World-News

Call for moratorium on GM trees

People´s Forest Forum
http://elonmerkki.net/forestforum
Infoletter
23th on May 2006 in Finland

People´s Forest Forum is an initiative for open global forum for discussing and reporting of forest issues in different countries. Our first campaign was against the risks of genetically modified trees. The petition campaign was a success. By backing the signatories of individuals and ngo:s we visited in three UN meetings and distributed our materials in two side events. Look and print the posters here: http://elonmerkki.net/forestforum/uk/posters/

In last CBD meeting in Brazil lot of countries took critical position on this issue and also the reports by FAO is quite critical for introducing transgenic trees. Look more: http://elonmerkki.net/dyn/forum/thread/?id=414 http://elonmerkki.net/dyn/forum/thread/?id=416

We feel that our campaign has had at least some effect for this success. Thanks all of you involved! Be free to continue adding your reports, news and other information on the workshop on GM trees: http://elonmerkki.net/dyn/forum/topic/?catid=71

Finland and global forestry

Now we want to invite people to discuss about Finland´s role in global forestry. Finland as a state has lot of influence in global forest policy and globalized Finnish forest industry is powerfull actor as well all around the world. We believe that there is a good reason to focus on these activies also from critical perspective.

Last yoik in Saami forests?

We open this discussion with the hot and actual issue of Saami forests in Finland. Union of Ecoforestry has taken part in producing a critical videoreportage about the indigenious Saami peoples campaign for their livelihood and land rights agains Finnish state owned companies. This documentary movie is presented in UN Indigenious peoples forum in New York in 23th May 2006. You can join in discussion in the forum: http://elonmerkki.net/dyn/forum/topic/?catid=40 You can load the present version of the movie on the adress: http://elonmerkki.net

For more information on Sámi forests:
http://www.saamicouncil.net
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/forestrescue
http://www.clearcut.fi

--------

Campaign report on GM trees and action alert for Saami people

Thanks for your contribution for the campaign Global Ban on GM trees. The final campaign report with video clips is available on the address

http://video.elonmerkki.net/forestforum

We hope the campaigning continous to stop invasion with transgenic trees. Thanks for your contributions.

The second issue in this letter is the hot and actual situation in Northern Finland in forests of indigenous Saami people home area.

As a Finnish campaigner I have to ask your help to stop the Finnish state and forest companies destructive colonialism in Saami forests. Here below is our campaign letter on the issue.

Hannu Hyvönen documentarist and campaigner Union of Ecoforestry in Finland

PC

As a critical documentarist investigating Finnish forestry I am interested all kind of information of these multinational "Finnish" companies; Upm-Kymmene, Metsäliitto, Stora Enso, Metsäbotnia, Timberjack, Jaakko Pöyry, etc and their operations in different countries. Also through different institutions as Forest Research, Fao, UN forum on forests etc the Finnish forestry sectors influence is even more heavy than in papermaking bisnes.

Finnish forestry sector is powerfull actor which define lot of the future of forest cover on the Earth. It is time to make an analysis what is behind this success story in Finland and abroad.

Press release and campaign letter 1.6..2007/ Union of Ecoforestry in Finland

The destruction of Saami homeland forests in Finnish Lappland started again - this is a call for action to friends of the Saami !

The long lasting forestry conflict in Finnish Lappland is again in a very urgent state. The Finnish state owned company, Forest and Park Service, has started large scale logging operations in the home area of indigenious Saami people on the 14th of May, 2007.

These loggings can't be accepted for the following reasons:

-there is no solution yet for the landownership conflict between Saami people and the Finnish state. -the Finnish state has not proven to be the actual owner of the forests it is logging right now. -the clear-cutting style of logging ancient forests in the extreme north of Europe cannot be accepted from an ecological and micro-climatical point of view. -the loggings destroy the very basis of the culturally important Saami free browsing reindeerherding tradition -the loggings waste the ancient forests and its wood and leave less possibilities for future truly sustainable continuous cover forestry without destructive clear cutting.

By these arguments among others Union of Ecoforestry urged Finnish parliament to stop the logging immediately and gave for parliament groups the documentary movie Last yoik in Saami forests ( http://elonmerkki.net ) The director of the movie, Hannu Hyvönen, expressed his feelings about the on-going loggings recently: "It is quite easy for us to update this sad turn-up in the documentary movie, but we cannot update these forests which are now again cutted down."

Finnish state own tv-company seems not to be able to broadcast the documentary which accuses Finnish state human rights violations,

Union of Ecoforestry supports campaigning for Saami forests and invites all friends of Saami now for actions. -In this situation we strongly encourage Finns as well as foreigners to arrange movie actions, public presentations, to get widely known and understood what is really happening in Lappland, in Saami forests, the last natural forests of Europe. Union of Ecoforestry supports dvd distribution for public presentations.

The documentary movie can also be loaded here: http://video.elonmerkki.net/last_yoik.mp4

If you want to order the dvd and/or join in friends of Saami -posting list please send a message to info @elonmerkki.net

More information:

http://saamicouncil.net
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/forestrescue/
http://elonmerkki.net
http://mehta.fi

--------

Plant trees, lots of them, you can never plant enough!
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3515163/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GM+trees

ABC Sticks by Hastert Probe Story

Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources said Wednesday night that ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is "in the mix" in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress. "Whether they like it or not, members of Congress, including Hastert, are under investigation," one federal official said.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052506Z.shtml

Big Brother's History

By John Prados, TomPaine.com
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/25/big_brothers_history.php

By David Roberts, TomPaine.com

The current energy debate is skewed toward solutions that favor big business. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/25/the_alt_fuels_distraction.php

The White House yesterday ruled out previously authorized direct talks between Tehran and the US ambassador in Baghdad, which were to have focused on the situation in Iraq. The move marks a hardening of the Bush administration's position, despite pressure from the international community to enter into direct dialogue with Iran.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052506L.shtml

This newest Republican tactic - warning people about the potential for impeachment - begs one simple question: if they have nothing to hide, what are they afraid of? The answer, clearly, is John Conyers," writes William Rivers Pitt.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052506J.shtml


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

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/05/americas_new_china_war_plan.html#21461


Informant: Kev Hall

May 25 2006

A MOBILE phone company was told it had the wrong number when councillors backed neighbours and threw out plans for a 46-foot high mast on their doorstep.

The 681 campaigners living in the Tring Road area of Tilehurst had signed a petition protesting that Hutchinson 3G UK's 17th mast in a radius of little over half a mile would have been an eyesore too far.

And at West Berkshire Council's eastern area planning committee they got the support of Bucklebury council-lor Graham Pask who said: "I asked myself would I want to live near one of these masts and the answer is definitely 'no'.

"The problem is that this is a monster. Even if it is a fake telegraph pole I have never seen a telegraph pole 14 metres high, never in my life."

Eric Drew-Clifton and Lewis Evans of Tring Road spoke on behalf of their neighbours and highlighted their concerns at the size and appearance of the mast and cabinets and the potential harm to residents.

Mr Drew-Clifton said: "My wife and I have lived at Tring Road for 45 years and we wish to enjoy our property in pleasant surroundings, unspoilt by an unsightly industrial installation only 20 yards from our front door.

"The installation will also be seen from the windows and garden of many houses in Tring, Fairford and Overdown roads."

After the meeting, Westwood ward district councillor Laszlo Zverko, said: "The residents are very pleased. We are just sick and tired of it all, it is ridiculous.

"All the protesting paid off and the number of objections represented a third of the population of my ward.

"To echo what Cllr Pask said, it would have been a monster and a real eyesore."

Owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Plc 2006

http://tinyurl.com/qj79p

http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=371


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

FreedomWorks
by Dick Armey

05/24/06

On behalf of 800,000 grassroots activists across the country, I urge you to reject H.R. 5417. Not only are new regulations of the Internet unnecessary in alleviating antitrust concerns, they would, in fact, exacerbate them. Concerns of potential antitrust violations, which have spurred the latest legislation, are exaggerated at best. These fears overlook three important facts: (1) the FCC already has sufficient authority under existing law to regulate and correct anticompetitive practices; (2) the robust broadband market ensures that providers will not abuse their (limited) market power; and (3) efforts to enforce net neutrality mandates may have the perverse political and economic consequence of consolidating the broadband market even further...

http://tinyurl.com/er4va


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Salon
by Sidney Blumenthal

05/25/06

Bush has been proclaiming Iraq at a turning point for years. 'Turning point' is a frequent and recurring talking point, often taken up by the full chorus of the president ('We've reached another great turning point,' Nov. 6, 2003; 'A turning point will come in less than two weeks,' June 18, 2004), vice president ('I think about when we look back and get some historical perspective on this period, I'll believe that the period we were in through 2005 was, in fact, a turning point,' Feb. 7, 2006), secretary of state and secretary of defense, and ringing down the echo chamber. This latest 'turning point' reveals an Iraqi state without a social contract, a government without a center, a prime minister without power and an American president without a strategy... [subscription or ad view required]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/05/25/bush_iraq/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Christian Science Monitor

05/24/06

The forecast for major US phone companies this spring: continued heat, with a 100 percent chance of gathering lawsuits. From New York to Kentucky to Texas, lawyers specializing in class-action litigation are lining up to sue phone firms alleged to have handed over customer records to the National Security Agency without a court order. On Monday, for instance, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed suit against AT&T, charging that its actions in the NSA program violated customer privacy...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0524/p02s01-usju.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Coeur d'Alene
Spokesman-Review

05/24/06

VA Secretary Jim Nicholson got an endorsement Wednesday from President Bush -- and a summons to Capitol Hill -- after the theft of veterans' personal information that has become one of the nation's largest security breaches. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are asking that Nicholson explain how his department handled the theft of sensitive personal data on 26.5 million veterans. They have called the Veterans Affairs secretary to appear in two emergency hearings Thursday in the House and Senate...

http://tinyurl.com/r9h7q



VA's delay in reporting data theft questioned

Arizona Republic

05/24/06

Veterans Affairs officials waited two weeks to call in the FBI to investigate the theft of sensitive personal data, delaying a warning to 26.5 million veterans now at risk in one of the nation's largest security breaches. Lawmakers from both parties demanded answers. Burglars struck the Maryland home of the VA data analyst in early May, taking government-owned laptop and disks containing the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of veterans discharged since 1975. But the FBI wasn't notified until late last week, two law enforcement officials said Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said his panel would hold an emergency hearing Thursday because '26 million people deserve answers.' VA Secretary Jim Nicholson is expected to testify...

http://tinyurl.com/lea9x


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Bloomington Pantagraph

05/24/06

In rare, election-year harmony, House Republican and Democratic leaders jointly demanded on Wednesday that the FBI return documents taken in a Capitol Hill raid that has quickly grown into a constitutional turf fight beyond party politics. 'The Justice Department must immediately return the papers it unconstitutionally seized,' House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement. Within hours, according to several Republican officials, White House aides were involved in talks with Hastert's staff concerning the possible transfer of the documents, possibly to the House ethics committee...

http://tinyurl.com/eancr


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Winston-Salem Journal

05/25/06

Vice President Dick Cheney could be called to testify in the perjury case against his former chief of staff, a special prosecutor said in a court filing Wednesday. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald suggested Cheney would be a logical government witness because he could authenticate notes he jotted on a July 6, 2003, New York Times opinion piece by a former U.S. ambassador critical of the Iraq war...

http://tinyurl.com/s86sg


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

By Mark Killiner

Parents and pupils gather outside St Mary's School on Tuesday for an impromptu demonstration in advance of the big one, planned for June 4

A STORM is brewing over plans for a mobile phone mast on a church opposite a primary school.

