World-News

On Wednesday, March 1st, Stacy Bannerman, the wife of a National Guard soldier who returned from Iraq, will testify in front of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs. She will be joined at the hearing by other Iraq vets and family members to tell Congress to stop war funding and bring the troops home now.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022806F.shtml

The average American family has taken a financial tumble and millions in the country go hungry despite President George W. Bush's sunny assessment of the US economy, says federal data and economists.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022806D.shtml

Philippe Gelie returns to the looking-glass world of Guantanamo after a little over two years and describes the changes - and the absence of changes - he observes.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022806C.shtml

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has refused to stop work on the erection of a contentious mobile phone mast at a Southside Garda Station. The Oireachtas Committee on the Environment asked the OPW commissioner, David Byers, to suspend work on the erection of 12 transmitters proposed for the mast at Shankill Garda station. Last Wednesday, hundreds of local residents protested outside the Garda station in Shankill against the erection of the mast. The Dáil committee wanted Mr Byers to order the OPW’s consultants Vilicom to stop their work at the site, pending clarification of planning issues and an inter-departmental report on the health implications of mobile phone masts. Mr Byers refused to do so, arguing that the OPW had received a letter from Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, which confirmed that the work was exempt from planning permission. He said the OPW would get legal advice on the matter and report back to the committee when they had done so.

However, Dun Laoghaire TD, Eamon Gilmore (Lab), told Southside People last week that he believed the case was “by no means an open and shut case”. Deputy Gilmore said that the council had made no formal declaration that the development was exempt from planning permission. The committee had asked the council to make this declaration, he said. When this declaration is made both parties will be able to appeal the exempted development to An Bord Pleanala. Deputy Gilmore added that he doubted whether the development was exempted for a number of reasons, such as the number of antennae on the mast and the fact that one of the mobile companies had not yet claimed an exemption. He has written to the council highlighting what he believes may disqualify the exemption. Last week, local Fine Gael councillor, John Bailey, said a recently formed group called Shankill Community Against Radiation (SCAR) is demanding that Dun Laoghaire Rathdown’s Government TDs ensure that the State guarantees the health and safety of its constituents ahead of the interests of mobile phone companies. “It is vital that our elected Government TDs join in the campaign to prevent the mast from being erected in Shankill,” Cllr Bailey said. Three weeks ago, 47 gardai at Shankill station signed a petition voicing their concerns about the possible health implications the mast could have. Speaking to Southside People last week, Garda John O’Brien, a local representative for the Garda Representative Association (GRA) who organised the petition, said he was concerned that An Garda Siochana were being “sold out” by Justice Minister Michael McDowell and his PD colleague, Minister of State at the OPW, Tom Parlon. “I think the Garda Siochana are for sale as far as the PDs are concerned,” Garda O’Brien said. “The Garda Siochana is in the unfortunate position of being tenants of the OPW. “We, as tenants, have no say now,” he added. “The Garda authorities have done a deal with the OPW and I hear the sum of e10 million has been mentioned. “We are in a bleak position and we cannot be out protesting with the public because we could be out arresting them the following day if a High Court injunction was taken against the protestors.”

http://www.dublinpeople.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=819&Itemid=49

by Rob Richie and Ryan O'Donnell, TomPaine.com

Stop the Diebolds and gerrymandering; but at the end of the day, there's still one major obstacle to democracy.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/02/28/a_national_popular_vote.php

by Wayne White, TomPaine.com

A former intelligence analyst on the danger of this White House's aversion to bad news.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/02/28/the_peril_of_selective_reality.php

Auch die neue Bundesregierung weigert sich, den schweren Euro-Systemfehler anzuerkennen und die Konsequenzen daraus zu ziehen. Bundesfinanzminister Steinbrück will einem verschärften Defizitverfahren gegen Deutschland, herbeigezwungen durch ein anhaltendes Haushaltsdefizit, dadurch entgehen, daß er der EU-Kommission vorschreiben möchte, auch die Leistungsbilanz und die Inflationsrate Deutschlands zu berücksichtigen. Im »Spiegel« liest man den verräterischen, doch nur ökonomischen Fachleuten verständlichen Hinweis, daß, finanziell gesehen, ein Leistungsbilanzüberschuß, wie ihn Deutschland erzielt, einer billigen Kreditgewährung an importierende Länder gleichkomme. Das ist ein verschlüsselter Hinweis und verschämtes Eingeständnis des Euro-Systemfehlers, wie er in diesem WALTHARI-Portal wiederholt beschrieben wurde, zuletzt am 20. August 2005. Resigniert stellt die EZB in ihrem Dezemberbericht 2005 fest (S. 69 f.): »Im Jahr 2005 wurden im Euro-Währungsgebiet kaum Fortschritte bei der Erreichung einer soliden Haushaltslage erzielt... Defizite in Höhe oder oberhalb des Referenzwerts von 3 % des BIP werden für fünf Länder (Deutschland, Griechenland, Frankreich, Italien und Portugal) erwartet. Damit hätten mit Ausnahme Portugals alle genannten Staaten während des größeren Teils der Zeit seit der Euro-Einführung im Jahr 1999 einen Haushaltsfehlbetrag oberhalb des Referenzwerts verzeichnet.« Auch hiermit wird indirekt der Strukturfehler bestätigt, zu dessen Klarstellung der WALTHARI-Beitrag hier nochmals abgedruckt wird. © WALTHARI® – Aus: http://www.walthari.com



20. August 2005

»Deutschland wird die Währungsunion verlassen« - Folge eines schweren, unheilbaren Systemfehlers -

