urging them to cosponsor three bills: H.Res.635 to create a select committee to investigate and to make recommendations on grounds for impeachment, H.Res.636 to censure Bush, and H.Res.637 to censure Cheney. http://tinyurl.com/dus2q

FORWARD THIS INFORMATION

Here we are in the first days of 2006. What does the ‘6’ symbolize? How about- 6 hours of no electricity for every one hour of electricity? Or… 6 hours of waiting in line for gasoline that is three times as expensive as it was in 2005? Or an average of six explosions per day near our area alone?

http://tinyurl.com/74tj8


From Information Clearing House

By Manuel Valenzuela

One day, in the not too distant future, in the middle of the night, a knock will come at their door, it being not a dream nor a fantasy, its noise an ominous reminder of the police state now upon America, coming to serve power on those who thought they had nothing to fear by sacrificing liberty and freedom for so-called security.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11460.htm

Peter Rousmaniere says that it has become easier for employers to cut corners on their legal obligations. If Congress succeeds in criminalizing undocumented worker status, it will become even easier.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010506LB.shtml

Altering the physical brain can alter personality, behavior, mood - virtually everything we think of as constituting our essential (and incorporeal) self. Due to the ease at which the brain can be influenced, the ethics of researching the brain can be troubling.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010506HA.shtml

The Russia-Ukraine crisis is a reminder that politics, not the market, is driving global energy policies.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010506EB.shtml

A federal judge rejected the US Defense Department's argument for not disclosing the names of detainees at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but stopped short of ordering that the names be released. Judge Jed S. Rakoff's order on Wednesday was a victory for the Associated Press, which sued the Pentagon in April 2005, seeking the names of detainees and transcripts of US military hearings meant to determine whether the detainees were properly classified as enemy combatants.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506S.shtml

Democrats haven't completely given up the notion of filibustering Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court, though they're certainly not talking about it before his confirmation hearings. A slip of the tongue, an intractable attitude or a dramatic revelation next week could still bring another Senate showdown.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506Q.shtml

From: Eileen O'Connor
eileen@smokestackltd.co.uk
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 00:02:07 -0000
Subject: Planning TV disputes programme

Please see enclosed report in Sutton News paper on 30/12/2005

I would like to encourage as many people as possible to phone or e-mail as we want the mast issue on the agenda.


Best wishes

Eileen


Families in planning disputes wanted for TV programme

A television production company working on a BBC series about planning disputes and planning law is looking for people 'in the middle of a planning dispute, or anxiously awaiting a planning decision from the council.'

The series currently being researched by North One Television, aims to follow home and small business owners through the planning process, concentrating on unusual, difficult or contested applications. It is, says the company, 'purely observational and does not attempt to advise or to influence the process in any way'.

Colin Byrne, from North One, said: "Ultimately, we will be looking for case to follow in our pilot episode. At this stage it is just a question of having a chat with people on the phone at a time which is convenient for them, and the conversation remains confidential."

Anyone interested in taking part is asked to get in touch with Colin on 0121 697 1920 or e-mail colin.byrne@northonetv.com .

On the Verge of Political Reform
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0105-32.htm

Says Top US Official
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0105-07.htm

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/nov2005/abr2-n29.shtml


Informant: Friends

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006/abra-j05.shtml


Informant: Friends

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3884/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Magie Burns

Thu Jan 5, 2006 13:19


Attacking habeas corpus
by margieburns
at 10:45AM (CST) on January 5, 2006

http://www.margieburns.com/blog/_archives/2006/1/5/1603030.html

Republican Senator Lindsey O. Graham of So. Carolina is not up for re-election until 2008, and I cannot find that South Carolina has any provisions for a recall campaign except for its statewide offices. Presumably this is partly why Graham was picked to spearhead the White House attack on habeas corpus.

"HABEAS CORPUS. Lat. (You have the body.) The name given to a variety of writs, (of which these were anciently the emphatic words,) having for their object to bring a party before a court or judge."

"The sole function of the writ is to release from unlawful imprisonment. . . The office of the writ is not to determine prisoner's guilt or innocence, and ONLY ISSUE WHICH IT PRESENTS IS WHETHER PRISONER IS RESTRAINED OF HIS LIBERTY BY DUE PROCESS." (Black's Law Dictionary, 4th ed., caps added)

Make no mistake. Current moves in our GOP-dominated Congress regarding the "detention" of "terrorists" are not security measures. They do not defend the American people. They do not protect us from actual terrorists -- some of whose relatives may well have been shepherded out of the U.S. right after 9/11 by this White House. They do not attack terrorists. They attack the ancient right of habeas corpus, which underlies our most immediate freedoms, namely the everyday right NOT to have our persons or property seized without reason, or for unnamed reasons.

This point is so fundamental that it is impossible that Sen. Graham fails to understand it. Lindsey Graham is an attorney, and every law student is required to take a Constitutional Law course in law school.

Only the most ignorant or gullible person, and Mr. Graham is neither, could honestly believe that accused terrorists should be treated differently from other accused persons. An accusation is still an accusation. Only to the abjectly ignorant, and Mr. Graham is not that, does the word "terrorist" mean "someone with magical powers." Only a pitiably ignorant, rabidly bigoted or quasi- illiterate individual could seriously believe that accused terrorists have such telepathic powers, like Johnny Carson in his turban reading an envelope through his forehead, that our security is undermined by -- by what? By merely telling them the charges against them.

Any infringement on habeas corpus is a straight-out, cynical taking advantage of ignorance.

But worse than that, it is a practice that puts all of us in danger of the same fate as accused terrorists. Make no mistake. This is not a practice that can be limited to one category of individuals. The basis of the right of a writ of habeas corpus is humanity. You don't have to be some special kind of person; you just have to be a person. Therefore, since we are all people, any law or procedure that takes it away, takes it away from all of us.

If anyone can be detained without even being told the charges against him -- then, anyone can be detained without being told the charges against him or her.

It is small consolation that Sen. Graham himself could become a "detainee." By the time things get so horrendous, so overt, that even individuals like him rebel, the damage will be irretrievable.

Without Justice, there is JUST_US! "The Law"!
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/thelaw.htm

Word Study from Bouvier's 1856 Law Dictionary "Truth / True"
http://www.land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/bouvier/truth-.shtml

Word Study from Bouvier's 1856 Law Dictionary "Oath"
http://www.land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/bouvier/oath-.shtml

Word Study from Bouvier's 1856 Law Dictionary "(un)Lawful(ly)"
http://www.land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/bouvier/lawful-.shtml

Word Study from Bouvier's 1856 Law Dictionary "God"
http://www.land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/bouvier/god-.shtml

Word Study from Bouvier's 1856 Law Dictionary "Authority"
http://www.land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/bouvier/author-.shtml


Source:
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=97316;show_parent=1

Ervin Swartwoudt

Thu Jan 5, 2006 12:49

Article. VI. United States Constitution

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

The oath of office as required by the sixth article of the Constitution of the United States, and as provided by section 2 of the act of May 13, 1884 (23 Stat. 22), to be administered to The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. , the text of which is carried in 5 U.S.C. 3331: (Emphasis added)

TITLE 5 > PART III > Subpart B > CHAPTER 33 > SUBCHAPTER II > § 3331Prev | Next § 3331. Oath of office

An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath: "I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God." This section does not affect other oaths required by law.

(such as this one below) (Emphasis added)

TITLE 4, CHAPTER 4--THE STATES

Sec. 101. Oath by members of legislatures and officers

Every member of a State legislature, and every executive and judicial officer of a State, shall, before he proceeds to execute the duties of his office, take an oath in the following form, to wit: ``I, A B, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States.''

TREASON (Treason is a Hanging offense)

Whenever a judge acts where he/she does not have jurisdiction to act, the judge is engaged in an act or acts of treason. U.S. v. Will, 449 U.S. 200, 216, 101 S.Ct. 471, 66 L.Ed.2d 392, 406 (1980); Cohens v. Virginia, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat) 264, 404, 5 L.Ed 257 (1821).

Therefore, if a judge does not fully comply with the Constitution, then that judge's orders are void. In re Sawer, 124 U.S. 200 (1888), he/she is without jurisdiction, and he/she has engaged in an act or acts of treason. (Emphasis added)

Under Federal law which is applicable to all states, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that if a court is "without authority, its judgments and orders are regarded as nullities. They are not voidable, but simply void; and form no bar to a recovery sought, even prior to a reversal in judgments or sentences, are considered, in law, as opposition to them. They constitute no justification; and all persons concerned in executing such trespassers". Elliot v. Piersol, 1 Pet. 328, 340, 26 U.S. 328, 340 (1878) (Emphasis added)

"The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of it's enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it. No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it." -- 16 Am Jur 2d, Sec. 177, late 2d, Sec 256


GOOGLE: APFN OATH An Oath is an Oath is an Oath
http://www.google.com/search?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&q=APFN+OATH&btnmeta%3Dsearch%3Dsearch=Search+the+Web


Source:
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=97309;show_parent=1

Informant: Scott Munson

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/291217_cosmetics06.html


From PlantTrees.org

C-SPAN Special: Jack Abramoff & the Tribal Lobbying Investigation (1/3/2005) http://tinyurl.com/dyku3

QUOTE _ "I'd love us to get our mitts on that moolah." Abramoff, in an e-mail to an ally, about an American Indian tribe's contributions to Democrats. http://www.apfn.org/apfn/abramoff_scandal.htm

"No Matter Where The Trail Leads"...
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/abramoff_scandal.htm

Update 22: Top Republicans Give Up Abramoff Donations Forbes - 7 hours ago ... House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his successor Roy Blunt on Wednesday joined the list of officials shedding political donations from Jack Abramoff, the once ... ABRAMOFF SCANDAL BACK IN COURT Special Broadcasting Service GOOGLE NEWS UPDATES: http://tinyurl.com/daoqq

Source:
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=97289;show_parent=1
(excerpt)

Paul Hein on business and government.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/hein/hein123.html

Defend the freedom of association. Article by Wendy McElroy.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/mcelroy/mcelroy103.html

6. Januar 2006, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Der verstärkte Aufbau neuer Kontroll- und Überwachungsinfrastrukturen mit der Computertechnik nach dem 11. September hat die Hackerszene in eine Sinnkrise gestürzt. Bei ihrem jährlichen Stelldichein, dem Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, suchte sie händeringend nach «Plan B» zur bürgerrechtsfreundlichen Technikgestaltung.

