World-News

Der AKU beteiligt sich an der Vorbereitung der Demo in Biblis. Wir freuen uns wie immer über Unterstützung.


ATOMKRAFTWAFFEN ABSCHAFFEN

AUFRUF ZUR DEMONSTRATION

ANLäSSLICH DES 20. JAHRESTAGES DES SUPER-GAUS VON TSCHERNOBYL (26.04.)

Samstag, 29. April 2006, ab 12 Uhr vom Bahnhof Biblis zum AKW.

Wir, das „Aktionsbündnis 20 Jahre Tschernobyl“ suchen Eure Mithilfe: Organisiert mit uns die Demonstration am AKW Biblis!

20 Jahre nach dem Super-Gau von Tschernobyl schwindet das Wissen der Menschen über die Gefahren der Atomenergie. Gleichzeitig wittern die großen Energieversorger Morgenluft:

Link zum Artikel: http://www.aku-wiesbaden.de/artikel_107.htm

MARCH 18 - 19 COORDINATED ACTIONS AGAINST POVERTY, RACISM AND WAR - BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW

http://www.troopsoutnow.org/m18orgcents.shtml

Governors of both parties said Sunday that Bush administration policies were stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022706P.shtml

Mark Danner states that torture is a very direct route from human rights, which is to say, restricted power, to unleashed power. We see a movement here backwards from ideals that were at the root of this country's founding during the enlightenment: the restriction of government power and the conviction that human beings had certain inherent rights, one of which was the freedom from cruel and inhuman treatment.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022706O.shtml

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog/index.html

Is there a coming economic collapse? When will this happen? How will this affect us?

Many wonder what the future is for the global economy. Over the last few years economists have been expressing increasing concerns about the direction the global economy is going in, and the possibility of a worldwide depression. They have been warning about the growing global imbalances in the world economy, and the consequences if not corrected.

Yet we live in a time where the global economy is booming, especially in the Anglo-Saxon and Asian economies. Consumer spending is up. House prices around the world have risen dramatically. Unemployment remains low. The global economy has experienced the longest period of sustained economic growth in recent history. The $US continues remain stable.

Why has the global economy experienced such strong growth? Will this growth continue? What does the future hold?

Interestingly some of the stimulus for the growth the global economy has recently experienced is a result of decisions made following Sept 11^th . Already, prior to Sept 11^th the US Federal Reserve was maintaining a loose fiscal policy in an effort to stimulate economic growth in the US economy, which had slowed down following years of strong growth during the Clinton administration. Then along came Sept 11^th which threaten to destabilize the American banking system. To prevent this happening the Fed injected billions into the banking system to provide sufficient liquidity to prevent a run on the dollar and the banks.

Meanwhile, Japan since the late eighties had been wrestling with a stagnant economy, deflation and a rising currency. The Bank of Japan was already printing money prior to Sept 11^th to support their own debt-ridden banks and to stimulate the domestic economy, and has continued with this policy ever since – printing yen to purchase American dollars. Japan has been able avoid inflation through having high domestic savings and by investing heavily outside the country. This has kept the Yen from appreciating against the dollar, enabled Japan’s export sector to remain competitive, and kept interest rates at near zero. As much of Japan’s external investments have been in the USA, it has resulted in Japan holding assets worth trillions of US dollars, many of which are invested in US Treasury Bonds and Mutual Funds.

Printing money to solve a nation’s economic problem can never be sustained. Eventually, it will lead to the debasing of a nations currency and run-away inflation. Yet for a short period, it can create an artificial prosperity, deluding the masses into believing this new prosperity can be sustained. The long-term consequences of inflating their money supply will spell disaster for America and Japan, and have dire consequences for the global economy.

The rapid increase in the money supply of US dollars is the number one reason America’s wealth has shifted from the US to Asia and Europe. In particular China has benefited enormously from the inflow of dollars which has financed the rapid growth of its economy, providing the capital to develop their competitive export sector. The Asian economies high rates of personal savings have financed their domestic growth as well as finance the US deficits. This has continued to allow the USA to maintain its privileged position of retaining the $US dollar as the world’s reserve currency; and allowing it to retain its global military and political dominance.

It has become popular by American politicians to blame China for the decline in America’s production base. This is totally unfair, and shows both their ignorance and a failure to accept responsibility by the American leadership. Actually, it is through China being able to supply America with cheap consumer goods, and lend the capital to purchase these goods which has allowed the US to contain inflation, benefiting the American consumer. Germany, which is now the world’s number one export nation and which has a wage structure higher than the US, has had to cope with a rising currency, but has still been able to expand its exports between 10-20% per annum, and continues to have an expanding large trade and current account surpluses. German manufactures also have to compete with their Asian competitors just as those from America, yet have a 160.5 billion trade surplus.

The reason why America has such large trade and current deficits is because of the expansion of its money supply without the corresponding expansion of its productive capacity to produce the wealth to sustain the increase in money in circulation. The lack of domestic savings to provide the investment capital into new manufacturing capacity is also a contributing factor. The cost of maintaining a large military establishment and the decline in the social fabric of society are also significant contributing factors, both of which consume resources that should be invested in the manufacturing sector for a nation to remain internationally competitive.

