World-News

A message from Kim


The average stray dog in India has no place called a 'home'; whereas many people like to have them around for their often selfish and sometimes altruistic reasons, the pariah (stray dog) really has no champion to fight for its rights.

A recent incident in a residential locality in Thane, Maharashtra, brought to the fore the plight of these suffering and mistreated animals (see story here:

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?Page=article§id=2&contentid=20070216022354406ee9e8950

To bring their misery to the notice of the Chief Minister, Maharashtra, and request him to bring the guilty to justice, I would like to request you to sign this petition, and forward the link to your friends who care for animals.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/152845047


Thank you!

Varsha

Bob Herbert writes: "I don't think most Americans are up for perennial warfare. And whatever the polls might say, it's very hard for me to accept that the men and women who rise from their seats and cover their hearts at the start of sporting events are really in favor of dismantling the system of checks and balances, or holding people in prison for years without charging them, or torturing prisoners in US custody, or giving the president the raw power and unsavory privileges of an emperor.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007H.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bob+Herbert

But the more the United States spends for its defense, the more its insecurity increases.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007G.shtml

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007F.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Krugman

E.J. Dionne writes: "Two things are now abundantly clear about the future of US policy toward Iraq. First, majorities in both houses of Congress have lost faith in President Bush's approach to the war. Second, the president will do all he can to resist changing his strategy by trying to split his critics into ineffectual factions."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007E.shtml

Karl Rove, then White House senior political advisor for President George W. Bush, received a copy of the secret Iranian proposal for negotiations with the United States from former Republican Congressman Bob Ney in early May 2003, according to an Iranian-American scholar who was then on his Congressional staff.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007D.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gareth+Porter

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) won't say what it plans to do with thousands of dollars in campaign donations it received from an accused terror financier.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007B.shtml



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

The evidence in the Libby trial shows Vice President Dick Cheney and Mr. Libby, his former chief of staff, countermanding and even occasionally misleading colleagues at the highest levels of Mr. Bush's inner circle as the two pursued their own goal of clearing the vice president's name in connection with flawed intelligence used in the case for war.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007A.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby

Fox News
by Susan Estrich

02/18/07

What’s the point of a non-binding resolution that the president has already said would not affect his decisions? How do you send a message to a person who isn’t listening? The resolution affirming support for the troops and opposition to the surge won’t really do anything, notwithstanding the heated debate about whether to pass it. It won’t stop the war, save a life, or slow the surge. Nancy Pelosi says the president can’t completely ignore ‘the voice of the American people,’ but my bet is he’ll try. The reason the resolution matters is not because of its impact on the president, but on Congress; not because it will goad the president into action, but because it will force Congress to face its own fears...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,252669,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Susan+Estrich

Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

02/19/07

As President Bush continues his Nixonesque policy of ‘exiting’ Iraq by escalation and intimidation, both Republican and Democratic politicians are also imitating the Vietnam-era rhetoric of blaming the citizens of the chaotic country and their neighbors for the mess. In fact, the politicians are blaming everyone but themselves for this monumental policy failure...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1915


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ivan+Eland

http://www.antiwar.com/hadar/?articleid=10549


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Leon+Hadar

CNN

02/19/07

The 2002 authorization for use of force in Iraq is among the arguments the war’s supporters use to condemn congressional critics of the conflict. If Democrats have their way, it may be replaced. Democratic senators are talking Monday about revising the authorization Congress passed more than four years ago. They would do so by working to pass a new resolution putting additional restrictions on military action in Iraq...

http://tinyurl.com/399qpw


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Morganton News Herald

02/19/07

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday the war in Iraq has been mismanaged for years and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be remembered as one of the worst in history. ‘We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement — that’s the kindest word I can give you — of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war,’ the Arizona senator told an overflow crowd of more than 800 …

http://tinyurl.com/2th35g


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rumsfeld

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0220/p03s01-ussc.html


Informant: binstock

"The plight of the middle class is the hip topic in Washington these days as politicians try to display concern for the demographic group that provides them with most of their votes. Several Congressional committees have held hearings on problems facing the middle class. Members of Congress and presidential candidates are running around the country extolling the virtues of hard-working middle-class families and pledging to make things better. It remains to be seen whether anything real will come out of this middle-class serenade," writes Dean Baker.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007N.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dean+Baker