Dem Mythos nach sind Hacker die einzigen Wesen der Welt, die den Computer verstehen und die Informationstechnik beherrschen. Die Angehörigen der Szene selbst beschreiben sich als die Guten, die öffentliche Daten nützen, private aber schützen wollen. Eine «schöpferisch- kritische» Technikgestaltung schwebt den modernen Robin Hoods der Cyber-Wälder vor in ihrem Kampf gegen die «dunklen» Seiten der Datenverarbeitungskräfte, die statt zu mehr Informationsfreiheit in eine Orwellsche Überwachungsgesellschaft führen könnten.

Pessimistische Töne

Am jüngsten Chaos Communication Congress kurz vor dem Jahreswechsel probten die Vordenker der Hacker in Berlin den Abschied von diesem Heroismus. «Wir haben den Krieg verloren», lautete der Titel der am meisten diskutierten Veranstaltung. Frank Rieger, ehemaliger Sprecher des Chaos Computer Clubs (CCC), der die Veranstaltung seit Jahren organisiert, schlug pessimistische Töne an. Er wähnte sich und seine meist männlichen Kollegen in einem Polizeistaat übelster Sorte: «Wir leben jetzt in der dunklen Welt der Science-Fiction-Romane, die wir niemals wollten.» Ein Grossteil der Privatsphäre und anderer grundrechtlich geschützter Werte seien im «Krieg gegen den Terror» verloren gegangen.

Die Hacker haben vor allem die Einführung nationaler Ausweissysteme mit biometrischer «Zwangserfassung», das zunehmende Data-Mining und Profiling, die verdachtsunabhängige Speicherung von Telefon- und Internetdaten in der EU und die Ausdehnung der Videoüberwachung im Visier. Rob Gonggrijp, Gründer des Amsterdamer Providers XS4ALL, meinte, der entstehende «Kontrollkomplex» sei «ohne historische Parallelen». Öffentlichkeitsarbeit

Um sich für «weitere Kriege» zu rüsten, arbeiteten die Aktivisten einen Schlachtplan aus. Für nötig erachten sie zum einen die bessere Kollaboration mit Überläufern aus den eigenen Reihen zu Geheimdiensten sowie mit gleichgesinnten zivilgesellschaftlichen Gruppen. Zum anderen erkannten sie den Verbesserungsbedarf bei der Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, über die Spionagetätigkeiten künftig klar als «Datenverbrechen» gebrandmarkt werden sollen. Wie in früheren Jahren predigten die Vorsprecher auch, Verschlüsselungs- und Anonymisierungsdienste sowie andere technische Möglichkeiten zum Selbstschutz der Privatsphäre zu verbessern.

Mehrere Hacker demonstrierten, dass auch ein «Polizeistaat» Knackstellen hat und die Kontrolltechnik zweckentfremdet werden kann. Zwei Vertreter der österreichischen Bürgerrechtsorganisation Quintessenz führten vor, wie sie gemäss dem Kongressmotto «Private Investigations» mit einer billigen Satelliten-TV-Ausrüstung, einer Antenne aus Polen und einem Videorecorder die Signale einer analogen Überwachungskamera der Wiener Polizei am Schwedenplatz in der österreichischen Hauptstadt selbst überwacht hatten. Demnach machten die Beamten auch Jagd auf «fliegende Drogenhändler»: Sie schwenkten mehrfach von einem Fenster der benachbarten Häuser in oberen Stockwerken zum nächsten und zoomten dicht heran. Man hätte beobachten können, «was sich hinter den Gardinen abspielt». Für die Aktivisten ein weiterer Beweis für ihre These, dass Videoüberwachung die Falschen trifft und für die Strafverfolgung wenig bringt.

Eine Vertreterin des Chaos Computer Clubs Wien stellte Erkenntnisse des Projekts «Data- Mining the NSA» der Wiener Organisation Quintessenz vor. Über eine Sicherheitslücke ist diese in Besitz einer Mailingliste der amerikanischen National Security Agency (NSA) gelangt, und ebenso von Beiträgen von 2500 Personen aus Militär- und Regierungskreisen, die sich über einen Zeitraum von zehn Jahren zum Projekt «The Biometric Consortium» äusserten. Dieses hat die Erforschung und Entwicklung biometrischer Technologie für die Identifizierung von Personen zum Ziel. Sicherheitslücke bei Blackberry

Auch sonst präsentierten die Hacker im Stundentakt schwere Risse in Sicherheitsmechanismen der Informationstechnik, insbesondere bei Handhelds und Funkübertragungen. Laut dem Team Phenoelit ist die Architektur des E-Mail-Push- Dienstes Blackberry anfällig für Missbrauch. So fanden die Sicherheitsprüfer einen Weg, über Lücken im Protokoll zum Nachrichtenversand über die gerade bei Managern beliebten mobilen Begleiter Botschaften auf einen Schlag «an alle Blackberrys der Welt zu senden». Ein gefundenes Fressen für Spammer. Im Programm, das Bilder auf den Handhelds darstellt, konnten die Tüftler einen Speicherüberlauf bei der Bearbeitung von TIFF- und PNG-Dateien auslösen. Eine solche Schwäche ermöglicht es Angreifern häufig, die Kontrolle über den anfälligen Prozess oder das ganze System zu erlangen. Verwundbarkeit attestierten die Hacker auch dem Server fürs Aufrufen von Dateianhängen bei E-Mails.

Die Organisation Trifinite startete die Beta- Phase für Blooover II. Die Java-Applikation für Smartphones, die Sicherheitsmängel bei Bluetooth aufdecken helfen soll, fasst eine Reihe bekannter Angriffe auf Bluetooth-Geräte wie Bluesnarf oder Bluebug zusammen. Mit dem «Audit- Werkzeug» können Angreifer heimlich Daten wie Adressverzeichnisse, Kalender, Uhrzeit oder auch Visitenkarten ändern beziehungsweise sogar unbemerkt Anrufe lancieren oder SMS-Nachrichten versenden. Die neue Version verfügt laut Trifinite über eine «Brutfunktion», dank der sie sich auf andere Handy ausdehnt. Die «Babys» können sich aber nicht weiter fortpflanzen; so wird eine virusartige Ausbreitung verhindert.

Nicht mehr Sicherheit bietet der Einsatz von Infrarot: Der Hacker Major Malfunction demonstrierte, wie über damit arbeitende Fernbedienungen Geräte wie Hotel-TV-Systeme, Garagenöffner oder Roboter-Spielzeuge gänzlich von einem Angreifer auf Systemebene «übernommen» und zweckentfremdet werden können. Auf dem Kongress fiel zudem der öffentliche Startschuss für das Projekt free60.org zum Hacken der Xbox 360 von Microsoft. Ziel ist es, wie schon auf der Vorgängerkonsole Linux zum Laufen zu bringen. Fussball-WM als Techno-Spielfeld

In ihrem ironischen Ausblick auf die «Sicherheits-Albträume» für 2006 kürten die Computerexperten die Fussball-WM 2006 zu ihrem «grossen Techno-Spielfeld». Die geplante Nabelschau deutscher Sicherheitstechnik mit «mehr Überwachungskameras als Zuschauern» und RFID- Tickets mache es möglich. Zu einem Trend erkoren die Hacker das Warflying, eine Abart des Wardriving zum Aufspüren offener WLAN- Netzwerke auf Langstreckenflügen der Lufthansa. Nur die Flugkontrollgeräte sollten dabei «in Frieden» gelassen werden. Ein Sicherheitsfiasko droht laut kritischen Informatikern zudem bei der elektronischen Gesundheitskarte.

Fraglich ist, inwieweit die Tester künftig überhaupt noch auf Lücken im System hinweisen dürfen. Mit der anstehenden Umsetzung eines EU- Rahmenbeschlusses zum Schutz vor Angriffen auf Informationssysteme und der Cybercrime- Konvention des Europarates dürfte «Hacken komplett gebannt werden», warnte der Kölner Rechtsinformatiker Marco Gercke vor einer geplanten «Kriminalisierung» der Szene. Er befürchtet auch eine neue Debatte über ein Verbot oder eine bewusste Schwächung von Verschlüsselungssoftware sowie das staatliche Einschreiten gegen Anonymisierungsdienste. Die Feindbilder dürften den Hackern so nicht ausgehen.

Stefan Krempl

Copyright © Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG

http://www.nzz.ch/2006/01/06/em/articleDGNZL.html

Are innocent people being executed because America's capital punishment system is broken? NOW investigates.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506P.shtml

The burgeoning Jack Abramoff corruption scandal has made it all but certain that Rep. Tom DeLay will not return as House majority leader, aides to the Republican House leadership said Wednesday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506D.shtml

Building on its experience in Iraq, the Bush administration says it wants to form "coalitions of the willing" more efficiently for dealing with future conflicts rather than turning to existing institutional alliances such as NATO. The second piece focuses on Canada who has signaled a sterling commitment to Western operations in Afghanistan, and is now caught in the middle of two main camps that oppose one another: the Americans on one side and certain European countries on the other.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506C.shtml

The idea that the once highly respected former director of NSA, Gen. Mike Hayden, had allowed himself to be seduced into sinning against NSA's first commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Spy on Americans," was initially met with incredulity, writes Ray McGovern. The good news is that truth tellers (also known as leakers) have stopped being intimidated and are doing their patriotic duty.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506A.shtml

The members of a secret federal court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases are scheduled to receive a classified briefing Monday from top Justice Department and intelligence officials about a controversial warrantless-eavesdropping program.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506B.shtml

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3881/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

What would you do with $25 billion? Well, if you were ExxonMobil you'd continue to insist on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, sabotage efforts to slow global warming, and try to weasel out of paying the full amount owed to the fishermen and Native Americans affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, which killed hundreds of thousands of seals, otters, birds, fish and whales. That's what ExxonMobil is doing with its historic $25 billion in profits from 2005.

But we're making a difference. Wildlife supporters from across the country banded together last month to narrowly defeat ExxonMobil's latest attempt to industrialize the Arctic Refuge. This was a huge victory for the polar bears, caribou and other wildlife that call the Refuge home!

If we want to guarantee lasting protection for our wildlife in Alaska and beyond, ExxonMobil must change its ways. That's where you come in. Defenders of Wildlife and other leading conservation groups are calling for a boycott of ExxonMobil - join the boycott today!

Here's why we need you to join the boycott today: purchasing a tank of Exxon gas helps fuel the company's anti-wildlife agenda, funding misleading advertisements and lobbying efforts to industrialize in our special wild places and paying for junk science on global warming that's wrecking crucial habitat. Do you really want to line the pockets of a company that fleeces consumers at the pumps while it still refuses to pay for the devastation it caused to Alaskan wildlife in the 1988 Exxon Valdez spill?

