World-News

Der Iran rüstet auf und bereitet sich auf einen Rückschlag vor.
http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22040/1.html

Ein Untersuchungsbericht über das Verhalten der US-Regierung bei der Katrina-Katastrophe stellt ein vernichtendes Urteil aus, auch sonst kracht es im Gebälk des Weißen Hauses.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22043/1.html

AEG-Werk Nürnberg: Bayern kritisiert Subventionierung von Arbeitsplatzverlagerungen mit EU-Geldern (15.02.06)

Angesichts einer "Verlagerung von Arbeitsplätzen in die neuen EU-Mitgliedstaaten wie zum Beispiel zuletzt bei AEG von Nürnberg nach Polen" kritisierte die bayerische Staatsregierung am Dienstag "die Subventionierung reiner Arbeitsplatzverlagerungen mit EU-Geldern". Der Europäische Rat werde Ende März darüber entscheiden, wie EU-Strukturhilfen in Höhe von rund 310 Milliarden Euro in den kommenden Jahren in den EU-Mitgliedstaaten vergeben würden. "Bayern will verhindern, dass Firmen für reine Arbeitsplatzverlagerungen innerhalb der EU Geld aus Brüssel bekommen." Deshalb fordert die Staatsregierung eine Änderung der bisherigen Förder-Praxis und konkrete Änderungen der neuen EU-Strukturfonds-Verordnung.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12932

SARA HARDMAN
sara.hardman@archant.co.uk

15 February 2006 11:39

Planning leaders in Norfolk today refused to be drawn on mobile phone mast safety ahead of a debate in the House of Commons which could lead to local authorities being given the power to refuse applications on health grounds.

Despite several local councils backing the Telecommunications Masts Planning Control Bill, due to come before Parliament next week, many district and borough councillors in Norfolk did not wish to comment on the Bill.

Currently, planning boards cannot stop applications solely on health and safety grounds. If the Bill is passed, councillors would have greater power to refuse planning applications on such grounds.

Norwich city councillor Judith Lubbock, who chairs the planning committee, said she was unable to comment until legislation was passed.

David Thompson, chairman of Broadland District Council's planning committee, did not comment because to do so would mean he would have to surrender his position as chairman of future meetings.

A spokeswoman for Yarmouth Borough Council said: "We have never had any appeals against masts on health grounds."

Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson has been a supporter of the Evening News' Put Masts on Hold campaign. He said: "I will certainly be in the House of Commons next Friday to hear the bill and welcome another chance for debating the issue." If the Bill wins enough support from MPs, it could go forward to the committee and report stages before being heard a third time. If successful, it would then go before the House of Lords and would have to be given Royal Assent before becoming an Act of Parliament.

Councils that have declared their support include Richmond, Derby, West Berkshire, the London Borough of Haringey, Hart, Wyre Forest and Preston.

The second reading is scheduled to come before the House of Commons for a vote on Friday, March 3.

Are you fighting plans for a mast in your neighbourhood? Call Peter Walsh on (01603) 772439 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/8xaaj

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/02/333938.shtml


Informant: Scott Munson

Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021506Z.shtml

San Diego Union-Tribune
by Richard Louv

02/14/06

These rulings revealed that the Department of Justice has 'routinely been securing court orders for real-time cell phone tracking without probable cause and without any law authorizing the surveillance,' according to the Electronic Frontier, a privacy-advocacy organization. But why stop at cell phones? Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, is coming. On Jan. 1, Wal-Mart required its top suppliers to start using RFID-equipped labels on pallets and cases; the labels transmit short-range radio information about the merchandise. ... Meanwhile, RFID chips are getting smaller, thinner and easier to produce; new organic semiconductors use polymers, plastics that conduct electricity – and can more easily be transformed into thin, flexible labels. ... Imagine the possibilities...

http://tinyurl.com/dh8mj


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Global warming isn't just a "blue state" issue anymore. From the Rocky Mountain West to the Southeast, influential red state voices are beginning to call for more concerted efforts at local, state and federal levels to curb greenhouse-gas emissions.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021406EC.shtml

