World-News

From criminal mismanagement of Iraq's oil revenues to armed private security contractors operating with virtual impunity, this war has created opportunities for an appalling amount of corruption. What follows is a list of some of the worst Iraq war profiteers, who have bilked American taxpayers and undermined the military's mission.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090506I.shtml

"No one understands why we are here and what our mission is," says Sergeant Kahlor. "This war is lost. We aren't helping these people. We are just dying and getting injured." "We are here for each other to make it home," said Sergeant Poetsch. "That's what our motto is. After Potocki went down we sat the platoon down and talked about that even if you don't believe in what is going on, at least we fight for each other. That is how we are going with it now."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090506G.shtml

"No incumbent senator or candidate for a senate seat should be allowed to make it to November without addressing the issue of Net Neutrality and the broader question of whether media policy in this country should serve a few telecommunications giants or the great mass of Americans and the great potential of American democracy," writes John Nichols.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090506D.shtml

Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith write: "The US War Crimes Act of 1996 makes it a felony to commit grave violations of the Geneva Conventions. The Washington Post recently reported that the Bush administration is quietly circulating draft legislation to eliminate crucial parts of the War Crimes Act. Observers on The Hill say the administration plans to slip it through Congress this fall while there still is a guaranteed Republican majority - perhaps as part of the military appropriations bill, the proposals for Guantanamo tribunals, or a new catch-all 'anti-terrorism' package."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090506B.shtml

Valerie Plame was no analyst or paper-pusher. She was an operations officer working on a top priority of the Bush Administration. Armitage, Rove and Libby had revealed information about a CIA officer who had searched for proof of the President's case. In doing so, they harmed her career and put at risk operations she had worked on and foreign agents and sources she had handled.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090506A.shtml

A CONTROVERSIAL phone mast in High Wycombe has been pulled down to the delight of neighbours who have campaigned for six months to have it removed.

The 45ft mast in Arnison Avenue was dismantled last Tuesday just as Barry Evans, founder of the NO2 Mast Group, was preparing to fight the mobile phone giants before a judge the next day.

Mr Evans, 59, from Amersham Road, said: "I am pleased. It shows that you need to push them and they will back down. This could all have been sorted over a cup of coffee weeks ago."

The mast was put up in February despite O2 failing to get planning permission from Wycombe District Council after the company used a legal loophole.

The phone company realised the council had missed the deadline to respond to its application by one day, giving it automatic permission to install the mast. The council has 56 days to respond to applications.

Jim Stevenson, from O2, said it was a "coincidence" that the court case was the next day and promised the mast would not be making a reappearance.

He said: "We have tweaked a few of our other antennae and we realised we don't need this one any more. It will go back in storage and be used somewhere else in the country."

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.thisisbucks.co.uk/news/businessmonthly/businessnews/display.var.907989.0.phone_company_takes_down_controversial_mast.php

"It's hard to believe that nearly six years after the disasters of Florida in 2000, states still haven't mastered the art of counting votes accurately. Yet," write the editors of the New York Times, "there are growing signs that the country is moving into another presidential election cycle in disarray."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090506P.shtml

"It took no time at all for the administration to start systematically undercutting the efforts of experienced health administrators in New York and at the national Centers for Disease Control," write David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz. "By pressing them to return the city to 'normal' and feeding them doctored information about dust levels - ignoring scientific uncertainties about the dangers that lingered in the air - the administration lied to support a national policy of denial."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090506O.shtml

Mit dem Begriff des islamischen Faschismus hat US-Präsident Bush die kommenden Wahlen im Blick.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/23/23484/1.html

A message from Eleanor

Patrick Cockburn, the award-winning journalist and author, has reported extensively from Iraq, Afghanistan and Jordan. Here, he explains how the 'war on terror' has fuelled resentment of the West and brought new levels of death and destruction.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1362708.ece

For nearly three years, the small community of McCloud, situated at the foot of Mount Shasta in northern California, has kept a Nestlé water bottling plant and distribution center at bay. But the Swiss-based food and beverage giant continues to push forward its plans for a 1-million square foot plant that would drain nearly 2 million gallons of water every day for less than 1/64 of a cent per gallon!