If just 25,000 Care2 members pledge to boycott Exxon, we could have a huge impact. At current astronomical gasoline prices, with Americans spending perhaps $50 to $70 a week on gasoline our boycott would mean at least $1.25 million in lost income each week. That's $65 million a year. That should get their attention!

Since money is the only language ExxonMobil understands, it's time for all Americans to talk to them in that language. Join the boycott of ExxonMobil - sign our petition to ExxonMobil to let them know that you will not purchase their gasoline until they change their polluting ways!

Thank you for helping to protect our wildlife,

Rebecca Young, Care2 and ThePetitionSite team

P.S. In case you need another reason to boycott ExxonMobil: using existing technology to ensure our automobiles get no less than 40 miles per gallon would save four times more oil than will be produced by drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - yet ExxonMobil spends millions every year to lobby for access to the Arctic Refuge. Join the boycott today!

Thank you for signing up to receive Animals & Environment Alerts via ThePetitionSite or Care2 website! Your email address has not been bought from other sources. If you learned something interesting from this newsletter, please forward it to your friends, family and colleagues.

--------

Boycott ExxonMobil Until It Becomes a Responsible Corporate Citizen!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/705437564

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=355

Comments on DECT phones

From Katharina Gustavs:

Don, Yes, wireless cordless phones using the DECT technology (or here in Canada it usually says 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz on the base station) are the stuff nightmares are made of. I would rate it the single most trouble-causing device in modern homes. This technology was first introduced to Europe, around 1988 I believe. When I took my building biology training in Germany, Leberecht von Klitzing, a medical physicist from the University of Luebeck who observed EEG changes during cell phone radiation exposure (von Klitzing L: Low-frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields influence EEG of man. Physica Medica 1995; 11 (2): 77-80.), was one of the instructors. He told me in a personal conversation that in the beginning of the 1990s he all of sudden had infants brought to him who were perfectly healthy, but their heart beat started going crazy for no obvious reasons. As soon as the DECT cordless phone was removed from the bedroom or neighboring apartment, the infant’s heart beat went back to normal.

RF radiation emitted from DECT cordless phones have a similar pulsed low-frequency (100 Hz) signal like certain cell phone technologies (e.g. 217 Hz) and in the case of DECT phones this type of radiation easily reaches up to 30?. And the worst thing about these phones is that they do radiate 24 hours a day whether you place a phone call or not! Peak power can be up to 250 mW.

Back in 1999 Leberecht von Klitzing already told me that there are much higher frequencies occurring within human brain wave patterns than previously thought. So the ELF signals attached to a lot of wireless communication technologies are not operating in a void space, but living organisms obviously already make use of these frequency bands. Imagine Industry Canada (or the FCC or whatever the name of the agency in a country that is allowed to sell the usage of frequency bands) would have a chart at their office wall, which shows all the frequency bands already utilized by living organisms. And the most essential frequency bands are highlighted and designated as protected frequencies so they cannot be auctioned off anymore for “human consumption”.

Well, if my memory serves me right, he mentioned such numbers like 100 Hz for human brain wave frequencies. He explained that EEG monitoring instrumentation was not capable to actually pick up on the higher frequencies until recently. The first brain waves (alpha and beta) were recorded by Berger back in 1929. By now neuroscience textbooks describe a gamma frequency range, between 20 up to 60 Hz and sometimes up to 100 Hz for humans. Brain wave frequencies for rodents are documented up to 200 Hz. Gamma oscillations in the human brain seem to be related to meaningful object perception, learning and memory. (Memory-matches evoke human gamma-responses: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/5/13 ) And it looks like that certain patterns in the high frequency range (> 20 Hz) during sleep are associated with symptoms of schizophrenia and depression. (High frequency EEG activity during sleep: characteristics in schizophrenia and depression:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15683195&query_hl=12&itool=pubmed_docsum ).

In 1999 the Professional Association of Building Biology Consultants in Germany (Verband Deutscher Baubiologen
http://www.baubiologie.net ) demanded to ban the DECT cordless phone technology. In October 2002, fifty medical doctors from Germany shared their concern about negative health impacts associated with the use of 2.4 GHz cordless as well as mobile phones in the Freiburg Appeal - an initiative of the Interdisciplinary Society of Environmental Medicine (IGUMED). The Freiburg Appeal states that heart disturbances, extreme fluctuations in blood pressure and behavioral disorders among others could be observed in an increasing number of people using such mobile phone devices and demands that current digital phone technologies should be reviewed and adjusted to our biological needs. The English version of the Freiburg Appeal can be found in the News Archives of the Swedish Association for the Electrosensitive
http://www.feb.se/NEWS/news2001-2002.html

After the first results of the REFLEX study came out last summer 2005, the Association of Medical Doctors from Vienna (Austria) (Ärtztekammer aus Wien www.aekwien.at) joined the British Medical Association and issued a warning that children under the age of 16 should not be using cell phones. And in fall 2005, the Medical Doctors from Vienna even went a step further and wrote up “10 Medical Rules for Cell Phone Use” for everybody, not just children. The poster, which was sent out to all members of the association, also recommends against the use of cell phones in waiting rooms.

Here you find the original poster in German
http://www.aekwien.at/media/Plakat_Handy.pdf

Please find my English translation, which was authorized by the Ärtztekammer Wien, attached further below. You are very welcome and even encouraged to distribute it on your e-mail list.

[Don’s note: I cannot attach pdf files on this list so if you want a copy of the poster please email me.]

And while I finally sit down to write to you, I also wanted to apologize for not responding earlier to your e-mail about a year ago, in which you asked me about my opinion on RF radiation and filter technologies. It took me a little while to borrow some Stetzer filters and do some experimentation. I never had luck with those filters on the projects I was consulted on.

First of all, I would like to point out that in building biology, the first line of defense is to eliminate all AC electric and magnetic fields from the sleep environment. The installation of Stetzer filters in the best-case scenario reduces harmonics, but does nothing about the 60 or 50 Hz that can be just as damaging during sleep. So for sleep any external (transmitters) or internal (DECT cordless phones) RF sources including voltages on the home wiring should be eliminated.

Now it sounds like when you shut off the main panel, the hum is still there, which would mean that the external field is quite high and/or building components of the house seem also to go in resonance. It would be interesting to know how well the grounding system performed. The few experiments in a rural setting I did with the Stetzer filters taught me that when the grounding system of the electrical installation has a real good ground connection, the filters did not make such a huge difference, but when the grounding system is poor, the filters may first increase the actual exposure. I would agree with your assumption that certain portions of the energy must be traveling along the neutral conductor or any metal piping, which usually is not shut off in the main panel. If a system is grounded at some metal piping AND a grounding rod or plate, things usually get even worse.

It would be interesting to here how the mitigation efforts in the house at Hobart turned out and whether the installation of Stetzer filters removed the humming, which would surprise me because those filters would be unable to shield against the incoming wireless microwave radiation. I find humming worse in homes with a strong RF source nearby and that have more metal in the building components such as metal roofing, metal mesh for stucco, metal cladding, extra steel reinforcing, etc. To eliminate such humming is often a daunting task.

Once I had a client who had an entire array of cell phone repeaters right across from his windows. He opted for shielding the whole house, which seemed to be cheaper than moving his business, and it felt amazingly quiet inside afterwards. Occupants could sleep again and did not have to be bothered by humming. It was a challenging project because the original home wiring was not shielded and RF shielding and electrical wires, of course, interact.

Thanks again for your invaluable service to keep everybody connected, informed and encouraged.

With best wishes for a healthy and happy New Year, Katharina

Katharina Gustavs Building Biology Consultant

Phone: 250-642-2774 Fax: 250-642-2785 E-mail: gustavs@buildingbiology.ca

HIDDEN-SEE Building Biology Services
5237 Mt. Matheson Rd. Sooke BC V0S 1N0 Canada

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=356

--------

In addition:

I have also had an experience with DECT. I have Alasdair's COM and acoustic COM, and someone asked me to help her see if the cellular antennas near her house were a possible cause for her suffering inside her home. She felt ill and she was running away from certain rooms in her house but had no explanation why. She asked her husband to sell their house and move somehwhere else because of the antennas that she sees from her window. But the cellular antennas didn't seem to affect her house - there was no radiation on the side of the antennas, but on the other side of the house- all her kitchen was irradiated, the COM was reading the maximum. She turned off the microwave, but it was still reading maximum (6.5 V/m, it could be more but the device shows up to 6.5). It turned out that the reason was a DECT phone in the kitchen - not in use DECT phone. As soon as she removed the DECT phone - her kitchen was not irradiated anymore....now she doesn't want to sell her house anymore....and she also bought Alasdair's COM in order to warn others, she shows them how their cell phones irradiate. At the same time, I was told by people who bought DECT phones that they were told in the store that DECT phones do not emit radiation at all!

.....

"he all of sudden had infants brought to him who were perfectly healthy, but their heart beat started going crazy for no obvious reasons. As soon as the DECT cordless phone was removed from the bedroom or neighboring apartment, the infant’s heart beat went back to normal."

Iris Atzmon

--------

Dear Alasdair: I appreciate this forward from Iris very much!!!

I need to "absorb the information" -- review to see whether "milligauss readings" were also done but right now I don't recall that.

The problem of having any electrical appliances/devices/meters by the head of one's bed is "so critical," it is almost impossible to fathom!!!

At first, I thought the larger electric clock radios were sort of in a category by themselves until I happened to purchase a small electric clock and discovered "identical readings" of 200 milligauss over the motor/mechanism in each case.

I am not familiar with the type of cordless phone referred to in the email; however, again, I am measuring "200 milligauss" on the "power supply" for ALL cordless phones, electronic games -- anything with a little black power supply box.

I located the mom of a 15 yr. old boy the other day who has been diagnosed with Kleine-Levin Syndrome. Their story was on CNN Paula Zahn because of the rarity of this condition that causes one to sleep too much -- sometimes for days!

As we spoke on the phone, the boy's mom removed his electric clock (I had noticed the shining numbers on TV -- nightstand next to head of bed). I "strongly suspect" disruption of his sleep/wake cycle -- circadian rhythm -- plus possibly some other "neurological effects" that are not being diagnosed, that resulted from this "too close exposure" to the clock.

Fortunately, the mom also moved the charging base for the new I-Pod that was a Christmas gift! She reported there was no phone close to head of his bed but now I also will let her know about this new information. I don't think there was a phone in his room.......

She will be addressing this issue this week at the Kleine-Levein Syndrome Foundation Board Meeting. I have sent her information by email and will be sending more by regular mail. She will let me know if she locates other families with similar situations re electrical appliances/devices that are too close to heads of beds. There are only 500 reported cases of KLS in the world.