So it would appear in the short-term, the loose monetary policies of America and Japan appear to have benefited everyone. Expanding the money supply has provided the capital to support the growth of the expanding Asian economies, especially those of India and China. Inflation (if you exclude property) has been contained (normally a consequences of a loose money policy) because of China and India being able to produce consumer goods and services cheaply for the global markets, preventing manufactures in the Anglo-Saxon economies from raising their prices.

The increase in the supply of US dollars has been able to finance the growth in global trade. It has also provided the liquidity to finance the trade in oil, even as its price continues to escalate.

But what are the long-term consequences of such fiscal policies?

1. The rise in property prices. The value of property is one of the first commodities to rise in value when the supply of money increases rapidly. In the short-term this makes property owners believe they have suddenly struck it rich, but in reality it is the decline in the value of their money. It also places an increased financial burden upon the population, who end up paying an increased percentage of their income on housing, unless their incomes also rise. The burden of servicing this new mortgage debt is riskier today, as much of the capital to finance the growth in mortgage debt has come from short-term borrowings through the banking system from Asian investors, with the interest being remitted back to these lenders, rather than retained in the local economy. The real danger is that if the Asian investors withdraw their capital from the Anglo-Saxon nations, it would cause a collapse of the property sector and threaten the survival of their banking system.

2. The shift of the productive manufacturing base from the Anglo-Saxon nations to low-cost Asian economies. The outflow of printed dollars from the USA to Asia has provided the capital to allow these countries to rapidly expand their manufacturing sector, and under-cut the higher cost Anglo-Saxon producers. Yet the increase of the money supply has allowed the Anglo-Saxon consumer to still have retained their ability to purchase consumer goods manufactured from Asia, often financed through borrowing from the same Asians, even as their income from the productive sector declines.

3. The increase in the money supply has resulted in the rapid growth in consummation of non-renewable resources in newly emerging economies in both the Anglo-Saxon countries and especially China and India. This growth in demand for these essential commodities can not be sustained. Without the supply of cheap energy our standard of living will not be maintained. Eventually the availability of energy will become limited to only those nations with currencies strong enough to purchase them.

4. Damage to the global environment – the increase of the money supply has stimulated economic growth to where the planet can no longer cope with the damage done to the environment. For the sake of short-term prosperity, we are destroying the ability of the planet to sustain life.

5. It has enabled the American, Japanese and UK Governments to finance their enormous budget deficits though borrowing the money they have printed. In the case of America and Britain is that they are also borrowing increasingly from nations that were their former enemies. In all these countries the national debt has grown to such an extent, that a tightening of the money supply resulting in higher interest rates, could increase their budget deficits to such an extent it would bankrupt them.

6. Funding of wars – America has been able to finance its wars in the Middle East on borrowed money – printed money now controlled from Asia. This has left the American economy extremely vulnerable and open to collapse if this money is with-drawn for geo-political reasons. Amazingly, the US does not even include the war in Iraq or Afghanistan in its budget.

7. Increasing the money supply to the extent that has happened, will eventually lead to the erosion in the value of the purchasing power of the currency, and a lack of international confidence in its value.

But what of the long-term consequences for the world if there is a collapse of existing economic system? What will be the future to the global economy of the loose money policies of the last few years? Does economic disaster now loom over the horizon? What will trigger off a lack of confidence by America’s creditors in continuing to invest in the USA and support the $US?

There could be any-one of a number of factors that would lead to international confidence in the American economy and the US dollar such as:

1. Switch from accepting payment in oil from dollars to Euro by OPEC.
2. A major national disaster, such as an earthquake in Tokyo, a cyclone in America, a terrorist attack.
3. A military defeat in Iraq.
4. A further blow-out in the US twin deficits.
5. Rising interest rates in other parts of the world.
6. Lack of confidence in America’s ability to service its debts.
7. Major economic calamities in the US, such as run on the banking system, fall in the share-market, or a collapse of major corporations.
8. A major disease epidemic, such as bird flu.

The world has experienced some of the greatest shift of wealth in recent history, from the Anglo-Saxon nations who have dominated the global economy for the last 200 years, to Asia and Continental Europe. This shift in wealth will shortly result in the economic collapse of the Anglo-Saxon nations – their money will become worthless, and their economies will disintegrate into anarchy and poverty. This collapse will also have disastrous consequences to the Asian economies, which have become depended on exporting to the North American market to support their domestic growth. While the Asian economies will be severely affected from the collapse of the Anglo-Saxon economies, they will survive and recover.

The region in the world which will fill the vacuum from the coming collapse of the $US will be the Eurozone. The Euro will replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, propelling the Eurozone nations into the most influential global economic power. To support filling the monetary vacuum following the collapse of the dollar, Europeans will have to resolve their constitutional differences and form a political union. Those nations that accept the EU Constitution will form a United States of Europe, but it is unlikely that all existing EU members will agree to be a part of such a political union.

