World-News

This week, we all saw when George W. Bush acknowledged his failed Social Security privatization scheme he got something no one expected - thunderous applause from Democrats.

We were right to cheer the defeat of President Bush's Social Security plans - we fought and won to ensure the American people and one of the most successful programs in history were put first. Democrats will continue to fight to put American families first.

The generous support of DCCC members allowed us to air our ad on FOX News during the coverage of the State of the Union. Afterward, the DCCC's State of the Union Media Swat Team fought the Republican spin, sent feedback to newspapers, called-in to radio shows, and appeared on cable news shows to expose the GOP's latest mistruths and distortions. And, most of all, we fought back and started discussions with Americans nationwide about alternatives to Bush's special interest agenda.

Now, I want to hear from you.

Please fill out George W. Bush's State of the Union Report Card; let us know your thoughts about his failure to answer real questions and what instead is important to you. http://redir.plusthree.com/rdr/002Db02l680004T

We've got the momentum. Through your support and activism, I know that in just over nine months we will restore a Democratic Majority to the House. Already, the American people are hearing our call for change. That's why this week's ABC News/Washington Post poll revealed that Democrats lead Republicans - 54% to 38% - in 2006 Congressional election preferences.

The Democrats have a plan to get America on the right track. Democrats will support real security for the threats of tomorrow, and will always speak honestly to our service members and the American people. Democrats will keep good jobs from leaving the U.S., provide affordable healthcare for all Americans, reduce our reliance on foreign oil, develop a clear strategy for success from Iraq and protect Social Security and pensions so every American retires with dignity. Our only hope is to elect a Democratic House this year.

http://www.dccc.org/rubberstamp/report_card

The DCCC is the only political committee whose principal mission is to support Democratic House candidates every step of the way. By working closely with grassroots supporters like you, we will ensure our Democratic candidates don't stand alone against the GOP's "win by any means necessary" tactics.

You are the key to our success. That's why I'm asking you to take a moment right now and share your thoughts by filling out this State of the Union Report Card on the Bush address and the Democratic response.

http://www.dccc.org/rubberstamp/report_card

It all starts with you. Take a moment right now to fill out our State of the Union Report Card on the agenda put forth for this country by President Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress.

Thanks for all that you do. Together, America can do better and together, we'll fight the good fight and we'll win in November.

Sincerely,

Rahm Emanuel
Chairman, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

PS: Getting out the truth to put America back on track will be a difficult task. We all must start now. Grade the president's speech now.
http://redir.plusthree.com/rdr/002Db02l680004W

Senate Democrats on Thursday angrily accused the Bush administration of mounting a public relations campaign to defend the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program while withholding details of the secret eavesdropping from Congressional oversight committees.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020306K.shtml

Demos in Straßburg und Berlin: Gewerkschaften und Globalisierungskritiker warnen vor Dienstleistungsrichtlinie (03.02.06)

Gewerkschaften und Globalisierungskritiker haben am Freitag vor den "weitreichenden, negativen Folgen" der geplanten EU-Dienstleistungsrichtlinie gewarnt. Die Dienstleistungsrichtlinie sei im Kern antieuropäisch, kritisierten Attac, die Industriegewerkschaft Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG BAU) und die Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW): Sozial- und Lohndumping seien ihre Folgen. Sie forderten einen Verzicht auf das sogenannte Herkunftslandsprinzip. Demonstrationen am 11. und 14. Februar sollen sie Druck auf die Bundesregierung und das EU-Parlament ausüben.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12849

Schröder straffrei: Führen eines Angriffskrieges laut Generalbundesanwalt nicht strafbar (03.02.06)

Nur die Vorbereitung eines Angriffskrieges ist nach deutschem Recht strafbar, nicht allerdings das Führen des Angriffskrieges selber. Diese Rechtsauffassung vertritt der Generalbundesanwalt in seiner Antwort auf eine Strafanzeige von Friedensorganisationen gegen den früheren Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder (SPD) und andere Politiker. Weil der Angriffskrieg selbst nicht strafbar sei, sei auch "die Beteiligung an einem von anderen vorbereiteten Angriffskrieg nicht strafbar", heißt es in dem ngo-online vorliegenden Schreiben. Die Friedensorganisationen bezeichneten die Entscheidung als "hanebüchene Rechtsauffassung". Die Bundesanwaltschaft begebe sich in offenen Gegensatz zum Urteil des Bundesverwaltungsgerichts zur

Gehorsamsverweigerung eines Bundeswehr-Majors im Juni 2005. Das Gericht hatte damals festgestellt, dass schwere völkerrechtswidrige Bedenken gegen den Irak-Krieg und die Unterstützung desselben durch die Bundesregierung bestehen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=12853

Neueste Studien zeichnen dramatisches Bild über die immer deutlicheren Klimaveränderungen.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21921/1.html

Hellasgate: Abhörskandal in Griechenland

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21935/1.html

http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/johnson/johnson1.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Human Events
by Robert Novak

02/02/06

While jumping up on cue to cheer during the speech and delivering rave reviews afterward in the Capitol's Statuary Hall, conservative members of Congress were deeply disappointed by George W. Bush Tuesday night. It was not merely that the president abandoned past domestic goals. He appeared to be moving toward bigger government... [editor's note: Since when has Bush ever NOT moved toward bigger government? - TLK]

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=12163


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Wall Street Journal
by Ronald Bailey

02/02/06

'America is addicted to oil,' President Bush warned during his State of the Union address, vowing 'to replace more than 75% of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.' And since our 230 million cars and trucks burn two-thirds of the 20 million barrels of oil we consume daily, Mr. Bush solemnly declared, 'We must also change how we power our automobiles.' The cure for our addiction? Why, a government program, of course: the Advanced Energy Initiative. This new scheme would throw more tax dollars at research aimed at creating clean power plants and also cars powered by hydrogen, electricity and ethanol. Unfortunately, the past 35 years of failed presidential energy initiatives doesn't bode well for these proposals...

http://tinyurl.com/bnkop


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNet

02/02/06

Electronic passports have driven technological improvements in biometrics and will pave the way for greater commercial use of it in 2006, IT services company Unisys predicted. 'Traveler security is driving the adoption of biometrics much faster than commercial pressures would have,' Terry Hartmann, director of secure identification and biometrics at Unisys, said in a statement. 'Now that the concept has been proven in a public context, this will pave the way for the adoption of biometrics by the commercial sector,' Hartmann added. 'Other government departments that need to verify identity, such as drivers' licenses and welfare, will also consider the technology initially, after which the private sector will be prompted to investigate how it can solve existing problems, such as building access control, via the use of biometrics.' According to Unisys, Australia last October was one of the first nations in the world to introduce biometric e-passports, which are in accordance to standards laid out by the International Civil Aviation.

