World-News

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1013-28.htm


Informant: Kev Hall

Sgt. Ricky Clousing went to war in Iraq because, he said, he believed he would simultaneously be serving his nation and serving God. He was sentenced to 11 months in confinement yesterday, for going AWOL after becoming disilllusioned with the war in Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306P.shtml

"Iraq for Sale," the latest documentary from Robert Greenwald, tells a depressingly familiar tale of corporate corruption and war-profiteering in Iraq. Focusing on companies like Halliburton, CACI International and Blackwater Security Consulting, it recites a litany of rapacity and exploitation that ought to have American citizens swarming Congress, demanding heads on pikes.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306O.shtml

In a blistering attack on Tony Blair's foreign policy, General Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British Army, said that Britain must withdraw from Iraq "soon" or risk serious consequences. The continuing military presence in Iraq has jeopardized British security and interests around the world.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306N.shtml

Alexander Osang writes: "Former US diplomat Joseph Wilson was the first senior government official to expose the lies upon which the Bush administration was building its case for war against Iraq. Politics and the media destroyed Wilson's reputation, but history has proved him right in the end. Now he is fighting to restore his good name."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306M.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joseph+Wilson

Internal military documents released Thursday provided new details about the Defense Department's collection of information on demonstrations nationwide last year by students, Quakers and others opposed to the Iraq war.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306L.shtml

Robert Parry writes: "There's always been the frightening question of what would happen if a President of United States went completely bonkers. But there is an equally disturbing issue of what happens if a President loses touch with reality, especially if he is surrounded by enough sycophants and enablers so no one can or will stop him."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306K.shtml

Sarah Olson reports on battle for political and ideological leadership in California's contested 11th district. Richard Pombo has been called the "Darth Vader" of the environment because of his participation in a massive culture of corruption in Washington and brazen thwarting of ethics and of the law.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306J.shtml



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

http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/10/olbermann-to-america-kiss-your-freedom.html


Informant: Kev Hall

A majority of Americans supported attacking Iraq, but now a majority of Americans say it was the wrong thing to do and that they were lied to. If you are among those who supported the attack on Iraq but now believe you were mistaken, then you have one step up on our president – he's never publicly admitted a mistake in his life. In fact, he once demonstrated the difficulty he has in even imagining being wrong by unsuccessfully attempting to recite the following wise saying: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." In the next month, you may very well have the opportunity to be fooled twice by the same president. And years from now – if we're all still alive – you may have occasion to face that same difficult conclusion: "Shame on me." But why let it come to that? Why not get wise to the lies beforehand? READ MORE: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/14616

More News on U.S. Plans to Attack Iran Collected Here: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/irannews

Almost 60,000 People Have Signed; Have You?
http://www.dontattackiran.org


Informant: David Swanson

From ufpj-news

13.10.06

Der Präsident des Deutschen Städtetages, Christian Ude (SPD), hat ein Ende der Diskussion um den vermeintlichen Wohlstand von "Hartz IV"-Empfängern gefordert und sprach sich sogleich für weitere Kürzungen aus. "Ich kann die Rederei, dass es den Hartz IV-Empfängern so wunderbar gut geht, wirklich kaum aushalten", sagte Ude am Donnerstagabend in der ZDF-Sendung "Berlin Mitte". Ein Ein-Personen-Haushalt bekomme bei "Hartz IV" 345 Euro plus Mietkosten. "Da möchte ich wirklich mal wissen, wie man da in Saus und Braus lebt", betonte der Münchner Oberbürgermeister. Die meisten könnten sich überhaupt nicht vorstellen, mit so einem Betrag dauerhaft über die Runden zu kommen. Das ist für den SPD-Oberbürgermeister allerdings kein Grund, sich nicht für weitere Kürzungen für die Arbeitslosen auszusprechen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14528

13.10.06

"Die Energiewirtschaft macht immer stärker Front gegen den geplanten Ausstieg aus der Kernenergie. Auch der Chef des Windkraft-Unternehmens RePower, Fritz Vahrenholt, meldete am Donnerstag Bedenken an." So lauten derzeit Berichte von Agenturen und Medien. Ein solcher Ausstieg sei ein "typisch deutscher Kurzschluss", sagte Vahrenholt auf einem Energie-Symposium des Bundesnachrichtendienstes (BND) in Berlin. Angesichts "der beschränkten Möglichkeiten von regenerativen Energien" - so der Windkraft-Vorstand - und der anhaltenden Umweltverschmutzung von Kohlekraftwerken werde die Kernenergie als "Brücke in die Zukunft" gebraucht. Was der Öffentlichkeit meist verschwiegen wird: Vahrenholt wird im Aufsichtsrat der REpower Systems AG unter anderem beaufsichtigt von Bertrand Durrande. Durrande ist nach Angaben des Unternehmens Manager der AREVA-Tochter Framatome ANP und somit Manager des weltweit führenden Atomkraftwerksherstellers. Das Gemeinschaftsunternehmen mit Siemens baut i n Finnland den so genannten "Europäischen Druckwasser-Reaktor (EPR)". Weitere Aufsichtsräte von RePower sind Manager der deutschen Atomkraftwerksbetreiber RWE und Vattenfall.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14529