You know, of course, the stories re my grandsons and guinea pigs and drastic health changes/problems due to sleeping (cage placed by) against "powerwall" in bedrooms.

I have requested "permission to share" information with our Minnesota Health Department regarding an extended family member's relative on other side of family and the occurrence of "a rare tumor" that almost invaded the brain of a young girl. It was "fortuitous" that the girl happend to be moved away from "powerwall" around the same time she began treatment, all the while the parents knew nothing of possible dangers. They are "trying to absorb" the information at this time.........

Most who know about my work also know that Bonnie Boyum (Minnesota) has granted me permission to share information regarding her son's death due to Leukemia. He was 23 years old when he died. She reports that he had an electric clock and small fan on his headboard.......

I need to determine whether or not I can afford your meter but wonder whether you are not finding high milligauss readings on all power supply boxes? Thanks and take care!!! Joanne


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


"No ray of sunshine is ever lost, but the green which it awakens into existence needs time to sprout, and it is not always granted for the sower to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith." - Albert Schweitzer

--------

Lloyd Morgan on DECT phones
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=358

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega97.htm
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/grn/omega122.htm

05.01.06

Gerhard Timm, Bundesgeschäftsführer des Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), sieht im Atomstreit innerhalb der schwarz-roten Koalition den Vorboten kommender Kämpfe um die Energieressourcen. Öl, Gas, Kohle und Uran würden als endliche Energieträger zunehmend knapp, die Ausbeutung ihrer Vorkommen schwieriger und teurer. Es sei absehbar, dass die Profiteure herkömmlicher Energiestrukturen versuchen würden, ihren Einfluss auf die Politik zu erweitern. Teile der Union würden ihren Ton gegenüber dem Koalitionspartner SPD dann vermutlich noch verschärfen. Bundesumweltminister Sigmar Gabriel müsse diese Attacken zurückweisen und sein Gewicht weiter für eine moderne Energiepolitik in die Waagschale werfen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12619

Amnesty International USA is committed to doing all it can to make 2006 the year to stop torture and ill-treatment in the “war on terror.” But we need your help to be successful. Make your commitment today by declaring your new year's resolution as taking action to help stop torture and ill-treatment in the “war on terror.” Click here to learn how Amnesty International USA’s Denounce Torture Initiative will help you keep your resolution in 2006!
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M7130868310612138222505265

Why Now? As vocal public opposition to torture and ill-treatment grows, so does evidence that the U.S. continues to use torture and ill-treatment. In the past several months, new allegations of torture have emerged from Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan and in secret U.S. detention centers around the world, indicating that we must redouble our anti-torture efforts.

How Can I Help Stop Torture in 2006? Grassroots activism to stop torture and ill-treatment has had a tremendous impact over the past few months. When the Denounce Torture Initiative was launched this past spring, we had two aims. First, to educate a broad spectrum of people living in America about the scope of abuses being committed by the U.S. government in the name of the “war on terror.” Second, to galvanize people to take action to stop the abuses and hold perpetrators throughout the chain of command accountable.

We have been amazed by the response:

* More than 250,000 actions urging the President and Congress to stop the use of torture and ill-treatment.

* Over 200 delegations across America lobbying against torture in the district offices of members of Congress.

* Hundreds of community teach-ins to educate people across the country about the use of torture and ill-treatment by agents of the U.S. government.

* Intense grassroots phone campaigns supporting the Anti-Torture Amendment introduced by Senator McCain.

What's my next step? Click here to make your new year's resolution today.

http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M7130867310612138222505265

The Denounce Torture Initiative is committed to helping you keep your resolution by giving you tools for effective action against torture in the "war on terror," based on your own level of commitment and the amount of time you have available.

Many thanks for all you have done. We look forward to working with you in 2006 to stop torture and ill-treatment!


Sincerely,

Eric Sears
Project Manager
Denounce Torture Initiative Amnesty International
USA

In kurzer Zeit wurden Tiefseefischarten fast vollständig durch den Fischfang dezimiert.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21712/1.html

In einem Buch schildert NYT-Reporter Risen zudem, wie die CIA 2004 ihr Agentennetz im Iran auffliegen ließ und daher ausgerechnet jetzt, wo die Bush-Regierung Iran ins Visier nimmt, keine Informationen mehr hat.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21717/1.html

January 5th, 2006 2:28 am

By Scott Shane / New York Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said on Wednesday that the limited Congressional briefings the Bush administration has provided on a National Security Agency eavesdropping program violated the law.

In a letter to President Bush, the representative, Jane Harman of California, said the briefings did not comply with the National Security Act of 1947. That law requires the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to be "kept fully and currently informed" about the spy agencies' activities.

The briefings on the program under which Americans and other people in the United States are selected for eavesdropping without court warrants were limited to the so-called Gang of Eight. That consists of the Republican and Democratic leaders of each house and of the Intelligence Committees. Because of turnover in those positions, 14 members of Congress attended one or more briefings.

Ms. Harman wrote in her letter that the law allowed briefings to be limited to the eight leaders only in cases of covert action. The National Security Agency program does not qualify as a covert action, which the law says does not include activities whose "primary purpose is to acquire intelligence," she wrote.

Asked about the letter, a spokesman for the National Security Council, Frederick Jones, said, "We believe Congress was briefed appropriately on this matter."

Unlike some Democrats, Ms. Harman has defended the eavesdropping, which focuses on people in the United States who officials believe have possible links to terror suspects overseas. In a statement on Dec. 21, she said she believed that the program was "essential to U.S. national security and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities."

She has also called for a full briefing and open hearings on N.S.A. activities.

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Peter Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, has said the briefings made clear that Americans would be targets of some of the eavesdropping and that Democrats had offered at least tacit approval.

http://michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5406


Informant: John Calvert

http://starbulletin.com/2006/01/05/news/story02.html


Informant: root



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

This update on a story we have been tracking closely. Last week President Bush officially signed a bill outlawing torture of detainees. While the bill signing received significant press coverage, what Bush did following the signing has not. According to the Boston Globe, Bush quietly issued what is known as a signing statement in which he lays out his interpretation of the new law. In this document Bush declared that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. Legal experts say this means Bush believes he can waive the anti-torture restrictions. New York University Law Professor David Golove criticized Bush's move. He said ''The signing statement is saying 'I will only comply with this law when I want to, and if something arises in the war on terrorism where I think it's important to torture or engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading conduct, I have the authority to do so and nothing in this law is going to stop me' "

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/05/1454235


Informant: John Calvert

The Bush-Cheney campaign is returning only a fraction of the contributions it received through Abramoff connections. During 2004, Abramoff was a top fundraiser for the Bush re-election effort, raising more than $100,000 for the campaign. While exact figures on how much he raised aren't known, Abramoff told the New York Times in July 2003 - months before active fundraising even began - that he had already raised $120,000 for Bush and Cheney. "And I haven't even started making phone calls," the lobbyist told the Times.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506Y.shtml

More US soldiers than ever are sustaining serious brain injuries in Iraq. But a significant number of them are being misdiagnosed, forced to wait for treatment or even being called liars by the Army.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506N.shtml

The Quiet Death of Freedom?

John Pilger writes that Bush has carried out the recommendations of a Messianic conspiracy theory called the "Project for a New American Century." Written by his ideological sponsors shortly before he came to power, it foresaw his administration as a military dictatorship behind a democratic facade: "the cavalry on a new American frontier," guided by a blend of paranoia and megalomania.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506L.shtml

--------

The death of freedom

FPF-fwd.: the excellent John Pilger The death of freedom + Gulag links

Fri Jan 6, 2006 03:42

FPF: After all those horrible years NOT ONE of the hundreds of people illegally held in the US concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay has been charged, in court or convicted. There's no evidence of 'terrorism' by them: only terror and torture in the PNAC's Gulag*:
http://tinyurl.com/caut7

The criminals at present 'managing' and 'bleeding' The Netherlands - in the same way as the US - officially support this. The Dutch don't.

THE DEATH OF FREEDOM

The rights of ordinary people to speak out against an unjust war and atrocities unleashed in their name are being crushed. Fascism is at the door. Who else will fight it?

by John Pilger

6th Jan, 2006 - On Christmas Eve, I dropped in on Brian Haw, whose hunched, pacing figure was just visible through the freezing fog. For four and a half years, Brian has camped in Parliament Square with a graphic display of photographs that show the terror and suffering imposed on Iraqi children by British policies. The effectiveness of his action was demonstrated last April when the Blair government banned any expression of opposition within a kilometre of parliament. The high court subsequently ruled that, because his presence preceded the ban, Brian was an exception.

Day after day, night after night, season upon season, he remains a beacon, illuminating the great crime of Iraq and the cowardice of the House of Commons. As we talked, two women brought him a Christmas meal and mulled wine. They thanked him, shook his hand and hurried on. He had never seen them before. "That's typical of the public," he said. A man in a pinstriped suit and tie emerged from the fog, carrying a small wreath. "I intend to place this at the Cenotaph and read out the names of the dead in Iraq," he said to Brian, who cautioned him: "You'll spend the night in the cells, mate." We watched him stride off and lay his wreath. His head bowed, he appeared to be whispering. Thirty years ago, I watched dissidents do something similar outside the walls of the Kremlin.

As the night had covered him, he was lucky. On 7 December, Maya Evans, a vegan chef aged 25, was convicted of breaching the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act by reading aloud at the Cenotaph the names of 97 British soldiers killed in Iraq. So serious was her crime that it required 14 policemen in two vans to arrest her. She was fined and given a criminal record for the rest of her life.

FREEDOM IS DYING.

Eighty-year-old John Catt served with the RAF in the Second World War. Last September, he was stopped by police in Brighton for wearing an "offensive" T-shirt which suggested that Bush and Blair be tried for war crimes. He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and handcuffed, with his arms held behind his back. The official record of the arrest says the "purpose" of searching him was "terrorism" and the "grounds for intervention" were "carrying plackard and T-shirt with anti-Blair info" (sic).

HE IS AWAITING TRIAL.

Such cases compare with others that remain secret and beyond any form of justice: those of the foreign nationals held at Belmarsh Prison who have never been charged, let alone put on trial. They are held "on suspicion". Some of the "evidence" against them, whatever it is, the government has now admitted, could have been extracted under torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. They are political prisoners in all but name. They face the prospect of being spirited out of the country and into the arms of a regime which may torture them to death. Their isolated families, including children, are quietly going mad.

AND FOR WHAT?