Univ.-Prof. Dr. E. Dauenhauer

1

Man muß nicht erst Wirtschaftswissenschaft studiert haben, um zu bemerken, daß am System der europäischen Einheitswährung etwas nicht stimmt. Es ist keineswegs die angeblich nur gefühlte Geldentwertung, welche die Deutschen veranlassen, den Euro als Risikowährung zu betrachten. Mag man noch so häufig auf offiziellen Statistiken hinweisen, der Warenkorb der Haushalte verzeichnet zahlreiche Preisausreißer, die täglich ins Auge fallen. Man braucht dazu nur den einstigen Preis für eine Tasse Kaffee mit demjenigen in Euro zu vergleichen oder die Friseurrechnungen von ehemals und heute. Die Realeinkommen der Haushalte sind nicht allein infolge von Steuern, Sozialabgaben und Lohnzurückhaltung gesunken, das Einkommen hat auch durch Preissteigerungen von eurobepreisten Konsumartikeln an Kaufkraft eingebüßt. Hinzu kommt die meist übersehene sog. Asset-Price-Inflation, d.h. Preissteigerungen für Vermögensbestände (Häuser, Aktien, Rentenpapiere u.ä.): Je Euro kann immer weniger volkswirtschaftliches Vermögen erstanden werden, eine Inflationsseite, die beträchtlich zu Buche schlägt. Kein Wunder also, daß laut Umfrage 2005 mehr als 54 Prozent der Deutschen sich die DM zurückwünschen. Daß dieser Vertrauensentzug noch Jahre nach der Euroeinführung besteht, belegt, auf welch brüchigem psychologischem Fundament die Einheitswährung ruht.

Die überwiegende Ablehnung ist aber auch sachlich wohlbegründet. So ist unbestreitbar, daß das deutsche Wirtschaftswachstum seit dem Währungsbruch schwächer ist als in kleineren Euro-Ländern, die vom Währungswechsel offenbar systembedingt profitieren (die Erklärung weiter unten). Ausgerechnet die größte Volkswirtschaft in Europa ist durch die Einheitswährung ins Hintertreffen geraten und zahlt den Preis für eine politische Fehlentscheidung. Denn der Euro ist ein Wunschkind der politischen Klasse, die über die Preisgabe der DM wohlweislich nicht mit Volksentscheid hat befinden lassen. Verräterisch, was Josef Deiss, Bundespräsident und Wirtschaftsminister der Schweiz, am 22. Nov. 2004 im ›Handelsblatt‹ zu Protokoll gab. Auf die Frage: »Würden Sie bei einem Beitritt (zur EU) auch Ihre eigene Währung aufgeben?« antwortete Deiss: »Nein. Bei uns ist eine eigene Währungspolitik möglich, was zur Folge hat, dass wir niedrigere Zinsen haben als in der EU. Das ist ein Vorteil. Die währungspolitische Eigenständigkeit hat mehr Vorteile als Nachteile.« Das trifft den Nagel auf den Kopf. Daß dieser Sachverhalt offenbar nur gelernte Ökonomen sofort durchschauen, war bisher ein willkommener Schutz vor noch mehr Ablehnung. Doch auch ohne Aufklärung bröckelt die Eurofront: »Dieser Euro ist ein Desaster« für Italien, ließ sich Ministerpräsident Berlusconi im Juli 2005 vernehmen. Noch entlarvender sind die Analyse-Ergebnisse der zweitgrößten Bank der Welt. In ihrer Studie ›European Meltdown‹ (2005) legen die Fachleute der Londoner HSBC offen, was auf den Kontinent öffentlich kaum jemand zu diskutieren wagt: daß nämlich der Einheitszinssatz in der Währungsunion Deutschland systematisch benachteiligt. Er bremst das Wirtschaftswachstum um 1,4 Prozent und birgt die Gefahr der Deflation. Die HSBC-Analysten rechnen damit, daß Deutschland in den nächsten fünf bis zehn Jahren gezwungen sein werde, die Währungsunion zu verlassen. Beschleunigt werde dieser Prozeß durch mögliche Zahlungsunfähigkeit mancher Mitglieder und durch Protektionismus. Ein Blick auf den Haushaltsentwurf des Bundes für 2006 zeigt, daß für die Tilgung allein der Bundesschulden der zweithöchste Posten angesetzt werden muß (41 Mrd. Euro). Schweden, Norwegen, England und die Schweiz, die dem Euro abhold sind, stehen seit Jahren wirtschaftlich weit besser da als Deutschland. Warum?

