World-News

Taking Oil Out Of The Equation

by Michael T. Klare, TomPaine.com
http://ga3.org/ct/Bp20pgF18Xu3/

Tainted Science

by Frank O'Donnell, TomPaine.com

The EPA just made a decision that will cause thousands more deaths than tainted spinach.

http://ga3.org/ct/B720pgF18Xux/

The 'Harder To Vote' Act

by Wade Henderson, TomPaine.com
http://ga3.org/ct/Xd20pgF18Xud/

Four government auditors who monitor leases for oil and gas on federal property say the Interior Department suppressed their efforts to recover millions of dollars from companies they said were cheating the government. The auditors contend that they were blocked by their bosses from pursuing more than $30 million in fraudulent underpayments of royalties for oil produced in publicly-owned waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092106O.shtml

Senate Democrats Plan Probes Into Iraq War

Senate Democrats, accusing Republicans of failing to adequately monitor the conduct of the war in Iraq, announced their own series of hearings into what they called a failed policy. This month's devastating wave of suicide attacks in Afghanistan is a grim reminder that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, under fire for his role in Iraq, has been the architect of not one but two failing wars - and of a dangerous vision for how to apply American power.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092106M.shtml

Molly Ivins writes: "A debate on torture. I don't know - what do you think? I guess we have to define it, first. The White House has already specified 'water boarding,' making some guy think he's drowning for long periods, as a perfectly good interrogation technique. Maybe, but it was also a great favorite of the Gestapo and has been described and condemned in thousands of memoirs and novels in highly unpleasant terms."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092106K.shtml

Robert Parry writes: "Having gone through the diplomatic motions with Iran, George W. Bush is shifting toward a military option that carries severe risks for American soldiers in Iraq as well as for long-term US interests around the world. Yet, despite this looming crisis, the Bush Family continues to withhold key historical facts about US-Iranian relations."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092106J.shtml

Subventionierung der Fischereiflotte: "Die Thunfischbestände im Mittelmeer stehen kurz vor dem Zusammenbruch" (21.09.06)

"Die Thunfischbestände im Mittelmeer stehen kurz vor dem Zusammenbruch" – Das war die dramatische Botschaft einer Anhörung des Fischerei-Ausschusses des Europaparlaments, die am 12. September stattfand. Fischereiexperten, Umweltschützer und Branchenvertreter waren sich offenbar einig darin, dass dringender Handlungsbedarf bestehe: Die jährliche Fangmenge von 50.000 Tonnen müsse halbiert werden, um eine Regenerierung der Bestände zu gewährleisten. Die EU habe in den vergangenen Jahren den Fischfang durch die Subventionierung der Fischereiflotte gefördert. Jetzt wird über neue Subventionen für die Verkleinerung der Flotten diskutiert.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14386

Evelyn Cronce
El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

http://www.dchieftain.com/news/64883-09-20-06.html

The Environmental Protection Agency this month announced their decision to cancel the registration of most uses of the pesticide carbofuran after a prolonged review.

This means that the chemical would no longer be able to be registered for most uses.

"The first step in attempting to remove the product from the shelves is for the EPA to ask the manufacturer for a voluntary recall," said Caroline Kennedy, from Defenders of Wildlife. "I believe there is a hearing scheduled for October with the company."

The pesticide is sold by the FMC Corporation under the name Furadan. The corporation says the pesticide's threats are being exaggerated.

According to the American Bird Conservancy, the chemical has been responsible for the deaths of millions of wild birds since its introduction in 1967.

"American Bird Conservancy applauds EPA for removing one of the deadliest bird killing pesticides, carbofuran, from the market," said Dr. George Fenwick, President of American Bird Conservancy in a press release.

The cancellation is immediately effective for the main uses of carbofuran, for alfalfa, corn, cotton, potatoes, and rice. Its use will be phased out over four years for other minor uses including artichokes, chili peppers in the southwest, cucumbers, spinach for seed, sunflowers and pine seedlings. The cancellation also applies to use on most major imported agricultural products. This means that countries wishing to export agricultural produce to the United States will not be able to use carbofuran on those crops.