http://tinyurl.com/7z6og


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Detroit Free Press

02/02/06

President Bush next week will request a $439.3 billion Defense Department budget for 2007, a nearly 5 percent increase over this year, according to senior Pentagon officials and documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. The spending plan would include $84.2 billion for weapons programs, a nearly 8 percent increase, including billions of dollars for fighter jets, Navy ships, helicopters and unmanned aircraft. The total includes a substantial increase in weapons spending for the Army, which will get $16.8 billion in the 2007 budget, compared with $11 billion this year...

http://tinyurl.com/caltv


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent [UK]

02/02/06

George Bush considered provoking a war with Saddam Hussein's regime by flying a United States spyplane over Iraq bearing UN colours, enticing the Iraqis to take a shot at it, according to a leaked memo of a meeting between the US President and Tony Blair. The two leaders were worried by the lack of hard evidence that Saddam Hussein had broken UN resolutions, though privately they were convinced that he had. According to the memorandum, Mr Bush said: 'The US was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours. If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach.' He added: 'It was also possible that a defector could be brought out who would give a public presentation about Saddam's WMD, and there was also a small possibility that Saddam would be assassinated.' The memo damningly suggests the decision to invade Iraq had already been made when Mr Blair and the US President met in Washington on 31 January 2003 ­ when the British Government was still working on obtaining a second UN resolution to legitimise the conflict...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article342859.ece


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp




http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

This from NHNE News:
Another Secret Memo Outlines Bush Plan For War
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1700881,00.html

And this from:
Phil Geiger, geiger-counter@sbcglobal.net
[UBRON]
http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2006/02/the_mother_of_a.php#comments


Informant: Martin Greenhut



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

Senate Democrats called on the Justice Department today to appoint a special prosecutor to take over the criminal investigation centered on the Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to conspiring to corrupt members of Congress and other public officials.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020306Z.shtml

ACLU v. NSA Clients Respond to White House Claims

Clients in the ACLU's lawsuit against the NSA share their thoughts about the White House spin on its illegal spying program. Play the audio or download the podcast.

Stop Illegal Spying! Send an eCard and tell friends about this issue today! President Bush failed to adequately address serious questions about the warrantless domestic spying program conducted by the National Security Agency in his State of the Union address this Tuesday. Over the past two weeks, the White House spin machine has continued to mislead the public about the legality and necessity of this program.

Bush claimed last week that the NSA spying program is actually "designed to protect civil liberties." But the truth is that this warrantless spying is part of a wide-ranging pattern of abuses of power that include the monitoring of peaceful political protestors and government labeling of groups like Greenpeace and PETA as terrorist organizations.

In the wake of evidence revealing Pentagon surveillance of peace groups and protest activities, the ACLU and its affiliates across the country Wednesday filed multiple Freedom of Information Act requests seeking to uncover who is being spied on by the Pentagon and why.

"The Pentagon's monitoring of anti-war protesters is yet another example of a government agency using its powers to spy on law-abiding Americans who criticize U.S. policies," said ACLU staff attorney Ben Wizner. "How can we believe that the National Security Agency is intercepting only al Qaeda phone calls when we have evidence that the Pentagon is keeping tabs on Quakers in Fort Lauderdale?"

The ACLU filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee, Veterans for Peace, United for Peace and Justice and Greenpeace, as well as dozens of local groups in Florida, Georgia, Rhode Island, Maine, Pennsylvania and California. The ACLU is seeking the disclosure of all documents maintained by the Department of Defense on the individual groups. Many of the groups involved in today's action have already learned that they are listed in the Pentagon's Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) database.

The TALON program was initiated by former Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in 2003 to track groups and individuals with possible links to terrorism. But according to portions of the database that were leaked to the media in December, the Pentagon has been collecting information on peaceful activists and monitoring anti-war and anti-military recruiting protests throughout the United States.

This latest series of FOIA requests is another step in the ACLU's multi-pronged effort to put an end to unwarranted domestic spying and curb the Bush Administration's abuse of power.

For more information, go to http://www.aclu.org/spyfiles

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who has sought to cast himself as a champion of transparency, is facing accusations that his office is suppressing a report on a bank-backed mining project in Africa that allegedly contributed to the deaths of dozens of people.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020206LB.shtml

(SPON) Der Spiegel verhält sich aktuell, als hätte die Redaktion den umfangreichen Auftrag erhalten, einen Krieg gegen den Iran zu promoten. Jüngstes Beispiel: ein Artikel, in dem erklärt wird, dass der Iran nach einem Bericht der IAEA über Baupläne für eine Atombombe verfüge.

Diese Pläne soll sich der Iran auf dem Schwarzmarkt beschafft haben. Aus anderen Quellen, wie etwa der Financial Times, Der Welt oder der Süddeutschen Zeitung erfahren wir etwas vollkommen anderes: danach sind der Atomenergiekontrollbehörde IAEA von der iranischen Regierung Baupläne übergeben worden, die diese nach ihrer Auskunft aus pakistanischer Quelle in den 80er Jahren erhalten hat, ohne hierum gebeten zu haben. Zu dieser Zeit arbeitete der pakistanische Geheimdienst eng mit seinen amerikanischen Kollegen zusammen während das Land im Begriff war, eigene Atomwaffen zu entwickeln.. Die Süddeutsche berichtet und beruft sich dabei auf den Sicherheitsexperten der New York Times, Risen, dass auch der amerikanische Geheimdienst versucht habe, den Iranern Atombombenbaupläne durch einen russischen Mittelsmann zu übermitteln. Nach Kenntnis der Redaktion wird unter den verfügbaren Medienberichten zum IAEA-Bericht über die Bombenbaupläne der Iraner nur vom Spiegel erklärt, dass sich die Iraner auf dem Schwarzmarkt darum bemüht hätten. Bei den kürzlich von den Iranern übergebenen Dokumenten soll es sich um 1 1/2 handschriftlich beschriebene Seiten handeln, in denen der Bau eines Sprengkopfs beschrieben wird. Die Diplomaten, die dies berichteten, wollten namentlich nicht genannt werden..


Link zum Beitrag / Hintergrundinfo oder Pressehinweis: http://www.hh-online.com?lid=23474 und http://links.net-hh.de?lid=23474


Infopool / metainfo hamburg http://www.hh-online.com

Excerpted from a "People's History of the United States"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11752.htm



Howard Zinn: Empire and the People:

Excerpted from a "People's History of the United States". Theodore Roosevelt wrote to a friend in the year 1897: "In strict confidence . . . I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11751.htm



The Northern Slave Trade:

The hidden history of slavery in New York calls myths of American morality into question.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2457/


From Information Clearing House

Despite coming from opposite ends of the political spectrum, they agree on one other major issue: that the Bush administration's program of domestic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency without obtaining court warrants has less to do with the war on terror than with threats to the nation's civil liberties.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/26/MNG24GTB8O1.DTL


From Information Clearing House

The more the White House tries to force-feed democracy to tempestuous parts of the world, the more it discovers that you may be able to spin and scare voters in the U.S., but the Middle East is not so easy to manipulate.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11770.htm

George W. Bush entered the White House in 2001 with an expansive view of the presidential power that Johnson had lost. The most important manifestation of this has now come with his assertion of the power to order warrantless intercepts of the communications of people in the United States suspected of connections with terrorist groups.

http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/2006/0202/p09s01-coop.html


From Information Clearing House

17 Total Call for Bush to Resign or Be Impeached
http://tinyurl.com/8rx5v


From Information Clearing House



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

A direct appeal by President George W. Bush to the Iranian people to “win your own freedom” was a barely disguised call for regime change in Iran, raising the question of whether the US will turn to covert action to support internal opposition, analysts said on Wednesday.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d3a86bf0-9358-11da-a978-0000779e2340.html



Iran’s real crime?

