07.11.05

Die Menschenrechtsorganisation amnesty international (ai) hat am Montag einen weiteren Bericht vorgelegt, der den USA das "Verschwindenlassen" von Gefangenen vorwirft. Berichte ehemaliger jemenitischer Gefangener bestätigten, dass der US-Geheimdienst CIA Verdächtige an Orten auf der ganzen Welt "verschwinden" lasse, so die Menschenrechtler. Der aktuelle ai-Bericht beschreibt die Erfahrungen des Jemeniten Muhammad al-Assad, der nach ai-Angaben seit 25 Jahren in Tansania lebte. Sicherheitskräfte des Landes hätten ihn im Dezember 2003 festgenommen und an US-Amerikaner übergeben, die vermutlich Mitarbeiter des US-Geheimdienstes CIA gewesen seien. Über 16 Monate habe al-Assads Familie nichts über sein Schicksal erfahren. "Der Fall von Muhammad al-Assad zeigt eindrücklich, dass die USA in ihrem so genannten Krieg gegen den Terror systematisch die Menschenrechte verletzen", sagte Ferdinand Muggenthaler, Amerika-Experte bei ai. Er forderte die USA auf, alle geheimen Haftorte offenzulegen und die Gefangenen entweder freilassen oder in einem fairen Verfahren anzuklagen. Erst letzte Woche hatte die "Washington Post" berichtet, die CIA betreibe geheime Gefängnisse unter anderem in osteuropäischen Staaten.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12231

Vierzig Jahre danach wurde der Tonkin-Zwischenfall, der zum Anlass der US-Invasion in Vietnam genommen wurde, definitiv als Fälschung entlarvt.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21294/1.html

Please note: this alert has been individually customized for you, and only contains links for action pages you have not yet submitted.

http://www.millionphonemarch.com/no_cruelty.htm (Save our social services)

http://www.millionphonemarch.com/anwr.htm (Save the ANWR)

WHO WOULD JESUS STARVE?

With a national budget hemorrhaging red ink, even the profligate pork barrel princes in Congress had to do something. And what is their solution? Will they trim back even modestly any of the gratuitous tax cuts gifted to the most wealthy and the most fortunate? No, they propose to cut the last ropes of what remains of the social safety net for those hurt most by their "soak the masses and give it all to the corporate kingpins" policies, apparently to pave the way for even MORE reckless tax injustice.

When a right wing think tanker said he wanted to shrink the government down to where it could be drown in a bathtub, he was talking about the social services that are the only thing that keep the burgeoning class of the abjectly poor going. Perhaps the former residents of New Orleans experienced exactly what he meant by drowning, as FEMA had been degenerated into a dispenser of Christmas plums for administration cronies only. The only thing he wanted to shrink was that part of government that does NOT serve the most powerful corporate interests. For the rest it's still unlimited, no-bid, cost plus party time.

Yes, for those whose agenda is war profiteering, or bankrupting families with blockbuster medical bills, or gouging the public with usurious interest charges and fees, or pocketing unneeded subsidies while they collect windfall profits for environmentally hostile sources of energy, or absolving corporations of any social responsibility whatsoever . . . for them it's supply side as far as the eye can see. And the primarily Republican members of Congress they own lock stock and beholden barrel have no shame in continuing to push though special interest legislation written word for word by the corporate lobbyists themselves, to the detriment of every other pressing national policy need.

This groaning chuck wagon of cruel greed will be ringing the bell once again in the House of Representative this coming week. And if the failure of the Senate last week to stand up and protect the most weak and needy wasn't bad enough, the House version of the budget bill proposes even MORE cuts for essential and indispensable lifeline services. They want to cut to the bone Medicare, Medical, food stamps, student loans, pension protection, Supplemental Social Security . . . the massacre list goes on and on.

It has been called "immoral" by voices representing a wide ranging spectrum of the religious community. For example, all 65 synod bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have signed a letter to members of Congress in strong protest opposing the proposed budget cuts. But what of you conscientious reader? What are you doing to speak out about this uncompassionate cruelty, so cold of heart that it would chill any but the most unrepentant Scrooges among this administration's cronies?

For those who profess to be Christians, is it not written in your bible?

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

And yet here we have a bill which will take AWAY food from the hungry, rob medicine from the sick, and steal clothing intended for those who are already naked. What would your Lord say should be the judgement for those who do such things? Perhaps you already know the next verse. What do you have to say about all this? Words of true compassion can be found in all faiths. Send a message to Congress and tell them to get their priorities straight.

http://www.millionphonemarch.com/no_cruelty.htm (Save our social services)

For those who profess to be liberals, or progressives, or whatever the latest trendy label for people who care about their fellow human being, who will speak out if not you? The action pages linked from this article will send your personal message in real time to your own members of Congress with just once click, and you can make it also a letter to the editor of your nearest daily newspaper as well all at the same time.