In its 2005 ecological risk assessment for carbofuran, EPA stated that there were no legal uses of carbofuran that did not kill wild birds. If a flock of mallards were to feed in a carbofuran treated alfalfa field, EPA predicted that 92 percent of the birds in the flock would quickly die," said Dr. Michael Fry, director or the conservancy's pesticides and birds campaign.

"Millions of bird deaths have been averted," said Rodger Schlickeisen, the president of Defenders of Wildlife. "The toll these dangerous chemicals have taken on wildlife cannot be overstated, to say nothing of the threat they pose to human health. The EPA made the right call today, letting science chart the best course forward for the health of our nation's citizens and natural heritage."

"According to EPA's own analysis, carbofuran was a threat to human health through contaminated food, drinking water, and occupational exposure. In light of the health risks to people, including high risks to children and to workers, and given the availability of less toxic alternatives, EPA did the right thing," said Dr. Jennifer Sass, Senior Scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council in a recent publication, who also campaigned for the cancellation of carbofuran.

For more information contact Gavin Shire, American Bird Conservancy, (202) 234-7181 extension 207, or

Michael Fry, American Bird Conservancy, (202) 234-7181 extension 205, or Caroline Kennedy, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 682-9400.
ecronce(at)dchieftain.com


Informant: binstock

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/appeal_against_vodafone_dismissed.htm

For those of you interested we have now posted the Inspector's decision letter for the Hearing held in Woking last month which resulted in GRAM's victory (so far) against Vodafone.

The direct link is at
http://nomasts.org.uk/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=20&Itemid=109 .

It is about 200K, so will take a minute or so for non-broadband people.

Best Wishes,

GRAM nomasts.org.uk

Marsha Mcclelland has sent you an important action alert - read below for more info, and take action at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/236574986

Hi Friends,

I have just read and signed the petition: "Don't let Congress Contaminate Food Safety Laws"
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/236574986

Thanks!

Salvage Logging: Review Needed

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial board says: "A poorly conceived House measure to expand logging of damaged or threatened trees may come up for a Senate vote this week ... The plan ignores the increasing scientific evidence that forests recover from fire at least as well or better without salvage operations."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092006EC.shtml

With barely seven weeks until the midterm elections, Americans have an overwhelmingly negative view of the Republican-controlled Congress, with substantial majorities saying that they disapprove of the job it is doing and that its members do not deserve re-election, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. The disdain for Congress is as intense as it has been since 1994, when Republicans captured 52 seats to end 40 years of Democratic control of the House and retook the Senate as well.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092106Z.shtml

Strike the Root
by Kristina Gronquist

09/20/06

'Are we safer?' This is a question being bandied about at this juncture, five years after 9/11 and nearly four years into the war on Iraq. The banal and selfish nature of this question is mind-boggling. Are we safer? Think about this in context to how the Iraqi people must feel today. Their nation was illegally invaded under false pretenses (Iraqis having nothing to do with terror) and now the beautiful 'land of two rivers' has literally been torn apart by the Coalition forces and the chain of violence they began. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died and suffered, and hundreds die weekly. And we in the US have the arrogance and insensitivity to only ask one question, 'Are we safer?'

http://www.strike-the-root.com/62/gronquist/gronquist1.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Price of Liberty
by Lady Liberty

09/06

So, Mr. President, you want to know if I feel safer today than I did five years ago? Mr. Senator, you want me to tell you I think you've done a great job taking actions to enhance my security? Mr. Congressman, you'd like my vote because you've worked so hard to prevent terrorism? I've got a single answer consisting of a single word to cover all of your questions: No. No, I don't feel safer. No, I don't think you've done a great job making me more secure. And no, I don't think you've done all that great a job preventing more terror attacks. (Politicians would like me to think they have because we haven't had any more attacks since 9/11, but given the circumstances outlined above, I'm thinking that a lot of that has more to do with luck and a lack of completed plans for attacks than it has with effective preventive measures.) I'll tell you what I do feel, though, and that's less free...