"Verschönerung der Landschaft": Scheer will Biblis und Strommasten durch Windräder und Solarzellen ersetzen

(13.10.06)

Die SPD hält ein Abschalten der beiden hessischen Biblis-Atomreaktoren für möglich, ohne dass neue Kohle- oder Gaskraftwerke gebaut werden müssen. Um die von Biblis jährlich produzierten 17 Milliarden Kilowattstunden zu ersetzen, könnten landesweit 1700 Anlagen zur erneuerbaren Energiegewinnung errichtet werden, heißt es in einem Konzept, das der SPD-Bundestagsabgeordnete und Träger des Alternativen Nobelpreises, Hermann Scheer, für den hessischen Landeverband der SPD erarbeitet hat. Scheer schlägt vor, Solarzellen und Windkraftanlagen entlang der Autobahnen und ICE-Trassen zu errichten. Dann könnte Hessen 2012 atomstromfrei sein. Im Gegenzug könnten "Tausende Hochspannungsmasten" abgebaut werden, die derzeit unter anderem für das Atomkraftwerk Biblis benötigt würden.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14519

http://www.counterpunch.org/perroud10132006.html


Informant: Julien Ball

An International Committee of the Red Cross delegation that visited the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, met with the 14 detainees who had been held for years in secret CIA custody, the first time the alleged high-value terrorism suspects had contact with the outside world since their initial confinement.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306E.shtml



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

Elizabeth de la Vega writes, "Ultimately, every phase of the CIA leak case, including the propaganda campaign that is occurring right now, has been about maintaining the wealth and power of the Republican Party."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306A.shtml

RON SEELY
608-252-6131
rseely@madison.com

http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/index.php?ntid=102840

Climate change is happening now, scientists are telling us.

Presented here are five instances where studies have documented the changes being wrought in Wisconsin by the warming planet.

These are scientific, often peer-reviewed studies, of the birds that trill in our backyards, the lake ice upon which we plop our ice-fishing buckets, the aspen trees that grace our parks.

While some may still debate global warming, scientists pondering the data say without a doubt that climate change is already upon us, that it has been happening for some time, and that it is altering the landscape and changing life's intricate mechanisms.

In fact, Don Waller, a UW-Madison botanist, is convinced that the stories being told us by science are the very earliest and subtle chapters of a work that will eventually describe a profoundly altered world.

"There is more going on," Waller said, "than we have even the slightest inkling of right now."

Bugs

Goldenrod aphids in northern Wisconsin produce more winged offspring in response to predators if the carbon dioxide level is high, research published in the journal Ecology showed.

The science, conducted by former UW-Madison entomologist Edward Mondor, shows that changes in climate are likely affecting the numbers of such insect pests and relationships between those insects and the predators that normally keep them in check.

Ice

It doesn't take a scientist to know that something is up with the ice on Madison's lakes. UW-Madison limnologist John Magnuson studied 150 years of ice records on 39 bodies of water across the Northern Hemisphere, including lakes Mendota and Monona. Magnuson found that the lakes are freezing 8.7 days later and the ice is breaking up 9.8 days earlier than
150 years ago.

Birds and flowers

Analyzing 61 years' worth of springtime data on blooming plants and migrating birds at her family's famous farm, plant ecologist Nina Leopold Bradley found that a third of the events recorded are occurring earlier. Forest phlox, for example, is blooming in late April instead of early May.

And birds such as this rose- breasted grosbeak are arriving up to 20 days earlier in the spring.

Trees

One of the confusing things about climate change is that some species suffer while others benefit.

UW-Madison botanist Don Waller and colleagues have studied growth patterns of more than 900 aspen trees in southwestern Wisconsin. Those studies show aspen growth has increased more than 30 percent over 70 years. The growth, Waller said, corresponds with increasing levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

Lakes and rivers

The levels of lakes and the flow of rivers and streams in Wisconsin are changing.

Researchers have found greater fluctuation of water levels. Currently, water levels in some central Wisconsin lakes are at 50-year lows. John Lenters, a UW-Madison climatologist, studied data on Great Lakes levels for 139 years and found the annual rising and falling of the lakes has gotten earlier by about a month. Similar changes have been observed on the Upper Mississippi.


Informant: binstock

A CONTROVERSIAL plan for a telecommunications mast to be installed in North Somercotes has been given the green light.

At an East Lindsey District Council planning meeting, district councillors voted nine to six to approve an application by O2 (UK) Ltd to put a 30 metre high mast with six antennae on a site off Warren Road.

The decision came despite opposition both from the parish council and from governors and the headteacher at the 250 pupil Church of England primary school.

Speaking against the application ward representative Coun Robert Palmer expressed fears emissions from the mast could pose long-term health hazards to children.

He recalled the risks may not yet be quantified - just as they had not been 40 years ago when, during his Army career, he was given 200 cigarettes a week.

He said: "At the time, it was thought cigarettes were good for you."

However Coun Bud Shields insisted there was no scientific evidence of any health risk. "It's all just scaremongering," he said.

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

Coun Jenny Crooks suspected those who objected to the mast all themselves used mobile phones.