If Iran starts its own euro-denominated oil bourse and it takes off, the US dollar — already an ailing currency due to huge deficits in the US economy — will be marginalised as the global currency.

http://tinyurl.com/afnj4


From Information Clearing House

National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress on Thursday that Iran probably does not yet have nuclear weapons, nor has it obtained the material central to producing them.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11759.htm

Our economic system is unsustainable by its very nature. The only response to climate chaos and peak oil is major social change.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11763.htm

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell today announced record profits for a British company of $22.9bn ( £12.9bn) on the back of soaring oil prices.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1700408,00.html


From Information Clearing House

February 03, 2006]

(Belfast Telegraph Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)

Planners have given the go-ahead for over 1,000 Ulster mobile phone masts in the last six years, despite concerns about their alleged long-term health effects.

Opinion is divided on the impact of telecommunications equipment on people's health but the Planning Service has approved 1,507 applications for development sites since 2000.

The news comes despite Northern Ireland having one of the tightest planning regimes in the UK.

South Down Assemblyman Jim Wells said the construction rate, which is due to increase with the advent of 3G technology allowing the playing of videos through the telephone, could be cut through mast-sharing.

"We are likely to see a proliferation of these masts and residents' groups around the country are becoming more and more concerned," he said.

"We don't know what the long-term health effects of these masts are but there is a simple solution to this.

"If the five mobile operators in Northern Ireland would share masts this would dramatically cut down on the number of applications. At the minute they all have their own masts and this is causing the country to be covered with them."

Legislation passed in 2002 means that all mobile masts, regardless of height, need planning permission. Not all successful applications end up being built because of objections from local residents.

Most planning refusals come because of their visual impact rather than the alleged health effects.

Phone companies argue the masts are essential for reliable coverage for users of what has become an essential tool of everyday life.

A spokeswoman for the Mobile Operators' Association industry body said: "During the past five years there have been no less than 27 international scientific committees have looked at research into health effects and mobile phones and base stations and all of them are saying the same thing, that there's no evidence that the very low signals which come from these masts cause damage to anyone's health."

Omega this is not true. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

Technology Marketing Corp. 1997-2006

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-planners-allow-1500-phone-masts-/2006/02/03/1339919.htm

editorial@hamhigh.co.uk

03 February 2006

Marc Mullen

Residents are going into battle with a mobile phone giant to stop their village green turning orange.

Plans for an eight-metre mast near the junction of West End Lane and Fortune Green Road, in West Hampstead, have been submitted to Camden Council by mobile phone company Orange.

But there are fears it will affect the health of local people, particularly as the site is surrounded by cafes and flats and is less than 50 metres from Emmanuel CE primary school in Mill Lane.

Candice Temple, who lives on the corner of Iverson Road and West End Lane, has already collected a 320-name petition against a similar third generation (3G) mast next to her home.

She said: "It is a shame that this proposed 3G mast is in a popular play area for children, who will be most vulnerable to radio frequency radiation.

"Perhaps it is up to all of us to be proactive and decide whether we really need mobile phones that transmit pictures and can access the internet.

"These 3G phones require the siting of more and more mobile masts as their range is much shorter."

The proposed mast would be next to the public toilets which were closed last year by the council last year and the site would cost Orange nothing as it is on highways land.

Just before Christmas, Orange posted notices on the toilets and sent letters to Emmanuel school, Emmanuel church and local councillors.

In its submission to the council, Orange claimed it received no responses to the posters.

But West Hampstead Lib Dem councillor Flick Rea said: "I wrote to Orange, with profound objections and undertook to convey the school's and the church's objections.

"I would expect the council to look very closely at this application. It is a very busy area and an extremely poorly chosen site.

"From a technical point of view it does not seem to be a good site as there are great big mansion blocks around the green.

"If the council receives no money for the mast there is no advantage to anybody of it being there. Lots of people would prefer toilets to a mobile phone mast."

Rennison Consultants, which acts as Orange's agents in Camden, has just received consent for the firm's 3G mast in Abbey Road.

Roderick Rennison explained that if they used eight-metre 'micro cell' masts instead of 15-metre high 'macro cell' masts more are needed.

He said: "The existing masts must be upgraded at some point but this mast is to provide extra coverage.

"Permission is not easily given - it usually takes several attempts. We do often have to relocate sites before they are passed."

Residents have until February 17 to lodge objections with Camden Council.

marc.mullen@hamhigh.co.uk

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/al6x2

From: Eileen O'Connor
eileen@smokestackltd.co.uk
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 10:44:57 -0000
Subject: fantastic presentation enclosed

Please find enclosed an excellent presentation from Ray; it contains some valuable information on legal issues, planning issues for phone masts and health, which everyone should find useful. See message enclosed from Ray.


Best wishes

Eileen



Hi Eileen,

If anyone wants to use the presentation that I made to Waverley BC as a basis for their input they are very welcome. No need to reinvent all the wheels!!

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/dccf_final_full.pdf

Please fully acknowledge that I made extensive use of information from several mast action groups' websites and contact lines, including yours! It was (still is!) a steep learning curve and these were all a great help.


Kind regards

Ray

Bilanz der Hartz-Reformen fällt durchwachsen aus.
Wissenschaftler bescheinigen Personal-Service-Agenturen, Arbeitslosigkeit verlängert zu haben / Lob für Existenzgründer-Hilfe

„Die Arbeitsmarktreformen Hartz I bis III haben bisher nicht die erwarteten Erfolge gebracht. Eine erste wissenschaftliche Bewertung kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass positive Effekte auf den Arbeitsmarkt bisher kaum nachzuweisen sind…“ Artikel von Thomas Maron in Frankfurter Rundschau vom 02.02.2006 http://www.fr-aktuell.de/fr_home/startseite/?sid=c319695e5336bd82775927b9870ce170&cnt=798163

Siehe dazu auch:

Die Wirksamkeit moderner Dienstleistungen am Arbeitsmarkt. Bericht 2005 der Bundesregierung zur Wirkung der Umsetzung der Vorschläge der Kommission Moderne Dienstleistungen am Arbeitsmarkt (Ohne Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende)

Bundesregierung: Bericht zu Hartz I – III. Umsetzung der Entschließung des Deutschen Bundestages vom 14. November 2002 (BT-Drs. 15/98) vom Januar 2006, dokumentiert bei der Arbeitnehmerkammer Bremen (pdf) (279 Seiten) http://www.arbeitnehmerkammer.de/sozialpolitik/doku/02_politik/hartz_kommission/umsetzung/2006_02_01_hartz1_3_langfassung.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 3. Februar 2006

Artikel von Johannes Steffen in Freitag vom 03.02.2006 http://www.freitag.de/2006/05/06050602.php


Aus: LabourNet, 3. Februar 2006

Below is THE IRISH TIMES report on the meeting that took place yesterday (Thu, Feb 02) between IERVN (Irish Electromagnetic Radiation Victims' Network) representatives and members of the Irish Government's Committee on Health.

