World-News

26/01/2006 - 16:33:23

IrelandOn-Line

A new environmental forum has been set up to unite communities fighting against industrial pollution, incinerators and mobile phone masts.

The Irish Environmental Forum will include more than 20 different groups from around the country.

Its new chairwoman, Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott, said the environmental movement had been hampered by the lack of a national voice.

“There’s no substitute for the local fight, but we want local groups linked up for mutual help and information, and to nationally start highlighting the fact that it isn’t just happening in one place. There’s a similar disregard for people’s health and the environment all over the country,” she said.

The groups who have signed up to the forum in three preliminary meetings include farmers concerned about industrial pollution in Limerick, residents fighting against the Indaver incinerator in Cork Harbour, and people opposed to mobile phone masts in Waterford.

“Our only litmus test for joining is that you’re serious about it. If you’ve party politics, you leave them at the door,” said Ms Sinnott, adding that she was only a ‘midwife’ to the birth of the forum.

She said that officials in the European Commission had pointed out to her that while countries like Holland and Sweden had strong national environmental groups, the environmental movement in Ireland lacked a similar voice.

“Our Government and state environmental protection bodies are ignoring or exacerbating the problem. Their protection is no protection at all. I look forward to the tackling these difficulties with all of the forums members. It is our country and it is time we take its protection seriously,” she said.

A report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) last year marked Ireland as among the worst in Europe in a number of categories, including the production of greenhouse gases, acidifying substances, ozone and municipal waste.

But it did find that the country rated better than others when it came to energy consumption, freshwater use, organic farming, renewable energy and freight transport demand.


© Thomas Crosbie Media, 2006.


Informant: Colette O'Connell

NOW goes inside the case for war in Iraq and asks: how could the intelligence have been so wrong?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206I.shtml

Facing an enlistment crisis, the Army is granting "waivers" to an increasingly high percentage of recruits with criminal records - and trying to hide it.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206F.shtml

The New York Times: President Bush is not giving up the battle over domestic spying. He's fighting it with an army of straw men and a fleet of red herrings.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206E.shtml

Legal specialists yesterday questioned the accuracy of President Bush's sweeping contentions about the legality of his domestic spying program, particularly his assertion in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday that, "previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206B.shtml

A former American occupation official in Iraq is expected to plead guilty to bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and other charges in federal court on Thursday for his actions in a scheme to use sexual favors, jewelry and millions of dollars in cash to steer reconstruction work to a corrupt contractor, according to papers filed with the court.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206A.shtml

Mike Weight - Cindy's Arrestor - Champion First Amendment Oppressor

--Make His Name Known Like "Borked !" And maybe the next and the next Storm Trooper will think Twice before Violating American's Constitutional Rights ?


Bush Lied - People Died Bush Spied - Must Be Tried !

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/ & Ed Schults at http://www.WeGotEd.com
Jeff Rense at http://www.Rense.com & From the Hosts & Call in Listeners all over the USA, Listen to - The Power Hour with Joyce Riley & Dave Von Kleist 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

Lynne Featherstone MP has asked a question of Ruth Kelly

Would any of you be able to ask your MP to do the same? This would put more weight behind the question. They might take it seriously as its to do with children. I think the question could be beefed up though. Something like 'a phone mast in the classroom?"

Thanks

Sarah P



This is what we sent

Wireless computer networks (WLAN) and other microwave emitting devices http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/wlan_only.doc

Children Act 1989 Part 3 Section 17
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/childrens_act.doc


The Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP Sanctuary Buildings Great Smith Street London Sw1P 3BT


Our Ref: P-WLANNetwork

Date: 29 September 2005


Dear Ruth

Re: WLAN Systems in schools

I write on the behalf of one of my constituents who has expressed concerns about WLAN computer networks being used in schools.

As this gives off radiation she is asking the government to present guidelines to schools advising against the use of WLAN Networks in schools. I would be grateful if you could inform me on the government's position on this issue.