Billions of dollars are unaccounted for, and there are widespread allegations of waste, fraud and war profiteering. So far only one case, the subject of a civil lawsuit that goes to trial this week, has been unsealed. It involves a company called Custer Battles, and as 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft reports, the lawsuit provides a window into the chaos of those early days in Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021406S.shtml

The American Bar Association told President George W. Bush on Monday to either stop domestic eavesdropping without a warrant or get the law changed to make it legal.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021406R.shtml

#Die Linkspartei.PDS: Pressemitteilungen

15. Februar 2006

Zur Debatte im Europäischen Parlament über die EU-Dienstleistungsrichtlinie erklärt das Parteivorstandsmitglied Ulla Lötzer (MdB):

Wir fordern die Abgeordneten im Europaparlament auf, jetzt gegen den Entwurf der Dienstleistungsrichtlinie zu stimmen. Die SPD muss endlich ihr Spiel mit falschen Karten beenden. Letzten Samstag stellt sie sich an die Spitze der Demonstration in Berlin. Jetzt, da es zur Abstimmung kommt zieht sie sich wieder einmal aus dem Widerstand zurück. Und sowohl Frau Gebhardt als auch der Parteivorsitzende Platzeck erklären den wachsweichen Kompromiss zum großen Erfolg. Der Begriff "Herkunftslandprinzip" soll zwar in der Richtlinie jetzt nicht mehr auftauchen, der Ansatz, den Markt zu liberalisieren, ohne vorher die nationalen Regelwerke zu harmonisieren, bleibt jedoch bestehen. Auch die Einbeziehung der öffentlichen Daseinsvorsorge in den Geltungsbereich der Richtlinie wird nicht angetastet. Jetzt haben die EU-Abgeordneten die Chance, dem geplanten Lohn- und Sozialdumping in Europa entgegenzutreten. Auch die Kompromissverhandlungen der letzten Woche machen aus dieser katastrophalen Richtlinie kein gutes Werk. Anstatt den falschen Ansatz der Richtlinie durch weitere Ausnahmen von den Ausnahmen etwas zu entschärfen, wäre es jetzt notwendig, die Richtlinie ganz zurückzuziehen und eine völlig neu überarbeitete vorzulegen.

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=31818

Southside gardai are opposing the erection of a mobile phone mast at their station in Shankill over health fears.The Garda Representatives' Association (GRA) is to raise officers' concerns about the possible health implications with its national executive. The move comes after gardai confronted over 100 angry locals last week who were protesting against the erection of a new mobile phone mast adjoining Shankill Garda Station. The mast caused a storm of controversy and local residents prevented Vilicom - telecoms consultants for the Office of Public Works - from carrying out work on the structure at the Garda station. Last week, residents of Dorney Court blocked the entrance to the site with their cars, leading gardai to threaten to haul the vehicles away. The mast, which is situated beside the Garda station, is located in the Dorney Court Estate where hundreds of residents live within metres of it. St Anne's School, Scoil Mhuire/Rathsallagh Primary School and Rathmichael School are also located within 500 metres of the structure. Garda John O'Brien, who is a representative of the GRA for the South Dublin area, is to raise the matter at the national executive of the association at its next meeting after 47 local gardai signed a petition stating their own opposition to the mast. In a statement last week, Garda O'Brien said: “As a result of the imminent erection of a new telecommunications mast, I have written to the district officer. It's going to be a matter for the national executive. This matter is not just a Shankill problem, but a matter for every station in the country.”