The plans, which involve building a T-Mobile base station in the spire of SS Peter and Paul Church on the Green, Chingford, have met huge opposition from neighbours and staff and pupils of St Mary's Catholic Primary School, only 50 metres away.

A special court is to meet in the church next month to examine the issue.

The community is angry that the church is pressing ahead with the plans despite mounting anecdotal evidence of serious health risks associated with exposure to phone mast radiation. continued...

A precautionary approach to installing masts near sensitive sites such as schools has been advised by the Government's Stewart Report.

Over 600 people have already signed a petition opposing the scheme.

Myra Yeo, spokeswoman for the Justify Unnecessary Dangers Against Schoolchildren (JUDAS) campaign and a company director whose business is based on the Green, said: "The church is putting money before the welfare of children.

"It is a year on since the issue first came to light and the parish seems to have waited for a drop in people's attention, but that has not happened.

"I think that they are underestimating the weight of local opposition and they will be surprised at the reaction.

"More than 600 people have told them they do not want the mast. That is a clear message from the community they serve. What more does it take?"

The campaigners say they are anticipating a big turnout for a demonstration outside the church on Sunday, June 4, at 9.30am.

MP Iain Duncan Smith is also opposing the plan.

He said: "The health risks have not been proved and while the jury is out we should be very careful about where these masts are placed, especially when the mast will be in close proximity to three schools and a residential area."

The matter is up for consideration before a special church court, known as a consistory court.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Chelmsford, which covers the Chingford area, said: "The judge, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Chelmsford, is expected to hold a hearing and then a trial on whether the church will have a mobile phone mast in its spire. Both the hearing and the trial will be held in public."

The hearing takes place in SS Peter and Paul Church hall on Tuesday, June 13, at 10.30am.

11:42am today

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://tinyurl.com/mayyk

A DENABY councillor has slammed the trustees of the town's welfare club after it was revealed a controversial mobile phone mast WILL be built on the grounds despite a huge protest by residents.

Coun John Mills said he was 'deeply disappointed' by the decision by trustees of Cadeby and Denaby Miners Welfare to go ahead with the Hutchinson 3G mast even though an alternative site could have been agreed.

Coun Mills said: "What the welfare is doing is totally ignoring the wishes of the community that they are supposed to serve, for a rental income of £30 per week.

"The local councillors are, to say the least, deeply disappointed. I wonder if the 350 members of the welfare are content with what the trustees are doing in their name?"

Dozens of people signed a petition against the plans because of their fears for the health of local schoolchildren being subjected to prolonged exposure from the mast.

Mother-of-two Kirsty Meggitt of Tickhill Square, was among campaigners opposing the mast who believe it poses a potential danger to children playing in the area.

She said: "The trustees ought to be ashamed of themselves for allowing this mast to be put up.

"They don't seem to be concerned about the possible health risks to their grandchildren or the people they were brought up with all their lives.

"If they were 100 per cent confident these masts don't cause damage to the public, they would face us. We have had public meetings but they never turn up. We tried to contact the club but they just hung up on us."

Coun Mills said he had met Eriksson (agents for Hutchinson) along with community representatives to discuss possible alternative sites not close to schools and houses.

He added: "I agreed to pursue one of the three possibilities, and in fact have got this to a position where I believe that it can be delivered.

"Eriksson appear to have made no progress with the other possibilities, which are both existing mast sites. It appeared from the meeting that Hutchinson would move to an alternative site if the welfare would release them from their contract.

"I have now had confirmation that the trustees have made a final decision that they will proceed with the lease to Hutchinson 3G, and also had confirmation by e-mail from Eriksson that they intend to proceed with erecting a mast at this location regardless of the adverse public opinion.

"The Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO), the freeholders of the site, seem to be reluctant to get involved in this, although I understand that they are demanding half of the rental income."

Hutchinson 3G has always maintained that exposure levels from living near mobile phone base stations are extremely low, and the overall evidence indicates that they are unlikely to pose a risk to human 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

The company said an installation was required to provide 3G coverage to Denaby Main in line with its licence to provide 80 per cent coverage by 2007.

The South Yorkshire Times tried to contact the welfare club and CISWO this week but they had not responded by the time we went to press.

25 May 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.dearnetoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=768&ArticleID=1525228

https://secure2.convio.net/dow/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr002=as02v80j62.app23a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=425

Alaska’s Cook Inlet beluga whales are in serious trouble. Facing pressures ranging from pollution to increased ship traffic, their numbers have dropped by half in the last decade. Now, this isolated population of white whales may disappear forever.

But there is hope. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is now considering listing the Cook Inlet belugas as endangered under the Endangered Species Act -- perhaps the best chance yet for these special creatures.

Help protect the Cook Inlet belugas before it’s too late! Urge NMFS to list the Cook Inlet belugas as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The deadline for submitting your comments is next Tuesday, May 30.

The beluga whale relies on its sophisticated sonar, using clicks and squeaks to hunt, navigate and communicate. Their unique and varied sounds have earned these extremely social animals the nickname “sea canaries”.

Cook Inlet belugas rear their young and feed just offshore from one of the most populated -- and fastest growing -- regions in Alaska. It's an area that's getting more and more inhospitable to the whales.

Sewage and polluted run-off pour directly into the beluga’s home. Planned development projects threaten to fill in over 135 acres of beluga whale habitat. The toxic waste and spills from region’s oil industry can poison and kill these creatures and their young. Seismic blasting to search for oil can disrupt their sonar and disorient the belugas, causing them to drown.

An endangered listing would require protection not only for the critters themselves, but for the fragile habitat essential for their survival.

Beluga whales need your help. Please send your comments to NMFS before next Tuesday’s deadline.

Just last month, international experts classified this group of whales as “critically endangered” -- the most urgent category for imperiled wildlife. NMFS’s own scientists have charted the dramatic decline of these whales -- and their best estimate is that fewer than 280 remain. Without the protection of the Endangered Species Act, the Cook Inlet beluga whales could become extinct within our lifetime.

Now is the time to act. Please help these animals get the protection they deserve. Write to NMFS today and urge them to protect Cook Inlet belugas by listing them as an endangered species-- before they are gone forever.

With your help, we can ensure that these magnificent white whales live on for generations to come.

Thank you for all you do to protect imperiled creatures everywhere.

Sincerely,

Jim Curland
Marine Program Associate
Defenders of Wildlife

According to recently published survey findings, more than half of young adults under age 30 were uninsured for at least one month between 2002 and 2003. Stable health insurance has become the exception, not the rule, for young adults.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/052406HB.shtml

ReadtheBill.org today announced the launch of the Mystery Busters initiative and urged the US House of Representatives to reject four bills scheduled for floor action this week, saying there was inadequate time to read the four "mystery bills."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052406S.shtml

Please read e-mail just in from Yasmin Skelt.

Dear Eileen and Microwave News People,

My Spanish is too rusty to translate this news item but you could have people in Spain and Spanish speakers on your lists. Another report of ill health in people living in a block of flats with antennas on top. Symptoms report cancer and also heart problems. This programme was broadcast on Tuesday 23rd on the Global Spanish Satellite Network. The Authorities have ordered the removal of the antennae which were erected on top of a block of flats without planning permission. The campaigners slogans in English are "Antennas No, Life Yes".

Best Yasmin Skelt,
Chorleywood,
England


-----Original Message-----
From: yip
Sent: 24 May 2006 16:49
Subject: Yasmin Skelt te recomienda un programa de RTVE

Yasmin Skelt te recomienda el siguiente programa:

Titular: Dicen que las antenas de telefonía móvil matan. ¿Tú qué opinas?
http://www.rtve.es/?go=111b735a516af85ccdc4135d9df82c2e123009d61eb00f778b60af793b191c312fecc674b4f314ef0382473ff62b7ee5d98949b30f8daa512ede1a109ce127d3e9b883755e787be4

Omega hear is an automatic translation in English:
http://tinyurl.com/pxh39


Informant: Eileen O'Connor

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

By JOEL CONNELLY
P-I COLUMNIST

The political architect of Alaska's "Bridges to Nowhere," and other drains on the U.S. Treasury, is vowing retaliation against colleagues who voted last week to end a multimilliondollar U.S. Forest Service subsidy of the timber industry.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said he was taking down the names of the 237 members of the U.S. House of Representatives -- including 68 fellow Republicans -- who voted to prohibit Smokey Bear from using federal dollars to build new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest.

The threat echoes a similar warning from Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, when the Senate blocked his backdoor effort to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

Stevens already has undertaken a revenge effort against Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

Such I'll-get-you diatribes reflect the fetid state of Washington, D.C., politics these days. They underscore the arrogance of men in power.

The fjords, glaciers and largely intact rain forests of the Tongass are an adventure destination for thousands of cruise-ship passengers embarking out of Seattle each summer.