The future for the Anglo-Saxon people looks bleak. The sudden withdrawal of overseas investment will see their economies go into fee-fall. Their currencies will be come worthless. Property prices will collapse. Businesses will fail. Disease will become wide-spread, made worse without the drugs to control that many that is now depended upon. Farmers without the money to purchase fuel and chemicals will no longer have the ability to mass produce food. Starvation and anarchy will prevail. There will be little governments can do to save their people from death and destruction.

Meanwhile, America’s over-stretched military will no longer have the financial resources to continue its futile Middle East wars, and to sustain its bases that circumnavigate the globe, will be forced to with-draw back to the USA.

Few can comprehend of the fate that lies ahead for the Anglo-Saxon group of nations. It will be a time of human suffering greater than ever experienced. Two thirds will die – those who survive will be taken into slavery. After 200 years of global dominance, their defeat will result in some of the most dreadful suffering mankind has experienced. Yet all this could be avoided if they had not rejected the Law of God. It is only by returning to following God’s Law and the teachings of Jesus Christ that this looming disaster can be avoided.

Bruce Porteous

bruceport@xtra.co.nz

26 February, 2006

By Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.

It is very obvious that this capitalistic nation is concerned merely with the financial interests of big corporations and nothing else matters, not even the very health and life of the American people. Its top priority is to cater to special interests.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12074.htm

Some of you will be aware of the difficulties we've been having finding a home which isn't iradiated by mobile phone masts, and the new police radio system TETRA. Well I got a mention in an article in The West Highland Free Press, a respected newspaper which covers most of the west coast of Scotland.

Regards,

Chris


Article text:-

Health controversy grows as spread of telecoms masts continues apace. West Highland Free Press Newspaper http://www.whfp.com/

Friday, 24th February, 2005.

MICHAEL RUSSELL on the debate over the proliferation of the TETRA microwave communication system, due to go live in Skye and Lochalsh next week.

Chris suffers from a rare condition called electro-sensitivity. Put simply, the Fife-based photographer is allergic to mobile phone technology, specifically the microwave signals which let the rest of us talk, text and cook.

As allergies go, this is about as bad as it gets. Skin rashes, headaches, disorientation and nosebleeds are what 30-year-old Chris has to con tend with whenever he passes a base station mast, or when someone nearby by uses the latest whizzbang 3G phone. It all makes for a very un comfortable and difficult life. A trip to the shops or a walk in the country can suddenly turn into a very painful experience.

Naturally his mother, Liz, wants to help. Last month she visited the offices of the Free Press to place an advert seeking accommodation on Skye. "There are wide open spaces in the Highlands where there are no masts," she explained. "Chris is looking for somewhere he can live without being afraid to go for a drive or a walk."

Fife to Skye is a long drive, es pecially for someone who herself suffers from ME. Evidently a son's health is more important than a mother's discomfort. She spent a few days house-hunting, placed the advert, then went back to Leven to wait for the good news.

What she got, however, was bad news. Now she and Chris will be staying put, at least for the time being. The Highlands and Islands, it transpires, are no longer the safe haven sought by mother and son. They know what to blame for that.

As of this month, Northern Constabulary started switching on its new "Airwave" system of microwave communication, promising police officers unprecedented access to data, encrypted security and inter-force capability.

Activating a vast network of Airwave antennae across Northern Constabulary's eight area commands means a lot more masts, and a lot more radiation, for people like Chris to dodge. The roll-out started in Lochaber at the beginning of this month, and is due to end when Skye and Lochalsh "goes live" next week.

According to Northern Constabulary, the whole Integrated Communiciation Development Programme - of which Airwave is the central element - has cost £4.5 million. Nationally, almost £3 billion of taxpayers' money has been spent to date on putting the basic Airwave system in place, so the Government is expecting big things from it. The rush to complete the national roll-out as soon as possible was driven by Gordon Brown's decision four years ago to sell all the police frequencies to an expectant mobile phone industry desperate to recoup the huge amounts spent on 3G technology. But many global players, both commercial and military, also want Airwave up and running because of its own intrinsic value.

Already various upgrades and add-ons, many with future military applications, are coming on the market. American telecoms giant Motorola - which dominates the UK Airwave market - launched the next generation of masts just three months ago. Arms giants Thales, EADS and Northrop Grumman also offer Airwave products and services. Inevitably, the cost is bound to increase over the course of the 15-year contract. This is a world-first, after all.

Over the last five years around 3,500 Airwave antennae, most of them site-sharing with other operators and thus free from the usual planning constraints, have been put up nationwide. Northern Constabulary Chief Constable Ian Latimer initially said the force needed 287 Airwave sites to cover the Highlands and Islands. That figure now stands at 150, raising concerns about how full coverage can be achieved with fewer masts. All the UK's 51 police forces are committed to Airwave, and this makes thousands of electro-sensitives like Chris nervous. They are not alone.

Since the system was piloted in Lancashire in 2000, there has been a steady stream of complaints from both users (police officers) and communities near to transmitters. Violent reactions like those experienced by Chris have occurred in people not known as electrosensitive. What is it about Airwave that might affect ordinary people in this way? And are its effects being ignored - or worse, covered up - by the industry?