Parliamentary Researcher to:
Lynne Featherstone
MP Liberal Democrat
Member of Parliament for Hornsey & Wood Green lynne@lynnefeatherstone.org
House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
(: 020 7219 8401 (Parliamentary) or 020 8340 5459 (Constituency) http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org

Common Dreams
by John Buell

02/01/06

Holding unnamed 'enemy combatants' under indefinite confinement, permitting the secret torture of detainees in Iraq, and bypassing Congress in order to secretly authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens constitute violations of US and international law. Nonetheless, by themselves these actions are less troublesome than the reactions to them. ... Domestic wiretaps managed to gain more media traction than earlier concerns about the Patriot Act. Members of the Judiciary Committee pointedly asked Judge Alito if the President is above the law. Alito responded that the President is not above the Constitution. His own reading of the Constitution, however, suggested few limits to the President's powers. Nonetheless, hours after the nominee's testimony key Democratic Senators were informing the media that there was little chance of any effective opposition to the Alito nomination and that a filibuster was unlikely. The eventual attempt at a filibuster by a few liberal Democrats amounted to little more than a token bone to a few activists...

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0201-25.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Mother Jones
by Thomas Powers

02/01/06

In public life as in kindergarten, the all-important word is no. We are living with the consequences of the inability to say no to the President's war of choice with Iraq, and we shall soon see how the Congress and the courts will respond to the latest challenge from the White House -- the claim by President Bush that he has the right to ignore FISA's prohibition of government intrusion on the private communications of Americans without a court order, and his repeated statements that he intends to go right on doing it. Nobody was supposed to know that FISA had been brushed aside. The fact that the National Security Agency (NSA), America's largest intelligence organization, had been turned loose to intercept the faxes, e-mails, and phone conversations of Americans with blanket permission by the President remained secret until the New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau learned over a year ago that it was happening...

http://tinyurl.com/9xdyg


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Human Events
by Paul Craig Roberts

02/01/06

Why does any American think that spying without a warrant has any more effect in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant? The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Bush is disobeying, requires the executive to obtain from a secret panel of federal judges a warrant for spying on Americans. The purpose of the law is to prevent a president from spying for partisan political reasons. The law permits the president to spy first (for 72 hours) and then come to the court for permission. As the court meets in secret, spying without a warrant is no more effective in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant. Instead of explaining this basic truth, the media have played along with the Bush administration and formulated the question as a trade-off between civil liberties and protection from terrorists. This formulation is false and nonsensical. Why do the media enable the Bush administration to escape accountability for illegal behavior by putting false and misleading choices before the people?

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=12097


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Fox News

02/01/06

As President Bush prepared to address Congress, some members of the House began calling for his impeachment -- a call that has been growing over the last few months, when only the far fringes of the American left called for his ouster. On Tuesday, eight-term California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters said the president should be impeached for authorizing the warrantless surveillance of some Americans through the National Security Agency. 'If a president's untruthfulness about sexual relationships is an impeachable offense, then surely spying on American citizens, undermining the Constitution and contravening current standing law are impeachable offenses,' Waters said comparing Bush's alleged crimes to ones former President Clinton was tried for...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183387,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp




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

Some of you may be aware of the dire situation that the villagers in Penally, Pembrokeshire are facing, and in Particular, the Harriet Davis Trust Respite Holiday Home for teminally ill and severely disabled children, where mm02 have put in yet another application for them to deal with. Pembs Cc Planning dept still appear to be more on the side of MM02 than the residents and the Trust.

There are already four masts sited nearby, which have been there for years,and are part of the landscape, in fact, they provide coverage for the whole area. They got a Public Inquiry as Pembs CC didnt make a decision on time for the last application and were slapped with an Appeal for "non determination" by mm02, who tried to get the appeal heard by written submissions, which Pembs CC agreed to on 22nd November. The first any of the residents heard of it was a letter approx 8th December giving them till Jan 3rd to submit written submissions in triplicate! (Usuall tactics) Luckily they were awarded a Local Public Inquiry which will be on May 9th! Mm02 have used a loophole in Welsh Planning Law to hit them with a second identical Application. They have it on good authority that Pembs CC are trying to push this through the system asap to avoid their Inquiry. Anne from Penally has asked for as many people as possible to write to Mr D Lawrence, Head of Planning, Pembrokeshire County Council , County Hall, Haverfordwest SA61 1TP to OBJECT to Planning no 05/1254/PA. They have Visual Amenity, Mast Prolifereration, History of Planning and Appeal rejections with reasons still valid today and most importantly..Harriet Davis Trust Holiday Home for severely disabled and life-limited children and their families within 50-75 metres of the proposed Tetra. With the PERCEIVED health fears these vulnerable souls will face and the disastrous knock on financial effect to the Trust itself!

