Samstag, 6. Mai 2006

Pointed Questions on Iraq Often Come From "the People," Not the Press

Greg Mitchell questions, "When it comes to really putting Bush and Rumsfeld on the spot, why did a comedian, a former general, a rock star, an ex-CIA analyst and an average citizen in North Carolina go where reporters often fear to tread?"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050606I.shtml

FBI Puts SOA Watch Under "Counterterrorism" Surveillances

The FBI has been keeping tabs on SOA Watch, the human rights group that monitors the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050606C.shtml

Now It's Negroponte vs. Rumsfeld

After a little more than a year in his newly created job, John D. Negroponte, the US National Intelligence Director, has won an initial battle to establish authority over the vast US intelligence community - Porter J. Goss, who resisted Negroponte's moves to limit the autonomy of the CIA, is gone.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050606B.shtml

Bush CIA Pick, Domestic Spying Proponent

General Michael V. Hayden, who senior administration officials said Friday was the likely choice of President Bush to head the Central Intelligence Agency, has a stellar resume for leading NSA warrantless spying and has long been admired at the White House.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050606A.shtml

--------

Meet the new boss Sploid

by staff

05/06/06

The new CIA director will be a secretive henchman of Dick Cheney who's behind the illegal spying on millions of Americans. Late Friday night, word leaked out that Gen. Michael Hayden is the White House choice to take over CIA duties from suddenly-fired spook insider Porter Goss. Hayden, a 61-year-old Air Force general, was the 'human face' of the National Security Agency's criminal spying on Americans that actually began before the convenient 9/11 attacks....

http://www.sploid.com/news/2006/05/meet_the_new_bo.php


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Clearcut Borneo to Build China

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/29/world/asia/29indo.html

By JANE PERLEZ
Published: April 29, 2006

LONG ALONGO, Indonesia — For as long as anyone can remember, Anyie Apoui and his people have lived among the majestic trees and churning rivers in an untouched corner of Borneo, catching fish and wild game, cultivating rice and making do without roads. But all that is about to change.

The Indonesian government has signed a deal with China that will level much of the remaining tropical forests in an area so vital it is sometimes called the lungs of Southeast Asia.

For China, the deal is a double bounty: the wood from the forest will provide flooring and furniture for its ever-expanding middle class, and in its place will grow vast plantations for palm oil, an increasingly popular ingredient in detergents, soaps and lipstick.

The forest-to-palm-oil deal, one of an array of projects that China said it would develop in Indonesia as part of a $7 billion investment spree last year, illustrates the increasingly symbiotic relationship between China's need for a wide variety of raw materials, and its Asian neighbors' readiness to provide them, often at enormous environmental cost.

For Mr. Anyie and his clan, the deal will bring jobs and the opportunity for a modern life. "We love our forest, but I want to build the road for my people — I owe it to them," said Mr. Anyie, 63, an astute elder of the Dayak people. "We've had enough of this kind of living."

From Indonesia to Malaysia to Myanmar, many of the once plentiful forests of Southeast Asia are already gone, stripped legally or illegally, including in the low-lying lands here in Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo. Only about half of Borneo's original forests remain.

Those forests that do remain, like the magnificent stands here in Mr. Anyie's part of the highlands, are ever pressed, ever prized and ever more valuable, particularly as China's economy continues its surge.

Over all, Indonesia says it expects China to invest $30 billion in the next decade, a big infusion of capital that contrasts with the declining investment by American companies here and in the region.

Much of that Chinese investment is aimed at the extractive industries and infrastructure like refineries, railroads and toll roads to help speed the flow of Indonesia's plentiful coal, oil, gas, timber and palm oil to China's ports.

In one of the latest deals, on April 19, Indonesia announced that China had placed a $1 billion rush order for a million cubic yards of a prized reddish-brown hardwood, called merbau, to be used in construction of its sports facilities for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Merbau wood, mostly prevalent in Papua's virgin forests, has been illegally logged and shipped to China since the late 1990's, stripping large swathes of forest in the Indonesian province on the western side of the island of New Guinea.

The decision to award a $1 billion concession to China will "increase the deforestation of Papua," a place of extraordinary biodiversity, said Elfian Effendy, executive director of Greenomics, an Indonesian environmental watchdog. "It's not sustainable."

The plan for palm oil plantations on Borneo was signed during a visit by the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to Beijing last July.

Under pressure from environmental groups, the Indonesian environment and forestry ministries have come out against the plan. The coordinating minister for economic affairs, who goes by the single name Boediono, said in April that he was still weighing the pros and cons of executing the entire plan.

The commander of the Indonesian military, Gen. Djoko Suyanto, whose forces are heavily involved in Indonesia's illegal forestry businesses, strongly backed the plan during a visit to the border region in March.

Certainly, there are profits to be made. Major consumer companies like Procter & Gamble say they are using more palm oil in their products instead of crude oil; palm oil is favored for cooking by the swelling Chinese middle class, and it is being explored as an alternative fuel.

Indonesia's environmentalists, and some economists, say chopping down as much as 4.4 million acres of the last straight-stemmed, slow-growing towering dipterocarp trees on Borneo would gravely threaten this region's rare ecosystem for plants, animals and people.

