World-News

PETER WALSH
27 May 2006 10:33

Plans for new homes may finally signal the death knell for a controversial phone mast.

Families living near the 15 metre-high Vodafone mast in Fakenham Road, Taverham, have tried for years to have it removed.

Now, Broadland District Council, whose decision to refuse consent for the mast in 2003 was thwarted after a successful appeal by the telecoms company, has approved proposals for new flats on the site.

London-based Equity Holdings and Investments has obtained permission to remove a petrol station, replacement mast and another mast on the land in 321 Fakenham Road.

Work is expected to start later in the year to clear the site to make way for a development of 19 flats.

If everything goes to plan, that would end campaigners' anxiety about living so close to the mast.

“It's been a long road,” said Graham Barker, 67, of Lloyd Road. “After all the campaigning that went on for a long, long time, we just thought: 'Where else could we go without taking High Court action?' We were banging our heads against a brick wall. We were in a corner, but this came as a total and utter surprise - a very welcome one.”

But he said the champagne would stay on ice until after building work began.

“We will not celebrate, so to speak, until such time as we see the masts taken down, which I understand is supposed to be later this year,” he said.

The Evening News, through our Put Masts on Hold campaign, has fought against mobile phone masts being installed near homes and schools until it is proved they are safe.

Vodafone said it did not know anything about the proposal for homes on the site.

A spokesman said: “We haven't been requested to relocate, and we will just have to see what develops.”

Last February, we reported how campaigners sent a letter to the Ombudsman, an independent watchdog, about the mast.

It came after a planning inspector upheld an appeal from the phone giant against Broadland council's decision in December, 2003 to refuse permission for a replacement mast.

But the Ombudsman, who can consider complaints alleging administrative fault on the part of Government departments, ruled there was no basis for further intervention.

The original mast was installed in the mid-1990s amid controversy. Its height meant planning consent was not needed at the time, although the district council was required to give prior approval.

The council approved it despite opposition from Taverham Parish Council.

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/j884f

"Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives have achieved an almost unprecedented level of bipartisanship in denouncing the FBI's search of a congressman's office." The New York Times ponders, "... where all these concerned constitutionalists have been for the last five years."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052706Z.shtml

CONGRESS PONDERS LEGISLATION REQUIRING ID CHIPS IN ALL U.S. FARM ANIMALS

Congress is debating a controversial program called the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The system would require tagging or implanting all farm animals with radio frequency devices and registering those animals with a federal government tracking system. The plan would require every owner of even a single livestock animal to register their home with a national tracking system, including Global Positing Coordinates (for satellite tracking) and implant or tag every animal with a radio frequency device (RFID). Large-scale livestock producers say NAIS would help them control an outbreak of disease by allowing individual animals to be tracked to their origins. Small-scale farmers say the registration fees, RFID expenses and administrative bureaucracy of the system would drive them out of business. OCA supports the principle of being able to track animal diseases back to the source in order to protect public and animal health, but any national program needs to be designed so as to not harm small farmers and must insure the privacy of farmers and animal owners. Take action: http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/nais.cfm

The Organic Consumers Association's (OCA) call for a boycott of Horizon and Aurora organic milk is resonating among consumers across the country and generating significant media coverage. Horizon Organic (owned by food giant Dean Foods) and Aurora are currently taking advantage of loopholes in organic regulations by purchasing the majority of their milk from intensive confinement dairy feedlots where the cows have little or no access to pasture. At their recent shareholders meeting in Dallas, Dean Foods executives expressed alarm over the public relations and investor fallout they are currently facing. Besides recommending that conscientious shoppers boycott Horizon and Aurora products, OCA is asking consumers to keep flooding the USDA with email letters calling for mandatory pasture access for cows on organic farms, as well as an end to the unethical practice of continuously importing calves from conventional farms to organic dairies. The USDA is accepting public comments on this issue until June 12. Over 40,000 OCA members and supporters have already taken the time to comment on this important issue, but we need thousands more to turn up the heat. Please take action now: http://www.organicconsumers.org/nosb2.htm

The Bush administration's voluntary programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by industry have yet to deliver promised results, according to a report issued yesterday by the Government Accountability Office.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/052606EB.shtml

"The road to recovery, whether from addiction or failed policy," writes Larry Johnson, "starts with admitting one has a problem. It is time for the President to do more than admit rhetorical mistakes. It is time to call a halt to our mistaken policy in Iraq."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606R.shtml

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/26/1410248


From Information Clearing House




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

“The United States has become a world leader in avoiding human rights accountability; a case in point is the reliance of the United States government on private military contractors, which has helped create virtually rules-free zones sanctioned with the American flag and firepower,” said Larry Cox the executive director of Amnesty International’s US Chapter.

http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/280


From Information Clearing House

Russia has raised the share of euros in its growing central bank reserves, a top central banker said on Thursday, confirming Moscow’s cooling to the dollar as a dependable store of value.

http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=17702


From Information Clearing House

The Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday returned to his feud with the US over energy supplies when he declared that Washington is in no position to deliver lectures after the invasion of Iraq.

http://tinyurl.com/gohl8


From Information Clearing House

Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov Friday reiterated Moscow’s commitment to supply Iran with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles, Interfax news agency reported.

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/05/26/russiatoiran.shtml


From Information Clearing House

By Thom Shanker, Eric Schmitt and Richard A. Oppel Jr.

A military investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November is expected to find that a small number of marines in western Iraq carried out extensive, unprovoked killing of civilians, according to congressional, military and Pentagon officials.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13191.htm



How US Marines Massacred 24

Sarah Baxter, Washington
Hala Jaber and Ali Rifat, Baghdad

The killings are emerging as the worst known American atrocity of the Iraq war. At least seven women and three children were among those killed. Witness accounts obtained by The Sunday Times suggest the toll of children may be as high as six. “This one is ugly,” a US military official said.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13409.htm



The Few, The Proud, The Murderers

By Pierre Tristam

Of course the first line of defense, for those craven enough to defend atrocities just because Americans commit them, is to say that Iraqis do worse.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13408.htm



Haditha: the worst US atrocity since Vietnam …

Iraqi women and children massacred by American marines. How did it happen?

SPECIAL REPORT BY NEIL MACKAY

CIVILIANS who spent time at the Haditha Dam base of the Third Battalion of the First Marines describe the place as something out of Apocalypse Now or Lord Of The Flies. It was “feral” one said. Soldiers didn’t wash. They had abandoned regulation billets and had built make-shift, primitive huts bearing skull-and-crossbone signs.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13503.htm

Why Didn't More Democrats Oppose The Hayden Nomination? ANSWER: Not Enough Primary Challenges

The above is the title of the featured article right now on OpedNews.com, the fastest growing and most innovative source of progressive opinion and news on the internet. And now they are pioneering the use of audio in progressive web media. If you visit the link directly below, you can hear the new Impeach Team "call to action" radio spot right on the page link directly below.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_thepen_060526_why_didn_t_more_demo.htm


Other top op-ed articles on OpedNews.com:

Our Socialized Corporations http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_lonna_go_060526_our_socialized_corpo.htm

Enemy of the People - Al Gore or George Bush? http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_bob_burn_060526_enemy_of_the_people_.htm

The Narcissism of Differences Big and Small http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_sam_vakn_060526_the_narcissism_of_di.htm

A Progressive Honoring Conservative Values http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_stephen__060526_a_progressive_honori.htm

The Never-Ending War http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_missy_co_060526_the_never_ending_war.htm

FEATURED ARTICLE:

This morning the Senate confirmed as CIA director the military general who is directly responsible for implementing the illegal wiretaps of vast numbers of innocent American citizens. This is an administration operative who by his own admission hasn't got the vaguest clue that the 4th Amendment to our Constitution expressly specifies there must be "probable cause" to justify any search or seizure. The president's approval ratings are dipping under 30% and still falling. And yet today only 15 U.S. Senators had either the judgment or courage to reject the Hayden nomination. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

The problem is our members of Congress believe they are immune from challenge. They believe they have their own districts so gerrymandered that it is unlikely they will ever lose an election to a member of the other party. They believe no serious alternative candidates could ever arise in their own party to cost them their own nomination. And UNTIL that happens they actually believe they don't have to listen to the voices of their constituents ever.

We have a message for those members of Congress. IT JUST HAPPENED.

In California right now there are THREE candidates in the Los Angeles area alone, count them, three, who are mounting serious challenges to incumbent Democrats in the upcoming June 6th primaries. They are Charles Coleman, Jr. (D-CA-28), Bob McCloskey (D-CA-29) and Marcy Winograd (D-CA-36) who are ALL challenging incumbent Democrats in their "safe" congressional districts, and they are all serious.

Together they have teamed up to run joint "call to action" ads to get people more involved and engaged in the political process by encouraging them to speak out on the issues with their own voices. Together they founded the Impeach Team, all standing up by calling for the impeachment of the president and vice-president NOW for their many lies, deceptions and abuses of power.

How long will the outrages go on? They will continue only as long as it takes for the first member of Congress to actually lose an election because of their spineless, gutless cowardice on issue after issue. Where is the law that says the representatives we have now are the best we could have in any of these districts? How many members of Congress are actually calling for the immediate impeachment of both occupants of our out of control White House. Would you believe zero?!?! If there were any justice in the world they would ALL be facing primary challenges and they would ALL lose.

If the flash animation player will for you (and it should work for most people) at the OpedNews.com link above you should be able to hear the new radio spot the Impeach Team put together with Air America Radio (courtesy of their production department), which is already running on the Air America Radio national stream, and is about to start running on the Los Angeles Air America Radio affiliate as well. Otherwise, click on the link below.

PAGE WITH AUDIO: http://www.impeachteam.com/donations.php

We need to all we can to support these brave candidates who DO have a chance to win. Marcy Winograd was featured on the front page of the Los Angeles metro section the other day, and the tone of the article was that they recognized her as a serious and viable challenger. Bob McCloskey and Charles Coleman are also getting good coverage, and with your support the Impeach Team can achieve a major media breakout between now and June 6th.

