World-News

The state attorney general's office is investigating a letter received by some Southern California Hispanics that says it is a crime for immigrants to vote and tells them they could be jailed or deported if they go to the polls next month. The truth is that immigrants who become naturalized citizens can legally register to vote.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706H.shtml

Republican congressman John Doolittle of California paid an attorney more than $38,000 in recent months to talk to the Justice Department in connection with the Jack Abramoff lobbying investigation, new campaign finance reports show.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706G.shtml



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

People are bewildered because of the weak response by the Americans," said one Balad resident who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals. "They used to patrol the city every day, but when the violence started, we didn't see any sign of them."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706E.shtml

Lester Crawford, the former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, will plead guilty to federal charges of failing to disclose owning shares in companies regulated by the agency.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706B.shtml

Chris Floyd asks: "Why is the United States government spending millions of dollars to track down critics of George W. Bush in the press? And why have major American universities agreed to put this technology of tyranny into the state's hands?"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706A.shtml

A lobbyist associated with Jack Abramoff met White House officials on 12 occasions in 2003 and 2004 on behalf of an association that represented PartyGaming and other online gaming web sites.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706M.shtml



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

And the Winner Is ... Me

The New York Times's editors write: "Voters in Ohio can be forgiven if they feel they have been beamed out of the Midwest and dropped into a third-world autocracy. The latest news from the state's governor's race is that the Republican nominee, Kenneth Blackwell, who is also the Ohio secretary of state, could rule that his opponent is ineligible to run because of a technicality."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706L.shtml

Jason Leopold writes, "One of the biggest failures of George W. Bush's presidency has been his administration's total disregard of the nation's power infrastructure - an issue that is a larger threat to homeland security than the impending attack on US soil by al Qaeda-type terrorists for which we've been issued murky warnings over the years."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706J.shtml

Demonstration in Dortmund: DGB kritisiert Müntefering-Äußerungen in Unterschichtendebatte (17.10.06)

Die Gewerkschaften in Nordrhein-Westfalen üben deutliche Kritik an Äußerungen von Bundesarbeitsminister Franz Müntefering (SPD), es gebe keine Schichten in Deutschland. Wenn führende Politiker sich in der so genannten Unterschichtendebatte derart äußerten, zeige dies, dass "bei vielen in Berlin die Realität ausgeblendet" sei, sagte DGB-Bezirksvorsitzender Guntram Schneider am Dienstag in Düsseldorf. In Deutschland gebe es Armut, insbesondere aufgrund der Massenarbeitslosigkeit, betonte der Gewerkschafter. Die Arbeitsmarktreform "Hartz IV" habe zu materiellen Problemen vor allem bei Alleinerziehenden und Familien geführt. Der Parlamentarische Geschäftsführer der Unions-Fraktion, Norbert Röttgen (CDU), fordert vor dem Hintergrund der Diskussion eine Grundsatzdebatte über Armut und "Außenseitertum" in Deutschland.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14539



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

Drei Wochen vor den US-Kongresswahlen weitet sich "Foleygate", der Skandal um die anzüglichen Emails des Ex-Abgeordneten Mark Foley an minderjährige Volontäre, immer weiter aus.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/23/23765/1.html



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

PLANS for a mobile phone mast close to a playgroup have been put on hold after continuing protests from worried parents.

As previously reported, parents are concerned about the potential health risks to children. They fear Drayton Playgroup will be forced to close if the mast went up on land next to Trinity Close because fewer parents will be willing to send their children there.

But despite planning approval from Cherwell District Council earlier this year, O2 has halted digging the foundations for the mast after meeting campaigner and mother Mary Jenvey on Tuesday.

Mrs Jenvey of Powys Grove, Banbury, said: "I have no idea why O2 had this change of heart but we are all delighted.

"They were very very helpful which we haven't experienced up until now."

She will meet representatives from the company again on November 6 when she will look at alternative sites with company representatives. "I have until then to try and come up with another site that's suitable," Mrs Jenvey said.

O2 community liaison officer Angela Johnson said: "If it is feasible to find another site then we will certainly look at moving the mast. We do try to work with local communities wherever possible and will try to find somewhere that is more acceptable to residents."

