Montag, 17. Dezember 2007

Bush Wants Control Over Military Lawyers

Charlie Savage, reporting for The Boston Globe, says, "the Bush administration is pushing to take control of the promotions of military lawyers, escalating a conflict over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly raised objections to the White House's policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121707A.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=military+lawyers
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Charlie+Savage

CIA vs. the White House?

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=691&thisview=item



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Aijaz+Ahmad

Why is violence down in Iraq?

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=692&thisview=item



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pepe+Escobar

500+ Organizations Sign Statement Rejecting Nuclear Power As a Solution to Climate Crisis

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/1217-10.htm

Tasers Don't Save Lives Despite Claims by Police

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/17/5868/



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

Two radio towers near Snohomish delayed for health study

http://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp?S=7507347&nav=menu484_2



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

Emergency Action: Senate Set to Cave on FISA

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=PlIfkgBJ7xZDkSp29WpTDA..



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

RKI-Amalgam

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/7209e25781882203?hl=en



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

Credit crisis worsens

Alan Greenspan says the Fed is powerless
http://snipurl.com/1vfes



U.S. stocks drop on Greenspan comments, subprime jitters.
http://snipurl.com/1vfet



US headed for recession: Morgan Stanley

The chairman of investment bank Morgan Stanley's Asian arm, Stephen Roach, says the United States economy is headed towards recession and the rest of the world should be concerned.

http://snipurl.com/1vfey



Cheap goods won't keep stagflation at bay

Even the threat that stagflation might be about to make a reappearance has come as a shock.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/dec/17/creditcrunch.globaleconomy


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Greenspan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=recession
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=stagflation

World food price rises set to hit consumers

Global food prices were under further pressure on Monday as benchmark prices for cereals at much higher levels came into operation, making it almost inevitable that a second wave of food price inflation will hit the world's leading economies.

http://snipurl.com/1vfen



Triple-digit oil prices expected after 2007 records

After a record-smashing year with oil peaking at $99 a barrel in 2007, a triple-digit world of crude oil awaits in the coming year, energy experts say.

http://snipurl.com/1vfep


From Information Clearing House

Ohio Elections Official Calls Machines Flawed

All five voting systems used in Ohio, a state whose electoral votes narrowly swung two elections toward President Bush, have critical flaws that could undermine the integrity of the 2008 general election, a report commissioned by the state's top elections official has found.

http://snipurl.com/1vfem


From Information Clearing House

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Voting Machines Don't Measure Up in Colorado

Christopher Osher reports for The Denver Post, "A significant number of electronic-voting machines in use in Colorado aren't reliable enough nor secure enough for compliance with state laws, the Colorado secretary of state said today."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121807N.shtml



Colorado Voting Machines Tossed Out

George Merritt, The Associated Press, writes: "Colorado's secretary of state has declared many of the state's electronic voting machines to be unreliable, but said Tuesday that some of them could still be used in November if a software patch was installed."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121807S.shtml

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Expert Analysis of Colorado's Diebold/Premier Voting Study & Colorado's New Election "Audit" Procedure

You may have heard already about the events in Colorado where the Secretary of State de-certified most of Colorado's voting systems, but did not de-certify the Diebold/Premier voting system which sparked my curiosity.

SOS Announcement http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/CO_CertificationResults_121707_Final.pdf

Overview - Premier/Diebold http://www.elections.colorado.gov/WWW/default/Voting%20Systems/certifications/2007/Premier%20Election%20Solutions.pdf

Detailed Report - Premier/Diebold http://www.elections.colorado.gov/WWW/default/Voting%20Systems/certifications/2007/01-A2_project_overview_binder_premier.pdf

The forwarded email below is an initial assessment of the CO SOS study of Diebold/Premier voting systems by Computer Scientist David Webber.

However, before you read David Webber's expert analysis of the Colorado testing (below), my personal comment on the new election auditing requirement by the CO SOS.

Colorado's new election auditing requirement to select percentages of ballots to audit "makes no sense."