Maps for the project have aroused fears that it would encroach into the forest in Kayan Mentarang National Park, where the intoxicating mix of high altitude and equatorial humidity breeds an exceptional diversity of species, second only to Papua's, biologists say.

The area is the source of 14 of the 20 major rivers on Borneo, and the destruction of the forests would threaten water supplies to coastal towns, said Stuart Chapman, a director at the World Wildlife Fund in Indonesia.

For years, Mr. Anyie, the Dayak elder, said he had resisted offers from commercial contractors to cut down the forest around his village, next to the park.

He worked hard, too, to keep the old ways of life, which until 40 years ago included forays into headhunting, he said, showing visitors the skull of a Malaysian soldier stowed in his attic, a souvenir from the 1965 border war with Malaysia.

But now it is time for change, he said. "People have told me, 'Wood is gold, you're still too honest,' " said Mr. Anyie, a diminutive man with brush-cut black hair.

His own grown children have deserted the village for big towns, and the villagers left behind are tired of traveling everywhere by foot (three days to neighboring Malaysia where jobs in palm oil plantations are plentiful) or by traditional long boats powered by anemic 10-horsepower engines.

For those seeking to visit, the journey is just as arduous. The area can be reached only by light plane, a pummeling voyage over rapids in a wooden canoe and then a trek through tangles of trees and creepers.

A three-day stay at a research station deep inside the forest told what is at stake for the ecosystem, first documented by Charles Darwin's colleague, Alfred Russel Wallace, in an account in the late 1850's called "The Malay Archipelago."

Wild mango trees, tropical oaks, pale-trunked myrtles, sago palms, rattan trees and pandanas with shiny leaves like long prongs crowded the hills that rise almost vertically above the river.

Exceedingly tall and elegant dipterocarps towered over all, their green canopies filtering shards of occasional sunlight. Underfoot, tiny dew-encrusted green mosses, still damp in the afternoon, clung to rocks, and miniature versions of African violets poked their mauve flowers just above the ground.

Wildlife abounds, said Stephan Wulffraat, 39, a Dutch conservation biologist and the director of the research station run by the World Wildlife Fund. The forest is home to seven species of leaf monkeys, he said, and at high noon, a crashing sound high in the trees announced a group's arrival. A red-coated deer made a fleeting appearance and dashed off.

On the gloomy forest floor, Mr. Wulffraat, who fends off leeches by tucking his pant legs into knee-length football socks, has set more than a dozen camera traps to photograph wild creatures too shy to appear.

Three years ago, an animal the size of a large cat with a bushy tail with a reddish fur sauntered by the camera. Mr. Wulffraat, a seven-year veteran of the forest, said that the animal resembled a civet, but he added that he and other experts believed that it was an entirely new species.

The discovery of a species of mammal like a civet is unusual, but dozens of new species of trees, mosses and herbs, butterflies, frogs, fresh water prawns and snakes have all been found since the station opened in 1991, he said. "This field station has more frogs and snake species around than in all of Europe," Mr. Wulffraat said.

Until now, the forests at these higher elevations have been protected by their sheer inaccessibility. To get back to the coast from the research station, for instance, takes a 15-hour journey along a 350-mile stretch of the Bahau and Kayan Rivers in a wooden longboat powered by three outboard motors.

In contrast, the forests in lowland Kalimantan, where roads have been hacked into the land already, are so ravaged by logging that they will have disappeared by 2010, the World Bank says.

As the roads start penetrating the area of Mr. Anyie's clan, the upland forests will begin to disappear here, too. The solution is to adopt sustainable management plans, Mr. Wulffraat said.

Such plans allow logging only in specially certified areas, he said. But so far, he said, they have proved a losing proposition.

"In about 30 years," Mr. Anyie said, "the forest will be gone."


Informant: walker

In den Entwicklungsländern hungern und sterben Millionen Kinder trotz hehrer UN-Milleniums-Ziele

Unterernährt oder fettleibig

Entwicklungsländern hungern und sterben Millionen Kinder trotz hehrer UN-Milleniums-Ziele. Währenddessen wird der Überfluss für die reichen Industrienationen zum Problemfall.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22604/1.html In den

Laserwaffe gegen Satelliten

Wie ein Forschungsprojekt des Pentagon zeigt, wird die Entwicklung von Waffensystemen für den Weltraum weiter verfolgt -- sicher nicht nur von den USA.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22606/1.html

Einbürgerung erschwert: Innenministerkonferenz verschleppt Probleme und betreibt lieber Stimmungsmache

Einbürgerung erschwert
http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22617/1.html

--------

Ausländer- und Asylrecht > Einbürgerungstests

Einbürgerung erschwert. Innenministerkonferenz verschleppt Probleme und betreibt lieber Stimmungsmache

„Man sollte es nicht für möglich halten: Exportweltmeister Deutschland schottet sich weiter ab. Das Land der reisefreudigen Deutschen, das Auswanderungsland, das jährlich von rund 100.000 Bundesbürgern verlassen wird, die sich anderswo niederlassen wollen, will die Hürden für Einwanderer noch höher hängen. Die Innenminister haben es beschlossen, der Stammtisch wird's zufrieden sein. Wie war das noch? "Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden"? Fragt sich, wer hier eigentlich nicht integriert ist…“ Artikel von Wolfgang Pomrehn in telepolis vom 06.05.2006 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22617/1.html