17 October 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=687&ArticleID=1826380

The minister Gidon Ezra: to bring the antennas closer to the children

Maariv 17.10.06

The minister of environment protection is working on changing the public perception on cellular antennas. "I meet mayors and I tell them that we must not remove antennas from population centers, the problem is that to say this today is real madness, they think I am crazy, but this is the truth and this is the right thing professionally. Putting the antennas at distance only causes more damage. In the ministry they claim that the media attack against the cellular antennas was wrong and exaggerated. In the heat of the public panic, the antennas are moved away from population centers, but in reality the radiation danger has only increased. The minister Gidon Ezra: "it is good for the children that on the roof of their school will be antenna, because they speak on the phone and the more the antenna is further away, the more they are hurt. I think that we need to make a revolution in this area and to explain that it is possible to put antennas but it must be by the law and according to the strictest standards of the ministry". http://www.nrg.co.il/online/35/ART1/492/523.html

Wimax: 15 mayors in Israel took a lawyer and created "the forum of the 15" in order to claim that they represent the public and they press on the minister of environment to deploy Wimax in Israel. The lawyer who is the executive of the "forum of the 15" said that it is untolerable that we don't have Wimax in Israel because we are in retard of two years after other countries, and an expert said that everyone who resists to Wimax has either economic or ideologic interests, but that the truth is that Wimax "is good for every israeli". (Yediot Ahronot of last weekend).

Cosmetics and Celullar:
12.10.06 (Maariv) Clarins cosmetics announced in Paris, that they had done 6 years of research on the electromagnetic radiation and found it causes damage to skin cells regeneration -causes 25% reduction of skin regeneration, dries the skin quickly, reduces the skin's protection from pollution. They said the study is going to be published in a scientific journal. Clarins invented a spray against the mobile phones effects(...), they claim their spray will also protect against air pollutin. the company representative said they help the cellular companies to sell products in safer and healthier way, and not doing demonization to the cell phones. The product will be released in January 2007.


Informant: Iris Atzmon

by Beth Shulman, TomPaine.com

U.S. corporations don't like labor unions at home and they're certainly not prepared to welcome them to China.

http://ga3.org/ct/5p20pgF1zRhD/

by Elizabeth Spiro Clark, TomPaine.com

Kim Jong Il's nukes may help convince Bush to step back from the ledge on Iran.

http://ga3.org/ct/5720pgF1zRhJ/

by Gareth Porter, TomPaine.com

Arguments for staying in Iraq reflect a refusal to face some unpalatable realities.

http://ga3.org/ct/5d20pgF1zRh-/

by Bill Moyers and Scott Fogdall, TomPaine.com

Allowing the "free market" to trump network neutrality will undermine our democracy.

http://ga3.org/ct/v720pgF1zRhH/

Families fled in search of safety Monday as open warfare raged for a fourth day between Shiite militias and armed Sunni men in Tigris River towns north of Baghdad. The escalating violence in the Tigris River towns in many ways serves as a microcosm of the daily violence roiling Iraq. Sectarian attacks have increased more than 10-fold since the start of the year and now claim more than 100 victims a day, according to the Iraqi government.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101706Z.shtml

Mother Jones
by James Ridgeway with Caroline Dobuzinskis

10/16/06

Jim Webb, the Vietnam vet and Reagan's former Secretary of the Navy, who is tied in the key Virginia Senate race, is arguing for a negotiated settlement in Iraq. George Allen, his Republican competitor, echoes Bush on the subject. Webb seems to think a settlement might be arranged by Jim Baker, secretary of state to Bush senior. He spoke Sunday night at a meeting of Arab Americans organized by the Arab American Institute, at Tyson's Corner in northern Virginia. In other words, the Democratic candidate is basically siding with elements of the elder Bush's political entourage in an effort to extricate Junior from the mess he got himself into. So, in one sense, the Virginia Senate race pits old man Bush against his eldest son: Republican against Republican, with Allen, the conservative GOP favorite for the 2008 presidential nomination, looking more and more like the son's puppet...

http://tinyurl.com/y7dsxf


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AlterNet
by Joshua Holland

10/16/06

If the U.S. invasion of Iraq had occurred during the colonial era a hundred years earlier, the oil giants, backed by U.S. forces, would have simply seized Iraq's oil fields. Much has changed since then in terms of international custom and law (when then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz did in fact suggest seizing Iraq's Southern oil fields in 2002, Colin Powell dismissed the idea as 'lunacy'). Understanding how Big Oil came to this point, poised to take effective control of the bulk of the country's reserves while they remain, technically, in the hands of the Iraqi government -- a government with all the trappings of sovereignty -- is to grasp the sometimes intricate dance that is modern neocolonialism. The Iraq oil-grab is a classic case study...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/43045/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil (Part Two)
http://www.alternet.org/story/43077/


Informant: binstock

Human Events
by Newt Gingrich

10/16/06

The elite media are giddy with anti-Republican euphoria. Their coverage has not been this biased against Republicans in three decades. The Democrats are excited and convinced they will win a big victory. Republicans are worried, demoralized and confused. I have been in eight states recently and the mood is similar everywhere. Yet, an election is a choice between two futures. By simply comparing the positions of each party based upon historic facts, the choice of the desired future will become clear to the majority of the American people. And that choice is neither one in which Democrats celebrate nor Republicans concede...

http://www.humanevents.com/winningthefuture.php?id=17562


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Price of Liberty
by Eric H. May