1. Colorado's voting systems currently are "not" auditable on the individual ballot level. For example, the Diebold/Premier GEMS server is incapable of printing a report of the vote counts on each individual ballot (or even the vote counts on each individual DRE voting machine). The auditing procedure being recommended by the CO SOS must be either a statistical sampling procedure because there are no exact unofficial machine counts to compare his ballot samples with, or it must be a post-election voting machine testing procedure that will not show anything at all about the accuracy of the unofficial election results. The only way that the new CO SOS audit procedure could be a valid check of Colorado's unofficial vote counts would be if the data for each identifiable ballot could be publicly released first prior to randomly selecting individual ballots. Or alternatively, all of Colorado's ballots could, after the election, be run through an "auditing machine" which stamps a humanly readable identification number on each paper ballot record and creates a report displaying those humanly readable numbers with the vote counts on each ballot. I have not heard of any certified system which does this yet, although some may be under development. Although I have heard talk of efforts to make Colorado voting systems auditable on the ballot level, to both protect ballot privacy and be auditable on the individual ballot level is possible, but tricky.

2. The audit amounts that the CO SOS specifies are insufficient in many cases and depend on the total number of ballots cast in a race being audited in a mathematically incorrect way. i.e. He uses a fixed rate of total ballots cast approach to calculating audit sample sizes which is fundamentally incorrect.

So my conclusion is that the CA SOS election auditing procedure will do very little to verify the accuracy of Colorado's election results.

Colorado should specify election auditing requirements similar to those in this flexible, yet much stronger, legislative proposal requiring 95% confidence-level election audits:

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/UT/VoteCountAudit-UT.pdf


---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David RR Webber (XML) Date: Dec 19, 2007 1:35 PM Subject: RE: [vote-technology] Question re. CO Voting Study & Diebold

Kathy,

OK - the detailed report reveals that Diebold was given a conditional "Yes" pass on accuracy and security - but did in fact fail or partially fail many tests in those categories. Overall it appears they were not approved for use because of failing in other areas.

So it seems inaccurate to say they passed all the tests.

Eg:

"At some point, the Testing Board had to come to a final conclusion with respect to GEMS. They chose at the end to change the "suspended" items to a "fail" status. That approach is perfectly valid in a test methodology, under the condition that it is applied consistently. In reality, if Diebold does not rectify the problems associated with its GEMS election management software, it will not be able to provide any of the voting devices.

Those devices require GEMS for use in an election".

For me - the tests also did not prove the Diebolds DREs are safe. The Smartcards remain a huge area of concern. Just because the ones used in testing passed - you have no idea what is on the encrypted smart cards used for a live election - nor how they effect balloting. The smartcard provides an almost perfect means of introducing changed behaviour on election day - that is practically undetectable.

The VVPAT printer records offer some recourse - but would the following tests detect discrepancies between the VVPAT records and the digital counting records that could prove tampering / malfunctions?

BOTTOM LINE - if Diebold was an airplane - it would not be getting FAA approval for passenger use - although you could probably taxi it around the runway OK!!!

DW

page 6 of the detailed report contains this very interesting item:

Audit trail information:

a) Judges shall be required to include device serial number on all reports regarding use of the device. Additionally, the county shall include the device serial number on applicable reports from the device.

b) Counties will be required to perform additional post election audit functions for the device to accommodate for security deficiencies. In an effort to increase confidence in the recording of votes by the device, the post-election audit shall include a hand count of at least the following amounts of ballots:

Considering the closest race in the election, if the difference between the top two candidates for the race is:

10% or greater, then hand count 60 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
9.00% - 9.99%, then hand count 65 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
8.00% - 8.99%, then hand count 70 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
7.00% - 7.99%, then hand count 80 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
6.00% - 6.99%, then hand count 95 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
5.00% - 5.99%, then hand count 115 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
4.00% - 4.99%, then hand count 140 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
3.00% - 3.99%, then hand count 185 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
2.00% - 2.99%, then hand count 275 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
1.00% - 1.99%, then hand count 550 ballots for every 10,000 cast;
0.01% - 0.99%, then hand count 1200 ballots for every 10,000 cast.

Created by the Colorado Secretary of State's Office 6 2007-CDOS-DIE-001-0402

Voting Systems Certification Program Binder - A2-05 - Conditions to Recommendation

The verification of the hand count of paper ballots shall match the totals generated from the GEMS software as indicated in Software condition #1c. Counties shall load only the master database from the secured storage location for processing the post election audit ballots as indicated in Software Condition #1b. Counties shall prepare database and batches of ballots prior to scanning into system (for election results) to accurately generate reports in batch sizes as necessary for the audit. If the county or system is not capable of accommodating the requirement of batch size after the outcome of the election is revealed, the highest percentage of ballots shall be used for the audit process.


------

FUNDS ARE NEEDED IMMEDIATELY TO ESTABLISH A FEDERAL RIGHT TO PUBLIC ACCESS TO ELECTION RECORDS:

Funds are urgently needed immediately by the National Election Data Archive in order to continue its legal effort to establish a federal right to public oversight over the electoral process.