Now, the Draft Environmental Impact Review of the project is open for comment. This report downplays the serious impact of Nestlé's plant on the community and region. You have an opportunity to speak out before the comment period ends on September 12.

Tell the Siskiyou County Planning Department that you want all the impacts of this project thoroughly analyzed in order to protect the environment and water resources. They must do everything they can to protect McCloud's water--not turn it over to Nestlé to exploit for profit.

Add your comments to the sample letter below and we'll send it to the Siskiyou County Planning Department--help McCloud citizens protect their water from Nestlé.

Tell me more
http://www.stopcorporateabusenow.org/campaign/nestle_eir

By Rami G. Khouri, TomPaine.com

A grown man playing make-believe instead of delivering a sensible foreign policy endangers us all.

http://ga3.org/ct/3d20pgF1tRuJ/

A message from Debs

Original Message

Please sign this petition authored by my husband.
Blessings and thanks,

Launi



Dear Friend,

One of the primary lessons we are taught in childhood is to share. As we become adults, we learn that sharing is not just about toys, it is about food and water, it is about culture and respect, it is about our mother earth. No matter how many would choose to divide us for their personal gain, we are one species, we are one family. It is time that as a species, we act as responsible adults not like misbehaving children. We must see that it is in the interest of each and every one of us to make this world a place where all are safe and secure, a place which is worthy of our children, and grandchildren and all of the generations to follow.

We waste so much money on war and destruction. If we took all that money and effort and put it into food, housing, health care and education, we could transform our world from one of fear and sorrow into one of joy and thanksgiving. We have been told, in so many settings, it is us against them. This is a lie. When we destroy rather than build, it is us against ourselves. Peace and cooperation is the road to the future, if there is to be a future. It is time for the people to stand up and say “we will no longer tolerate this abomination”. It is time for all parties to lay down their arms. It is time for the people of the every country and every creed to come together and tell the war mongers to step aside and let a new era open for mankind. Let us give power to those who advance the cause of peace and prosperity not doom and destruction.

We must do this. We can do this. We will do this. Please do three things to help make this possible:

1) sign this petition http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/495764839
2) forward this email to everyone you can
3) wear red on October 9th

The petition will be presented to Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and forwarded to leaders of all the countries of the world. We are using the worldwide web to make this a truly international event and it will only happen if you help. Please include your contacts in other countries. October 9th was chosen because it is the birthday of John Lennon who wrote the song “Imagine”. It also happens to be an especially opportune time in the political calendar of the United States.

While gatherings and marches are encouraged in an effort to gain local media coverage, the wearing of red has deep significance. Red is the color which indicates “stop” and is the color of blood. Therefore, the statement being made is to “stop the bloodshed”. There are many situations where people may have to work and may not be able to carry written expressions of their feelings. In this way, everybody can participate and it will give us the opportunity to really see how very many of us there are who feel this way. Together we can change the world.


Sincerely,

Edwin S. Purcell, Ph.D.
WEBSITE: http://drpurcell.tripod.com/imagine

Whether righteous or misguided in their ire toward Fitzgerald's perceived attacks on them, the US commercial press has abandoned objectivity in their reporting of the Plame investigation. Fitzgerald's investigation is ongoing, there are multiple individuals under examination, and right now US commercial press can't bring themselves to say it.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090506Z.shtml

Members 'denied right to speak on key issues'

Rob Waugh

LEADING Tories have attacked a local government watchdog created by John Prescott's former Department, and called for its abolition.

The Standards Board for England is accused of overseeing a regulatory system which denies councillors the right to speak on key issues affecting their communities because of a tough interpretation of rules governing personal interests.

A report drawn up by Owen Paterson, Tory Shadow Transport Minister, and Gerald Howarth, Shadow Defence Minister, details a series of instances where councillors have allegedly been barred from speaking out because of the monitoring system and Code of Conduct brought in by Mr Prescott's former Department, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Much of the issue revolves around the interpretation of a councillor's personal interest in an issue.

The Tories contend that the current Standards Board regime is encouraging a nonsensical view which effectively could stop councillors doing the job they were elected to do.

It also involves so-called "predetermination", under which councillors are expected to have an open mind before reaching a decision, apparently precluding the expression of any strongly held opinions prior to then.