Coun Edward Mossop suggested it might be possible to find another location for the mast - possibly at Donna Nook.

Following the debate, chairman of the primary school governors David Paul expressed dismay at the decision.

He said: "It's very disappointing."

O2, who were represented at the meeting by Bhavesh Mistry, maintain a new mobile radio base station is required to improve the service for mobile phone users in the area.

13 October 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.louthleader.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=817&ArticleID=1821369

Oct 5 2006

Wishaw campaigner Eileen O'Connor will give a high-profile speech to an industry watchdog in London this month about how she believes a mobile phone mast gave her breast cancer.

Meanwhile Mrs O'Connor, diagnosed with the disease five years ago aged just 38, is busy organising a ball celebrating her return to health.

She has fought a long battle against masts, claiming that antennae erected 100 metres from her home by TMobile - and subsequently felled by anonymous protesters - had made her ill.

Mrs O'Connor is now a trustee of the Radiation Research Trust (RRT), which is campaigning for safer siting of masts while trying to fund extra research into their health effects.

At a meeting of the Health Protection Agency in London on October 16, Mrs O'Connor will give a presentation of her concerns that exposure to electromagnetic fields might increase the risk of breast cancer and other diseases.

The body is chaired by Sir William Stewart, who in his work with the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones warned that there was no certainty that masts and phones are safe.

Mrs O'Connor said she was glad to be still alive so she could address the meeting - and has arranged a celebratory, fundraising ball for the RRT at Wishaw Golf Club on November 18.

She said: "People can take measures to help avoid EMFs by using mobile phones for emergency calls only. Stop using DECT phones, replace them with a fixed land-line phones and also avoid wireless communication until a safer technology becomes available.

"I believe we are finally getting closer to a breakthrough and will hopefully find the connection between EMFs and breast cancer as we cannot allow the relentless rise in breast cancer to continue.

"It has been a difficult five years coming to terms with breast cancer at a young age. However, it has been a great privilege to be involved within a cuttingedge campaign to gain recognition to possibly one of the biggest connections to this terrible disease and I am honoured to be in a position to represent the many people who are suffering throughout the world."

Eileen remembers her "difficult five years":

"In a celebration of life and being almost five years clear from cancer, I've decided to raise the roof and have a ball and raise money for the RRT.

"I have come a long way with the campaign against phone masts with the support of the RRT, SCRAM (Sutton Coldfield Residents Against Masts), doctors, and independent scientists, some politicians, the media and the many campaigners throughout the world.

"This is a landmark time for me and I'm almost scared to say that I'm now almost five years clear from breast cancer. I visited my doctor on November 5, 2001 covered in a horrific skin rash from head to toe and a lump in my breast.

"The lump removed on November 13 and I was diagnosed on November 20, 2001. The moment I heard those terrible words "I'm sorry, it's cancer", I knew I was given this awful disease for a reason.

"At first I thought I was supposed to go on to become a counsellor and help people with cancer, as I was into my second year training to become a counsellor; I went on to learn how to counsel people who are dying with cancer, and my eyes have been opened to the harsh heartbreaking realities of life.

"However, I now believe the real reason was to fight against what I truly believe is one of the biggest causes of cancer on the planet and I believe this is my destiny."

She added: "I do have periods when I want to stop the world and get off and go back to a normal life. I really enjoyed the six weeks' holidays off with my family and thought I never wanted to return to the campaign ever again - if only.

"However, here I am, back in the thick of it and beginning to prepare for my presentation for the EMF Discussion Group at the Health Protection Agency on October 16. I want to make an impact and hope I can hold my nerves as I realise how important this is.

"I'm sure I will be fine as I have many angels walking with me and helping along the way."

l Wishaw's Winter Black Tie & Tiara Ball runs from 7pm till late.

Tickets costing £40 are being snapped up very quickly. Mrs O'Connor said: "Funds raised will help create awareness and understanding for the serious condition known as electro-sensitivity and further research into cancer and genetic vulnerability to electro-magnetic fields.

"With your help we will continue the campaign for law and policy change demanding safer technology and sensible locations for phone masts, electric pylons and wireless communication.

"Please help to make our first Ball a night to remember, full of fun and laughter in a celebration of life, while raising money for this important global issue."

Raffle and auction prizes are needed, adding to the luxury hamper from Samworth Brothers and signed Villa shirt already donated.

Call 0121 351 2437 or e-mail eileen@ smokestackltd.co.uk for tickets, to donate prizes, or to book advertising space in the order of service for the evening.

Eileen's face is one of five currently appearing on an advert on the QVC channel for Breast Cancer Care after being chosen from thousands of photographs. The picture was taken and sent in by her photographer husband Paul.