Since June 2006, the National Election Data Archive has brought the only case to federal court that is currently suing a state in order to establish a federal right to public access to election records.

Even with scientific vote count audits, if there is no public access to view election records, then the public cannot verify the integrity of elections. It took the National Election Data Archive 1.5 years to bring its public access to election records case into federal court. We have spent $5,000 on the case so far, but are virtually out of funds and may need as much as $20,000 more, or alternatively pro-bono or contingency attorneys to finish the case.

PLEASE help us financially or we will have to drop this crucially important legal case within a few weeks.

There is no other case currently in federal court that is poised to establish a nation-wide right to public access to election records
(and hence public oversight over elections). There is also no federal legislation proposed currently in Congress to establish a federal right to public access to election records.

If we have to drop this federal court case now due to lack of funds and legal help, it could take another two years to bring another similar legal case to this point. This is crucial and without your help our federal legal suit to establish a federal right to election oversight and access to records will be dropped. Here is our current legal filing with the court:

http://utahcountvotes.org/UT/USCV-FedCase-Complaint.PDF

Our legal case is ideally suited to establish a federal right to public access to election records because:

Utah's current election statute is possibly the most secretive with respect to public access to election records of any State currently. Clearly Utah law violates of federal statute such as the National Voter Registration Act which requires public access to voter registration records.

Utah current election statute is clearly unworkable because it is being violated during every election by Utah's own election officials in order to perform their jobs of tallying votes.

Prior federal case law has established that the right to vote includes the right to have that vote accurately counted, and this right to have votes accurately counted cannot be verifiably assured without the right to "know" that votes are accurately counted, and this knowledge cannot be established without a public right to access election records.

To establish a federal right to public access to election records only requires winning that right in one federal case in one state. The right to public oversight over elections via public access to election records can be won here in Utah for the entire nation, but only if we have funding and legal resources to continue the case that we have spent almost two years getting to federal court.

Here is how you can donate to help fight for a federal right to public oversight over elections, and finish the mountain of work that is still required to make it possible for U.S. elections to become verifiably transparently accurate.

Please donate now. We need to raise at least a few thousand dollars immediately, and perhaps as much as $20,000 to cover all costs for this federal court case to establish a public right to access election records for the entire nation.

In Pima County, AZ, the Arizona court recently decided that the plaintiffs had a right to obtain and examine copies of the Diebold/Premier's GEMS server vote count database. Following the 2004 election, an AK court decided that the Alaska Democratic Party had a right to obtain copies of the Diebold GEMS server vote count database. Unfortunately neither of these cases establishes a nation-wide right for public access to similar election records. We need funding NOW to continue the only federal court case that is positioned to achieve this right for the entire nation.

Without a public right to access election records, there can be no public oversight over elections. It is urgent that we obtain funds now or we will be forced to drop this particular effort.

http://electionarchive.org

or mail a check to: US Count Votes P.O. Box 682556 Park City, UT 84068

If you want us to continue our legal effort to establish a federal right to public access to election records for all federal elections, please donate something now. Thank you.

There is also a lot of work remaining to explain the procedures for evaluating election auditing discrepancy results in order to make valid decisions for whether to certify an election or increase the audit sample. We need your help to get that done.

A full-time (4 day/week) volunteer position is open in Park City, UT. Possible college credit can be obtained from your college or this could turn into a paid position for someone who can successfully organize fund-raising events.

Thank you.

Kathy Dopp Executive Director, National Election Data Archive

The material expressed herein is the informed product of the author Kathy Dopp's fact-finding and investigative efforts. Dopp is a Mathematician, Expert in election audit mathematics and procedures; in exit poll discrepancy analysis; and can be reached at

P.O. Box 682556 Park City, UT 84068 phone 435-658-4657

http://utahcountvotes.org http://electionmathematics.org http://electionarchive.org

History of Confidence Election Auditing Development & Overview of Election Auditing Fundamentals http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/History-of-Election-Auditing-Development.pdf

Vote Yes on HR811 and S2295 http://electionmathematics.org/VoteYesHR811.pdf

Voters Have Reason to Worry http://utahcountvotes.org/UT/UtahCountVotes-ThadHall-Response.pdf


"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day," wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1816

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Colorado Secretary of State Caught in Conflict Over Voting Machines

John Ingold for The Denver Post reports that "Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman faced a deluge of criticism Thursday over revelations that a firm hired to lobby his office on behalf of an electronic voting-machine company also does work for his Congressional campaign."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122107S.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ohio
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Diebold
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=2008+election