The Tongass is where our sport and commercial fisherfolk seek out still-healthy salmon runs, and where our kayakers go to test their skill amid the icebergs of calving glaciers.

No wonder that a majority of our state's congressional delegation voted to end a logging road construction program that was losing 96 cents on the dollar.

The Forest Service spent $48 million on road building and timber sales last year in the Tongass, according to Reps. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, and Robert Andrews, D-N.J., co-sponsors of the anti-subsidy legislation. Timber receipts totaled $400,000.

advertising Hence, Chabot told House colleagues, America's taxpayers have been providing a subsidy of $150,000 for every logging job supported in the national forest.

Young, the powerful chairman of the House Transportation Committee, responded with fury.

"Each one of you, think about this, in this room," he declared. "This should be a representative form of government, and what you're doing is dead wrong, and I shall not forget it.

"What's happening here is you're trying to put the last remaining -- the last remaining -- few Alaskans that are trying to make a very meager living -- 300 jobs -- and take it away from them, for the environmentalists."

Nope, Chabot and Andrews were striking a blow for the taxpayers ... and for the 4,000 Southeast Alaska tourism and recreation jobs that depend on preservation of natural beauty, silt-free salmon streams and healthy game populations.

Stevens started taking names in December, as colleagues led by Cantwell blocked his bid to attach Arctic Refuge oil drilling to a key defense bill.

"I am going to every one of your states, and I am going to tell them what you have done," he shouted. "And I am sure that the senator from Washington will enjoy my visits to Washington, because I am going to visit there often."

Young started venting his wrath soon after the Tongass vote.

He tried to kill language in a pending appropriations bill -- inserted by Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash. -- that greenhouse gas emissions need to be limited and that humans contribute to global warming.

Young denounced what he called "hysteria" over the issue.

"I am a little bit concerned when everything that is wrong is our fault, that the human factor creates all the damages to this globe," he declared. "That is pure nonsense. This is nonsense!"

Dicks, along with House members of both parties, tried to cite scientific evidence.

"I believe this is a serious problem," Dicks said. "When you have six former administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency saying this is a reality, when you've just heard Congressman (Wayne) Gilchrest (R-Md.) talk about the increases in parts per million of carbon dioxide, and when you have the visible evidence of our glaciers melting, ... the polar bears are drying because there is not enough ice.

"I mean, at some point, can the majority here not figure out we ought to have some study, we ought to look into this, that this is a real issue that affects everyone on the Earth?"

Young would hear none of it.

"If you look at any of the studies that are taking place now, the polar bear pack is very healthy and, in fact, increasing," he argued. "Keep that in mind. Read something that really has some merit to it. Do not just read the fear tactic."

The fate of the Tongass amendment is unclear. The House passed a similar measure in 2004. Stevens restored the logging subsidy in the Senate.

So far, Don Young has picked out only one target for retaliation: Mother Nature. He may yet go after $200 million in federal money earmarked for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Stevens came steaming through in April to protest how Washington lawmakers have abandoned the good old days of mutual back scratching on federal projects.

He also headlined, with Don Young, an Anchorage fundraiser at which Alaska's leading recipients of federal largess wrote checks to Mike McGavick, Cantwell's Republican challenger.

McGavick is making a big deal, in his Senate run, about the loss of civility and accountability in American politics.

So be it. It raises questions of authenticity, however, when he keeps company with symbols of rancor, waste and cronyism such as Stevens and Young.

P-I columnist Joel Connelly can be reached at 206-448-8160 or joelconnelly@seattlepi.com.

©1996-2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/271387_joel24.html

Informant: Teresa Binstock

Does the The WHO's fact sheet interest anyone? Then here it is. But if anyone is going to rely on it, to give importance to it or to take it seriously, then I wish him/her a lot a lot of health, and that God will help you, because Repacholi and the WHO SURE AREN'T THERE FOR YOU. "Mike has to raise his own budget and travel funds. We also know that he found a way to skirt the WHO rules that bar direct industry support —the mobile phone manufacturers have said that they provide him with $150,000 a year with additional money for meeting and travel expenses."

It's from http://www.microwavenews.com
July 5, 2005
Time To Stop the WHO Charade

Omega see under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/819270/


Iris Atzmon

----- Original Message -----
From: Mona Nilsson
To: Iris Atzmon
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 10:47 AM
Subject: Fw: NEW - WHO Fact Sheet N°304: Base stations and wireless networks

From: Ravenscroft, Lisa
ravenscroftl@who.int
Sent: den 25 maj 2006 09:33
Subject: NEW - WHO Fact Sheet N°304: Base stations and wireless networks Importance: High

The EMF Project is pleased to announced that its latest fact sheet "Base stations and wireless networks" in now available on our Fact Sheet page at http://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/factsheets/en/index.html and also via the WHO Media Centre web site at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs304/en/index.html

If anybody is interested in undertaking a translation of this fact sheet, we will be more than happy to include it on our web site. Electronic copies (unprotected please) of translations can be emailed to ravenscroftl@who.int


Regards,

Lisa Ravenscroft
on behalf of Dr Mike Repacholi
Radiation and Environmental Health World Health Organization
20 Avenue Appia
CH-1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0)22 791 23 33
Fax: +41 (0)22 791 41 23 Email: ravenscroftl@who.int

--------

WHO dilemma?

Consider this statement from the WHO (taken from the Independent 7.5.06

The UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) calls the electronic smog "one of the most common and fastest growing environmental influences" and stresses that it "takes seriously" concerns about the health effects. It adds that "everyone in the world" is exposed to it and that "levels will continue to increase as technology advances". To the latest report (Factsheet 304) on Electromagnetic fields.

Sylvia


From Mast Sanity/Mast Network

FLAC organising seminar series on Public Interest Law in Ireland
http://www.flac.ie/news/flacnews.htm
http://www.flac.ie/news/flacnews.htm#_FLAC_organising_seminar_series%20on%20P

The Bar Council's Voluntary Assistance Scheme
http://www.barcouncil.ie/docs/The_Bar_Councils_Voluntary_Assistance_Scheme/542.htm


Informant: Colette O'Connell

Thursday, May 25, 2006

By: Joe Barrett

A CAMPAIGN is under-way in Portlaoise to have a mobile phone antenna removed from a local hotel.

The mast was erected on the rear of O’Loughlin’s Hotel on the town’s main street about three weeks ago. Since then resistance to it has grown.

PJ Kavanagh, proprietor of the Wren’s Nest public house which is next door to the hotel, said the antenna was just nine metres from his bedroom window.

“There are no facts that can prove emissions from telecommunication masts are safe,” he said.

He said he had contacted the 3 telecommunications company through his solicitor and had received a reply that they do not require planning permission to erect the antenna on an existing building.

However, Mr Kavanagh alleged the erection of the antenna contravened the county development plan, which states such antenna cannot be erected within 400 meters of built up areas or schools.

Mr Kavanagh pointed out there are three schools in close proximity to the antenna. He said as well as erecting the antenna, other development works have been carried out on the site without the approval of the planning authority.

“For me there’s nothing in the world to say it’s safe. I have to live beside it 24/7 and it’s totally unacceptable.”

Mr Kavanagh said a number of shop owners along Main Street have drawn up a petition and businesses, residents, customers and the shops’ staff have signed the petitions. In his public house alone he said he has, to date, gathered about 140 signatures opposing the antenna.

A council spokesperson said after receiving a complaint two weeks ago about works being carried out at the site they investigated the matter. At that time he said, cables and boxes were being laid. The council issued a letter to Mr O’Loughlin, the hotel’s proprietor, asking him to inform them what was planned.

Since then the spokesperson said an antenna and other, “unau-thorised,” developments had taken place. He said the council was now of the opinion planning permission was required for the works and had requested Mr O’Loughlin to regularise matters. “In other words either he takes it down or he looks for planning permission for it,” said the spokesperson.

The council’s spokesperson said they were not aware of the identity of the mobile company that had erected the antenna.

Proprietor of the hotel, Declan O’Loughlin, said he was not aware of concerns of anyone and has received no complaints about the antenna.

He advised this paper to contact the mobile phone company 3 to seek further information on the matter.

A spokesperson from 3 advised us to contact the contractors TCI for comment.

Acquisition agent with TCI Stewart Callander said his company had been in contact with the council and had submitted the necessary documents. He said he was satisfied all planning regulations had been met by his company.

Mr Callander said his company had received no complaints from local residents or businesses in the area.

© Laois Nationalist, 2006.

http://www.laois-nationalist.ie/news/story.asp?j=22987

He warned that if the US decided to go ahead with a two-tier internet, the network would enter "a dark period".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5009250.stm


From Information Clearing House

President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations.

http://tinyurl.com/ouvyw


From Information Clearing House

The FBI's raid on a congressman's office is rippling through Capitol Hill, with majority Republicans in the House complaining to President Bush and predicting a constitutional showdown in the Supreme Court.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5842166,00.html


From Information Clearing House

Gulf nations, in particular the UAE and Qatar, are said to be suffering inflationary pressures due to the weakened dollar and there is discussion as to whether the dirham and the riyal should be released from their longtime hinge to the greenback. Some economists are making the case for Gulf currencies to be linked to a basket of foreign currencies instead.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13175.htm

The tide has turned against countries that abuse human rights in the name of anti-terrorism policies, says the head of Amnesty International, Irene Khan.

http://tinyurl.com/er5dr


From Information Clearing House

From several interviews with Iranian officials, researchers and foreign diplomats, it is clear that the Iranian army considers itself ready to repel a US land offensive and increasingly sees itself as the main regional power.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HE24Ak05.html



Iran Test Launches Shihab-3

Iran has conducted a test launch this evening of the Shihab-3 ("Comet") intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), with a range capable of striking Israel, all US forces in the region and Iran's Arab rivals.

http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=104161


From Information Clearing House

Iran asks for direct talks with U.S. on its nuclear program

Iran has followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent letter to President Bush with explicit requests for direct talks about its nuclear program, according to U.S. officials, Iranian analysts and foreign diplomats.

http://tinyurl.com/fabhy



Tehran has repeatedly announced readiness to hold talks with US unconditionally

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi on Wednesday referring to the recent claims made by the US President George W Bush about Iran's nuclear activities stressed that Tehran has repeatedly announced its readiness to hold talks without any precondition.

http://tinyurl.com/h92tt



U.S. refuses direct talks with Iran

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack confirmed that Iran has been showing interest in holding talks with the United States through intermediaries, but he said the United States has not replied.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20060524-1319-us-iran.html


From Information Clearing House

A Defense Department investigation of Pentagon-financed propaganda efforts in Iraq warns that paying Iraqi journalists to produce positive stories could damage American credibility and calls for an end to military payments to a group of Iraqi journalists in Baghdad.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/24/news/press.php


From Information Clearing House

The United States is riding roughshod over human rights by outsourcing key anti-terror work in Iraq to private contractors, who operate beyond Iraqi law and outside the military chain of command, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060524/ap_on_re_eu/human_rights_5


From Information Clearing House

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0524-23.htm



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

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12961060/


Informant: ranger116

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4536/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Just when you thought oil-friendly Members of Congress had run out of excuses for destroying the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they come up with a new reason to do Big Oil's dirty work.