Bill McKibben writes, "If world leaders had heeded the early warnings of the first IPCC report, and by [the year] 2000 had done the very hard work to keep greenhouse gas emissions from growing any higher, the expected temperature increase would be half as much as is expected now. In the words of the experts at realclimate.org, where the most useful analyses of the new assessment can be found, climate change is a problem with a very high 'procrastination penalty', a penalty that just grows and grows with each passing year of inaction."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007M.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bill+McKibben

"Hopelessly fixated on toughness, the immigration debate has lost its balance, overlooking the humanity of the immigrant. There is a starkly diminished understanding that hospitality for the stranger is part of the American ethos, and that as much as we claim to be a nation of immigrants, we have thwarted them at every turn. We must do better," says the New York Times.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007L.shtml

US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned. It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centers.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007K.shtml

"Just days before the perjury/obstruction trial of former White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby goes to the jury, the Washington Post's Outlook section published a bizarre front-page article by right-wing legal expert Victoria Toensing suggesting that the prosecutor and one of the chief victims in the case should be put on trial," writes Robert Parry. "Given the Post's prominence in the nation's capital and Toensing's former position in the Justice Department," he adds, "the article has the look and feel of an attempt to influence the jury that will be judging whether Libby committed perjury and obstruction of justice."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022007J.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Parry

PETER WALSH
20 February 2007 08:18

Families are celebrating yet another victory in the fight against mobile phone masts being installed close to homes and schools.

Phone company T-Mobile had applied to Norwich City Council to install an 11.8metres mast close to St Anne's Church and the Colman Area Housing Office on Colman Road.

But the mast - which would have been yards from the site of two other failed applications - has been turned down by city council planners under delegated powers after more than 100 people objected to the mast.

It is the latest in a string of victories against such masts at locations across the city as a result of people power.

Sylvia Gordon, 76, who lives with her husband John on George Borrow Road, close to the site of the proposed mast, said today she was delighted council officers had refused permission on the grounds it “would detract from the amenity of the residential area”.

She said: “We thought it was really obtrusive to put it there and we don't think that phone companies should be allowed, for their own commercial reasons, to plant these ugly masts where people don't want them - we were pleased to know it wasn't going to be put there after all.”

Mrs Gordon, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years, said people in the area have successfully seen off a host of other mast applications over the years.

“I think that's the only reason they haven't been able to put them up,” she said. “It's not really acceptable for people to have these masts near to them. We think the city council has made great strides in cleaning up this ward - the verges and graffiti -and it would have been a real backward step to have put a thing there near to homes and gardens. We just don't want it.”

Roy Blower city councillor for University ward, said it was the sixth mast people living in the area have seen off in recent years.

“I'm delighted, once again the community has seen off big businesses trying to impose an eyesore on them,” he said.

“More than 100 people wrote in whether to us or directly to the council and made known the depth of feeling in the area.”

Mr Blower said the council's decision to refuse masts in the area previously could set a precedent which would make it difficult for other phone companies to try to get other masts installed in the area.

A spokesman for T-Mobile said: “We will have to consider our future options in light of the council's ruling.”

The Evening News, through its Put Masts on Hold campaign, has fought against the installation of masts close to homes and schools until it is proved they are safe.

Last January O2 appealed against a decision by Norwich City Council to refuse permission for a 15metre mast near to the Moss Pharmacy in Colman Road even though the application had more than 500 objectors.

In 2002 Hutchison 3G, now 3, had its plans for a 13m mast next to the Colman Road Area Housing Office car park rejected after a petition was raised on the grounds it would have a negative impact of the surroundings.

Are you campaigning against a planned mobile phone mast where you live? Call Peter Walsh on 01603 772439 or e-mail peter.walsh@archant.co.uk

Copyright © 2007 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/yrvmwn

When our soldiers risked their lives in the Gulf, they never imagined that their children might suffer the consequences--or that their country would turn its back on them.

http://www.life.com/Life/essay/gulfwar/gulf01.html


From Information Clearing House

--------

Was Gulf-war syndrome caused by chemical poisoning?
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10843161


Informant: Dorothee Krien

--------

Nothing Depleted About 'Depleted Uranium'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3513699/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gulf+War+Syndrome

Carola Hoyos looks at the implications of a report which shows all the world's extra oil supply is likely to come from expensive and environmentally damaging unconventional sources within 15 years.

http://video.ft.com/ukdailyvideo/?clipid=1359_FT0131


From Information Clearing House

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow claimed that members of Congress who have warned about the possibility of a military strike against Iran may be “trying to protect Iran.”

Watch it:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/18/snow-protect-iran/


From Information Clearing House

President George W. Bush and U.S. military officials have increasingly accused Iran of meddling in Iraq's affairs. But from Iran's perspective, given its longstanding interests in Iraq, it is the United States that is meddling in its backyard, analysts inside and outside of Iran say.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/18/news/assess.php


From Information Clearing House

Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, the Middle East ... the contours of our crisis in foreign policy could hardly be clearer. Last month, nearly 2,000 people died in Iraq, the worst toll yet. Two million have left as refugees; the same number are internally displaced. - The human suffering in these countries is on our account.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2016053,00.html


From Information Clearing House

One-third of Iraqis live in poverty, according to a new study released under U.N. auspices Sunday, dire findings for a nation that enjoyed widespread prosperity less than three decades ago.

http://snipurl.com/1aqbt



Mission imperial

While Iraqis struggled in the chaos of Baghdad after the invasion, the Americans sent to rebuild the nation led a cocooned existence in the centre of the capital - complete with booze, hot dogs and luxury villas.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2016264,00.html


From Information Clearing House



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

Big Brother is Watching You!

Video
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17117.htm



Republican calls for email and IM monitoring

A bill introduced to the US House
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2174524/republican-bill-calls-email


From Information Clearing House

By Chalmers Johnson

By the end of the 1990s, the neoconservatives were developing their grandiose theories to promote overt imperialism by the "lone superpower" -- including preventive and preemptive unilateral military action, spreading democracy abroad at the point of a gun, obstructing the rise of any "near-peer" country or bloc of countries that might challenge U.S. military supremacy, and a vision of a "democratic" Middle East that would supply us with all the oil we wanted.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17123.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=empire
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=imperialism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chalmers+Johnson

Video

Did they really say that?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17128.htm

By Raed Jarrar

Privatizing Iraq's oil and splitting Iraq into three regions are just two negative features of this new law.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17120.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Raed+Jarrar

Video

Charlie Rose talks with David Sanger of The New York Times, Michael Hirsh of Newsweek, and Ray Takeyh of the Council on Foreign Relations on Iran and the United States. Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17122.htm

By Sam Gardiner

For those concerned about a possible war with Iran should turn up their worry-dials two notches.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17121.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sam+Gardiner

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6376639.stm


Informant: Kev Hall

http://www.progressive.org/mag_apb021607
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0218-07.htm


Informant: binstock

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0219-07.htm



Call to halt fleet subsidies to save deep sea fish
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2016930,00.html


Informant: binstock

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2016243,00.html


Informant: binstock

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5794/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dan+Plesch

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=a5f70543-a4f6-4a12-a962-57946fb3d580&k=31626


Informant: binstock

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2016222,00.html


Informant: Di

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5796/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese341.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/reese

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/fedako2.html



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff138.html

--------

U.S. won't extradite CIA agents to Italy

The United States will reject any request by Italy to extradite CIA agents for the first criminal trial over controversial U.S. "renditions" of terror suspects, a U.S. government lawyer said on Wednesday.

http://snipurl.com/1bnls


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=renditions
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/rozeff

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/phillips1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ron+Paul