© owned by or licensed to Midland Newspapers Limited 2006

http://tinyurl.com/y9x7fw



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=breast+cancer

Torture's Easy Embrace
http://ga3.org/ct/_d20pgF11RyZ/

--------

Torture's easy embrace

Tom Paine
by Geoffrey Nunberg

10/13/06

In 1978, the philosopher Henry Shue wrote an influential essay about torture that began with the sentence, 'Whatever one may have to say about torture, there appear to be moral reasons for not saying it.' Once we bring the subject up, he asked, mightn't we risk loosening the inhibitions against the whole terrible business? It was easy to have that feeling over the last month or so, as you listened to the country debate just how much cruelty and degradation we were going to allow in interrogating terror suspects. I mean, were we really having this conversation? In the end, Shue himself wound up saying that torture had to be talked about -- as he put it, 'Pandora's Box is already open.' ... On the face of things, you'd figure the prohibition of torture would be a top candidate for a categorical moral rule; as the U.N. convention on torture puts it, there are no exceptional circumstances that justify torture...

http://tinyurl.com/y66zje


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Software Being Developed to Monitor Opinions of US: A consortium of major universities, with Homeland Security Department funds, is developing software that would let the government monitor negative opinions of the United States or its leaders. - The "sentiment analysis" is intended to identify potential threats to the nation, security officials said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/04/news/scan.php



Should presidents be allowed to serve more than 2 terms?: Bills introduced in Congress to repeal 8-year restriction of 22nd Amendment http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52246


Informant: santa

--------

Someone should tell Homeland Security that the DOD has already got this one in the bag.

Susan


Software Being Developed to Monitor Opinions of U.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/us/04monitor.html

By ERIC LIPTON

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 A consortium of major universities, using Homeland Security Department money, is developing software that would let the government monitor negative opinions of the United States or its leaders in newspapers and other publications overseas.

Such a sentiment analysis is intended to identify potential threats to the nation, security officials said.

Researchers at institutions including Cornell, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Utah intend to test the system on hundreds of articles published in 2001 and 2002 on topics like President Bushs use of the term axis of evil, the handling of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, the debate over global warming and the coup attempt against President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela.

A $2.4 million grant will finance the research over three years.

American officials have long relied on newspapers and other news sources to track events and opinions here and abroad, a goal that has included the routine translation of articles from many foreign publications and news services.

The new software would allow much more rapid and comprehensive monitoring of the global news media, as the Homeland Security Department and, perhaps, intelligence agencies look to identify common patterns from numerous sources of information which might be indicative of potential threats to the nation, a statement by the department said.

It could take several years for such a monitoring system to be in place, said Joe Kielman, coordinator of the research effort. The monitoring would not extend to United States news, Mr. Kielman said.

We want to understand the rhetoric that is being published and how intense it is, such as the difference between dislike and excoriate, he said.

Even the basic research has raised concern among journalism advocates and privacy groups, as well as representatives of the foreign news media.

It is just creepy and Orwellian, said Lucy Dalglish, a lawyer and former editor who is executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Andrei Sitov, Washington bureau chief of the Itar-Tass news agency of Russia, said he hoped that the objective did not go beyond simply identifying threats to efforts to stifle criticism about an American president or administration.

This is what makes your country great, the open society where people can criticize their own government, Mr. Sitov said.

The researchers, using an grant provided by a research group once affiliated with the Central Intelligence Agency, have complied a database of hundreds of articles that it is being used to train a computer to recognize, rank and interpret statements.

The software would need to be able to distinguish between statements like this spaghetti is good and this spaghetti is not very good its excellent, said Claire T. Cardie, a professor of computer science at Cornell.

Professor Cardie ranked the second statement as a more intense positive opinion than the first.

The articles in the database include work from many American newspapers and news wire services, including The Miami Herald and The New York Times, as well as foreign sources like Agence France-Presse and The Dawn, a newspaper in Pakistan.

One article discusses how a rabid fox bit a grazing cow in Romania, hardly a threat to the United States. Another item, an editorial in response to Mr. Bushs use in 2002 of axis of evil to describe Iraq, Iran and North Korea, said: The U.S. is the first nation to have developed nuclear weapons. Moreover, the U.S. is the first and only nation ever to deploy such weapons.

The approach, called natural language processing, has been under development for decades. It is widely used to summarize basic facts in a text or to create abridged versions of articles.

But interpreting and rating expressions of opinion, without making too many errors, has been much more challenging, said Professor Cardie and Janyce M. Wiebe, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh. Their system would include a confidence rating for each opinion that it evaluates and would allow an official to refer quickly to the actual text that the computer indicates contains an intense anti-American statement.

Ultimately, the government could in a semiautomated way track a statement by specific individuals abroad or track reports by particular foreign news outlets or journalists, rating comments about American policies or officials.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, said the effort recalled the aborted 2002 push by a Defense Department agency to develop a tracking system called Total Information Awareness that was intended to detect terrorists by analyzing troves of information.

That is really chilling, Mr. Rotenberg said. And it seems far afield from the mission of homeland security.

Federal law prohibits the Homeland Security Department or other intelligence agencies from building such a database on American citizens, and no effort would be made to do that, a spokesman for the department, Christopher Kelly, said. But there would be no such restrictions on using foreign news media, Mr. Kelly said.

Mr. Kielman, the project coordinator, said questions on using the software were premature because the department was just now financing the basic research necessary to set up an operating system.

Professors Cardie and Wiebe said they understood that there were legitimate questions about the ultimate use of their software.

There has to be guidelines and restrictions on the use of this kind of technology by the government, Professor Wiebe said. But it doesnt mean it is not useful. It can just as easily help the government understand what is going on in places around the world.

Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, "appear to have perpetrated a fraud" on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued yesterday. The report includes previously unreleased e-mails between the now-disgraced lobbyist and officers of the nonprofit groups, showing that Abramoff funneled money from his clients to the groups. In exchange, the groups, among other things, produced ostensibly independent newspaper op-ed columns or news releases that favored the clients' positions.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306Z.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Abramoff
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Norquist

Boston Globe
by Scot Lehigh

10/12/06

It's long been apparent that many US citizens would watch fundamental rights be swept away with hardly a shrug. But it's stunning that our congressmen, elected officials sworn to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, would actually vote to strip US courts of the power to protect essential rights. And yet that's exactly what happened when Congress recently approved the Military Commissions Act to govern the treatment and trial of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and other US detention facilities abroad. In denying the writ of habeas corpus to noncitizens detained by the United States outside the country, Congress has turned its back on one of the most venerable of Constitutional protections: A prisoner's ability to go to court to challenge the lawfulness of his detention. It's hard to overstate the importance of that right...

http://tinyurl.com/ydfcvo


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Military+Commissions+Act
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=habeas+corpus

Christian Science Monitor
by Helena Cobban

10/12/06

The continued US troop presence in Iraq is inflicting great harm on Iraqis and US service members. It's also distracting US attention from serious challenges elsewhere, including North Korea. Inside Iraq, life has become more insecure every year since 2003 and is now at a crisis. The promises that President Bush and his officials once made about helping Iraqis build a stable democracy are distant memories, shredded by the horrifying violence of many kinds that stalks the country. It is time to pull our troops out of Iraq. It is also time, here at home, to hold accountable those who made the disastrous decisions that brought our forces there in the first place. The Nov. 7 elections are a good opportunity to begin this work...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1012/p09s02-coop.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler and Peter Baker

10/10/06

The deteriorating situation in Iraq has undermined U.S. diplomatic credibility and limited the administration's military options, making rogue countries increasingly confident that they can act without serious consequences. Iran, meanwhile, will be watching closely the diplomatic fallout from North Korea's apparent test as a clue to how far it might go with its own nuclear program...

http://tinyurl.com/lazth


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Center for a Stateless Society
by Roderick Long

10/10/06

When the United States invaded Iraq, it did so with the proclaimed goal of delivering the Iraqi people from dictatorship and helping them achieve a democratic society. Now the dictator is gone, but instead of democracy, Iraq has civil war. What went wrong?

http://c4ss.org/content/14


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

10/13/06

The U.S. military has steadfastly refused to maintain Iraqi body counts: for obvious reasons, they'd rather we didn't know how many Iraqi souls have been permanently 'liberated' from their bodies. More importantly, they'd rather the Iraqis didn't know. Independent sources of such information invariably depend on reported deaths: the Iraqi media, Western news accounts, and figures from the UN and other humanitarian agencies. Yet this kind of passive approach is not sufficient in wartime: the chaos makes it more than probable that a great deal of the killing goes unreported. It therefore makes perfect sense that the Johns Hopkins survey -- which involved researchers personally interviewing a total of 1,849 Iraqi households, most of whom produced death certificates -- would be far higher. That it is 10 times higher is not all that surprising -- although quite sobering when one realizes the total represents 2.5 percent of Iraq's population...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9854


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung

10/12/06

Britain's new army chief called for a withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, warning that the military's presence there only exacerbates security problems, according to an interview published Thursday. Gen. Richard Dannatt described British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Iraq policies as 'naive,' declaring that while Iraqis might have welcomed coalition forces following the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the good will has since evaporated after years of violence...

http://tinyurl.com/yxkl3j


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

San Jose Mercury News

10/13/06

Armed attacks on U.S. soldiers and Iraqis in Baghdad have increased by 43 percent since midsummer, despite an ongoing American-led campaign to secure individual neighborhoods, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said Thursday. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV said violence was down by 11 percent in neighborhoods where the sweeps had been focused. But that decline was more than offset by more attacks elsewhere, and Caldwell said the military was expecting the level of violence to keep rising during the remaining weeks of the Muslim month of Ramadan...

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/15743539.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Encouraging Japan to build nuclear weapons, shipping food aid via submarines and running secret sabotage operations inside North Korea's borders are among a raft of policy prescriptions pushed by prominent US neo-conservatives in the wake of Pyongyang's reported testing of an atomic bomb.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15279.htm

Over the past six years, our “my way or the highway” president blew up a crucial nonproliferation agreement which was keeping North Korea’s plutonium stores under seal, ended bilateral talks with Pyongyang, squashed Japan’s and South Korea’s carefully constructed “sunshine policy,” which was slowly drawing the bizarre Hermit Kingdom back into the light, and then took every opportunity to personally insult the country’s reportedly unstable dictator because it played well politically at home.

http://tinyurl.com/l7gyz


From Information Clearing House

In an effort to gain Mr. Padilla’s "dependency and trust," he was tortured for nearly the entire three years and eight months of his unlawful detention. The torture took myriad forms, each designed to cause pain, anguish, depression and, ultimately, the loss of will to live.