10/16/06

As I write, the U.S. Navy's Second Fleet has dispatched the aircraft carrier Eisenhower, attended by a strike group of subordinate ships, from its Norfolk home to the Persian Gulf, where it is due to arrive on Oct. 21. The strike group will link up with other pre-positioned military assets, and could easily start a war with Iran, making it part of the ultimate October Surprise. Officers from the Eisenhower have reached out to the government, military and media ever since the orders came, protesting that they don't want to be used to initiate a war with Iran. They assert that this is against their service oath to the Constitution, which clearly states that only the Congress -- not the president -- can start a war. Their distress signal has reached official circles, thanks to a September article by The Nation magazine. It's a confirmation of a New Yorker story in the spring, by Seymour Hersh, alleging that the Pentagon was then putting the brakes on a Bush administration itching for a war with Iran. Congress pretends not to notice what is happening, though, either too scared, too involved or too implicated to do its duty...

http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/06/10/16/may.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.quebecoislibre.org/06/061008-2.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Common Dreams
by Sean Gonsalves

10/16/06

A 'free society' that condones torture, secret prisons and tossing habeas corpus out the window -- as sold to the public by so-called defenders of constitutional law who act as if 'inalienable rights' isn't a founding principle? While military generals publicly called for a torture ban, torture apologists like the 'conservative' Thomas Sowell and 'liberal' Alan Dershowitz offer up the false dichotomy of either intelligence gleaned from torture or no intelligence at all. Cloaking state terrorism in a veil of moral concern for saving innocent lives, the fantasy of the so-called ticking bomb scenario gets trotted out, despite the 'phenomenally slender' chances of interrogators being faced with an actual torture/ticking-bomb choice...

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1016-31.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Cathy Young

10/16/06

Anna Politkovskaya, the 48-year-old woman shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow Oct. 7, was not a public official, a member of parliament, or a leader of an opposition party. But in the eyes of many people, the murder of this fearless journalist has become a symbol of the slow death of freedom in Russia -- a death evidenced by many other events large and small. For the past several years, the Russian state under Vladimir Putin has been steadily working to bring the media to heel. In this stifling and intimidating atmosphere, Politkovskaya ... remained an outspoken critic of the Putin government. ... [H]er book, Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy, was published in 2004. At the time of her death, Politkovskaya was about to file a story about torture practices by Kadyrov's security forces in Chechnya. It is unclear whether this article will ever see the light of day...

http://tinyurl.com/smddk



The journalist and the murderers
http://tinyurl.com/y5msy7


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

Another Victim of the War on the Chechens?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis54.html



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

The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner

10/15/06

It now looks as if the Democrats could well take back at least one house of Congress, perhaps even two. But is this a fate to be wished on them? I've heard smart people argue that George W. Bush has left such a mess that maybe the Democrats would be better off just letting the mess fall on the Republicans in 2008. After all, there seems to be no good way out of Iraq. The administration dithered for nearly six years on Korea, and now we have Pyongyang with nukes, not to mention Iran's nuclear challenge. And the budget and trade deficits continue to be time bombs. Why should the opposition party want to share responsibility for these serial disasters? I still think the 2006 mid-term election is well worth winning for the Democrats. But after the champagne is popped and 'Happy Days Are Here Again' is loudly sung, the victorious Democrats are likely to face a very sobering morning-after...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=12103


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

In These Times
by Moazzam Begg

10/16/06

It is considered a sin in Islam to despair, but in Bagram, during the worst days of May 2002, I had been unable to hold despair at bay. Here in Guantanamo, in this steel cage with its mesh sides, steel roof and floor, steel bed, steel toilet, all inside a white, new-looking brightly lit room, I felt despair returning as I took in my surroundings for the first time. All I had in the cell was a sheet and a roll of toilet paper, not even my glasses. I asked for something that I could use as a prayer mat, and they brought a thin camping mat, which became my mattress for the next two years. I wanted to pray immediately. I asked the MPs which direction was east, but they weren't sure. That told me there were no other prisoners here, otherwise the guards would have known, since all the detainees would have asked the same question. Or was it that they feared my knowledge of directions could allow me to calculate my position on the island -- a potential breach of security?

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2864/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

The Practical Nomad
by Edward Hasbrouck

10/15/06

Should you have to ask for permission from the government before you are allowed to get on a plane or cruise ship? ('Mother, may I?')The USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed that airlines cruise lines, and operators of all other ships and planes -- including charter flights, air taxis, fishing vessels, etc. -- be required to get individual permission ('clearance') from the DHS for each passenger on all flights or ocean voyages to, from, or via the USA. Unless the answer is 'Yes' -- if the answer is 'no' or 'maybe,' or if the DHS doesn't answer at all -- the airline wouldn't be allowed to give you a boarding pass, or let you or your luggage on the plane...

http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001156.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