2

Um den Mechanismus der systematischen Benachteiligung Deutschlands besser zu verstehen, muß man sich die Lage vor der Euro-Einführung kurz klarmachen. Jedes Land hatte seine eigene Währung und war für deren Stabilität selber verantwortlich. Kam es zu übermäßigen Geldentwertungen, wurde dies im Außenverkehr automatisch über die Devisen- und Zinsmärkte abgestraft. Italiener mußten z.B. für ihre inflationierende Währung immer mehr Lire für eine DM hinlegen, und auch die Zinsen für Kredite aus dem Ausland waren risikobedingt höher als in Deutschland. Deutsche Verbraucher und Unternehmen wurden also mit niedrigeren Zinsen und angepaßten Devisenkursen für ihre Währungsdisziplin belohnt, auch Investitionen auf Kredit waren zinsgünstig. Mit der Einführung der Einheitswährung trat ein anderer Mechanismus in Kraft: Die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) kann bei einer Einheitswährung nur einheitliche Zinsen für alle Euro-Mitglieder verordnen. Die EZB ist aber außerstande, die nach wie vor bestehenden unterschiedlichen Inflationsraten (durch eingefleischte Konsum- und Spargewohnheiten usw.) ebensowenig zu verhindern wie unterschiedliche Fiskalpolitiken, deren Schuldenmachen in der politischen (Steuer-)Hoheit der einzelnen Länder verbleibt. Die Kreditzinsen lagen (im Durchschnitt) vor der Euro-Einführung in Griechenland bei 15,7 Prozent, danach bei nur 5,2 Prozent. Italien gewann durch den Euro einen (unverdienten) Zinsgewinn von 4,4 Prozent, Irland von 2,3 Prozent, Spanien von 3,8 Prozent, Finnland von 3,0 Prozent und Portugal von 4,0 Prozent. Deutschland hingegen und die Niederlande konnten als ehemalige Hartwährungsländer nur 1,5 Prozent verbuchen. Da in der Ökonomie vornehmlich die relativen und nicht so sehr die absoluten Differenzen zählen, ist der Unterschied zwischen 1,5 und den höheren Werten gravierend: Da die EZB für alle Länder den gleichen Basiszinssatz vorgibt, können Investitionen in stärker inflationierenden Ländern mit geringeren Realzinsen finanziert werden, womit deren Wachstum dasjenige in Deutschland übertrifft, weil hierzulande höhere Zinskosten anfallen, als es nach der Bonitätslage erforderlich wäre. Hauptsächlich Deutschland zahlt also fortwährend (!) den Preis für das Währungsabenteuer. Mit mehreren Milliarden Euro jährlich an versteckten Zinssubventionen, die systembedingt nicht zu unterbinden sind, ermöglicht Deutschland unrealistische Realzinsen in Griechenland, Irland, Portugal und Spanien. Den zusätzlichen Wachstumseffekt in Spanien schätzen Fachleute auf 3,1 Prozent des Bruttoinlandsprodukts, während der Zinsnachteil den Deutschen 1,4 Prozent an fehlendem Wirtschaftswachstum kostet, in Euro ausgedrückt: rund dreißig Mrd. jährlich. Den Systemfehler kann die EZB nicht beseitigen, sie müßte sonst unterschiedliche Länderzinsen gewähren, was vertraglich nicht geht und faktisch die Auflösung der Einheitswährung bedeuten würde. Die internationalen Finanzmärkte sehen die ehemaligen Schwachwährungsländer durch den deutschen Subventionsmeister bonitätsmäßig abgesichert und verzichten auf einen Risikoaufschlag, für den die Deutschen klammheimlich geradestehen.

Dieser für Laien schwer durchschaubare Mechanismus läßt Fachleute (nicht nur bei der HSBC) darüber nachdenken, wie lange Deutschland seine Benachteiligung hinnehmen kann. Rechtlich ist ein Austritt aus der Währungsunion möglich, wirtschaftlich sträuben sich hauptsächlich die Konzerne dagegen (als Globalisierer bringt ihnen der Euro nur Nutzen), und politisch hat sich eine makabre Verteidigungsfront aufgebaut. Als nach den Abstimmungsniederlagen in Frankreich und Holland (über die EU-Verfassung) auch der Euro infrage gestellt wurde, bezeichnete der französische EZB-Präsident die Diskussion als »kompletten Unsinn« - kein Wunder: Frankreich profitiert vor allem politisch von der Währungsunion; es hatte als Preis für seine Zustimmung zur Wiedervereinigung von Deutschland verlangt, daß es seine europäische Dominanzwährung, die DM, aufgibt (›Sieg ohne Waffen‹ triumphierten Pariser Medien). Deutsche Politiker aller Parteien finden keinen Mut zur offenen argumentativen Diskussion, nicht einmal angesichts der Tatsache, daß der Stabilitäts- und Wachstumspakt hinfällig geworden ist. Was an Euro-Vorteilen einst angepriesen wurde, hat sich nicht erfüllt: weder höheres Wachstum noch niedrigere Arbeitslosigkeit, weder geringereWährungsschwankungen noch mehr Welthandel (vgl. den jüngsten Textilprotektionismus der EU), weder eine stärkere Position gegenüber Wall Street noch höhere Arbeitnehmergewinne (durch Migration, Lohn- und Rechtsangleichung). Während der Ifo-Chef Prof. H.W. Zinn den verlorenen Zinsvorteil zugibt, vernebelt der ›Wirtschaftsweise‹ Prof. Peter Befinger die Sachlage: »Es wäre ohne den Euro noch schlimmer.« Zu den beschwerenden Fakten zählen außerdem noch: Der Bundesbankgewinn, im Jahre 1997 noch etwa 25 Mrd. DM, sank im Jahre 2004 auf 0,676 Mrd. Euro. Nicht genau zu beziffern (weil mehrursächlich) sind die gewaltigen Verluste durch erzwungenen Lohnverzicht und durch Wegfall von Arbeitsplätzen (auch infolge eines zu geringen Wachstums).