http://tinyurl.com/fmfxb


From Information Clearing House



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

"This has to be the non-surprise of the week: Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, the Navy lawyer who led the recent successful Supreme Court challenge of the Bush administration's military tribunals for Guantanamo detainees, has been passed over for promotion to full commander and will have to leave the military," writes William Fisher.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101206R.shtml



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

Sixteen Afghans and one Iranian released from years in captivity at Guantanamo Bay prison arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101206S.shtml



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

Physician and evangelical Christian J. Matthew Sleeth discusses why he and people all over Texas are going to be praying October 19 for a halt to a proposal to build nineteen new coal burning power plants. "The people who care about God's earth no longer fit into convenient stereotypes - Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal," writes Sleeth.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/101206EA.shtml

The Religious Right's Crusade for "Decency"

Celina R. De Leon interviews first-amendment specialist Frederick S. Lane about his latest book, "The Decency Wars: The Campaign to Cleanse American Culture." "This highly comprehensive history book chronicles the advancement of the Religious Right and evangelicals' moralistic influence on American public policy," says De Leon.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/101206WA.shtml

A report for background on N. Korea - U.S. relationship.

Audio and transcript.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14285.htm

Facing nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea, the US, Bahrain and other states will hold their first naval exercise in the Gulf this month to practice interdicting ships carrying weapons of mass destruction and missiles, US officials said.

http://tinyurl.com/ylrbt7


From Information Clearing House

A commission formed to assess the Iraq war and recommend a new course has ruled out the prospect of victory for America, according to draft policy options shared with The New York Sun by commission officials.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15287.htm

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1012-30.htm

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The Pundit Path for Death in Iraq

Norman Solomon writes: "While we stare at numbers that do nothing to convey the suffering and anguish of the war in Iraq, we might want to ask: How could we correlate the horrific realities with the evasive discussions that proliferated in US news media during the lead-up to the invasion?"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306C.shtml

Who Said All Roads Lead to Karl?
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1012-27.htm

By William A. Cohn

The US will spend some $9 billion this year to develop ballistic missile defenses, with $9.3 billion slated for next year. Total US military spending exceeds half a trillion dollars for 2006. The September 16, 2006 International Herald Tribune reports that the US now spends more on its military than does the rest of the world combined.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15284.htm

I have worked for eight months in Iraq as a journalist, witnessing the carnage on a daily basis, visiting the morgues with bodies and body parts piled into them, meeting family after family who had lost a loved one, or more ... Finally, we get an accurate figure that shows how immense the scale of the long drawn carnage really is.

http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/newscommentary/000476.php


From Information Clearing House

As the Lancet releases shocking figures on the death toll in Iraq, Peter Beaumont describes the daily carnage across Baghdad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329598653-103550,00.html


From Information Clearing House

By Manuel Valenzuela

Something is amiss in the great nation called America. Ominous sirens warning this reality can be heard emanating loudly through invisible winds of change circulating our towns and cities. The American people are being strangulated; unbeknownst to the masses they are being transformed and conditioned, becoming the entity the elite have long sought, the culmination of decades of social engineering designed to make of hundreds of millions the slaves of times past and the automatons of the future.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15280.htm

By Ted Rall

The recently passed Military Commissions Act removes the United States from the ranks of civilized nations. It codifies racial and political discrimination, legalizes kidnapping and torture of those the government deems its political enemies, and eliminates habeas corpus--the ancient precept that prevents the police from arresting and holding you without cause--a basic protection common to all (other) modern legal systems, and one that dates to the Magna Carta.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15283.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Military+Commissions+Act

By Mike Whitney

Yesterday’s report in the Washington Post that over 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the US-led invasion is just the latest bit of bad news to hit the Bush administration. In fact, the buzzards have been circling the White House for some time now and they won’t be leaving anytime soon.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15286.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=655%2C000

By Paul Craig Roberts

When does “collateral damage” so dwarf combatant deaths that war becomes genocide?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15274.htm

By John Pilger

As the news reveals a study that puts civilian deaths in Iraq at 655,000, John Pilger recalls the words of a song by the great Chilean balladeer, Victor Jara, to describe those who see themselves as rational and liberal are, in fact, complicit in an unrecognised crime.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15273.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=655,000

http://www.lewrockwell.com/tennant/tennant15.html

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People's Assembly Against Islamophobia



http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5BB5E5ECC759B707


Informant: Ashley Smith



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts178.html



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

http://tjh.elequity.com/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1168



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Foley
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Hastert

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15282.htm


Informant: Alan Dicey

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5182/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Some month ago, a Plaid Cymru member of the Welsh Assembly won the 'ballot' for introducing the equivalent of a parliamentary private member's Bill and contacted Mast Sanity with a view to introducing 'something to do with telecoms planning'. I liased with Chris Maile who rose immediately to the challenge and, overnight, drafted a motion seeking revocation of the General Permitted Development Order (Wales) in terms of telecommunications installations.

This proposal survived various arcane processes as it went forward during the following weeks and today, 12th October, the Welsh Assembly voted unanimously for the GPDO to be revoked and henceforth for all masts and like structures in Wales to be subject to full planning permission. Full details are awaited from Chris, but this is very good news and serves to put pressure on the 'English' parliament. The MOA will not be happy!