The health controversy centres on two aspects of the system - the alleged pulsing of the microwave signals from Airwave police handsets and base stations, and the fact that base station transmitters are on full power 24/7. Ordinary mobile phone masts, by contrast, respond to demand, adjusting their power output accordingly.

Airwave is the light and fluffy brand name chosen for this technology by mobile company 02, which was formerly part of BT. The system is more accurately known as Terrestrial Trunked RAdio - TETRA.

During the Lancashire pilot study, 177 police officers complained of the same symptoms described by Chris. Behavioural and emotional changes were also noted. Such was the concern within the police service at the time that the Police Federation commissioned

Government microwave expert Barrie Trower to investigate the technology. His findings were shocking.

"Since the system was piloted in Lancashire in 2000, there has been a steady stream of complaints from users and from communities near to transmitters"

Microwaves from the UK's 40,000 mobile phone masts are bad news. Pulsed microwaves from TETRA are even worse. Mr Trower said both interfere with the electrical processes within the body and, depending on their frequency, can produce very specific effects and will even degrade immune systems in the long term. The 17.6 Hz frequency used by TETRA is especially significant: that is slap bang in the middle of the 15-20 Hz range which characterises the brain's electrical activity when engaged in complex mental tasks. Referred to in neuroscience as Beta Waves, this frequency range is also evident during the dream-state of sleep, which sufferers say is disrupted because of TETRA. Strobe lights are banned from flashing at this rate for this very reason, in case they induce an epileptic fit.

When he was head of the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, Sir William Stewart, now chairman of the Health

Protection Agency and formerly chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board, warned in 2000 that this frequency should be avoided. The Group noted that there "is now scientific evidence which suggests that there may be biological effects" occurring at exposure levels below official limits for microwaves from mobile phone (known in the industry as GSM) technology. Children under eight, said Sir William, should never use a mobile phone at all as they have thinner skulls than adults and their nervous systems are still developing.

As a result of the IEGMP's findings, microwave emissions from mobile phone masts and TETRA transmitters now have to stick to stringent international limits, which came into force in the UK in 2004. In an effort to allay public fears, the NRPB told the telecoms regulator OFCOM in 2004 to put all emissions data from GSM and TETRA base stations on their website. So far, only four masts in Scotland have been listed on Of corn's Sitefinder facility. None of the four is north of Falkirk, and no TETRA masts are included.

OFCOM spokesman Simon Bates told me that the Home Office had prevented the publication of any TETRA readings on security grounds. Verifying industry claims that TETRA complies with official microwave limits is therefore impossible.

But crucially for Mr Trower, and a growing body of expert opinion, those offical limits - enforced by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection - are badly flawed because they only cover the body heating effects of the radiation.

Since the Stewart Report of 2000, IEGMP consultees Dr Gerald Hyland and Dr Roger Coghill have published several papers which suggest, in common with Mr Trower, that key frequencies emitted by TETRA and mobile phone masts produce specific effects for entirely different reasons.

In a paper prepared for the European Parliament, Dr Hyland wrote: "Unlike the heating effect exposure to microwaves which can, if excessive, cause actual material damage, non-thermal influences act in a more subtle way, via their potentiality to interfere with biological functionality - in particular, it would appear, with bioprocesses which are intended to afford (natural) protection against adverse health effects of various kinds."

The industry, including its paid reseachers and political advocates, is unmoved. Recognising non-thermal effects, despite Sir William Stewart's admission, is still some way off. In fact, the official line is that TETRA signals from base stations do not pulse.

This assertion, say the Scottish Green Party, is a "hair-splitting" argument which averages out the signal over a set time period. Messrs Trower, Hyland and Coghill say the same. However, 02 do admit that the police handsets and car-mounted antennae do pulse. Makers of rival system TETRAPOL, which is used by the emergency services across Europe, say that UK TETRA base stations do pulse, though you might expect the competition to say that.

SEEKING some kind of clarity, I spoke to a man who should be able to give a definitive answer to the pulsing question.

Dr Michael Clark is a leading radiation expert who works for the Health Protection Agency, the body which absorbed Sir William Stewart's NRPB in April of last year. The HP A acknowledge that TETRA is different from other microwave technologies. But how different? Does it pulse?

According to Dr Clark, any electrical signal has to drop to zero to qualify as pulsed. "That is the offical definition that has been recognised for
30 years," he explained. "However, the TETRA signal does rise and fall at specific frequencies."

Could this rising and falling produce a biological effect? "That cannot be ruled out," he replied.

Dr Clark also acknowledged that all the current research being conducted by the Home Office was focused on the handsets and car-mounted antennae used by police officers. Not a single health study has been conducted on communities near any of the 3,500 TETRA sites in the UK. "We do need more research in this area," Dr Clark observed.

Such a move would certainly be welcomed by concerned residents across the UK. Groups from as far afield as Bognor Regis and Perthshire have reported the same symptoms as those felt by Chris. And very few of them qualify as electro-sensitives.