Between 11 September 2001 and 30 September 2005, 895 people in total were arrested under the Terrorism Act. Only 23 have been convicted of offences covered by the act. As for real terrorists, the identities of two of the 7 July bombers, including the suspected mastermind, were known to MI5, yet nothing was done. And Blair wants to give the security services more power. Having helped to devastate Iraq, he is now killing freedom in his own country.

Consider parallel events in the United States. Last October, an American doctor, loved by his patients, was punished with 22 years in prison for founding a charity, Help the Needy, which helped children in Iraq stricken by an economic and humanitarian blockade imposed by America and Britain. In raising money for infants dying from diarrhoea, Dr Rafil Dhafir broke a siege which, accor-ding to Unicef, had caused the deaths of half a million under the age of five. [FPF: Albright - The price is worth it - CBS - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/dneux ] - John Ashcroft, the then US attorney general, called Dr Dhafir, a Muslim, a "terrorist", a description mocked by even the judge in a politically motivated travesty of a trial.

THE BUSH REGIME'S "RIGHT" TO IMPRISON AN AMERICAN CITIZEN "INDEFINITELY" WITHOUT CHARGING HIM WITH A CRIME

The Dhafir case is not extraordinary. In the same month, three US circuit court judges ruled in favour of the Bush regime's "right" to imprison an American citizen "indefinitely" without charging him with a crime. This was the case of Jose Padilla, a petty criminal who allegedly visited Pakistan before he was arrested at Chicago airport three and a half years ago. He was never charged and no evidence has ever been presented against him. Now mired in legal complexity, the case puts George W Bush above the law and outlaws the Bill of Rights. Indeed, on 14 November, the US Senate in effect voted to ban habeas corpus by passing an amendment that overturned a Supreme Court ruling allowing Guantanamo prisoners access to a federal court. Thus, the touchstone of America's most celebrated freedom was scrapped. Without habeas corpus, a government can simply lock away its opponents and implement a dictatorship.

A related, insidious tyranny is being imposed across the world. For all his troubles in Iraq, Bush has carried out the recommendations of a Messianic conspiracy theory called the "Project for the New American Century". Written by his ideological sponsors shortly before he came to power, it foresaw his administration as a military dictatorship behind a democratic facade: "the cavalry on the new American frontier", guided by a blend of paranoia and megalomania. More than 700 American bases are now placed strategically in compliant countries, notably at gateways to sources of fossil fuels and encircling the Middle East and central Asia. "Pre-emptive" aggression is policy, including the use of nuclear weapons.

The chemical warfare industry has been reinvigorated. Missile treaties have been torn up. Space has been militarised. Global warming has been embraced. The powers of the president have never been greater. The judicial system has been subverted, along with civil liberties. The former senior CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who once prepared the daily White House briefing, told me that the authors of the PNAC and those now occupying positions of executive power used to be known in Washington as "the crazies". He said: "We should now be very worried about fascism."

THE SYSTEMATIC BRUTALITY, THE WIDESPREAD ATROCITIES, THE RUTHLESS SUPPRESSION OF INDEPENDENT THOUGHT

In his epic acceptance of the Nobel Prize in Literature on 7 December, Harold Pinter* spoke of "a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed". He asked why "the systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of inde- pendent thought" of Stalinist Russia were well known in the west while US state crimes were merely "superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged".

A silence has reigned. Across the world, the extinction and suffering of countless human beings can be attributed to rampant American power, "But you wouldn't know it," said Pinter. "It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest."

To its credit, the Guardian published every word of Pinter's warning. To its shame, though unsurprising, the state television broadcaster ignored it. All that Newsnight flatulence about the arts, all that recycled preening for the cameras at Booker Prize-giving events, yet the BBC could not make room for Britain's greatest living dramatist, so honoured, to tell the truth.

THE SENATE VOTE BANNING FREEDOM NEVER HAPPENED

For the BBC, it simply never happened, just as the killing of half a million children by America's medieval siege of Iraq during the 1990s never happened, just as the Dhafir and Padilla trials and the Senate vote banning freedom never happened. The political prisoners of Belmarsh barely exist; and a big, brave posse of Metropolitan police never swept away Maya Evans as she publicly grieved for British soldiers killed in the cause of nothing except rotten power.

Bereft of irony, but with a snigger, the newsreader Fiona Bruce introduced, as news, a Christmas propaganda film about Bush's dogs. That happened. Now imagine Bruce reading the following: "Here is delayed news, just in. From 1945 to 2005, the United States attempted to overthrow 50 governments, many of them democracies, and to crush 30 popular movements fighting tyrannical regimes. In the process, 25 countries were bombed, causing the loss of several million lives and the despair of millions more." (Thanks to William Blum's Rogue State, published by Common Courage Press.)

The icon of horror of Saddam Hussein's rule is a 1988 film of petrified bodies of people in the Kurdish town of Halabja, killed in a chemical weapons attack. The attack has been referred to a great deal by Bush and Blair and the film shown a great deal by the BBC. At the time, as I know from personal experience, the Foreign Office tried to cover up the crime at Halabja. The Americans tried to blame it on Iran. Today, in an age of images, there are no images of the chemical weapons attack on Fallujah in November 2004. This allowed the Americans to deny it until they were caught out recently by investigators using the internet. For the BBC, American atrocities simply do not happen.

In 1999, while filming in Washington and Iraq, I learned the true scale of bombing in what the Americans and British then called Iraq's "no-fly zones". During the 18 months to 14 January 1999, US aircraft flew 24,000 combat missions over Iraq; almost every mission was bombing or strafing. "We're down to the last outhouse," a US official protested. "There are still some things left [to bomb], but not many." That was seven years ago. In recent months, the air assault on Iraq has multiplied; the effect on the ground cannot be imagined. For the BBC, it has not happened.

The black farce extends to those pseudo-humanitarians in the media and elsewhere, who themselves have never seen the effects of cluster bombs and air-burst shells, yet continue to invoke the crimes of Saddam to justify the nightmare in Iraq and to protect a quisling prime minister - [FPF: like in Holland] - who has sold out his country and made the world more dangerous. Curiously, some of them insist on describing themselves as "liberals" and "left of centre", even "anti-fascists". They want some respectability, I suppose. This is understandable, given that the league table of carnage by Saddam Hussein was overtaken long ago by that of their hero in Downing Street, who will now support an attack on Iran.

This cannot change until we, in the west, look in the mirror and confront the true aims and narcissism of the power applied in our name, its extremes and terrorism. The usual double standard no longer works; there are now millions like Brian Haw, Maya Evans, John Catt and the man in the pinstriped suit, with his wreath. Looking in the mirror means understanding that a violent and undemocratic order is being imposed by those whose actions are little different from the actions of fascists.

The difference used to be distance.

Now they are bringing it home.

John Pilger's new book, Freedom Next Time, will be published in June by Bantam Press

Source: New Statesman
http://www.newstatesman.com/200601090004

FPF: Related links for the whole week end:

* The Nuremberg principles: "Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefore and liable to punishment." - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/byurp

* "People do not forget. They do not forget the death of their fellows, they do not forget torture and mutilation, they do not forget injustice, they do not forget oppression, they do not forget the terrorism of mighty powers. They not only don't forget: they also strike back." - 2005 Nobel Literature Prize winner Harold Pinter - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/9cyeq

* Who Are the War Criminals? Naming Names. - Behind every war criminal is a criminal idea - by Justin Raimondo - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/duab3

* 'The war in Iraq is illegal' - BBC: video & text-interview of the United Nation's Secretary General Kofi Annan - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/5pl2v

* PNAC.info - Exposing the Project for the New American Century - Url.: http://www.pnac.info/

* Holland - an American 'Lapdog of War' - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/93c97

* Dutch 'Special Forces' Kill and Destroy for the US - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/6mpw2

* Afghanistan - Torturing and killing for 'Freedom'? - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/4nf2b

* AP - English - - Dutch F-16's at the Bagram base Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/47zvr

* Dutch Air Force web site confirming F-16 arrival in Kabul (in Dutch) - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/4wc52

* MSNBC Poll: Ninety-four percent believes that George Bush and the neocon media mislead the nation to go to war with Iraq - Url.:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8248969/

* TIME/Life poll: The Biggest Threat To Peace - Which country really poses the greatest danger to world peace in 2003? TIME asked for readers' views - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/4f34

* WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ - According to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll President Bush's national approval rating has declined to 39 (today 35) percent, the lowest level during his Presidency. And among African-Americans, Bush has only a 2 percent - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/b365o

* GULAG: Russian 1970 Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzjenitsyn described the Soviet prison camp system in his best-selling book 'The Gulag Archipelago'. He has since 2000 been globally declared 'dead' by the people involved, when he published about 'the last taboo on Russia' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/bkoz8

* Reference guide to the Geneva Conventions - Url.:
http://www.genevaconventions.org

* The leaked 'Downing Street Memos' expose the criminal lies by war criminals like Bush, Blair, Berlusconi (It.) Balkenende (NL) - their collaborating media and other malignant ilk - Url.:
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/

* The infamous US 'Lie Factory' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/8ncal

* Who's financing? - The 'Federal Reserve' and it's usurers is the absolute biggest crime against all humanity ever. - Url.:
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm

* Help all the troops - of whatever nationality - to come back from abroad! - AND WITH ALL THEIR WEAPONS, WHICH WE WERE FORCED TO PAY FOR BY TAXES - [
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm ] - We need them badly at home in many countries to fight with us against our so called 'governments' and their malignant managers - Url.:
http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/

FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.:
http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html

FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://forpressfound.blogspot.com/
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/amn3q
The Netherlands
FPF@Chello.nl

-0-


Source:
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=97347;show_parent=1

Since the Senate held a pro forma session Tuesday and then adjourned, the White House contends the second session of the 109th Congress has begun and Bush's recess appointments are valid until the following session concludes at the end of 2007.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506K.shtml

The National Security Agency, the top-secret spy shop that has been secretly eavesdropping on Americans under a plan authorized by President Bush four years ago, destroyed the names of thousands of Americans and US companies it collected on its own volition following 9/11, because the agency feared it would be taken to task by lawmakers for conducting unlawful surveillance on United States citizens without authorization from a court.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506I.shtml

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=369&Itemid=1


Informant: Hopedance

Join Cindy Sheehan, Camilo Mejia, Kathy Kelly, and students who've fought repression and won at Berkeley, SFSU, CCNY, HCC, GMU, Kent State, Hampton, and Madison, in supporting...

NATIONAL WEEK OF CAMPUS ACTION Week of March 13-17 Students Say NO to War in Iraq! College Not Combat, Troops Out Now!