This week they're dangling jobs and money in front of the American public. Their so-called "American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act" (H.R. 5429) uses wildly inflated numbers to claim that drilling the Arctic Refuge is good for labor and good for the federal treasury.

The truth? The big winner in this plan is ExxonMobil; who will be stuffing its already bloated coffer with billions more in profits. And the biggest losers are the American people; we'll sacrifice our greatest wildlife sanctuary while feeding our addiction to high-priced oil.

Click here to express your outrage at this bill by emailing your member of Congress right now. http://ga3.org/campaign/ArcticMay06

The federal government estimates that oil from the Refuge wouldn't be available for at least another ten years. Drilling wouldn't lower gas prices for at least twenty years and then only by ONE penny per gallon!

This Arctic destruction bill is being rushed to the floor for a vote tomorrow! Click here to express your outrage at this bill by emailing your member of Congress before it's too late! http://ga3.org/campaign/ArcticMay06

Please spread the word to your friends and family and ask them to join you in contacting their representatives, too.

Thank you for your help,

Katelyn Sabochik
Online Campaign Manager
info@saveourenvironment.org

The Federal Communications Commission will not pursue complaints about a US spy agency's access to millions of telephone records because it cannot obtain classified material, the FCC chairman said in a letter released on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the ACLU is launching a nationwide Don't Spy On Me campaign to urge the public to demand that the Federal Communications Commission and state utility commissions probe whether phone companies broke laws by sharing customer records with the government's biggest spy agency.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052406N.shtml

"Overall, the U.N. estimates that 10.40 million hectares of tropical forest were permanently destroyed each year in the period from 2000 to 2005, an increase since the 1990-2000 period, when around 10.16 million hectares of forest were lost."

mongabay.com May 21, 2006

Bush Administration misleads public on deforestation effort http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0521-tfca.html

The Bush Administration is misleading the American public and the United Nations about its efforts to address tropical deforestation according to analysis by the Tropical Forest Group, an environmental advocacy group based in Santa Barbara, California.

The Tropical Forest Group alleges that the US Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA), a key initiative to reduce carbon emissions and tropical deforestation, has been neglected for a year and a half despite recent claims by the Bush Administration that it was actively supporting the program.


RELATED ARTICLE United States has 7th highest rate of primary forest loss November 16, 2005

Primary forests are being replaced by "modified natural," "seminatural," and plantation forests in the United States according to new deforestation figures from the United Nations. Monday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released its 2005 Global Forest Resources Assessment, a regular report on the status world's forest resources. FAO found that the United States has the seventh largest annual loss of primary forests in the world, ranking it the worst among wealthy countries in that department. Between 2000 and 2005, the United States lost an average of 831 square miles (215,200 hectares, 2,152 square kilometers or 531,771 acres) of "primary forest" -- defined by FAO as forests with no visible signs of past or present human activities. These forests, often termed "old-growth forests," have the highest number of plant and animal species and are generally considered a top priority for conservation by environmentalists and government agencies.


The Tropical Forest Group says that the Administration issued two official reports in April - one to a U.N. body and another for the American public on Earth Day.

The first, "Submission of the United States: Views on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries: Approaches to Stimulate Action", was sent to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and reads "the United States has made a significant and sustained commitment to helping tropical countries conserve and protect their forest resources."

The second statement, issued by the State Department on April 21,
2006 -- the day before Earth Day -- is titled "Bush Administration Launches New Global Conservation Initiatives" and states "Šthe Bush Administration, assisted by the Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), has launched new global initiatives and partnerships, including those highlighted here." The statement claims "the US is contributing or generating $150 million to conserve tropical forests worldwide" through the TFCA and the President's Initiative Against Illegal logging.

The Tropical Forest Group contends that these statements are misleading at best. According to their analysis the administration has committed far less money to these efforts and has not signed a new TFCA conservation agreement in 18 months.

Hayley Nyeholt, TFG's associate director says, "I don't see how the Administration can make these proclamations with a straight face. They put $4 million into the President's illegal logging initiative. $20 million was allocated to the TFCA this year."

The Tropical Forest Group report goes on to urge the administration to fully fund the TFCA at $70 million a year and actually use the money for its stated purpose, saving tropical forests.

The Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) was enacted in 1998 to offer eligible developing countries forego paying back debt owed to the U.S. in exchange for supporting local tropical forest conservation activities. To date six countries -- Bangladesh, Belize, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, and the Philippines -- have signed TFCA agreements. The State Department says that these deals will deals will generate over $60 million for tropical forest conservation over the life of the agreements. A TFCA agreement can be structured as debt reduction, debt buyback, or debt-for-nature swap, according to the State Department web site.

According to U.N. data, tropical deforestation rates increased 8.5 percent from 2000-2005 when compared with the 1990s, while loss of primary forests expanded by almost 24 percent over the same period. Overall, the U.N. estimates that 10.40 million hectares of tropical forest were permanently destroyed each year in the period from 2000 to 2005, an increase since the 1990-2000 period, when around 10.16 million hectares of forest were lost. Among primary forests, annual deforestation rose to 6.26 million hectares from 5.41 million hectares in the same period. On a broader scale, U.N. data shows that primary forests are being replaced by less biodiverse plantations and secondary forests. Due to a significant increase in plantation forests, forest cover has generally been expanding in North America, Europe and China while diminishing in the tropics. Industrial logging, conversion for agriculture (commercial and subsistence), and forest fires -- often purposely set by people -- are responsible for the bulk of global deforestation today.

Tropical forests are the world's most biodiverse ecosystems. Scientists are concerned that tropical deforestation is contributing to global warming and causing a mass extinction event not seen since the dawn of civilization.

-- Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers
Working at the Crossroads of Environmental and Human Rights since 1990
PO Box 7941
Missoula Montana
59807 (406)728-0867


Informant: Scott Munson

http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html


Informant: Scott Munson

http://www.counterpunch.org/juel05192006.html

May 19, 2006 http://www.counterpunch.org/juel05192006.html

Ecological Extortion in the National Forests

Bush's Logging-for-Watershed Restoration Plan

By JEFF JUEL

Responding to their own well-deserved bad PR following decades of unsustainable logging and road building on national forest lands in the Northern Rockies and elsewhere, the U.S. Forest Service has been attempting to redefine the terms of the debate so the public will accept more industrial logging and roadbuilding on our public forests.

These days, as we pore over the governments' environmental documents, rarely are timber sales offered up solely for economic purposes. In almost every proposal, we read that "vegetation restoration" (i.e., logging) is needed, ironically enough, in order to compensate for the negative consequences of earlier logging and fire suppression, the latter of which was often done at the behest of the logging industry.

But whereas there is a vigorous scientific debate over whether industrial logging can actually restore our forests, there is simply no debate over the immediate need to restore watersheds--with stream ecosystems unraveling and native fish habitat choked by sediment following decades of road building and logging. The watershed restoration needs here in the Northern Rockies are immense with Forest Service estimates indicating that nearly 85% of the fish- passage culverts in our region are currently impassable to fish coupled with a road maintenance backlog of over $1.3 billion on the 67,000 miles of roads that crisscross our forests and watersheds.

Unfortunately, Congress has yet to appropriately prioritize and adequately fund genuine watershed restoration for our national forests. Perhaps this is due to the fact that since 1990 the logging industry and their lobbyists have given members of Congress $39 million in campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In recent years, the Forest Service has been displaying the disturbing tendency to utilize industrial logging as a way to raise funds for watershed restoration through something given the positive sounding name of "stewardship contracting." One such example is the Fishtrap logging project located twenty miles north of Thompson Falls, within a remote corner of the forest. The Fishtrap project calls for 3 1/2 square miles of industrial logging in unroaded wildlands, old-growth forests and important habitat for grizzly bears and bull trout.

The Forest Service wanted to "implement the Fishtrap project through stewardship contracting in order to accomplish as much of the identified restoration opportunities on the ground as possible. Stewardship contracting facilitates land restoration and enhancement efforts by using value of the traded goods (timber) for important work on the ground"

In some ways, this seems almost like extortion, forcing the public to permit logging in what are usually heavily logged watersheds so that some watershed restoration can be achieved. Obviously, this begs the question: how many timber sales would the agency have to hold in any given watershed, in order to get the excessive roads removed, the sediment sources fixed, the streams and streamside zone fully functioning, the fish populations recovered and the weeds controlled?

The WildWest Institute raised this question in the case of the Fishtrap project. The answer we got back was a tacit admission that the Forest Service's logging-for-watershed-restoration paradigm won't net nearly enough money to restore all the identified road and watershed problems in Fishtrap Creek. The Lolo National Forest stated, "Because road management and watershed restoration opportunitiesfar exceeded anticipated revenues, only the highest priority road treatments" were included in the decision, thus other watershed restoration needs were put on indefinite hold until funds might be found. However, the 3 1/2 square miles of industrial logging are fully funded by the decision.

Another, perhaps more insidious, form of extortion involves the Bitterroot National Forest, where the agency is resorting to a different sort of propaganda. In recognition of a legitimate need to reduce fire risk to a narrow stretch of private land along the East Fork of the Bitterroot River, the agency offered up the Middle East Fork logging project, under the auspices of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act.