The world gets the better of Bush

The moment came not, as it well might have done, amid the dust and bloody debris of Iraq or the torture and state terrorism of Guantanamo Bay, but in Indonesia's lush and lovely Island of the Gods. And, appropriately, it came over climate change - the issue on which the "toxic Texan" first showed that he was going to put his ideological instincts and oil-soaked obstinacy over the interests of the rest of the world and of future generations.

http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article3255614.ece


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil

Senior Republican pledges CIA probe

The leading Republican on the US House of Representatives intelligence committee has defied the Bush administration and pledged to investigate the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes.

http://snipurl.com/1vfef



House speaker undermines Democrats' fight against torture

Few serious observers of Congress would deny that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been a disappointing leader for House Democrats. But now she appears to be something more troubling: a serious hindrance to the fight against the use of crude and objectionable torture techniques.

http://snipurl.com/1vfeg



Scott Horton: The President's Coming-Out Party

The torture system involves the operations division of the CIA on the implementation side. They rely heavily on contractors, it seems, in torturing people.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/12/hbc-90001917


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=videotapes
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pelosi
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=contractors

Bush 'twisting NIE to support Iran war'

Bush is now trying his best to twist and warp the published report so that it complements rather than contradicts his dire warnings about Iran, Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University, says.

http://rinf.com/alt-news/politics/bush-twisting-nie-to-support-iran-war/2039/


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/

US Army loses another 12,000 guns and trucks

The US military in Iraq has lost track of another 12,000 weapons, including more than 800 machine-guns, and everything from 2100 new electricity generators to half a dozen garbage trucks.

http://snipurl.com/1vfe1


From Information Clearing House

Britain bows out of a five-year war it could never have won

Britain handed over security in Basra province yesterday, bringing a formal end to its ill-starred attempt over almost five years to control southern Iraq.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3258008.ece



Basra residents blame UK troops

More than 85% of the residents of Basra believe British troops have had a negative effect on the Iraqi province since 2003, an opinion poll suggests.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7144437.stm


From Information Clearing House

--------

UK Has Left Behind Murder and Chaos, Says Basra Police Chief
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/17/5860/



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

Bolton: Bush must 'rein in' Rice

Former American ambassador to UN slams president's foreign policy, says Bush 'doesn't supervise Secretary of State Rice enough'.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3483252,00.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bolton
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Condoleezza+Rice

African Americans Bear Brunt of Subprime Crisis

By Penny Hess

The African cemetery found under a high rise building on Wall Street is the perfect metaphor for this country: America's wealth resting literally on the bodies of African people.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18907.htm

Staring into the Abyss: The Collapse Of The Modern Day Banking System

By Mike Whitney

There's no way out. There are bound to be bankruptcies and bank runs. "Structured finance" has usurped the Fed's authority to create new credit and handed it over to the banks. Now everyone will pay the price.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18913.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mike+Whitney

A Violent Cartography: Bomb After Bomb

By Howard Zinn

I am stunned by the thought that we, the "civilized" nations, have bombed cities and countrysides and islands for a hundred years. Yet, here in the United States, which is responsible for most of that, the public, as was true of me, does not understand--I mean really understand--what bombs do to people.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18910.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Howard+Zinn

Die marine Agrarkultur

Nur ein Prozent der weltweiten Wüstenfläche reicht jetzt aus, um darauf klimaneutralen Sprit, Strom und Gas für die gesamte Menschheit zu produzieren.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/26/26850/1.html

Trolle oder Terroristen?

Interview mit dem SPD-Abgeordneten Jörg Tauss zum Zustandekommen und zu den möglichen Auswirkungen des Gesetzes zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/26/26865/1.html



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

Ein Ende der Krise um die Immobilienkredite ist noch nicht abzusehen

Das Gespenst der Stagflation
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/26/26866/1.html

Tell Congress to Stop Big Media

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/ownership?rk=O1N0TA61XfEaW


Informant: Cheryl Guttman



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Media

BUSH HAS RESTARTED THE NUCLEAR ARMS RACE WITH RUSSIA

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1726908520071217


Informant: Scott Munson

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Russian general says missiles could target US shield

The commander of Russia's strategic missile forces said Monday that he would not rule out aiming intercontinental missiles at a planned US missile-defence shield in central Europe, Interfax reported.