http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/06/09/18/ladylib.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Brendan O'Neill

09/21/06

First they said it was a war against al-Qaeda. Then, when they failed to find Osama bin Laden and his henchmen, they said it was a war to topple the Taliban and liberate women from the burqa. Now, as Western troops continue to dig themselves into Afghanistan more than five years after 9/11, they're calling it a 'war on drugs.' One of the key justifications for the continuing presence of American, British, Australian, Spanish, Italian, and other forces in Afghanistan is to stem the growth of poppy fields, which reportedly provide the raw materials for 90 percent of the world's heroin. According to Condoleezza Rice, if this 'drug economy' is left unchallenged Afghanistan might well become a 'failed state' and threaten stability around the world with its ceaseless export of narcotics. Nothing better sums up the folly of Western intervention in Afghanistan than this latest metamorphosis into a 'war on drugs'...

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/oneill.php?articleid=9722


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNN

09/20/06

President Bush said Wednesday he would order U.S. forces to go after Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan if he received good intelligence on the fugitive al Qaeda leader's location. 'Absolutely,' Bush said. The president made the comments Wednesday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Although Pakistan has said it won't allow U.S. troops to operate within its territory, 'we would take the action necessary to bring him to justice.' But Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, told reporters Wednesday at the United Nations that his government would oppose any U.S. action in its territory...

http://tinyurl.com/e5tng


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Chambersburg Public Opinion

09/20/06

Republican activists Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed landed more than 100 meetings inside the Bush White House, according to documents released Wednesday that provide the first official accounting of the access and influence the two presidential allies have enjoyed. The White House released the Secret Service visit records to settle a lawsuit by the Democratic Party and an ethics watchdog group seeking visitors logs for the two GOP strategists and others who emerged as figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal...

http://tinyurl.com/joxgs


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

USA Today

09/20/06

President Bush's embattled anti-terrorism [sic] agenda got a boost Wednesday when a wiretap bill was revised and a Senate Republican leader said he was hopeful a deal was near on treatment of detainees. Progress on the two critical issues before Congress recesses next week for the midterm elections was seen as crucial to Republicans as they defended their majorities in the House and Senate. In the Senate, neither the White House nor the rebellious senators had the votes necessary to move to move forward on how to handle the nation's most dangerous terror suspects, however. ... Heather Wilson's bill initially would have given legal status [sic] to Bush's domestic surveillance program only after an attack. Instead, her bill now would grant the administration's plea to allow wiretapping against Americans without warrants when it is believed a terrorist attack is 'imminent'... [editor's note: I really don't see what the argument is about. Neither proposal is constitutional, and Bush has already established that he does whatever he happens to feel like whether it's legal or not anyway - TLK]

http://tinyurl.com/p7grc


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

San Jose Mercury News

09/21/06

California filed a lawsuit against the six largest automakers operating in the United States, contending that car and truck emissions are causing global warming, injuring the state's environment, economy and endangering public health. The complaint, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Oakland, is the latest escalation in an ongoing clash between states and the U.S. auto industry over global warming. The California complaint contends that under federal and state common law the automakers have created a public nuisance by producing millions of vehicles that collectively emit massive quantities of carbon dioxide...

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15571350.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Campaigners against a phone mast have organised a public meeting next week.

And they are hoping that speakers from any other groups who have successfully held back the mast-tide will join them.

Astley Against Mobile Masts (AAMM) was formed after Vodafone announced a bid for a 36 feet high mast at the Astley Labour Club site in Manchester Road.

They argue that the mast is being planned for a heavily populated residential area and in the centre of their local village shopping area.

If approved it will be in "close proximity" to Astley's amenities, two private day nurseries, two primary schools and a large Catholic high school.

And they are looking for help and advice from other successful anti-mast campaigns around Wigan who should contact AAMM's Debbie Jones by e-mail at debbiejones20(at)hotmail.co.uk AAMM spokesperson Adele Woodward said: "We want masts to be placed at a distance away from schools, nurseries and residential areas until there is adequate research to reassure us that it is safe.