However, instead of focusing limited fuel reduction resources along the ownership boundary, the Bitterroot National Forest also proposed to log nearly 4,000 acres of unlogged, old-growth forests far from the community. In response to agency scientists and other researchers who indicate that fuel reduction must be more narrowly prioritized, and to counter the Forest Service's unfounded claims that logging old- growth would "restore fire-adapted ecosystems," the WildWest Institute and Friends of the Bitterroot--together with retired Forest Service rangers, loggers, hikers, hunters and local residents-- proposed a smaller, more focused alternative that, according to the Forest Service, would have reduced fuels on 1,600 acres, created 45 jobs and pumped $1 million into the local economy.

Our alternative was also in recognition that the Middle East Fork project area is still recovering from past Forest Service mismanagement including clearcutting, terracing and excessive roadbuilding, which was so egregious that it lead to Congress passing the National Forest Management Act in 1976. In fact, a third of the entire analysis area has already been logged and the roads in the project area are currently dumping over 150 tons of sediment into streams annually.

We also requested that the Bitterroot National Forest create a list of all needed watershed restoration actions for the Middle East Fork project area, so that the Environmental Impact Statement would inform the public how much money it would take--and how many jobs would be available for local workers--to restore the badly damaged watersheds in the project area.

Unfortunately, Bitterroot Supervisor David Bull refused to provide such information, saying, "The Healthy Forests Restoration Act does not address or authorize such unrelated activities for watershed improvement purposes." If the HFRA is truly about restoring healthy forests, we wonder just how in the world that goal is accomplished without bona-fide, ecologically-based watershed restoration work. And what good is a "Healthy Forests Restoration Act" if the best that can be provided to the imperiled bull trout is an impaired status quo?

In order bring to light our federal government's disingenuous and ineffective logging-for-watershed-restoration paradigm--and due to other illegalities within both the Fishtrap and Middle East Fork logging projects--we have initiated the checks and balances provided by the third branch of government, by filing suit in U.S. District Court, in order to hold the Forest Service accountable and make sure that this government agency follows the law.

As the old saying goes, "When there's a will, there's a way." In the case of restoring our national forests, the WildWest Institute is working with diverse interests on many levels to find alternatives to the current, dysfunctional paradigm. We believe the opportunities are nearly endless and bona-fide restoration work could provide jobs for generations.

Unfortunately, until Congress and the Forest Service demonstrate the same willingness to make watershed and ecologically-based restoration activities a top priority, our public watersheds, forests and wildlife will continue to be compromised.

Jeff Juel is Ecosystem Defense Director of the WildWest Institute in Missoula, Montana.

-- Tim Hermach Native Forest Council PO Box 2190 Eugene, OR 97402 541.688.2600 541.461.2156 fax web page: http://www.forestcouncil.org

DEFENDING LIFE, LAND & LIBERTY * Honest & Fully Costed Accounting, * Voices of Integrity, Hope & Reason * Honest & Uncompromised Education, Advocacy & Litigation * Real Protection for 650 Million Acres of Federal Land, Rivers & Streams See for yourself at: http://forestcouncil.org/learn/aerial/index.html


Informant: Scott Munson

On Sunday, Alberto Gonzales told ABC's "This Week" that he would consider prosecuting reporters who get their hands on classified information and break news about President Bush's terrorist surveillance program.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052406I.shtml

Amnesty International: "It's difficult to believe that the United States government, which was once considered an exemplar of human rights, has sacrificed its most fundamental principles by abusing prisoners as a matter of policy, by disappearing detainees into a network of prisons and by abducting and sending people for interrogation to countries that practice torture."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052406D.shtml

The American-backed effort to arm tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers and officers, coupled with a failure to curb a nearly equal number of militia gunmen, has created a galaxy of armed groups, each with its own loyalty and agenda, which are accelerating the country's slide into chaos.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052406C.shtml

Major phone companies bob and weave on their roles in an NSA surveillance program as they brace for legal action.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052406B.shtml

Abschaltung gefordert: Kritik an geplanter Laufzeitverlängerung von Atomkraftwerken (24.05.06)

Die atomkritische Ärzteorganisation IPPNW kritisiert, dass sich die deutschen Atomkonzerne mit Umweltminister Sigmar Gabriel getroffen haben, um über die Verlängerung von Laufzeiten ihrer bestehenden Atomkraftwerke zu reden. RWE und EnBW wollten angeblich in den kommenden Wochen für mindestens zwei Atomkraftwerke längere Laufzeiten beantragen, schreibt der "Spiegel" in seiner neuesten Ausgabe.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=13689

Bei der Eröffnungsrede zum PEN-Kongress in Berlin wirft Günter Grass dem englischen Premierminister Tony Blair und dem US-Präsidenten George Bush Lügen, Heuchelei und Verbrechen vor. Damit verbunden wird die Forderung an den Schriftsteller, sich politisch stärker zu engagieren.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22741/1.html

Nach einer Umfrage gehen 42 Prozent der US-Bürger davon aus, dass die US-Regierung etwas im Zusammenhang mit den Anschlägen vom 11.9. verbergen will, 45 Prozent fordern eine erneute Untersuchung.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22735/1.html

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4532/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

A COLD WAR TIMETABLE http://www.exile.ru/2006-May-19/the_cold_war_timeline.html


Informant: Kev Hall

Under orders from Congress, the Department of Energy and Bureau of Land Management will approve thousands of miles of new power line and pipeline corridors on federal lands across the West in the next 14 months. The energy easements are likely to cross national parks, forests and military bases as well as other public land.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/052306EC.shtml

A future for planet Earth and humanity requires that a third major revolution - a successor to the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions - be initiated by the Earth's most influential life form. This third revolution will clearly have to be an Ecological one.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/052306EB.shtml

--------

Support sustainable living
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/2063962/

The current bribery scandals must be put into the proper perspective argues Will Pitt: "It is one thing to take a bribe. It is another entirely to take a bribe that cuts the legs out from under our ability as a nation to defend itself."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052306R.shtml

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/635


Informant: ranger116



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

If you know of any U.S. Soldier that has died in Iraq check the alphabetized list here and if their name is Not on it notify your Representative and newspaper.

http://www.freedomunderground.org/iraq_cas_ver.php

Pass it on !


Informant: ranger116

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4531/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

by Dawn Holian, TomPaine.com

Net neutrality storms the next battlefield, the House Judiciary Committee.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/24/the_internets_long_war.php

by Gary Younge, TomPaine.com

Bush and Blair are now fighting not for their political lives but for their political obituaries.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/24/george_and_tonys_legacy.php

http://tinyurl.com/hnosq


From Information Clearing House

If the U.S.$ declined substantially, it could lead to Capital Controls to protect against foreign governments' withdrawal of their investments in the U.S.A. - The U.S. would be particularly likely to impose Capital Controls because of the huge volumes of externally owned U.S. currency.

http://tinyurl.com/ewfvq


From Information Clearing House

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/23/1358250


From Information Clearing House

Joseph Cannon [1] rightly calls our attention to Elena Benador, the woman who played a crucial role in brainwashing millions of Americans into supporting the invasion of Iraq - and is trying to do the same in Iran.

http://www.democrats.com/node/9012/print


From Information Clearing House

The war on terror is provoking more terror, Amnesty International secretary-general Irene Khan told IPS in an interview Tuesday at the launch of the human rights group's 2005 annual report.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13168.htm

Nuri al-Maliki, the new Iraqi prime minister, said British troops would hand over responsibility in two provinces to Iraqi security forces by next month and that he expected US, British and other foreign troops out of 16 of the country's 18 provinces by the end of the year, a much speedier and more ambitious schedule than the US and Britain have so far admitted to.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13157.htm

By Jason Miller

When laws in the United States began making it prohibitive for the Social Darwinists to exploit employees and the environment to the extent that it engorged their bank accounts, they began moving their operations to countries which did not have these “harsh constraints”.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13159.htm

By AFX

The OECD has warned that the eventual rebalancing of the US current account gap 'looks increasingly unavoidable' and will send shock waves across the globe, starting with a slump in the dollar's exchange rate. The OECD said in its world economic outlook that the depreciation faced by the dollar could be 'of the order of one-third to one-half.'

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13167.htm

By Peter Walker

Washington had failed to bring to account those potentially guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity, it added.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13163.htm

BBC Newsnight

Albert Moro, in his first broadcast interview. Click here to view Real Video
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13155.htm

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4524/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

STOP HAYDEN ACTION PAGE:
http://www.usalone.com/impeachteam/pnum295.php

How outrageous is it that the NSA head who implemented the wiretap crimes of the Bush administration should now be considered for head of the CIA? All the members of the Impeach Team are strongly opposed to this nomination. While they are calling for impeachment, they are at the same time also opposing putting accessories to the high crimes of the president and vice-president in positions of high public trust and responsibility.

It not just that they've been secretly monitoring without warrant virtually every domestic phone call in the US. Now we find they've been expressly targeting journalists for spying. Pretty slick system, isn't it? They make all evidence of their malfeasance classified information, and then they threaten to prosecute anyone who would dare expose them in the media.

As to General Hayden in particular, when challenged on the wiretap scandal recently he proclaimed, "Believe me, if there is any amendment to the Constitution that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it's the 4th," after having just denied that there was any reference to the expression "probable cause" in there to regulate unreasonable searches and seizures. Unfortunately for him the text of the 4th amendment to the Constitution is in the public record.

STOP HAYDEN ACTION PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/impeachteam/pnum295.php

Even Republican leaders have admitted this spying program is "clearly and categorically wrong." What they have NOT done is challenge the administration in any way on their abuses of power. But that is what we must do, to continue to speak out, to stop the Hayden nomination, and to correct the underlying problem itself, the abuse of our democracy by calling for impeachment now.

Some fear that taking a strong stand for impeachment will hurt our chances in November. The opposite is in fact true. Your fellow constituents, and this crosses party lines, are just as appalled as you are with our current members of Congress and their continued failure to stand up for us. Strong candidates who are NOT afraid to speak the truth, and NOT afraid to stand up now help our chances in November. By supporting these candidates, we can inspire the turnout we need to overcome the expected pre-meditated election fraud.