The report cites the example of senior council officials in Chester and Reigate and Banstead councils, who wrote to all candidates standing for election earlier this year telling them that they must avoid mentioning any controversial local issues during campaigning because, if they were elected, it would it disbar them from taking part in any discussion of those issues in council.

And in one of the more bizarre examples, the report says that members of South Cambridgeshire District Council have been told by their monitoring officer that they might be disqualified from discussing the siting of a mobile phone mast if they themselves used a mobile phone. Neither could they pronounce on a park-and-ride scheme if they drove a car, the report adds.

It concludes: "This would appear to negate the very basis of representative democracy. Voters, it would appear, cannot expect a councillor to hold fixed views on anything or to represent their views in the debating chamber."

Last night, a spokeswoman for the Standards Board said: "A lot of the report seems to concern the common law principle of bias and predetermination as it has been interpreted by the courts and the Court of Appeal.

"This predates the Standards Board for England and the Code of Conduct by many years.

"We have recently consulted with local government and put forward proposals for a revised Code of Conduct suited to modern community based local government. We expect the Local Government Minister to put a revised code to Parliament very soon.

"We receive around 300 complaints a month, the majority from members of the pubic who feel their elected representatives have, in some way, fallen short of their expectations. We believe they need the confidence of an independent body that ensures that their concerns are addressed."

Comment: Page 12.

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05 September 2006

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http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1743130

Liberty For All
by BetteRose Ryan

09/03/06

It occurred to me that just in my lifetime, not only has technology accelerated, but so has the loss of our freedoms. When I was a young girl in school, we studied about the feudal system. We were told how awful it was, how the serfs had to yield up to 25% of what they grew or created to the lord and his knights. This of course was given for protection against raiders and space within the castle walls if that became necessary. Today, we - as a ‘free’ people - give more than 50% of our earnings up to those who govern us!

http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=42


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://tinyurl.com/k27yt


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Tom Paine
by Rami G. Khouri

09/04/06

There is something sad about a grown man playing children's make-believe war games in a tree-house in grandpa's backyard -- which is how George W. Bush came across Thursday night in his speech on the importance of winning the war in Iraq in the global battle against terrorism. Rarely does a leader of a great country like the United States malign history, his people's intelligence and the dignity of over a billion Muslims in one speech. But Bush did that Thursday night and will probably keep doing it for a while. Terrorism is no joke or game, I know: The 9/11, and subsequent, attacks around the world were tragic and criminal deeds. Nobody has to tell us in the Middle East about terrorism's evil, because we suffer its negative impact in two ways -- as victims of terror for many decades, and also as the owners of the societies that give birth to so many terrorists...

http://tinyurl.com/klxzx


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Information Liberation

by staff

09/01/06

The federal government has quietly begun using an incredibly intrusive new census form called 'The American Community Survey.' Up to 1 million households a year will receive this form. This new 'census' form is 24-pages long, and demands that you lay bare every detail of your life, including how much you earn, what your home is worth, details of your health, when you leave for work, previous addresses, pregnancies, monies received from government, and on and on. I say demand because you can be fined up to $1,000 for each of the 72 questions you don't answer or which you answer 'incorrectly.' However, so far no one has been fined for not answering, nor are they likely to be if public resistance is strong...

http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=15240


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Price of Liberty

by Robert Greenslade

09/06

Congress recently passed, and President Bush signed, The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005. The stated purpose of the act is: 'To ensure that the right of an individual to display the flag of the United States on residential property not be abridged.' While this language sounds real patriotic and all that stuff, the Act is nothing but another attempt to pander to voters in the name of patriotism because the Constitution does not grant Congress any general jurisdiction over flags or residential property within one of the United States...

http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/06/09/04/greenslade.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.rense.com/general73/sshe.htm


Informant: Kev Hall

I thought the news images we had seen from New Orleans during the worst days of Katrina were fundamentally unvarnished. And then I saw these.

http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2005/09/katrina_afterma.html


From Information Clearing House

Video

A trailer-esque montage spectacle of Hollywood's relentless vilification and dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14836.htm

"Some soldiers come home missing limbs and other parts of their bodies. Still others will live with permanent scars from horrific events that no one other than those who served will ever understand."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14835.htm

By James Petras

While world attention has focused largely on Washington’s military interventions and violent covert operations as the most visible signs of empire building, they have overlooked the far more successful domestic and overseas economic strategies designed to enhance the US economic empire.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14832.htm

by award winning journalist John Pilger

Video documentary
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12555.htm

By Mickey Z.