Man fragt sich: Welchen selbstmörderischen Mut muß man aufbringen, um den Euro als Gewinn für Deutschland anpreisen zu können? Es ist keinem der Verantwortlichen erlaubt, sich mit Unwissenheit herauszureden. Prof. W. Hankel und andere (vgl. die Kritiken in diesem WALTHARI-Portal: beginnend am 20. Juli 2001, danach etwa ein Dutzend Beiträge) haben von Anfang an den Systemfehler und die vielfachen Nachteile für Deutschland (vgl. oben) aufgezeigt. Es ist mehr als nur erstaunlich, daß die kostspielige Benachteiligung Deutschlands im Eurosystem nicht einmal im gegenwärtigen Wahlkampf eine Rolle spielt. Die Unaufgeklärtheit der Wähler erlaubt es der politischen Klasse, das Thema zu tabuisieren, obschon es jedem einzelnen deutschen Bürger seit Jahren teuer zu stehen kommt und in Zukunft ein »Super-GAU« (Joachim Fels, Morgan Stanley) ... © WALTHARI® – Aus: http://www.walthari.com


Nachricht von Gerd Zesar

ACTION PAGE: http://www.nocrony.com/food_safety.php

Just in case you weren't sick and tired enough of corporate special interests writing word for word every piece of legislation passed by our corrupt Congress, along comes the so-called "National Uniformity for Food Act", H.R. 4167.

What it would actually "uniformly" do is gut every existing state regulation on food safety and labeling. They want to make it ILLEGAL to put more consumer information on our food than permitted by a new "look the other way" federal standard.

There is a vote scheduled in the House for Thursday, March 2. If passed by the usual gang of arm-twisting vote holder openers, H.R. 4167 would make it impossible for we the consumers to monitor the infiltration of our food supply by a witches' brew of genetically butchered organisms, pesticide and mercury residues, irradiation, and synthetic hormones. With an administration based on government secrecy run amok, they literally want to turn the pollution of our food by unnatural additives into classified information. Why do the corporate biotech giants pushing this bill not want us to know what they are putting in our food? What are they afraid we might do . . . not eat it?

ACTION PAGE: http://www.nocrony.com/food_safety.php

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.

Powered by The People's Email Network Copyright 2006, Patent pending, All rights reserved

http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/story.asp

THE STORY

We have been burning large amounts of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas for almost 200 years. This has enabled us to build the modern societies that exist today. However, what we didn't know was that along the way we have been creating the biggest problem that we have ever faced.

That problem is climate change. It goes like this: burning fossil fuels produces gases like carbon dioxide which collect in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a so-called "greenhouse gas" - that which naturally exists in the atmosphere helps keep the planet warm enough for life to exist. But by massively adding to it we¹re trapping too much heat in the system. This is creating more extreme weather, melting of the ice caps, floods and droughts. In turn this will cost the lives of millions, ruin the livelihoods of hundreds of millions more, severely affect animal and plant life across the globe and cost trillions of dollars. Climate change is already killing 150,000 people a year. In other words, this isn¹t just a problem for future generations. It's happening now.

Don't just take our word for it. The vast majority of climate change experts believe that this is a global catastrophe in the making. It is also accepted as a massive danger by the bulk of the world's Governments. In fact the UK Government's Chief Scientific Advisor believes it's more dangerous than terrorism, and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has declared that climate change is the greatest long term threat we face.

So you'd think world leaders would be taking urgent action to stop this chaos. Wrong. Most of them - and in fact most of us - are carrying on as if we hadn't seen all the danger signs. That's why Stop Climate Chaos has been formed. We are going to build irresistible public pressure - through political action and changes to our own lifestyles - to force world leaders to act. The Governments of the world must put in place the necessary policies to switch off fossil fuels, and help us all switch to lower energy lifestyles and cleaner sources of power. And the time for them to do it is now.

But it's not all doom and gloom! This is actually a great opportunity. By dealing with climate change we can also deliver the access to green energy that the world's poorest people have been long demanding, add greater protection to the natural environment, increase global security and adopt smarter lifestyles - not to mention save ourselves a whole load of money in the long run. We know how to do it. All it will take is political will.

So let's Stop Climate Chaos. Now. Because together we can.

Click here to take action: http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/action.asp

Download our Manifesto here: http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/aboutus_manifesto.asp

Download our policy platform, What the UK Government Must Do, here: http://tinyurl.com/ot7h3


Informant: NHNE

The American Conservative
by John Laughland

02/27/06

Neocons believe, as George W. Bush said in 2002, that the great struggles of the 20th century have ended in the decisive victory of 'a single sustainable model for national success.' They welcomed the end of the Cold War precisely because it overcame the division of the world into competing political systems and seemed to create in its place the beginnings of a monolithic unipolar world system with America and American values -- especially universal human rights -- as its ideological core. Islam presents an obstacle to the full realization of this goal and this is why neocons have now announced that they intend to 'democratize' the whole of the Middle East as well. Yet it is these underlying beliefs about the international system that give the lie to the neocon claim to want to democratize the planet...

http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_02_27/article2.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger

02/27/06

It shouldn't surprise anyone that there are Americans who say, 'Trust the president' with respect to spying on Americans, monitoring their conduct, and recording their telephone conversations without a judicially issued warrant. After all, there were those who said, 'Trust the president,' when the president and his associates were scaring American grown-ups half to death with the imminent prospect of Saddam Hussein coming to the United States and exploding 'mushroom clouds' over American cities. Throughout history, there have been segments of the populace in every society who, mostly out of fear, have said, 'Trust our ruler. He will take care of us'...

http://tinyurl.com/lewm7


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Power of Narrative
by Arthur Silber

02/27/06

The following may seem like a paradox, but in fact it is only two sides of the same coin -- or two different ways of achieving the same goal. On the one hand, Bush and his numerous allies throughout our culture proclaim the foundational virtue of independence, self-reliance and individualism -- that with sufficient 'will,' we can accomplish anything. We are self-determining beings: we are what we choose to be. On the other hand, with regard to broad questions of foreign policy -- and with regard to narrower questions such as the use of torture or warrantless spying -- they announce: 'We have no choice about what we do. We must do these things, if we wish to save our country, and civilization itself.' But note the aim which both approaches serve: they want to be able to do whatever they wish -- and they never want to be held accountable for any of it...