Some fear that challenging the president will mobilize his base against us. What base? Less than 30% still cling to the vain belief that Bush and Cheney are either competent or truthful. Instead, we will rally our own base in a way that is not otherwise possible, and it will be the other side who sits out the election in disgust with the neocon nightmare we have for an Administration.

Some fear that any replacement for either Bush or Cheney might be equally as bad. All we know is wherever the people's impeachment movement takes us we must go there. Only if the voice of the people is strong can we stop the slide into the unitary dictatorship being exercised now. At the very least we will be able to chasten their successors.

What we are asking is that everyone who reads this should contribute at least ten dollars to help these brave candidates run their "call to action" ads. They want to run ads on Air America, not just in Los Angeles, but nationally to build the people's impeachment movement. They want to run ads in the L.A. Times so that the impeachment movement has real visibility. If each and every one of you can just contribute what you can now, this could be a real tipping point.

"CALL TO ACTION" AD DONATIONS: http://www.usalone.com/impeachteam/donations.php

If you can contribute more, what a blessing that would be. There are many for whom $25, $50 or $100 is something they could comfortably do. Imagine what it would be like if you were so fortunate as to be able to contribute the campaign limit of $2100 to one of these worthy candidates. That's enough to buy an entire WEEK's worth of Air American streaming ads, calling on progressives everywhere to join the impeachment movement now.

We have spent two years complaining about the incumbents we have now, watching as they have failed us again and again. Now we have the chance to actually DO something about it. What we are asking is that even if you respond to no other appeal this year, THIS is the one that counts. THIS is the one that could mean the difference between being stuck with the same smug losers for what could be the last gasp of our great democracy, or replacing them NOW with candidates with the courage to take a stand for us.

This is your chance America. This is your chance to be rid of Bush and his gang of cronies forever. They remain in power only because they have conned you out of your own democracy. They remain in power only because we have not yet all spoken out at one time, all at the same time, to finally throw them out.

Look at what they have done to our country. Look at what it costs you every day extra just in the increase in gas prices caused entirely by their reckless destabilization of the Middle East, which they are determined to turn into an even wider conflagration. Look at all the money they have stolen from your own pocket to give lavish gifts to their most wealthy corporate cronies, in unlimited interest rates, propped up prescription drug prices, and paid for by the gutting of programs for the most needy.

"CALL TO ACTION" AD DONATIONS: http://www.usalone.com/impeachteam/donations.php

Then, please think what it would be worth to you to remove our tormentors from office right now. And whatever that number is, make that donation today to build the impeachment movement which will make it happen.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

Powered by The People's Email Network Copyright 2006, Patent pending, All rights reserved



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

CounterPunch
by Alice Cherbonnier

05/23/06

The recent USA Today revelation that three major phone companies have (allegedly) been providing phone call records to the NSA shouldn't come as a shock. Our government has been seeking to harness maximum data for many years -- for all kinds of purposes, legitimate and illegitimate. As technology has advanced, so too have the means of harvesting and mining digital information. Just about everything about anybody or anything can be datamined by those with the motive, means, and opportunity. Just who are these people, and who's giving them a license to delve into our record?

http://www.counterpunch.org/cherbonnier05232006.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

Total Information Lives Again
http://justanotherblowback.blogspot.com/2006/10/total-information-lives-again.html


Informant: Eric Stewart

Mother Jones
by Tom Engelhardt

05/23/06

Interview with Andrew Bacevich: "Certainly, it's become incontrovertible that the Iraq War is not going to end happily. Even if we manage to extricate ourselves and some sort of stable Iraq emerges from the present chaos, arguing that the war lived up to the expectations of the Bush administration is going to be very difficult. My own sense is that the officer corps -- and this probably reflects my personal experience to a great degree -- is fixated on Vietnam and still believes the military was hung out to dry there. The officer corps came out of the Vietnam War determined never to repeat that experience and some officers are now angry to discover that the Army is once again stuck in a quagmire. So we are in the early stages of a long argument about who is to be blamed for the Iraq debacle...

http://www.motherjones.com/interview/2006/05/andrew_bacevich.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.unknownnews.org/060522a-MrChuckles.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

No Force, No Fraud
by Bob Smith

05/24/06

In Minnesota, JOBZ is being challenged as unconstitutional, but I suspect that even if it is so declared, the state will make enough changes in the program to get around any court ruling. Subsidies please the people who receive them, which gathers votes and campaign contributions, and that is, after all, what drives politics. Politicians giving away taxpayer money are buying votes. One of the principles our nation was founded on was equal opportunity. Whenever government plays favorites, subsidizing some at the expense of others, it destroys the equality of opportunity...

http://tinyurl.com/nlkf7


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith

05/23/06

What those libertarians who remain true to principle should be thinking about at this moment is what the world is going to look like after this war is over with, and, more importantly, how can future wars like it be prevented. ... People on the Left desperately need to get this straight: this war is as much the Democrats' baby as it is the Republicans'. Over the past century or so, it was their irrational foreign policies, their imperialistic interventions, their political assassinations, and their irrational bombings, quite fully as much the Republicans', that the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was intended to avenge. And so my first prescription for libertarians -- and for everybody else -- is that both the Republicans and the Democrats must never hold office again. They must be thrown on the proverbial ashheap of history...

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2006/tle368-20060521-06.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent [UK]

05/23/06

The veteran peace activist Brian Haw was stripped of his anti-war banners and placards by up to 50 police officers in an early-morning raid in Parliament Square yesterday. There were chaotic and farcical scenes as police wrestled with nine dishevelled protesters led by Mr Haw, and a 40-metre line of anti-war placards, including two donated by the graffiti artist Banksy, was dismantled and dumped in a metal container. Two demonstrators, Martin McGrath and Maria Gallastegui, who tried to climb the metal container to salvage the placards, were arrested. ... The battle between police and the 57-year-old protester has been going on for some time. Last July, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act came into force, bringing with it powers to halt demonstrations in Parliament Square and its vicinity, a provision widely seen as having been designed with Mr Haw in mind...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article570949.ece


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

BusinessWeek

Furor and confusion over allegations that major phone companies have surrendered customer calling records to the National Security Agency continue to roil Washington. But if AT&T Inc. (T ) and possibly others have turned over records to the NSA, the phone giants represent only one of many commercial sources of personal data that the government seeks to 'mine' for evidence of terrorist plots and other threats. The Departments of Justice, State, and Homeland Security spend millions annually to buy commercial databases that track Americans' finances, phone numbers, and biographical information, according to a report last month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress... (for publication 05/29/06)

http://tinyurl.com/jlzj9


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Miami Herald

05/23/06

Prosecutors at the court martial of an Army dog handler said Tuesday he was part of a crew of corrupt soldiers who enjoyed tormenting detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Maj. Matthew Miller said in his opening statement that Sgt. Santos A. Cardona harassed prisoners for 'nothing more than the entertainment of the accused and the enjoyment of the other corrupt cops serving on the night shift at Abu Ghraib.' But defense attorney Harvey Volver said Cardona, a 32-year-old military policeman from Fullerton, Calif., followed the law and obeyed orders at a time when the Pentagon was pressing for intelligence and the chain of command at the prison was broken...

http://tinyurl.com/krgym


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Philadelphia Inquirer

05/23/06

A civil rights group was launching a nationwide Don't Spy On Me campaign Wednesday to urge the public to demand that the Federal Communications Commission and state utility commissions probe whether phone companies broke laws by sharing customer records with the government's biggest spy agency. On its Web site Tuesday night, the American Civil Liberties Union said it was demanding action at the FCC in Washington, D.C., and in 17 states. It was to advertise the start of its program in newspapers across the country Wednesday. The campaign, symbolized by a telephone with an eye on it, urges members of the public to go to an ACLU Web site to add their names to complaints being filed with the FCC and with state utility commissions to show there is a large population of people upset by the sharing of their records...

http://tinyurl.com/htrgt


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

American Civil Liberties Union: Don't Spy On Me

It's illegal and un-American for your phone company to hand over your phone records to the government without a legal order. But it looks like that's just what they're doing: violating the privacy and rights of millions of innocent Americans in the process.

The phone companies have no right to forfeit your privacy. And just last night we learned that the FCC has refused to investigate these illegal actions, using the same “state secrets” excuse used by the very phone companies it’s supposed to hold accountable.

Today, the ACLU is launching a nationwide consumer campaign demanding that regulators do their jobs and protect our privacy. We need your help.

Act now to stop phone companies from abusing your privacy.
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=lIT6JCGMcrZFGeRAVKBmMw..

It’s outrageous that the agency created to guard the people’s interest is burying its head in the sand during what may be the most massive abuse of customer privacy in American history.

We can’t stand idly by while corporations, federal regulators and even our elected leaders fail to champion our rights or uphold our basic system of checks and balances. The power to right these wrongs ultimately resides in the hands of the American people.

The ACLU is filing formal documents with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) insisting that they fulfill their regulatory obligation and investigate this breach of consumer trust. At the same time, ACLU offices across the country are filing similar demands with regulatory authorities in dozens of states.

Regulators need to hear that the public demands action. The longer the list of names, the more powerful our message. Federal and state officials must use their authority to investigate and fine the phone companies, and your voice will make a difference.

Act now to stop phone companies from abusing your privacy.
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=04J0L4G6vriQe90q7fhSAA..

We must not allow the government and the phone companies to collude in this massive illegal attack on our privacy and our trust.

And we certainly can’t wait for Congress to act, or for the phone companies to reverse course.

Join us in telling the FCC that we won’t take no for an answer -- they must investigate. And don’t let the states follow the FCC’s wrong-headed example. We are simultaneously filing 20 actions across the nation TODAY.

Please add your name and your voice. All you have to do is use our online form. We’ll add your name to our demand for FCC action and to local filings in applicable states. After you sign on, you can also send an email directly to each of the four FCC commissioners letting them know Americans want answers and action.

Act now to stop phone companies from abusing your privacy.
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=NX6LtBO9UwWYZx8Aq0dRtQ..

As always, thank you for standing with us. Every voice in this fight is going to matter, so please take action today.