Please visit their action page on impeachment where you can send a message to your members of Congress calling on them to stand up for impeachment now. And then BACK THAT UP by making a contribution if you can so the Impeach Team can run as many of these "call to action" ads as possible.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.impeachteam.com

If you are from CA this same action page will send your personal message also to your members of the California state legislature, supporting AJR 39, the state measure of CA itself to bring impeachment to the floor of the U.S. House. And especially if you live in one of these Los Angeles districts, BACK THAT UP by coming out to vote on June 6th for one of these brave candidates, and rally all your friends to do the same. The ultimate message to send to Congress is the vote to remove them from office. SEND THAT MESSAGE.

If you have a web site of your own, please email the Impeach Team from one of their pages so you can play the call to action spot on your own web page. In exchange the Impeach Team will give you a featured link back to promote your own activism and thank you for helping to make participatory democracy work.

It is not enough just to take back Congress. It is not enough to have a majority if that majority is STILL afraid to exercise its power. We must take it back on the platform of courageous, decisive action. We must take it back on the platform of what we stand for and what we will do if restored to majority power. And the best evidence of that for the electorate is what we are standing up for and doing NOW with these action pages which our candidates champion.

Please do all you can to support these three candidates. And on June 6th let there be a political earthquake in the Los Angeles area, with tremors in every Congressional office in the Capitol. And THEN, our members of Congress WILL listen to the voice of the people at last.

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

26 May 2006

Staff, pupils and parents at Branfil In fant and Junior School protest over the planned phone mast.

PUPILS, parents and teachers of an Upminster infant and junior school have said "no" to plans by mobile phone giant O2 to erect a mast nearby.

The telecommunications company has applied to site a phone mast on the corner of Little Gaynes Lane and Gaynes Park Road only yards from Branfil Infant and Junior School.

The application is due to be heard by Havering Council before the end of the month and last week a protest was held by those opposed to the mast outside the school gates.

For more on this story see this week's Recorder.

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/h9cgw

From: Circle of Life
info@circleoflife.org
Subject: Help NOW! Julia in Tree in S. Central LA
Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 19:27:02 -0400 (EDT)

Julia Butterfly Is At It Again...South Central LA Tree Sit

Julia Butterfly Hill, Joan Baez, Darryl Hannah and John Quigley on the Scene in South Central LA

As many of you have already heard…she’s at it again! Julia is sitting in a tree along with fellow treesitter, John Quigley and folk singer and activist superstar Joan Baez.

Read on for more info here or at www.circleoflife.org, but NOW what you can do is:

1. Go to the FARM NOW for tonight's vigil. For address and info see: http://www.southcentralfarmers.com .

We have heard that tomorrow morning the LA Sheriff's Department will enter the farm and need community support tonight. Please forward this info to anyone you know in Los Angeles.

2. Call Mayor Villaraigosa and tell him that you want the City of Los Angeles to buy the farm back from the developer and give it in perpetuity to the South Central Farmers. (213) 978-0600

3. Make a donation to the South Central Farmers
http://www.southcentralfarmers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114&Itemid=32
to help buy back the farm.

Julia is asking for every person to give at least $1 towards this historic farm. Together we can make the difference. Donate NOW at http://www.southcentralfarmers.com

Here's the story:

Just about one week ago, Julia walked into the Circle of Life office and told us that while she hoped it did not come down to the need for her to do direct action to save the South Central Farm in Los Angeles—she would be up in a tree soon if there was a need. On Tuesday, May 23 Julia stationed herself in the “community watchtower”- a 3 story high walnut tree on the 14 acre South Central Farm. She joins in solidarity with 350 poor working class families who use the farm to grow organic food for themselves and their community.

Fourteen years ago, this spot was a wasteland- and in the wake of the 1992 LA uprising then-Mayor Bradley and Doris Block of the L.A. Regional Food Bank made a handshake deal to allow it to be used for a community farm. Today, after thousands and thousands of hours of sweat and labor, the South Central Farm is the largest urban farm in the nation. The 350 families who use the farming plots are low‑income and depend heavily upon the food they grow to feed themselves. In addition to growing food for themselves, the people involved with the community garden hold Farmers' Markets, festivals and other cultural events for the public at large.

In a backroom deal in 1996, the 14 acre farm was offered to a developer at a discount, but the deal was never approved by the City Council. In
2002, the developers sued the City and a settlement was reached giving the farm to the developers for a significantly below-market price. To repurchase the farm, the developer is insisting on over $16 million (they paid just over $5 million for it four years ago) and $6 million has already been raised by the South Central Farmers. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has the ability to pay the rest of selling price from the City budget, or further challenge the original sale. However, he has done neither.

“This is the Promised Land”, community leader Dele Ailemen emphatically stated on the encampment’s first day. “It was land that was promised to this community by the Mayor of Los Angeles after the 1992 uprising.” “It will not be taken away by broken political promises.”


From EF! Media Center

--------

JOAN BAEZ, 'BUTTERFLY' HILL OCCUPY TREE TO HELP SAVE FARM
Associated Press
May 24, 2006

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-05-24-baez-tree_x.htm?csp=34

LOS ANGELES - Joan Baez and tree-sitter Julia "Butterfly" Hill have taken up residence in a tree to raise awareness about a 14-acre urban farm threatened with demolition.

Hill, who lived in a redwood in Northern California for more than two years to prevent loggers from cutting it down, said Tuesday that she and Baez will be among those who will occupy the tree in shifts.

The 65-year-old folk singer's hits include The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Please Come to Boston.

Two door-sized platforms have been placed in the tree for the sitters, and a support group has set up an encampment on the ground.

Hundreds of farmers could face evictions after The Trust for Public Land came up $10 million short in its bid to buy the site. The non-profit group was not able to raise the $16.35 million required by the time the purchase option expired Monday.

The trust signed a contract in April with landowner Ralph Horowitz to buy 10 of the 14 acres in south Los Angeles where about 350 families, most of them working-class immigrants from Central America, tend small plots of fruits and vegetables.

Hill said she was protesting now because Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has pledged support for the farmers but has not come through yet.

Villaraigosa's spokesman did not immediately return a message left after business hours Tuesday.

Deputy Mayor Larry Frank has said the city was trying to help the farmers move to other sites, including an 8-acre plot that can accommodate 200 of them.

CURRENT NEWS ABOUT JULIA BUTTERFLY HILL & L.A. FARM:
http://www.circleoflifefoundation.org/blog/inthenews_archives/000076.htm


Informant: NHNE

--------

The farmers' own website (including photos): http://www.southcentralfarmers.com

Contact info for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: mayor@lacity.org or call (213)978-0600

Mayor Villaraigosa pledged to support the farmers, but has not really lived up to his commitment. Please contact his office and ask him to take a strong stand in this urgently important struggle.

I agree emphatically with the statement (below) by Green Party cong. candidate Byron DeLear: the mayor needs to use the power of eminent domain to save the farm. It seems to me that this is exactly what it was intended for!

Craig Gingold
(near) Midpines CA

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [GPCA-MediaComm]
FINAL ADVISORY: Green Party joins Joan Baez, Daryl Hannah, others at LA's urban farm encampment
Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 14:25:02 -0700
From: civillib

News Advisory THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA www.cagreens.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, May 26, 2006

Contact: Sara Amir, spokesperson 310.270-7106 saraamir@earthlink.net Pat Driscoll, spokesperson 916.320-6430 patp@sonicfrog.com Susan King, spokesperson 415.823-5524 funking@mindspring.com Cres Vellucci, GPCA press secretary 916.996-9170

California Greens join celebrities, tree-sitters in solidarity with South Central LA farmers trying to save nation's largest urban farm

LOS ANGELES (May 26, 2006) - Scores of Greens - including a Green Party candidate for Congress and a former Santa Monica mayor - have joined thousands of people who have built an encampment and formed a growing resistance movement here to save the largest urban farm in the U.S.

Among threats of eviction and arrests, people - including environmentalist Julia "Butterfly" Hill - are "tree-sitting" and have put up a "tent city" for supporters. Hundreds of people - including celebrities Joan Baez, actresses Daryl Hannah and Laura Dern, and slide guitar ace Ben Harper - have gathered at the farm to demand environmental justice for the farmers.

A land developer is planning to evict 360 Latino and indigenous families from the 14-acre plot at Alameda and 41st streets in South Central Los Angeles, which has allowed them to supplement their incomes with healthy crops of fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants

"We are putting out a call to Green Party members and others across the state and nation, to come to Los Angeles and stand in solidarity with the farmers against a developer and city government who refuse to save this community farm. If they evict and jail them, they'll have to evict and jail us too," said Michael Feinstein, former Santa Monica mayor.

"The Green Party demands that developers not be allowed to dictate to the government of the people and for the people. This is not the government of and for the dollar. We are not going to let this farm be destroyed," said Green Party congressional candidate Byron DeLear, (28th CD, Los Angeles/San Fernando) , one of many Greens who has camped out overnight at the site. He said the city should use the power of "eminent domain to protect this national treasure."

"I am appalled that instead of ensuring that people are able to subsist, the City of Los Angeles is selling out the people to build on a property already financed by the taxpayers," said Donna Warren, a native of South Central and candidate for Lt. Governor in June on the Green Party ticket.