Noch mehr Hürden. SPD gibt nach: Einbürgerungswillige müssen künftig eine Prüfung zur Staatsbürgerkunde ablegen

„Wer Deutscher werden will, muss künftig einen Einbürgerungskurs belegen. Die erfolgreiche Teilnahme daran wird überprüft. Für Kurse und Prüfungen soll das Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF), das beim Bundesinnenministerium angesiedelt ist, bundesweit einheitliche Standards festlegen. Die konkrete Ausgestaltung aber bleibt Sache der einzelnen Länder. Dafür soll es jedoch in Zukunft bundesweit einheitliche Sprachtests geben. Das ist das zentrale Ergebnis der Frühjahrskonferenz der deutschen Innenminister, die gestern in Garmisch-Partenkirchen zu Ende ging. "So weit waren wir noch nie", jubelte Hessens Innenminister Volker Bouffier (CDU) stellvertretend für die Unions-geführten Länder. Kein Wunder: Im Vorfeld der Innenministerkonferenz (IMK) hatten zahlreiche Vertreter der SPD Einbürgerungstests noch strikt abgelehnt…“ Artikel von Max Hägler und Samine am Orde in der Taz vom 6.5.2006 http://www.taz.de/pt/2006/05/06/a0185.1/text


Aus: LabourNet, 8. Mai 2006

Libby Lawyer to Argue Bush's Role in Leak

The lawyer for former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby said on Friday he would argue that his client revealed intelligence on Iraq after Vice President Dick Cheney authorized it and President George W. Bush declassified the information.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050606Y.shtml

060506 - R - Mobilfunk - Newsletter

http://www.omega-news.info/060506_r_mobilfunk_newsletter.rtf

060504 - R - Mobilfunk - Newsletter

http://www.omega-news.info/060504_r_mobilfunk_newsletter.rtf

060503 - R - Mobilfunk - Newsletter

http://www.omega-news.info/060503_r_mobilfunk_newsletter.rtf

US Warns Russia to Act More Like a Democracy

The Bush administration has chosen to confront Russia during the upcoming summit of the Group of Eight (G8) nations in St. Petersburg, calling on Russia to demonstrate specific actions towards a commitment to democracy.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050606Z.shtml

Dr. med. Cornelia Waldmann-Selsam: "Weiteres Abwarten verbietet sich angesichts der Schwere der Erkrankungen"

http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1923858/

WU REQUESTS GAO TO INVESTIGATE SCIENTIFIC MANIPULATION & CENSORSHIP

Congressman David M. Walker
Tuesday, May 2, 2006

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/or01_wu/pr05022006GAO.html

WASHINGTON, DC - As ranking member of the Science Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards, Congressman David Wu has questioned federal officials in congressional hearings about reports of scientific manipulation and censorship by the Bush administration. Today Congressman Wu took the duty of congressional oversight another step by requesting the Government Accountability Office to investigate the allegations.

"Despite assurances from Bush administration officials that such allegations have no validity, incidents of scientific manipulation and censorship continue to surface. The continued allegations clearly indicate this administration's hostility towards science," said Congressman Wu. "I am requesting the Government Accountability Office to investigate these allegations because science should never take a back seat to ideology. Such behavior prevents our research agencies from carrying out sound public policy."

Below is the text of Congressman Wu's official request:


David M. Walker Comptroller General Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20548

Dear Comptroller General Walker:

As ranking member of the Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards of the Committee on Science in the United States House of Representatives, I hereby request that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate allegations of political litmus tests for science appointees, manipulation of scientific findings and reports by political appointees, and politically driven censorship of scientists. These allegations are not confined to a single office or agency. Despite administration assurances that these assertions have no merit and that the appropriate authorities were looking into these matters, the allegations have continued.

The recent incidents involving Dr. James E. Hansen at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the mysterious transformation of the Technology Administration's report on offshoring from a 200 page document into a 12 page summary, and the suspension of a forest research grant at Oregon State University because it reflected adversely on commercial forestry interests suggest this problem has not been resolved. Despite assurances to the contrary, it appears that the roles of science and political policy continue to be confused. Information inconsistent with favored political outcomes seems to be suppressed.

I would like the GAO specifically to investigate the incident involving the publication in "Science" of a forest regeneration study by Daniel Donato, a graduate student at Oregon State University. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) suspended the federal research grant that funded this work on unsubstantiated charges that the authors had violated the grant agreement. BLM has since reversed itself, and the grant suspension has been lifted, but the fact that BLM would suspend the grant first and ask questions later sends a chilling message to the scientific community.

Mr. Jeff Ruch from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility spoke of parallel incidents at a hearing held by the House Committee on Science on March 16, 2006. He spoke of reports languishing for many years at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies. The administration witnesses argue that the long times that reports have been held in "draft" status is due to vetting and verifying research. This argument is ludicrous when some reports have been "vetted" for up to 10 years, an excessive time period for any report to remain relevant and up to date.

Employees and contractors working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a U.S. Geological Survey scientist working at a NOAA laboratory have said that administration officials have chastised them for speaking out about their work; removed references to global warming from their reports, news releases and conference Web sites; investigated news leaks; and sometimes ordered them to stop speaking with the media altogether. Their accounts indicate that the ideological battle over climate-change research, which first came to light at NASA, is being fought in other federal science agencies.