Under the 2001 Planning and Development Regulations, a replacement mast with up to 12 additional antennae may be erected without planning permission. Currently only one mobile phone company operates equipment on the existing mast. However, Meteor, Vodafone, and Hutchison 3G are to install their equipment on a replacement mast under the exemption while the existing mast is to be decommissioned. The protests followed a request from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council last week to the OPW and Vilicom to cease work immediately on the site “until the overall planning status of the development is determined and in full accordance with procedures laid down within the planning and development Act 2001”. However, the OPW and Vilicom failed to heed the request, provoking residents' anger and prompting them to block the entrance to the site. Cllrs John Bailey, Maria Bailey (FG), Dennis O'Callaghan (Lab) and Tom Kivlehan (GP) raised the issue of the mast at the Dun Laoghaire area committee meeting on Monday, January 6. Following the meeting, officials in the enforcement section of the council again sent a fax to the OPW instructing the contractors to cease work, but these instructions were ignored. By Friday morning last contractors were still attempting to work on site but were prevented from doing so by locals. Eamonn Keogh, a spokesperson for the Dorney Court Residents' Action Group, who lives within 30-metres of the mast, said the community was gripped with fear at the prospect of a new mast. Mr Keogh also said locals were very upset because Garda authorities did not show “courtesy and respect” by informing them that the mast was being erected. “That is totally against the Garda charter,” he added. “We are calling on the Garda authorities to explain themselves.” He added that residents are determined that the new mast will not be erected and that the existing one will be decommissioned indefinitely. Declan McCullough, senior executive officer in the enforcement section of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, said last week that the mobile phone companies and the OPW were acting in accordance with the planning and development regulations. They would also be exempt from having to remove the existing structure and erect a new one, he said. “We have been presented with a set of drawings by Vilicom and it would appear that this is an exempted development,” he told Southside People last week. The enforcement section of the council has also asked Vilicom to supply additional information regarding the equipment cabin at the rear of the Garda station. Meanwhile, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment Heritage and Local Government has summoned the OPW before the committee over the erection of the mast. George Moir, a spokesperson for the OPW said last week: “The council has asked us to cease working on the site but that is with our legal department at the moment so we cannot comment on that.”

http://www.dublinpeople.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=773&Itemid=49

Take Action

Bush Budget Puts Our Public Lands on Blue-Light Special Peddling Americans' birthright aims to raise $1 billion for U.S. Treasury

As much as 800,000 acres of Americans' public land would be sold into private hands under one egregious provision of President Bush's proposed budget. Astonishingly, less than two months ago, bipartisan opposition in the Congress defeated a similar scheme. This absurd proposal deserves the same reaction from all of us. Please send that message to your Members of Congress! You can take action immediately by clicking here.
http://action.wilderness.org/campaign/selloff

Eliminating America's Public Lands

Though many details of President Bush's 2007 budget are still murky, some, regrettably, are painfully clear. Amid serious cuts to public lands programs (already grossly under-funded) there now comes a blatant proposal to begin selling off our public lands themselves.

It's not a new idea. The anti-environmental right has long cherished a fevered pipedream of selling off America's public estate. The President's budget proposal is a dangerous escalation of the crusade that now shows signs of becoming a trend.

Like A Broken Record

Just two months ago, Rep. Richard Pombo included in a budget reconciliation bill a provision to sell off millions of acres of land to mining interests and developers. The measure passed the House. But unified opposition from western conservationists, hunters, anglers, local elected officials, businesses, governors and Democratic and Republican Senators alike forced its removal.

Similar coalitions have blocked other such extreme proposals, including one in which Pombo actually identified units of the National Park System to sell.

Over 800,000 Acres Could Be Lost to the Public

In all, over 300,000 acres within our National Forests could be sold in 32 states. California would suffer most with 85,000 acres on the block, but this isn't just a threat to western public lands. In the southeast, where public lands are rare, 55,000 acres could be sold.

The Administration has already identified the forest lands it will sell. It has given the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) a sales quota, marching orders more appropriate to door-to-door salesmen than to professional land managers. That agency will identify sales tracts as it completes its land use plans. But to meet the Administration's sales quota, the agency might need to sell as many as half a million additional acres.