--------

A New Protest Song: Joan Baez Sings to Save Acres of Land

A veteran of 40 years of demonstrations, the American folk singer's latest campaign involves camping in a tree to save a 14-acre farm from developers.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/052606EA.shtml

--------

Baez and Butterfly in LA tree sit
http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/05/1825188.php


Informant: Scott Munson

--------

Farmers, Activists Resisting Eviction at Nation's Largest Urban Farm

The 14-year effort to establish an urban farm in the heart of South Los Angeles came to an end today when sheriff's deputies moved in to evict the farmers, as well as some celebrities who were supporting them by keeping vigil on the land. Farmers and activists continue to resist.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061306I.shtml

--------

Farmers, Celebrities Evicted From South Central Food Farm
http://www.latimes.com/la-061306farm,0,6338849.story


Informant: NHNE

--------

Farmers vow to prevent garden demolition

Laurel Leader-Call

06/15/06

Workers tore down fences Wednesday inside a 14-acre urban garden while evicted farmers and their supporters kept watch and vowed to prevent bulldozing of the inner-city greenspace. 'We're still not giving up hope,' said Alberto Tlatoa, 20, a day after sheriff's deputies enforcing an eviction order arrested dozens of protesters, including actress Daryl Hannah. Tlatoa, sitting in a chair on a sidewalk outside the fenced garden, said he and his family had grown pears, broccoli, tomatoes and edible cactus for eight years...

http://tinyurl.com/pg4rp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

L.A. POLICE INVADE NATION'S LARGEST COMMUNITY GARDEN

Armed police stormed a community garden in South Central Los Angeles this week, arresting 25 people including actress Daryl Hannah. The 14 acre plot of land, tended by over 350 neighborhood fruit and vegetable farmers for a decade, is the largest urban community garden in the country, and a symbol of hope for the embattled South Central neighborhood. Although the highly successful garden provides affordable, mostly organic food for low-income residents in this economically depressed area, a ten-year ownership dispute over the land has led to a dramatic standoff between neighborhood residents and the powerful real estate lobby of Los Angeles. Despite massive public opposition, multi-millionaire real estate developer Ralph Horowitz obtained a court order to pave over the community garden and replace it with an industrial warehouse. After back-tracking on a proposal to sell the 14 acre plot to neighborhood residents for $16 million, Horowitz called in the police and bulldozers to clear the property of inhabitants. Neighborhood farmers and residents, along with the L.A. organic community, have vowed to keep up the struggle and save the community garden.

Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_756.cfm

--------

South Central Farmers Evicted: The Struggle Is Just Beginning

A Film by Chris Hume

On June 13, bulldozers started clearing the 14-year-old South Central Farm in Los Angeles. Dozens of people were arrested, and the farmers were evicted from the land. Truthout correspondent Chris Hume was there to cover the incident, and to get the story about the ongoing legal fight to keep the farm from being turned into a complex of warehouses.

http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm

--------

The Golden Rule in the City of Angels?

Jane Ayers describes what has been happening over the past week at the South Central Farm in Los Angeles as farmers, activists and celebrities nonviolently resisted: "Surrounded by organic flowers grown on the South Central Farm, a huge Sacred Heart of Jesus altar sat at the base of the tree where protesters were tree-sitting to save the urban community farm."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061606T.shtml

By Andrew Bridges
Associated Press
May 25, 2006

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/25/D8HR4K6G0.html

WASHINGTON - Deserts in the American Southwest and around the globe are creeping toward heavily populated areas as the jet streams shift, researchers reported Thursday.

The result: Areas already stressed by drought may get even drier.

Satellite measurements made from 1979 to 2005 show that the atmosphere in the subtropical regions both north and south of the equator is heating up. As the atmosphere warms, it bulges out at the altitudes where the northern and southern jet streams slip past like swift and massive rivers of air. That bulging has pushed both jet streams about 70 miles closer to the Earth's poles.

Since the jet streams mark the edge of the tropics, in essence framing the hot zone that hugs the equator, their outward movement has allowed the tropics to grow wider by about 140 miles. That means the relatively drier subtropics move as well, pushing closer to places like Salt Lake City, where Thomas Reichler, co-author of the new study, teaches meteorology.

"One of the immediate consequences one can think of is those deserts and dry areas are moving poleward," said Reichler, of the University of Utah. Details appear in Thursday's Science Express, the online edition of the journal Science.

The movement has allowed the subtropics to edge toward populated areas, including the American Southwest, southern Australia and the Mediterranean basin. In those places, the lack of precipitation already is a worry.

Additional creep could move Africa's Sahara Desert farther north, worsening drought conditions that are already a serious problem on that continent and bringing drier weather to the countries that ring the Mediterranean Sea.

"The Mediterranean is one region that models consistently show drying in the future. That could be very much related to this pattern that we are seeing in the atmosphere," said Isaac Held, a senior research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He was not connected with the research.

A shift in where subtropical dry zones lie could make climate change locally noticeable for more people, said Karen Rosenlof, a NOAA research meteorologist also unconnected to the study.

"It is a plausible thing that could be happening, and the people who are going to see its effects earliest are the ones who live closer to the tropics, like southern Australia," said Rosenlof. Her own work suggests the tropics have actually compressed since 2000, after growing wider over the previous 20 years.

Reichler suspects global warming is the root cause of the shift, but said he can't be certain. Other possibilities include variability and destruction of the ozone layer. However, he and his colleagues have noted similar behavior in climate models that suggest global warming plays a role.

Moving the jet streams farther from the equator could disrupt storm patterns, as well as intensify individual storms on the poleward side of the jet streams, said lead author Qiang Fu, a University of Washington atmospheric scientist.

In Europe, for example, that shift could mean less snow falling on the Alps in winter. That would be bad news for skiers, as well as for farmers and others who rely on rivers fed by snowmelt.

"This definitely favors or enhances the frequency of droughts," Fu said of such a shift.


Informant: NHNE

--------

Jet Stream Shift Is Expanding the Earth's Tropics and Deserts

Deserts in the American Southwest and around the globe are creeping toward heavily populated areas as the jet streams shift, scientists reported Thursday.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/052606EC.shtml

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0526-21.htm

Rise and Fall of the Enron Boys
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0526-23.htm

Power Outage: An Enron Backgrounder from the Center for Public Integrity
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0526-06.htm

The Senate is set to consider next week proposals to eliminate or "reform" the estate tax. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has proposed a "reform" that would eliminate most of this tax.

But the estate tax is needed to slow the division of our nation into permanent hereditary classes, and the revenue it raises is desperately needed right now to pay for essential services like Medicaid and student loans. These services are under threat from huge deficits driven by reckless spending on an illegal war and on other destructive tax cuts.

Write to your Senators now! http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/82


Introducing the Impeachment Resource Center
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/resourcecenter

We have put together an Impeachment Resource Center. It includes not only resources you can access online, but the means to contact experts who can assist you with resolutions, research, websites, media, or events planning.

Please use the resource center to continue building a movement! http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/resourcecenter


Tim Robbins Speaks Out on Impeachment
Listen to Tim Robbins' PSA http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/robbins.mp3


FORWARD THIS INFORMATION



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

http://www.cancerfraudbadbiotech.com has been updated with the 2006 Gold Section with a discussion on bird flu and a genetic marker, TAGGED FOR DEATH , which you may find interesting.

Thank you for your interest.

E.A.Greenhalgh

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4549/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4550/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.rense.com/general71/rrob.htm


Informant: ranger116

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/27/washington/27inquire.html?_r=1&ei=5094&en=bdb72883b813538b&hp=&ex=1148702400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin


Informant: ranger116

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20060526-105623-2155r


Informant: Kev Hall

Responding to Reports of Telecom Spying, ACLU Launches Nationwide "Don't Spy" Campaign

Phone AdOn Wednesday, the ACLU launched a nationwide initiative to end collusion between telephone companies and the U.S. government in illegal spying on Americans. We're filing coordinated complaints with regulators in 20 states and petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to take immediate action. We also placed full-page advertisements in eight major newspapers.

Thousands of supporters have already responded online by adding their names to our complaints at aclu.org/dontspyonme. Please join in and add your voice. The more names we submit, the greater the pressure we bring to bear on regulators, phone companies and our leaders to do the right thing and protect the private phone records of millions of innocent Americans. The ACLU letter to federal regulators directly refuted the FCC's wrong-headed claim that the sensitivity of all NSA activities make any investigation impossible.

ACLU affiliates in 20 states have filed complaints with Public Utility Commissions or sent letters to state Attorneys General and other officials demanding investigations into whether local telecommunications companies allowed the NSA to spy on their customers. If the sharing is found to be in violation of state law, the ACLU is urging that officials issue "cease-and-desist" orders to the telecommunications companies in their state.

State actions were filed in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. Other ACLU affiliates are expected to file additional letters and complaints in the coming weeks.

The ACLU was one of the first organizations to bring a legal challenge when the president's illegal NSA spy program was first revealed last year. On June 12, in Detroit, our ACLU v. NSA lawsuit will have the first ever hearing on the legality of the NSA spying program.

To take action and join our nationally-coordinated multi-state campaign, please go to: http://www.aclu.org/dontspyonme

More information on the case is online at: http://www.aclu.org/nsaspying

It's illegal and un-American for your phone company to hand your call records to the government without a warrant. But that's just what they're doing, violating the privacy and rights of millions of innocent Americans in the process.

The FCC has the authority and the obligation to investigate the NSA spying scandal, despite their wrong-headed refusal to act. Add your name to the public record and support our formal demand using the form below. If you live in a state where we are filing a complaint with local regulators, we will also add your name to our local demand for action.

https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=DTT_FCC_spies_off_line&JServSessionIdr012=app8qd25y1.app26a

The IAEA Director deems that the great powers must choose between renouncing nuclear weapons and accepting eventual proliferation.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606H.shtml

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said Tehran wants to work directly with the United States on an "easily attainable" resolution, if Washington drops "the intimidation tactics."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606G.shtml

People seeking federal housing assistance from FEMA are being pushed into a new, more restricted program, but thousands will be left behind by new rules and red tape.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606F.shtml

Many secular Iraqis have been expressing their displeasure with the new Iraqi government that was sworn-in Saturday and introduced with much fanfare by politicians in Washington, Baghdad, and London this week.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606E.shtml

If a prosecutor calls him as a witness, Vice President Dick Cheney probably can't avoid testifying in his former chief of staff's perjury trial, legal experts said Thursday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606C.shtml

Defense attorneys will show evidence that Cardona, who faces 16 years in prison if convicted on all charges, and other soldiers were acting on orders from their superiors.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606B.shtml

The US government announced in late April it would release nearly 150 men from its detention center at Guantanamo Bay. After gaining national headlines for the move, however, the military has yet to release the majority of the men it promised to let go.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606A.shtml

26.05.06

Bei der Abstimmung des Bundestages über das Steuerpaket der Bundesregierung vor einer Woche hat es nach einem Bericht der "Bild"-Zeitung Unregelmäßigkeiten gegeben. Wie die Zeitung meldet, stimmte laut Bundestags-Protokoll der CDU-Abgeordnete Reinhard Göhner für das Steuerpaket, obwohl er zum Zeitpunkt der Abstimmung nicht an der Sitzung teilgenommen habe und nachweislich auch nicht in Berlin gewesen sei. Göhner, der auch Hauptgeschäftsführer des Bundesverbandes der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände (BDA) ist, hatte einen Fernsehauftritt in München. Der CDU-Politiker bestätigte dem Blatt, dass er bei der Abstimmung verhindert und entschuldigt gewesen sei.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=13690

"Rechtsstaatliche Garantien gefährdet": Gerichtspräsidenten gegen Abschaffung der zweiten Instanz (26.05.06)

Die Präsidenten oberster Gerichte in Deutschland lehnen die geplante Abschaffung der zweiten Instanz entschieden ab. Ein Wegfall dieser ersten Berufungsebene würde rechtsstaatliche Garantien gefährden, warnte der Präsident des Oberlandesgerichts (OLG) Zweibrücken, Walter Dury, am Mittwoch nach der Jahrestagung der Präsidenten der Oberlandesgerichte und des Bundesgerichtshofs in Zweibrücken.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=13697

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/580843335

A message from Eleanor

Primates possess many qualities which were once considered solely human attributes. The central nervous system of Primates and humans is organized in almost the same way, and there are similarities between the social behavior, emotional needs and intellectual capabilities of humans and other Primates. Primates demonstrate the ability to reason, to exhibit friendship and altruism, to suffer fear and stress.