The excuse of ignorance is not valid when graphic images are available within minutes. It's not lack of knowledge; it's denial...or perhaps even acquiescence. There are no innocent bystanders when our money and/or rhetoric support the world's most powerful military and the corporate status quo.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14827.htm

By Kim Gongre

Standing amid the swirling ashes of our own destruction, we deny the cinders of the charred bodies even as we try in vain to wipe them from our eyes.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14828.htm

Video

Marine Corporal Grant Collins describes what it was like to participate in the war in Iraq. He also describes what it is like to live with giving orders that resulted in the deaths of civilians.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14834.htm

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/09/doj-seeks-court-permission-to-continue.php


Informant: ranger116

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0904-02.htm

The War on Terror, Five Years on: An Era of Constant Warfare
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0904-06.htm

The New Zealand sealion is a globally threatened species that numbers around 7,000 mature adult animals. Since 1980 more than 2,000 sealions have been drowned in the southern squid fishery with more than 100 being killed each year in recent years.

This year Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton increased the number the fishery is allowed to drown by 52% to 150 animals. Half those killed are adult females which means their sealion pup starves back on land because it is unable to survive without its mother to feed it.

Please use the form below to voice your concern about the increase in the number of sealions that can be killed as a result of squid fishing. Forest & Bird will deliver your petition signature to the Government before a decision is made later this year on the 2007 squid season allowable sealion catch.

I urge the Government to reduce the number of threatened New Zealand sealions that fishing vessels are allowed to kill in the southern squid fishery each year to close to zero.

Take action:
http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/support/petition/petition.asp

This many New Zealand sea lions have been killed so far this season by the Auckland Islands squid trawlers
http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/Marine/sealions/sealionkillcount.asp

http://militaryweek.com/columns/withoutreservation.php?id=46


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Ask a nursery for care tips or google your tree. Find out how to care for it. Redwoods like Iron, Acid, Mineral Soil, Nitrogen and Water! Iron: carot compost, iron scrap metal, rusty nails, bolts etc. But not toxic galvanized nails. Acid: coffee grounds or some fancy water filters make acid water and alkali water. Drink the alkali water and pour the acid water on your Redwoods, Doug Firs, Rhodedendrons, Hydrangeas, etc. google acid loving plants. Mineral Soil: sand, chalky sand bags, crushed rock, etc. sprinkle all around. Nitrogen: compost, manure, poo, etc. Water: there is no such thing as too much water for a Redwood, so long as the soil can breathe. On top of the compost you lay around the tree, apply a thick cover of mulch, or wood chips. Wood chips can be dumped in your driveway for free anytime you see one of those chipper shredder trucks. (Saves them a trip to the dump!) Just be sure they did not remove the tree because of bugs. Ask them! Look at the wood they cut. Be sure there are no pinholes in the bark from boring beetles, termites, etc. Wood chips can be piled as high as you like. But NOT near the tree trunk of some trees. Beware fungus, etc. If you pile woodchips high enough, catching all the winter rain, you do not have to water in the summer. Sound like a good idea? this is how forests do it, and forests don't use pipes, artificial irrigation, or pay a water bill. Forests are smart! Wood chips keep the sun from drying the soil. Wood chips catch and hold rainwater, slowly releasing it to the roots. Wood chips eventually break down / decompose, becoming soil! Wood chips are fun!

Oak trees do NOT like acid. Do not water the base of an Oak. Do not cover the base of an Oak. Native Americans would apply volcanic ash to Oak trunks and soil. You too can apply minerals / whitewash your trees! All trees like minerals. http://suddenoaklife.org explains how! Dr Lee Klinger of Santa Cruz whitewashes trees with http://azomite.com Azomite (60 minerals) to which he adds Calcium, Bentonite, and Lime. Mineals absorbed by bark and root strenghthen the tree, boosting tree immunity. Opportunists such as phytophthora ramorum (Sudden Oak Death fungus), bugs, etc. rely on weak trees.