I know that LPAs usually disregard objections from out of the area, but because of the nature of this case it could be argued that we all have an interest, because the Harriet Davis Trust is the sort of project that should be encouraged, not put out of business. Their website is http://www.harriet-davis-trust.brecon.co.uk , if anyone wants any further details.

Objections need to be sent in asap, as they only have just over a week until the deadline.

Many thanks to anyone who can wite in support of villagers and name and shame 02!

AmandaWesley

--------

I believe his name is David so his email address should be david.lawrence@pembrokeshire.gov.uk .

Angie (ORAM)

--------

I have received a letter from Pembrokeshire County Council in response to my objection letter, stating that they will take my comments into consideration - although I live in Kent, I objected on the grounds that because I have a disabled child I may want to use the Harriet Davis Trust Respite Holiday Home.

I hope this helps - please let me know how it turns out.

Thanks. Angie (ORAM)>

--------

That's briliant Angie,

I also contacted Peter Limbrick of interconnections, the bulletin for Children with special needs, and I know that he has objected.
02 apparently stated in their application that the HD Trust was two miles away from the proposed site, when in fact it is 50-75 metres away, and of course, PEmbs cc do not know much about TETRA applications etc, and seem happy to go along with everything 02 tell them!

Amanda

--------

I don't know if this is of any use but to cut a long story short, I know that a leading member of the Acoustic Neuroma Association, Brian Lloyd, lives near Penally in Hodgeston. His email address is:

brian@beachcomber.freeuk.com

He has his own Acoustic Neuroma website "One Ear to the Ground" which is as follows:

http://home.freeuk.net/beachcomber/oneear/about.htm

I have spoken to Brian on a couple of occasions (when on holiday in Pembrikeshire, but do not know if he is sympathetic to our cause. Might be worth contacting him? (My objection letter to Pembrokeshire C.C will be sent today).


Regards,


John Elliott


--------


http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Acoustic+Neuroma

DEVELOPMENT: Mast battle heads to the High Court

CAMPAIGNERS are to take the fight to a global mobile phone company who want to put a mast up near to their homes. Despite assurances from the Hutchison 3G (H3G) network that the planned 25-metre tall mast near to homes in Suttons Lane, Deeping Gate, will cause no harm, residents are fearful of adverse health effects and the visual impact to the area.

Led by resident Simon Hoppe, they have now formed a group which is attempting to raise enough cash for a serious High Court challenge.

Mr Hoppe has already visited 100 houses in the area canvassing support for the pressing campaign, winning support from nearly every resident to voice their opinions and attend meetings.

The Stop the Mast Action Group has already collected £2,300 from home-owners' donations to fight the mast plan.

Mr Hoppe said: "They (H3G) have had their way so far, but we are not lying down. We urgently need support in this campaign – in the interests of our local environment and landscape, our families' health and the negative effect on property prices."

Residents thought they had defeated the international mobile phone operator back in 2004, when Peterborough City Council rejected the application following residents' strong objections.

But to their horror, H3G appealed to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and won.

The residents claim the mast will be visible from 100 houses and will ruin the tranquil look of the area.

They worry that electromagnetic radiation given off by the mast will be harmful to people nearby, especially children and people with specific health conditions.

H3G claim the site is the only place it can put a mast to provide phone coverage to that area. Verity Stanford, spokeswoman for the company, said: "We do recognise that the presence of base stations can cause concern among some people.

"But the slender monopole will be sited in a remote corner, well away from the nearest residential properties, and the surrounding belt of trees will effectively screen it from view.

"The consistent and reassuring message of the global scientific community is that base stations operating to guidelines do not cause adverse health effects."

Omega read "Base Stations, operating within strict national and international Guidelines, do not present a Health Risk?" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/771911/

02 February 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=845&ArticleID=1336929

02 February 2006

VETERAN journalist Esther Rantzen has thrown her weight behind a campaign to stop mobile phone giants placing masts on schools.