I hereby request that the GAO investigate reports of incidences and likely effects of imposing political litmus tests (unrelated to their work) for science appointees, the withholding, delay, or politically motivated editing of scientific reports, and the effects on freedom of inquiry for both federal and non-federal scientists. In particular, I ask that you investigate and identify:

1. the specific number of scientific study reports currently left in draft form across all Federal agencies with scientific research components;

2. the maximum, minimum, average, mean and median amount of time the scientific study reports mentioned in item number 1 above have been left in draft form;

3. the number of complaints of suppression, tampering, delaying, changing without express consent of the author, political pressuring, or unfair treatment due to the nature of their research submitted by researchers and scientists working with or under Federal agencies from January 1, 1996 until the present time, broken down by calendar month and year;

4. the specific instances where Federal grant money has been withheld or suspended, with the stated official reason, with your considered opinion as to whether such official reason was politically motivated;

5. the specific instances mentioned in item number 4 above where Federal grant money has been withheld or suspended, and of or when the funding was then reinstated;

6. the specific inquiries or investigations by government agencies made into the allegations made by scientists and researchers in item number 3 above, and the instances of failures to inquire or investigate.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I request that a final report, not draft, be issued on or before the first business day after February 14, 2008. If you have any questions, please contact Jean Fruci at 202-225-6375 or Stella Ma at 202-225-0855.

Very truly yours,

David Wu
Member of Congress


Informant: NHNE

NEWLY DISCOVERED DIEBOLD THREAT DESCRIBED AS 'MAJOR NATIONAL SECURITY RISK'

Voting Systems in Question Were Used Last Week in Ohio Primary, Soon in Pennsylvania, So 'Serious' Few Details Are Being Released

All Diebold Touch-Screen Machines, In All States, Said to be Affected by 'Horrifying' Vulnerability, Systems 'Sequestered' in PA

By Brad Friedman John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.org contributed to this story The Brad Blog May 5, 2006

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002787.htm

We've now been able to gather a great deal of additional information concerning details about the story we first posted yesterday http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002780.htm on the official Pennsylvania state warning issued about the new "security vulnerability" discovered in all Diebold touch-screen electronic voting machines.

That warning, which has now brought a lock-down on all Diebold systems in PA, where early absentee (non-machine) voting is about to begin prior to their upcoming May 16th primary election, was reported by the Morning Call yesterday http://tinyurl.com/lcpuz. The warning says the serious security vulnerability could allow ''unauthorized software to be loaded on to the system."

Public details about the warning are still sketchy as those in the know have acknowledged that the problem is so serious, they are hoping to keep the info under wraps until mitigation steps can be taken to safeguard systems.

The BRAD BLOG has been told on the record, however, by one person involved in the matter, that the vulnerability is a "major national security risk."

We've been speaking to many sources today, and we've been able to get several first hand comments on the problem from top officials and analysts directly involved in both state and federal certification of the Diebold systems, as well as from those involved in the initial discovery of the problem.

What's clear is that Morning Call's reporting that it was Diebold who found the "glitch" are flat wrong. The discovery of the "glitch" (which is anything but) emanated from the examination of Diebold AccuVote TSx
(touch-screen) machines recently in Emery County, UT.

A source has told The BRAD BLOG that Diebold was "cornered" into admitting to the problem, a far cry from them having "found" it, as the Morning Call characterized it.

What's also clear is that neither Diebold themselves, nor federal officials at the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) have been notifying states about the serious problem which apparently affects all Diebold AccuVote touch-screen systems, including both their newer TSx models, and the older TS and TS6 models.

The Diebold TSx models, with the security vulnerability still intact, were apparently used in the primary election last Tuesday in Ohio.

A document at Diebold's website describes http://www.diebold.com/dieboldes/pdf/industrysecurity.pdf [PDF] the TSx models as featuring "Industry Leading Security."

In Utah's Emery County, state officials are attempting to force Bruce Funk, the 23-year elected County Clerk out of his job in the wake of his having allowed a security evaluation of the county's new Diebold touch-screen systems by both computer security firm Security Innovation and Finnish computer security expert Harri Hursti. According to several sources, that analysis revealed many new vulnerabilities and problems in the Diebold touch-screen systems, including the one that seems to be at the heart of the problem now being warned about by Pennsylvania officials.

Funk -- who has since been "vilified," as one source told us, by both Diebold and Utah state officials as high as the Lt. Governor -- was forced to implement the new Diebold touch-screen systems for the first time this year against his own objections. His prudent subsequent security evaluation of the systems was arranged by electronic voting watchdog organization, BlackBoxVoting.org. (We recently interviewed Funk on the radio concerning that evaluation, and his subsequent removal from office in its wake. Listen to that interview here http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002670.htm [MP3].)

Here's some of what we've so far been able to learn from a number of officials, both on the record and off, in Pennsylvania, elsewhere around the country and at the federal level, as well as those involved in the initial Emery County discoveries...

The BRAD BLOG has confirmed with a top official in Pennsylvania, close to those responsible for giving state certification of voting systems in the Keystone state, that the problem comes from a "feature" that is purposely built into all Diebold touch-screen systems.