http://snipurl.com/1vfec



U.S. antimissile launch may provoke counterattack: army chief

A possible U.S. launch of an interceptor missile from Central Europe may provoke a counterattack by intercontinental ballistic missiles, Russia's top military commander said.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20071215/92623389.html



Russia test-fires new intercontinental missile

Russia on Monday test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile, part of a system that can outperform any anti-missile system likely to be deployed, according to the officer in charge of missile forces.

http://snipurl.com/1vi7b


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=missile+shield

Black America's Nightmare

by Joshua Holland, AlterNet

After forty years of fighting for equality, the black/white income gap has risen instead of fallen.

http://ga3.org/ct/U120pgF18Y_s/


From TomPaine.com



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joshua+Holland

Quite a week for progress-haters, as conservative obstructionism spans the globe from DC to Bali

http://ga3.org/ct/Ed20pgF18Y_N/



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

As Temperatures Rise, Health Could Decline

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/16/AR2007121601723.html


Informant: Teresa Binstock

House Vows to Pursue CIA Inquiry

Julian E. Barnes reports for The Los Angeles Times, "The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee vowed Sunday to press ahead with the congressional investigation of the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes, despite the strenuous objections of the Justice Department."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121707J.shtml



Negroponte Advised Against Destruction of Tapes

Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball report for Newsweek: "In the summer of 2005, then CIA director Porter Goss met with then national intelligence director John Negroponte to discuss a highly sensitive matter: what to do about the existence of videotapes documenting the use of controversial interrogation methods, apparently including waterboarding, on two key Al Qaeda suspects. The tapes were eventually destroyed, and congressional investigators are now trying to piece together an extensive paper trail documenting how and why it happened."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121707K.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=videotapes
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Porter+Goss
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Negroponte
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=waterboarding
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Julian+E.+Barnes
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Isikoff
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mark+Hosenball

Ab in den Krieg, sonst wird die Stütze gekürzt

http://www.tacheles-sozialhilfe.de:80/forum/thread.asp?FacId=830381

Die frohe Botschaft fürs Alter: Die Armut ist sicher

“So oder ähnlich könnte die provokante Nachricht zu Weihnachten lauten. Zunehmende Armutslöhne, kein Geld zum Ansparen privater Altersvorsorge, lange Erwerbslosenzeiten, inflationäre Entwicklung bei einbrechender Konjunktur, Sozialhilfe bis 67, Vermögensumverteilung nach oben sind – zusammengefasst – für wachsende Altersarmut die wichtigsten Gründe. Genau die aber möchte die schwarz-“rote“ Regierung lieber vertuschen, wenn sie die Medien den vermeintlichen Aufschwung für alle verkünden lässt…“ Artikel von Hans-Dieter Hey in NRhZ-Online - Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Online-Flyer Nr. 125 vom 12.12.2007 http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=11838


Vermeidung von Altersarmut

Der Beitrag von Dieter Bauer ergänzt die Vorschläge der Tagung des DGB vom 22.11. 07 in Berlin „Sozialpolitische Herausforderungen in der Alterssicherung gestalten“ (pdf) http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/rente/bauer2.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 17. Dezember 2007



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

Euromemorandum: Die EU-Eliten ignorieren das Volk

Vertrag von Lissabon macht Bürgerinnen und Bürger Europas mundtot

„Am heutigen Donnerstag, 13. Dezember, haben die 27 Staats- und Regierungschefs der Europäischen Union den Vertrag von Lissabon unterzeichnet, der - wenn er von allen Mitgliedsländern ratifiziert wird - für lange Jahre den europäischen Bürgerinnen und Bürgern einen unkontrollierbaren Wirtschaftsliberalismus aufdrückt, ohne dass sie nach ihrer Meinung gefragt worden sind. Dieser Vertrag ist zu verurteilen wegen seines Zustandekommens, seines Inhalts und des geplanten Vorgehens bei der Ratifikation…“ Erklärung europäischer Attac-Organisationen zum EU-Reformvertrag vom 13.12.2007 http://www.attac.de/aktuell/presse/presse_ausgabe.php?id=810


Euromemorandum: Die EU-Eliten ignorieren das Volk

„Der in Lissabon feierlich verabschiedete EU-Reformvertrag ist nach Ansicht vieler europäischer Wissenschaftler unsozial, demokratiefeindlich und aggressiv…“ Artikel in Frankfurter Rundschau vom 14.12.2007 http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/politik/dokumentation/?em_cnt=1258045


Aus: LabourNet, 17. Dezember 2007

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Protestation contre le Traité de Lisbonne