http://tinyurl.com/mkxou


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Houston Chronicle

02/27/06

The White House today rejected the call by several House Democrats for a special counsel to investigate the Bush administration's eavesdropping program. 'I think that where these Democrats who are calling for this ought to spend their time is on what was the source of the unauthorized disclosure of this vital and critical program in the war on terrorism,' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said...

http://tinyurl.com/qjwqp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

USA Today

02/27/06

The New York Times sued the Department of Defense on Monday, saying the government has refused to turn over records related to its domestic warrantless surveillance program. In its federal lawsuit, the Times asked the court to order the government to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request requiring it to release documents or provide a lawful reason why it cannot...

http://tinyurl.com/kjcrz


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Guardian [UK]

02/28/06

The Earth's temperature could rise under the impact of global warming to levels far higher than previously predicted, according to the United Nations' team of climate experts. A draft of the next influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report will tell politicians that scientists are now unable to place a reliable upper limit on how quickly the atmosphere will warm as carbon dioxide levels increase. The report draws together research over the past five years and will be presented to national governments in April and made public next year. It raises the possibility of the Earth's temperature rising well above the ceiling quoted in earlier accounts...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1719608,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Asian Tribune [Thailand]

02/28/06

The United States, which has expressed strong reservations over a proposed draft resolution for the creation of a new Human Rights Council (HRC), is heading for a collision course with the highest policy-making body at the United Nations: the 191-member General Assembly. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton says he is 'very disappointed' with the draft resolution, and is threatening to vote against it in the General Assembly -- if there are no amendments. ... Bolton, who has been seeking to block 'habitual human rights violators' -- identified by the United States as countries such as Sudan, Zimbabwe, Libya and Cuba -- wants members to the new Council elected by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly. Since this move was opposed by most developing nations, General Assembly President Jan Eliasson, who crafted the draft resolution, opted for a compromise: an 'absolute majority' -- meaning 96 votes in a 191-member General Assembly. Bolton also wants a smaller Council than the one currently proposed, which is expected to have 47 members...

http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=17191


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.hh-online.com?lid=23642 und http://links.net-hh.de?lid=23642


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

Alg II – der U-25-Terror

„Schon in meinen Artikeln „Zwangsumzug…“, „…neue Qualität im Bestrafungssystem“ und „Arbeitsdienst 2005“ ist ja deutlich angesprochen, wo die Reise hingehen soll. In meinem Artikel „Der Dritte Weltkrieg“ habe ich kurz erwähnt, daß mit einer gutsituierten Bevölkerung kein Krieg zu machen ist, der Sozialraubbau also die Vorbereitung der „Heimatfront“ für den nächsten Weltkrieg ist. Die Zeit zwischen diesen sozialen Tiefschlägen wird immer kürzer, die Praktiken immer brutaler und menschenverachtender. Die Entmündigung der mit vollen Bürgerrechten ausgestatteten jungen Erwachsenen zwischen 18 und 25 Jahren, soweit sie beziehungsweise ihre Eltern nicht über entsprechendes Vermögen verfügen, ist nur logische Konsequenz und nur ein weiteres Mosaiksteinchen in diesem Spiel…“ Artikel von Herbert Masslau vom 27. Februar 2006 http://www.herbertmasslau.de/pageID_3066357.html


Bildung ist Strafe. Hartz IV drängt Jugendliche in 1-Euro-Jobs statt zur Lehre

„Hartz IV motiviert Jugendliche, eher in 1-Euro-Jobs zu arbeiten, als eine Ausbildung oder ein Studium zu beginnen. Darauf hat gestern die Solidarische Hilfe Bremen e.V. hingewiesen. Grund ist die erhebliche finanzielle Benachteiligung von Familien mit Kindern in der Ausbildung. "Diese Entwicklung lässt die Armutsbevölkerung wuchern", kritisierte Herbert Thomsen…“ Bericht in der taz Bremen vom 24.2.2006 http://www.taz.de/pt/2006/02/24/a0293.1/text


Aus: LabourNet, 28. Februar 2006

In just 48 hours the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a bill that would eliminate nearly 200 state and local food safety laws. Backed by food industry lobbyists, the bill, which has never been the subject of congressional hearings, would effectively dissolve critical food safety protections in all 50 states that are not identical to federal standards. Many of these food safety laws, however, are more stringent than federal laws.

Food industry lobbyists are working around the clock to ram this bill through Congress without a single hearing! Click here to help us protect our state and local food safety laws by sending a free message to your Representative today. Please don't wait - the House is expected to vote on this bill this Thursday!

http://ga3.org/campaign/foodsafety

Right now states can enact food safety laws to protect their residents when the federal government fails to do so. Many states have enacted laws to protect their residents from irradiated food; chemical additives that can cause cancer, and fish that have excessively high levels of mercury, which can cause birth defects.

Every year millions of Americans suffer from food-borne illnesses and thousands of them die. This bill would make almost impossible for states to protect their residents from food-borne health threats.

We need your help to speak out against this dangerous legislation before it's too late. We have just two days left to tell our Representatives to protect America's food supply and health by voting against this bill!

http://ga3.org/campaign/foodsafety

Once you've taken action, please take a moment to forward this message on to ten friends, family members, or co-workers urging them to take action as well.