And those who profess to be conservatives, even if you care only for yourselves, do you not understand that those who are fortunate in society prosper MOST when there are more who can afford to buy the goods and services from which you profit. The more you cheat the workers in your businesses the less they can buy the necessities which in truth drive the very economy itself. The more you force people into the ditch of debt, the less there will be for all but a handful of unaccountable owners of monopoly corporations, which so few of even you will ever be.

Is if that were not enough, they have also stuffed another giant giveaway to the oil companies into the budget bill in the form of violation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Even IF there were not any direct environmental damage from drilling another one of our precious environmental resources up like Swiss cheese, the real harm will come in the acceleration of global warming from our crack addict dependence on oil as fuel. Unless we reverse the explosion of CO2 levels in the atmosphere, this last hurricane season may turn out to be one of the relatively mild ones of the coming decades.

http://www.millionphonemarch.com/anwr.htm (Save the ANWR)

What we REALLY need to do to bring down energy costs is end the illegal self-defeating occupation of Iraq, which is the PRIMARY cause of the political instability in the Middle East which has so exacerbated oil prices. And then we need a crash program to develop renewable biofuel resources and then they can swim in their oil if they want to. We need dramatic policy change and we need it now, or else as Louis XV used to say (or maybe it was Noah), "After me, the deluge."

To his credit on at least one measure, John McCain has sworn that unless his amendment (passed 90-9 in the Senate) to ban torture is included intact in the new defense bill he will add it to every subsequent Senate bill from now on. The ban is against "cruel" punishment among other things. It is time that we renounce the voices of cruelty in all other areas of our government as well. This shameful budget bill must not pass without major revision. It is time for people who are NOT cruel to speak out against those who are. Your members of the house of Representatives are all up for election next year. It would not hurt to remind them of that.

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

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07. November 2005

Eine veränderte deutsche und europäische Politik gegenüber Lateinamerika fordert der außenpolitische Sprecher des Bundesvorstandes Wolfgang Gehrcke (MdB). Er erklärt:

Erstmals hat sich ein US-Präsident auf einem Lateinamerika-Gipfel komplett nicht durchsetzen können. US-Präsident Bush musste mit seinem Vorschlag für eine Freihandelszone des Kontinents (ALCA) unverrichteter Dinge abreisen. Die Mitte-Links-Regierungen in verschiedenen lateinamerikanischen Ländern gehen gestärkt aus dieser Debatte hervor. Der ursprünglich bis Mitte der 90er Jahre in Lateinamerika positiv aufgenommene Gedanke des Freihandels hat in den letzten Jahren in der Region an Anziehungskraft verloren. Die Erwartungen an Reformen haben sich nicht erfüllt und werden von den zivilgesellschaftlichen Organisationen abgelehnt. Die von den USA angestrebte Freihandelszone bedeutet eine klare Dominanz der USA über Lateinamerika und bringt den Menschen Nachteile und eine Verschlechterung ihrer Lebensbedingungen. Statt der US-dominierten Freihandelszone bevorzugen die Staaten Brasilien, Argentinien, Uruguay und Venezuela die Errichtung einer Südamerikanischen Union, die mehr als bloße Freihandelszone ist und die eigenen Kräfte und Ressourcen sowie das eigene Industriepotenzial für die Entwicklung mobilisieren soll. Dieses Anliegen sollte Deutschland und die EU unterstützen. Die deutsche und europäische Politik sollte mit allen südamerikanischen Staaten, insbesondere mit den Mercosur-Staaten, eine Partnerschaft auf gleichberechtigter Grundlage befördern. Ein Partnerschaftsabkommen Mercosur EU wäre sinnvoll, weil es Ungleichheit und Ungerechtigkeit in der Entwicklung überwinden helfen und nachhaltig die Armut auf dem Kontinent bekämpfen könnte. Die Linkspartei.PDS unterhält seit Jahren gute Beziehungen zur lateinamerikanischen Linken. Die Bundestagsfraktion wird diese parlamentarisch vertiefen. Eine Zusammenarbeit mit der Linken in den Mercosur-Staaten und eine enge Kooperation der Linken in Europa und Lateinamerika stehen auf der Tagesordnung der internationalen Arbeit der Bundestagsfraktion der Linken.