Important Lands in Valued Places

Administration spokespeople are struggling to depict these land sales as small, isolated, of no particular public value or consequence. Nonsense. One is a 160-acre parcel in the Big Creek drainage of Emigrant, MT, in a popular recreation area adjacent to an upscale guest ranch. Another includes over 700 acres of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in Oregon and Washington. A third comprises 1,300 acres along a remote and rugged river gorge with rare low-elevation old-growth forest in Washington.

Why? There is no good reason but there is a formal excuse: to raise money to help fund rural roads and schools. No one doubts the federal obligation to help local governments pay for such things, but the help should come, as it currently does, from the general treasury, as a broad public responsibility, not from casually peddling America's icons. Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) sees the plan as a destructive way to pay for what he considers reckless tax cuts. "It's like selling your homestead to pay your credit cards," he said.

Voicing his concern, Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) said, "public lands are an asset that need to be managed and conserved." And Rep. George Miller (D-CA) said, "The suggestion that the only way to fund rural schools is to sell off our national forests is just ludicrous in a nation this wealthy."

You Can Help! Contact Your Members of Congress Today
http://action.wilderness.org/campaign/selloff

It is critical that our congressional representatives know very early on that we are opposed to selling our public lands. Budget sense should rest on leadership and political courage, not on slapdash schemes to sell the public estate. Please act today! You can send your comments to your Members of Congress immediately by clicking here.

But if you can find time to write your own comments, that would be the most helpful. We have included a sample letter from which you can draw the major points.

Click here to look up contact information for your Senators and Representative: http://action.wilderness.org/wilderness/leg-lookup/search.tcl

For More Information Click here to see how much Forest Service land in your state is potentially on the auction block.
http://action.wilderness.org/ct/A72JOVY13uQn/ProposedLandSalesFY07


Sample Letter

Dear Representative/Senator:

President Bush's proposed budget for FY2007 includes a monumentally wrongheaded scheme to raise money by selling off what could amount to 800,000 acres of America's treasured public lands. I am strongly opposed to any such sale and urge you to ensure that it joins other recent land privatization schemes on the legislative trash heap.

Our public lands are an American birthright, something that makes our homeland unique. Those lands deserve protection, defense and thoughtful stewardship. They are not commodities to be used in a shortsighted, craven scramble for a few dollars, simply because we lack the political courage to appropriate outright what we need to meet our obligations. Our public lands are treasures that we should rightly hand on to our children and to our grandchildren.

Late last year, Rep. Richard Pombo proposed, and the House approved in the budget reconciliation bill, an outlandish scheme to sell millions of acres out of public ownership and into the hands of mining companies and other developers. The resultant outcry from anglers, hunters and other conservationists, from western governmental leaders, from ranchers and business people, was such that the provision was scrapped before the budget resolution was approved.

The President's land disposal scheme is equally objectionable and warrants the same end. I believe it is crucial for Members of Congress to publicly declare their opposition to this harebrained idea and to do so immediately.

Our public lands deserve more than to be treated as a budgetary slush fund. As a voter and a lover of our public lands, I count on you to defend them.

Sincerely,
(Your name and address)


The Wilderness Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving American wilderness. Our mission is to ensure that future generations will enjoy the clean air and water, wildlife, beauty, and opportunity for recreation and renewal provided by pristine forests, rivers, deserts, and mountains.

http://www.hh-online.com?lid=23538 und
http://links.net-hh.de?lid=23538


Infopool / metainfo hamburg http://www.hh-online.com

http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/56242

(GFP) - Bei der geheimen Sitzung des Parlamentarischen Kontrollgremiums (PKG) im Deutschen Bundestag hat der amtierende Außenminister und frühere Chef des Bundeskanzleramts, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, am vergangenen Freitag die staatliche Beteiligung der Bundesrepublik am Überfall auf den Irak faktisch bestätigt.