10/16/06

As the violence in Iraq mounts and the U.S. military experiences a spike in deaths and casualties, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'a, has refused to begin disarming Shi'ite militias, which have infiltrated the government security forces. Al-Maliki has also resisted allowing the U.S. military to conduct large-scale operations in Sadr City against the Mahdi Army, a radical militia that is part of the government and responsible for many sectarian killings. Despite his reluctance to take on these militias, al-Maliki predicts a substantial withdrawal of U.S. forces early next year, as the number of U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces rises. Taken together, what all this means is that the U.S. strategy of training Iraqi security forces to permit an eventual U.S. withdrawal is merely preparing another set of fighters for the rapidly escalating civil war...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1833


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

ABC News Online [Australia]

10/17/06

Evangelical Christian voters have been a critical support base for US President George W. Bush. But their continuing support is now in question because of allegations today that some of the President's top political advisors routinely ridiculed them. A former official in the President's office of Faith-Based Initiatives says Mr Bush's advisors cynically exploited the religious right to boost support for the Republican Party while laughing at them out of the public eye. The revelations come at a time when evangelical voters are already threatening to desert the party over the latest congressional sex scandal, as Washington Correspondent Michael Rowland reports.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1767149.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

A STAND-OFF ended in victory for protesters on Monday as developers were forced to abandon work on a controversial phone mast.

Contractors from mobile company O2 arrived at Asfordby Road, Melton, to erect the structure but gave up after a dozen local residents staged an impromptu sit in.

The action group are now guarding the site in shifts to prevent any work while negotiations with the firm continue.

Mum Elanor Shaw was first to confront contractors at about 8.30am on Monday after she was alerted by a neighbour.

She said: "We think it's a small victory but at least they did move on. We're now going to keep a vehicle and a person on the site to make sure they don't come back in the meantime.

"A neighbour rang me in the morning to say two diggers were on the site so I thought I had better get up there. I asked the workmen if they were there for the mast and when they said yes I said 'well I'm staying here then'."

Mrs Shaw stayed on the site with her children Caitlin (2) and Louie (1) until her husband Paul arrived back from work and parked his van on the spot so no work could start.

The couple were then joined by other neighbours who also refused to move until the workmen were called off by O2 at about 12.30pm. Police attended the peaceful protest but did not intervene.

Residents of nearby Asfordby Road, Sysonby Grange Lane and Chetwynd Drive first got together in August after Melton Council's development committee approved the mast.

The action group say they were not given enough time to object and fear future research will reveal masts are dangerous to health.

They are considering applying for a judicial review of the decision after Melton Council admitted minor mistakes were made in the application process.

O2 representatives will now meet with Melton Council on Monday to try to resolve the dispute.

O2 Spokesman Angela Johnson said: "Naturally we're very disappointed because this mobile phone mast is urgently needed for coverage and capacity in the area.

"We are legally able to build it but we will talk to local planners and the local council to see if there is anything that can be done. We're not making any commitment because we have planning consent for this site but we are prepared to have initial negotiations."

Don Tempest, ward councillor for the area, said: "They have withdrawn their troops from the site and on Monday I would hope that we will be looking at re-siting it which is a move in the right direction."

Residents are now pressing to be able to have a say at Monday's crunch meeting. Resident Trevor Moncrief said: "We want to be at that meeting and I think there ought to be a public out cry if we're not there. At the end of the day it's a handful of well-meaning people against a giant company."

17 October 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.meltonmowbraytoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=752&ArticleID=1826393

#Die Linkspartei.PDS: Pressemitteilungen

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=34263

17. Oktober 2006

Armut mildern mit Schulspeisung für alle

Zum heutigen Internationalen Tag für die Beseitigung der Armut erklärt die stellvertretende Parteivorsitzende Katja Kipping:

Armut bedeutet mehr als Hunger. Aber die fehlende Sicherheit der ausreichenden und gesunden Ernährung ist ein besonderes Armutszeugnis für die Gesellschaft, die diese Sicherheit trotz materiellem Überfluss nicht gewährleistet. Auf unserer Erde leiden 852 Millionen Menschen an Hunger. Zehn Jahre nach dem Welternährungsgipfel in Rom hat sich die Anzahl der hungernden Menschen nicht verringert. Auch in Deutschland können Menschen sich nicht ausreichend ernähren: Die Tafeln, die Arme in Deutschland mit Nahrungsmittel versorgen, sind überlaufen. Kinder bekommen keine warme Mahlzeit, nicht genügend Gesundes zu essen - weil sich in Deutschland eine politische Schicht und regierende Parteien erlauben, das grundlegende Menschenrecht zu missachten. Nicht Armut, sondern Arme werden bekämpft und entwürdigt. Statt jedem Menschen voraussetzungslos eine ausreichende Ernährung und eine Minimalteilhabe an der Gesellschaft zu garantieren, werden Sozialhilfe und Grundsicherung auf niedrigstem und entwürdigendem Armutsniveau gehalten. Menschen werden als "Unterschichten" gedemütigt. Es ist erschreckend, aber wahr. Wir müssen auch für das reiche Deutschland fordern: Jeder Mensch muss sich am Tag eine warme, nahrhafte Mahlzeit leisten können. Das Recht auf eine kostenlose Schulspeisung wäre ein Anfang, um die schlimmsten Auswirkungen von Armut abzumildern.