Sincerely,

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director ACLU

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/23/news/gmo.php


Informant: binstock

Tampa Bay Online

05/14/06

President Hamid Karzai ordered an investigation Tuesday into the deaths of at least 16 civilians in one of the deadliest U.S. airstrikes since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Meanwhile, an additional 19 people were killed in new violence. Karzai expressed 'concern at the coalition forces' decision to bomb civilian areas' at the village of Azizi in Kandahar province, but he also strongly condemned the 'terrorists' act of cowardice' in using civilians as human shields...

http://tinyurl.com/frg5n


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article570954.ece


Informant: Kev Hall

Is the National Security Agency being "turned against the people," as the Congressional committee led by Sen. Frank Church warned might happen? We the people cannot know; it's classified. While acknowledging the NSA's technological capability as a "sensitive national asset valuable to national defense," the Church committee sharply warned, "If not properly controlled ... this same capability could be turned against the American people, at great cost to liberty."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052406Z.shtml

Globally we are consuming natural resources at a faster rate than our planet can replenish them.

We need to reduce our impact - our ecological footprint - to a sustainable level. The challenge that faces us all is how can people everywhere enjoy a high quality of life, within the capacity of one planet?

One of the answers lies in Mata de Sesimbra in Portugal. This is the first of five flagship communities, one in each continent, which will have sustainable ecological footprints yet maintain high standards of living.

Please sign our petition and help make this project a reality
http://mail.panda.org/inxmail/url?vty0q00gzli00blq43a3

Under the proposal, an area characterised by damaging development would be transformed into the world's first-ever integrated sustainable building, tourism, nature conservation and reforestation programme.

It will create thousands of zero-carbon, zero-waste homes, restore degraded woodland and lead to thousands of new jobs for local people.

All it now needs is approval by the authorities, and that's where you come in. Take action today and support sustainable living.
http://mail.panda.org/inxmail/url?vty0q00gzli00blq43a3

Thank you,

WWF International

--------

The Human Ecological Footprint
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/2064926/

Jan Treacher and Jo Spillane with fellow protesters outside the Marlborough House

Oxford residents were shocked that mobile phone masts are being erected on pubs near primary schools.

Mobile phone giant T-Mobile is building masts on the roof of the Marlborough House pub, in Western Road, a short distance from St Ebbe's Primary School, and on top of the Chester Arms pub, in Chester Street, next to SS Mary and John Primary School.

The mobile phone company told the city council's planning department that it is erecting the masts, but the firm has permitted development rights and does not need planning permission.

T-Mobile signed a national agreement with Punch Taverns allowing it to put phone masts on its premises. But residents say the county council ban on mobile phone masts being set up in schools should have been taken into account.

Louise Elwell, of Western Road, whose 10-year-old son goes to school near the Marlborough House pub, said: "Putting up the mast here is inconsistent with the county council's policy.

"There is ongoing concern about the long-term effects of radiation that could be generated by these masts. I think this has been badly handled by T-Mobile's community relations department, who have not explained what type of mast or antennae is going up."

Jan Treacher, a governor at St Ebbe's Primary School, said parents and governors had contacted T-Mobile to complain.

"It's a very densely populated residential area, and I don't think residents are too happy either," she added.

On Saturday, residents living near the Chester Arms launched a petition against a mobile phone mast being erected on the pub's chimney.

Gordon Simmons, a spokesman for T-Mobile, said: "The mast will take the form of a flagpole on the side of the building, and it will be less than 15 metres in height, otherwise we would need planning permission, and the structure cannot be four metres higher than the roofline. There are 62.5m mobile phones in use in the UK, and they do not work without base stations like these."

11:42am today

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.770003.0.parents_angry_as_masts_go_up.php

during 2006 Annual Report Release
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0523-02.htm

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0523-02.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=AT%26T+

Documents Describe Technology Allegedly Used in Surveillance by Telecom Giant
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0523-01.htm

http://www.mayyoubeblessedmovie.com/

The "May You Be Blessed" Movie is part of the
One Million Blessings in One Hundred Days Experiment
http://www.mayyoubeblessedmovie.com/onemillionblessings.html


Informant: nightowlnation


We Send You Our Blessings

Thank you. May you be blessed with all things good for helping us to spread the word and turn the One Million Blessings in One Hundred Days Experiment into a reality!

Kate



The Word

May you be blessed
with all things good.
May your joys, like the stars at night,
be too numerous to count.
May your victories be more abundant
than all the grains of sand
on all the beaches
on all the oceans
in all the world.
May lack and struggle be always
absent from your life
and may beauty order and abundance
be your constant companions.
May every pathway you choose
lead to that which is pure and good and lovely.
May every doubt and fear
be replaced by a deep abiding trust
as you behold evidence of a Higher Power
all around you.
And when there is only darkness
and the storms of life are closing in
May the light at the core of your being
illuminate the world.
May you always be aware you are loved beyond measure
and may you be willing to love unconditionally in return.
May you always feel protected and cradled
in the arms of God,
like the cherished child you are.
And when you are tempted to judge
may you be reminded that we are all ONE
and that every thought you think
reverberates across the universe,
touching everyone and everything.
And when you are tempted to hold back,
may you remember that love flows best when
it flows freely
and it is in giving that we receive
the greatest gift.
May you always have music and laughter
and may a rainbow follow every storm
May gladness wash away every disappointment
may joy dissolve every sorrow
and my love ease every pain.
May every wound bring wisdom
and every trial bring triumph
and with each passing day
may you live more abundantly than the day before.
May you be blessed
And may others be blessed by you.
This is my heartfelt wish for you.
May you be blessed.

Ich schicke Ihnen diese Artikel mit der Bitte um Weiterleitung an alle Betroffenen, damit hierzu viele Leserbriefe geschrieben werden.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/leserbrief_vom_17_05_06_der_anschluss_an_die_moderne.jpg
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/frankenpost_naila_23_05_2006_leserbrief.jpg


Mit freundlichen Grüssen

Familie Griebl



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

"Dem Staatsgast Bush die rote Karte"

Dokumentiert: Pressemitteilungen aus der Friedensbewegung zum Deutschlandbesuch des US-Präsidenten und zum drohenden Iran-Krieg http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5/frieden/bewegung/Bush-Besuch/bush06-baf.html


Bush in Deutschland: "Nicht schon wieder!" Friedensbewegung beschließt Aktionen zum Bush-Besuch (22. Mai 2006)

Am 20. Mai fand in Berlin ein Treffen der Friedensbewegung statt, auf dem über Aktionen beim bevorstehenden Bush-Besuch beraten wurde (Am 14. Juli bundesweite Demo in Stralsund, 13. und 15. Juli: Aktionen im ganzen Land). Über die Ergebnisse informieren im Folgenden eine Pressemitteilung des Bundesausschusses Friedensratschlag sowie ein Interview, das die "junge Welt" mit dem DFG-VK-Sprecher Monty Schädel aus Mecklenburg-Vorpommern führte. http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5/frieden/bewegung/Bush-Besuch/bush06-baf2.html


Dossier: Bush in Deutschland (Stralsund 2006, Mainz 2005, Berlin 2002) http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5/frieden/bewegung/Bush-Besuch/Welcome.html


Aus: LabourNet, 24. Mai 2006

-------

Bush in Deutschland (und Österreich): Nicht schon wieder!

Menschenleere Zone rund um Bush

Hotel in Heiligendamm weiträumig mit Stacheldraht gesichert. 200 Quadratkilometer Seegebiet gesperrt, Gullydeckel in Stralsund zugeschweißt. jW-Bericht in junge Welt vom 11.07.2006 http://www.jungewelt.de/2006/07-11/043.php


Aus: LabourNet, 11. Juli 2006

Terrorismusbekämpfung und Grundrechte

Nur bei konkreter Gefahr. Die bundesweite Rasterfahndung nach den Anschlägen vom 11. September 2001 war in Teilen verfassungswidrig

„Das Bundesverfassungsgericht in Karlsruhe hat in einem mit Spannung erwarteten Urteil entschieden, dass eine präventive Rasterfahndung, wie sie nach dem 11.9. – überdies ergebnislos – durchgeführt wurde Rasterfahndung in Deutschland), nur in engen Grenzen zulässig ist. Das höchste Gericht lehnte allerdings eine Rasterfahndung nicht generell ab (vgl. Rasterfahndung nach 11. September 2001 verfassungswidrig)…“ Artikel von Peter Nowak in telepolis vom 23.05.2006 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/22/22731/1.html

Siehe dazu die Leitsätze zum Beschluss des Ersten Senats vom 4. April 2006 - 1 BvR 518/02 http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/entscheidungen/rs20060404_1bvr051802.html


Aus: LabourNet, 24. Mai 2006

Medizin und Ökonomie

Korruption im Gesundheitswesen

Misswirtschaft abstellen: Beitragserhöhungen sind keine Lösung

„Die Unterhändler beider Regierungsparteien verhandeln derzeit auf Regierungs- und Parlamentsebene die neueste Gesundheitsreform. Sie soll für etliche Jahre Bestand haben. Zur gleichen Zeit legt Transparency International Deutschland die deutsche Fassung des „Global Corruption Report“ mit dem Titel „Jahrbuch Korruption – Schwerpunkt: Korruption im Gesundheitswesen“ vor. Diese Fassung ist angereichert durch einen analytischen Einführungstext zur Situation des Gesundheitswesens in Deutschland mit Vergleichen zur Situation in den deutschsprachigen Ländern Österreich und Schweiz. Die drei Autoren dieses Textes erklären dazu: „Deutschland ist nach den USA und der Schweiz das drittteuerste Land, was die Kosten seines Gesundheitswesens angeht. Die Leistungen für die Versicherten und der Gesundheitszustand der Menschen in Deutschland liegen im internationalen Vergleich aber nur im Mittelfeld. Wir fragen uns und die Öffentlichkeit seit nunmehr mehr als fünf Jahren: Welchen Anteil an dieser Diskrepanz haben Misswirtschaft, Betrug und Korruption im Gesundheitsbereich? Eine Antwort auf unsere diesbezüglichen Fragen sind uns Bundes- und Landesregierungen seit unserer ersten Untersuchung 2001 immer noch schuldig…“ Presseerklärung von Transparency International Deutschland vom 16.05.2006 http://www.transparency.de/2006-05-16_Gesundheit.911.0.html


Transparenzmängel im Gesundheitswesen

„Hintergrund: Ein besonders anfälliges Gebiet für Korruption ist das öffentliche Gesundheitswesen. Hier arbeiten komplexe Großverwaltungen - Krankenkassen, Ärzteverbände, Apothekerverbände, Länderministerien, Bundesministerien - daran, die Gesundheit der Versicherten zu erhalten, wiederherzustellen oder zu verbessern. Sie geben dazu viele Milliarden Euro jährlich aus (etwa zehn Prozent des Bruttosozialprodukts), die bei den Versicherten und deren Arbeitgebern erhoben werden. Die Leistungen werden von ebenso komplexen Organisationen erbracht - Pharmakonzernen, Medizingeräteherstellern, Kliniken und Rehabilitationszentren. Aufgrund seiner Komplexität ist das Gesundheitssystem äußerst korruptionsanfällig.
1999 wies die polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik 13.500 Fälle von Wirtschaftskriminalität im Gesundheitsbereich auf. Schaden: 20 Mio DM. Dabei ist jedoch die Dunkelziffer erheblich. Im internationalen Vergleich ist das deutsche Gesundheitswesen eines der teuersten, aber deswegen nicht das beste…“ Hintergrundartikel mit vielen weiteren Links auf der Seite von Transparency International Deutschland http://www.transparency.de/Gesundheitswesen.gesundheit.0.html


Sind deutsche Ärzte bestechlich?