"Why can't the new mast be installed at an existing site that is away from the community and amenities?

"The fact is that thousands of children walk, or travel, in close proximity to the site, five days per week to get to the local school.

"The emission of electro-magnetic waves and the limited on-going research available means that we can't currently prove or disprove their safety.''

The group now want Wigan Council planning committee to make a site visit to the location – preferably at a time when children are starting or leaving school.

THE meeting will be held at the Pensioners' Centre in Manchester Road, Astley (between St Ambrose School and bungalows) on Thursday September 28, at 7.30pm. Research information is available at Blackmoor Service Station, 363 Manchester Road, Astley between the times of 9.30am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday and 9 am and 12 mid-day on Saturdays.

21 September 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.leightoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=69&ArticleID=1780685

September 21, 2006

By FELICITY BARRINGER

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/washington/21roads.html

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 --- In the latest round of legal Ping-Pong over the future of 49 million roadless acres of national forests, a federal judge in California on Wednesday reinstated Clinton-era protections against logging and mining on the land and invalidated the Bush administration's substitute policy.

The judge, Elizabeth D. LaPorte of Federal District Court in San Francisco, said the new policy had been imposed without the required environmental safeguards.

The reversal, however, does not cover nine million acres of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska because a separate set of legal opinions determines their use.

Judge LaPorte ruled in a suit filed by a coalition of environmental groups and states that objected to the decision last year to scuttle what was widely known as the "roadless rule" of 2001.

The administration replaced that rule with a policy of state-by-state management under which governors submit recommendations for the use of national forest lands within their borders.

Judge LaPorte said that the original rule had laid out "the inherent problems in this kind of local decision making," particularly "the failure to recognize the cumulative national significance of individual local decisions."

In repealing the 2001 rule, she said, the Forest Service, which is part of the Agriculture Department, had failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires agencies to conduct detailed environmental analyses of alternative approaches.

Judge LaPorte said the Forest Service had failed to consult federal agencies responsible for protecting endangered species. Among other points, her order enjoined the service "from taking any further action contrary to the roadless rule without undertaking environmental analysis."

Justice Department lawyers had argued that such analyses and endangered-species consultations would be performed as decisions were made on managing individual forests and that giving states the right to petition was more procedural than substantive.

The legislative director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Anna Aurilio, said that the judge's ruling "sort of took it back to the first principles of environmental protection and said, you can't just ride roughshod over the environment."

"They can't just trample on all the laws," Ms. Aurilio said of the administration.

Two Agriculture Department officials said they had not decided whether to appeal the decision and would continue to accept and review state petitions.

"As a general matter, we disagree with it, but the court's order is what it is," Deputy Under Secretary David P. Tenny said.

Mr. Tenny said working closely with states to gather information was "more effective in managing roadless areas properly than a sweeping approach that deals with all areas at one time."

"We'll do our level best to keep working with the states," he added.

Six states have submitted requests under the changed policy. Five of them --- California, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia --- sought protection for their entire inventories of roadless areas.

Idaho, with the largest inventory of roadless acres outside Alaska, submitted its petition on Wednesday. It sought full protection for 1.7 million of its 9.3 million roadless acres and the option for logging and road construction in what state officials called the remaining "backcountry" areas.

A state environmental official, James L. Caswell, said that such logging would in general be intended to protect forest health and manage fire risks.

Kristen Boyles, the lawyer for Earthjustice who argued in support of the roadless rule, said the governors' petitions were "never a guarantee that we would get the protections." The repeal of the rule "was illegal, Ms. Boyles said, because the Forest Service didn't look at the environmental consequences or the alternatives."

In June, the Forest Service sold timber leases on two small roadless tracts of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest near the Oregon coast despite the explicit objections of Gov. Theodore R. Kulongoski.

Fire ravaged the area in 2002.