On March 13-17*, students will hold events at high schools and colleges around the country demanding an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq and money for young people's education, not military recruitment. This week of action leads into the global days of protest on March 18-19, where students will join many others in marking the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and demanding to bring the troops home now!

(*Spring break alternative: Schools on spring break during March 13-17 will hold events the week of March 20)

Student week of action coordinated by the Campus Antiwar Network
http://www.campusantiwar.net RecruitersOut@yahoo.com [Full endorsement list below]


WHY YOUTH & STUDENTS NEED TO STAND UP:

The illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq has taken the lives of over 2,000 American soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis. It has destroyed the lives of countless more. This war affects young people everywhere, at home and abroad. Iraqis are faced with the brutality of occupation, under threat of bombs, guns, and torture. In the United States, we see our educational prospects diminished and recruitment to the military held up as our only viable future.

Now is the time for young people to stand up. And we are joined by a growing majority that sees the lies, the torture, the chemical weapons, and the corruption and arrogance of our politicians and says NO MORE.

There is a student movement bringing this message to campuses around the country: kicking military recruiters off of a dozen schools, defending free speech in the face of repressive administrators and government spying, bringing grassroots relief to New Orleans and the truth about the occupation to our schools. On the third anniversary of the war in March 2006, this movement's voice will be heard!


WHAT YOU CAN DO

Email RecruitersOut@yahoo.com to: - Endorse this day of action - If you're a student: let us know about an action being planned at your school, or ask us to put you in touch with other students near you - If you're an activist off-campus: Help organize massive protests on March 18-19. We will put you in touch with the anti-war student groups nearest you to facilitate grassroots coordination.

COLLEGE NOT COMBAT! TROOPS OUT NOW! Campus Antiwar Network http://www.campusantiwar.net

ENDORSED BY:

Organizations: AfterDowningStreet, Bay Area United Against War, Bloomington Peace Action Coalition, Goldstar Families for Peace, International Socialist Organization, Progressive Democrats of America, San Juan Peace Network, Stop the War Coalition (UK); Texans for Peace, Traprock Peace Center

Individuals: (*all affiliations for identification only)

ANTHONY ARNOVE, author, “Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal,” co-editor with Howard Zinn, “Voices of a People’s History of the US”;

CAMILO MEJIA, war resister who spent six months in military prison for refusing to return to Iraq;

CHARLES JENKS, Chair of Advisory Board, Traprock Peace Center;

CHARLES PETERSON, Holyoke Community College assaulted by security for peaceful protest;

CINDY SHEEHAN, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace and mother of Casey Sheehan, who died in Iraq;

DAHR JAMAIL, independent journalist ; DANIEL LEWKOWICZ, National Youth Organizer, Hip Hop Caucus, and President, Community Roots at UMD;

DAVID ROVICS, progressive songwriter and musician;

DAVID SWANSON, co-founder, AfterDowningStreet.org;

DENNIS KYNE, Gulf War veteran and activist;

DIRK ADRIAENSENS, coordinator of SOS Iraq and member of the Executive committee of the Brussells Tribunal;

FRANCES CROWE, founder of Northampton Draft Information Center in 1968 and co-founder of Traprock Peace Center and Western Mass AFSC;

HOWARD ZINN, Professor Emeritus, Boston University;

JUDY LINEHAN, activist - Military Families Speakout;

JUSTINO RODRIGUEZ, HADAS THIER, and NICK BERGREEN of the “City 4, ” arrested and banned from campus for peaceful protest;

KATHY KELLY, Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence;

MAX WATTS, writer and activist (Australia);

MICHAEL HOFFMAN of the “SFSU 3,” who faced campus repression for peaceful protest;

NATYLIE BALDWIN, Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center:

NORMAN SOLOMON, author, “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning us to Death”;

PAOLA PISI, editor Uruknet;

PAUL PRYSE, Madison student threatened with expulsion for peaceful protest;

RANDY KEHLER, co-founder, Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign; co-founder Traprock Peace Center; Imprisoned Vietnam-era Draft Resister;

SNEHAL SHINGAVI, RACHEL ODES and MICHAEL SMITH (the Berkeley 3);

STAN GOFF, Master Sergeant Retired, US Army;

SUNNY MILLER, Executive Director, Traprock Peace Center;

TARIQ KHAN, George Mason University student and Air Force vet assaulted and arrested for peaceful protest;

TIM CARPENTER, Director of PDA;

TODD CHRETIEN, Green Party Candidate for U.S. Senate, California;

WARD REILLY, SE National Contact - Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, Baton Rouge


Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427 fax 413-773-7507
http://www.traprockpeace.org


From ufpj-news

by James Sample, TomPaine.com

Congress just helped Bush sneak through appointees who will further weaken oversight of federal elections in America.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20060105/cronies_at_the_fec.php

J. Edgar Hoover With Supercomputers

by Ray McGovern, TomPaine.com

The NSA eavesdropping revelation is more than just an diminishment of civil liberties. It's a threat to the separation of powers.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20060105/j_edgar_hoover_with_supercomputers.php

The Free Press
by Molly Ivins

01/03/06

My theory is that they don't tell him anything, that's why the president keeps sounding like he doesn't know what he's talking about. There he was at Brooke Army Medical Center over the weekend, once again getting it wrong: 'I can say that if somebody from al-Qaida's calling you, we'd like to know why. In the meantime, this program is conscious of people's civil liberties, as am I. This is a limited program ... I repeat, limited. And it's limited to calls from outside the United States, to calls within the United States.' So then the White House had to go back and explain that, well, no, actually, the National Security Agency's domestic spying program is not limited to calls from outside the United States, or to calls from people known or even suspected of being with al-Qaida. Turns out thousands of Americans and resident foreigners have been or are being monitored and recorded by the NSA...

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2006/1290


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Los Angeles Times
by staff

01/04/06

James B. Comey can hardly be considered soft on terrorism. As deputy attorney general, he has been one of the Bush administration's chief prosecutors of the war on terror, pursuing accused bombers and terrorists from Riyadh to Chicago. So his refusal to approve the administration's warrantless wiretaps of Americans cannot simply be dismissed as the rantings of an Al Qaeda apologist. ... Last, and most important, the NSA's surveillance program is an affront to the American system of checks and balances -- and Americans' right to privacy as guaranteed by the 4th Amendment. The president fails to grasp this point. Asked Sunday what he'd say to Americans worried about violations of their privacy, Bush responded with a breathtaking non sequitur. 'If somebody from Al Qaeda is calling you,' he said, 'we'd like to know why.' So, no doubt, would James Comey. But at least he understands that, even in a time of war, the government is not free to simply tap your phone to find out who's calling you and why...

http://tinyurl.com/ajfad


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by Noah Leavitt

01/05/06

Last week, White House spokeperson Trent Duffy provided the Bush administration's rationale for its extralegal program to spy on United States citizens. Duffy quipped: 'The fact is that Al Quaida's play book is not printed on Page 1, and when America's is, it has serious ramifications. You don't need to be Sun Tzu to understand that.' Duffy was referencing the 'big idea' of Sun Tzu's seminal work, 'The Art of War,' which could be stated as 'the ideal strategy is to win without fighting -- to defeat the enemy before combat becomes necessary.' It was an odd but telling comment, and worth exploring for the critical insights it provides about Bush's views on spying and executive branch power...

http://www.alternet.org/rights/30394/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Salon
by Sidney Blumenthal

01/05/06

[T]here is a consistency between his absence of fervor in discovering who was behind the outing of Plame and his furor over the reporting of warrantless NSA domestic spying. In the Plame case, the administration officials who spun her name to conservative columnist Robert Novak and others intended to punish and intimidate former ambassador Joseph Wilson for having revealed that a central element of the administration case for the Iraq war was bogus. In the NSA case, Bush is also attempting to crush whistle-blowers. Bush's war on professionals has been fought in nearly every department and agency of the government, from intelligence to Interior, from the Justice Department to the Drug Enforcement Administration, in order to suppress contrary analysis on issues from weapons of mass destruction to global warming, from voting rights to the morning-after pill. Without whistle-blowers on the inside, there are no press reports on the outside...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/01/05/spying/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Troop reduction legerdemain

AntiWar.Com
by Charles Pena

01/05/06

Ultimately, all the talk of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq is just that: talk designed to create the illusion that the administration is serious about ending the occupation to appease restless voters. And the reason for all the talk should be abundantly clear: the looming 2006 midterm elections that threaten to unseat Republican control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once said that 'all politics is local,' and President Bush understands that local politics means here in the United States, not in Iraq. But just because he is talking the talk does not mean he will walk the walk...

http://www.antiwar.com/pena/?articleid=8344


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Taking a leak

Kn@ppster
by Thomas L. Knapp

01/04/06

The disclosure of the program's existence and its criminal nature did not damage the national security; it only damaged the president's reputation. It did not endanger the United States; it only endangered the president's ability to continue committing crimes with impunity. If there's any parallel between the Plame case and this one, that parallel is to be found in the Bush administration's continuing insistence that it is above the law. To their everlasting shame, Malkin and friends' political raison d'etre seems to have become defending that insistence at all costs...

http://knappster.blogspot.com/2006/01/taking-leak.html

Mother Jones
by Tom Engelhardt

01/04/06

As 2006 begins, we seem to be at a not-completely-unfamiliar crossroads in the long history of the American imperial presidency. It grew up, shedding presidential constraints, in the post-World War II years as part of the rise of the national security state and the military-industrial complex. It reached its constraint-less apogee with Richard Nixon's presidency and what became known as the Watergate scandal -- an event marked by Nixon's attempt to create his own private national security apparatus which he directed to secretly commit various high crimes and misdemeanors for him. It was as close as we came -- until now -- to a presidential coup d'etat that might functionally have abrogated the Constitution...

http://tinyurl.com/cdv47


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Foster's Online

01/04/06

A new federal regulation making it easier for law enforcement to tap Internet phone calls is being challenged in court. Privacy and technology groups asked the federal appeals court in Washington on Tuesday to overturn a Federal Communications Commission rule that expands wiretapping laws to cover Internet calls -- or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Law enforcement agencies already can obtain a subpoena for the contents of VoIP calls from Internet access providers. But the FBI and others want the ability to capture the technology live and they want systems designed so it would be easy to do that. 'The whole process of innovation on the Internet would be seriously damaged,' said John Morris, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology...

http://tinyurl.com/a8sh4


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

01/04/06

The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to let the military transfer accused 'enemy combatant' Jose Padilla to Miami to face criminal charges in at least a temporary victory for the Bush administration. The justices overruled a lower court, which had attempted to block the transfer as part of a rebuke to the White House. The high court said it would decide later whether to consider the inmate's argument that President Bush overstepped his authority by ordering Padilla's indefinite detention in 2002...

