World-News

Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms. This "rise of slime," as one scientist calls it, is killing larger species and sickening people.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/073106G.shtml

The New York Times writes, "The Senate has one week before its summer recess. As the senators struggle to produce decent legislation from the House's sham bills, Americans will see the truth: their representatives in the House went on vacation without doing their job."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/073106C.shtml

The Heart of the Party

"The fight for the soul of the Democratic Party is the fight between those who want to go back to Franklin Roosevelt and those who want to be corporate Democrats, in sync with banks and large corporations and the greater money interests of the land. It is the battle between those who believe in a party of issues versus those who think any party is a collection of interests," the editorial board of the Journal Inquirer writes.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/073106O.shtml



A Rallying Cry for Democratic Populism

What would happen if the opposition party actually chose to oppose the one in power? Not just on the margins, but by rejecting outright the majority party's fundamental beliefs on trade and tax policy?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/073106B.shtml

On the grounds of a military base an hour's drive from the capital, the Bush administration is building a massive biodefense laboratory unlike any seen since biological weapons were banned 34 years ago.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/073106N.shtml

"'Fiasco' has shot to #1 on Amazon.com. It provides the hard objective facts, woven within an air-tight narrative, of America's involvement in Iraq, which in places seems to mirror Vietnam, and in others a wholly new geo-political malaise of faith-based militarism. No one in America today can afford to be without this book; no one making public policy can ignore the facts he documents, or the picture he paints of a nation that has failed to understand the consequences of its decisions," writes Stirling Newberry.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/073106M.shtml

http://action.defenders.org/site/R?i=e4-ve-S6rjTFvtY8m8_WbA..

31.07.06

Bundesverbraucherminister Horst Seehofer will sich mit einem nationalen Allergieplan um Krankheiten wie Neurodermitis, Heuschnupfen und Unverträglichkeiten von Nahrungsmitteln kümmern. Er bezeichnete Allergien als "Volkskrankheit". Studien würden bestätigen, dass Allergien in den letzten Jahrzehnten "weltweit dramatisch zugenommen" haben. So habe sich beispielsweise allein in den 1980er Jahren die Anzahl der allergischen Bronchialasthmatiker in Europa verdoppelt. In Dänemark habe sich das Auftreten der Hautkrankheit Neurodermitis bei jüngeren Menschen nahezu verdreifacht. Bei Seehofers Plan geht es darum Daten zu sammeln und zu veröffentlichen, um die Kennzeichnung und theoretisch auch um Verbote von allergieauslösenden Stoffen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14117

--------

Mobilfunk ein Allergen?

Elektrosensibilität eine allergische Reaktion gegen elektromagnetische Strahlung?

Die Wahrheit über die derzeitige Mobilfunktechnologie mit gepulsten Hochfrequenzen ist jedoch, dass diese Strahlung alle Zellen in unserem Körper schwächt, das heißt, der Zellstoffwechsel, inklusive aller Enzymaktivitäten etc., wird deutlich beeinträchtigt. Die Zellen funktionieren durch die Mobilfunkstrahlung nicht nur schlechter, sondern es bleiben auch mehr Stoffwechselendprodukte in den Zellen liegen. Dies betrifft aber auch sämtliche Umweltgifte, die wir über die Luft oder die Nahrung aufnehmen. Somit führt die Mobilfunkstrahlung zu einer verstärkten Verschlackung des Körpers nicht nur mit Stoffwechselendprodukten, sondern auch mit Umweltgiften. Dadurch verschlechtert sich der Zellstoffwechsel ein zweites Mal! Dies ist der Grund, warum in den letzten Jahren die Allergikerzahlen so dramatisch zugenommen haben...

Weiter unter:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/186306/

Fast jede Erkrankung kann durch Mobilfunk verursacht oder vestärkt werden
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/426700/

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,640198810,00.html


Informant: binstock

By David Crookes

MOBILE phone giant T-Mobile has been told that it cannot erect a phone mast nearly 50ft high at a Bolton beauty spot.

The firm lodged an appeal over a decision by Bolton Council to reject the plans for a mast on a footpath near Doffcocker Lodge, Bolton.

