World-News

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff told prosecutors that Mr. Cheney had informed him "in an off sort of curiosity sort of fashion" in mid-June 2003 about the identity of the CIA officer at the heart of the leak case.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020406X.shtml

Dear President Bush,

On Saturday, February 4th, 2006, thousands will gather outside of the White House, coming to tell you that the world cannot wait, that we do not accept either your assessment of the state of the union, or your plans for controlling our destiny through your conception of illegitimate "leadership." I am writing to let you know that I will regretfully be unable to attend this White House event.

I send my regrets as a mother of two young children, children who, while materially comfortable, must grow up in a world infinitely more dangerous, more fractured, more on the edge due to your actions. I send my regrets on behalf of all mothers who stand against the lies and corruption that fuel our countries so-called spreadng of democracy, our opening of hearts and minds -- the mothers of the more than 2,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis that have died for your quest, the mothers who, when confronted by an American convoy in Iraq, hold their baby up to prevent attacks from the scared and stressed US soldiers waving weapons. That is the safety you have brought -- a deep-seated fear that lives on, that kills, if not directly then in spirit. I send my regrets also on behalf of mothers of the 16,000 Iraqis imprisoned, many without charges, of those imprisoned in Guantanamo, and at each of the secret US-run and sponsored facilities around the world, those held without recourse to justice, those tortured in both body and mind. I send my regrets as a citizen of your country, but more importantly as a member of the global community that is rising up to speak against your administration's policies, to stand against empire. As I read recently, "Every bomb released over Iraq explodes from Mobile to New Orleans," and as members of the world community we cannot fail to acknowledge these connections. My daughter asked me today when it will be that all the people in world will start to love each other. Perhaps this is the naive vision of a young child, or perhaps it is a question that we all need to take seriously as we do everything in our collective power to drive out your regime that does nothing but breed and perpetrate hatred, bigotry, and intolerance. So, please understand that my absence on February 4th in no way speaks to an endorsement of you or your policies. My body will be working and caring for my children in California, tending to the day to day obligations that I cannot at this moment put aside. However, my spirit will be beating down your doors, infiltrating the White House grounds, flowing through the bodies and mouths of all who are able to come to Washington to let you know that we, the world, will not wait any longer.

Sincerely,

Elisa Salasin

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elisa-salasin/rsvp-to-george-w-bush_b_15077.html


Informant: Mofmars3

Der Super Bowl in Detroit ist auch wieder Anlass zur Demonstration von Sicherheitstechnologien, beispielsweise werden aus Bildern von Überwachungskameras Hologramme erzeugt.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21938/1.html

Der Rüstungsetat für das Pentagon soll weiter auf 440 Milliarden USD steigen, zusätzlich fordert das Weiße Haus 70 zusätzliche Milliarden für den Krieg; für Rumsfeld findet der wirkliche Krieg in den Hauptstädten der westlichen Länder statt

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21936/1.html

For Bush, "when the Commander in Chief does it, it is not illegal." This assertion of uncheckable executive power is just one of five myths the Administration has propagated in a PR blitz designed to convince the public of a transparently unconvincing argument. David Cole takes a close look at the five myths surrounding the spying debate.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020306F.shtml



NASA's Inspector General Probed

An FBI-led watchdog agency has opened an investigation into multiple complaints accusing NASA Inspector General Robert W. Cobb of failing to investigate safety violations and retaliating against whistle-blowers. Most of the complaints were filed by current and former employees of his own office.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020306G.shtml

The United States is engaged in what could be a generational conflict akin to the Cold War, the kind of struggle that might last decades as allies work to root out terrorists across the globe and battle extremists who want to rule the world, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11774.htm



Pentagon Lays Out 'Long War' Strategy

The Pentagon, readying for what it calls a "long war," yesterday laid out a new 20-year defense strategy that envisions US troops deployed, often clandestinely, in dozens of countries at once to fight terrorism and other nontraditional threats.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020406Z.shtml



Iraq war is costing $100,000 per minute

The cost of military operations in 2006 is $35 billion higher than what Congress had estimated a few months ago that the Defense Department would need this year

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002780385_spending03.html


From Information Clearing House



U.S. officials warn of greater threats from terrorists

Top U.S. intelligence and military officials said Thursday that the threat of terror attacks against American interests might be greater than ever, despite progress against al-Qaida and the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11775.htm



Bush to Request $439.3B Defense Budget

The figures did not include about $50 billion that Bush administration officials said Thursday they would request as a down payment for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007. The administration said war costs for 2006 would total $120 billion.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11773.htm



Whatever happened to what’s-his-name?