David

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The Welsh Assemly have voted 41 for and 0 against the recommendations contained within a report of the Assembly committe that was charged with the investigation of Mobile Phone Base Stations after the February motion on telecoms.

We must congratulate Plaid Cymru for pushing this forward, they first contact Mast Sanity asking for help in formulating a motion, that was passed on to PS (me) by David Baron and I drafted the first draft for Plaids Feb motion. This shows what can be done when activists work with politicians of what ever party on issues that are important. This was the best result for Wales, albeit that the First Minister now has an opportunity to make some amendments, and therefgore the strengh of the proposals may be watered down, but nevertheless with such a vote it will be difficult for the First Minister to by pass the main issues, which is to make all telecoms in Wales determined by full planning. The full report (which I have not yet fully read) is very interesting and a useful tool to put pressure on the UK Parliament to adopt similar policies for the whole UK.

I shall be drafting a media release that will go out tomorrow and will post a copy to this listing.

The Link to the Report
http://www.wales.gov.uk/documents/cms/2/DocumentsLaid/37B1A026000BF4FD0000436C00000000/d2ec4608e0dd28200ae1aa0ad80cab3b.pdf


Chris

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WELSH MOTION
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/media_13_10_06.doc


From: Chris Maile office(at)planningsanity.co.uk
Campaign for Planning Sanity
http://www.planningsanity.co.uk

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Plaid push Planning Reform
http://blog.aberdare.org/2006/10/14/plaid-bring-planning-reform-closer/

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Barrie Trower's speech to the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2760049/


Informant: Darren

DOMINIC CHESSUM

13 October 2006 08:59

Angry homeowners are hoping a clause from the Maastricht Treaty could help them in their fight to stop a mobile phone mast being built near their homes.

Families living close to the site of the proposed 14-metre high mast, at the corner of South Park Avenue and Parmenter Road, say they will fight all the way to stop the application by mobile phone operator 3 from succeeding.

A petition has already been signed by more than 260 people and now in a new twist, Kevin Moore, who is spearheading the campaign, has written to the council citing the 1993 treaty which says when it comes to a potentially hazardous situation bodies should err on the side of caution and protect the public. He believes there is no evidence that phone masts do not pose a risk to human health and this means a mast should not be put up in this location.

Mr Moore, 56, who lives with his family in South Park Avenue, said: “We are fighting this on planning grounds first and secondly on health grounds. The main thing we are fighting against is that this is visually intrusive. But at the pre-application stage they rejected one at the corner of Buckingham Road and South Park Avenue on the basis it was too close to the school. Now they want to put it next to a park where hundreds of children go through the park gates. They did not want to put it near a school. Why, if it is not damaging to health? They cannot rule out health risks and according to the Maastricht Treaty they should err on the side of caution.” Mr Moore added there was a precedent for rejecting an application on health grounds when Vale Royal Borough Council in Cheshire rejected an application for a mast on top of a water tower in 2003, although this decision was overturned on appeal.

William Comery from Ericsson Services, which submitted the application on behalf of 3, said: “The World Health Organisation says there is no evidence of long-term or short-term effects on health from masts. We try and place masts in the least intrusive areas, but the hole in coverage is small and so we are restricted as to where we can site the mast.”

Are you worried about a mobile phone mast application in your area. Contact Dominic Chessum on 01603 772428 or e-mail dominic.chessum@archant.co.uk

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/ynd4my

This article appeared in the Daily Mail this morning.

"Hospitals accused over "misguided" ban on mobiles." Hospitals should not ban mobile phones over "mythical" risks to patients, say experts. They believe the benefits far outweigh the negligible dangers of using mobiles near sensitive medical equipment and accuse managers of hiding behind over-zealous safety concerns. Freeing up restrictions could benefit doctors and other health staff, while patients would not have to use expensive bedside phones systems. An editorial in the British Medical Journal today accuses hospitals of acting in a draconian fashion in banning mobiles. Sociology lecturer Dr. Adam Burgess of Kent University, and Dr. Stuart Derbyshire, of Birmingham University say there is no evidence they cause problems in most wards. A 1997 study by the Medical Devices Agnecy showed mobiles affected just four per cent of medical devices at a distance of one metre. But the figure was ten times higher for the handsets used by porters and emergency services personnel. The intereference was "ultimately harmless" although it could trigger alarms and meant electrocardiograph recordings had to be repeated. Dr. Burgess said phones affected pacemeakers but only when they were held against the patient's chest. He said ringtones could be irritating but were not a risk, adding "Concerns about patient safety do not justify zealously enforced no-phone areas, which can cause arguments between staff, patients and visitors". And he claimed the motives for hospital managers maintaining no-mobile zones were open to question, as they might lose revenue from companies that run pay-as-you-go bedside line services. Bans are an easy target for managers in an era of anxiety about patient safety. But many patients would prefer using their own mobiles rather than costly in-house systems. He added: "Restrictions on mobile phone use can be implemented easily because they seem relatively inconsequential, and the restrictions make people think safety concerns are being taken seriously." But Dr. Burgess fears managers could still bring in rules to keep mobiles out of wards, perhaps by barring camera phones to protect patient's privacy. The practical problems of identifying such phones might lead to a total ban in practice. He said, "We want hospital managers and clinical directors to adopt a more flexible approach to the use of mobile phones on the basis that the advantages clearly outweigh their largely mythical risks." An agency spokesman said there should not be a blanket ban. But he added: "The agency recommends mobile phones are not used in critical care areas such as intensive therapy units, special care baby units or where patients are attached to complex devices."