The TV presenter is spearheading the SHAME (Schools and Hospitals Against Mast Emissions) campaign launched - just weeks after the Bexley Times revealed plans to install phone masts on East Wickham Primary School, in Welling, and Bedonwell Junior School, in Belvedere.

Mrs Rantzen is calling on concerned parents and teachers in Bexley to sign a petition to get the Telecommunications Masts (Planning Control) Bill through Parliament by March 3.

If passed as a law by Parliament, the bill will prevent masts from being placed in close proximity to schools and hospitals.

David Evennett, MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, says he is in full support of the bill, which was initiated by David Curry MP.

He said: "The residents have my full support and backing. I object to masts in residential areas because they are out of character, an eyesore and I think there are health concerns.

"I am in full support of David Curry's bill and will be present in Parliament."

A spokesman for SHAME said: "SHAME is not anti-mobile phone but it does prioritise children over the need for a signal at any cost and given the vulnerability of small children relative to adults, can not accept that school premises are suitable sites." In December, angry parents at East Wickham Primary School vowed to fight mobile phone company Hutchinson 3G which has put up a phone mast near a school which is permitted by law.

Clair Doree who has two children at the school, has organised a petition.

Last week we reported how concerned parents and residents in Bedonwell Road, Belvedere, are urging mobile phone giant Orange to scrap its plans to install a mast near Bedonwell Junior School

Resident Alan Eaton, the brainchild behind action group Orange Squash, has organised a 200-signature petition to present to bosses at Orange.

This week opposition towards the mast intensified as both Labour and Conservative councillors in the Lesnes Abbey ward back residents in their campaign.

Labour Councillor Ron Brown said: "At present Orange has not yet applied to the council and are conducting their own consultation.

"We hope they get the message loud and clear that their mast is not wanted here. We are backing the residents 100 per cent."

Jacqueline Sibander, spokesman for Orange, said the planning process was it the early stages.

She added that the company was in full consultation with residents, parents and school representatives.

For more information on Orange Squash, visit the website: http://www.orangesquash.org

For more information on SHAME or to sign the petition, visit: http://www.shame.org.uk

Have your say!
http://tinyurl.com/9f3nl

Suggest a story
http://www.bexleytimes.co.uk/content/emailform/suggeststory.aspx

http://tinyurl.com/bvscl

MOBILE phone giant T Mobile won planning permission for a mast in Manchester Road following a bureaucratic blunder.

Officers missed the 56-day deadline to issue a refusal notice allowing the phone company to go ahead and build a 12 meter high mast outside Majestic Wines.

Now residents are furious and have pledged to fight the phone company all the way to an appeal.

The refusal slip was received a day after the deadline and the firm wasted no time getting on with the job.

David Reynolds, 61, retired businessman and journalist, Judy Tams, 39, of Highfield Estate, Manchester Road, arranged a protest at the site, attended by up to 30 neighbours.

Judy, who is expecting her second child soon, said: "We’re shocked and dismayed by this. The first we knew of the mast going up was when the contractors moved on site and started work.

"As far as we were aware, it had been refused - the council had written to us on October to tell us so. When were they going to tell us - did they think we wouldn’t notice - they knew about this in October."

The application concerns a 12 meter high mast with associated ground cabinets to be built at the corner of Manchester Road and Dean Row Road.

Borough council officers refused the application on October 14 on the grounds of highway safety, acting under delegated powers, but the formal notification was not sent until October 17, outside the 56 day deadline.

Daly International, agents for T-Mobile, informed the council that as it missed the deadline it was "out of time" and therefore they had "deemed consent" to continue and build it.

David Reynolds said: "The planning department say there is nothing further they can do which I don’t accept. The council seem perhaps to have made a mistake and they seem to think they can walk away from it."

Judy said: "We’re also extremely disappointed with the actions Daly International - who as agent for T-Mobile are not acting in the spirit of the planning laws."

Ward councillor Paul Whiteley said he was disappointed that he too only found out about this when the building work began but he has since spoken to the chief executive.

He said: "The system is now being looked at closely and it will be altered and hopefully this is something that will not happen again."

Dean Row Councillor Jim Crockatt added: "I am very disappointed with Daly International. They knew the opposition and the dangers. I accept that it was a bloomer but we employ human beings."