Do not park or drive cars under the drip line of a tree. The drip line of a tree is the shadow the tree casts if the sun is directly overhead. The drip line of a tree is the cirlce in which water drops would fall from the tips of the longest branches. The drip line of a tree maps closely to the root line of a tree. Protect this soil: do not allow trucks or heavy equipment to compact this precious earth. Do not pave, build, trench or cut into the soil beneath a tree. (It might fall over if you kill roots.)

Please distribute widely!

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/21/18299074.php

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Dont just plant trees in your yard, plant trees for your house! http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/21/18299343.php

Arborsculpture highlighted in new book Sentinel staff report - July 14, 2005 Author Richard Reames is a man on a mission: to help people develop a better appreciation for nature, and to provide insight into the use of trees as more than just oxygen providers growing on the planet. A commissioned arborsculptor, Reames is the author of the recently released "Arborsculpture: Solutions for a Small Planet" published by Arborsmith Studios of Williams, Ore. Arborsculpture is the practice of shaping live tree trunks into works of art of construction. Live trees can be shaped into useful, everyday items like chairs, gazebos and tool handles, as well as sculptures such as spirals, boxes and peace signs. Article: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/July/14/style/stories/09style.htm

German Tree Dome: http://www.treedome.com/bilder.htm

Watch small movie about growing a treehouse!: http://www.treedome.com/film.htm

Plantware Cartoon (building a playground with ficus) http://www.plantware.org/movie.html http://www.plantware.org/index2.html

Growing a tree dome: http://www.naturbauten.de/ http://www.lebendlaube.de/

Home Grown: http://www.loiswalpole.com/gallery5/gallery5.htm

Growing a home out of ficus: Ideas http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Oaks/4769/ent.htm

Growing Furnature http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~blackash/pooktrephotos.htm http://www.grown-furniture.co.uk/

Tree sculpture/furnature: http://www.pooktre.com/

Japanese Growing Village project http://www.growingvillage.com/Official_Pavilion.htm

Gilroy, Ca. Circus Trees (Bonfante Gardens) http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tips/getAttraction.php3?tip_AttractionNo==3554

http://www.loiswalpole.com/

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NASA Study shows common plants help reduce indoor air pollution....
http://www.zone10.com/tech/NASA/Fyh.htm

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Informant: Scott Munson

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Plant trees, lots of them, you can never plant enough!
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3515163/

14 August 2006

Everyone knows hot dogs aren't exactly healthy for you, but in a new study chemists find they may contain DNA-mutating compounds that might boost one's risk for cancer.

Scientists note there is an up to 240-fold variation in levels of these chemicals across different brands.

"One could try and find out what the difference in manufacturing techniques are between the brands, and if it's decided these things are a hazard, one could change the manufacturing methods," researcher Sidney Mirvish, a chemist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told LiveScience.

Mirvish and his colleagues examined hot dogs because past research had linked them with colon cancer. Hot dogs are preserved with sodium nitrite, which can help form chemicals known as N-nitroso compounds, most of which cause cancer in lab animals.

Extracts from hot dogs bought from the supermarket, when mixed with nitrites, resulted in what appeared to be these DNA-mutating compounds. When added to Salmonella bacteria, hot dog extracts treated with nitrites doubled to quadrupled their normal DNA mutation levels. Triggering DNA mutations in the gut might boost the risk for colon cancer, the researchers explained.

"I won't say you shouldn't eat hot dogs," Mirvish said. Future research will feed hot dog meat to mice to see if they develop colon cancer or precancerous conditions, he explained.

James Hodges, president of the American Meat Institute Foundation in Washington, noted this study is "a preliminary report that the author concedes requires further investigation. The carcinogenic risk to humans of the compounds studied has not been determined."

The possible hazard presented here is not just limited to hot dogs. Salted dried fish and seasonings such as soy sauce may contain similar levels of these chemicals, Mirvish said.

Mirvish and his colleagues reported their findings in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060814_hot_dogs.html


From PlantTrees.org