‘Scourge of Western civilisation’, ‘leader of the insurgency’, ‘al-Queda in Iraq’, ‘Usama’s right-hand man’, the Scarlet Pimpernel of ‘Islamic fundamentalism’, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. For the past couple of years we were bombarded by the mythical man’s dastardly deeds, then all of a sudden-he disappeared from the headlines.

http://williambowles.info/ini/2006/0206/ini-0391.html



Ugly phrase conceals an uglier truth

Behind the US Government's corruption of language lies a far greater perversion, writes Salman Rushdie.

http://snipurl.com/m7hi


From Information Clearing House

From: mindfreedom-news@intenex.net
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 21:05:45 -0800
To: Human Rights in Mental Health

FORWARDED NEWS: Human Rights & Mental Health
http://www.MindFreedom.org - 3 February 2006

Filmmaker Michael Moore invites you to e-mail your "health care horror story" to him at michael@michaelmoore.com .

BELOW he promises, "I will read every read every single one of them," and says he may film you for his new documentary _Sicko_ about the health care industry.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=193


Friday, February 3rd, 2006

Send Me Your Health Care Horror Stories... An Appeal from Michael Moore

Friends,

How would you like to be in my next movie? I know you've probably heard I'm making a documentary about the health care industry (but the HMOs don't know this, so don't tell them -- they think I'm making a romantic comedy).

If you've followed my work over the years, you know that I keep a pretty low profile while I'm making my movies. I don't give interviews, I don't go on TV and I don't defrost my refrigerator. I do keep my website updated on a daily basis (there's been something like 4,000,000 visitors just this week alone) and the rest of the time I'm... well, I can't tell you what I'm doing, but you can pretty much guess. It gets harder and harder sneaking into corporate headquarters, but I've found that just dying my hair black and wearing a skort really helps.

Back to my invitation to be in my movie. Have you ever found yourself getting ready to file for bankruptcy because you can't pay your kid's hospital bill, and then you say to yourself, "Boy, I sure would like to be in Michael Moore's health care movie!"?

Or, after being turned down for the third time by your HMO for an operation they should be paying for, do you ever think to yourself, "Now THIS travesty should be in that 'Sicko' movie!"?

Or maybe you've just been told that your father is going to have to just, well, die because he can't afford the drugs he needs to get better - and it's then that you say, "Damn, what did I do with Michael Moore's home number?!"

Ok, here's your chance. As you can imagine, we've got the goods on these bastards. All we need now is to put a few of you in the movie and let the world see what the greatest country ever in the history of the universe does to its own people, simply because they have the misfortune of getting sick. Because getting sick, unless you are rich, is a crime - a crime for which you must pay, sometimes with your own life.

About four hundred years from now, historians will look back at us like we were some sort of barbarians, but for now we're just the laughing stock of the Western world.

So, if you'd like me to know what you've been through with your insurance company, or what it's been like to have no insurance at all, or how the hospitals and doctors wouldn't treat you (or if they did, how they sent you into poverty trying to pay their crazy bills) ...if you have been abused in any way by this sick, greedy, grubby system and it has caused you or your loved ones great sorrow and pain, let me know.

Send me a short, factual account of what has happened to you - and what IS happening to you right now if you have been unable to get the health care you need. Send it to michael@michaelmoore.com . I will read every single one of them (even if I can't respond to or help everyone, I will be able to bring to light a few of your stories).

Thank you in advance for sharing them with me and trusting me to try and do something about a very corrupt system that simply has to go.

Oh, and if you happen to work for an HMO or a pharmaceutical company or a profit-making hospital and you have simply seen too much abuse of your fellow human beings and can't take it any longer - and you would like the truth to be told - please write me at michael@michaelmoore.com . I will protect your privacy and I will tell the world what you are unable to tell. I am looking for a few heroes with a conscience. I know you are out there.

Thank you, all of you, for your help and your continued support through the years. I promise you that with "Sicko" we will do our best to give you not only a great movie, but a chance to bring down this evil empire, once and for all.

In the meantime, stay well. I hear fruits and vegetables help.

Yours,

Michael Moore
michael@michaelmoore.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com

- end of letter -


ACTIONS:

* Please e-mail to Michael Moore at michael@michaelmoore.com about psychiatric human rights abuse!

* Please forward to others.


Forwarded by:

MindFreedom International
http://www.MindFreedom.org

Unite to Win Human Rights in Mental Health!


Informant: Gotemf


Omega : this appeal concerns also the victims of mobile phone and mast radiation, EHS and Mind Control. Please e-mail to Michael Moore also at michael@michaelmoore.com

http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Victims/

04/02/2006 - 09:26:32

About 32 new mobile phone masts are granted planning permission here every month, despite objections from communities.

The latest controversy centres on an O2 transmitter at Dublin's Connolly station.

An Bórd Pleanala has granted the company permission to retain a 24-metre mast there, despite local residents' protests.