"As far as I know, it's present on all TS and TSx machines," he told us. "It relates to potential misuse of the procedure by which Diebold does field updates to the machines. It's not a bug -- it's a deliberate but unwise 'feature'. Every jurisdiction that uses the machines should be notified. Now that the story is out, I suspect they will be. The fix can be applied at any time prior to the next election, however, so there is no particular rush except in states like Pennsylvania, which has a primary in less than two weeks. The fix is administrative and requires no new or modified software."

Bev Harris, of BlackBoxVoting.org (BBV), who described the situation as "horrifying" said in a comment posted on BRAD BLOG earlier today that, "The problem is very serious and because primary elections are being held, releasing even a small part of what makes this security hole so dangerous presents an immediate threat to U.S. elections."

She told us in a phone conversation this afternoon that BBV will be publicly publishing summaries of the full reports both from Security Innovation and Hursti on Emery County "in redacted format" soon.

"Because the vulnerability is so serious," she wrote, "and until ALL states have been able to implement the FULL recovery path, we can release a redacted version only, but will send an unredacted version to the states," she wrote in another comment earlier today.

She explained when we discussed the matter that even that "FULL recovery path" may not be possible due to the severity of the problem which she describes as "a major national security issue."

Harris wrote about a discussion last night with Dr. Michael Shamos who is responsible for testing voting systems in Pennsylvania concerning the full breadth of the security issue and the necessary means for mitigating it.

"When Dr. Shamos called me and described the mitigations being used in Pennsylvania, I have to say that they did not appear to be the full mitigation needed according to the videotaped examination we have by Security Innovation and Hursti," Harris wrote.

But whether other states and counties who use Diebold's TS and TSx machines will be properly notified by official federal authorities, or even Diebold themselves, is another question. Apparently the state of California has known about the problem for some time, as well as Diebold obviously, but the matter in PA seems only to have come to public attention when state officials were questioned by Election Integrity Activists in a public meeting.

A member of the team involved in evaluating the Diebold systems recently in California on behalf of Sec. of State Bruce McPherson has told us that they've known about the problem for some time and confirmed the seriousness of the issue:

"Yes, California has definitely been aware of the issue for several weeks and will address it before the June 6 primary," the computer scientist in California explained. "Other Diebold TS and TSx jurisdictions are equally affected, and in my opinion must take ameliorating action."

Earlier this year, when McPherson was considering whether or not to re-certify Diebold in California after the Diebold optical-scan systems were revealed, in no uncertain terms, to be hackable in a Leon County, Florida mock-election test, he commissioned an independent analysis http://www.votetrustusa.org/pdfs/California_Folder/DieboldReport.pdf [PDF] of the flaws in the Diebold memory cards which allowed for the hack to be carried out without a trace being left behind.

That report confirmed the Leon County hack, and found 16 other bugs described as "a more dangerous family of vulnerabilities" which "go well beyond" what was discovered in Leon County. Remarkably, after the report was issued, McPherson certified Diebold's systems in the state despite those dire warnings from his own security team.

Harris, however, confirms to us that the problems now being discussed in PA are an "entirely different class of problems" than were even revealed by the California report.

The Washington state Sec. of State's voting systems director, Paul Miller, has told us that when he asked a Diebold representative about the problem yesterday, the rep told him that he had no knowledge of the issue and promised to get back to him if he was able to find out anything.

When we inquired with Jeannie Layson, a spokesperson for the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) as to whether the EAC would be notifying states about the vulnerability, she told us that their commission had nothing to do with system certification.

We reminded her that this was not an issue about certification, but rather of product security and vulnerability which needed to be passed on to every state that uses Diebold TS and TSx systems. The EAC's role in serving as a central clearinghouse for notifying states about such issues was defined by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which created the commission in the first place. As well, a recent 107-page report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the problems and vulnerabilities of electronic voting http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001940.htm (which went virtually unreported by the mainstream corporate media) discussed the EAC's role in this matter as well.

Layson told us that she would discuss the matter with the EAC's Voting System Secretariat, Brian Hancock. We look forward to action by the EAC.


Informant: NHNE

David Wu co sponsers H Res 635 Impeachment Inquiry

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/335793.shtml



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

Climate Change Drives Disease to New Territory

Global warming - with an accompanying rise in floods and droughts - is fueling the spread of epidemics in areas unprepared for the diseases, say many health experts worldwide.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/050506HB.shtml

Study Finds Medicare Operators Often Give Bad Information

With less than two weeks remaining for seniors to sign up for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, an independent review has found that Medicare's telephone operators frequently give callers false or incomplete information, reviving calls by Democrats to extend the May 15 deadline.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/050506HA.shtml

Energy Independence Day

"George Bush won't ask Congress for permission for torture or domestic spying. But when it comes to energy policy - he is very, very concerned about the limits of his presidential powers," writes Katrina vanden Heuvel.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/050506EB.shtml

Military Action Won't Solve Iran

Military action is not a "magic wand" that can be used to resolve the international community's standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said on Thursday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050506S.shtml

Katrina Contractors Bilk Taxpayers

While removing enough debris to cover Britain, contractors working on hurricane recovery have overbilled the government in a $63 billion operation that only will get more expensive, according to a House report Thursday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050506R.shtml

RESIGNATION OF CIA CHIEF PORTER GOSS SPARKS TALK OF SCANDAL

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4440/


Informant: jensenmk
From ufpj-news

--------

Why Did Goss Resign?