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCBIst10H-k



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

How the justice system works

LewRockwell.Com
by Jeffrey A. Tucker

12/15/07

If you think about it, it is inherently implausible that the state could be an effective administrator of justice, for which there is a supply and demand like any other good. Shortages, inefficiencies, arbitrariness, and underlying chaos all around are going to be inherent in the attempt. Because we are dealing here with the meting out of coercion, we can add that inhumane treatment and outright cruelty are also likely to be an inherent part of the system. Even so, nothing had prepared me for what I witnessed in the courtroom the other day...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker91.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jeffrey+A.+Tucker
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/tucker

Don’t let the waterboarding distract you

Unqualified Offerings
by Thoreau

12/15/07

All this talk about 3 people subjected to a very carefully controlled torture method that leaves no marks is a red herring. It’s a way to paper over the reality, which is that when you release government employees from any sort of ethical standard they are inevitably going to deviate from ‘controlled’ behavior and unleash their inner sadist. They aren’t ‘a few bad apples,’ but rather they are utterly predictable consequences of a decision to abandon human standards. Finally, let me be clear about something: Even if there were only 3 instances of torture, and they all involved high-ranking Al Qaeda officials being tortured under carefully controlled circumstances, I would still oppose it. There are lots of reasons for that. However, while I would oppose it, I recognize the propaganda value of making it look like 3 rare and special circumstances...

http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2007/12/15/7569


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=waterboarding
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Thoreau

Is World War III on hold?

Human Events
by Pat Buchanan

12/15/07

The White House campaign to stampede this nation into war, to smash Iran’s nuclear facilities before she acquires the capability to build an atom bomb, has been derailed, probably for the duration of the Bush presidency. And the Bush policy — to leave the military option on the table while pressing China, Russia and NATO to back tougher sanctions in the Security Council — has been torpedoed. Who are the sappers of the Bush policy? The leaders of the 16 intelligence agencies Bush commands...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=23976


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=War+III
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pat+Buchanan

Can liberty be bought and sold?

CounterPunch
by Peter Linebaugh

12/16/07

Magna Carta is up for sale next week at Sotheby’s and this last week it was up for grabs in the U.S. Supreme Court...

http://counterpunch.org/linebaugh12152007.html



Celebrate Bill of Rights Day!

The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith

12/17/07

December 15, 1791 marks the most momentous day in human history. On that day, the first ten amendments to the then-new United States Constitution were ratified, placing severe limits—for the first time in thousands of years—on the power of government over the individual...

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2007/tle448-20071216-02.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Magna+Carta
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Supreme+Court
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=L.+Neil+Smith

Resistance among the ruins

CounterPunch
by Missy Beattie

12/16/07

Almost daily, I sign an online petition. “Impeach Cheney.” Impeach Bush.” “Act now to save the environment.” “End torture.” “Help hold contractors accountable.” …. Some weeks ago after hearing that Nancy Pelosi stated that she would put impeachment on the table if she received 10,000 letters via snail mail in support of impeachment, I wrote a note and deposited it at the post office. I also made calls to encourage friends and family to do the same. I later learned that Pelosi didn’t make this statement. …. In the months before the invasion of Iraq, I marched in every antiwar parade in New York City. …. I tried to talk my nephew out of joining the military. His father, my brother Mark, was devastated when Chase signed. Marine Lance Cpl. Chase Johnson Comley deployed in March of 2005 and was killed in August, two months before he was to return home. …. I ask myself what it will take to stop George Bush and Dick Cheney from ruining the world. I must be naïve. They’ve already done it. And those of us who keep signing petitions are small boats against the current...

http://counterpunch.org/beattie12152007.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

The truth about honesty

http://tinyurl.com/35rafh


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joan+Vennochi

Why are the wheels coming off the Clinton bandwagon?

Fox News
by Dick Morris & Eileen McGann

12/16/07

In Iowa and New Hampshire — the first two tests for the presidential nominating process — Hillary Clinton is faltering badly. When you average all the polls in Iowa, her lead has dwindled and is now eradicated. … And, Hillary has suffered an even greater slippage in New Hampshire, where the last poll, by Rasmussen, has Obama ahead by three points. … Hillary Clinton is tanking and Obama is surging in New Hampshire, gaining a net of 17 points. In Iowa, Hillary is dropping and Obama is also moving up, gaining a net of nine points. But nationally, there is almost no change since November 1. Throughout the country, Obama has gained only five points in three months...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316905,00.html