Ein Beitrag von German Foreign Policy / 13.02.2006

Laut Steinmeier (SPD) erkundeten deutsche Agenten in mehr als 20 Fällen mögliche Angriffsziele in der irakischen Hauptstadt und leiteten die Ergebnisse ihrer Spionagetätigkeit an die Zentrale des Bundesnachrichtendienstes (BND) weiter. Von dort wurden die Informationen dem Angreifer übermittelt. Die im Geheimdienst-Gremium bekannt gewordenen Tatsachen stellen einen vielfachen Bruch der deutschen Verfassung dar und verletzen die zentralen Gebote der UN-Charta.

Trotz der von Steinmeier eingestandenen Beteiligung am Irak-Überfall weigert sich die deutsche Justiz, gegen die Verantwortlichen zu ermitteln. Auch die dem Innenausschuss des Deutschen Bundestags bekannt gewordenen Einzelheiten über Auslands-Aktivitäten des Bundeskriminalamts (BKA) bleiben ohne strafrechtliche Konsequenzen.

Die Kapitulation der parlamentarischen Kontrollorgane vervollständigt das für die Geheimdienste zuständige PKG, dem Vertreter sämtlicher Bundestagsparteien angehören. Obwohl sie auf die allgemeinen Regeln des Völkerrechts verpflichtet sind, halten sie sich an nationale Redeverbote.

Nach Informationen dieser Redaktion ist keines der PKG-Mitglieder bereit, die Völkerrechtsverbrechen der deutschen Regierung unter internationale Anklage zu stellen.

Zu einer als "geheim" eingestuften Sitzung waren am vergangenen Freitag der ehemalige Chef des Bundeskanzleramts, Steinmeier, sowie der frühere Vizekanzler, Fischer, im PK-Gremium erschienen, um durch Aussagen, die nicht zitiert werden dürfen, der Öffentlichkeit eines Untersuchungsausschusses zu entgehen. Die bei der PKG-Sitzung eingeräumten Tatsachen sollten dem Vertreter von "Bündnis 90/Die Grünen" Gelegenheit geben, über eine befriedigende Aussagebereitschaft der Exekutive zu informieren, ohne Einzelheiten nennen zu müssen. Wie erwartet, trat das PKG-Mitglied Stroebele ("Bündnis 90/Die Grünen") anschließend vor die Presse und sagte, er wisse jetzt "sehr viel mehr, als ein Untersuchungsausschuss in einem halben Jahr herausbekommen hätte".[1] Allerdings fühle er sich an die nationalen Vorschriften der Geheimhaltung gebunden und könne der Öffentlichkeit daher nur mitteilen: "Es hat sich gelohnt."

Angriffskrieg

Nach Informationen dieser Redaktion erfuhren die PKG-Mitglieder nicht mehr, als seit Wochen bekannt und daher unmöglich geheim zu halten ist.[2] Demnach haben in Bagdad tätige BND-Agenten während des US-Überfalls im April 2003 militärische Beobachtungen an ihre Münchener Spionagezentrale weitergeben, die dann "gebündelt" dem Aggressor zur Verfügung gestellt wurden. Dies geschah nach vorheriger Absprache mit den entsprechenden US-Stellen, war also verabredet und stellte eine unmittelbare Hilfsleistung für die geplanten oder in Ausführung begriffenen Gewaltoperationen dar.

Damit erfüllen die in der PKG-Sitzung jetzt auch offiziell eingestanden Tätigkeiten des BND die Bestimmungen von Artikel 26 der deutschen Verfassung ("Handlungen, die geeignet sind...die Führung eines Angriffskriegs vorzubereiten, sind verfassungswidrig.")

Verantwortlich ist der zum Tatzeitpunkt tätige Regierungsbeauftragte für die Geheimdienste - der heutige Außenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Orden

Hatte Steinmeier bisher verlautbaren lassen, Artikel 26 sei nicht tangiert, da die BND-Agenten den USA "keinerlei direkte Hilfe" angedeihen ließen, sondern lediglich ihre Zentrale informierten, heißt es angesichts der nicht mehr zu leugnenden Nachrichten-Weitergabe durch das BND-Hauptquartier nunmehr, kriegsrelevante Konsequenzen könnten nicht festgestellt werden.