Thanks so much for your help!

Katelyn Sabochik
Online Campaign Manager
info@saveourenvironment.org

Please, see the Norwegian newspaper article "Forbud mot mobiltelefon" http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2006/02/08/457180.html which, in short, is about a public beach made accessible - through the ban of mobile phones - to people with the functional impairment electrohypersensitivity! What a treat; the Norwegians are surely going in the right direction (in contrast to WHO?), following i.a. the UN 22 Standard Rules on the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities.

Olle Johansson, assoc. prof.
The Experimental Dermatology Unit Department of Neuroscience Karolinska Institute
171 77 Stockholm
Sweden

http://www.vogelgrippe-aufklaerung.de/f5_SpezialForum_Die_Vogelgrippe.html

Bush machte die Panik und Rumsfeld Profit
http://www.saar-echo.de/de/art.php?a=28522

Vogelgrippe-Virus von der Seuchen-Insel?
Von Gerhard Wisnewski (bekannt durch den wdr-Film „Aktenzeichen 9/11 ungelöst“)
http://www.gerhard-wisnewski.de/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=158

Zwangsimpfung droht.
Von Gerhard Wisnewski
http://www.gerhard-wisnewski.de/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=161
http://tinyurl.com/fhjdg
http://tinyurl.com/ztrcq

Ist das Friedrich Loeffler Institut der Seuchenherd?
Von Gerhard Wisnewski
http://www.gerhard-wisnewski.de/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=162

Hinweise auf Friedrich Loeffler Institut verdichten sich.
Von Gerhard Wisnewski
http://www.gerhard-wisnewski.de/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=163

Tod durch Tamiflu?
Von Dr. Stefan Lanka
http://www.klein-klein-verlag.de/pdf/Vogelgrippe1.pdf

Betrug mit angeblicher Vogelgrippe entlarvt!!!
Von David Binnichtblöd
http://www.gandhi-auftrag.de/vogelgrippe.htm


Informant: atlant

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Folgt Vogelgrippe den Friedrich Loeffler-Filialen?
http://www.gerhard-wisnewski.de/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=170&mode=&order=0&thold=0

Medien und Vogelgrippe: Da lachen ja die Hühner
http://www.gerhard-wisnewski.de/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=167&mode=&order=0&thold=0

Jason Leopold examines the documents released by the federal energy regulators in the Enron case. The material provides the most vivid portrait to date of the company's questionable trading practices that ignited California's power crisis, and led to a financial meltdown at the company which Lay and Skilling hid from securities regulators and investors, and which both men are now being prosecuted for.

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

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-soby-jr/whistleblower-charged-wit_b_16411.html


Informant: NHNE

A controversial counter-terrorism program, which lawmakers halted more than two years ago amid outcries from privacy advocates, was stopped in name only and has quietly continued within the intelligence agency now fending off charges that it has violated the privacy of U.S. citizens.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12091.htm

Inept American self-interest and Conservative toadying in Washington make an unedifying mixture.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-2060038,00.html


From Information Clearing House

A plan to revive Britain's dying democracy is launched today by an inquiry which warns that the parties are "killing" politics.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article348005.ece


From Information Clearing House

Factory farming and the international poultry trade are largely responsible for the spread of bird flu, and wild birds are being unfairly blamed for the disease, a new report says. The deadly H5N1 virus has proliferated through exports of live birds and the use of chicken droppings as fertilizer.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022706HA.shtml

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Big Medicine's Malignant Growth

Some medical professionals say the only way to rid ourselves of medicine's vast piles of waste is to shrink the health care industry itself. Are they heretics or visionaries?

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022706HC.shtml

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REPORT BLAMES FLU ON INDUSTRIAL POULTRY FARMS NOT BACKYARD BIRDS ENS February 27, 2006

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2006/2006-02-27-01.asp

BARCELONA, Spain - Small-scale poultry farming and wild birds are being unfairly blamed for the bird flu crisis now affecting large parts of the world, according to a new report from an international nongovernmental organization based in Barcelona. The report says initiatives are multiplying to ban outdoor poultry, squeeze out small producers and restock farms with genetically modified chickens.

Instead, the transnational poultry industry is the root of the bird flu problem, says the report issued today by the organization GRAIN http://www.grain.org/ , which promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people's control over genetic resources and local knowledge.

"Everyone is focused on migratory birds and backyard chickens as the problem," says Devlin Kuyek of GRAIN. "But they are not effective vectors of highly pathogenic bird flu. The virus kills them, but is unlikely to be spread by them."

Kuyek says the spread of industrial poultry production and trade networks have created ideal conditions for the emergence and transmission of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu.

Once inside densely populated factory farms, viruses can rapidly become lethal and amplify, says Kuyek. "Air thick with viral load from infected farms is carried for kilometers, while integrated trade networks spread the disease through many carriers: live birds, day-old-chicks, meat, feathers, hatching eggs, eggs, chicken manure and animal feed." Chicken feces and bedding from poultry factory floors are common ingredients in animal feed.

By contrast, GRAIN argues that backyard poultry farms watch their birds closely and know when they are sick, but a sick bird or two amongst thousands in industrial poultry operations are much more difficult to detect.

Not an idle pastime for landowners, backyard poultry raising is crucial to food security and farming income for hundreds of millions of rural poor in Asia and elsewhere, providing a third of the protein intake for the average rural household, the GRAIN report states.

Although wild birds are can become ill with H5N1 bird flu, BirdLife International http://www.birdlife.net/ says if wild birds have any role in spreading the virus, it is minor compared to other mechanisms.