http://tinyurl.com/djt24


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Washington Post

01/05/06

The members of a secret federal court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases are scheduled to receive a classified briefing Monday from top Justice Department and intelligence officials about a controversial warrantless-eavesdropping program, according to sources familiar with the arrangements. Several judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said they want to hear directly from administration officials why President Bush believed he had the authority to order, without the court's permission, wiretapping of some phone calls and e-mails after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. ... The court is made up of 11 judges who, on a rotating basis, hear government applications for surveillance warrants. But only the presiding judge, currently Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, was notified of the government eavesdropping program. One judge, James Robertson, who also serves on the federal bench in Washington, resigned his seat on the surveillance court in protest shortly after the wiretapping was revealed by the New York Times in mid-December...

http://tinyurl.com/bppx6


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Incoming

William Rivers Pitt writes: All of official Washington is at this moment waiting with bated breath for the avalanche. Jack Abramoff, the disgraced super-lobbyist, has made a plea agreement in the massive prosecution against him and his cronies. Every talking head who has spoken on the subject has stated bluntly that the fallout from this plea deal will almost certainly result in the largest scandal to hit the capital in decades.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506Z.shtml

"Alle paar Monate eine neue Idee"

Dass Kombilöhne kaum Arbeitsplätze schaffen, ist längst nachgewiesen, sagt Thomas Münch, Professor im Fachbereich Sozialarbeit an der FH Düsseldorf. Die Kombilohn-Debatte verschleiere nur das Scheitern von Hartz IV. Interview Dirk Eckert in der taz NRW vom 4.1.2006

http://www.taz.de/pt/2006/01/04/a0022.nf/text


Aus: LabourNet, 5. Januar 2006

Langfassung der Artikelserie von Winfried Wolf, zuerst erschienen in der jungen Welt im Dezember 2005. Inhalt: Die Globalisierung der Ungleichheit; Der kapitalistischen Krisenzyklus – Entzaubertes BRD-„Wirtschaftswunder“; Die politische Ökonomie von Reich und Arm; Krise des Profits – Antwort des Kapitals; Die Gesellschaft des Ich, Ich, Ich. Insgesamt 32 Seiten als (156kB pdf)

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/allg/wwolf.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 5. Januar 2006

„Die EU-Richtlinie für Dienstleistungen in Europa muss verhindert werden – wir brauchen soziale, ökologische Regeln und demokratische Kontrolle. Wir rufen auf zur Beteiligung an der europäischen Demonstration am 11. Februar 06 in Strasbourg. Wir unterstützen die Kundgebungen in Berlin und anderen Hauptstädten und die Aktionen am 14.2. in Strasbourg und anderswo…“ Aufruf vom attac-Bundesbüro vom 04.12.2006
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/eu/sopo/bolke_attac110206.pdf


DGB und ATTAC lösen Erstaunen aus

„Wünsche der regionalen Initiativen deutschlandweit übergangen. Das Erwerbslosen Forum Deutschland ist über die 2 Demonstrationsaufrufe gegen die EU Dienstleistungsrichtliniedes DGB und ATTAC in Berlin und Straßburg erstaunt. Ähnlich äußerte sich auch das Aktionsbündnis Sozialproteste, ein Zusammenschluss vieler regionaler sozialer Initiativen in der Bundesrepublik. Der DGB mobilisiert zum Dienstag, 14. Februar nach Straßburg und ATTAC plant, zum 11.02.2006 eine Beteiligung an der Großdemonstration gegen die Bolkesteinrichtlinie in Straßburg, ruft aber für den gleichen Tag zu Aktionen in Berlin auf. Damit setzt sich ATTAC über regionale Strukturen und Wünsche der Initiativen und Netzwerke in Berlin hinweg, die bisher eine Beteiligung an der Großdemonstration am 11.02.2006 in Straßburg geplant haben. In diesen Zusammenhang weist der Berliner Politikwissenschaftler Peter Grottian darauf hin, dass entgegen seiner gestrigen Terminbekanntgabe zur Großdemo in Straßburg, er nicht Samstag den 14. Januar 2006 gemeint hatte, sondern Samstag den 11. Februar 2006… Presseerklärung von Martin Behrsing („Erwerbslosen Forum Deutschland“, Bonn) vom 02.01.06 (pdf)

http://www.erwerbslosenforum.de/presse/02_01_06.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 5. Januar 2006

Published: 5th January 2006

OBJECTORS to a mobile phone mast proposed for Manchester Old Road have pulled together once again as the plans go to appeal.

Planning permission to build a T-Mobile mast on ground in front of the West Croft Industrial Estate was refused by the Middleton Township Planning Sub-Committee back in September, on the grounds that such an erection could have an adverse effect on the local area.

But T-Mobile appealed against the decision and the deadline for residents to once again raise their objections, this time to the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol, was last Monday.

At the original meeting a representative from T-Mobile said that the proposed mast would fit in with local street furniture, standing in between existing streetlamps of a similar height, and that the company had also rejected other proposed sites as they were closer to residential areas.

They also pointed out that erecting this mast near an existing one that already stands just 30m from the proposed site would not encourage further masts to be built, but instead decrease the likelihood as phone companies could come together and use each other’s technology.

But they were opposed by an entourage of approximately 15 objectors who helped to convince the committee that such a mast was not wanted in Rhodes – and the residents have risen once again.

Councillor Peter Williams, just one of the objectors, has many reservations about the proposed mast – not least that the siting of a new control box at its base could ‘provide cover for unsavoury characters’ of the type that frequent Rhodes Lodges.

He wrote to the inspectorate: "The reason for my strong objections to the application are that one phone mast already exists near the application site and there was no evidence that the company had tried to liaise with the owners of the original mast to see if there could be co-location as is recommended practice.

"The addition of a further mast in the area will set a principle for further masts to be sited there and it is unacceptable to the residents that they bear the brunt of mobile phone technology for the Rhodes area.

"A further mast at this site, so close to the other mast, would represent an unacceptable increase in street clutter by the side of the road at the entrance to Rhodes village."

First published by the Middleton Guardian

http://www.middletonguardian.co.uk/news/s/207/207830_protestors_ready_for_mast_fight.html

Jan 5 2006

Weekly News

A GROUP of Farnworth residents are determined to kick up a stink after claiming contractors installed three dishes on a mobile phone mast while nobody was looking.

The residents, whose houses back on to Moon Meadow, claim the work went ahead without prior notice.

They say they were told the mast could not be expanded once it was built in 2001 and are angry the Government is allowing the mobile phone companies to bypass the normal planning procedures and fear the three new dishes, bringing the total to four, on a 70ft-plus monopole is just the start.

Don Lyons, of Derby Road, said: 'We're upset and angry that the companies have the authority to add dishes without consulting anyone. It's not morally right.

'The jury's still out on whether these things are safe and there are a lot of families with children here.

http://tinyurl.com/8nla5

http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem1.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem2.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem3.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem4.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem5.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem6.asp


Informant: NHNE

Texas authorities arrest parents, kidnap their teenage daughter, and force her through chemotherapy against her will.

http://www.newstarget.com/016387.html


Informant: NHNE

Business will support Alito:

Corporate America should find some cheer in Alito's strictly conservative judicial philosophy.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/economy/alito_nomination/



U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Alito Seen as Ally by Businesses:

U.S. business groups, already cheered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s appointment, anticipate getting another ally in Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=IPD4YP076GHT


From Information Clearing House

One represented corporate interests as a private attorney; the other often sided with employers in lawsuits filed by workers.

http://tinyurl.com/8ubwz


From Information Clearing House

Our history books tell us that George Washington was the father of the abomination America has become. Many around the world, including some Americans, have written off the possibility that the United States is capable of acting with morality and sanity. Yet hope remains on the horizon for our country.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11454.htm

The corruption investigation surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff shows the significant political risk that Republican leaders took when they adopted what had once seemed a brilliant strategy for dominating Washington: turning the K Street lobbying corridor into a cog of the GOP political machine.

http://tinyurl.com/c2a83


From Information Clearing House

Records Detail Spending By GOP Lobbyist Abramoff: Tax and spending records of the Capital Athletic Foundation obtained by The Washington Post show that less than 1 percent of its revenue has been spent on sports-related programs for youths.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11455.htm

East Bay Congressman George Miller just couldn't understand why his legislation to end sex and textile sweat shops in the Northern Mariana Islands -- a U.S. protectorate in the Pacific -- was being blocked in the House of Representatives. Now, he has his answer.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/5839523/detail.html


From Information Clearing House

They don't tell him anything

Turns out thousands of Americans and resident foreigners have been or are being monitored and recorded by the NSA. It's more like information-mining, which is what, you may recall, the administration said it would not do. But now Bush has to investigate The New York Times because Bush has been breaking the law, you see?

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2006/1290


From Information Clearing House

Something to Hide:

As the Bush administration downplays its illegal wiretapping, the New York Times' chiefs keep quiet about their role in the scandal.
http://www.alternet.org/story/30352/


From Information Clearing House

The Justice Department will seek dismissal of lawsuits from more than 300 Guantanamo Bay detainees fighting the legality of their confinement, using a new law that the Bush administration says sharply limits existing challenges. Advocates for detainees quickly registered their opposition Tuesday.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11453.htm

The current international pressure on Syria is "entirely deserved" and it is now "showtime" for its president, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4579442.stm


From Information Clearing House

John Bolton said, "Syria's record to date has been one of obstructing the investigation, of tampering with the evidence and not making witnesses available in a timely fashion."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F651DB94-EC80-4628-B1BD-814F241754EE.htm


From Information Clearing House

The US will be dismayed as its oil and gas company UNOCAL's efforts to pass gas pipeline from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan to Pakistan had been delayed because India and Pakistan have opted to sign an accord with Iran, analysts say.

http://tinyurl.com/apu2x


From Information Clearing House

Does President Bush intend a preventive war, early this year, to effect the nuclear castration of Iran? Or are we rattling sabers?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11450.htm

The Iranian government has been successfully scouring Europe for the sophisticated equipment needed to develop a nuclear bomb, according to the latest western intelligence assessment of the country's weapons programmes.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11449.htm

Iran says its atomic work aims solely to generate electricity and years of IAEA inquiries have found nothing to clearly disprove this.

http://tinyurl.com/dnzjq


From Information Clearing House

"Our view is that if Iran takes an further enrichment-related steps, the international community will have to consider additional measures to constrain Iran's nuclear ambitions," McCormack told reporters.