Diese Argumentation zielt auf die Verharmlosung operativer Angriffsvorbereitungen, die keiner blutigen Opfer bedürfen, um strafbar zu sein - es reichen Handlungen bei der Vorbereitung eines Überfalls.

Dass die BND-Aktivitäten vom Aggressor anders eingeschätzt wurden als in den jetzigen Schutzbehauptungen Steinmeiers, beweist ihre militärische Würdigung: Zumindest einer der BND-Agenten darf sich seitdem mit einem US-Orden schmücken.

Artikel 25

Die zweifelsfreie Beteiligung an der Militäraggression gegen den Irak, die ein schweres Verbrechen darstellt, wird in der Bundesrepublik nicht unter Anklage gestellt. Diverse Anzeigen einzelner Bürger weist der Generalbundesanwalt zurück und behauptet, es bestehe kein Anfangsverdacht.

Die Generalbundesanwaltschaft ressortiert beim Justizministerium, dessen Behördenspitze Grund hat, das Treiben der Vorgängerregierung zu decken - die Ministerin Zypries (SPD) war während der Tätigkeit Steinmeiers (SPD) an selber Stelle tätig und wird für die damaligen Versäumnisse verantwortlich gemacht.[3]

Angesichts der umfassenden Beteiligung zahlreicher Exekutivorgane stehen den deutschen Parlamentariern zahlreiche Kontroll- und Rechtsregularien zur Verfügung, die nicht nur innerstaatliche Mittel umfassen; da das internationale Völkerrecht Bestandteil des Bundesrechts ist und diesem vorgeht [4], kann die Beteiligung am Angriffskrieg gegen den Irak auch auf internationaler Ebene angeklagt werden.

Entsprechende Schritte von PKG-Mitgliedern sind nach Informationen dieser Redaktion jedoch nicht zu erwarten.

Intervention

Dass die internationale Verfolgung deutscher Kriegsbeiträge und Folterbeihilfen in Berlin gefürchtet wird, offenbart der Verlauf einer Sitzung des Bundestags-Innenausschusses. Dort wurden Erkenntnisse des BKA-Beamten Ralph Trede über Folter-"Outsourcing" im Libanon zwar für nicht glaubwürdig erachtet, aber wegen eventueller Behandlung im Europarat als gefährlich eingeschätzt.[5]

Obwohl der Ausschuss Zugang zu Informationen besitzt, nach denen im Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) Beauftragte einer US-Inlandsbehörde tätig gewesen sind, wird die BKA-Auftragsarbeit für eine fremde Macht auch in diesem Gremium nicht behandelt. Stattdessen beschäftigte sich der Ausschuss mit unliebsamen Medienrecherchen, denen ein autoritatives Ende bereitet werden soll - durch Intervention bei der Intendantin eines öffentlich-rechtlichen TV-Senders.

Nichtöffentlich

Die Botschaft ist angekommen. Auf der 25. Rundfunkratssitzung von "radio berlin brandenburg" (rbb), die am vergangenen Donnerstag in Potsdam stattfand, war dazu.

Gelegenheit - "Top 01 bis Top 03, nichtöffentlicher Teil." Nichtöffentlich sind auch die Bemühungen der Bundesregierung, die für hinderlich erachtete internationale Rechtslage zu ändern, um zukünftig offener vorgehen zukönnen. Entsprechende Andeutungen machte die deutsche Bundeskanzlerin auf der Münchener Rüstungskonferenz und regte eine "Weiterentwicklung des Völkerrechts" an. "Deutschland will und wird hierzu seinen Beitrag leisten," versprach Frau Merkel.[6]

[1] Mehr BND-Kontrolle gefordert; n-tv.de 10.02.2006
[2] s. dazu Zurück blieben Tote, Außer Kontrolle und Abgleiten in die Barbarei
[3] s. dazu Nach Recht und Gesetz sowie Täuschen und lügen
[4] Art. 25 der deutschen Verfassung
[5] s. dazu Die Folterer und Und warten noch immer sowie Ohne Gericht, ohne Urteil
[6] Rede der deutschen Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel;
http://www.securityconference.de