By Press reporter

CONCERNED residents of Sheriff Hutton have won a battle in their year-long fight to have a controversial mobile phone mast shifted out of their village.

Ryedale District Council's policy and resources committee agreed the authority should fund the move - believed to cost in the region of £50,000 - because it was a council bungle that caused the problem.

Council officials sent their legal objections to phone giant Orange one day too late. The mast was duly built unopposed. However, it has never been switched on, and Sheriff Hutton residents have campaigned fiercely to get it relocated.

Now, at a council meeting, councillors have voted five to three to finance the cost of moving the mast - subject to it being "reasonable".

Campaigners said the vote was "a huge step forward", but the decision must still be backed by the entire council on November 9.

Coun Keith Knaggs told the meeting: "What value do we attach to our honesty and putting right our mistakes? We must pay the price to defend our reputation."

Coun John Clark went one step further. He said: "I am opposed to all masts because of the unknown threat to our health."

After the meeting, Sheriff Hutton resident and prominent campaigner Linda Murphy told The Press: "We are over the moon at this vote. The mast has really taken over our lives this last year. Councillors at the meeting said the council had betrayed our trust. Now I hope they will finally vote once and for all to make amends."

In July, The Press reported how Mrs Murphy invited councillors into her daughter's bedroom to see from the window how close the mast was to her Cornborough Road home.

She said: "Of course, it's not over yet. We are not popping the champagne corks, because a suitable place still has to be found and we don't want it in anyone else's backyard either - but this is a huge step forward. If we had sat back, and not campaigned so hard, the mast would be switched on by now. These protests have been driven by the strength of feeling in the community. It all shows that people power really does work. The next full council meeting will be crucial and, hopefully, as many people from Sheriff Hutton as possible will be there to see the mast overturned."

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/yorknews/display.var.971953.0.phone_mast_victory.php

Gesellschaft im Reformprozess. Die Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung untersucht Reformbereitschaft der Deutschen

„Gesellschaft im Reformprozess“ heißt eine Erhebung der TNS Infratest Sozialforschung Berlin im Auftrag der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, die im Februar/März 2006 rund 3000 wahlberechtigte Deutsche über 18 Jahre zu den gesellschaftlichen Reformen in Deutschland befragte. Aus dieser Erhebung wird eine Studie erarbeitet, die zum Jahresende veröffentlicht werden wird.

Die komplette Erhebung vom Juli 2006 bei der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
(pdf, 94 Seiten) http://www.fes.de/inhalt/Dokumente/061017_Gesellschaft_im_Reformprozess_komplett.pdf

Eine 18seitige Zusammenfassung der wichtigsten Ergebnisse bei der SZ (pdf) http://www.sueddeutsche.de/imperia/md/content/pdf/deutschland/abgehaengt_auszug.pdf

Die "Unterschicht"-Debatte

Am Rande der Gesellschaft. Studie: Acht Prozent der Bevölkerung gehören zur „Unterschicht“

„Acht Prozent der Deutschen werden in einer Studie einer neuen gesellschaftlichen „Unterschicht“ zugerechnet. In Ostdeutschland zähle sogar jeder fünfte zu dieser Schicht, im Westen seien es vier Prozent, heißt es nach Angaben in einer Studie der SPD-nahen Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, die sich auf eine Umfrage des Instituts TNS Infratest stützt. Die Wissenschaftler sprechen in der Studie „Gesellschaft im Reformprozeß“ von Menschen, die sich in unsicheren Arbeitsverhältnissen und einer prekären Lebenslage sowie sozialer Lethargie befinden…“ Artikel in der FAZ vom 16. Oktober 2006 http://www.faz.net/s/Rub28FC768942F34C5B8297CC6E16FFC8B4/Doc~E6AF2EDCE188845A48606DA4E5E32BE58~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

Im Vorwort der Untersuchung heisst es: „Erste Teilergebnisse aus den über 450 Tabellen wurden in der Öffentlichkeit mit aktuellen Diskussionen über Armut, neue gesellschaftliche Schichtungen etc. verbunden, obwohl weder in der Studie noch in den ersten Analysen beispielsweise der Begriff „Unterschicht“ benutzt oder gedacht wird. Vielmehr zielte die Befragung darauf, herauszufinden, welche Wertepräferenzen in der Bevölkerung vorliegen und welche Zuordnungen zu „politischen Typen“ diese Präferenzen erlauben…“