UK and EU legislation has been partially expanded to supposedly protect their specific requirements in the laboratory and afford them a 'higher' status than other animal species under Directive 86/609/EEC. The reality is, however, that this legal provision does not prevent thousands of primates each year enduring terrible pain, suffering and death in the laboratory. . Experiments that would be unthinkable if performed on human subjects should also be considered morally unacceptable when carried out on our genetic cousins.

Researchers use primates as 'models' of human diseases on which the development and progression of such diseases can be monitored and treated. However primates, like other animals, make poor 'models' and attempting to extrapolate test results from one species to another is a fundamentally flawed research methodology. Despite their similarities, there are also many significant differences between humans and others Primates.

The fundamental flaw underlying the research of human diseases in primates is that researchers can only attempt to artificially induce similar superficial symptoms of human diseases in Primates, which is very different from studying a naturally occurring disease in a biologically relevant animal i.e. a human patient.

Primates who are removed from their normal habitat, deprived of environmental stimulants and social interaction, make poor 'models' on which to record the 'natural' development of disease or infection. Like human beings, primates react very differently to disease or illness depending on their physical and psychological states.

The reality is, despite what the research industry would have us believe, primates do not provide a reliable 'model' of the human being. After decades of research on primates, scientists have repeatedly failed to make significant breakthroughs in fully understanding the onset and progression of HIV or AIDS, cot death, epilepsy, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease, or cancer - all human conditions which have been thoroughly, though pointlessly, explored through research on Primates.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/580843335

PLEASE SIGN AND FORWARD *sign*

http://www.bundestag.de/aktuell/pkg/bnd_bericht.PDF

--------

Bundesnachrichtendienst: Schäfer-Bericht spiegelt laut Neskovic nicht die Wahrheit wider (26.05.06)

Die Opposition sieht trotz der Veröffentlichung des BND-Berichtes zur Bespitzelung von Journalisten weiteren Aufklärungsbedarf. "Wir werden einen Untersuchungsausschuss brauchen", sagte Wolfgang Neskovic, der für die Linkspartei im Parlamentarischen Kontrollgremium (PKG) sitzt, der "Sächsischen Zeitung". Er betonte: "Es gibt aus meiner Sicht deutlichen Klärungsbedarf bei der Frage der politischen Verantwortlichkeit." Die Möglichkeiten des PKG reichten generell nicht aus, um Aufklärung herbeizuführen. "Es wäre völlig verfehlt anzunehmen, dass der Schäfer-Bericht nun eins zu eins die Wahrheit ist", betonte der Linkspolitiker. Der Bericht könne maximal eine Bestandsaufnahme dessen sein, was der BND dem Sachverständigen zur Verfügung gestellt habe.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=13692

Wir hören nichts, riechen nichts, spüren nichts. Aber Autos reagieren. In den Großstädten beginnen sie, verrückt zu spielen - bei Elektrosmog.

http://www.welt.de/data/2006/05/27/892814.html

--------

Omega: wenn schon Autos reagieren, was ist dann erst mit Menschen?

Viele Menschen fürchten sich vor den gesundheitlichen Folgen von Elektrosmog
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1165260/

Gedanken zum Thema Elektrosmog
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/778168/

ELEKTROSMOG: die verkannte Gefahr
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1459405/

Macht Elektrosmog krank?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/830306/

Elektrosmog macht krank
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1080667/

Elektrosmog macht Millionen Menschen krank
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/846222/

Elektromagnetische Felder und die öffentliche Gesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1305638/

Wie können Menschen vor Mikrowellenbestrahlung geschützt werden?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/407803/

Mit dem Anruf kommt der Smog
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/930224/

Gesundheitliche Beeinträchtigungen durch Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1167546/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13028.htm


Informant: Teresa Binstock

In "The Delusions of Global Hegemony," Part 1 of the latest Tom Engelhardt interview, Andrew Bacevich took up military scapegoating over the Iraq War, the strains between the military and civilian sides of the Pentagon, the possibility of an air assault on Iran, and especially the way the Iraq War revealed both the limits of American military power and the dreamy, fantastical, triumphalist thinking that, these last years, accompanied the Bush administration's attempt to expand American global hegemony. Now, in Part II, Bacevich turns to cheap oil and energy wars, life in uniform, the evolution of his own thinking, and the American way of life.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606P.shtml

Two days into the first trial emerging from the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, emails are speaking louder than words.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606O.shtml

British Attorney General Told to Reveal All
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606M.shtml

An internal Justice Department inquiry into whether department officials - including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft - acted properly in approving and overseeing the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program was stymied because investigators were denied security clearances to do their work. The investigators, however, were only seeking information and documents that were already in the Justice Department's possession.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606L.shtml

"Four years ago, when the taboo against calling George W. Bush a liar was even stronger than it is today, the national news media bought into the Bush administration's spin that the President did nothing to bail out his Enron benefactors, including Kenneth Lay," writes Robert Parry. "But the reality is that the Bush-can't-be-bought spin was never true."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052606J.shtml

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4543/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Front page of the Bootle Times, credit should go to the local community in Sefton/Netherton.

Eileen O'Connor



Power to the people

May 25 2006

By Paula Owens, Bootle Times

A BID for a 12.5-metre mobile phone mast in Netherton was scrapped in what residents are calling a victory for ' people power'.

Two double decker buses carried more than 120 residents to a planning meeting at Southport Town Hall on Wednesday night, where they were set to oppose the plan.

But at the last minute telecoms firm O2 withdrew its proposal for the mast which would have stood in St Oswald's Lane.

Resident Marie Salzano said: "Everyone was cheering and stamping their feet.

"The mast would have been just 180 metres away from a classroom of St Benedict's Primary School.

"We don't want our children exposed to this."

Her sister Eileen O'Connor, who is an anti-mobile phone mast campaigner and trustee for radiation research, said: "I'm thrilled, this just shows that if the whole community pulls together you can have success.

"It will send out a message to the whole industry that they all need to be aware that any application that comes into this area will be fought in this way."

Councillor Mark Dowd said: "This application wouldn't have been withdrawn without the efforts of people of Netherton. It's a victory for people power.

"Next time there's a similar application we'll do exactly the same."

When the sisters first heard about the proposal they started a petition and set up a public meeting.

Scientist Brian Edgerton gave a talk on what he sees as the health risks associated with mobile phone masts.

Mrs Salzano said: "About 300 people attended the meeting and they went away horrified. We ended up with hundreds of names on the petition."

A few days before the planning meeting, Mr Edgerton, using a radiation level- measuring machine, put it to O2 representatives that their firm already had sufficient coverage in the area.

However, an O2 spokeswoman said: "We need to improve our mobile phone coverage for the area and that's why we need a mobile phone mast so we'll be reviewing other options to try and find an alternative location."

© owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Plc 2006

http://tinyurl.com/zmgl9
http://tinyurl.com/zf6uh

A PEOPLE-POWER campaign against a phone mast in Kimberley has sent the mobile phone company packing in less than two weeks.

Phone operators 02 UK's latest bid to errect a base station behind a newsagent on High Spania became public knowledge on May 13.

Residents sprang into action and distributed 2,000 letters to homes within a 500 metre radius of the mast.

Yesterday the company formally withdrew their pre-planning application.

Resident Shelley Facey said: "We mounted a full campaign straight away. It would have been hideous.

"I know the mobile phone companies say there is no proven health reports but you know there will be. Health was a huge issue.

"It's just the way these mobile phone companies go about things - they sneakily put these stickers up that no one knows about."

Kimberley and Cossall councillor Richard Robinson said: "It's in a very heavily populated area with a lot of schoolchildren and it was very near an electricty pylon.

"It has caused an enormous stir in Kimberley over the last week. At the latest count I've had over 200 letters of objection, e-mails and phone calls relating to this matter.

"The residents wrote to MP Nick Palmer. They have done most of the work, the credit should go to them."

The landowner who was initially approached by 02 UK to use his land as a site for the mast, withdrew his permission after the weight of public opinion became apparent.

Now residents are braced for another round with the mobile firm.

Mrs Facey said: "A month ago 02 did try and get one at the top of Cliff Boulevard but they were overturned. Hardly anyone knew about it.

"There will be a website set up just to make everyone aware of the dangers of these base stations in residential areas.

"We're almost expecting another sign to go up."

02 UK said they were currently investigating whether they will apply for another mast in the area or if they can use an existing site to provide coverage.

26 May 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.eastwoodtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=898&ArticleID=1527714

By Colleen McDonnell

A mobile phone mast proposed for a site outside Hampton Community College has been called "insensitive and perverse" by a councillor who has just settled plans with a social housing group to improve the overall environment of the area.