See also http://www.ideaireland.org/emririshresearch.htm for postings on EHS research in Ireland

Best, Imelda, Cork, Ireland


THE IRISH TIMES, FRI, FEB 03, 06


"GROUP CALLS FOR SCREENING FROM MASTS

[by] Martin Wall

A group which represents people who maintain that their health has been affected by mobile phone masts yesterday called for measures to screen their homes from electromagnetic radiation.

The Irish Electromagnetic Radiation Victims Network told the Oireachtas Committee on Health that this was not just an Irish phenomenon, and there were people affected all over the world.

Con Colbert said some members of the group suffered daily as a result of exposure to energy emitted from mobile phone antennae.

The committee heard that one woman and her family had on occasion to sleep in a car because their home was affected by radiation from nearby masts.

"These people experience physical pain, great discomfort, loss of personal health, damaged relationships and family disruption."

Mr Colbert said some people have had to move out of their homes, were unable to work and their social life had been affected as it was difficult to find a place where radiation levels were not hazardous when out shopping, at worship or eating out

Enda Dalton said it was like being surrounded by "an invisible cloak of energy". He said victims were often told by doctors that they were physically fine. However, they were being affected by an outside source.

Helen McRory said she and her family had been forced to leave their apartment in Dublin due to the presence of a nearby antenna. They moved to another location which proved satisfactory until more masts were erected nearby.

She said she experienced a buzzing in her head, with her brain continually pulsing. On occasion she and her family had had to sleep in her car.

Ms McRory called for radiation screening measures to be installed in the homes of victims. In Sweden hospitals and schools were screened.

Mr Colbert said rooms in the homes of some victims were being screened as part of a pilot project. The bill for such screening was around €4,000 per room.


© The Irish Times

Feb 3 2006

Chester Chronicle


A LUXURY hotel in Chester's countryside appeared 'unusually unreceptive' to having a mobile phone mast on its land.

The 10m telegraph pole type mast with one antenna and an equipment cabinet was proposed by mobile phone company Orange.

Carden Park Hotel's views emerge in a report on an approach by the company to Chester City Council seeking its comments on a site in a grass verge near the hotel golf course on Carden Lane, Tilston.

Planning officers raised an objection under delegated powers.

The report discloses that objectors argued Carden Park Hotel would be the main beneficiary of the coverage and the installation should be on its land. Planning officers commented, however: 'They appear unusually un-receptive.

'The agent was requested to provide correspondence to demonstrate the hotel's unwillingness.

'Their letter is incoherent in that it fails to make reference as to why they do not wish to accommodate this facility on their land.

'It is considered this site should not be discounted so easily especially as there would be plenty of opportunity to cluster the mast with other built development.'

Recommending an objection should be raised, planning officers suggested siting the mast on Carden Lane would be visually intrusive development within the rural landscape.

© owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Plc 2006

http://tinyurl.com/7jrms

26/01/2006 - 16:33:23

IrelandOn-Line

A new environmental forum has been set up to unite communities fighting against industrial pollution, incinerators and mobile phone masts.

The Irish Environmental Forum will include more than 20 different groups from around the country.

Its new chairwoman, Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott, said the environmental movement had been hampered by the lack of a national voice.

“There’s no substitute for the local fight, but we want local groups linked up for mutual help and information, and to nationally start highlighting the fact that it isn’t just happening in one place. There’s a similar disregard for people’s health and the environment all over the country,” she said.

The groups who have signed up to the forum in three preliminary meetings include farmers concerned about industrial pollution in Limerick, residents fighting against the Indaver incinerator in Cork Harbour, and people opposed to mobile phone masts in Waterford.

“Our only litmus test for joining is that you’re serious about it. If you’ve party politics, you leave them at the door,” said Ms Sinnott, adding that she was only a ‘midwife’ to the birth of the forum.

She said that officials in the European Commission had pointed out to her that while countries like Holland and Sweden had strong national environmental groups, the environmental movement in Ireland lacked a similar voice.

“Our Government and state environmental protection bodies are ignoring or exacerbating the problem. Their protection is no protection at all. I look forward to the tackling these difficulties with all of the forums members. It is our country and it is time we take its protection seriously,” she said.

A report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) last year marked Ireland as among the worst in Europe in a number of categories, including the production of greenhouse gases, acidifying substances, ozone and municipal waste.

But it did find that the country rated better than others when it came to energy consumption, freshwater use, organic farming, renewable energy and freight transport demand.


© Thomas Crosbie Media, 2006.


Informant: Colette O'Connell

NOW goes inside the case for war in Iraq and asks: how could the intelligence have been so wrong?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206I.shtml

Facing an enlistment crisis, the Army is granting "waivers" to an increasingly high percentage of recruits with criminal records - and trying to hide it.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206F.shtml

The New York Times: President Bush is not giving up the battle over domestic spying. He's fighting it with an army of straw men and a fleet of red herrings.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206E.shtml

Legal specialists yesterday questioned the accuracy of President Bush's sweeping contentions about the legality of his domestic spying program, particularly his assertion in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday that, "previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206B.shtml

A former American occupation official in Iraq is expected to plead guilty to bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and other charges in federal court on Thursday for his actions in a scheme to use sexual favors, jewelry and millions of dollars in cash to steer reconstruction work to a corrupt contractor, according to papers filed with the court.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020206A.shtml

Mike Weight - Cindy's Arrestor - Champion First Amendment Oppressor

--Make His Name Known Like "Borked !" And maybe the next and the next Storm Trooper will think Twice before Violating American's Constitutional Rights ?


Bush Lied - People Died Bush Spied - Must Be Tried !

A U.S. Congressman a couple years ago said, The Founding Fathers did not put the 2nd Amendment in the Constitution to guarantee Americans the Right to hunt for food, But the Right to hunt Elected Officials who try to take our rights away.

The Bush Administration They Hate Our FREEDOM !