Link zum Beitrag / Hintergrundinfo oder Pressehinweis: http://www.hh-online.com?lid=23533 und http://links.net-hh.de?lid=23533


Infopool / metainfo hamburg http://www.hh-online.com

Vice President Dick Cheney was hunting illegally - without the required $7 stamp on his license for quail - when he accidentally shot one of his hunting partners, Texas Parks and Wildlife officials said Monday.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/13864503.htm


From Information Clearing House

FEMA has let nearly 11,000 unused manufactured homes deteriorate on old runways and open fields in Arkansas, and the agency spent $416,000 per person to house a few hundred Hurricane Katrina evacuees for a short time in Alabama last fall, government investigators told the Senate on Monday.

http://tinyurl.com/c6tjl


From Information Clearing House

Yahoo makes plea over censorship :

Internet giant Yahoo says it is "deeply concerned" over government efforts to impose censorship.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4711654.stm


From Information Clearing House

Compulsory ID cards for UK citizens within five years:

Critics warn UK is "sleepwalking towards a surveillance state"
http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39156423,00.htm


From Information Clearing House

European investigators have been saying they “have no proof” of illegal CIA activities because European governments won’t cooperate. Here is proof — or at least information that will help them get the proof they say they need.

http://williambowles.info/spysrus/eu_renditions.html


From Information Clearing House

The Enduring Mission: to “maintain military preeminence that is consistent with the requirements of a strategy of American global leadership with global missile defenses” which protect and control land, sea, air, space and cyberspace.

http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/02/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html


From Information Clearing House

Western journalists are once again falling obediently into line as the British and American governments begin the long, arduous process of demonising another oil-rich target.

http://www.medialens.org/alerts/06/060209_iran_the_media.php


From Information Clearing House

Thanks to your continuing support, we have upgraded Democrats.com to permit effective local organizing by Congressional District. And we're putting this new capability to work to Impeach Bush/Cheney and End the War in Iraq. We urgently need your help to succeed, so please sign up below and spread the word!

Bob Fertik

Nonviolent Peaceful Demonstrations In Front of Congress Members' Homes Every Weekend

Democrats.com, Progressive Democrats of America, After Downing Street, Gold Star Families for Peace, the Hip Hop Caucus, Democracy Rising, and Velvet Revolution, are organizing grassroots teams in all 435 Congressional Districts plus 5 Delegate Districts (DC, PR, VI, GU, and AS) to hold nonviolent peaceful demonstrations every weekend in front of the homes of Members of Congress.

Our Mission: to persuade each of our Representatives to support

1. Impeachment: Support John Conyers' Watergate-style investigation (H.Res. 635) of Bush's Iraq War lies - and immediately introduce Articles of Impeachment for Bush and Cheney

2. Getting Out of Iraq: Support John Murtha's bill to remove troops from Iraq (H.J. Res 73) and Jim McGovern's bill to end funding for the Iraq War (H.R. 4232)

The Problem: For a year, we have tried all of the traditional lobbying techniques including marches, petitions, emails, letters, calls, town hall forums, and even face-to-face meetings with our Representatives. Yet despite all this effort, not one Representative is willing to introduce Articles of Impeachment, while fewer than 30 have co-sponsored Rep. Conyers' Watergate-style investigation. On Iraq, John Murtha's bill has nearly 100 co-sponsors but not the 218 needed to force a floor vote; Jim McGovern's bill has fewer than 20 co-sponsors, even though George Bush just asked for $120 billion more for a war America does not support and cannot afford.

The Solution: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King faced far worse resistance from political leaders when they tried to end segregation in the South. So they took their movement to the streets and marched peacefully directly into the face of that resistance. We will take our inspiration from them, and bring our movement nonviolently and peacefully into the face of our resistance: the 435 Members of Congress who are supposed to represent us but refuse to do so. (We'll make an exception for the House Honor Roll - Members who support our three priority bills above. For those Members, we will focus on Member Meetings to persuade them to introduce Articles of Impeachment.)