Eine – und die aufsehenerregendste – der politischen Typisierungen ist „Abgehängtes Prekariat“: „Das Abgehängte Prekariat (8%) ist geprägt von sozialem Ausschluss und Abstiegserfahrungen. Diese Gruppe hat einen hohen Anteil berufsaktiver Altersgruppen, weist den höchsten Anteil an Arbeitslosen auf und ist zugleich ein stark ostdeutsch und männlich dominierter Typ. Mit der Großen Koalition sind sie in hohem Maße unzufrieden. Nichtwähler sind ebenso überproportional vertreten wie Wähler der Linkspartei und rechtsextremer Parteien.“ Dies gilt übrigens auch für die gewerkschaftliche Mitgliedschaft und dass diese 8% (West: 4%, Ost: 25%) „der Idee des Sozialismus prinzipiell eher positiv gegenüber“ stehen…

Unsere Zitate zum Thema

"Der Begriff Unterschicht ist ein Begriff von lebensfremden Soziologen.
(…) Es gibt keine Ober- und Unterschichten hier“

Arbeitsminister Franz Müntefering (SPD), zitiert in "Es gibt keine Ober- und Unterschichten" In der SPD ist ein Streit über die Verantwortung für die wachsende Armut in Deutschland entbrannt. Während die Linke Ex-Kanzler Gerhard Schröder für die Entwicklung verantwortlich macht, wollen führende Sozialdemokraten den Begriff Unterschicht wieder loswerden. Dossier in der Financial Times Deutschland vom 16.10.06 http://ftd.de/politik/deutschland/122160.html

„Die Grenzziehung zwischen den einzelnen Schichten ist mehr oder weniger beliebig und kann je nach dem Untersuchungszweck eine andere sein.“ Wörterbuch der Soziologie, hrsg. von Wilhelm Bernsdorf, Stuttgart 1969, S. 990


Aus: LabourNet, 17. Oktober 2006

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Wer Ungleichheit reduzieren will, muss ihre Ursachen bekämpfen!

Pressemitteilung vom 25.10.2006 des Bundes demokratischer Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler (BdWi) zur aktuellen Debatte um gesellschaftliche Ungleichheit - nebst Hinweis auf eine diesbezügliche Konferenz http://www.bdwi.de/show/309200.html


"Abhängiges Prekariat". Lieber unabhängig denken als auf solche Worthülsen der Politiker reinfallen

Kommentar von Konstantin Wecker vom 21.10.2006 http://www.hinter-den-schlagzeilen.info/pm/more.php?id=3833_0_1_0_M


Aus: LabourNet, 27. Oktober 2006



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

Haze from Indonesian forest fires has disturbed orangutans living in a natural reserve on Borneo island, a park official said on Monday. The fires have been burning for weeks, creating smoke that has spread over much of Southeast Asia. Most fires are deliberately lit by farmers or at the direction of timber and oil palm plantation companies.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/101606EC.shtml

A federal program to safeguard poor and racially diverse communities from pollution and other environmental harm is at risk of being dissolved, activists say. The Environmental Protection Agency's Northwest regional office has proposed reassigning members of its environmental-justice program to new divisions and eliminating its director's position.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/101606EA.shtml

Keith Olbermann has delivered a series of hard-hitting commentaries on the failures of the Bush administration on MSNBC. As a result, his ratings are moving up. Olbermann says he hasn't spoken to NBC Chairman Bob Wright or anyone at corporate owner General Electric Co. about his commentaries, and no one has asked him to tone things down. Such is the almighty power of the Nielsen meter.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101606T.shtml



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

The Energy Department cannot meet its own post-September 11 security standards to repel a terrorist force at the Ft. Knox of uranium, a facility in Tennessee that stores an estimated 189 metric tons of bomb-grade material, agency officials acknowledged.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101606S.shtml

The Republican "November Surprise" to steal the 2004 election is in full force here in Ohio. With polls showing a dead heat, the GOP is staging an all-out attack on a fair vote count in the Buckeye State.

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/810


From Information Clearing House

US policy in Iraq is not working and George Bush should consider radical changes, according to a top-level panel backed by the president.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1923778,00.html


From Information Clearing House

By GWYNNE DYER

The final indignity, if you are an Iraqi who was shot for accidentally turning into the path of a U.S. military convoy (they thought you might be a terrorist), or blown apart by a car bomb or an airstrike, or tortured and murdered by kidnappers, or just for being a Sunni or a Shiite, is that U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will deny that your death happened.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15316.htm

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America's "Other" War Party

By Mike Whitney

The giddiness among Democrats about their prospects for a sweep in both Houses of Representatives has reached a level of absolute euphoria. But what exactly are the voters are hoping for?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15309.htm

By William R. Polk

After careful study of recent moves and statements by the Bush Administration, I have concluded that there is at least a 10% chance of an American attack on Iran before the November 7 Congressional elections and about a 90% chance before the administration’s end in 2008.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15313.htm

Audio interview

Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter: “The path that the United States is currently embarked on regarding Iran is a path that will inevitably lead to war. Such a course of action will make even the historical mistake we made in Iraq pale by comparison.”