The site for the planned O2 mobile phone mast at the junction of Dean Road and Rectory Grove would also be just a few feet from a block of flats and the site where local councillors are fighting to get a new post office.

If O2 gets permission to put up the mast outside the school, where next year students will walk by on their way through the schools' new entrance, Hampton North councillor Geoffrey Samuel said it would be totally incompatible with plans to improve the environment in that precise area. continued...

He said: "The proposal to site a mast a few feet from the students' entrance is insensitive and perverse. Hampton Community College is very worried and upset about it."

The application to erect the mast was submitted by O2 to Richmond upon Thames planning department two weeks ago.

Cllr Samuel said Richmond Council had new guidelines that required the phone company to show evidence that it had gone to all lengths to find alternative sights before selecting a site near a school or a residential area.

Cllr Samuel said: "There are plenty of alternative sites. I think they will fall at that fence."

He said the plans were submitted without first consulting the ward councillors for Hampton North. The mobile phone company only sent literature about the mast to councillors of Fulwell and Hampton Hill and contacted Hampton North councillors after planning application was submitted.

Richmond Council's planning department said a decision would be likely in July.

An objection to the mast has been submitted to the council and residents are putting together a petition to be submitted to Richmond Council at its next full meeting in June.

People who would like to object to the mast should write to Richmond Council's planning department.

10:50am today

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://tinyurl.com/hbs2s

The Suburban Fantasy

By James Howard Kunstler, TomPaine.com
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/26/the_suburban_fantasy.php

The Enron Verdict By William Greider, The Nation

Let Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling now serve as symbol for the shame of modern capitalism.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/26/the_enron_verdict.php

The intelligent lover of radical liberty

Ludwig von Mises Institute
by David Gordon

05/25/06

America is today embroiled in a futile, costly, and immoral war. Domestically, deficit spending is out of control, and new revelations about telephone spying by the National Security Agency reveal yet another threat to civil liberties. How did we get to where we are today? To answer this question, six books are especially useful. The Bush administration's disastrous policies show the dangers of centralized power. As Tom Woods makes clear in The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, the struggle for liberty since the inception of the Constitution has been an effort to limit the federal government. Woods shows that the federal government, far from being the protector of the rights of minorities, has been the main obstacle on the path to liberty...

http://www.mises.org/story/2189


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CounterPunch
by Dave Lindorff

05/25/06

US A-10 attack planes earlier this week bombed an Afghan village in the dead of night for several hours, killing nearly 100 people, at least 16 of them acknowledged to have been innocent men, women and children.The Pentagon is claiming that 20 of the dead were Taliban fighters ... in a version of the notorious brutal cop's claim that the victim of his abuse 'kept ramming his head into my baton,' Pentagon spokesman Col. Tom Collins says, 'The ultimate cause of why civilians were injured and killed is because the Taliban knowingly, willfully chose to occupy homes of these people.' Notice that he's not even saying that the victims invited or allowed the Taliban into their homes. In fact, according to reports, it appears that the Taliban forced their way into civilian homes in order to try to escape U.S. attacks. What were people supposed to do? Tell these desperate armed men to please go away? Isn't this kind of what the British were saying to justify their massacres of American colonists?

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff05252006.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Patriot Daily Blog
by staff

05/25/06

The Bush administration has a pattern of ignoring warnings that its proposed policy, action or inaction will have deleterious consequences. After the negative consequences occur, a Bush official then professes that no one could have predicted that such an event could have occurred until it is publicly revealed that it had been precisely warned beforehand. The public and lawmakers then shout incompetence. But, are key officials incompetent or do they use this label as a shield to protect themselves from accountability while they continue to pursue similar 'incompetent' policies?

http://www.patriotdaily.com/bm/blog/deconstructing-the-bush-i.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Mother Jones
by Tom Engelhardt

05/25/06

Part two of an interview with Andrew Bacevich: "[T]he Cold War essentially ends in 1989 when the [Berlin] Wall goes down; in '91, the Soviet Union collapses. I get out of the Army in 1992 and I'm waiting with bated breath to see what impact the end of the Cold War is going to have on U.S. policy, particularly military policy. The answer is, essentially, none. We come out even more firmly committed to the notion of U.S. military global supremacy. Not because there was an enemy -- in 1992, '93, '94, there's no enemy -- but because we've come to see military supremacy and global hegemony as good in and of themselves...

http://www.motherjones.com/interview/2006/05/andrew_bacevich_2.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Salon
by Katharine Mieszkowski

05/26/06

Is going carbon neutral the right path to reducing greenhouse gases? The early reviews by energy experts are mixed. On the positive side, buying offsets goes beyond fretful hand-wringing about government inaction and fist-shaking at polluting industry. Calculating personal greenhouse gas emissions makes people more aware of the ways their own daily activities contribute to the problem. Buying an offset allows them to take an immediate, concrete step to do something about it, which goes beyond writing a check to an environmental group or sending an email to a Congressman. On the negative side, the best way to fight emissions is to prevent them in the first place, not offset them after they've occurred... [subscription or ad view required]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/05/26/offsets/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent [UK]

05/25/06

Scotland Yard was accused of stifling protest and of 'huge overkill' after the disclosure that 78 police officers had been used in the operation to remove placards from the anti-war demonstrator Brian Haw. The early-morning raid by the Metropolitan Police to dismantle a wall of banners and flags on Parliament Square, outside the House of Commons, on Tuesday cost £7,200. Members of the Metropolitan Police Authority, which oversees the Met, criticized its scale. One member, Damien Hockney, said it gave the impression that Britain was 'suppressing dissent by people opposed to the Iraq war'...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article601341.ece


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Ithaca Journal

05/25/06

President Bush stepped into the Justice Department's constitutional confrontation with Congress on Thursday and ordered that documents seized in an FBI raid on a lawmaker's office be sealed for 45 days. The president directed that no one involved in the investigation have access to the documents taken last weekend from the office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., and that they remain in the custody of the Justice Department's solicitor general...

http://tinyurl.com/lw88h


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Best regards from France, Bernard Blanc.


***** URGENT ACTION APPEAL

23 May 2006 UA 208/05 (09 August 2005) and follow-up (05 September
2005) - Prisoner of conscience USA Kevin Benderman (m)

Kevin Benderman, imprisoned solely for his conscientious objection to the war in Iraq, is now known to have had his request for parole denied on 30 March. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience.

The parole board denied his request on the grounds that he had not been sufficiently rehabilitated, he had not served enough of his punitive sentence and he had not adjusted to prison life. Kevin Benderman has now served 11 months of a 15-month sentence. He is held in Fort Lewis, Washington State, 3,000 miles from his family. He has appealed against the parole board's decision.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Kevin Benderman had served as an army mechanic for 10 years when he developed moral and religious objections to the war in Iraq, after serving there in 2003, and refused to deploy again. After seeing scenes of devastation in Iraq, and through his readings of both the Bible and the Qu'ran, he filed an application for conscientious objector status in December 2004. His application was turned down in April
2005 and he was court-martialed and sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment. Amnesty International considers his objection to the war to be genuine and credible, and also that he took reasonable steps to secure release from his military obligations, and therefore considers him a prisoner of conscience.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: - expressing disappointment at the parole board's decision to deny parole to Kevin Benderman; - reiterating that Amnesty International considers Kevin Benderman to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for his conscientious objection to the war in Iraq; - calling for him to be released immediately and unconditionally.

APPEALS TO: Secretary of the Army Dr Francis J. Harvey
101 Army Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-0101 Fax: 1 703 693 5735 Salutation: Dear Secretary

Brigadier General Hillman Fort Lewis Garrison Commander
525 Replacement Ft. Lewis, Washington 98433-9500 Fax: 1 253 967 0061 Salutation: Dear Brigadier General

COPIES TO: Mr.James Vick Director, Army Clemency and Review Board
1941Jefferson Davis Highway, 2nd Floor Arlington, VA 22202-4508

Letters of support can also be sent directly to Kevin Benderman at: Kevin Mitchell Benderman PO Box 339536 Fort Lewis, Washington
98433-9536

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 5 July 2006.


Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.

This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.

Urgent Action Network Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl Washington DC 20003 Email: uan@aiusa.org http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/ Phone: 202.544.0200 Fax: 202.675

John Prados documents a US history of surveillance initiatives and security programs gone awry.

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

Justice Department lawyer Peter Zeidenberg said David Safavian, a former Bush administration official, took advantage of his position to help his friend, a former top Washington lobbyist with strong ties to leaders in Congress, particularly in the Republican Party.

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

While a database of telephone records is being built, civil liberties lawyers are questioning the legal basis that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales used Tuesday to justify the constitutionality of collecting domestic telephone records as part of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism program.

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

We need your help to stop the United States from using extraordinary rendition or “outsourcing torture.” In the post-9/11 context, rendition has come to mean the extralegal forced transfer of an individual into the custody of a country with a known record of using torture and other inhuman treatment.

There is also what some call “reverse renditions,” when a country transfers custody of a detainee to the US without any judicial oversight. Victims of “reverse renditions” have found themselves in Afghanistan, Guantanamo or secret US detention facilities. Transferring a person to another country where there is a chance they will face torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is unlawful under international law and treaties that have been ratified by the United States.

We're asking you to help us end torture by participating in our special district lobby initiative during the week of June 26th, the International Day in Support of Survivors and Victims of Torture. Activists nationwide will visit the district offices of their federal legislators to call for an end to the practice of "outsourcing torture." Get involved now to help us stop torture. Apply to be a delegation leader today.
https://www.kintera.org/site/apps/ka/rg/register.asp?c=huITL9MVJxE&b=1678545&en=ltKNIXNLKiIMJZPIL8LKK6MPInL5IdNJLbLPK3NQLpIVJbN2H

You can also join a delegation by viewing the list of existing delegations.
http://www.kintera.org/c.huITL9MVJxE/b.1678611/k.A463/Join_a_Delegation/siteapps/teampage/SearchPage.aspx

Your efforts are making a difference in the fight to stop torture.