The attack on good luck

Machan\'s Inputs
by Tibor R. Machan

12/12/07

It is, furthermore, very odd to see Hillary Clinton suddenly champion meritocracy when, in fact, the history of her own type of democratic politics — populism — has been precisely to reject it and embrace government wealth redistribution based on what politicians and bureaucrats deem to be fair. … Sadly, the death tax and similar schemes of extortion that enable politicians and bureaucrats to allocate funds they certainly haven’t earned — talk about meritocracy — appeals to the envy of many people who simply refuse to live with how nature and human decisions distribute wealth in the country. This envy then is used by the likes of Hillary Clinton to grab power for themselves, economic power they certain didn’t earn...

http://tinyurl.com/yoyh2w


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Hillary
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dick+Morris
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Eileen+McGann
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tibor+R.+Machan

Democrats and the politics of failure

The American Prospect
by Terence Samuel

12/14/07

What a difference a year makes. Last year, when Congress adjourned for the holiday break, triumphant Democrats, still basking in the glow of their November victories could not wait to get back to town to take on President Bush. Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi declared then: ‘Democrats are prepared to govern and ready to lead.’ She suggested that the president would find out very quickly how much the elections had upended his world: ‘He will walk into a new place, where America’s families’ issues will have been addressed even before the State of the Union.’ But despite all the evidence of global warming, this December has not been quite as warm for Democrats as last...

http://tinyurl.com/yp9vya


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pelosi
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Terence+Samuel

No taxes for war

The Nation
by Katrina vanden Heuvel

12/15/07

More and more Americans are fed up with watching their tax dollars support the greatest foreign policy disaster of our time. … And despite the recently released NIE report on Iran, the Administration’s saber rattling stunningly continues. That’s why Chris Hedges recently pledged in The Nation, ‘I will not pay my income tax if we go to war with Iran …’ It’s also the reason a coalition of antiwar groups … are using this weekend’s Boston Tea Party anniversary to begin circulating this pledge: ‘When I am joined by 100,000 other US taxpayers, I will join in an act of mass civil disobedience and refuse to pay the portion of my taxes that pays the US military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan’...

http://tinyurl.com/2berda



Are you going to pay for Bush’s wars?

AlterNet
by Jodie Evans

How much of your tax payment this year would you like to allocate for waterboarding in Iraq or an invasion of Iran? Around the world, people are puzzled as to why the U.S. public allows the Bush administration to wage illegal wars and usurp our power. Why do we tolerate it and continue to pay for it? Over the past year, millions of U.S. citizens have voted, lobbied, marched and taken direct action to end the war in Iraq. Courageous soldiers, such as members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, have taken the risk to speak out. Yet Congress continues to appropriate billions of dollars for the war. How do we up the ante of resistance? It is time for taxpayers who oppose this war to join together in nonviolent civil disobedience and show Congress how to cut off the funds for this war and redirect resources to the pressing needs of people...

http://www.alternet.org/story/70713/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=tax+dollars
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=disobedience
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=waterboarding
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chris+Hedges
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Katrina+Vanden+Heuvel
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jodie+Evans

Stark warning over airline jet gases

http://tinyurl.com/2aqloq


Informant: Teresa Binstock

Italians Block Construction of U.S. Base

http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/29388


From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Vicenza
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Swanson

Un portable pour vos enfants?

Video HD
http://www.next-up.org/pages/NewsoftheWorld76EcoleCemSchoolEmf.php#1

Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See



http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=115946

The Lawless Surveillance State

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/16/telecoms/index.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=surveillance
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Glenn+Greenwald

If You Don't Like the State You'll love Ron Paul

says Anthony Gregory
http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory153.html



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

Exec of Boeing-owned firm admitted torture flights, brief asserts

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/6923/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture+flights

Hospital mast sparks anger

By Victoria Owen

Protesters were outraged at the revelation that a mobile phone firm has had an antenna on top of an Oxford maternity unit for 14 years.

The existence of the antennas at the John Radcliffe Hospital women's centre was only brought to light after Orange approached NHS managers with proposals to add a 3G network link.

Read More...
http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.1908320.0.hospital_mast_sparks_anger.php



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

Adding to the List of Worries, Signs That Inflation Is Bubbling Up

Economists and central bankers have worried for months that soaring food and energy costs could lead to higher inflation, but investors had shrugged off those concerns, preferring to focus on the slowdown in growth.

http://snipurl.com/1vdij



U.S. stocks tumble on rise in consumer prices

U.S. stocks fell Friday, with the major indexes slammed by their worst weekly drop in five weeks, as rising inflation fed investors' fears about the economy, while reducing the odds of another Federal Reserve rate cut next month.

http://snipurl.com/1vdii



China's Investment House: Housing prices are falling and so are US dollars.