"All Laws Which Are Repugnant to The Constitution Are Null And Void"

Marbury Vs. Madison 5 US 137,174,176 http://www.restoringamerica.org/documents/marburyVmadison_text.html

Give us Liberty or Give us Death
Bring it On ! Let's Roll !
"We Don't Give Up Our Rights !
That's What Makes Us AMERICANS !"

Hear The TRUTH for a Change !

87+ Air America Radio Stations Listed Here: http://www.airamericaradio.com/ & Ed Schults at http://www.WeGotEd.com
Jeff Rense at http://www.Rense.com & From the Hosts & Call in Listeners all over the USA, Listen to - The Power Hour with Joyce Riley & Dave Von Kleist Times & Freqs --> http://www.thepowerhour.com/ & Alex Jones on Short Wave at: http://www.infowars.com/

Politically correct speech is just government censorship.

Prejudicial speech is just free speech about what a lifetime of experiences has taught you. "tlb 2001"

More on Politically Correct Speech :http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2003/0708.html

From The US Declaration of Independence http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, It is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, Laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

The Government that Governs Least Governs Best !!
The Keyboard Is Mightier Than The Sword ©1999 tlb

Thomas Lee Buyea
Florida News Service
Miami, Fla.
USA


Informant: ranger116

Lynne Featherstone MP has asked a question of Ruth Kelly

Would any of you be able to ask your MP to do the same? This would put more weight behind the question. They might take it seriously as its to do with children. I think the question could be beefed up though. Something like 'a phone mast in the classroom?"

Thanks

Sarah P



This is what we sent

Wireless computer networks (WLAN) and other microwave emitting devices http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/wlan_only.doc

Children Act 1989 Part 3 Section 17
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/childrens_act.doc


The Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP Sanctuary Buildings Great Smith Street London Sw1P 3BT


Our Ref: P-WLANNetwork

Date: 29 September 2005


Dear Ruth

Re: WLAN Systems in schools

I write on the behalf of one of my constituents who has expressed concerns about WLAN computer networks being used in schools.

As this gives off radiation she is asking the government to present guidelines to schools advising against the use of WLAN Networks in schools. I would be grateful if you could inform me on the government's position on this issue.


Parliamentary Researcher to:
Lynne Featherstone
MP Liberal Democrat
Member of Parliament for Hornsey & Wood Green lynne@lynnefeatherstone.org
House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
(: 020 7219 8401 (Parliamentary) or 020 8340 5459 (Constituency) http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org

Common Dreams
by John Buell

02/01/06

Holding unnamed 'enemy combatants' under indefinite confinement, permitting the secret torture of detainees in Iraq, and bypassing Congress in order to secretly authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens constitute violations of US and international law. Nonetheless, by themselves these actions are less troublesome than the reactions to them. ... Domestic wiretaps managed to gain more media traction than earlier concerns about the Patriot Act. Members of the Judiciary Committee pointedly asked Judge Alito if the President is above the law. Alito responded that the President is not above the Constitution. His own reading of the Constitution, however, suggested few limits to the President's powers. Nonetheless, hours after the nominee's testimony key Democratic Senators were informing the media that there was little chance of any effective opposition to the Alito nomination and that a filibuster was unlikely. The eventual attempt at a filibuster by a few liberal Democrats amounted to little more than a token bone to a few activists...

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0201-25.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Mother Jones
by Thomas Powers

02/01/06

In public life as in kindergarten, the all-important word is no. We are living with the consequences of the inability to say no to the President's war of choice with Iraq, and we shall soon see how the Congress and the courts will respond to the latest challenge from the White House -- the claim by President Bush that he has the right to ignore FISA's prohibition of government intrusion on the private communications of Americans without a court order, and his repeated statements that he intends to go right on doing it. Nobody was supposed to know that FISA had been brushed aside. The fact that the National Security Agency (NSA), America's largest intelligence organization, had been turned loose to intercept the faxes, e-mails, and phone conversations of Americans with blanket permission by the President remained secret until the New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau learned over a year ago that it was happening...

http://tinyurl.com/9xdyg


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Human Events
by Paul Craig Roberts

02/01/06

Why does any American think that spying without a warrant has any more effect in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant? The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Bush is disobeying, requires the executive to obtain from a secret panel of federal judges a warrant for spying on Americans. The purpose of the law is to prevent a president from spying for partisan political reasons. The law permits the president to spy first (for 72 hours) and then come to the court for permission. As the court meets in secret, spying without a warrant is no more effective in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant. Instead of explaining this basic truth, the media have played along with the Bush administration and formulated the question as a trade-off between civil liberties and protection from terrorists. This formulation is false and nonsensical. Why do the media enable the Bush administration to escape accountability for illegal behavior by putting false and misleading choices before the people?

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=12097


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Fox News

02/01/06

As President Bush prepared to address Congress, some members of the House began calling for his impeachment -- a call that has been growing over the last few months, when only the far fringes of the American left called for his ouster. On Tuesday, eight-term California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters said the president should be impeached for authorizing the warrantless surveillance of some Americans through the National Security Agency. 'If a president's untruthfulness about sexual relationships is an impeachable offense, then surely spying on American citizens, undermining the Constitution and contravening current standing law are impeachable offenses,' Waters said comparing Bush's alleged crimes to ones former President Clinton was tried for...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183387,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp




http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memo

Some of you may be aware of the dire situation that the villagers in Penally, Pembrokeshire are facing, and in Particular, the Harriet Davis Trust Respite Holiday Home for teminally ill and severely disabled children, where mm02 have put in yet another application for them to deal with. Pembs Cc Planning dept still appear to be more on the side of MM02 than the residents and the Trust.

There are already four masts sited nearby, which have been there for years,and are part of the landscape, in fact, they provide coverage for the whole area. They got a Public Inquiry as Pembs CC didnt make a decision on time for the last application and were slapped with an Appeal for "non determination" by mm02, who tried to get the appeal heard by written submissions, which Pembs CC agreed to on 22nd November. The first any of the residents heard of it was a letter approx 8th December giving them till Jan 3rd to submit written submissions in triplicate! (Usuall tactics) Luckily they were awarded a Local Public Inquiry which will be on May 9th! Mm02 have used a loophole in Welsh Planning Law to hit them with a second identical Application. They have it on good authority that Pembs CC are trying to push this through the system asap to avoid their Inquiry. Anne from Penally has asked for as many people as possible to write to Mr D Lawrence, Head of Planning, Pembrokeshire County Council , County Hall, Haverfordwest SA61 1TP to OBJECT to Planning no 05/1254/PA. They have Visual Amenity, Mast Prolifereration, History of Planning and Appeal rejections with reasons still valid today and most importantly..Harriet Davis Trust Holiday Home for severely disabled and life-limited children and their families within 50-75 metres of the proposed Tetra. With the PERCEIVED health fears these vulnerable souls will face and the disastrous knock on financial effect to the Trust itself!