The merits of the roadless policy and its successor have been argued in three federal courts --- in Idaho, Wyoming and, now, California --- for six years.

The rule was first enjoined by a judge in Idaho, an injunction that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned.

A judge in Wyoming then enjoined the rule nationwide, and the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit did not rule on that appeal until after the Agriculture Department had rescinded the rule and set up the system of state petitions in May 2005. Thereafter, the 10th Circuit said, any ruling would be moot because the roadless rule was no longer in effect.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company


Informant: Teresa Binstock

--------

Judge reinstates road ban in national forests

Great Falls Tribune

09/21/06

A federal judge reinstated a ban Wednesday on road construction in nearly 50 million acres of pristine wilderness, overturning a Bush administration rule that could have cleared the way for more commercial activity in national forests. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte sided with states and environmental groups that sued the U.S. Forest Service after it reversed President Clinton's 'Roadless Rule' prohibiting commercial logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of national forest in 38 states and Puerto Rico...

http://tinyurl.com/ru22q


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

"We need to figure out a way to have ISPs retain data for a sufficient period of time that would allow us to go back and retrieve it."

http://news.com.com/Gonzales+ISPs+must+keep+records+on+users/2100-1028_3-6117455.html


From Information Clearing House

Americans need to decide whether we are still a country of laws - and if we are, we need to decide whether a President who has determined to ignore or evade the law has not acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government.

http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20060109_bergen.html


From Information Clearing House

President George W. Bush’s defense of abusing detainees betrays basic American and global standards, Human Rights Watch said today.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/09/06/usdom14139.htm


From Information Clearing House

Shaker Aamer, a 37-year-old resident of Britain, was placed in isolated confinement Sept. 24, 2005 and has been beaten by guards, deprived of sleep and subjected to temperature extremes, according to the motion filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15034.htm



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

Any President who can start and then lose two brushfire wars, thereby revealing for the whole world to see that the American empire is a spent force, can't be all bad.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north477.html


From Information Clearing House

Report

The World Bank receives more from developing countries than what it disburses to them says a new report released Tuesday as finance ministers endorsed a controversial new Bank plan to tackle corruption in developing countries.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34780


From Information Clearing House

The outside world has not the slightest intention of taking military action in Sudan. The Sudanese government knows this and gives not a fig for other sanctions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1876418,00.html


From Information Clearing House

Rendering Unto Syria

What an outrage for the president to invoke the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in his address to the United Nations, a day after a Canadian government commission accused the U.S. of rendering a Canadian to Syria for torture. Did no one on his staff inform the president that Article 5 of that declaration explicitly states, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”?

http://snipurl.com/wqh7


From Information Clearing House

An offer of aid could be your own death sentence, an Iraqi reporter writes.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15038.htm

Before You Enlist!

Video

Straight talk from soldiers, veterans and their family members tells what is missing from the sales pitches presented by recruiters and the military's marketing efforts.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15043.htm

By New Zealand Herald

Captive Iraqis were beaten with iron bars, kicked, starved, and forced to drink their own urine during abuse which led to the death of a prisoner, the first court martial of British troops accused of war crimes was told yesterday.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15039.htm

--------

UK soldier 'enjoyed' Iraqis' pain

A British soldier "enjoyed" hearing Iraqis call out in pain as they were kicked and punched while in a detention centre, a court martial has heard.

http://snipurl.com/wqgr


From Information Clearing House

Controversial pesticide is safe and effective against malaria, world health body says

Bette Hileman
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/84/i39/8439WHO.html

On Sept. 15, the World Health Organization strongly endorsed the indoor spraying of DDT to control malaria-carrying mosquitoes in developing countries. At a press conference, WHO spokesmen repeatedly called the pesticide "safe."

LINE OF DEFENSE -Cyhalothrin insecticide is being sprayed on the walls of a house in Angola to prevent malaria.

The U.S. and other industrialized countries banned outdoor spraying of DDT in the early 1970s because of its environmental toxicity, and for many years WHO did not promote its use for malaria control. But after DDT use was restricted, malaria resurged, and the disease now kills more than 1 million people per year, mostly children in Africa.