Sincerely,

Eric Sears
Project Manager,
Denounce Torture Initiative Amnesty International USA

Von Brian Martin

In diesem Artikel untersucht Brian Martin einige der Herausforderungen jeder gewaltlosen Bewegung -- oder der Gewaltlosigkeit als Methode/Strategie. Er unterscheidet fünf Bereiche: Sichtbarkeit der Gewaltlosigkeit, Renommee der Gewaltlosigkeit, Institutionalisierung der Gewaltlosigkeit, der Streit über die Deutungshoheit und Furcht. Diese Untersuchung von Hindernissen zur Globalisierung der Gewaltlosigkeit bietet eine gute Einleitung in die Diskussion auf der Konferenz "Gewaltfreiheit Globalisieren" vom 23. bis 27. Juli 2006 bei Paderborn.

Gewaltlosigkeit hat sich im letzten Jahrhundert ungeheuer verbreitet. Viel mehr Bewegungen verwenden gewaltlose Aktionen für Kampagnen. Bürger vor Ort verwenden viel wahrscheinlicher gewaltlose Aktionen als in der Vergangenheit. Es gibt ein viel größeres Bewusstsein für Gewaltlosigkeit durch Netzwerke, Medien und Publikationen. Dennoch liegt noch ein langer Weg vor uns. Organisierte Gewalt ist in den militärischen Institutionen der Welt fest verwurzelt. Nicht-staatlicher Terrorismus stellt den Vorwand für zunehmende Unterdrückung dar. Deswegen ist es wichtig, Hindernisse gegen ein größeres Bewusstsein und die Anwendung der Gewaltlosigkeit zu betrachten. Der Konflikt über die Sichtbarkeit

Die Massenmedien geben selten der Gewaltlosigkeiten die notwendige Aufmerksamkeit. Die meisten gewaltlosen Aktionen werden einfach ignoriert. Stattdessen geben die Massenmedien der Gewalt die Hauptaufmerksamkeit. Außerdem stellen die Massenmedien gewaltlose Aktionen allgemein falsch dar, indem sie sich auf triviale Ereignisse konzentrieren. Häufig wird von einer großen Demonstration als einzige Sache eine kleine Rauferei oder eine Verhaftung berichtet. Manchmal berichten die Medien über eine "gewalttätige Demonstration", wenn nur die Polizei gewalttätig war. Gewaltlose Aktionen sind noch nicht in den Wortschatz und die Denkrichtung vieler Journalisten und Herausgeber eingegangen. Aktivisten finden auf ihrer Suche nach Öffentlichkeit kreative Wege, um die Aufmerksamkeit der Medien zu erregen. Aber der Medienfokus liegt häufig auf der Aktion, mit wenig Verständnis für den Zweck und die Dynamik des gewaltlosen Handelns. Die Vernachlässigung der Gewaltlosigkeit durch die Medien wird in akademischen Publikationen fortgesetzt, wo der Fokus auf Regierungen, politischen Systemen und Politiken liegt. Es gibt viel Kritik für den Kapitalismus, das Patriarchats und die Hegemonie, aber sehr wenig Bewusstsein für gewaltlose Aktion. Die meisten Leute, die nicht Aktivisten sind, kennen Demonstrationen, Streiks und Aktionen, aber sie denken nicht an sie als Bestandteile einer Konfliktmethodik. An der Schule lernen sie viel über Generäle, Politiker und Kriege, aber nicht so viel über direkte Aktionen der Bevölkerung. Wenn sie etwas über gewaltlose Aktionen hören, ist es häufig über Gandhi oder Martin Luther King, jr. - etwas, das von den mutigen Führern an anderem Ort und zu anderer Zeit getan wurde, statt etwas, das täglich in ihrer Nähe geschieht. Die meisten Leute verstehen die Grundlagen des Krieges: Waffen sind die Werkzeuge, Soldaten sind die Akteure und Kriegsführung ist der Methodik des Kampfes. Aber bei Gewaltlosigkeit sind nur die Werkzeuge, wie Demonstrationen und Streiks, weithin bekannt. Die Akteure - ob Zivilisten, Bürger oder Menschen genannt - sind nicht so gut bekannt. Die Gewaltlosigkeit als Methodik des Konfliktes wird nicht verstanden. Aktivisten und ihre Unterstützer haben erreicht, dass die Unsichtbarkeit der gewaltlosen Aktion bröckelt. Aber der Fortschritt ist langsam. Es dauert lange, bis Historiker und Sozialwissenschaftler gewaltlose Aktionen in Forschung und Lehre einbeziehen. Die drängendere Herausforderung ist (Nicht-)Behandlungen der Gewaltlosigkeit durch die Massenmedien. Ein weg, zum dieses zu ändern, kann sein Journalisten anzuregen, die Gewaltlosigkeit als strategisches Phänomen wie Parteipolitik oder Sport zu verstehen. Es gibt keine einfache Antwort. Experimente sind notwendig. Wie man Gewaltlosigkeiten sichtbarer macht, hängt teils von der Kultur ab. Wörter, Symbole und Geschichten sind wichtig, und diese hängen von den Sprachen und von den kulturellen Traditionen ab. Es ist entscheidend für die Globalisierung der Gewaltlosigkeit zu lernen, wie Leute sie am besten verstehen können.

Der Konflikt über das Renommee Gegner der Gewaltlosigkeit versuchen häufig, Aktivisten zu diskreditieren. Behörden stempeln Protestierer auf üble Weise ab, z.B. als Unwissende, Unzufriedene, Randalierer, Rechtsbrecher und Terroristen. Diese Art der Bezeichnung ist in den Medien-Kommentaren und -Fotos am wirkungsvollsten, wenn die Protestierer sich dem Publikum fern stehen. Wenn Menschen Aktivisten persönlich kennen, respektieren sie sie viel wahrscheinlicher. So ist es in hohem Grade wirkungsvoll, Aktivisten als normale Leute vorzustellen, und Leute zu den Aktivitäten mitzubringen, damit sie Aktivisten treffen können. Eine andere Art, ein festes Renommee aufzubauen ist, das Image zu beachten. Ausfällige Sprache, unkonventionelle Kleidung und eigenartiges Verhalten können einige Leute befremden. Wenn ein negatives Image verwendet wird, um eine Bewegung zu diskreditieren, dann ist es sinnvoll zu überlegen, wie Stereotypen von Protestierern als verrufene Rüpel entgegen gewirkt werden kann. Protestierer könnten z.B. Anzüge tragen. Es gibt nicht nur eine richtige Art sich anzuziehen und sich zu benehmen. Der Punkt ist, Renommee als entscheidenden Faktor in einem Konflikt zu behandeln. Gewaltlose Aktivisten werden auch von anderen Aktivisten abgewertet, besonders denen, die sich als Militante oder Revolutionäre stilisieren und die Provokation oder Gewalt unterstützen. Für sie ist Gewaltlosigkeit schwach und reformistisch. Gewalt wird als männlich angesehen, während Gewaltlosigkeit als weiblich behandelt wird. Gewaltlose Aktivisten sind normalerweise glücklich, das Macho-Image zu vermeiden, aber das Renommee ist ernsthaft betroffen bei diesen geschlechtsbezogenen Bildern. Heute nennen noch ziemlich viele Leute Gewaltlosigkeit "passiven Widerstand", fast ein Jahrhundert nach Gandhi, der den Ausdruck als irreführend zurückgewiesen hat. Gewaltlosigkeit wird häufig in der öffentlichen Meinung mit Passivität, Pazifismus und Beschwichtigung verbunden. Dies trotz der wiederholten Betonung des Wortes Aktion in der gewaltlosen Aktion. Anhaltende Aufmerksamkeit ist erforderlich für Wörter und ihre Konnotationen. Der Ausdruck "Volksmacht" ist eine nützliche Wortschatzerweiterung. Sprache und Bilder sind für den Erfolg der Gewaltlosigkeit lebenswichtig. Neben der Aktion benötigen wir eine Satyagraha-Begrifflichkeit.

Der Konflikt über die Deutung Es gibt eine sehr große Demonstration gegen eine Sitzung der Welthandelsorganisation. Oder es gibt eine Work-to-rule-Kampagne am Arbeitsplatz. Oder ein Mahnwache gegen eine örtliches Neubaugebiet. Es ist einfach für Aktivisten, diese als Aktionen gegen Formen der Unterdrückung oder der Ausbeutung zu sehen. Aber andere sehen diese Bedeutung nicht automatisch. Kritiker könnten die Anti-WTO-Demonstration als gut gemeinte aber irregeführte Reaktion gegen ökonomischen Fortschritt beschreiben. Sie könnten die Work-to-rule-Kampagne als Verhandlungstaktik beschreiben. Und sie könnten die Mahnwache als Fete beschreiben. Die Bedeutung von Ereignissen ist offen für Zugriffe. Aktivisten, ob sie es mögen oder nicht, nehmen an einem Konflikt über Deutungen teil. Allgemeines Verständnis für Gewaltlosigkeit wird behindert durch die Art wie Aktionen unterschiedlichen Rubriken zugeteilt und eingestuft werden. In den Nachrichten sind einige Aktionen in den Auslandsnachrichten, einige in den Wirtschaftsnachrichten, einige in den Lokalnachrichten und ziemlich viele werden gar nicht gebracht. Die Erfolge der gewaltlosen Aktion sind anfällig dafür, kleingeredet und auf andere Ursachen zurückgeführt zu werden. Kommentatoren schreiben häufig den Fall der osteuropäischen kommunistischen Regime dem Erfolg der US-Regierung im kalten Krieg zu, besonders durch den Zwang der sowjetischen Regierung, zu viel für das Militär aufzuwenden, ohne Aktionen der Bevölkerung zu erwähnen. In der Tat geben Regierungen fast nie zu, dass ihre Aktionen durch den Druck der Bevölkerung beeinflusst worden sind. In einigen Fällen ist es unmöglich, gewaltlose Aktion zu ignorieren, aber ihre Wirksamkeit wird klein geredet. Gandhi ist der berühmteste gewaltlose Aktivist. Aber der Erfolg der indischen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung wird häufig darauf zurückgeführt, dass die Briten halbherzige Kolonialisten gewesen seien. Eine gute Entgegnung ist, sich auf die britischen Kolonialaktionen in Kenia gegen die Mau-Mau zu beziehen (die Gewalt anwendeten), wo die Briten Konzentrationslager, Folterungen, Hinrichtungen und die Massenmorde organisierten. Ein anderes vertrautes Argument ist, dass Gewaltlosigkeit nicht gegen die Nazis funktioniert hätte. Jedermann, der über Gewaltlosigkeit spricht, muss gute Antworten entwickeln, wie dass die Gewaltlosigkeit angewendet wurde und gegen die Nazis erfolgreich war, z.B. die öffentlichen Proteste in Berlin 1943, die zur Freigabe jüdischer Gefangener führten. Diese Art von Debatten ist entscheidend für das Verständnis von Gewaltlosigkeit durch die Bevölkerung. Dann gibt es die Niederlagen der Gewaltlosigkeit. Am weithin bekanntesten ist das Niederschlagen der Demokratie-Bewegung in China 1989. Dies war nicht eine so große Niederlage, wie normalerweise behauptet, weil es ernsthaft das Renommee des chinesischen Regimes für eine lange Zeit beschädigte. Darüber hinaus gibt es eine problematische Doppelmoral. Wann führte je die Niederlage in einem Krieg zu der Schlussfolgerung, dass "Gewalt nicht funktioniert"? Nachdem das US-Militär sich aus Vietnam 1975 zurückzog, war die Schlussfolgerung der Falken nicht, dass Gewalt nicht funktioniert, sondern dass "wir nicht genügend Gewalt anwendeten". Gewaltlose Aktivisten sagen häufig das gleiche über ihre nicht ganz erfolgreichen Kampagnen: "Wir müssen stärker, klüger und hartnäckiger in unserem Anwendung der Gewaltlosigkeit sein". Aber wenige andere Leute sehen es auf diese Weise. Ihre Anschauung zu ändern ist das Wesentliche des Konflikts über der Bedeutung von Gewaltlosigkeit. Institutionalisierung der Gewaltlosigkeit