Chief planning officer Peter Yates has written to the Daly International requesting a meeting to discuss the application .

He said the company’s approach to a working relationship with the council was not helpful.

He added that for T-Mobile to press ahead in building the mast was irresponsible.

A spokesman for T-Mobile said:

"Although in this particular instance the letter arrived one day late, we are within our rights to go ahead with the application as is our intention." Katrina McKeever

First published by the Wilmslow Express

Submit your comments
http://www.thewilmslowexpress.co.uk/news/comments/form.html?story_id=208828

http://tinyurl.com/87p7o

The Institute for Public Accuracy has a PDF critique of the State of the Union for public distribution at: http://accuracy.org/s2006.pdf . Please spread the word about this to activists.

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Responses to State of the Union Address

Interviews Available

CELESTE ZAPPALA, (215) 520-7040, (215) 686-8416, cell: (215) 570-5484, czappala1@yahoo.com, http://www.gsfso.org A member of Gold Star Families Speak Out, Zappala's eldest son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II. He was killed in action in Baghdad on April
26, 2004, while searching for weapons of mass destruction. She said today: "Yesterday George Bush spoke with unsubstantiated optimism about the war in Iraq; yesterday another U.S. soldier was killed, bringing the total to 2,243. If all of the families of all of those soldiers had been sitting in the chamber, could Bush's self-serving comments about sacrifice have been heard above the cries of grief and anguish?"

KATHY KELLY, (773) 878-3815, kathy@vitw.org, http://www.vcnv.org Co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Kelly said today: "President Bush states that 'The only way to control our destiny is by our leadership -- so the United States of America will continue to lead.' This president led the U.S. into an immoral, illegal war against Iraq based on lies and deception. The president worries that 'a sudden withdrawal of our forces from Iraq would abandon our Iraqi allies to death and prison.' He does not mention that U.S. forces are imprisoning. 16,000 Iraqis, many of them held without charges. The British medical journal The Lancet reported in October 2004 that the U.S. invasion and occupation have cost the lives of 100,000 Iraqis."

TALAT HAMDANI, (212) 598-0970, (917) 579-5416, Ameerjaan2@aol.com, http://peacefultomorrows.org Hamdani is the mother of Mohammad Salman Hamdani, who was a New York City police cadet killed in the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. She is available to discuss Bush's continuing references to 9/11.

RUSSELL MOKHIBER, cell: (202) 468-8868, russell@corporatecrimereporter.com, http://corporatecrimereporter.com Editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, Mokhiber said today: "President Bush said that 'violent crime rates have fallen to their lowest levels since the 1970s.' This is true only if you look at violent street crime and ignore the violent corporate crime that results in pollution, worker and consumer deaths. The rate of violent corporate crime is by all indications on the increase. But we don't know for sure, for while President Bush's FBI tracks street crime district by district, the FBI does not track corporate crime and violence."

QUENTIN YOUNG, (312) 782-6006, (773) 324-5920, pnhp@aol.com, http://pnhp.org Young is coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program. He said today: "The speech was monumentally cynical from beginning to end. He didn't say much on healthcare, and what he did say was useless. The medical savings accounts he talks about have no way of improving coverage and access to healthcare; or lowering costs. "Bush claimed: 'Our government has a responsibility to help provide healthcare for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility.' That's an absolute lie. Under his watch, there are ongoing brutal slashes in Medicaid." Added Young, "You also had a cynical invocation of helping AIDS victims in Africa; but Bush has backed off from prior commitments on that after garnishing applause for those promises like he did last night."

TYSON SLOCUM, (202) 454-5191, cell: (202) 256-3152, tslocum@citizen.org, http://www.citizen.org Acting director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, Slocum said today: "Bush didn't talk about scaling back demand at all; we need to greatly expand our public transportation systems. He talked about hydrogen, but he used the same rhetoric in 2003. The plans for hydrogen fuel actually involve it coming from coal fire power plants. This means using a high pollution process to create 'clean' energy. "Bush made no mention of the comprehensive energy bill he recently signed. That makes sense; the lobbyists went wild with it, the oil companies got $5 billion, $8 billion for coal, $12 billion for nuclear and only $3 billion for renewables. Oil companies are posting record profits. "We should tax the oil companies to pay to develop renewables and programs like giving people a financial incentive to weatherize their homes so we conserve more fuel."