A number of malaria-plagued African countries—Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—had already been using DDT for interior residual spraying to prevent malaria. But seven others, including Uganda, where malaria is endemic, have refused to use it.

Arata Kochi, who leads WHO’s global malaria program, said at the press conference: "One of the best tools we have against malaria is indoor residual house spraying. Of the dozen insecticides WHO has approved as safe for house spraying, the most effective is DDT." The small amounts of DDT used for indoor spraying are not dangerous, he claimed.

WHO's announcement is highly controversial, however. Some environmental organizations, such as Environmental Defense, which campaigned to phase out DDT in the 1960s and 1970s, now support its use for interior spraying. Other groups, such as Beyond Pesticides, say dependence on DDT will cause greater long-term problems than would other methods of malaria control. It believes "it is possible to effectively fight malaria without poisoning future generations of children in malaria hot spots."

Indeed, WHO's announcement comes at a time of increasing reports of potential human health threats from DDT. For example, at the recent American Chemical Society national meeting in San Francisco, researchers presented evidence that past exposure to the pesticides DDT or dieldrin may speed up the development of Parkinson's disease. There is also evidence that infants exposed to DDT in the womb may experience slow or stunted mental or physical growth (C&EN, July 24, page 30).

Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society


Informant: binstock

* MR. BUSH'S SECOND CRUSADE

By Peter Montague
Rachel's Democracy & Health News #872,
Sept. 14, 2006

http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_2406.cfm


Informant: binstock

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5119/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

The LAVA proposal (below) would make our November 2006 auditable and ensure that all legal voters can cast ballots.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brad Friedman
Date: Sep 20, 2006 2:10 PM
Subject: [BradBlogAlert] THE LET AMERICA VOTE ACT - Legislative Language

URL: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3502

THE LET AMERICA VOTE ACT - Legislative Language Here's the Bill Calling for Emergency Paper Ballots at Every Polling Place in America this November!

Yesterday I called on Congress to pass an emergency measure to require Emergency Paper Ballots be made available at the polls during this November's general election. I spelled out several reasons for this last-ditch, "Hail Mary" attempt to try and mitigate just some of the myriad problems and disenfranchisment that will occur at polling places this year thanks to new, poorly designed, malfunctioning, unsecure electronic voting machines now deployed across the nation.

In primary after primary this year, voters have been told to "come back later" or, at best, given a provisional ballot (which may or may not ever be counted) when voting machines either failed to work or, frequently, weren't even present by the time voters showed up to vote. That is voter disenfranchisement, pure and simple, and it affects voters of any and all political stripes.

I'm urging all American citizens to contact their Congress Members — as well as their state and local officials — to demand that non-provisional Emergency Paper Ballots be made available at the polls this year! This is simply common sense.

For more reasons and information on why this legislation needs to be passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the White House with Terry Schiavo-like speed in the last days before they recess for the election -- and for the complete suggested legislative language for the bill, and a few words in response to naysayers -- you can read my latest article here: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3502

Contact your Congress members here: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Contact your local media here: http://www.townhall.com/actioncenter/writeeditors.aspx

My complete suggested language for the LET AMERICA VOTE ACT is posted below. It will take you 30 seconds to read in its entirety. Please do whatever you can to help it find sponsorship and see it passed by Congress immediately! American democracy is worth the effort!

LET AMERICA VOTE ACT
(EMERGENCY PAPER BALLOT MANDATE OF 2006)

WHEREAS significant failures of electronic voting machines have occurred in various jurisdictions during primary elections held in Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Maryland and other states during 2006, and

WHEREAS such failures have forced legitimate, registered voters to have been turned away from the polls by the thousands so far in 2006 primary elections simply because neither voting machines nor paper ballots were available for use when the voters arrived at their polling place, and

WHEREAS the probability exists that such failures will continue and the adverse results of such failures will be multiplied and increased in magnitude by the additional number of voters participating in the November 7, 2006 General Election, and

WHEREAS the potential exists for massive disenfranchisement of American voters in the November 7, 2006 General Election, by such failures of electronic voting machines,

NOW THEREFORE be it enacted that:

A. For the November 7, 2006, General Election, each election jurisdiction shall be required to prepare and print Emergency Paper Ballots of the proper ballot style for all races and propositions which shall be contested in that jurisdiction.