The objections are on the grounds of health and safety concerns, and the residents claim the mast is too close to houses, schools and a playground.

There are 36 such masts in total on our national rail network.

© Thomas Crosbie Media, 2006.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=171636366&p=y7y637x7z

Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo

PM promised to be 'solidly behind' US invasion with or without UN backing
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11771.htm



Bush, Blair made war 'deal'

US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were ready to go to war against Iraq with or without a second United Nations resolution, it was reported today.

http://snipurl.com/m7ha



Military Releases Partial Iraqi Civilian Casualty Numbers

The report shows that, in the past 14 months, more than 5,800 people have been killed or wounded in Iraq, including U.S. military personnel and Iraqi security forces. More than half were Iraqi civilians.

http://snipurl.com/m7hb


From Information Clearing House

By Murray Waas, special to National Journal

Vice President Cheney and his then-Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were personally informed in June 2003 that the CIA no longer considered credible the allegations that Saddam Hussein had attempted to procure uranium from the African nation of Niger, according to government records and interviews with current and former officials.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11778.htm

Recounting last December's New York City Transit Strike and the media images of disgruntled travelers, Christopher Hayes looks beyond the national "opinion makers" and says that most New Yorkers were in solidarity with the strikers.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020306LA.shtml

Guided by the deep social and economic insights that brought us the earlier triumphs of improving Medicare and strengthening Social Security, George W. Bush is addressing America's health insurance crisis by promoting the same panacea he applies to almost every domestic problem: tax cuts favoring the wealthy, Joe Conason explains.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020306HB.shtml



New GAO Report Raises Concerns about President's Health Proposal

During his State of the Union Address earlier this week, President Bush signaled that expanding HSAs and HDHPs would be a centerpiece of his domestic agenda. Health policy experts are concerned these will raise costs and risk coverage for individuals and families who remain in traditional plans. The GAO report appears to validate these concerns.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020306HA.shtml

From: Steering Committee info@meetup.com
Subject: Brutalized & Arrested in Cleveland for Posting "Bush Step Down" Posters Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 14:27:27 -0500 (EST)

Your Organizer, Steering Committee, sent the following message to the members of The Broward County Impeach Bush Meetup Group:

The following is a first-hand account of police harrassment and brutality against a World Can't Wait organizer in Cleveland. If anything like this happens to you, let us know asap! Contact info@worldcantwait.org.

My name is Carol Fisher, and I am on the staff of Revolution Books in Cleveland OH. At the bookstore we have been immersed in building and supporting the initiatives of World Cant Wait. Yesterday, 1.28.06 I had set out from my house to post materials about our upcoming Cleveland event to Drown Out the State of the Union address, and the call to march around the White House on Feb. 4th.

I drove down a street in Cleveland Heights, another area known for its diversity and progressive history. Before long a cop called from across the street: "Ma'am! Hundred dollar fine unless you take those posters down." He is pursuing me across the street. OK fine, I say, I will take them down (not wanting to get into a confrontation, because I have lots to do today!) But this too is not enough for the cop. He wants my ID. I say I dont have my ID. He grabs my arm. I say let go of me, I am not doing anything wrong, I will take the posters down. People are watching to see what happens, are outraged but very afraid. The cop wont let go, he clearly wants more grief from me, and he is in the spotlight. He wants people to be scared. He pushes me against a store window and next thing I know I am face down on the sidewalk with two cops on top of me, one with his knee in my back. I am trying to call out to people, to tell them what the posters are about. They keep pushing my face into the sidewalk. I cant breathe.

I am 53 years old, not exactly a spring chicken. A hand comes down again to push my chin against the concrete. By this time there are four cops on the scene. My hands are tightly cuffed behind my back. They lift me up and shove me onto a parkbench and shackle my legs. I am still calling out, telling people what this is about. One of the cops says to me, "Shut up or I will kill you!", "I am sick of this anti-Bush shit!" "You are definitely going to the psyche ward." Then somebody calls the EMS, and a fire squad shows up.

I am lifted into the EMS truck, hands still cuffed behind my back. At the hospital, I am treated as an arch-criminal. Escorted by four policemen, I shuffle into the emergency room, legs still shackled, covered with leaves and mud. I think to myself, if I was Black, I would not have made it this far. I would probably be dead by now. People in the emergency room are shocked by the scene and by what I am saying happened. I probably do look pretty crazy by now.

They put me on a gurney and pull the curtains around. One female nurse and four male cops. I am cuffed to the bed.

After many hours a psychiatrist appears to determine my sanity. I dont want to talk to him, but have no choice.

I dont know it at the time, but outside in the waiting room all hell had broken loose. In a very short period of time, over a dozen WCW people showed up at the emergency room to demand that someone be allowed to see me.