http://tinyurl.com/e4ffj


From Information Clearing House

U.S. plans Baghdad embassy more secure than Pentagon.
http://tinyurl.com/96785


From Information Clearing House

The 2003 U.S. invasion and its ongoing occupation of Iraq are illegal, immoral and unjust, aimed at furthering U.S. imperialist aims in the Middle East and the world, not liberating the Iraqi people, but rather subjecting them to new, more brutal and direct forms of foreign domination and turning Iraq into a platform for further aggression and imperial maneuvers.

http://www.bushcommission.org/iraq.htm


From Information Clearing House

When Paul Bremer signed into law his dictate that banned the Ba'ath Party, he forgot the age-old notion that the enemy has a vote. In this case the enemy was the two-million plus members of the Ba'ath party who were suddenly disenfranchised from any legitimate role in determining the future of Iraq.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/30299


From Information Clearing House

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, V Corps commander since 2003
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=34094


From Information Clearing House

Enrages Iraqi Officials: United States warplanes killed nine members of an Iraqi family, including women and young children, during a bombing strike Monday night that obliterated a home near the northern industrial city of Bayji, Iraqi officials said today.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11448.htm

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3879/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

A photo exhibit at San Francisco City Hall documents the devastating effects of more than three decades of oil extraction in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest. 30,000 plaintiffs have joined in a class-action lawsuit that alleges Chevron Corp. failed to clean up billions of gallons of toxic waste dumped in pristine rainforest in Ecuador.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010406EA.shtml

A day after he pleaded guilty to three felony counts in Washington, Jack Abramoff, a once prominent Republican lobbyist, pleaded guilty today to two felony charges of conspiracy and fraud in a case stemming from his purchase of a casino boat line in 2000.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010406Q.shtml

Wow - it's all going down rather fast, huh? Those of you that don't have a copy of the End of Suburbia may want to watch it. It's a documentary and is very sobering. (thanks C&J for sending me one!)

Anna

Begin forwarded message:
From: Greg
Date: January 4, 2006 7:05:06 AM HST


This excerpt below parallels the issue of privatizing resources/water/seeds that Anna, Juliette, and others have brought up. Under the new Republican "energy" bill, the public utility power company concept has been killed--replaced by the consolidation of utilities in mega corporations privately owned by the super rich. What this means down the road is that when peak oil and natural gas shortages hit electrical generation and heating, rather than everyone "sharing the pain," the mega corps will simply shut off power and heat to the marginal markets. This could mean many small communities stuck in the dark and cold for periods of time. Word to the wise: make sure that the power and water where YOU live remain under the control of local community-based public utilities. Better yet, secure your own water and power supplies.

Stupid rhetorical question: why is it that "deregulation," touted as bringing competition, efficiency, consumer choice, and lower prices always creates exactly the opposite? Hmmm....

Greg

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/010306_end_grid_summary.shtml

"January 4, 2006 0800 PST (FTW) – With the eagerness and drive of a baseball player on steroids, the largest financial powerhouses in the nation have been gobbling up publicly owned utilities since George W. Bush signed the new energy bill last fall. It is not just that ownership of these life-essential services is being concentrated in a few rich and unregulated hands — it is the identities of the owners that should make worry about what's coming. If the writing on this wall got any clearer, you'd need to buy a box of popcorn and sit down for the horror show.

Best get a blanket and some long johns first.

Since the passage of America's most recent energy bill on August 8th, many public utilities have been acquired by some of the wealthiest people on the planet. With the loss of public regulation that came with the repeal of the Public Utility Company Holding Act as part of that measure, these "cash cows," to which tens of millions of people make monthly payments, are being converted into liquid giants that can be used to acquire other utility companies, or to trade ever-diminishing energy resources for profit. There is no rationing by government yet, only the rationing of the "free markets." That's only until the wheels come off and Peak Oil and Gas trigger uprisings and "civil unrest" (I absolutely detest that term – the word is "riot," and it is not solved by a quick second or third mortgage). Only then will government step in, and then only to try and prop up the façade of a sustainable paradigm of infinite growth.

Instead of maintaining the grid for as long as possible, these amalgamating giants will now accelerate its demise. What is about to happen is the living embodiment of a statement made by a Dutch economist at a Paris Peak Oil conference in the spring of 2003: "It may not be profitable to slow decline."

No more will utilities invest ratepayers' money in extra capacity for the 20-year drought, the 50-year heat wave or the 100-year cold snap. Instead, every ounce of extra capacity will be sold off, under-maintained, or discontinued to maximize cash on hand for the next buyout or LBO. Ratepayer money will be used for the benefit of shareholders, not ratepayers. When it comes time to decide whether to make a handsome profit or keep people warm, there won't even be a debate. These privately owned giants will be able to arbitrage energy to the highest bidder. They will be able to buy other, smaller entities just as the major oil companies have been doing for decades, adding the smaller companies' reserves and net profits onto their price/earnings (P/E) ratios."

(snip)

Just look at this, from Iris in Israel.

It looks as if things are finally on the right road.

Best regards.

Agnes.


Summary from Haaretz News
by Eran Gabai and Maariv
National Newspaper 3.1.06

The cellular companies will have to pay compensation even without a proven health harm

The cellular companies will have to pay compensation of 100% to the local authorities, according to the decision of the national authority for planning and construction from today, and the decision will enter to validity immediately.

The committee stressed that since local authorities do not share the profits of the cellular industry, there is no reason why they should pay/ be responsible to pay to citizens who sue for property value reduction.

A strong hit for the cellular companies. The national authority for planning and construction decided today that the compensation document (commitment of the cellular companies to pay) will serve as a condition to every permission of cellular antennas. Lawsuits of hundreds of millions shekels were filed until today. The authority will present its decision to the government.

A journey of pressures is expected from the cellular companies.

The subject of compensation was the central issue which was discussed with regard to the antennas law, which passed in the parliament. According to the new law the cellular companies must pay compensation to the local authorities for future lawsuits for property value reduction, and there is a need to set the distance of antennas from sensitive places.

John Dean on Bush's wiretapping.
http://writ.corporate.findlaw.com/dean/20051230.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

The feds can't even do a giveaway program anymore. Article by Jacob Sullum.

http://www.reason.com/sullum/010406.shtml


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Am I a 'Defeatist'?

Jim Glaser on the Bush analysis.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/glaser/glaser48.html

Terror in DC

John Dickerson on who's going down (to start) with Jack Abramoff.
http://www.slate.com/id/2133666/nav/tap1/


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Deified Caesar
Tom Engelhardt on the cult of presidential power.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt149.html

Michael S. Rozeff on how the government wiped out $1 trillion in wealth.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff57.html

http://www.nmia.com/~bobpace/mw.htm

Chris Anderson would like all visitors to deposit their cellular phones in the cement mixer by his front door
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1364460/

Dear Olle: I found this information interesting. A site I have not seen before and I also am not familiar with Chris Anderson's work. I am doing more checking to try and determine whose sit this is since the webpage does not identify....... Take care - Joanne

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

"No ray of sunshine is ever lost, but the green which it awakens into existence needs time to sprout, and it is not always granted for the sower to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith." - Albert Schweitzer


Cell phone plea by Chris Anderson, EMR-mitigation specialist.....
From: JCMPelican@aol.com
Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 18:21:33 EST

Contributed by: admin

Though intended for renovations, Chris Anderson would like all visitors to deposit their cellular phones in the cement mixer by his front door. This sounds excessive until you step into Anderson's orchard, where the pegged needle of a shrieking electromagnetic radiation (EMR) meter placed beside a connected cellphone still shows significant exposure 100 feet away. Much to the chagrin of this certified EMR-mitigation specialist, every day some 300 million cell phone users are "reaching out and touching someone you love. Yourself, and anyone else within range of the microwaves emitted by your cell phone."

http://alternativecomplementarymedicine.com/article.php/CellPhoneGraveDangers

--------

Think Twice Before You Place That Call
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1364478/

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3877/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

(excerpt)

ImpeachPAC | Electing a Congress to Impeach Bush and Cheney
http://www.impeachpac.org/

A U.S. Congressman a couple years ago said, The Founding Fathers did not put the 2nd Amendment in the Constitution to guarantee Americans the Right to hunt for food, But the Right to hunt Elected Officials who try to take our rights away.

The Bush Administration They Hate Our FREEDOM !

"All Laws Which Are Repugnant to The Constitution Are Null And Void"

Marbury Vs. Madison 5 US 137, 174, 176
http://www.restoringamerica.org/documents/marburyVmadison_text.html

Give us Liberty or Give us Death --------- - Bring it On ! Let's Roll !

"We Don't Give Up Our Rights ! -- That's What Makes Us AMERICANS!"

Hear The TRUTH for a Change !

87+ Air America Radio Stations Listed Here:
http://www.airamericaradio.com/

& From the Hosts & Call in Listeners all over the USA, Listen to - The Power Hour with Joyce Riley & Dave VonKleist Times & Freqs --> : http://www.thepowerhour.com/

Alex Jones on Short Wave at: http://www.infowars.com/

Politically correct speech is just government censorship.

Prejudicial speech is just free speech about what a lifetime of experiences has taught you. "tlb 2001"

More on Politically Correct Speech:
http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2003/0708.html

From The US Declaration of Independence:
http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

-- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, It is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, Laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

The Government that Governs Least Governs Best !!

The Keyboard Is Mightier Than The Sword ©1999 tlb

Thomas Lee Buyea
Florida News Service
Miami, Fla.
USA


Informant: ranger116



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

Across the border, the proposed anti-immigration law - the most repressive in decades - is causing an uproar. It may have domestic repercussions on the GOP also.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010406H.shtml

For months Iranian activists and even moderate clerics have been concerned about the radical tendencies of Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But there is another development in Iran - this one positive and with great potential - that the world should not miss: civic defiance against Ahmadinejad's authoritarianism is increasing.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010406G.shtml

The Bush administration is facing new charges over its handling of pre-war intelligence, with a book alleging that the CIA ignored a mass of evidence gleaned from Iraqi weapons scientists, months before the 2003 invasion, that Saddam Hussein had abandoned his WMD programs.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010406F.shtml

Bad enough that the US military is occupying Iraq. Now the IMF is occupying the country. And as Iraqis watch their standard of living plummet - thanks to the IMF - they are going to be even more irate at the United States, which they know controls the IMF, writes Matthew Rothschild.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010406E.shtml

Tom Engelhardt considers the nature of the cult of imperial presidential power that we now face.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010406C.shtml

A well-connected Republican lobbyist agreed yesterday to give evidence against top politicians whom he allegedly bribed, in what analysts predict may prove to be the biggest congressional scandal in American history.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010406B.shtml

When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010406A.shtml