Laut Definition geht gewaltlose Aktion über konventionelle politische Aktion hinaus. Methoden wie das Wählen und das Lobbying sind konventionell und gelten nicht als gewaltlose Aktion. Aber wenn gewaltlose Aktion breiter angewendet wird, kann sie konventionell werden: Sie wird eine politische Institution. In vielen Ländern sind Demonstrationen üblich geworden. In den sechziger Jahren wurden Demonstrationen zu einigen Punkten - wie gegen den Vietnam Krieg - häufig als Bedrohung des Status Quo gesehen. Die Polizei war in hoher Alarmbereitschaft und die Gefahr von Verhaftungen und von Schlägen war hoch. Heute jedoch ist in den gleichen Ländern eine Demonstration nichts besonderes. Die Regierungen geben die Erlaubnis und die Polizei stellt sicher, dass alles glatt läuft, und schützt manchmal Protestierer vor Angriffen durch Zuschauer. Dieses Szenario trifft nur auf einige Orte zu. Es gibt immer noch viele repressive Regime, in denen eine Demonstration oder eine Petition als Subversion behandelt wird und die Organisatoren strengen Strafen unterworfen sind. Institutionalisierung von Gewaltlosigkeit ist ein Zeichen des Erfolges. Es bedeutet, dass das Repertoire der legitimen Aktionen erweitert worden ist. Institutionalisierung kann auch eine Zwangsjacke sein und Aktionen von der Laune der Machthaber abhängig machen. Die Arbeiterbewegung, nach einem langen Kampf, gewann das Recht zum Streik. Aber in einigen Ländern werden Streiks jetzt stark reguliert. Einige Gewerkschaften schließen Streikverzichtverträge ab. Andere Gewerkschaften können nur unter eng definierten Bedingungen streiken, andernfalls wird die Gewerkschaft strengen Strafen unterworfen. Ein typisches Resultat ist, dass Gewerkschaftsvertreter vorsichtig werden. Nicht genehmigte Streiks - wilde Streiks - werden eine Art, die Beschränkungen der direkten Aktion der Arbeiter zu durchbrechen. Es gibt einen kontinuierlichen Konflikt über der Legitimität der gewaltlosen Aktion, wo Gesetzen und Verordnungen die offenkundigen Schranken des Kampfes sind. Einerseits können einfache Dinge wie Flugblätter verteilen durch Hausordnungen in den Einkaufszentren eingeschränkt werden und die Grundlage für einen Streit über die Redefreiheit werden. Andererseits suchen Pflugscharaktivisten, die Marschflugkörper beschädigen, Legitimität durch die Gerichte auf der Grundlage, daß sie handeln, um Völkermord zu verhindern. Im Allgemeinen ist größere Legitimität eine gute Sache für gewaltlose Aktionen, besonders wenn sie Möglichkeiten schafft, gegen repressive Regierungen vorzugehen. Aber es liegt eine Gefahr in der Legitimität, wenn sie von der übermäßigen Regulierung und der Steuerung durch Behörden begleitet wird. Beschränkungen gewaltloser Aktion können gut oder schlecht sein. Es hängt viel davon ab, wer die Beschränkungen entscheidet und durchsetzt. Wenn die Beschränkungen durch nicht wohlwollende Behörden auferlegt werden, dienen sie häufig dazu, die volle Macht der Gewaltlosigkeit einzudämmen. Wenn die Beschränkungen von den Aktivisten und den örtlichen Gemeinschaften entschieden werden, bilden gewaltlose Aktionen viel eher ein machtvolles Instrument um eine bessere Gesellschaft zu errichten. Gewaltlose Aktion hat sich so erfolgreich gegen Diktaturen erwiesen, dass manche Bewegungen - wie in Serbien und der Ukraine - die Unterstützung eines Ministeriums der US-Regierung erhalten haben. Dies ist ein weiteres Zeichen, dass Gewaltlosigkeit institutionalisiert wird. Es hat einige erhitzte Debatten gegeben, ob solche Unterstützung eine gute Sache ist. Diese Debatten reflektieren die Vorteile und die Gefahren der Institutionalisierung. Regierungsunterstützung bedeutet, dass gewaltlose Aktionen viel größere Legitimität hat, aber gleichzeitig schafft es die Möglichkeit der Kontrolle über die Aktion, entweder direkt als Bedingung der Unterstützung oder indirekt, indem sie Aktivisten anregt Dinge zu vermeiden, die die Unterstützung gefährden. Da Gewaltlosigkeit erfolgreicher wird, akzeptierter, institutionalisierter und globaler, werden diese Fragen wichtiger. Kontinuierliche Debatten sind nötig.

Furcht Eines der größten Hindernisse zur Globalisierung der Gewaltlosigkeit ist Furcht - die Furcht, die Menschen haben aus der Reihe zu treten, und die Furcht vor Repressalien, entweder während der Aktion oder danach. Gewaltlose Aktion kann Mut erfordern, besonders wenn eine Gefahr der Verhaftung oder der Verletzung besteht. Die Vorbereitung der gewaltlosen Aktion bezieht mit ein zu erlernen, wie man mit dieser Furcht umgeht. Ein Teil einer Gruppe zu sein macht einen großen Unterschied. Aber es gibt noch eine andere Furcht, die genau so wichtig ist: die Furcht, etwas anderes zu tun als die Menge, auffällig oder abweichend zu sein. Wenn gewaltlose Aktion üblich wird, verschwindet die Furcht. Das Unterzeichnen einer Petition für Weltfrieden bedroht selten irgendwen. Aber eine Petition zu unterzeichnen, die sich über den Chef beschwert, kann sehr riskant sein. Je mehr Menschen in eine Aktion miteinbezogen werden, desto sicherer wird es für jeden. Wenn die Beteiligung einen bestimmten kritischen Punkt überschreitet, kann sie drastisch wachsen. Die schnelle Ausweitung der Proteste in Ostdeutschland 1989 ist ein Beispiel. Der weltweite Protest am 15. 02. 2003 gegen die Invasion im Irak ist ein anderes. Gegner der gewaltlosen Aktion versuchen, den Furchtfaktor zu erhöhen, z.B. indem sie harte Gesetze verabschieden, selbst wenn sie kaum angewendet werden. Viele Angestellte fürchten, dass sie bedrängt oder entlassen werden konnten, wenn sie offen sprechen oder sich einer Protestbewegung anschließen, also halten sie sich zurück. Regierungen können versuchen, die Furcht zu erhöhen, indem sie einige Einzelne verfolgen als Exempel, was anderen geschehen könnte. Aktivisten versuchen, das Problem Furcht anzugehen, indem sie in den Gruppen arbeiten zu adressieren, Möglichkeiten wie Verhaftungen genau vorbereiten, und durch Rollenspiele, damit Aktivisten vertraut damit sind, wie man auf bedrohliche Situationen reagiert. Sie entwerfen auch Aktivitäten, die mehr Menschen erlauben, ohne Furcht teilzunehmen. Eine Petition ist sicherer zu unterzeichnen, wenn 100 Menschen sie bereits unterzeichnet haben. Eine direkte Aktion ist sicherer, wenn die Entscheidung das Gesetz zu brechen und eine Verhaftung zu riskieren beim Einzelnen liegt. Das Militär hat die Arbeit der Psychologen eingespannt, um Wege zu entwickeln, Soldaten in Stress-Situationen weiterkämpfen zu lassen. Gewaltlose Aktivisten haben sich auch auf psychologische Forschung bezogen, doch müssen dies noch mehr tun.

Zusammenfassung

Es ist noch ein langer Weg, bevor Gewalttätigkeit als Konflikt-Methode beseitigt wird. Es gibt verschiedene Hindernisse zur Gewaltlosigkeit, von denen jede von den Aktivisten angegangen werden kann. Ich habe fünf Bereiche des Konfliktes über Gewaltlosigkeiten betrachtet: Sichtbarkeit, Renommee, Bedeutung, Institutionalisierung und Furcht. Jeder von diesen stellt wichtige Herausforderungen dar. Die globale Verbreitung der Gewaltlosigkeit ist einer der wichtigsten Wege mit jedem dieser fünf Bereiche umzugehen. Indem wir mit unterschiedlichen Ansätzen experimentieren und unsere Einsichten teilen, können wir schnell lernen. Die Globalisierung der Gewaltlosigkeit ist der Weg und das Ziel.