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=30741

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Erfolgreicher Widerstand gegen den Amerika-Gipfel

Kluft zwischen Amerika und den USA. Beim "Amerika-Gipfel" wurde keine Einheit über das von der US-Regierung gewünschte Freihandelsabkommen erzielt

„Dem 4. Amerika-Gipfel im argentinischen Badeort Mar del Plata ging am Donnerstag Abend die größte Mobilmachung der argentinischen Sicherheitskräfte seit dem Falkland-Krieg 1982 voran. Knapp 10.000 Polizisten und Soldaten schirmten den Tagungsbereich im Zentrum der Küstenstadt hermetisch ab…“ Artikel von Harald Neuber in telepolis vom 06.11.2005

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21286/1.html


Americas: Gegengipfel/Text. "Das zweite Gesicht verweigerter Arbeit" von Colectivo Nuevo Proyecto Histórico ( Kollektiv Neues Historisches Projekt ) bei indymedia, gepostet von tierr@ am 05.11.2005

http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/11/131494.shtml


»Bush fährt mit leeren Händen nach Hause«. Vorerst ist der US-Freihandel aufgehalten. Aber wie sehen die Perspektiven der Globalisierungskritiker nach dem Scheitern des »Amerika-Gipfels« in Mar del Plata aus?

Interview von Wolfgang Pomrehn in junge Welt vom 07.11.2005 mit Hector de la Cueva, in Mexiko als Gewerkschafter seit Jahren gegen Freihandelsabkommen aktiv. Er gehört dem Koordinierungsrat der Alianza Social Continental an, dem gesamtamerikanischen Bündnis sozialer Bewegungen, das in Argentinien den Gipfel der Völker organisiert hat.

http://www.jungewelt.de/2005/11-07/020.php


Aus: LabourNet, 7. November 2005

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040628/featherstone


Informant: Jim DeMaegt

Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2005 07:57:55 -0800
From: Zepp zepp

Subject: GOP Leaders To Bush: 'Your Presidency Is Effectively Over'

*By DOUG THOMPSON Nov 4, 2005, 08:13

A growing number of Republican leaders, party strategists and political professional now privately tell President George W. Bush that his presidency "is effectively over" unless he fires embattled White House advisor Karl Rove, apologizes to the American people for misleading the country into war and revamps his administration from top to bottom.

"The only show of unity we have now in the Republican Party is the belief that the President has failed the party, the American people and the presidency," says a longtime, and angry, GOP strategist.

With the public face of support for Bush eroding daily from even diehard Republicans, the President faces mounting anger from within his party over the path that may well lead to loss of control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections and the White House in 2008.

"This presidency is in trouble," says a senior White House aide. "Even worse, I don't know if there is a way out of the trouble."

Congressional leaders journeyed to the White House before Bush left on his South American tour this week to tell the President that his legislative agenda on the Hill is dead, his latest Supreme Court nominee faces a tough confirmation fight in the Senate and he is facing open revolt within party ranks.

"The Speaker is having an increasingly difficult time holding his troops in line," says a source within the office of House Speaker Dennis J. Hastert.

"Anger at the President grows exponentially with each passing day."

At a recent White House strategy session, internal party pollsters told the President that his approval rating with Americans continues to slide and may be irreversible, citing his failed Iraq war, the failed Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers and his failure to deal decisively on a number of fronts, including Hurricane Katrina, the economy and the Valerie Plame scandal.

In meetings, leaders and strategists have suggested a number of things that Bush must do to try and save his presidency and GOP prospects in upcoming elections, including:

* Apologize to the American people, Congress and our allies for misleading them on the reasons for invading Iraq;

* Revamp the White House staff from top to bottom;

* Fire Rove.

"We keep coming back to Rove," says a GOP pollster. "He has escaped indictment, so far, but the feeling within the party is that another shoe is ready to drop and the longer he waits to jettison Rove the greater the damage.

As long as Karl Rove remains at the President's side, the Bush presidency is effectively over and he is just riding out the days until the nation elects a Democrat to replace him.

Even with Rove gone the damage may be irreparable."

Bush, however, has dug his heels in on Rove. When a GOP strategist suggested last weekend that the President fire Rove, Bush exploded.

"You go to hell," he screamed at the strategist. "You can leave and you can take the rest of these lily-livered motherfuckers with you!"

The President then stormed out of the room and refused to meet further with any other party leaders or strategists.

Bush's escalating temper tantrums and his intransigence on political issues increase Republican worries about the long term effects on both his presidency and the party's prospects in upcoming elections.

"Right now, George W. Bush is the Republican Party's chief liability," says a GOP strategist who has advised Presidential campaigns for 30 years.

"The entire political future of the party and perhaps the nation now rests on the shoulders of a President that no one - Democrat or Republican - believes in or trusts."


Informant: friends2b