I know that LPAs usually disregard objections from out of the area, but because of the nature of this case it could be argued that we all have an interest, because the Harriet Davis Trust is the sort of project that should be encouraged, not put out of business. Their website is http://www.harriet-davis-trust.brecon.co.uk , if anyone wants any further details.

Objections need to be sent in asap, as they only have just over a week until the deadline.

Many thanks to anyone who can wite in support of villagers and name and shame 02!

AmandaWesley

--------

I believe his name is David so his email address should be david.lawrence@pembrokeshire.gov.uk .

Angie (ORAM)

--------

I have received a letter from Pembrokeshire County Council in response to my objection letter, stating that they will take my comments into consideration - although I live in Kent, I objected on the grounds that because I have a disabled child I may want to use the Harriet Davis Trust Respite Holiday Home.

I hope this helps - please let me know how it turns out.

Thanks. Angie (ORAM)>

--------

That's briliant Angie,

I also contacted Peter Limbrick of interconnections, the bulletin for Children with special needs, and I know that he has objected.
02 apparently stated in their application that the HD Trust was two miles away from the proposed site, when in fact it is 50-75 metres away, and of course, PEmbs cc do not know much about TETRA applications etc, and seem happy to go along with everything 02 tell them!

Amanda

--------

I don't know if this is of any use but to cut a long story short, I know that a leading member of the Acoustic Neuroma Association, Brian Lloyd, lives near Penally in Hodgeston. His email address is:

brian@beachcomber.freeuk.com

He has his own Acoustic Neuroma website "One Ear to the Ground" which is as follows:

http://home.freeuk.net/beachcomber/oneear/about.htm

I have spoken to Brian on a couple of occasions (when on holiday in Pembrikeshire, but do not know if he is sympathetic to our cause. Might be worth contacting him? (My objection letter to Pembrokeshire C.C will be sent today).


Regards,


John Elliott


--------


http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Acoustic+Neuroma

DEVELOPMENT: Mast battle heads to the High Court

CAMPAIGNERS are to take the fight to a global mobile phone company who want to put a mast up near to their homes. Despite assurances from the Hutchison 3G (H3G) network that the planned 25-metre tall mast near to homes in Suttons Lane, Deeping Gate, will cause no harm, residents are fearful of adverse health effects and the visual impact to the area.

Led by resident Simon Hoppe, they have now formed a group which is attempting to raise enough cash for a serious High Court challenge.

Mr Hoppe has already visited 100 houses in the area canvassing support for the pressing campaign, winning support from nearly every resident to voice their opinions and attend meetings.

The Stop the Mast Action Group has already collected £2,300 from home-owners' donations to fight the mast plan.

Mr Hoppe said: "They (H3G) have had their way so far, but we are not lying down. We urgently need support in this campaign – in the interests of our local environment and landscape, our families' health and the negative effect on property prices."

Residents thought they had defeated the international mobile phone operator back in 2004, when Peterborough City Council rejected the application following residents' strong objections.

But to their horror, H3G appealed to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and won.

The residents claim the mast will be visible from 100 houses and will ruin the tranquil look of the area.

They worry that electromagnetic radiation given off by the mast will be harmful to people nearby, especially children and people with specific health conditions.

H3G claim the site is the only place it can put a mast to provide phone coverage to that area. Verity Stanford, spokeswoman for the company, said: "We do recognise that the presence of base stations can cause concern among some people.

"But the slender monopole will be sited in a remote corner, well away from the nearest residential properties, and the surrounding belt of trees will effectively screen it from view.

"The consistent and reassuring message of the global scientific community is that base stations operating to guidelines do not cause adverse health effects."

Omega read "Base Stations, operating within strict national and international Guidelines, do not present a Health Risk?" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/771911/

02 February 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=845&ArticleID=1336929

02 February 2006

VETERAN journalist Esther Rantzen has thrown her weight behind a campaign to stop mobile phone giants placing masts on schools.

The TV presenter is spearheading the SHAME (Schools and Hospitals Against Mast Emissions) campaign launched - just weeks after the Bexley Times revealed plans to install phone masts on East Wickham Primary School, in Welling, and Bedonwell Junior School, in Belvedere.

Mrs Rantzen is calling on concerned parents and teachers in Bexley to sign a petition to get the Telecommunications Masts (Planning Control) Bill through Parliament by March 3.

If passed as a law by Parliament, the bill will prevent masts from being placed in close proximity to schools and hospitals.

David Evennett, MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, says he is in full support of the bill, which was initiated by David Curry MP.

He said: "The residents have my full support and backing. I object to masts in residential areas because they are out of character, an eyesore and I think there are health concerns.

"I am in full support of David Curry's bill and will be present in Parliament."

A spokesman for SHAME said: "SHAME is not anti-mobile phone but it does prioritise children over the need for a signal at any cost and given the vulnerability of small children relative to adults, can not accept that school premises are suitable sites." In December, angry parents at East Wickham Primary School vowed to fight mobile phone company Hutchinson 3G which has put up a phone mast near a school which is permitted by law.

Clair Doree who has two children at the school, has organised a petition.

Last week we reported how concerned parents and residents in Bedonwell Road, Belvedere, are urging mobile phone giant Orange to scrap its plans to install a mast near Bedonwell Junior School

Resident Alan Eaton, the brainchild behind action group Orange Squash, has organised a 200-signature petition to present to bosses at Orange.

This week opposition towards the mast intensified as both Labour and Conservative councillors in the Lesnes Abbey ward back residents in their campaign.

Labour Councillor Ron Brown said: "At present Orange has not yet applied to the council and are conducting their own consultation.

"We hope they get the message loud and clear that their mast is not wanted here. We are backing the residents 100 per cent."

Jacqueline Sibander, spokesman for Orange, said the planning process was it the early stages.

She added that the company was in full consultation with residents, parents and school representatives.

For more information on Orange Squash, visit the website: http://www.orangesquash.org

For more information on SHAME or to sign the petition, visit: http://www.shame.org.uk

Have your say!
http://tinyurl.com/9f3nl

Suggest a story
http://www.bexleytimes.co.uk/content/emailform/suggeststory.aspx

http://tinyurl.com/bvscl

MOBILE phone giant T Mobile won planning permission for a mast in Manchester Road following a bureaucratic blunder.

Officers missed the 56-day deadline to issue a refusal notice allowing the phone company to go ahead and build a 12 meter high mast outside Majestic Wines.

Now residents are furious and have pledged to fight the phone company all the way to an appeal.

The refusal slip was received a day after the deadline and the firm wasted no time getting on with the job.

David Reynolds, 61, retired businessman and journalist, Judy Tams, 39, of Highfield Estate, Manchester Road, arranged a protest at the site, attended by up to 30 neighbours.

Judy, who is expecting her second child soon, said: "We’re shocked and dismayed by this. The first we knew of the mast going up was when the contractors moved on site and started work.