Click to listen
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15312.htm



Target Iran

Scott Ritter and Seymour Hersh. The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change.

Click to listen.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15434.htm

http://www.petitiononline.com/july10/petition.html


Informant: ranger116

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


Informant: ranger116

http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/10/13/14265/176


Informant: ranger116

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/magazine/15wwln_lede.html


Informant: Teresa Binstock

Were Evangelicals Played For Suckers?

by Pastor Chuck Baldwin

No president in American history played the "God card" any better than George W. Bush. Early in his 2000 presidential campaign, Bush convinced fundamentalist/evangelical Christian leaders that he was "their" man. Those Christian leaders went on to promote and support Mr. Bush to the tune of two successful presidential election victories. To this day, they comprise his most loyal base of support. But was it all a sham? Did G.W. Bush and Karl Rove simply dupe the Religious Right? A Bush insider now says.....

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin327.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200889.html



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

ENS

October 16, 2006

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2006/2006-10-16-03.asp

LONDON, England - Scientists on Monday reported the first direct evidence linking the 2002 collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf to global warming. The researchers found that stronger westerly winds in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, fueled primarily by human-induced climate change, were responsible for the dramatic summer warming that led to the retreat and collapse of the Larson B ice shelf.

"This is the first time that anyone has been able to demonstrate a physical process directly linking the break-up of the Larsen Ice Shelf to human activity," said lead author Gareth Marshall from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

The study, by BAS scientists as well as researchers at the University College London's Centre for Polar Observation and Modeling and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, was published in the "Journal of Climate."

The 1,255-square mile ice shelf collapsed into the Weddell Sea over a 35-day period in early 2002. Scientists believe the 220-meter thick shelf had been in place for some 5,000-12,000 years.

Its disintegration was the third recent, sudden collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf, following the collapses of the 618-square mile Larsen A Ice Shelf in
1995 and the 425-square mile Wilkins Ice Shelf in 1998.

The collapses did not affect sea levels -- ice shelves are thick plates of ice, fed by glaciers, that float on the ocean around much of Antarctica.

But scientists warn that the loss of ice shelves in the region could predicate sea level rise. Ice shelves act hold back glaciers from the sea and keep warmer marine air at a distance from the glaciers.

A study released in 2004 revealed that this concern has started to materialize. It found Antarctic glaciers melting and moving more quickly toward the sea in the wake of the collapse of a Larsen B ice shelf, with several of the glaciers moving at up to five times their previous speed

In this latest study, Marshall and his colleagues report that global warming -- and manmade hole in the ozone layer -- has changed Antarctic weather patterns. Scientists worldwide are convinced that human emissions of heat-trapping gases released by the burning of fossil fuels are largely responsible for temperature increases over the past century. The western Antarctic Peninsula has showed the biggest increase in temperatures observed anywhere on Earth over the past half-century.

Stronger westerly winds are forcing warm air eastward and over the natural barrier created by the Antarctic Peninsula's 1.25 mile-high mountain chain.

During the past 40 years the average summer temperatures in this region of the north-east peninsula has been 2.2 degrees Celsius, but on days when warm winds top the mountains of the peninsula, temperatures rise by 5 to 10 degrees Celsius, the researchers said.

This warming created the conditions that allowed the drainage of melt-water into crevasses on the Larsen Ice Shelf, a key process that led to its break-up in 2002.

"Climate change does not impact our planet evenly -- it changes weather patterns in a complex way that takes detailed research and computer modeling techniques to unravel," Marshall said. "What we've observed at one of the planet's more remote regions is a regional amplifying mechanism that led to the dramatic climate change we see over the Antarctic Peninsula."


Informant: NHNE

The Sussex Argus published my letter EDITED as below - today.

Gary


The article "Fear and loathing on the school bus" ) describing childrens yobbishness on buses (Argus October 12) is just one in a series of recent items to report rise in such behaviour.

Your reporter observed, "a third of teenagers eat a doughnut or chocolate bar with Coke for breakfast". Diet and non diet drinks, including Coke, contain Aspartame of which there are 92 documented symptoms, including headaches, nausea, weight gain, brain tumours, epilepsy, slurred speech, and vision and hearing problems.

The American College of Physicians says: "We are talking about a plague of neurological disease, caused by this deadly poison".

Most children also use mobile phones. As long ago as 1998, the Daily Mail reported: "Scientists at the Defence Establishment Research Agency have admitted the microwave signals from mobile phones can disrupt parts of the brain involved in memory and learning, raise blood pressure and depress vital brain hormones such as melatonin.....as well as showing an increase in brain cancer in mobile phone users. The potential consequences of exposing our children to such radiation is extremely alarming".