MARY OLSON, via Linda Gunter, (202) 328-0002, lindag@nirs.org, http://www.nirs.org Olson is with the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. She said today: "The administration has been desperate to find a nuclear waste solution in order to resuscitate the moribund and unpopular nuclear power industry. ... Its latest scheme is reprocessing of irradiated commercial fuel, one of the dirtiest and most proliferation-vulnerable processes in the nuclear fuel chain."

PRATAP CHATTERJEE, (510) 271-8080, cell: (510) 759-8970, pratap@corpwatch.org, http://www.corpwatch.org Bush stated yesterday: "We are continuing reconstruction efforts, and helping the Iraqi government to fight corruption and build a modern economy, so all Iraqis can experience the benefits of freedom." Chatterjee is executive director for CorpWatch. He said today: "Bush's claim that the United States plans to continue reconstruction in Iraq is a cleverly worded lie. The government has no plans to ask for new money in the February budget. The contractors are already shutting down their work even though some of the original $18.4 billion allocated for reconstruction over two years ago has not been spent and half of the money spent so far has either been spent on insurance and private security or worst of all diverted to other schemes such as the building of a new United States embassy." Chatterjee, who wrote the book "Iraq Inc.: A Profitable Occupation," added: "Much of the money taken from Iraq's coffers has been used to swell American corporate coffers or even stolen by corrupt American officials. Meanwhile the people of Iraq have less electricity, less water and more sewage than before the 2003 invasion."

AS'AD ABUKHALIL, (209) 667-3536, (209) 575-0210, AAbukhalil@csustan.edu, http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2005/08/king-fahd-is-dead-and-oppressive.html AbuKhalil is author of the book "The Battle for Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power," professor in the Department of Politics at California State University, Stanislaus, and visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Bush stated yesterday: "We accept the call of history to deliver the oppressed and move this world toward peace. ... And we do not forget the other half -- in places like Syria and Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Iran." AbuKhalil responded: "Bush left out from that list ... oppressive countries that are aligned with the U.S. (Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE, Oman, Jordan, Libya, Algeria, Guatemala, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Bahrain, etc.)."

STEPHEN ZUNES, (415) 422-6981, (831) 234-9468, zunes@usfca.edu, http://www.fpif.org Bush said: "Let me speak directly to the citizens of Iran: America respects you. ... And our Nation hopes one day to be the closest of friends with a free and democratic Iran." Professor of politics at the University of San Francisco, Zunes said today: "If this is really the case, why did the United States overthrow Iran's last democratic government, that of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh? If the United States really respects the rights of the Iranian people to choose their own future, why did successive U.S. administrations support the tyrannical regime of Shah Reza Pahlavi, installed by the United States following Mossadegh's ouster, whose dreaded CIA-trained SAVAK secret police tortured and murdered thousands of dissidents, thereby spawning the Islamist revolution that has since come to power?"

JACQUELINE CABASSO, (510) 839-5877, cell: (510) 306-0119, wslf@earthlink.net, http://www.wslfweb.org, http://www.disarmamentactivist.org Executive director of the California-based Western States Legal Foundation, Cabasso has written many articles assessing nuclear policy. She said today: "While the United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and President Bush declares that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose 'a grave threat to the security of the world' (the same language he used prior to attacking Iraq), the U.S. is retooling its own nuclear weapons research, design, and production infrastructure to maintain thousands of nuclear weapons for many decades to come, while enabling the production of new nuclear weapons for 'post-Cold War' missions envisioned by U.S. war planners. Following the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration openly declared the potential first use of nuclear weapons -- even against those countries that don’t have them. The 2002 Nuclear Posture Review revealed U.S. plans for first use of nuclear weapons in response to non-nuclear attacks or threats involving biological or chemical weapons or 'surprising military developments' and targeted countries including Iraq, Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, Syria, and Libya. "The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) ... codified a pledge by the U.S., Britain, Soviet Union, France and China to negotiate 'in good faith' the end of the nuclear arms race and the elimination of their nuclear arsenals. States that agreed to forswear nuclear weapons were guaranteed 'the inalienable right' to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, 'without discrimination.' ... The U.S. and the other nuclear weapon states have failed to live up to their disarmament obligations, establishing a de facto international system of 'nuclear apartheid,' in which they claim the exclusive right to determine who may possess (and threaten to use) nuclear weapons. They also have been responsible for spreading 'peaceful' nuclear technology around the globe, ensuring the possibility of nuclear proliferation. "Now the Bush administration wants to add a second tier to its nuclear double standard by denying uranium enrichment technology -- usable for both nuclear power and weapons -- to countries that don't already have it. Iran will be the test case. But just beyond Iran's border, the U.S. continues to turn a blind eye towards Israel's sizable undeclared nuclear arsenal."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