Yesterday's surprise announcement by Porter Goss comes on the heels of press stories that members of Congress received sexual favors from prostitutes allegedly procured by Brent Wilkes, an entrepreneur implicated in the bribery of Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, according to Larry Johnson.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050606X.shtml

--------

CIA's Goss at Cunningham's Hooker Parties?

Who would have thought any member of Congress would be so stupid as to accept hookers from a lobbyist?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/27/212534/995


From Information Clearing House

--------

Behind the Goss Toss

A little-known White House advisory board convinced a reluctant President Bush to launch yet another high-profile shakeup of the nation's intelligence community and fire CIA Director Porter Goss, sources said yesterday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050706A.shtml

--------

Goss in the cold: a scandal skedaddle?
The Nation
by David Corn

05/05/06

A bolt out of the blue? Or a bolt? Porter Goss's sudden announcement of his departure from the CIA is puzzling. The former Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee and ex-CIA case officer offered no reason for vacating the CIA directorship, and there was no successor ready to go. News of his resignation came during a brief joint appearance at the White House by George W. Bush and Goss on Friday afternoon (the traditional time slot for putting out bad news). And -- whaddayaknow -- no pesky questions from journalists. This has led to the obvious speculation: was it the hookers? I'll get to the (potential) hot stuff in a moment. But consider this: The CIA has been a mess for years -- especially after 9/11. Former CIA officials routinely say that morale is lousy and that employees have been fleeing the agency, many of them alienated by the heavy-handed Goss regime, regarded as too close to the White House...

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=82113


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

On government attacks on energy, and what it means for the world dollar system

http://www.lewrockwell.com/bonner/bonner238.html

'Price Gouging' and other federal make-believe

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/oliva3.html

Bird Brains: on federal flu hysteria

http://www.lewrockwell.com/akers/akers41.html

Russian press: Cheney speech spurs new Cold War

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060505/2006-05-05T102918Z_01_L05500235_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-RUSSIA-USA-DC.html


Informant: ranger116

IT'S TIME FOR CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS IN BOTH THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE OF GAS PRICES

ACTION PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/stacey/pnum287.php

The last time Congress held any hearings on gas prices they didn't even put the oil company executives under oath. Those executives didn't even have perjury hanging over their heads. You can insist on a simple thing like this and bring real truth to light on a topic that is hurting every American.

Join in our quest to insist that your elected Representatives in Congress, both House and Senate, call for bi-partisan hearings immediately, place the executives of these companies under oath and find out how they can be reporting record profits and we can be expected to accept $3.00+ gallon gasoline. We can let the politicians know they are going to hold the Oil Industry accountable, or we’re going to hold the politicians accountable.

Imagine, in even some parts of Alabama, gasoline is now running $3.00 a gallon or more. In California, it can be found nearly $3.75 a gallon. Enough is enough.

Why is it that the petroleum companies peg the price of gasoline based on the worldwide spot market, when they are producing it via their own offshore platforms. Hmm -- no OPEC price controls there?

Why don't the petroleum companies put some of their moth-balled refineries into production? Hmm -- can't say there is a shortage of production facilities.

Where are the tangible benefits of tax-break incentives offered to investors in homeland related oil production that could be offered to the American taxpayer? Hmm -- is anyone awake at the helm?

ACTION PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/stacey/pnum287.php

This alert is brought to you by the activism of Stacey Tallitsch, candidate for U.S House from the 1st Congressional District of Louisiana. Fighting for the rights of all Americans is why Stacey is running for Congress, and he's not waiting until the election to start fighting for Louisiana and the rest of America.

When we talk about taking back Congress, that is what we will have to do, TAKE IT. Nobody is going give us anything we won't give to ourselves. And when we donate to a candidate like Stacey Tallitsch who is showing just the kind of leadership we need, we can make an example of him, and show other candidates that if they show real backbone they will get the support of the people too.

PAYPAL DONATIONS: http://www.usalone.com/stacey/pp.html

ACTBLUE DONATIONS: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/entity/8614?refcode=tpen

We NEED candidates like Stacey Tallitsch to champion the issues that are important to us. Stacey needs your help to get his message out, to get YOUR message out, by putting on radio spots calling yet more people to action Please make a contribution today to send Stacey to Congress and fight for you on the issues you care about.

How many times have you felt helpless and wished you could influence the votes of representatives in other districts to prevail on a critical vote in Congress, but thought you could not do so effectively because you were not one of their own constituents? How much more would you support Stacey if you do live in his district?

Here we have a courageous candidate who will fight for all the issues you care about, if only he is given the chance to make the run. Please donate whatever you can to help Stacey get on the radio to recruit and mobilize even more people to speak out so we can have a real impact on these policy decisions now and for the future. What would you give to have a whole legislature of people like Stacey Tallitsch? Won't you give him your support now to make that a reality?

We have been valiantly speaking out with action alerts based on one fundamental premise --- either our representatives in Congress would listen to and heed the voices of their people --- or else we would work to replace them in the next election.

The time for the replacement action is NOW.