Regards, V.

(note - the word "mythical" appearing and Dr. Burgess is back on the scene!)

--------

There is quite clearly an MOA agenda here - firstly because the thrust is solely on decrying the risk associated with mobile phone radiation and, secondly, because that well-known buffoon Burgess has been let out of the Mad Hatter's company to tell his traditional fairy stories.

Ten years ago, I fell off the roof and shattered my left knee and tibia. Surgery to rebuild the damage was carried out on the following day and I spent a further 9 days in a hospital ward of 12 occupied, and quite tightly packed, beds. Think of the future as considered acceptable by these fools - the prospect of people lying for days on end in pain or considerable discomfort at the same time surrounded by punters chattering inanely on their mobiles for 24 hrs a day. What price recovery?

David

--------

I have just sent this to the BBC:

I believe your recent story 'Doctors attack mobile phone rules' shows significant bias toward the mobile phone industry's stand point. As well as the risk of equipment malfunctions which was not ruled out the major risk to recovering patients is the microwave signals used by these devices. These signals have been shown time and time again to cause biological damage; double-strand DNA breaks (see http://tinyurl.com/y8r2ce - a direct stepping stone to cancer, damaging the blood brain barrier ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2053565.stm ) etc. See http://www.schnews.co.uk/archive/news561.htm for a very informative article. Do you think someone recovering from cancer should be using a mobile phone? Your story has not taken any of these risks into account and has actually put the words 'Mythical Risks' in bold. While your story has focused only on risks to equipment malfunction, the fact that these other risks are ignored gives the impression that equipment malfunction risks are the only ones that should be taken into account. Do you not consider this a form of lying by omission? Every time I have seen a story that touches on the scientific evidence of health risks, the mobile phone industry is given a chance to lambaste the research with some well spun propaganda, however when the mobile phone industry puts out a PR story I do not see the same opportunities given to the many groups who are trying to raise awareness of these very real, well researched, peer reviewed and proven dangers. I consider this to be biased reporting on an issue that desperately needs to be highlighted.


Simon

--------

Wednesbury Action for the Removal of Telephone masts.

http://www.w-a-r-t.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk


Can you believe this? I don't believe it ! Aaaaaagh.

I think everyone should send Tom Watson an email complaining about his lack of knowledge on this subject and therefore his ability to comment. He is a local MP in Sandwell and has publicly supported our campaigns against the siting of masts in his constituency. Was this just a vote getter?

The effects of mobiles on equipment is still under some doubt, but the intrusion of these phones on patients and visitors alike would be unbearable. Can you imagine what it would be like with dozens of people, especially teenagers and the like playing games, constantly texting, loud conversations all over the place. This would also justify additional masts close by to cope with the extra traffic. Hell on earth.

Not only this, but Tom Watson must be made aware of the adverse health implications that go along with increasing over use of these Devils toys. Maybe he should encourage and promote the continued use of land lines in hospitals at a cheap rate.

Peter

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Using mobile phones in hospitals: what's the worst that could happen?
http://www.studentbmj.com/issues/03/03/education/52.php



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

ROFFEY motorists were this week locked out of their cars, when it is believed a controversial new mobile phone mast disabled their remote locking systems.

John Pudney, managing director of Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers The Horsham Car Centre, in Crawley Road, said customers had been unable to get into cars parked on the showroom forecourt since the mast was switched on last week.

And the remote controlled keys used on a third of his 30-car stock had been blocked.

International mobile phone giant O2 is stuck in a dispute with Horsham District Council (HDC) after it put up a 12.5 metre tall mast without the council's permission, on Roffey Corner, in Crawley Road, in August.

Full report in the County Times.

13 October 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.horshamonline.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=507&ArticleID=1821378

If you find these issues close to your heart. I.e. global warming, war and peace, please take the time to sign them. Feel free to pass them along. Wishing you all the most lovely of days,

Zahra


Help America Declare Energy Independence
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/422244770?z00m=505374&z00m=505374

With midterm elections just around the corner, now is the time to ensure that our leaders make clean energy part of their new agenda.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/557622638?z00m=3131566&z00m=3131566

Urge Congress to table dirty and dangerous drilling proposals and move America forward with cleaner, and smarter, energy solutions! Smarter Energy Solutions, Not Dirty & Dangerous Drilling

War with Iran - Say No! Mr. Bush has been threatening military action against Iran for several months despite intense international and domestic opposition. Yet leaked reports continue to warn of the President's desire to force a military confrontation.

Sign Petition Opposing Attack on Iran
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/iran

No War on Iran! No Nukes!
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3240


"Warfare cannot be humanized." Albert Einstein