From ufpj-news

Just as the industry says, FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND!

Regards.

Agnes.
http://www.mast-victims.org

Mobile phone loophole that lets children access porn

08:11am 2nd February 2006

Loophole: Children can access porn for as little as £1.50

Children can gain access to internet porn via their mobile phones, a consumer grop warned today.

A loophole in phone safeguards lets youngsters obtain codes for adult websites by paying for them using premium rate text messages.

Researchers for Which? magazine got codes for eight porn sites using an O2 phone registered to a 15-year-old girl.

The phone company's filter system blocked adult material being sent directly to the handset - but still let through access codes to websites showing hardcore sex films, the consumer group said.

It cost £1.50 to pay for the codes which gave access to internet porn sites.

Although the phone company's filter system blocked the adult sites, young viewers could view by entering the codes into a computer, Which? warned.

The consumer group is concerned about the loophole which allows under 18s access to pay-per-view porn sites by paying by text rather than credit card.

Which? magazine editor Malcolm Coles said: "At the moment there's nothing to stop children getting hold of hardcore pornography through their mobile phone. It's easy to access and costs less than a couple of quid.

Loophole

"There are supposed to be safeguards to stop this sort of thing, but they're obviously ineffective. This loophole needs to be closed as soon as possible."

The number of pay-per-view internet sites accepting payment by premium rate text messages has increased over the past few years, according to Which?

Those accessed by the consumer group's researchers boasted that users could remain anonymous because payment was by text.

An O2 spokesman said some adult websites did accept payment via mobile phones.

"While it's the responsibility of those websites to prevent under 18s from viewing the content on a computer, we do not want our mobiles to be used as a payment mechanism without age verification," he said.

"We are in the process of updating the agreements in place with companies that provide mobile content over our network.

"This update will include a requirement for third parties who provide 'computer viewable' adult content, to age verify any customers who choose to pay for it using their mobile phone."

The spokesman said O2 took the risk to children "very seriously", adding: "We have an age verification process for any commercial content that can be viewed on a mobile phone. We also offer a parental control on all of our mobiles that can be activated from the phone."

The premium rate phone and text message regulator Icstis said mobile phone companies and internet content providers were responsible for carrying out age verification checks.

Spokesman Rob Dwight said: "Obviously this is a loophole. Kids can access adult content on their PC screens and be billed via their mobile phones. The situation shouldn't be allowed to continue."

He added: "We are working with the mobile phone networks to look at how this loophole can be blocked."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=375880&in_page_id=1770

http://at-de.i-newswire.com/pr15287.html
http://openpr.de/news/75853

Die Bürgerinitiative Gablitz - Bezirk Wien-Umgebung - brachte am 31.1.2006 eine Beschwerde bei der EU-Kommission ein.

Gründe: Nicht-Umsetzung des Art. 174 EG-Vertrag (Vorsorgeprinzip) in österreichisches Recht, sowie Verstöße gegen das sektorspezifische Wettbewerbsrecht und gegen die Fusionskontrollverordnung durch die geplante Übernahme von Telering durch T-Mobile.

Mehr dazu: http://tinyurl.com/aycrl

Für Rückfragen stehe ich jederzeit zur Verfügung.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Mag. Robert Marschall

Erster Sprecher der Bürgerinitiative Gablitz, Anton Haglgasse 14/1/3, A-3003 Gablitz, Österreich, Tel: 02231 / 68367, E-Mail: marschall@schutz-vor-elektrosmog.at
Homepage: http://www.schutz-vor-elektrosmog.at/buergerinitiative-gablitz.htm