Arthur Jarrett, an anti-TETRA activist from Wormit in Fife - where councillors refused 02 planning permission for a TETRA mast last year - said more and more ordinary people were reporting microwave symptoms because the technology had changed so rapidly in such a short space of time. The proliferation of masts and phones (the latter increasing in number tenfold in the UK between 1995 and 2005) and the advent of 3G meant, he said, that power outputs had increased considerably to give full coverage and to "do all the wonderful things" the industry promises. "TETRA is an added nuisance," Mr Jarret commented.

For some it is more than a minor irritant. When a TETRA mast went live just a few hundred yards from Littlehamptom Primary School in Sussex in 2004,11 children were sent home with headaches and nosebleeds.

Originally from Ness in Lewis, Graham Morrison now stays in Partick, Glasgow, and last week chaired a public meeting in the local baptist church. "It was the cheapest venue we could afford," he said.

There's nothing funny about his microwave symptoms, or those of around
50 fellow sufferers who stay in just two streets in Thornwood. "It started about a year ago with headaches, tiredness and muscular pains," Mr Morrison added. "The doctors couldn't find anything wrong, but the problems persisted. Then others came forward with the same symptoms."

According to Mr Morrison, all the Thornwood sufferers began reporting microwave symptoms at the same time as two masts, 3G and TETRA, were put up in the area. "There are now 15 masts in the Partick area," he added. "The worst affected are those who live in the cross-lines between the 3G and TETRA masts.

"People here are getting angry because they feel they are being ignored. Everyone wants to know why the authorities won't recognise what's going on - why are they covering this up?"

David Baron, who lives in Chichester, told me that five local police officers had complained of similar symptoms when using TETRA handsets there. "They have been told not to go anywhere near the press because they will lose their jobs," he added.

Rural police users of TETRA, it seems, may have more to fear from the technology than their urban counterparts. Home Office research conducted by the University of Birmingham in 2004 warned that PCs working night shift in rural areas should be given "special attention" as their usage of TETRA equipment is likely to be heavier in comparison to city police forces, where staffing levels are higher.

These concerns were given added weight by a study conducted by Sweden's University Hospital last year which found that the risk of developing a brain tumour was six times higher among mobile phone users in rural areas than in cities. The reason stated by the authors was the greater distance between base stations in rural areas, and thus the higher power output of masts to achieve full coverage.

The University of Birmingham report, entitled "Airwave Patterns of Use Study", also warns that microwave exposure levels for the general public could exceed official ICNIRP limits if a person's head were within a "few centimetres" of a police car's antenna. However, the report then goes on to state that no data on microwave emissions was forthcoming from the only manufacturers of the car-mounted antennae chosen to take part in the study, Welsh firm Cleartone.

Other police health studies, such as the long-term project being conducted by Imperial College London, bemoan the difficulty in obtaining accurate call-duration records from 02 so that exposure can be measured. The latest ICL study also found that linking an individual TETRA user's subscriber number with a PC's collar ID was an "immediate concern" and far from staightforward.

LOCHCARRON councillor Ewen Mackinnon, who has served on the Northern Joint Police Board for several years, acknowledged there did seem to be a degree of uncertainty with regard to the health effects of TETRA on both users and the public. However, the board's main concern had been the financial implications of the new system, he said. Indeed, he told me last week that members were still awaiting clarification from the Scottish Executive about fully funding Airwave through Grant Aided Expenditure.

As the council tax accounts for 20 per cent Northern Constabulary's total budget, Mr Mackinnon wanted assurances that the cost of Airwave -the jewel in the crown of the force's Integrated Communications Development Programme - would not be passed on to taxpayers. This, he said, was especially significant in the Highlands and Islands as the basic TETRA package cannot give full coverage over our mountainous terrain.

Northern Constabulary say that 98 per cent of the funding for ICDP has come from the executive in the GAE settlement.

Mr Mackinnon added: "Northern Constabulary had no option about taking Airwave. The Scottish Executive forced them and said 'this is what's going to happen'."

This view is reinforced by a look at the minutes of the Northern Police Board.

On 25th January 2002, the minutes noted: "A contract for central procurement had been offered to this force, among others, through a Consortium, inviting Forces to commit to its terms by 26th February 2002.

"The chief constable was currently seeking legal advice, sight of the contract documents and advice from the Scottish Executive on the financial implications of the proposed contract before making a recommendation to Members on the proposed procurement arrangement."

But at the next Board meeting on 11th April the deal was done and dusted, without members getting a look at the documents or getting to meet Justice Minister Jim Wallace - a move agreed at the meeting of 25th January.

Board members had been given one month to consider taking Airwave before the 26th February deadline, but were given no contract information and no costings on which to base their conclusions.

The minutes of 11th April make it clear that only the Chief Constable had access to any kind of detailed information in the interim, which included a meeting with the Scottish Executive.

Was he given no choice, as Mr Mackinnon maintained, but to accept TETRA at this meeting?

This leads on to another question: who is pushing TETRA so hard, and why?