But a government planning inspector has upheld the town hall decision.

Local councillor, Richard Sylvester, said: "It's a triumph for common sense."

He said people living in nearby Boot Lane and Old Kiln Lane had felt very strongly about the plans and nearly 100 lodged objections.

"It was unsuitable for the area and would have been very intrusive," he said.

"The planning committee rejected the plans because it was the right thing to do and it's pleasing that the decision has been upheld."

Planners threw out proposals for the 15-metre high mast following the objections despite council officers recommending they should be approved.

Bolton Council's planning committee said the plan represented "inappropriate development within the Green Belt" and any special circumstances did not outweigh the harm that would be caused.

The Government was called in to rule over the plans following Bolton Council's rejection of them in January.

Cllr Sylvester said he anticipated the firm would submit alternative plans for the area, but expected residents to oppose any future proposals for the Doffcocker Lodge area.

"People feel very strongly because the area is somewhere which people use regularly and want to enjoy," he added.

No-one from T Mobile was available for comment.

4:37pm today

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.857298.0.no_vote_to_phone_mast_is_upheld.php

by Dean Baker, TomPaine.com

Unless the Fed can inflate another bubble, the end of the real estate boom will practically guarantee a recession.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/07/31/the_coming_housing_crash.php

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20060731.html


Informant: Jennifer Van Bergen

From ufpj-news

Todays Sunday times brings Some Very Good News Indeed!

But, who will turn off the masts when they go bump? Blair/Gordon/Prescott? Or will they just be allowed to idle on and destroy the ozone layer, and use up the sparse energy, as they are in the process of?

Regards.

Agnes


The Sunday Times

July 30, 2006

Vodafone heeds critics and goes cool on 3G

Paul Durman

VODAFONE appears to have finally accepted what its critics have long told it: the revenue uplift from putting fancy 3G phones in its customers’ hands does not justify the cost.

Along with the rest of the mobile industry, Vodafone had hoped that 3G mobile networks would encourage customers to spend more money on services such as browsing the internet, downloading music and watching video clips.

However, less than two years since launching these services, Vodafone has discovered the incremental revenue they generate does not justify the hefty subsidies it has to offer on expensive 3G handsets. It has recently cut the level of subsidies it offers retailers, causing a sharp fall in the proportion of 3G phones it is selling.

After last week’s trading figures, James Barford of Enders Analysis estimated that sales of 3G phones have “plummeted ... from 20% of all handset sales in the prior quarter to just 12%”.

Vodafone would not confirm the size of the fall but said the Enders assessment was “reasonably accurate”. A spokesman said: “3G is being de-emphasised. You’re seeing a commercial evaluation.”

Vodafone said it had seen some revenue uplift from early adopters, and it is still promoting services such as mobile television and music downloads. But for the mass market, 3G networks will increasingly be used to offer cheaper voice calls to win market share from landline companies such as BT.

Claire Enders, who heads the analysis firm that bears her name, said Vodafone’s rethink on 3G was “the first good news we’ve had in a long time”. It showed Arun Sarin, the group’s chief executive, was prepared to listen to his critics, she said.

There was more bad news for 3G in a market-research report commissioned by Enders. This found that 63% of adults were not at all interested in 3G services, and a further 18% were not very interested.

Even those with a 3G phone showed little interest in the possibilities. Seven out of ten had either never made a video call, or had done so only once. More than half of 3G phone owners had never watched a video clip or downloaded music after an initial test. Three-quarters of consumers said they were unwilling to pay £5 a month to watch mobile TV.

The telephone study, conducted by BMRB, also makes grim reading for 3, the newest of the mobile networks and the only one dedicated to 3G. Only one third of 3’s existing customers plan to resubscribe with the network — less than half the loyalty displayed by its principal competitors.

O2 has the most loyal customers, with 81% planning to stay with it. Virgin Mobile also scored well, its 76% loyalty score putting it ahead of Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile. 3 said it did not consider the findings statistically significant because only a “very small” number of its customers were interviewed. It said the level of its customer “churn” was in line with its rivals.

Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2769-2291142,00.html

The New York Times: "If Mr. Lieberman had once stood up and taken the lead in saying that there were some places a president had no right to take his country even during a time of war, neither he nor this page would be where we are today. But by suggesting that there is no principled space for that kind of opposition, he has forfeited his role as a conscience of his party, and has forfeited our support."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/073106Z.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Lieberman

Competitive Enterprise Institute
by Steven J. Milloy

07/27/06

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to tighten air pollution standards again. What we really need, however, is an effective program to control the EPA. The EPA is facing a legal deadline of September for deciding whether to make the federal standards for fine particulate matter (soot) and ground-level ozone (smog) more stringent. While this may sound like a laudable goal on the surface, the absurdity of the process becomes readily apparent once you learn that the EPA’s air quality standards for soot and smog issued in 1997 have yet to be fully implemented and their results assessed...

http://www.cei.org/gencon/019,05455.cfm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.counterthink.org/019797.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp07292006.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

International Society for Individual Liberty
by Jarret Wollstein

07/27/06

Just days before President Bush declared that the U.S. is making 'good progress' in Iraq and our plan to bring democracy to that country is 'advancing well,' the U.S. embassy in Baghdad (Iraq's capital) sent a long memo to the Secretary of State depicting an Iraq mired in chaos, despair and hopelessness. As the following quotes from that memo, released by the Washington Post on 6-18-06, makes it clear, that there is little doubt that Iraq is now far worse off under U.S. occupation than it was under Saddam Hussein's tyranny...

http://www.isil.org/towards-liberty/iraq-in-chaos.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith

07/30/06

The practical trouble, of course, with winning fractional victory, even if it's 99.99%, is that it isn't a victory in principle. The Founding Fathers made that very mistake, and that's what has brought us to where we are now. Leave even 0.01% of the germs in your system, and you're going to get sick again. That's why the doctor insists that you take all of the antibiotic. If history teaches us anything, it's that government's intrusions into our lives, liberties, and property always grow, exactly like a disease. If we were to win now, without having won on fundamental principles, our children, or their children, would end up fighting the same battle, all over again, a century from now...

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2006/tle378-20060730-02.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

See this page for links to articles on OpEdNEws that articulate both sides on the issues in the middle east. It is the goal of OpEdNews to air opinions from both sides to stretch the envelope of discussion and communication. Hate statements are not accepted. Discussions of issues and new ideas for solutions are encouraged. .

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9440


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

by Craig Roberts

But what happens when the system breaks down? What happens when politicians, including those political creatures in uniform, skew away from the path and instead decide that to appease a foreign government or population for political purposes, it is politically expedient to use a handful of your troops as scapegoats?.....

http://www.newswithviews.com/Craig/roberts11.htm

Von 29. Juli bis 5. August 2006 zieht die International Refugee Human Rights Tour durch Bayern. Unter dem Motto Deutschland Lagerland werden wir die bayerische Öffentlichkeit darauf aufmerksam machen, dass überall in Bayern Menschen unter menschenunwürdigen Bedingungen leben müssen, dazu gezwungen durch Gesetze, Verordnungen und Ausländerbehörden. Diese Tour ist der vorläufige Höhepunkt einer Kampagne, die sich seit 2002 gegen Abschiebelager, Essenspakete und Lagerzwang für Flüchtlinge eingesetzt hat. Die Forderungen der International Refugee Human Rights Tour: Flüchtlingslager abschaffen! Ausgrenzung und Isolation beenden! Bleiberecht! Essenspakete abschaffen! Gleiche Rechte für alle! Residenzpflicht abschaffen - Bewegungsfreiheit für alle! Gegen Kriminalisierung von Flüchtlingen! Gleiches Recht auf Arbeit! Recht auf freie Wohnungswahl! Rassismus bekämpfen!

Siehe die Seite der International Refugee Human Rights Tour 2006 http://www.deutschland-lagerland.de



Wie beseitigt man Rückführungshindernisse?