BirdLife, a global partnership of conservation organizations in more than
100 countries, says, "All the evidence suggests that H5N1 is highly lethal to migratory wild bird species, and kills them quickly; that infected migrants cannot move long distances; and that the virus is most likely to be contracted locally, close to the site of deaths."

"The current focus on migrating wild birds is misplaced and a potentially dangerous diversion of energy, effort and resources. Attempts to cull wild birds are even more misguided -- the target is wrong and the approach is completely ineffective," BirdLife says.

Preventive measures need to concentrate on better bio-security, says BirdLife -- surveillance and testing of poultry, controlling the movements and sale of poultry, poultry products and caged birds, ensuring that all poultry manure used in aquaculture and agriculture is properly treated prior to application, and stepping up national and international efforts to control the illegal trade in poultry, poultry products and wild birds.

Nearly all rural households in Asia keep at least a few chickens for meat, eggs and fertilizer and they are often the only livestock that poor farmers can afford.

GRAIN says backyard birds are critical to diversified farming methods, just as the genetic diversity of poultry on small farms is critical to the long-term survival of poultry farming in general.

Before the Asian bid flu crisis, the GRAIN report points out, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization promoted the benefits of backyard poultry for the rural poor and biodiversity and ran programs encouraging it.

But today, with the H5N1 strain at the gates of Western Europe, it is more common to hear the FAO speak of the risks of backyard farming.

The GRAIN report notes that in Malaysia, the mortality rate from H5N1 among village chicken is only five precent, indicating that the virus has a hard time spreading among small scale chicken flocks.

H5N1 outbreaks in Laos, which is surrounded by infected countries, have only occurred in the nation's few factory farms, which are supplied by Thai hatcheries. The only cases of bird flu in backyard poultry, which account for over 90 percent of Laos' production, occurred next to the factory farms.

"The evidence we see over and over again, from the Netherlands in 2003 to Japan in 2004 to Egypt in 2006, is that lethal bird flu breaks out in large scale industrial chicken farms and then spreads," Kuyek says.

The Nigerian outbreak earlier this year began at a single factory farm, owned by a Cabinet minister, distant from hotspots for migratory birds but known for importing unregulated hatchable eggs.

In India, local authorities say that H5N1 emerged and spread from a factory farm owned by the country's largest poultry company, Venkateshwara Hatcheries.

"A burning question is why governments and international agencies, like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), are doing nothing to investigate how the factory farms and their byproducts, such as animal feed and manure, spread the virus," says Kuyek.

Instead, he says, they are using the bird flu crisis as an opportunity to further industrialize the poultry sector.

Bans on outdoor poultry have been imposed at certain times or in specified locations in -- Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said as early as March 2004 that backyard poultry production might pose difficulties in controlling the spread of the H5N1 viral strain of bird flu.

In several countries experiencing outbreaks, up to 80 percent of poultry are produced on small farms and backyard holdings in rural areas, where poultry range freely, said WHO. In China, 60 percent of the country¹s estimated 13.2 billion chickens are raised on small farms in close proximity to humans and domestic animals, including pigs.

"This situation makes implementation of strict control measures, essential to the control of previous outbreaks, extremely difficult," WHO said. "These control measures ­ including bird-proof, ecologically controlled housing, treatment of water supplies, disinfection of all incoming persons, equipment, and vehicles, prevention of contact with insects, rodents, and other mechanical vectors ­ cannot be applied on small rural farms and backyard holdings."

In a Fact Sheet issued this month, WHO explained why H5N1 outbreaks in backyard poultry flocks are of concern.

"Apart from being difficult to control, outbreaks in backyard flocks are associated with a heightened risk of human exposure and infection," WHO said. "These birds usually roam freely as they scavenge for food and often mingle with wild birds or share water sources with them. Such situations create abundant opportunities for human exposure to the virus, especially when birds enter households or are brought into households during adverse weather, or when they share areas where children play or sleep."

"Poverty exacerbates the problem," WHO explains because when even a single chicken cannot be wasted, people eat poultry when deaths or signs of illness appear in flocks.

This practice carries a high risk of exposure to the virus during slaughtering, defeathering, butchering, and preparation of poultry meat for cooking, but has proved difficult to change, says the international health organization.

Because deaths of birds in backyard flocks are common, especially under adverse weather conditions, owners may not interpret deaths or signs of illness in a flock as a signal of avian influenza and a reason to alert the authorities, WHO has found.

"This tendency may help explain why outbreaks in some rural areas have smouldered undetected for months. The frequent absence of compensation to farmers for destroyed birds further works against the spontaneous reporting of outbreaks and may encourage owners to hide their birds during culling operations."

GRAIN says the owners of backyard poultry flocks are being blamed unfairly. "Farmers are losing their livelihoods, native chickens are being wiped out and some experts say that we're on the verge of a human pandemic that could kill millions of people," Kuyek says. "When will governments realize that to protect poultry and people from bird flu, we need to protect them from the global poultry industry?"

The GRAIN report quotes Louise Fresco, assistant director-general of FAO as saying, "The backyard chicken is the big problem and the fight against bird flu must be waged in the backyard of the world's poor."

Kuyek calls this policy reversal, "a reckless mistake," and asserts, "When it comes to bird flu, diverse small-scale poultry farming is the solution, not the problem."