TO BE CONCLUDED

Published on Sunday, February 26, 2006
by the Sunday Times /UK
by Jonathan Leake

THE world’s coral reefs could disappear within a few decades along with hundreds of species of plankton and shellfish, according to new studies into man’s impact on the oceans.

Researchers have found that carbon dioxide, the gas already blamed for causing global warming, is also raising the acid levels in the sea. The shells of coral and other marine life dissolve in acid. The process is happening so fast that many such species, including coral, crabs, oysters and mussels, may become unable to build and repair their shells and will die out, say the researchers.

“Increased carbon dioxide emissions are making the world’s oceans more acidic and could cause a mass extinction of marine life similar to the one that occurred on land when the dinosaurs disappeared,” said Professor Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution’s global ecology department.

When CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels dissolves in the ocean, it forms carbonic acid. A little of this can benefit marine life by providing carbonate ions — a vital constituent in the biochemical process by which sea creatures such as corals and molluscs build their shells.

Caldeira found, however, that the huge volumes of carbon dioxide being released by humans are dissolving into the oceans so fast that sea creatures can no longer absorb it. Consequently, the levels of carbonic acid are rising and the oceans are “turning sour”.

Speaking at the American Geophysical Union’s ocean sciences conference in Hawaii last week, Caldeira said: “The current rate of carbon dioxide input is nearly 50 times higher than normal. In less than 100 years, the pH (measure of alkalinity) of the oceans could drop by as much as half a unit from its natural 8.2 to about 7.7.”

This would mark a huge change in ocean chemistry. The shells of marine creatures are made of calcium carbonate, the same substance as chalk, which is vulnerable to acidity. Even a slight increase in acidity would mean many creatures would dissolve. Others might be able to rebuild their shells but would be unable to reproduce.

Nature, the scientific journal, recently published a study by Jim Orr, of the Laboratory for Science of the Climate and Environment, Paris. It said that by 2050 the Southern Ocean and subarctic regions of the Pacific might be so acidic that the shells of smaller marine creatures would start eroding.

Such a loss would have disastrous consequences for larger marine animals such as salmon, mackerel, herring, cod and baleen whales. These all feed on pteropods, or sea butterflies, one of the species most threatened by rising acidity.

Last week another warning was issued about the threat of acidity to sea life at the annual meeting in St Louis of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Katherine Richardson, professor of biological oceanography at Aarhus University in Denmark, said: “These marine creatures do humanity a great service by absorbing half the carbon dioxide we create. If we wipe them out, that process will stop. We are altering the entire chemistry of the oceans without any idea of the consequences.”

© 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0226-06.htm

From Karen Barratt

It is worth mentioning that AP Mobile produced a report on telecoms planning in July 2004 (press conf etc). The Report took evidence from a number of campaign groups eg Winchester, Wishaw etc, local govt and the industry and made recommendations similar to some of those contained in the PMB including scrapping prior approval for masts under 15 metres. I spoke to Mike Dolan (MOA) at the press launch of the Report and he was clearly worried. He needn't have been - the Govt did nothing. I've refered to this many times in interviews and press releases as an example of how the Govt has ignored advice from various bodies. The AP Mobile Group was set up in response to the Winchester campaign's lobby of parliament in July 2001 (I was at the meeting when Mark Oaten and Phil Willis agreed to do it). It was intended to give people like us a voice - the then planning minister Lord Falconer had refused to meet us to discuss the proposed revision to PPG8 (We wanted the contentious paragraphs removed).

Over the years the industry have used the group as another means to lobby because they have the time and money to do it - campaigners don't. This is inevitable. They've sponsored the technology meetings (tea and biscuits thanks to Vodafone etc) but judging by recent newspaper reports don't like it when others do the same thing. Mast Sanity had discussed sponsoring an AP Mobile meeting in the past. I'm sure that would have prompted a simiilar outraged response from the telecom industry. Sometimes you can't win and that's the position AP Mobile finds itself in. It's worth looking at their website www.apmobile.org.uk . to see the way they accept mobile phone technology ie looking for ways to protect against adverse effects rather than damning the whole technology. Meetings about the phones themselves also shifts the focus away from planning and mast-siting (the reason the group was set up in the first place) We can attribute this to effective lobbying by the telecoms but being realistic it is in line with public opinion too. Pepole don't want masts but a majority do want phones as long as the negative 'social' aspects can be sorted out.

On Force And Fear Alone

by Tom Porteous, TomPaine.com
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/02/27/on_force_and_fear_alone.php

Grand Theft Baghdad

by Charlie Cray, TomPaine.com

For the party of fiscal accountability, Republicans in Congress have dangerously little interest in investigating the contracting scandals of the Iraqi occupation.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/02/27/grand_theft_baghdad.php

According to Paul Krugman, it may take some time before we muster the political will to counter inequality. But the first step toward doing something about inequality is to abandon the 80-20 fallacy. It's time to face up to the fact that rising inequality is driven by the giant income gains of a tiny elite, not the modest gains of college graduates.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022706Z.shtml

Action Alert from the Organic Consumers Association

Tell your Congressman or Congresswoman to vote "No" on House of Representatives Bill H.R. 4167, the "National Uniformity for Food Act".