"As far as we were aware, it had been refused - the council had written to us on October to tell us so. When were they going to tell us - did they think we wouldn’t notice - they knew about this in October."

The application concerns a 12 meter high mast with associated ground cabinets to be built at the corner of Manchester Road and Dean Row Road.

Borough council officers refused the application on October 14 on the grounds of highway safety, acting under delegated powers, but the formal notification was not sent until October 17, outside the 56 day deadline.

Daly International, agents for T-Mobile, informed the council that as it missed the deadline it was "out of time" and therefore they had "deemed consent" to continue and build it.

David Reynolds said: "The planning department say there is nothing further they can do which I don’t accept. The council seem perhaps to have made a mistake and they seem to think they can walk away from it."

Judy said: "We’re also extremely disappointed with the actions Daly International - who as agent for T-Mobile are not acting in the spirit of the planning laws."

Ward councillor Paul Whiteley said he was disappointed that he too only found out about this when the building work began but he has since spoken to the chief executive.

He said: "The system is now being looked at closely and it will be altered and hopefully this is something that will not happen again."

Dean Row Councillor Jim Crockatt added: "I am very disappointed with Daly International. They knew the opposition and the dangers. I accept that it was a bloomer but we employ human beings."

Chief planning officer Peter Yates has written to the Daly International requesting a meeting to discuss the application .

He said the company’s approach to a working relationship with the council was not helpful.

He added that for T-Mobile to press ahead in building the mast was irresponsible.

A spokesman for T-Mobile said:

"Although in this particular instance the letter arrived one day late, we are within our rights to go ahead with the application as is our intention." Katrina McKeever

First published by the Wilmslow Express

Submit your comments
http://www.thewilmslowexpress.co.uk/news/comments/form.html?story_id=208828

http://tinyurl.com/87p7o

The Institute for Public Accuracy has a PDF critique of the State of the Union for public distribution at: http://accuracy.org/s2006.pdf . Please spread the word about this to activists.

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Responses to State of the Union Address

Interviews Available

CELESTE ZAPPALA, (215) 520-7040, (215) 686-8416, cell: (215) 570-5484, czappala1@yahoo.com, http://www.gsfso.org A member of Gold Star Families Speak Out, Zappala's eldest son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II. He was killed in action in Baghdad on April
26, 2004, while searching for weapons of mass destruction. She said today: "Yesterday George Bush spoke with unsubstantiated optimism about the war in Iraq; yesterday another U.S. soldier was killed, bringing the total to 2,243. If all of the families of all of those soldiers had been sitting in the chamber, could Bush's self-serving comments about sacrifice have been heard above the cries of grief and anguish?"

KATHY KELLY, (773) 878-3815, kathy@vitw.org, http://www.vcnv.org Co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Kelly said today: "President Bush states that 'The only way to control our destiny is by our leadership -- so the United States of America will continue to lead.' This president led the U.S. into an immoral, illegal war against Iraq based on lies and deception. The president worries that 'a sudden withdrawal of our forces from Iraq would abandon our Iraqi allies to death and prison.' He does not mention that U.S. forces are imprisoning. 16,000 Iraqis, many of them held without charges. The British medical journal The Lancet reported in October 2004 that the U.S. invasion and occupation have cost the lives of 100,000 Iraqis."

TALAT HAMDANI, (212) 598-0970, (917) 579-5416, Ameerjaan2@aol.com, http://peacefultomorrows.org Hamdani is the mother of Mohammad Salman Hamdani, who was a New York City police cadet killed in the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. She is available to discuss Bush's continuing references to 9/11.

RUSSELL MOKHIBER, cell: (202) 468-8868, russell@corporatecrimereporter.com, http://corporatecrimereporter.com Editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, Mokhiber said today: "President Bush said that 'violent crime rates have fallen to their lowest levels since the 1970s.' This is true only if you look at violent street crime and ignore the violent corporate crime that results in pollution, worker and consumer deaths. The rate of violent corporate crime is by all indications on the increase. But we don't know for sure, for while President Bush's FBI tracks street crime district by district, the FBI does not track corporate crime and violence."

QUENTIN YOUNG, (312) 782-6006, (773) 324-5920, pnhp@aol.com, http://pnhp.org Young is coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program. He said today: "The speech was monumentally cynical from beginning to end. He didn't say much on healthcare, and what he did say was useless. The medical savings accounts he talks about have no way of improving coverage and access to healthcare; or lowering costs. "Bush claimed: 'Our government has a responsibility to help provide healthcare for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility.' That's an absolute lie. Under his watch, there are ongoing brutal slashes in Medicaid." Added Young, "You also had a cynical invocation of helping AIDS victims in Africa; but Bush has backed off from prior commitments on that after garnishing applause for those promises like he did last night."

TYSON SLOCUM, (202) 454-5191, cell: (202) 256-3152, tslocum@citizen.org, http://www.citizen.org Acting director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, Slocum said today: "Bush didn't talk about scaling back demand at all; we need to greatly expand our public transportation systems. He talked about hydrogen, but he used the same rhetoric in 2003. The plans for hydrogen fuel actually involve it coming from coal fire power plants. This means using a high pollution process to create 'clean' energy. "Bush made no mention of the comprehensive energy bill he recently signed. That makes sense; the lobbyists went wild with it, the oil companies got $5 billion, $8 billion for coal, $12 billion for nuclear and only $3 billion for renewables. Oil companies are posting record profits. "We should tax the oil companies to pay to develop renewables and programs like giving people a financial incentive to weatherize their homes so we conserve more fuel."

MARY OLSON, via Linda Gunter, (202) 328-0002, lindag@nirs.org, http://www.nirs.org Olson is with the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. She said today: "The administration has been desperate to find a nuclear waste solution in order to resuscitate the moribund and unpopular nuclear power industry. ... Its latest scheme is reprocessing of irradiated commercial fuel, one of the dirtiest and most proliferation-vulnerable processes in the nuclear fuel chain."

PRATAP CHATTERJEE, (510) 271-8080, cell: (510) 759-8970, pratap@corpwatch.org, http://www.corpwatch.org Bush stated yesterday: "We are continuing reconstruction efforts, and helping the Iraqi government to fight corruption and build a modern economy, so all Iraqis can experience the benefits of freedom." Chatterjee is executive director for CorpWatch. He said today: "Bush's claim that the United States plans to continue reconstruction in Iraq is a cleverly worded lie. The government has no plans to ask for new money in the February budget. The contractors are already shutting down their work even though some of the original $18.4 billion allocated for reconstruction over two years ago has not been spent and half of the money spent so far has either been spent on insurance and private security or worst of all diverted to other schemes such as the building of a new United States embassy." Chatterjee, who wrote the book "Iraq Inc.: A Profitable Occupation," added: "Much of the money taken from Iraq's coffers has been used to swell American corporate coffers or even stolen by corrupt American officials. Meanwhile the people of Iraq have less electricity, less water and more sewage than before the 2003 invasion."

AS'AD ABUKHALIL, (209) 667-3536, (209) 575-0210, AAbukhalil@csustan.edu, http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2005/08/king-fahd-is-dead-and-oppressive.html AbuKhalil is author of the book "The Battle for Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power," professor in the Department of Politics at California State University, Stanislaus, and visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Bush stated yesterday: "We accept the call of history to deliver the oppressed and move this world toward peace. ... And we do not forget the other half -- in places like Syria and Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Iran." AbuKhalil responded: "Bush left out from that list ... oppressive countries that are aligned with the U.S. (Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE, Oman, Jordan, Libya, Algeria, Guatemala, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Bahrain, etc.)."

STEPHEN ZUNES, (415) 422-6981, (831) 234-9468, zunes@usfca.edu, http://www.fpif.org Bush said: "Let me speak directly to the citizens of Iran: America respects you. ... And our Nation hopes one day to be the closest of friends with a free and democratic Iran." Professor of politics at the University of San Francisco, Zunes said today: "If this is really the case, why did the United States overthrow Iran's last democratic government, that of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh? If the United States really respects the rights of the Iranian people to choose their own future, why did successive U.S. administrations support the tyrannical regime of Shah Reza Pahlavi, installed by the United States following Mossadegh's ouster, whose dreaded CIA-trained SAVAK secret police tortured and murdered thousands of dissidents, thereby spawning the Islamist revolution that has since come to power?"

JACQUELINE CABASSO, (510) 839-5877, cell: (510) 306-0119, wslf@earthlink.net, http://www.wslfweb.org, http://www.disarmamentactivist.org Executive director of the California-based Western States Legal Foundation, Cabasso has written many articles assessing nuclear policy. She said today: "While the United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and President Bush declares that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose 'a grave threat to the security of the world' (the same language he used prior to attacking Iraq), the U.S. is retooling its own nuclear weapons research, design, and production infrastructure to maintain thousands of nuclear weapons for many decades to come, while enabling the production of new nuclear weapons for 'post-Cold War' missions envisioned by U.S. war planners. Following the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration openly declared the potential first use of nuclear weapons -- even against those countries that don’t have them. The 2002 Nuclear Posture Review revealed U.S. plans for first use of nuclear weapons in response to non-nuclear attacks or threats involving biological or chemical weapons or 'surprising military developments' and targeted countries including Iraq, Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, Syria, and Libya. "The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) ... codified a pledge by the U.S., Britain, Soviet Union, France and China to negotiate 'in good faith' the end of the nuclear arms race and the elimination of their nuclear arsenals. States that agreed to forswear nuclear weapons were guaranteed 'the inalienable right' to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, 'without discrimination.' ... The U.S. and the other nuclear weapon states have failed to live up to their disarmament obligations, establishing a de facto international system of 'nuclear apartheid,' in which they claim the exclusive right to determine who may possess (and threaten to use) nuclear weapons. They also have been responsible for spreading 'peaceful' nuclear technology around the globe, ensuring the possibility of nuclear proliferation. "Now the Bush administration wants to add a second tier to its nuclear double standard by denying uranium enrichment technology -- usable for both nuclear power and weapons -- to countries that don't already have it. Iran will be the test case. But just beyond Iran's border, the U.S. continues to turn a blind eye towards Israel's sizable undeclared nuclear arsenal."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


From ufpj-news

Just as the industry says, FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND!

Regards.

Agnes.
http://www.mast-victims.org

Mobile phone loophole that lets children access porn

08:11am 2nd February 2006

Loophole: Children can access porn for as little as £1.50

Children can gain access to internet porn via their mobile phones, a consumer grop warned today.

A loophole in phone safeguards lets youngsters obtain codes for adult websites by paying for them using premium rate text messages.

Researchers for Which? magazine got codes for eight porn sites using an O2 phone registered to a 15-year-old girl.

The phone company's filter system blocked adult material being sent directly to the handset - but still let through access codes to websites showing hardcore sex films, the consumer group said.

It cost £1.50 to pay for the codes which gave access to internet porn sites.

Although the phone company's filter system blocked the adult sites, young viewers could view by entering the codes into a computer, Which? warned.

The consumer group is concerned about the loophole which allows under 18s access to pay-per-view porn sites by paying by text rather than credit card.

Which? magazine editor Malcolm Coles said: "At the moment there's nothing to stop children getting hold of hardcore pornography through their mobile phone. It's easy to access and costs less than a couple of quid.

Loophole

"There are supposed to be safeguards to stop this sort of thing, but they're obviously ineffective. This loophole needs to be closed as soon as possible."

The number of pay-per-view internet sites accepting payment by premium rate text messages has increased over the past few years, according to Which?

Those accessed by the consumer group's researchers boasted that users could remain anonymous because payment was by text.

An O2 spokesman said some adult websites did accept payment via mobile phones.

"While it's the responsibility of those websites to prevent under 18s from viewing the content on a computer, we do not want our mobiles to be used as a payment mechanism without age verification," he said.

"We are in the process of updating the agreements in place with companies that provide mobile content over our network.

"This update will include a requirement for third parties who provide 'computer viewable' adult content, to age verify any customers who choose to pay for it using their mobile phone."

The spokesman said O2 took the risk to children "very seriously", adding: "We have an age verification process for any commercial content that can be viewed on a mobile phone. We also offer a parental control on all of our mobiles that can be activated from the phone."

The premium rate phone and text message regulator Icstis said mobile phone companies and internet content providers were responsible for carrying out age verification checks.

Spokesman Rob Dwight said: "Obviously this is a loophole. Kids can access adult content on their PC screens and be billed via their mobile phones. The situation shouldn't be allowed to continue."

He added: "We are working with the mobile phone networks to look at how this loophole can be blocked."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=375880&in_page_id=1770

http://at-de.i-newswire.com/pr15287.html
http://openpr.de/news/75853

Die Bürgerinitiative Gablitz - Bezirk Wien-Umgebung - brachte am 31.1.2006 eine Beschwerde bei der EU-Kommission ein.

Gründe: Nicht-Umsetzung des Art. 174 EG-Vertrag (Vorsorgeprinzip) in österreichisches Recht, sowie Verstöße gegen das sektorspezifische Wettbewerbsrecht und gegen die Fusionskontrollverordnung durch die geplante Übernahme von Telering durch T-Mobile.

Mehr dazu: http://tinyurl.com/aycrl

Für Rückfragen stehe ich jederzeit zur Verfügung.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Mag. Robert Marschall

Erster Sprecher der Bürgerinitiative Gablitz, Anton Haglgasse 14/1/3, A-3003 Gablitz, Österreich, Tel: 02231 / 68367, E-Mail: marschall@schutz-vor-elektrosmog.at
Homepage: http://www.schutz-vor-elektrosmog.at/buergerinitiative-gablitz.htm