„Die Zuwanderung nach Deutschland findet nicht statt, fast alle Asylanträge werden abgelehnt: Trotzdem fordert ein Evaluierungsbericht der Bundesregierung eine weitere Verschärfung der gesetzlichen Bestimmungen…“

Artikel von Thorsten Stegemann in telepolis vom 31.07.2006 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/23/23207/1.html



Aus: LabourNet, 31. Juli 2006

Jul 31 2006

By Rob Davies, Daily Post

Residents of Hen Fuarth

MOBILE phone giant O2 is planning a 50ft transmitter mast in the middle of a built-up area of North Wales and promise more to come.

The proposed mast on the grass verge of Pen y Maes Road, Holywell, would be near primaryschools and the town's community hospital.

Last night a storm of protest met the proposals but unrepentant phone bosses say such masts will increasingly be needed in the heart of urban areas.

Demand for mobile phones continues to soar, fuelled by increasing numbers of people ditching traditional land lines and relying solely on their mobile, said O2 spokeswoman Angela Johnson.

"The coverage will be OK now but the new mast will be to take into account future additional capacity for the area," she said.

"The more people use their mobile phones the more masts we need and by the nature of the technology they are very low-powered transmitters, so they have to be close to where people use their phones.

"Unfortunately we can't put them on the mountains like TV masts, we transmit at 60watts, not a million watts.

"More and more are people not having land lines at home and are relying solely on their mobiles so masts are going into residential areas right through the country."

She added radio waves from such masts were less than 2% of the total radio frequency emissions in the area.

All electrical equipment, such as TV sets, radios and microwave ovens gave out radio waves and there was no evidence to show phone masts had any adverse effect on health, she claimed.

Details of a planning application for the proposed phone mast were sent out to nearby residents by Flintshire County Council.

Pensioner Bryn Richards of Hen Fuarth, who lives across the road from the planned mast site, said he feared for the health of his 65-year-old wife Lorna, chronically ill with cancer.

The 68-year-old said: "I am very worried about it. My wife has been ill for seven years and this could make her condition even worse.

"Why do they want to build it there? There are three schools and a hospital in the vicinity.

"Young children will be climbing this damn thing. All the residents here are very worried about it. We are all elderly and some people have just come out of hospital.

"Who wants a 50-foot mast right outside their front door? It isn't fair on the residents or the kids going to school.

Mr Richards and neighbours plan to lobby Flintshire council demanding they throw out the proposals.

Business is booming

MOBILE phones, around for 20 years now, are tiny compared to the early days - with more and more in use.

Figures from Ofcom show there are now more mobile phone subscriptions in the UK than people - at 62.5m.

Around 80% of adults use mobiles and revenues from all telecoms services in the last 12 months were £37.2 billion - 6% higher than the previous year.

Meanwhile, fixed-line revenues fell to £10.3b - down by 9% compared with the previous 12 months.

Mobile phones don't work without base stations, commonly known as 'masts'. Without them, a call cannot be made and they need to be where people use their phones.

Whether phones and 'masts' pose a health risk has long been debated.

In May 2000, an independent expert group chaired by Sir William Stewart concluded the balance of evidence to date did not suggest mobile technologies cause adverse health effects.

Omega this is not true. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

However, the Stewart Report called for more research to fill gaps in scientific knowledge and for a precautionary approach to be adopted.

© owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Plc 2006

http://tinyurl.com/j3cxb

#Die Linkspartei.PDS: Pressemitteilungen

31. Juli 2006

Am 1. August 2006 treten erneut Änderungen für Hartz-IV-Empfänger in Kraft. Diese wurden im so genannten Gesetz zur Fortentwicklung der Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende (Hartz IV) beschlossen. Dazu erklärt die stellvertretende Parteivorsitzende Katja Kipping (MdB):