PAYPAL DONATIONS: http://www.usalone.com/stacey/pp.html

ACTBLUE DONATIONS: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/entity/8614?refcode=tpen

If each of us will just contribute what we can, to the most worthy candidates we can find, it will make a real difference in the kind of Congress we will all have to deal with in 2007. Most importantly, strong showings NOW by candidates who DO have a backbone, and WILL stand up and fight, can send a powerful message to the rest that they better start shaping up or we will ship them out too. Make your donation today and it will have cascading positive effects in many other races for months to come.

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

Rick Santorum's Hostile Takeover

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0505-20.htm

Granny Power Takes on the War in Iraq

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0505-24.htm

Mexico, NAFTA and the GOP

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0505-25.htm

Watchdog Says U.S. Creating 'Climate of Torture'

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0505-05.htm

Bush's "global war on terror" has produced the consequence of bringing the United States ever-closer to some of the world's most repressive regimes

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0505-03.htm

Bush Administration Refuses to Talk Directly with its Main Foes

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0505-02.htm

Former CIA Analyst Calls Rumsfeld a Liar at Atlanta Speech

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0505-08.htm

Dr. med. Cornelia Waldmann-Selsam: "Nicht die Physiker und Radiologen sind Experten für die menschliche Gesundheit, sondern wir Ärzte"

http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1923858/

Our Sick Society

http://rozius.blogspot.com/2006/05/paul-krugman-our-sick-society.html


Informant: DitziSis

Mobilfunk-Zwangsbestrahlung der Bürger

http://www.wahl.de/index.php/helmutgobsch
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/elektrosmog_umfrage.jpeg
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/elektrosmog_gefaehrlich.jpeg

"Hallo Leipzig" - Mobilfunk-Zwangsbestrahlung der Bürger !
Von helmutgobsch @
05.05.2006 - 22:01:30

„Hallo Leipzig“, das Leipziger Anzeigenblatt, bemühte sich um das wichtige Thema Mobilfunk-Zwangsbestrahlung der Bürger.

92 % der Leipziger haben Angst, aber die Behörden stecken den Kopf in den Sand. Tausende Unterschriften interessieren sie nicht.

Eine Bemerkung:

In welchem Krankenhaus der in Hallo zitierte Betroffene in die Psychiatrie gesteckt und wie beschrieben behandelt wurde, ist mir nicht bekannt.

Bekannt geworden ist jetzt, man glaubt es kaum, dass im „St.Georg“, einem der wichtigsten Krankenhäuser in Leipzig, in der Psychiatrie, in die auch hier die Elektrosmoggeschädigten gesteckt werden, jeder Patient ein DECT-Telefon bekommt. Das ist eine Affenschande. Was sagen die Kassen dazu ? Elektrosmoggeschädigte werden hier gesundheitlich restlos fertig gemacht. Ich kenne einen Fall, wo die dringende Bitte um Verlegung in ein DECT-freies Zimmer abgelehnt wurde – mit der Folge der starken gesundheitlichen Verschlechterung. Solche Taten vollbringen überhebliche „Götter in Weiss“ , und sie bringen damit die gesamte Ärzte-Zunft in Verruf, ohne dass sie ein Ehrengericht anklagt.

So etwas ist ein Skandal und eine krasse Verletzung der Menschenwürde, kann man das anders als Körperverletzung bezeichnen ? Das sind keine Kunstfehler, sondern grenzenlose Ahnungslosigkeit und Besserwisserei auf dem Rücken von Patienten.

Bisher war ich der Meinung, dass Ärzte ihren Eid ernst nehmen und sich informieren, was in der Welt geschieht. Wenn gewisse Ärzte nicht in der Lage sind, biologische und physikalische Gegebenheiten der Reaktion des Körpers auf Mikrowellen, die seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg bekannt sind, zur Kenntnis zu nehmen, sollten sie lieber den Beruf wechseln und sich für die Desinformationsveranstaltungen des Informationszentrums für Mobilfunk verdingen.

Fazit: Der innere Frieden unseres Landes ist durch die ausufernde zwangsweise Bestrahlung mit Mikrowellen und die absichtliche Desinformation darüber nachhaltig gestört, die Gesellschaft polarisiert sich. Es ist zu befürchten, dass die Situation eskaliert. Ist sich die Regierung dessen bewusst ? Ja, sie ist es, aber sie ist handlungsunfähig und handlungsunwillig. Der Krug geht so lange zu Wasser, bis er bricht.

Jeder, der sich nicht informiert und sich einreden lässt, er brauche unbedingt ein Mikrowellen-DECT-Telefon oder ein UMTS-Handy, macht sich mitschuldig an der Verschärfung der Situation. Uneinsichtige sollten aus der gesetzlichen Krankenkasse ausgeschlossen werden, sonst kollabiert diese eines nicht allzu fernen Tages. Es gibt keine Produkthaftung für Handy, W-LAN und DECT, keine Haftpflichtversicherung gegen Strahlenschäden durch Handymasten ! Der Wertverlust von Immobilien durch Mobilfunkmasten musste vom BGH bereits konstatiert werden. Was folgt daraus für Wohnungen wegen Mikrowellen-Dauer-Strahlern im Umfeld ? Hier bahnt sich eine Lawine an.

Am 5. Juni begehen wir den „Tag der Gesundheit“, am 24.Juni den „Aktionstag Mobilfunk“. Fasse sich jeder an seine eigene Nase, hört auf zu schweigen und zu resignieren !