The report, "Fowl play: The poultry industry's central role in the bird flu crisis," is online at:

http://www.grain.org/go/birdflu

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FACTORY FARM, MEAT & FUR PRODUCTION ARTICLES:

DOCUMENTARY: LINKTV TO AIR 'THE WITNESS' (2/25/2006): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/10871

DOG & CAT FUR FROM CHINA (2/2/2006): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/10765

ANIMAL AGRICULTURE GREATEST SOURCE OF GLOBAL WARMING (8/30/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/9833

SCIENTISTS AIM FOR LAB-GROWN MEAT (8/13/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/9733

THE VEGAN VIXENS (8/8/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/9696

CUT GLOBAL WARMING BY BECOMING VEGETARIAN (7/19/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/9591

LIVING ON THE HUNDRED-MILE DIET (7/17/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/9581

LAB BURGERS (7/8/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/9529

AL-JAZEERA SHUNS ANIMAL-ABUSE AD (6/6/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/9297

NEW FACTORY FARM RULES DRAW FIRE (2/15/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/8861

NUMBER OF LAND-BASED ANIMALS KILLED FOR FOOD IN U.S. (2/3/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/8807

MCDONALD'S STUDYING MORE HUMANE CHICKEN SLAUGHTER (12/31/2004): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/8639

PEACEABLE KINGDOM: THE FIRST TEN MONTHS (12/15/2004); http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/8549

'A TRIBE OF HEART' DOCUMENTARIES (6/26/2004): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7474

TURKEYS (11/25/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6314

THE MEATRIX (11/10/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6224

CHICKENS (11/4/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6208

BEEF INDUSTRY'S DIRTY SECRET (6/2/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/5452

ANIMAL RIGHTS LEADER WANTS TO BE BARBECUED (5/6/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/5248

MCDONALD'S GOING ORGANIC? (1/27/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/4298

CLONED FOOD COULD REACH SHELVES BY 2003 (9/16/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3682

FEEDLOT PERILS OUTPACE REGULATION (8/20/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3595

READER FEEDBACK ON VEGGIE DIETS (8/4/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3518

SHOULD WE ALL BE VEGETARIANS? (7/10/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3392

PIG FARMS AWASH IN STENCH & CRUELTY (7/7/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3369

FACTORY FARMING: MECHANIZED MADNESS (7/6/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3367

RUNAWAY COW HAS BEEN CAPTURED (2/26/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2800

RUNAWAY COW BECOMES FOLK HERO (2/25/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/2774

SLAUGHTERHOUSE CAM (4/5/2001): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1340

BUTCHERED ANIMALS: 'THEY DIE PIECE BY PIECE' (4/10/2001): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1358

MOTHER DUCK LEADS OFFICER TO STUCK DUCKLINGS (7/13/2001): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1669

BURGERS, PAIN AND SLAUGHTER (6/26/2000): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/433

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MAD COW DISEASE ARTICLES:

USDA COVERED UP LATEST MAD COW CASE FOR SEVEN MONTHS (7/1/2005): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/9485

EXPERT WARNED THAT MAD COW WAS IMMINENT (12/25/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6483

INTERVIEW WITH 'MAD COW U.S.A.' AUTHOR (12/23/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6473

USDA REFUSED TO RELEASE MAD COW RECORDS (12/23/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6472

UN URGES SWIFT ACTION AGAINST MAD COW DISEASE (1/30/2001): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1103

MAD COW DISEASE (11/7/2000): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/800

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VEGETARIAN-RELATED POSTS:

'FLEXITARIANS': VEGETARIANS WHO EAT MEAT (3/19/2004): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6935

READER FEEDBACK ON VEGGIE DIETS (8/4/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3518

MORE ON THE DARK SIDE OF STRICT VEGGIE DIETS (7/14/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3413

SHOULD WE ALL BE VEGETARIANS? (7/10/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3392

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ARTICLES ON 'CANNED HUNTING':

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S CALLOUSNESS TOWARDS EARTH'S ANIMALS (2/25/2006): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/10870

DICK CHENY & 'CANNED HUNTING' (12/11/2003): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6410

GAME RANCHES FOLLOW UP (5/7/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3120

GAME RANCHES (5/6/2002): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/3114

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FACTORY FARM & ANIMAL PROTECTION LINKS:

GRACE FACTORY FARM PROJECT: http://www.factoryfarm.org/

THE SIERRA CLUB ON FACTORY FARMS: http://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH ON FACTORY FARMS: http://www.foe.org/factoryfarms/index.html

FARM SANCTUARY: http://www.farmsanctuary.org/

FUR IS DEAD (PETA SITE) http://www.furisdead.com/

JLODOWN (PETA SITE) http://www.jlodown.com/

CARE FOR THE WILD INTERNATIONAL http://www.careforthewild.com/

SWISS ANIMAL PROTECTION (SAP) http://www.animal-protection.net/

THE HUMAN SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES http://www.hsus.org/

SHOPPING GUIDE TO COMPASSIONATE CLOTHING http://www.caringconsumer.com/


Informant: NHNE

The New York Times asks who the Bush administration is really serving with its unnecessary rewrite of rules governing the national parks. The new rules emphasize maximum recreation for today's users, including greatly expanded off-road motorized recreation, at the expense of preservation of natural values for future generations.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022706EA.shtml



In Fire's Wake, Logging Study Inflames Debate

Graduate students in forestry at Oregon State University have raised an extraordinary ruckus by publishing a federally-funded study that says logging burned forests does not make sense. One of the students defended the science at a congressional field hearing on Friday. The results blow holes in the rationale for legislation sponsored by Greg Walden (R-Oreg) to expedite post-fire logging.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022706EB.shtml

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


Informant: Lew Rockwell



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=impeachment
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach