Dienstag, 14. August 2007

After Shameful Vote in Congress, ACLU Requests FISA Court Documents

http://tinyurl.com/369ah9



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=ACLU
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=FISA

Gas Pump Ripoff

by Brian Beutler, Media Consortium

How oil companies get an extra $2 billion from consumers, and the simple fix they won't implement.

http://ga3.org/ct/od20pgF1NXKP/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Brian+Beutler

China & India: Following Our Lead ... And Our Money

by Bill Scher

While the White House blames China and India for inaction on global warming, it directly funds their carbon polluting projects.

http://ga3.org/ct/kd20pgF1NXK8/



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

You Have No Rights

In a Truthdig interview by James Harris and Josh Scheer, "Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive and author of 'You Have No Rights,' explains how our president became a 'medieval king,' and why your civil liberties are in greater danger than ever."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081407D.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Matthew+Rothschild

Gonzales Could Get Power to Speed Up States' Executions

Richard B. Schmitt of the Los Angeles Times reports, "The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081407C.shtml

--------

Gonzales Could Get Say in States' Executions
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/14/3151/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gonzales
http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Death+Penalty+-+Todesstrafe/

RNC Now Seeks Shelter of Executive Privilege

Truthout's Jason Leopold reports, "The Republican National Committee said it will not abide by a subpoena and turn over documents to a Congressional committee investigating the firings of at least eight US attorneys last year because the RNC is waiting to see if the White House will assert executive privilege over RNC documents at the center of the controversy, according to an outside law firm retained by the RNC."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081407A.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Republican+National+Committee
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=executive+privilege
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=subpoenas
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jason+Leopold

Privatisierung des Wohlfahrtsstaates gefährdet Demokratie

Der Neoliberalismus will alles privatisieren, egal ob Bildungsinstitutionen, Stadtwerke oder Gefängnisse. Ein Gespräch dazu mit dem Politikwissenschaftler Christoph Butterwegge.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/25/25912/1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Neoliberalismus
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Christoph+Butterwegge

Wolfowitz 'tried to censor World Bank on climate change'

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2861732.ece


Informant: Teresa Binstock



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=climate+change
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Wolfowitz
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=World+Bank

Families celebrate victory in mast battle

By Alex Ross

FAMILIES in Winterbourne are claiming victory after a phone company abandoned plans to put up a mobile phone mast outside a village school.

Phone company 02 had caused outrage among parents, councillors and residents when it announced in March it wanted to erect a mast outside Elm Park Primary School, in Nicholls Lane.

Read More...
http://tinyurl.com/273nzy



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=school+mast

Lawsuits May Illuminate Methods of Spy Program

Dan Egan, of the Washington Post, reports: "In 2003, Room 641A of a large telecommunications building in downtown San Francisco was filled with powerful data-mining equipment for a 'special job' by the National Security Agency, according to a former AT&T technician. It was fed by fiber-optic cables that siphoned copies of emails and other online traffic from one of the largest Internet hubs in the United States, the former employee says in court filings."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081407N.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=spying
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=data-mining
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=AT%26T

US Government Broke Padilla Through Intense Isolation, Say Experts

Warren Richy, of the Christian Science Monitor, reports: "According to defense motions on file in the case, Padilla's cell measured nine feet by seven feet. The windows were covered over. There was a toilet and sink. The steel bunk was missing its mattress. He had no pillow. No sheet. No clock. No calendar. No radio. No television. No telephone calls. No visitors. Even Padilla's lawyer was prevented from seeing him for nearly two years. For significant periods of time, the Muslim convert was denied any reading material, including the Koran. The mirror on the wall was confiscated. Meals were slid through a slot in the door. The light in his cell was always on."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081407M.shtml



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

Kreditkrise erfasst Großbanken

http://www.ftd.de/unternehmen/finanzdienstleister/238015.html

Finanzmarkt: Gier schlaegt Vernunft
http://www.meta-info.de/?lid=30287

EZB ermutigt Finanzhazadeure
http://www.meta-info.de/?lid=30288

Die Vokabeln zur Subprime-Krise
http://www.ftd.de/boersen_maerkte/marktberichte/:Die%20Vokabeln%20Subprime%20Krise/236760.html

Videoüberwachung: Eyes on the City

„Großbritannien ist das am stärksten video­überwachte Land Europas. Ob Überwachungskameras so genanntes anti­social behaviour, Straßenkriminalität oder Terrorattentate verhindern können, ist höchst umstritten. In den No-Go-Areas der britischen Hauptstadt hat die allgegenwärtige Videoüberwachung eher eine psychologische Funktion: Sie soll die »gefühlte Sicherheit« der Bürgerinnen und Bürger erhöhen…“ Artikel von Fabian Frenzel, London, in der Jungle World vom 02.08.2007 http://www.jungle-world.com/seiten/2007/31/10363.php


Big Brother Street

Die Holloway Road ist die am dichtesten mit Überwachungskameras ausgestattete Straße, aber Kriminalität ist nicht aus ihr verschwunden. Artikel von Florian Rötzer auf telepolis vom 11.07.2007 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/25/25683/1.html


Aus: LabourNet, 14. August 2007



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

Missbrauch Betroffener für parteipolitische Profilierung im Sommerloch

Pressemitteilung vom 14.08.2007

Betroffenenvertretung kritisiert Diskussionen um ‚Hartz IV’- Regelsatz: „Missbrauch Betroffener für parteipolitische Profilierung im Sommerloch“

Die Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Erwerbslosen- und Sozialhilfeinitiativen e.V. (BAG-SHI) als bundesweite Interessenvertretung begrüßt grundsätzlich die Diskussionen um eine Überprüfung und eventuelle Regelsatzerhöhung im Rahmen der Sozialgesetzbücher II und XII („Hartz IV“). Sie weist jedoch darauf hin, dass auf „Hartz IV“-Leistungen angewiesenen Menschen mit einer an die Inflationsrate angepassten Erhöhung der Leistungen nicht geholfen werden kann: „Eine Erhöhung des „Hartz IV“- Regelsatzes darf sich nicht auf eine kostenneutrale Anpassung an die Inflationsrate erschöpfen, sondern muss deutlich höher ausfallen. Studien, die auf Auswertungen der Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe EVS 2003 basieren, kommen bei Kindern bis zu sechs Jahren auf notwendige Verbrauchsausgaben von 468 Euro, bei Kindern im Alter von sechs bis zwölf Jahren auf 568 Euro und bei Jugendlichen im Alter bis 18 Jahren auf 655 Euro. So lange keine besseren Berechnungsgrundlagen gefunden sind sollte sich der Gesetzgeber daran orientieren, um das Abrutschen immer weiterer Bevölkerungskreise in Armut und Verschuldung zu vermeiden.“ so Andreas Geiger, Vorsitzender der BAG-SHI e.V. „Gleichzeitig kritisieren wir als Betroffenenvertretung den aktuellen Stil der Debatte. Wir befürchten, dass in der Diskussion um Berechnungsverfahren und Mindestlöhne die Betroffenen für die parteipolitische Profilierung im Sommerloch missbraucht werden sollen.

Dass ausgerechnet das soziokulturelle Existenzminimum und die Teilhabechancen von 7,4 Millionen Menschen hierfür herhalten müssen, empfinden wir als Skandal“, so Geiger weiter. Pia Witte, Sozialberaterin in Leipzig und im Koordinierungskreis des Aktionsbündnisses Sozialproteste (ABSP) tätig, kann nur feststellen: „Die herrschende Politik ist in mehrfacher Weise zynisch. Die so genannte Erfolge von Hartz IV bestehen in der Ausweitung von Armutslöhnen und ungesicherten Beschäftigungen, die nichts an der Einkommensarmut der betroffenen Familien ändert. Würden die zwangsweisen Beschäftigungsgelegenheiten, andere verdeckende Maßnahmen und all die Menschen hinzugerechnet werden, die nicht mal einen Anspruch auf ALG II haben, dann wird das Ausmaß der Verarmung in der Bevölkerung sichtbar.“

Hinrich Garms, Geschäftsführer BAG-SHI e.V.

Für Nachfragen:

Andreas Geiger
0160/98 30 24 68
Rainer Wahls
0162/30 12 100



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

No Light, Just Tunnel: The Bipartisan Guarantee of More War in Iraq

CounterPunch
by Chris Floyd

08/13/07

Most people persist in believing that the Bush Administration has ‘mishandled’ or ‘bungled’ the war in Iraq, when in fact they have achieved almost all of their goals. They have vastly enriched their cronies. They have installed a U.S. military presence in Iraq. They have expanded the size, power and scope of the armed forces and the intelligence services (which now have their own secret armies) beyond the wildest dreams of the most hawkish Cold War militarist. They have not only gutted the Constitution but proved that you can get away with it — an invaluable lesson for dictators to come. And, as noted, they have committed the American Establishment to continuing the radical course they have set in motion — because the Establishment will never allow the election of any candidate who would seek to institute the rollback of the empire and the restoration of genuine constitutional government...

http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd08132007.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

No Light, Just Tunnel

The Bipartisan Guarantee of More War in Iraq

By Chris Floyd

We invaded your country. We occupied your country. We wrote your constitution, in which the arbitrary decrees of our colonial viceroy were imposed as fundamental law. We looted your money. We armed your sectarians. And we are going to keep a large number of troops in your country, come what may. But we aren't going to baby-sit you anymore. No, if you don't get your act together -- and sign the g... Oil Law already -- we are just going to withdraw to our permanent bases and watch you kill each other. -- That is the sum total of the leading Democratic candidate's position on Iraq.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18190.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=empire
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=withdrawal+Iraq
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chris+Floyd

The audacity of shallowness

The Weekly Standard
by Reuel Marc Gerecht

Among certain Arab elites, there is considerable interest in how a Democratic administration would differ from the eight years of George W. Bush. It’s a good question. Most Democrats, at least those running for president or sitting in Congress, have spent more time attacking Bush than explaining what Democrats would do if they were making foreign policy. But the Middle East seriously wounded, if not disgraced, the last two Democratic presidents. The candidates’ reticence on the subject is understandable. Yet sooner or later, Hillary Clinton and company have to tell us what they think about Islam, Sunni Islamic extremism, al Qaeda, the religious dynamics of Iraq, clerical Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, rendition (Bill Clinton, if we recall, established the practice), close intelligence liaison relationships with torture-fond foreign security services (again, President Clinton had no insurmountable problem with this), and the appropriateness of preemptive U.S. military strikes against terrorist targets... (for publication 08/20/07)

http://tinyurl.com/3xeolo


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Hillary
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=rendition
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=preemptive
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Reuel+Marc+Gerecht

When consumers feel the heat, Big Oil makes cold cash

Mother Jones
by Brian Beutler

08/13/07

A gallon of gasoline contains a certain number of molecules, which combust in your car’s engine to provide it with energy. If you heat up that gallon of gasoline it will expand, leaving you with a larger volume of gas than the gallon with which you started. But your new volume will contain the same number of combustible molecules and therefore will provide the same amount of energy as it did prior to being heated. That means a tank full of ‘hot’ gas will provide a car with less energy than will the same tank full of ‘cool’ gas, which is why you’ve probably been advised (correctly) not to buy gasoline when it’s hot outside. Simple, right? It is if you live in Canada, at least. There, gasoline retailers install metering systems in their pumps to determine how much the fuel they sell has cooled or heated from its standardized refinery temperature, and then adjust the price accordingly. … Of course, on average, Canada is pretty cold and the United States is pretty hot. So it benefits both retailers and oil companies to correct for temperature in Canada, but to price by volume in the United States...

http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2007/08/heat_big_oil.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Brian+Beutler

Neolibs and neocons, united and interchangeable

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/giraldi.php?articleid=11438


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Philip+Giraldi

Statism is counterintuitive

LewRockwell.Com
by Anthony Gregory

08/14/07

Today, we hear the most counterintuitive and contradictory arguments in defense of current policies. We hear that the president has always had the Constitutional authority, by virtue of his office alone, to violate civil liberties during wartime — yet we also hear that each new piece of terror legislation is absolutely necessary to empower the executive to do things it couldn’t otherwise do. We hear that states with nuclear ambitions that have invaded other countries must be disarmed — that, in President Bush’s words, ‘Free nations don’t attack each other; free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction’ — yet we also hear that America, which has attacked other nations since its founding and possesses thousands of nukes, is a free country. We hear that our right to complain about the government shows how free we are, and as long as we have that right, we shouldn’t complain...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory144.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Hungry for war end, activists seek Bush/Cheney impeachment

San Francisco Chronicle

08/13/07

Marghi Dutton is 90 and losing her eyesight, but nothing was going to stop her from trekking to midspan of the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday with the anti-war group Code Pink: Women for Peace. She joined a crowd of about 100 demonstrators dressed in hot pink hats, shirts and scarves and fought the wind to raise her sign: ‘Impeach Bush and Cheney!’ ‘My arms are aching, but I’m getting energy from the drivers — so many are honking in support,’ she said. Code Pink, a national grassroots peace movement inspired by Bay Area women, organized the protest to call for an immediate end to the war in Iraq and immediate impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney...

http://tinyurl.com/yuowmp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Biofuel expansion threatens Europe’s wildlife as agricultural set- asides are to be scrapped

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release – 13th August 2007 Joint Press Release by Biofuelwatch, Ecological Internet and Rainforest Rescue

Millions of farm birds could be left without enough food and breeding sites next spring if plans to scrap Europe’s agricultural land set-aside targets for next year go ahead, warn environmental groups. Plans to set a zero set-aside targets from October this year have been announced by the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer-Boel, as a response to rising food prices. Those plans are to be ratified by ministers this autumn. Several studies confirm that set-asides have become a vital habitat for many of Europe’s endangered birds and insects, and that farm birds have declined by nearly 50% on average since 1980. Over 5300 people have written to European politicians this month, asking for the plans to be dropped and supporting a moratorium on biofuel targets.

Glen Barry, Director of Ecological Internet explains: “Dramatic declines in insect, bird and wild flower populations show that many of Europe’s ecosystems are under extreme stress from intensive agriculture and climate change. Our future depends on protecting healthy ecosystems. We need real cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, with massive cuts in energy use as well as truly sustainable renewable energy, such as wind and solar power. More intensively farmed monocultures cannot be part of the solution.”

Almuth Ernsting from Biofuelwatch adds “There is no doubt that the expansion in biofuels is pushing up food prices. The European Union are committed to stopping biodiversity losses by 2010 but those plans will almost certainly make this impossible. Our birds and insects must not be sacrificed for biofuel expansion. We need a moratorium on EU biofuel targets and incentives now – and we need to keep our set asides until they can be replaced with better environmental safeguards.”

Few environmental NGOs regard the current set-aside system, as being the ideal instrument for protecting farmland biodiversity, although it provides a safety net for many species. Many NGOs hope that a ‘health check’ of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2008 will lead to more targeted environmental safeguards. However, there are widespread concerns that sudden scrapping of all set- aside targets without any replacement or reform will devastate bird and insect populations.

According to Reinhard Behrend from Rainforest Rescue, Germany, “biofuel expansion is already causing rainforest destruction and the displacement of large numbers of communities in the global South. At the same time, poor people are hit hardest by rising food prices whilst Europe burns more and more food in cars. The only logical solution is to suspend biofuel targets, whilst drastically reducing our overall fuel use.”

Contacts:

Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch, info[at]biofuelwatch.org.uk, UK – Tel 0044-(1)224-324797 or 0044 (1)224-7925 364186

Glen Barry, Ecological Internet, US, GlenBarry[at]EcologicalInternet.org -Tel 001-920 776 1075

Notes:

1. For further details of the organisations involved see:
Biofuelwatch: http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk
Ecological Internet: http://www.EcoEarth.Info
Rainforest Rescue: http://www.regenwald.org .

2. An email action alert against the planned abolition of set- aside targets for 2008 and for a moratorium on EU biofuel targets has been signed by over 5300 individuals and can be found at http://www.climateark.org/alerts/send.asp?id=europe_biofuel_ecosystem and http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/protestaktion.php?id=195

3. A call for a Moratorium on EU biofuel targets and incentives, and on large-scale monocultures for bioenergy in Europe has been signed by 152 organisations from the global North and South. The text and the list of signatories can be found at http://www.econexus.info/biofuels.html .



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=biofuel
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Glen+Barry

Phone mast bid turned down

13 August 2007

Controversial plans for a mobile phone mast in a south Norfolk village have been turned down.

T-Mobile's plans to install the mast at Hill Farm, Ipswich Road, Tasburgh, had been tipped for approval despite local opposition.

It is the second time the plans have been rejected by South Norfolk Council.

Read More...
http://tinyurl.com/2ryolb

Für positive Berichterstattung: Regierungsgeld an Zeitungen

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,499493,00.html
http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=2548
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,499625,00.html

Stop Ocean City, New Jersey from Using Ancient Rainforest Timbers for Boardwalk Decking

ACTION ALERT

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!

By Rainforest Portal, a project of Ecological Internet, Inc. http://www.rainforestportal.org/
August 13, 2007

TAKE ACTION An important precedent must be set that industrial logging of ancient forests, even if FSC "certified", must end http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=jersey_boardwalk

Ocean City, New Jersey is a seaside resort that has a 2.5 mile wooden boardwalk fronting the Atlantic Ocean... Citizens are campaigning to stop the city from using FSC certified ipê timbers for its current one block boardwalk re-construction project and for any future re-decking projects... In 1996, when Ocean City announced a plan to re-deck the entire boardwalk with ipê, a grassroots group formed to oppose the use of rainforest wood. After 22 months of successful campaigning the City Council adopted a Resolution in May 1997 which stated that they "...will no longer purchase tropical rain forest hardwood for the boardwalk in Ocean City"... Fast forward ten years to January 2007 and the issue of using ipê industrially harvested from ancient rainforests rears its ugly head again. But this time, the city presents ipê as an environmentally responsible choice as long as it is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. While the evidence is mounting worldwide regarding major problems with the FSC's certification of ancient forest logging as "responsible" while implying environmental sustainability, the city uses the endorsement that major environmental organizations give to FSC certified products as justification for using ipê... Citizens have repeatedly requested a public forum to discuss the failures of FSC certification and the insufficiencies of the city’s materials analysis, but their requests have been ignored... Based upon false and misleading information from major environmental groups, the City of Ocean City is to purchase ancient rainforest wood in the name of environmental responsibility. In order to protect ancient forests, the people who live there, and global climate; this purchase must be stopped and an important precedent set that industrial scaled ancient forest logging must end forever.

TAKE ACTION NOW: http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=jersey_boardwalk

DISCUSS ALERT: http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2007/08/alert_stop_ocean_city_new_jers.asp

--------

ALERT UPDATE

RAINFOREST CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY

World Protest Makes Ocean City Think Twice About Boardwalk

Rainforest Portal a project of Ecological Internet, Inc.

http://www.rainforestportal.org /-- Rainforest Portal http://www.rainforestportal.org/news/ -- Rainforest Newsfeed

September 14, 2007

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet

New Jersey based Friends of the Rainforest and Ecological Internet's campaign to stop the use of ancient rainforest timbers for boardwalk repairs is progressing nicely -- garnering media attention and already changing the city council's vote. An important precedent is being set that ancient rainforest timbers belong in rainforest canopies, not in construction projects and consumer products. You can still take action at: http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=jersey_boardwalk

The crusade to keep ipê out of Ocean City's boardwalk reconstruction is a rejection of Forest Stewardship Council and big greens' efforts to certify and greenwash industrial ancient forest logging as being responsible, while falsely implying sustainability. First time logging of primary rainforests -- selective, certified, ecosystem based or otherwise -- results in an immediate huge release of carbon, permanent reductions in future carbon sink potential, and reductions in species numbers and diversity. One of the gravest obstacles to mitigating climate change, conserving ancient forests and achieving global ecological sustainability is the pernicious myth that selectively logging ancient forests (certified or not) is environmentally beneficial. It is NOT.

With just over 15% of the world's ancient forest existing in large, intact blocks; areas that are critical for continued functioning of ecosystems and the biosphere, what remains MUST be protected in an intact state that is free from all industrial activities. Ensuring the Earth's continued capacity to provide humanity and our sister species our habitat; including addressing climate change, ending the extinction crisis and maintaining freshwater resources, depends critically upon ending ancient forest logging and finding methods to compensate local peoples and governments for avoiding deforestation AND forest diminishment such as that wrought by "certified" logging.

Promising efforts to promote avoided deforestation through established carbon markets -- whereby governments and local peoples are paid for maintaining intact forests -- are deeply threatened by this false notion that selectively logging ancient forests can be done while maintaining many of their ecological values. Carbon payments for forest protection will only prove beneficial climatically and ecologically if the payments are for avoided deforestation AND diminishment -- that is, preservation rather than conservation, of all remaining ancient forests. Much confusion exists on this point, even amongst well-meaning forest conservationists, yet to suggest otherwise is to promote the next biofuels boondoggle; where the solution is as bad, or worse, as the original ecological crisis itself.

First time heavy and industrial selective logging of ancient forests is nearly as bad as outright deforestation in terms of reduction in carbon sequestration, loss of biodiversity and general change in ecosystem functionality. The World Bank and many world governments are joined by the Forest Stewardship Council, Greenpeace, WWF and Rainforest Action Network in falsely suggesting that ancient forests can be logged industrially in a manner that will not permanently disrupt their carbon sequestration and will not result in long term loss of biodiversity. If you support these organizations you profoundly personally responsible for the climate and biodiversity crises, and are stymying the last best chance to stop ancient forest logging and save the Earth.

And so we are making a stand against climatic and rainforest ecocide in Ocean City, New Jersey of all places! Should this misconceived use of ancient rainforests for ocean boardwalks progress, if you can, please join myself and others in possible non-violent direct action to stop the project sometime this fall. Time is running out to address the crises facing global climate, ecology and the biosphere. It is time to take a stand, speaking ecological truth, and placing our minds and bodies between ecosystems and their destroyers (however well intentioned but misinformed they may or may not be).

g.b.


To comment: http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2007/09/world_protest_makes_ocean_city.asp


RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: World Protest Makes O.C. Think Twice About Boardwalk
Source: Copyright 2007, Associated Press Date: September 14, 2007

Battered by protests from environmentalists around the globe, and realizing the cost might be much higher than expected, officials in a New Jersey seaside resort are having second thoughts about their decision to buy wood from tropical rainforests to repair the boardwalk.

Earlier this year, the City Council voted to buy $1.1 million worth of Brazilian ipe to repair a block-long section of its boardwalk. But the outcry from residents and environmentalists reached around the world, and was a factor in the council reversing itself last month and calling for the contract to be scrapped.

Mayor Sal Perillo, however, insisted the wood will be bought and installed as planned, arguing that to break a lawfully approved contract could expose the city to a lawsuit and discourage other vendors from doing business with Ocean City.

That touched off a blizzard of e-mails from environmentalists urging Ocean City to scrap the rainforest wood plan in favor of plastic composite lumber or domestic wood that is easily replaceable.

In three weeks, nearly 50,000 missives have flooded Perillo's in-box from as far away as Australia, the Philippines, South Africa and New Zealand.

"I think it's somewhat silly in that it gets in the way of a legitimate discussion of the issue," Perillo said of the e- mail barrage. "What we did was environmentally responsible. The decision has been made."

Ten years ago, Ocean City voted never to use tropical rainforest wood again for its 2 1/2 mile-long boardwalk that is a mixture of ipe and domestic yellow pine, citing the damage that logging operations are doing to the Amazon. But in January, it decided that using wood certified as having been harvested responsibly would be OK.

Ipe is a flowering tree that towers over others in the forest canopy and can grow to 100 feet.

It is Brazil's largest timber export, 50 percent of which is sold to customers in the United States. Ipe has been used in boardwalk projects from coast to coast, including Atlantic City, New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Miami Beach and Long Beach and Santa Monica, Calif.

Ocean City bought wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a group of industry and environmental groups who seek to improve forestry management practices. Certification means that loggers operate in ways designed to damage the ecosystem as little as possible, including not over-harvesting or wasting trees.

But environmental groups are split over whether that represents true progress or just a fig leaf covering for practices that still denude the rain forest.

The council relied heavily on the certification in voting to buy the ipe this year. That touched off months of protests by rainforest activists that included demonstrations on the boardwalk, and a boycott of Ocean City businesses.

Then in August, the council changed its mind and voted to scrap the contract for the ipe wood.

"It wasn't necessarily all the pressure from the rainforest people, although they were the ones who kept coming up with alternatives like plastic or black locust," a domestic tree that grows in abundance, said Councilman Roy Wagner. His change of heart tipped the council vote against ipe.

"Every time I threw what I thought was a roadblock in their path, they came back with answers that made a lot of sense," he said. "Our demand is a little drop in the bucket compared to the international demand, but in a city that calls itself `America's Greatest Family Resort,' we're sending a message that we're against tearing down the rainforest."

Rhonda VanWingerden, a local environmental leader, said Ocean City has a golden opportunity to not only save money (ipe is costlier in part because it is stronger and better able to support large crowed and vehicles), but also help save the planet.

"This could be the most triumphant use of environmentally friendly products ever, and they won't do it," she lamented.

Although he did not rule out other options for future boardwalk repairs, Perillo said the ipe wood will be delivered and installed in late fall.

That has protesters like Georgina Shanley vowing to do whatever it takes to stop the plan.

"We are considering stopping it physically from coming into Ocean City by standing in the middle of the road like that young man in Tiananmen Square in front of the tank," she said. "It has to be stopped."

--------

PRESS RELEASE

Ocean City, New Jersey Cancels Order for Rainforest Destruction to Fix Their Boardwalk

Victory for those working to end ancient rainforest logging, and a defeat for supporters of forest certification greenwashing, as an important precedent is set

January 18, 2008 By Ecological Internet, Contact: Dr. Glen Barry, +1 (920) 776- 1075, glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org

(Ocean City, New Jersey) -- The city council of Ocean City voted last night 6-0 to cancel a $1.1 million purchase of ipê timber originating in ancient rainforests. The timber was to be used to patch a one block stretch of Atlantic boardwalk. The purchase provoked outrage as it went against a ten-year old pledge by the council to not use rainforest timbers.

The mayor and others argued Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification ensured sustainability. Estimates are over 60% of FSC timber comes from first time logging of ancient forests, with claims only it is "well-managed". Such misleading statements setup a showdown with local group "Friends of the Rain Forest" and led them to a year of protest with support from Ecological Internet (EI) and others.

"EI's network sent over 100,000 protest emails from 80 countries highlighting the ecological truth that maintaining intact primary rainforests is a requirement to address climate change and achieve global ecological sustainability," explains Dr. Glen Barry. "The message is getting through -- to survive rainforest logging must end, with compensation to local peoples, and remaining rainforests protected and allowed to expand."

In recent weeks EI has significantly participated in rainforest victories from New York, to Papua New Guinea, and now New Jersey -- working successfully to end the evil of ancient rainforest logging. Dr. Barry notes "it is disappointing that Rainforest Alliance, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, WWF and other FSC supporters -- despite being targeted by this campaign -- were either on the other side of this debate or chose not to comment. Their greenwashing of ancient forest logging must end."

###ENDS###

The original alert can be found at: http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=jersey_boardwalk



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=rainforest
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=timber
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ocean+City
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Glen+Barry

Ire over tower atop school: PARENTS FEAR RADIATION

RITH BASU

The cellphone tower on the roof of Bally’s Durgapur Pallimandir Balika Vidyamandir. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

A cellphone tower set up two months ago on the roof of Bally’s Durgapur Pallimandir Balika Vidyamandir has local residents up in arms. They have launched a signature campaign highlighting the harmful effects that the tower could have on the schoolchildren.

Read More...
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070814/asp/calcutta/story_8176677.asp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=school+mast

Rot-rote Koalition in Berlin will mehr Videoüberwachung und Handy-Ortung

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/94295



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Videoüberwachung
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Handy-Ortung

Pharmaceuticals Causing Bizarre Mutations to Wildlife

Greg Peterson of E Magazine writes: "From intersex fish in the Potomac River to frog mutations in Wisconsin, federal officials are spending this summer studying the effects of pharmaceuticals such as painkillers and depression medicine on the environment, because the drugs have turned up in America's drinking water."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/081307HA.shtml

Rising Temperatures "Will Stunt Rainforest Growth"

Michael Hopkin, Nature.com, writes: "Global warming could cut the rate at which trees in tropical rainforests grow by as much as half, according to more than two decades' worth of data from forests in Panama and Malaysia. The effect - so far largely overlooked by climate modelers - could severely erode or even remove the ability of tropical rainforests to remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/081307EA.shtml



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

Democrats' "Baby Steps" Frustrate Party Loyalists

USA Today's Kathy Kiely reports: "For some of the Democratic Party's loyal supporters, this is turning out to be a summer of discontent. Last November's election gave Democrats control of both the House and Senate for the first time since 1994. But some of the party's key constituencies are having a hard time understanding why the sweeping changes they anticipated have been so slow in coming."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081307T.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kathy+Kiely

How Fear Destroyed the Fourth Amendment

Jonathan Alter of Newsweek writes: "I hate to sound melodramatic about it, but while everyone was at the beach or 'The Simpsons Movie' on the first weekend in August, the US government shredded the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, the one requiring court-approved 'probable cause' before Americans can be searched or spied upon. This is not the feverish imagination of left-wing bloggers and the ACLU. It's the plain truth of where we've come as a country."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081307S.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=spying
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=ACLU
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jonathan+Alter

Opposition to US-India Nuclear Deal Dropped

Truthout columnist J. Sri Raman says, "US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nicholas Burns put it in terms of touching tenderness. Washington, he said on August 4, would act as 'India's shepherd' at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as the next major step toward formalizing the US-India nuclear deal. Some of George W. Bush's flock, however, have already been herded into a pro-deal bloc within the group portrayed until the other day as a grave threat to the bilateral pact."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081307R.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=J.+Sri+Raman

Have Christians Already Accepted The Mark Of The Beast?

by Pastor Chuck Baldwin

Plus, George W. Bush (as did Adolph Hitler) has led America into a preemptive and aggressive war against a foreign nation without provocation. Now, there is even talk at the White House of expanding the war in Iraq with attacks against Iran and Syria, and maybe even Pakistan. In addition, he is in the process of turning America into a Hitlerian surveillance society where our every move, phone call, and email are being monitored by federal police agencies......

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin390.htm

--------

THE MARK OF THE BEAST GETS A "DRY RUN" IN CHINA
http://www.care2.com/news/member/464062319/452323


From Cate



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mark+Of+The+Beast
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Mark+Of+The+Beast
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=surveillance
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/baldwin

A plea to free America from ignorance

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/801f02fa-0c7e-11dc-a4dc-000b5df10621.html


From Information Clearing House

Religion, culture behind Texas execution tally

Texas will almost certainly hit the grim total of 400 executions this month, far ahead of any other state, testament to the influence of the state's conservative evangelical Christians and its cultural mix of Old South and Wild West.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070812/lf_nm/texas_executions_dc


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Death+Penalty+-+Todesstrafe/

While Military families live in dread the rest of America is busy shopping

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2147643,00.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gary+Younge

Flush with Profits: Military Contractors See a World of Business Opportunities

With almost no congressional oversight and even less public awareness, the Bush administration has more than doubled the size of the U.S. occupation through the use of private war companies.

http://www.alternet.org/audits/59571/


From Information Clearing House



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

Iraqi Sunni cleric urges U.S. to abandon Maliki

Iraq's top Sunni cleric called on the United States on Monday to cut ties with Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, saying his "puppet" government had failed and a U.S. backed political process was at a dead end.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13229150.htm


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=al-Maliki

The Language of Dominion

By Kenneth Couesbouc

The nation is a fairly recent concept. It is a hybrid of the medieval feudal kingdom and the city state of Antiquity. So, vassalage and citizenship are in continuous contradiction. And equality is reduced to the formality of the ballot.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18174.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kenneth+Couesbouc

Obstructing the War on Iran

By Dr. Elias Akleh

The real reason of the conflict is the competition for exclusive monopoly of the perceived future energy resources (nuclear fuel) to rake in money, and to indirectly control other countries.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18175.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Elias+Akleh
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&q=Dr.+Elias+Akleh&btnG=Google+Search

A Disneyland of Militant Ignorance

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18180.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Phil+Rockstroh

LEARN FROM THE FALL OF ROME, US WARNED

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/80fa0a2c-49ef-11dc-9ffe-0000779fd2ac.html


Informant: NHNE

--------

Learn From the Fall of Rome, US Warned

By Jeremy Grant in Washington

The US government is on a 'burning platform' of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country's top government inspector has warned.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18183.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jeremy+Grant

International experts condemn Irish water treatment practices

http://tinyurl.com/2ffk2g

--------

End to fluoridation worldwide
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=112843



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

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