B. Such Emergency Paper Ballots shall be printed in sufficient quantity to guarantee that every voter who requests the use of such an Emergency Paper Ballot shall be able to receive such an Emergency Paper Ballot.

C. As with all provisional ballots, such Emergency Paper Ballots shall be printed in all languages specified for ballots in that jurisdiction.

D. Any voter eligible to vote in the jurisdiction in which he or she requests an Emergency Paper Ballot shall be entitled to receive and cast such Emergency Paper Ballot, regardless of the type of ballot that shall have been specifiied in that jurisdiction through operation of law, without further qualification, request, proof or furnishing of reason for such request.

E. Such Emergency Paper Ballots shall be official ballots for purposes of casting, tabulating, audits, redundant counts and recounts, and shall not be considered provisional ballots.

F. Emergency Paper Ballots shall be cast and tabulated in the same manner as all other ballots cast on November 7, 2006.

G. The associated costs to states for this mandate will be reimbursed out of Help America Vote Act funding.

H. This Act shall terminate and cease to have effect on February 28, 2007.

URL: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3502


Brad Friedman


Informant: Kathy Dopp

20 September 2006

A GROUP of residents is hoping to drum up more support for their phone mast battle as they face round three at a council meeting tonight.

About 50 Blackfen residents are due to attend Bexley council's planning control committee meeting tonight at the civic centre in Bexleyheath to protest against O2's application to install a 12.5 metre phone mast outside shops on Days Lane.

This is the mobile phone company's second application for a phone mast in the same road.

A previous application, submitted in June, was withdrawn after intervention by the Highways Agency.

Paul Crudge, of Berwick Crescent, who is leading the No Transmitter campaign branded the new application, which proposes putting the mast on a footway island outside numbers 189 to 193, 'ridiculous'. He said: "The mast would be between two schools and literally on top of people's houses. It's not good.

"O2 have just moved it from one spot where the pavement was narrow to another space outside shops. It's a ridiculous place to put it."

Earlier this year, the father of two successfully led a campaign against T-Mobile's plans to install a telegraph-pole style mobile phone mast at the junction of Days Lane, Berwick Crescent and Fen Grove.

T-Mobile withdrew the application after Bexley council received 300 objections from residents who are concerned about the effect the mast could have on their health and on house prices.

Mr Crudge said: "If we can get enough local support for our campaign I'm sure we can do it again."

O2 have always stressed that residents should not be concerned about the effect the phone mast would have on health.

A spokesman said: "We have got a lot of scientific evidence that actually concludes that there is nothing to fear. We are only too willing to talk to residents about it."

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

For more information about the campaign, go to http://www.notransmitter.co.uk .

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/luf8d

This may be a QUICK, SIMPLE & VERY HELPFULL tool for Democratic Campaign Headquarters around the country to MAKE SURE our Democratic voters ARE PROPERRLY REGISTERED TO VOTE!!!

Fwd: "Google" Your Voter Registration at http://mydem.democrats.com/


Informant: Jack Topel

Media Consolidation Shuts Out Women and Minorities
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0920-05.htm

State of Female and Minority Media Ownership a ‘National Disgrace’
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0920-04.htm

Report Shows
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0920-09.htm

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0920-02.htm

Scandal Behind the HP Scandal
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0920-25.htm

http://www.safehaven.com/article-5917.htm


Informant: ranger116

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9720


Informant: Lew Rockwell

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060919_gore_vidal_reflections_9_11/


Informant: Lew Rockwell

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/ellsberg1.html



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

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5122/


Informant: jensenmk


From ufpj-news

Take Action on this Issue:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/cooperative_conservation_2