The House of Representatives will vote this week on a controversial "national food uniformity" labeling law that will take away local government and states' power to require food safety food labels such as those required in California and other states on foods or beverages that are likely to cause cancer, birth defects, allergic reactions, or mercury poisoning. This bill would also prevent citizens in local municipalities and states from passing laws requiring that genetically engineered foods and ingredients such as Monsanto's recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) be labeled.

The House will vote March 2, 2006 on a bill that would gut state food safety and labeling laws. H.R. 4167, the "National Uniformity for Food Act," lowers the bar on food safety by overturning state food safety laws that are not "identical" to federal law. Hundreds of state laws and regulations are at risk, including those governing the safety of milk, fish, and shellfish. The bill is being pushed by large supermarket chains and food manufacturers, spearheaded by the powerful Grocery Manufacturers of America.

Big food corporations and the biotech industry understand that consumers are more and more concerned about food safety, genetic engineering, and chemical-intensive agriculture, and are reading labels more closely. They understand that pesticide and mercury residues and hazardous technologies such as genetic engineering and food irradiation will be rejected if there are truthful labels required on food products. Industry-sponsored H.R. 4167 is gaining momentum and must be stopped! Act now! Preserve local and regional democracy and protect yourself and your family from unsafe food by sending an email or calling your Representative and urging them to vote "No" on H.R. 4167.

Please Take Action Now--Send a Message to Your Congress Member in the House of Representatives to Vote "No" on H.R. 4167 http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/labeling.cfm

And please call your Congress Member at 202-224-3121

Regards & Solidarity,

Ronnie Cummins,
Organic Consumers Association

--------

We'd like to thank OCA supporters who responded to our action alert earlier this week and contacted your House of Representatives member to vote against H.R. Bill 4167. This blatantly anti-consumer Bill would eliminate over 200 state food safety labeling laws.

Yesterday, March 2, we won an unexpected and important victory, when the House decided to delay a scheduled vote on the controversial "National Unity for Food Act" until March 8. Industry lobbyists representing major food, biotech, and retail chains were shocked at the nationwide backlash against the legislation.

Congress members felt the heat as 50,000 consumers, including over 30,000 from the Organic Consumers Association, barraged Congress with email letters and phone calls over the past four days. Siding with consumers, a number of major newspapers published editorials against HR 4167, while Attorney Generals from 35 states sent a strong letter to Congress opposing the Bill. But Congress is still poised to pass this Bill, which takes away your right to know what's in your food.

How You Can Help

* If you have not already done so, please Take Action Now--Send a Message to Your Congress Member in the House of Representatives to Vote "No" on H.R. 4167 http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/labeling.cfm

* Please forward this Action Alert to five or more of your friends to ensure that the House votes "no" on HR Bill 4167 on March 8. We need to continue to inundate Congress with letters, sending a strong message that we want food safety laws and labels strengthened, not weakened.

* Also please consider picking up your phone and calling the Congressional Switchboard 202-224-3121 and have them connect you with the office of your Representative. Phone calls at this point are extremely important.

* In addition, OCA needs to raise at least $10,000 to crank up our phone bank next week to get thousands of organic consumers in key Congressional Districts to call or send a letter to their Representative. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the OCA now http://www.organicconsumers.org/donations.htm

Again thanks for taking action on HR 4167. Our cause is just and our numbers are growing. We will provide you with an update next week, as soon as Congress votes on this important issue of local democracy and food safety.

Regards & Solidarity,
Ronnie Cummins and the OCA Team

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/27/1519235


Informant: Friends



Total Information Awareness Lives On Inside the National Security Agency

Democracy Now!

"Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend -- all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as 'a virtual, centralized grand database.' Watch or listen here.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12090.htm

Not One Penny More for War! National Call-In Day Tuesday Feb. 28 Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard on Tuesday Feb. 28th at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative (or one of your Senators). Give them this basic message in your own words: "I strongly oppose the war in Iraq. I want all our troops brought home safely, without delay. I urge Representative X to vote against the President's $72.4 billion 'emergency' supplemental request for the war." More Info: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/8237

The Republicans who run Congress will include small amounts of money for all sorts of good things in the supplemental or group of supplementals to be voted on. This will provide your Representative all sorts of noble excuses for voting for a lot more money for war. Tell them this position will only be credible if they cosponsor Rep. Jim McGovern's bill, which simply ends funding for the war: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/end

To see how your Representative has voted on the war, download the UFPJ Congressional Scorecard (in Excel spreadsheet format) by clicking here: http://tinyurl.com/ex2bs


Buy The Book That Will Impeach Bush

This urgent book by the Center for Constitutional Rights presents four Articles of Impeachment: warrantless surveillance, lying to Congress about Iraq, torturing prisoners, and subverting the Separation of Powers. Buy a copy and send one to your Representative - $9.95 can change America!