Learn More and Volunteer: You won't be part of this campaign unless you sign up here: http://www.democrats.com/cd


More Ways That You Can Act Every Day to End the War By David Swanson http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/7798


UPCOMING EVENTS TO END THE WAR AND HOLD WARMAKERS ACCOUNTABLE

Sign up for these, find others, and create yoru own at http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event

Peace Events in Vancouver February 14
12:30 – 2:00 pm Valentine’s Day "Give Peace a Dance" at Vancouver City Hall, 453 W. 12th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. 7:00 pm Vancouver: Peace Messenger City at Kitsilano Secondary School Auditorium, 2550 W. 10th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. Dr. Allan Connolly, past President of Physicians for Global Survival and Rex Weyler, Program Coordinator, World Peace Forum 2006

Making Change/Creating Peace! Featuring: Medea Benjamin, David Swanson February 15, 7:30 p.m. Veterans Hall, Santa Cruz, Calif. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/7457

War Research and the University February 15, 7 p.m.
180 PLC, University of Oregon Concerned Faculty for Peace and Justice, and Strike for Peace http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/7480

Committee Vote on House Resolutions of Inquiry into Illegal Spying The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled for mark-up of the two following resolutions: H. Res. 643, "Directing the Attorney General to submit to the House of Representatives all documents in the possession of the Attorney General relating to warrantless electronic surveillance of telephone conversations and electronic communications of persons in the United States conducted by the National Security Agency" H. Res. 644, "Requesting the President and directing the Attorney General to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution documents in the possession of those officials relating to the authorization of electronic surveillance of citizens of the United States without court approved warrants"

The mark-up conference will be carried live on the web, February 15, 2006, beginning at 10 a.m. ET. http://www.Judiciary.House.gov

Lights Out Chicago: 30-Day Electricity Fast Begins February 15, 8 a.m. to March 15, 7 p.m. For 30 days, local activists for social justice will forgo electricity at home, choosing instead to shed light on the failure of reconstruction efforts in Iraq to create significant and reliable improvements in electrical power supply since the U.S. led invasion and occupation. Lights Out Chicago participants will maintain a vigil at the Federal Plaza in Chicago (Dearborn and Adams) each weekday from 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., then on Saturdays and Sundays from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Water Tower Park ( Michigan and Pearson). http://vcnv.org/tue-3

Winter Of Our Discontent February 15 to March 19 Washington, D.C. Voices for Creative Nonviolence is organizing this campaign to help strengthen grassroots opposition and nonviolent resistance to the continued war against the people of Iraq. A core group will journey to Washington, D.C. to organize a 33 day fast, vigils, lobbying and nonviolent civil disobedience during this period. Others will join the core group in D.C. for shorter periods of time. Still others will organize local actions in their home communities. VCNV invites you to join them in D.C. for part or all of the Winter of Our Discontent. If you are not able to travel to D.C., you are encouraged to organize actions in your local community. http://vcnv.org

SIGNS FOR ANY OCCASION: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/6792


Take it Back: the movement for democracy and howard dean ::: a documentary film by heidi draper

In January 2004, the eyes of the country were focused on Iowa as the Democratic presidential candidates gathered for the famous Iowa Caucuses. Surprisingly, the front runner was upstart Howard Dean.

Take it Back brings us into the eye of what was called "The Perfect Storm" when thousands of Dean volunteers traveled to Iowa to help their candidate win the crucial first primary. It offers a grassroots view of the forces that propelled Dean ahead of the Democratic Party heavyweights, as well as those that brought Dean¹s meteoric rise to an abrupt halt.

With great humor and poignancy, Take it Back follows several of the unforgettable characters who helped lift Dean into the national spotlight, and shows us from the ground up their hopes, their frustrations, and their determination to restore their vision of America.

http://takeitbackfilm.com/


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