Interview von Claus Dümde mit Prof. Dr. med. Peter Schönhöfer über Korruption im Gesundheitswesen, der emeritierte Professor für klinische Pharmakologie ist Mitherausgeber des kritischen »arznei-telegramms«, erschienen in Neues Deutschland vom 17.05.2006 http://www.nd-online.de/artikel.asp?AID=90568&IDC=2


1001 Geschichten und kein einziges Märchen - Aus dem Alltag eines kranken Gesundheitssystems

„Auf dieser Seite sammeln wir wahre Geschichten über die Ware Gesundheit. Geschichten über ein Gesundheitssystem, das zu einer x-beliebigen Branche der Wirtschaft zu werden scheint. Wo Kommerz und Profit die Überhand gewinnen über Fürsorge und Berufsethos. Schreiben auch Sie eine kleine Geschichte auf, die Sie als Beschäftigte/r im Gesundheitswesen oder auch als Patientin oder Patient oder Angehörige/r erlebt haben. (…) Die Bundesregierung will im Sommer eine erneute Gesundheitsreform vorlegen. Wir sammeln bis dahin Geschichten, die der Alltag schreibt, ein lesenwerter Vorgeschmack auf das, was sich jetzt schon abspielt und was uns in Zukunft häufiger erwartet. Bis zum Juli 2006 sollen es 1001 Geschichten werden, mit denen wir gehörig Aufmerksamkeit erregen wollen. Wenn es gelingt, erscheint das Projekt noch im Juli in Buchform oder auf CD. Rechtzeitig, um es allen Bundestagsabgeordneten als Pflichtlektüre mit in den Urlaub zu geben, bevor im Herbst die parlamentarischen Lesungen beginnen...“ Kampagnen-Seite der Initiative IPPNW – Internationale Ärzte für die Verhütung des Atomkrieges / Ärzte in sozialer Verantwortung e.V. http://www.kein-einziges-maerchen.de/

Siehe dazu auch:

»Medizin und Gewissen 2006« - Im Streit zwischen Markt und Solidarität

Sonder-Seite der Initiative IPPNW – Internationale Ärzte für die Verhütung des Atomkrieges / Ärzte in sozialer Verantwortung e.V. zum Internationaler IPPNW-Kongress am 20. – 22. Oktober 2006 in Nürnberg http://www.medizinundgewissen.de/default.aspx


Aus: LabourNet, 24. Mai 2006

Petitionsrecht im Zusammenhang mit Sozialrecht

„… am 11(09).04.2006 verfasste ich eine Petition zum fehlenden Grundrechtsschutz von ALG II-Beziehern durch den Gesetzgeber. Diese schickte ich einerseits in Schriftform an den Petitionsausschuss, anderseits wollte ich die Möglichkeit einer „Öffentlichen Petition“ nutzen. Unter Pet 4-16-11-81503-00642 erhielt ich nun vom Petitionsausschuss die Mitteilung, dass meine Petition zwar angenommen jedoch nicht veröffentlicht wird, „weil das Anliegen zu pauschal gefasst und daher für eine sachliche und inhaltlich weiterführende öffentliche Diskussion nicht geeignet ist.“ (Schreiben v. 02.05.2006). Dieses Vorgehen verletzt mein Grundrecht aus GG Art. 17 (Petitionsrecht)…“ Antwort von Armin Kammrad vom 21.05.2006 an den Petitionsausschuss des Deutschen Bundestags http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/zwang/rechtsbruch2.html

Siehe dazu bereits im LabourNet:

Betrifft: Fehlende gesetzliche Regelungen gegen Sozialmissbrauch und Rechtsbrüche durch die ARGEN. Petition von Armin Kammrad vom 09.04.2006 an den Petitionsausschuss des Deutschen Bundestags http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/zwang/rechtsbruch.html


Aus: LabourNet, 24. Mai 2006

Published: 23rd May 2006

MEMBERS of the church council of St Aidan’s have upset local residents by agreeing to have a phone mast erected on the building’s tower.

The final decision will be made after consultation ends tomorrow.

But concerns have already been raised by local residents worried about the close proximity of the mast to their homes.

Gary Byrom of Bruce Street said: “As a local resident, this proposed siting so close to houses disturbs me as there are ongoing public health concerns regarding electromagnetic radiation emitted from these masts.

“It seems totally wrong for the church to put financial gain ahead of the welfare of the community it serves and I feel strongly this proposed siting should be rejected by Sudden and Meadway residents.”

Malcolm Bywater, a church warden, said one of the reasons the council approved the plans was because of the lack of conclusive health issues.

He said: “We discussed the matter of health grounds and decided there was no proof of problems and there was more damage from holding a mobile phone to your ear.

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

“There won’t be any visual effect on the church because the equipment will be hidden high up in the tower behind 3ft stone walls.

“And parishioners will only be in church for about half-an-hour so I don’t think it will affect them.”

Churches are required to apply for diocesan planning permission and local authority pre-consultation to ensure changes in a church remain under public scrutiny.

Mr Bywater said the rent the mast would bring would bring a ‘significant’ amount of money for church funds.

Beatriz Ayala

First published by the Rochdale Observer

Submit your comments
http://www.rochdaleobserver.co.uk/news/comments/form.html?story_id=213292

© Copyright 2006 Guardian Media Group

http://www.rochdaleobserver.co.uk/news/s/213/213292_church_under_fire_over_phone_mast_decision.html

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4529/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Do., 08. Juni 2006, 19.30 Uhr, in der Brienner Str. 46, U 1/7 und Tram 20/21 Stiglmaierplatz (3 min zu Fuß), U 2/8 Königsplatz (5 min zu Fuß), Eintritt ist frei,

Anfang letzten Jahres bewegte das Thema Feinstaub die Münchner Bürgerinnen und Bürger besonders stark. Mit der 35. Überschreitung des Tagesmittelgrenzwertes für Feinstaub an der Landshuter Allee wurde eine breite Debatte angestoßen. Allerlei Lösungsansätze, ob hilfreich oder nicht, wurden diskutiert; der schwarze Peter für das Feinstaubchaos wurde zwischen Kommune, Land und Bund ständig hin und her geschoben. Zurück blieben verunsicherte Bürgerinnen und Bürger. Und obwohl in München auch in diesem Jahr die Grenzwerte bereits häufiger gerissen wurden als im vergangenen, ist das Thema weitgehend aus der öffentlichen Diskussion verschwunden.

Ist das Problem deshalb auch gelöst?

Umweltzone, LKW-Transitverbot oder doch allgemeine Fahrverbote - wie geht es in München weiter? Welche Maßnahmen sind wirklich sinnvoll, um den Feinstaub nachhaltig zu reduzieren?

Referent: Dr. Stefan Taschner arbeitet bei Green City e.V. im Bereich nachhaltige Mobilität. Er beschäftigt sich u.a. als Kampagnenleiter mit dem Thema Feinstaub und hat zahlreiche Aktionen in München rund um dieses Thema initiiert und koordiniert. Gemeinsam mit dem Bund Naturschutz formulierte er einen Maßnahmenkatalog zur wirksamen Bekämpfung des Feinstaubes.

Bildmaterial: http://www.oedp-muenchen.de/Mann-mit-Gasmaske-und-Schild.jpg

Näheres zur Umweltorganisation Green City unter: http://www.greencity.de


Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Markus Hollemann
Regionalbeauftragter
Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei (ödp) Stadtverband München
Fon 089/45 24 74 15 × Fax 089/244 365 397
E-Mail m.hollemann@oedp-muenchen.de
http://www.oedp-muenchen.de


Veranstaltungshinweise:

Alle Vorträge finden jeweils am zweiten Donnerstag im Monat in den Räumen der Gregor-Louisoder-Umweltstiftung statt: Brienner Str. 46, zwischen U2/U8 Königsplatz und U1/U7 Stiglmaierplatz.

Do., 13. Juli 2006, 19.30 Uhr "Die Welt vor einer neuen Energiekrise? - Solare Zukunft ohne Erdöl und Atomenergie?" Referent: Dr. Herbert Kuhn, Ingenieur, Energieberater

Do., 10. Aug. 2006, 19.30 Uhr "Limbische Wahrheiten – Gehirnforschung, Marketing und Ökologie" Referent: Günther Hartmann, Berater im Stadt- und Regionalmarketing

Do., 14. Sep. 2006, 19.30 Uhr "Pflegenotstand - Keine Perspektive im Alter?" Referentin: Christiane Lüst, Dipl.-Soz. Päd., Initiatorin des Münchner Pflegestammtischs

Do., 12. Okt. 2006, 19.30 Uhr "Ein Jahr nach der Bundestagswahl - Wo steht Deutschland heute?" Referent: Prof. Dr. Klaus Buchner, ödp-Bundesvorsitzender

Do., 09. Nov. 2006, 19.30 Uhr "Das 1,5-Liter-Auto ist machbar - Entwickler berichten" Referent: Uli Sommer, Chefentwickler Loremo-Projekt