This would have happened sooner, faster and farther were it not for the large and growing demand for US housing and dollars coming from the People's Republic of China.

http://snipurl.com/1vdik


From Information Clearing House

GOP blocks Senate torture bill

Senate Republicans blocked a bill Friday that would restrict the interrogation methods the CIA can use against terrorism suspects.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071214/ap_on_go_co/intelligence_bill_11



Bush Demands Freedom to Torture

President Bush's repeated insistence that "we don't torture" appeared even more transparently bogus yesterday as the White House threatened to veto a House bill that would explicitly ban a variety of abhorrent practices.

http://snipurl.com/1vdib



The Inconvenient Truth: America's Gulags

Washington's disregard for human rights appalls former president
http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?no=381237&rel_no=1



Guantanamo "Living like an animal living in a cage"

Adil recounts stories of torture, interrogation and solitary confinement when speaks of his time in the prison.

http://snipurl.com/1vdic



Malaysia rejects US criticism of detentions: report

MALAYSIA has told the United States to give fair trials to detainees at its Cuban military prison before criticising it for holding five ethnic Indians.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_187115.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GOP
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=veto
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gulag
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogation

Russia may dump weakening US dollar in its energy deals

It seems that the rejection of the US dollar has become a fashion trend in modern-day business relations. Several major oil and gas exporters have recently announced their plans to use a different currency in their deals with other countries.

http://snipurl.com/1vdi6


From Information Clearing House

Russian general says Pentagon is seeking direct confrontation

Russia's top military officer on Saturday accused the United States of seeking direct confrontation with Moscow and warned again that U.S. plans to deploy missile defenses in Europe would destabilize the continent.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/15/news/Russia-Arms-Treaty.php


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=missile+defense

Ron Paul: Bush no authority to rule world

Presidential hopeful Ron Paul says President Bush has started empire-building by invading Iraq and Afghanistan and beating the drums of war with Iran.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=35091&sectionid=3510203


From Information Clearing House

--------

Ron Paul or Revolution
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=115957



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

Blackwater in Baghdad: "It was a horror movie"

New testimony from witnesses and victims provides the most in-depth, harrowing account to date of the U.S. security firm's deadly rampage in Iraq.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/12/14/blackwater/


From Information Clearing House



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

Destruction of Evidence Raises a Presumption of Guilt

By William Sumner Scott, J.D.

A permanent record of the Bush and Cheney misdeeds and lies must be made in Congress. Additionally, evidence of the torture, wrongful detentions, and surveillance committed by them must be collected and preserved. Ideally, this exercise will result in their removal from office.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18893.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=detentions
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=surveillance
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=William+Sumner+Scott
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach

After The Money's Gone

By Paul Krugman

On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced plans to lend $40 billion to banks. By my count, it's the fourth high-profile attempt to rescue the financial system since things started falling apart about five months ago. Maybe this one will do the trick, but I wouldn't count on it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18894.htm



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

Inside the CIA's Notorious "Black Sites"

By Mark Benjamin

A Yemeni man never charged by the U.S. details 19 months of brutality and psychological torture -- the first in-depth, first-person account from inside the secret U.S. prisons.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18903.htm



Role of Canadian Intelligence Agencies to Terrorize Citizens

Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D.

The myth of international terrorism is a misleading political phenomenon to embark on American ambitions of global hegemony.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18902.htm



One Hundred Years of Imperial Bluster

By Joe Lauria

The cynical view is that language about democratizing the world merely disguises American expansion of wealth and authority. The optimistic view is that some American leaders genuinely believe the transfer of U.S. economic and political freedoms to other nations is a righteous cause guided by altruism, not greed.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18892.htm



Poisonous and Dangerous

By Seumas Milne

The constant regurgitation by the media of Muslim-baiting 'research' by right-wing think tanks misleads the public and is driven by a neocon political agenda.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18895.htm



Former US interrogator recounts torture cases

By Juan Cole

Discharged US army private Damien Corsetti has described the "morally unacceptable" cases of physical and psychological torture he says he witnessed as an interrogator at the prisons of Bagram in Afghanistan and Abu-Ghurayb in Iraq.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18901.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=black+sites
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=secret+U.S.+prisons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Abu+Ghraib
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=hegemony
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=imperial
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bagram
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=democratizing
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Khawaja
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Seumas+Milne
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Juan+Cole

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