Stop Evictions of Katrina Victims

On March 15, FEMA plans to evict thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina. Thousands have already been evicted. Trailers sit unused and unshipped to New Orleans. Our federal government is engaged in a campaign to exclude poor and black people from the new version of the city it allowed to be destroyed. On March 14, tens of thousands of Americans will skip work and march from the U.S. Capitol to the White House, and we will not leave until Bush announces a plan for housing and orders an end to evictions. Press Conference: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., Rayburn House Office Building - Room #2237 Mardi Gras Style March for Justice: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m., will start from Capitol South Metro Stop at 2:00 p.m. to the White House Rally & Protest at the White House: 3:00 p.m. - 11:59 p.m., Lafayette Square Park LEARN MORE: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/8221

READ ABOUT RELATED LEGISLATION AND CONTACT YOUR CONGRESS MEMBER NOW: http://tinyurl.com/pqs4d

NEW WEBSITE COMING SOON: http://www.katrinamarch.org


GRANDMAS FOR IMPEACHMENT Five Grandmas in Pink Aprons Let Bush and Cheney Have It! Watch the Raging Grannies in this video from February 15, 2006, in Santa Cruz. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/8249


27 Congress Members for Upholding Rule of Law: NOT ENOUGH Twenty-seven support an investigation into impeachment. That is not enough. What about yours? When Richard Nixon abused power, Congress held a serious, bi-partisan investigation that resulted in articles of impeachment. Strong evidence suggests that George Bush and Dick Cheney launched an illegal war and lied to Congress, spied on Americans without court approval, leaked classified information, produced phony news reports, imprisoned without charge and tortured, targeted civilians and used illegal weapons. Ask your Congress Member to cosponsor House Resolution 635 for an investigation.

Email Congress: http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=8329176

Learn more: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/5768

Register to join in local protests: http://www.democrats.com/user/register

Read the whole protest plan: http://www.democrats.com/cd

Organize your congressional district: http://pdamerica.org/orgs/cdpp-form.php


UPCOMING EVENTS TO END THE WAR AND HOLD WARMAKERS ACCOUNTABLE

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

See Also: UFPJ's 3rd Anniversary of the War Calendar of Events http://unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?caltype=39&lcountry=&state=&search=Search

See Also: PDA Events http://pdamerica.org/events/main-list.php

Panel Discussion Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst, author of “Sham Dunk: Cooking Intelligence for the President” Chapter 18 of Neo-CONNED! Again Stephen J. Sneigoski, PhD, author of “Neoconservatives, Israel, and 9/11: The Origins of the U.S. War on Iraq” Chapter 6 of Neo-CONNED! Again J. Forrest Sharpe, editor of Neo-CONNED! and Neo-CONNED! Again March 2, 2006, 6-8 p.m. Barnes and Noble, 555 – 12th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001 (Metro Center) http://www.neoconned.info

Is There a Case for Impeachment? March 2, 8 p.m. A public forum featuring Lewis H. Lapham, Rep. John Conyers, Michael Ratner, Elizabeth Holtzman, and John Dean, moderated by Sam Seder. Town Hall, 123 W 43rd St, New York, NY www.ticketmaster.com


See Flyer

A Day of Events in San Diego Friday, March 3 Lunch at Catfish Club, featuring: David Swanson, Ann Wright; UCSD Anti-War Rally, www.truthout.org ;
6:30 p.m. panel discussion, featuring: Cindy Sheehan, Ann Wright, David Swanson, John Amato. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/6744

Community Meeting on STOPPING WAR AGAINST IRAN Friday, March 3rd 6:30 - 9:00 pm Creating a Nuclear Weapons Free Middle East St. Stephen's Church (16th and Newton St. NW, Washington DC) RAY MCGOVERN, SIMIN ROYANIAN, KEVIN MARTIN. Washington Peace Center, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Committee and the DC Anti-War Network http://stopthewarnow.net

4th Annual Party for Progressives! Activist San Diego presents: We say NO to War! We Support Peace & Justice for All! Special Guest: CINDY SHEEHAN Sat March 4, 8 -11pm Balboa Park Club Ballroom, San Diego, CA Dancing to award winning dance band LIQUID BLUE To purchase tickets: 619-528-8383 or http://www.ActivistSanDiego.org

Scott Ritter and Gore Vidal in LA U.S. Tour of Duty's Real Intelligence Project, Los Angeles City Beat, and Progressive Talk AM 1150 present an emergency public discussion about Iraq, Iran and America's constitutional crisis with Former UN Weapons Inspector SCOTT RITTER and GORE VIDAL March 4, 4 - 5:30 p.m. Immanuel Presbyterian Church
3300 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles Doors open 3 p.m. http://www.ustourofduty.org

Women Say No to War March 5 - 9 Events in NY and DC http://www.womensaynotowar.org/article.php?id=799.


FORWARD THIS INFORMATION

http://www.gigaherz.ch/1004



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Schwarzenburg

http://www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis58.htm Part 1
http://www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis59.htm Part 2

http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd169.htm Part 1
http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd170.htm Part 2

http://www.newswithviews.com/Spingola/deanna25.htm Part 1
http://www.newswithviews.com/Spingola/deanna26.htm Part 2
http://www.newswithviews.com/Spingola/deanna34.htm Part 3