At one point, there was a big confrontation between the WCW people and the police, right in the ER. My supporters said that we weren't going to leave until someone saw me. Some of them were sitting in the waiting room holding the big green WCW posters.

The police threatened WCW folks with arrest! They argued, stood their ground, called this shameful (both to the police but also to the nurses who did nothing to stand against this s...). The cops kept saying that there was no legal right to see me, but people responded that, in Bush's America, the law is whatever the police say it is and that there is a moral and ethical right to to check on someone who is in the hospital.

I was released on my own recognizance. The battle is far from over. This is but one example of the attempts that the state, their authorities and spokespeople will make to try to keep us from opposing the crimes of this regime, and especially now, 2 days before the State of the Union address. Our cause is as righteous as it gets, and no attempts to intimidate or suppress, with threats or laws or physical abuse, should stop us but instead strengthen the resolve, build our organization and further demonstrate to the world that this regime is doomed, they are vicious, and they must be stopped.

As it says in the Call, "If we speak the truth, they will try to silence us. If we act, they will try to stop us. But we speak for the majority, here and around the world, and as we get this going we are going to reach out to the people who have been so badly fooled by Sush and we are NOT going to stop...The future is unwritten. Which one we get is up to us."

Call the Cleveland Heights Police at 216-291-3883

Call Cleveland Heights City Hall at 216-291-4444

Please contact us at cleveland@worldcantwait.org or 216-633-6200

To visit The Broward County Impeach Bush Meetup Group, go here: http://impeachbush.meetup.com/83/


Informant: Be Kind Whenever Possible



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

HAVA DEADLINES MUST BE EXTENDED TO ALLOW STATES TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS

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

A number of states are under a lot of pressure to buy insecure and expensive electronic voting systems because of deadlines in the HAVA (Help America Vote Act).

A bill has been introduced in the House (HR 4666) to give the states more time to make wise decisions on systems which have not even been adequately tested and qualified yet. Otherwise they will lose federal funding due them under HAVA.

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

No board of elections should be forced to make decisions before certification of all available voting systems is completed. Manufacturers should not risk quality defects by rushing machines out the door. We the people should not be rushed into bad decisions. Our vote and its integrity are more important than an arbitrary deadline. To stop the impending HAVA train wreck, we urge you to support HR 4666, introduced by Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-08) on January 31 to extend the deadline for HAVA compliance past the 2006 primary season without penalty. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. This bill and its eventual companion in the Senate must be fast-tracked so that as many counties as possible can benefit from the extended deadline. The only way that will happen is if members of Congress hear from their constituents that passage of HR 4666 must be a priority.

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.


Informant: JHW369

Friday, February 3, 2006; A18

"AMERICA IS addicted to oil." It was a catchy line in President Bush's State of the Union speech. But in truth, few administrations have done more to feed America's oil addiction than this one -- and the same can be said for this Republican Congress.

For most of Mr. Bush's first term, Congress struggled to pass an energy bill. Last year, Mr. Bush signed one into law. Although not as riddled with pork as some previous versions, the law did not change much, either. It provided subsidies for research on some of the alternative technologies the president referred to in his speech, such as clean coal, ethanol, wind, solar and nuclear power. But it also provided billions of dollars in new subsidies for gas and oil, including inducements to drill for more.

Moreover, as the bill wound its way through Congress, the White House rejected a number of measures that might have eased America's addiction. It quashed, for example, the creation of a national "renewable portfolio standard" that would have required utilities to get a certain percentage of their energy from renewable sources, something several states have adopted. It rejected an "oil savings amendment," which would have required successive administrations to find ways to reduce oil use. It spurned any suggestion of automobile fuel efficiency requirements.

Nor did the White House or Congress ever consider imposing a carbon tax, the most straightforward solution possible: Indeed, if one had been imposed five years ago and consumers had been paying higher oil and gas prices as a result, some of the technologies now under discussion might already be on the market thanks to entrepreneurs, not government funding. But this president has never been interested in changing consumer behavior. On the contrary, when asked at a 2001 news conference whether Americans needed to do anything about their high energy consumption, his then-spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said, "The president believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policymakers to protect the American way of life."

We are glad if Mr. Bush has changed his mind: This nation's increasing reliance on oil and gas poses economic, geopolitical and environmental dangers to the country. But we find it odd, given his environmental advisers' repeated insistence that he cares so much about it, that the president dwelled only on the two former dangers Tuesday night and ignored the link between America's oil addiction and the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. And we find it odder that it has taken five years for this president to notice that oil money funds anti-American regimes, that a dramatic price rise could quickly put this nation into recession and that the status quo energy policy long promoted by his administration and his party will not suffice.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/02/AR2006020202129.html


Informant: John Calvert