Sir William Stewart also warned against children under sixteen using mobiles and siting tranmsmitters near schools (The Stewart Report, 2000) but has since been ignored.

The connections between these things and yobbish behaviour seem obvious to me.

dpa-Meldung, 16.10.2006 (16:07)

München - Mit eindringlichen Worten hat Bayerns Sozial- und Familienministerin Christa Stewens (CSU) vor den Risiken der Handy-Nutzung durch Kinder und Jugendliche gewarnt. Viele junge Menschen seien schon einmal abgezockt worden etwa durch kostspielige Service- oder Rückrufnummern, sagte Stewens am Montag in München. "Auch unzulässige Medieninhalte wie brutale Gewalt- und Pornofilme, die von jungen Menschen von Handy zu Handy ausgetauscht werden, haben die Schattenseiten im Umgang mit diesem Medium gezeigt." Leider sei für viele Eltern der Medienkonsum ihrer Kinder ein Buch mit sieben Siegeln - das gelte auch fürs Handy.

"Kaum ein Medium hat in den vergangenen Jahren einen derartigen Boom erlebt wie das Handy", betonte Stewens. "Jeder zweite 6- bis 13 Jährige und bereits 92 Prozent aller Jugendlichen besitzen ein Mobiltelefon." Angesichts der Gefährdungspotenziale stehe hier auch die Wirtschaft in der Verantwortung. Denn gerade bei internetfähigen Handys sei eine Kontrolle der Eltern bei der Mediennutzung ihrer Sprösslinge sehr schwer. "Hier sind neue technische Schutzmaßnahmen notwendig. Ich appelliere an die Mobilfunkunternehmen, Handys verpflichtend mit einer kindersicheren Grundkonfiguration auszuliefern", sagte Stewens.

© 2006 - Verivox

http://www.verivox.de/News/ArticleDetails.asp?aid=16564&g=mobile

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Handy-Verbot an Schulen
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1677088/

http://tjh.elequity.com/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1203



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

http://tjh.elequity.com/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1205

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Voting against nuclear war with Iran

By Jorge Hirsch

The outcome of the November election is likely to determine whether or not the US goes to war with Iran before President Bush leaves office. For multiple reasons recounted below such war will with very high probability include the US use of tactical nuclear weapons. In casting or not casting a vote in November, each of us will contribute to determine events of potential consequences immensely larger than local taxes, illegal immigration or even the Iraq war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15318.htm

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9869


Informant: Lew Rockwell

WAG THE DOG ELECTION COMING SOON? NOT IF WE WILL HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT!

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum538.php

It's no secret the Bush administration will dig deep into the bowels of depravity to keep their own fat out of the fire. It doesn't matter who has to die to accomplish that goal either. The theme of cut-and-run politics Bush has on America's moral authority around the world seems to be adding a new layer of despotic opportunism, in the face of another historic failure.

While North Korea has tested its first nuclear bomb as a direct result of Bush's gross incompetence, a bait-and-switch looks to be in the works.

According to reported sources, the Bush administration intends to launch an unprovoked carpet bomb attack on the sovereign nation of Iran, for the sole purpose of trying to influence the upcoming election in his favor.

Would Bush sacrifice our national security against the current threat of North Korea, for a country that poses no threat for 10 years or more? The only thing missing from this scenario is the pretext to sell to the American people.

If true, we could be looking at another attack in the United States or against the United States within days carrying a "Gulf of Tonkin" stench. Never one to be accused of having an original thought, Bush will do anything, ANYTHING, to prevent Democrats from taking over the Congress.

Bush's fear is merited. Defeating tyranny is the mission statement of this country, and for that reason, he's scared.

The only question, are we going to let him get away with this? If he does start a third war on the heels of two failed ones, what will you do? What are you doing NOW, to insure a democratic victory?

We need to speak in a resounding voice, "NO WAR FOR FOLEY!"

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum538.php

The best way for us to stop yet another disastrous war of aggression is for us to remind our fellow citizens about all the lies upon lies which stampeded our country into an attack and occupation of Iraq. The video playing on the next link below is one of the new Lie/Die TV spots, with courageous candidates on the Peace Team from all over the country producing their own versions right now, this one done by Jeeni Criscenzo (CA-49).

These Lie/Die TV spots are calling the Bush administration out on their deliberate deceptions. If we can get enough of these TV spots on the air we can build a concensus of public opinion so that they know they will NOT get away with it again. Please consider making a donation to the Peace Team candidates who are courageous enough to take a strong stand for the truth, so that people know there are real alternatives worth coming out in massive numbers to vote for.

LIE/DIE TV SPOT DONATIONS: http://www.peaceteam.net/donations.php?cv=tallitsch

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours.

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

http://prisonplanet.com/articles/october2006/161006bushwaiting.htm



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