Dreimal abgeschnitten und immer noch zu kurz auf diese Formel kann man die Hartz-IV-Gesetzesarbeit der Großen Koalition bringen. Immer wieder wird an diesem schlechten Gesetz herumgedoktert, was zumeist zu Schikanen oder Leistungskürzungen für die Betroffenen, aber nicht zu einem besseren Gesetz führt. Ab August treten nun erneut zahlreiche Änderungen in Kraft. Dazu gehören u.a., dass die Behörden Langzeitarbeitslose regelmäßig zwischen 8 und 20 Uhr anrufen oder mit Außendienstkontrollen Angaben zu Wohn- und Lebensverhältnissen überprüfen dürfen. Weitere Änderungen betreffen eine stärkere Zweckbindung des Schonvermögens. Während Altervorsorgefreibeträge um 50 Euro pro Lebensjahr erhöht werden, wird das Ersparte, über das Langzeitarbeitlose frei verfügen können, um 50 Euro reduziert. Im Klartext heißt das: Erwerbslose bzw. Menschen mit geringem Einkommen müssen erst Teile ihrer Lebensversicherung aufbrauchen, bevor sie Anspruch auf die Grundsicherung haben. Mit diesem Fortentwicklungsgesetz werden grundlegende Sozial- und Rechtsstaatsprinzipien ausgehebelt: Die verschärften Leistungskürzungen bei Ablehnung einer angebotenen zumutbaren Arbeit bis auf Null verstoßen gegen das grundgesetzliche Verbot der Zwangsarbeit und das Sozialstaatsprinzip. Die Umkehrung der Beweislast bei so genannten eheähnlichen Lebensgemeinschaften hebelt das gültige rechtsstaatliche Prinzip der Beweislast seitens des Klägers aus. In dubio pro reo im Zweifel für den Angeklagten gilt zwar für Straftäter, nicht aber für Empfänger von Arbeitslosengeld II. Trotz verfassungsrechtlichen Bedenken hat die Bundesregierung mit Hilfe von SPD- und Unionsfraktion die entsprechenden Änderungen durchgepeitscht. Vergeblich hat die Fraktion DIE LINKE. auf die Stockfehler und unsozialen Verschärfungen der Gesetzgebung hingewiesen und entsprechende Änderungen angemahnt. Rechtlich unsaubere Gesetze und die Aushebelung grundgesetzlich geschützter Normen diesen Koalitionspfusch müssen nun erneut Erwerbslose und Menschen mit geringem Einkommen ausbaden.

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=33480

http://rodsmith.bluestatedigital.com/blog/archives/rods_plan_for_fair_elections_in_florida/


Informant: ranger116

The committee's findings came after it held a two-day hearing in Geneva last week into US compliance with the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5223586.stm


From Information Clearing House

U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill.

http://tinyurl.com/s5ypz


From Information Clearing House

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4898/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1833795,00.html


Informant: Kev Hall

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-west-has-forgotten-that-might-is-not-right/2006/07/25/1153816180491.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2255


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Irish Independent - Dublin, Ireland

The Government faces an escalating campaign against mobile phone mast erections after more than 1,000 people protested about a 400pc increase in pylons...

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1663023&issue_id=14436

http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1344.cfm

Organic Consumers Association launches, 'Millions Against Monsanto' grassroots activism campaign By Mike Adams NewsTarget.com /Truth Publishing LLC, July 27 2006 Straight to the Source

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) recently launched a grassroots campaign "to mobilize one million consumers to end Monsanto's global corporate terrorism." The "Millions Against Monsanto" campaign website says it seeks to end the Monsanto Corporation's intimidation of small family farmers, its use of unlabeled genetically engineered (GE) foods in consumer products and its use of U.S. taxpayer money to subsidize GE crops such as corn, cotton and soybeans.

The OCA website for Millions Against Monsanto cites the experiences of small farmers such as Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer whose crops were contaminated by a nearby field of Monsanto GE canola. Schmeiser was then sued by the corporation, which demanded he pay an expensive technology fee for the GE plants in his contaminated field.

Oakhurst Dairy -- a company that produces milk from cows free of the synthetic hormone rBGH -- was also sued by Monsanto, which claims the dairy should not be allowed to inform its customers that its products do not contain the Monsanto-patented chemical.

The campaign also calls for an end to Monsanto's environmental pollution, as well as the company's close ties to members of the federal government, which include Justice Clarence Thomas, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Anne Veneman and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, among others.

Consumers wishing to join the OCA action campaign can find more information at http://www.organicconsumers.org/action.htm