Das weltweite Wettrüsten der Großmächte um die atomaren Sprengköpfe wurde gerade noch vor dem Gau beendet, und wie ist das mit dem weltweiten Wettrüsten um die meisten Mikrowellen-Mobilfunk-Sender ? Mobilfunk ja – Gesundheitsgefährdung nein !

Stefan Spaarmann
Für umweltverträglichen Funk
Kreisgruppe Delitzsch/Eilenburg und AKI Immissionsschutz des BUND
Landesbeauftragter Sachsen der Ökologisch Demokratischen Partei
Hese-Projekt AG Technik/Physik
Siedlerbund Sachsen
Netzwerk Risiko Mobilfunk

Ballygunner mobile mast controversy isn’t going away

Friday, May 05, 2006

RESIDENTS of Ballygunner and parents of children attending local schools are being urged to attend a public meeting on Tuesday next (May 9) amid continued concerns over a mobile phone mast in the area.

The meeting will take place in the Scout Hall in Ballygunner at 8pm and there’ll be a number of guest speak-ers providing information and answering questions in relation to radiation risks.

A new parents group called the ‘Concerned Parents In Relation to Masts’ has been formed in the locality and they’ve undertaken to fight the location of a mast on Ballygunner GAA Club’s grounds to the bitter end.

A planning application for retention of the Meteor mast on the sports grounds is still before Waterford City Council who’ve asked the club and the phone company for further information.

The mast has been opera-tional since late last year but only came to the attention of many residents, now hugely concerned about possible health risks, two months ago. The GAA club, who signed a deal with Meteor, applied to the Council for retention permission at the end of January.

However, 23 objections were lodged by disgruntled members of the community, including the Parents Association at St. Mary’s School (which is right beside the GAA grounds) and also the principle Michael White.

A decision had been due in March but it’s understood that just before this a delegation of residents met with Council planning officials - and as a consequence further information was requested.

It’s understood senior planning officials developed concerns having examined close-up photos of the mast they hadn’t seen previously.

The new parents’ group in Ballygunner involves some 12 people who have issued invitations to both the GAA club and Meteor representatives to attend the upcoming meeting.

They’re taking inspiration from a recent meeting in Limerick organised by a group called BEST (Better Environmenal Safety Telecommunications) in conjunction with the ‘Irish Doctors Environmental Agency’ and the ‘Victims of Radiation Network’.

Members of the Water-ford group attended the event and invited representatives from all three groups to speak as guests in Water-ford next Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the ‘Concerned Parents’ said “We will fight this mast all the way to An Bord Plean·la if necessary.

“There’s growing evidence to suggest that these masts prevent a serious risk and in fact, a Joint Oireachtas committee is currently examining this...and has recommended that the provision of masts beside places like schools and hospitals be halted until they’ve completed their work.”

© Waterford News & Star, 2006.

http://www.waterford-news.ie/news/story.asp?j=21709

CIA-Direktor schmeißt das Handtuch

http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/index.html?id=560698&nv=rss

World-News

Independent Media Source

User Status

Du bist nicht angemeldet.

Suche

 

Aktuelle Beiträge

Trump and His Allies...
https://www.commondreams.o rg/views/2022/06/21/trump- and-his-allies-are-clear-a nd-present-danger-american -democracy?utm_source=dail y_newsletter&utm_medium=Em ail&utm_campaign=daily_new sletter_op
rudkla - 22. Jun, 05:09
The Republican Party...
https://truthout.org/artic les/the-republican-party-i s-still-doing-donald-trump s-bidding/?eType=EmailBlas tContent&eId=804d4873-50dd -4c1b-82a5-f465ac3742ce
rudkla - 26. Apr, 05:36
January 6 Committee Says...
https://truthout.org/artic les/jan-6-committee-says-t rump-engaged-in-criminal-c onspiracy-to-undo-election /?eType=EmailBlastContent& eId=552e5725-9297-4a7c-a21 4-53c8c51615a3
rudkla - 4. Mär, 05:38
Georgia Republicans Are...
https://www.commondreams.o rg/views/2022/02/14/georgi a-republicans-are-delibera tely-attacking-voting-righ ts
rudkla - 15. Feb, 05:03
Now Every Day Is January...
https://www.commondreams.o rg/views/2022/02/07/now-ev ery-day-january-6-trump-ta rgets-vote-counters
rudkla - 8. Feb, 05:41

Archiv

Mai 2006
Mo
Di
Mi
Do
Fr
Sa
So
 
 
 
 
 

Status

Online seit 7137 Tagen
Zuletzt aktualisiert: 22. Jun, 05:09

Credits


Afghanistan
Animal Protection - Tierschutz
AUFBRUCH für Bürgerrechte, Freiheit und Gesundheit
Big Brother - NWO
Brasilien-Brasil
Britain
Canada
Care2 Connect
Chemtrails
Civil Rights - Buergerrechte - Politik
Cuts in Social Welfare - Sozialabbau
Cybermobbing
Datenschutzerklärung
Death Penalty - Todesstrafe
Depleted Uranium Poisoning (D.U.)
Disclaimer - Haftungsausschluss
... weitere
Profil
Abmelden
Weblog abonnieren