Brian Martin ist Professor für Gesellschaftswissenschaften an der Universität von Wollongong in Australien. Er erforscht seit den späten 70ern gewaltfreie Aktionen, hat dazu viele Bücher veröffentlicht und lange in WRI-Gruppen mitgearbeitet.

Übersetzung: Kai-Uwe Dosch

Anmeldung und Informationen zur Konferenz "Gewaltfreiheit Globalisieren" vom 23. bis 27. Juli 2006 in Geseke bei Paderborn. :

anmeldung@gewaltfreiheitglobalisieren.org gewaltfreiheitglobalisieren.org War Resisters' International, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, Britain Telefon (Ortstarif): 018015 8558 53704, international: 0044 20 72784040 Fax: 0044 20 7278 0444

It's time to end the era of influence peddling, "pay-to-play" politics in Washington, D.C.

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Let's support the Clean Money, Clean Elections Act (HR 3099), introduced by Reps. John Tierney (D-MA) and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).
http://mail.democrats.com:81/CT00009203MTE0MDc2MQAA.HTML


Bob Fertik

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Under Clean Elections, qualified candidates who agree to forgo all private contributions and follow strict spending limits receive public financing for their campaigns, freeing them from having to chase campaign donations from big money special interests and lobbyists.

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Zum ersten Mal in der mittlerweile 10-jährigen Geschichte hat das LabourNet Germany die zweifelhafte Ehre im gerade erschienenen Grundrechte-Report 2006 zu erscheinen. In dem Artikel von Anja Lederer: „Staatsschutz vs. Pressefreiheit“ berichtet die Autorin u.a. über die unsägliche Hausdurchsuchung bei uns im letzten Jahr. Wir bemühen uns den Artikel vom Verlag zu bekommen und werden ihn dann hier einbinden. Bis dahin erstmal die Einleitung bei der Humanistischen Union, die wohlwissend schreibt: „..In Deutschland geraten die Grund- und Menschenrechte zunehmend in die Defensive. Die flächendeckende Videoüberwachung der Innenstädte, eine weitreichende Speicherung aller Telekommunikationsdaten und die vorbeugende Inhaftierung Terrorismusverdächtiger sollen, so wird es der Öffentlichkeit vermittelt, für mehr Sicherheit im Angesicht einer weltweiten terroristischen Bedrohung sorgen. In Zeiten großer Sparzwänge müssten auch Abstriche am Existenzminimum zur Bekämpfung der Arbeitslosigkeit hingenommen werden. Wie diese und andere Verstöße gegen das Grundgesetz Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Sozialstaatsgebot und Demokratie in Deutschland bedrohen, schildert der Grundrechte-Report 2006…“ Siehe dazu die Sonderseite zur aktuellen Ausgabe bei der Humanistischen Union mit einem Link zum Inhaltsverzeichnis und den notwenigen Bestellinformationen (Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Preis: 9,95 Euro; ISBN 3-596-17177-6) http://report.humanistische-union.de/report2006.php


Aus: LabourNet, 26. Mai 2006

Ein Spezial zur WM 2006 http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/grundrechte/wm2006.html


WM 2006: Die Bundeswehr zu Gast bei Freunden

Vorauseilend gehorsam – auf 86 Cent genau. Feinplanung der technischen Bundeswehr-Amtshilfe für die Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft liegt vor

"Bis zum Sommer – also bis zu den Parlamentsferien – soll Klarheit über künftige Kompetenzen der Bundeswehr im Innern herrschen. Das haben Union und SPD Anfang der Woche vereinbart. Doch zuvor wird das Militär anlässlich der Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft klarmachen, dass die Zivilisten ohne die Bundeswehr verloren sind..." Artikel von René Heilig im ND vom
12.05.06 http://www.nd-online.de/artikel.asp?AID=90314&IDC=2


WM 2006: Die Bundeswehr zu Gast bei Freunden Meldung bei heise-news vom 16.02.2006 http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/69676


Der Fußball-Kapitalismus

„Hartnäckig hält sich die Legende, Fußball sei eine Arbeitersportart. Richtig ist daran soviel, dass die sportliche Kooperation einer Fußballmannschaft der Arbeitskooperation einer kapitalistischen Fabrik nachgebildet ist…“ Artikel von Wal Buchenberg vom 18. Mai 2006 im Karl-Marx-Forum http://www.f27.parsimony.net/forum66069/messages/10502.htm

Fifa. Ein Konzern wie ein Kegelclub

Der Spitzenverband mit Sitz in Zürich und sein Vorsitzender Sepp Blatter: Milliardenumsätze und ein System von Abhängigkeiten. Artikel von Thomas Kistner in Süddeutsche Zeitung vom 04.05.2006 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/special/131/75056/index.html/wirtschaft/artikel/130/75055/article.html

Alle 250.000 sind verdächtig. Ob Würstchenverkäufer, ob Journalistin - wer bei der WM arbeitet, wird vom Verfassungsschutz durchleuchtet. Auf zweifelhafter rechtlicher Grundlage

Artikel von Mauritius Much in der taz vom 18.3.2006 http://www.taz.de/pt/2006/03/18/a0173.1/text

Handel mit Fußballprofis. Anpfiff zum Milliardenspiel

Artikel von R. Wengenmayr in Handelsblatt vom 9. März 2006 http://www.handelsblatt.com/pshb/fn/relhbi/sfn/buildhbi/cn/GoArt!204047,301117,1056898/SH/0/depot/0/index.html

Fußball WM 2006: Sport und Ökonomie im Zeichen der Globalisierung

Special in Süddeutsche Zeitung http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/special/131/75056/


Fußball-WM 2006: Weltoffen mit offenen Läden ohne Kunden?

Artikel von Hermann Schmid auf der Sonderseite zum Ladenschluss bei verdi http://einzelhandel.verdi.de/ladenschluss/fussball-wm_2006_weltoffen_mit_offenen_laeden_ohne_kunden

Siehe dazu auch die Sonderseite bei ver.di Bayern http://handel.bayern.verdi.de/ladenschluss/ladenschluss_wm_2006 und dort die Resolution zum Erhalt des Ladenschlussgesetzes während der WM 2006 (pdf) http://handel.bayern.verdi.de/ladenschluss/ladenschluss_wm_2006/data/Resolution%20Ladenschluss.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 26. Mai 2006

The man who paid many of the biggest bills for George Bush's political ascent, Enron founder Kenneth Lay, has been found guilty of conspiracy and fraud almost five years after his dirty dealings created the greatest corporate scandal in what will be remembers as an era of corporate crime.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13189.htm



Lay Convicted, Bush Walks, Ahnold Got Lay'd

Greg Palast writes about Schwarzenegger's bond with Ken Lay: "Peninsula Hotel, Beverly Hills. May 17, 2001. The Financial Criminal of the twentieth century, not long out of prison, meets with the Financial Criminal of the twenty-first century, who fears he may also have to do hard time. These two, bond-market manipulator Mike Millikin and Ken Lay, convicted Chairman of Enron Corporation, were joined by a selected group of movers and shakers - and one movie star."

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

Bush took the step today after leaders of both parties complained that the Federal Bureau of Investigation overstepped the constitutional separation of powers by searching the government office of a member of Congress.

http://tinyurl.com/omt83


From Information Clearing House

The Nukak Indians are the only nomadic tribe remaining in South America. Phil Rees reports from the edge of the Amazon basin.

- Warning - Some viewers may find this report disturbing
http://tinyurl.com/ljp5g


From Information Clearing House

Hypocrisy, History and Twelve Kinds of Hell

Sometimes a particularly choice piece of hypocrisy comes along, a wrenching juxtaposition between reality and sham righteousness so sublime in the totality of its horse-hockeyness that it cries out for special recognition.

http://tinyurl.com/r7pha


From Information Clearing House

Washington policy makers are worried that Taiwan will push for independence through constitutional reform in a "nightmare scenario, a former U.S. official said yesterday, in one of the bluntest warnings to be issued from an American visitor.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/i_latestdetail.asp?id=38504


From Information Clearing House

The head of the Russian military’s general staff gave a sharp response May 24 to U.S. proposals to set up a network of “interceptor” missiles in central Europe to ward off potential attacks.

http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_006133.php


From Information Clearing House

`We see how the United States defends its interests, we see what methods and means they use for this,'' Putin said at a news conference.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5845407,00.html


From Information Clearing House

The Bush administration promoted David Satterfield, an alleged informant for a former AIPAC lobbyist facing trial in a classified information case.

http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=2793


From Information Clearing House

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton on Thursday said he planned to resume work on a Chapter 7 UN resolution that would legally require Iran to comply with demands that it freeze all uranium enrichment activities.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=869721


From Information Clearing House



Iran has the right to self-defence

If there is a country that constitutes a classic threat to international peace and security, it is the U.S. The U.S. has been involved in many conflicts and wars that resulted in unnecessary killings of millions of innocent people. From Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia to Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq, millions of innocent people have been massacred by U.S. forces.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13181.htm

The Attorney General's office has been ordered to disclose information leading to his advice on the legality of invading Iraq in 2003.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-5844860,00.html

At least seven of the victims were women and three were children.
http://marinetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1823925.php


From Information Clearing House



Marine Corps to probe Iraq civilian deaths

The top Marine general said Thursday that he feared, based on two recent cases of alleged killings of civilians in Iraq, that some Marines could become "indifferent to the loss of a human life."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13180.htm

Informant: Scott Munson

--------

Unconstitutional explicitly reveals details of the shocking way that the civil liberties of American citizens and immigrants alike have been infringed upon, curtailed and rolled back since 9/11 and the USA Patriot Act.

Windows Media video
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13176.htm

Video - 60 Minutes - Windows Media

This new film, written, directed and produced by Nonny de la Peña, details the shocking way that the civil liberties of American citizens and immigrants alike have been infringed upon, curtailed and rolled back since 9/11 and the USA Patriot Act.

Dr. Marc Siegel says that although "bird flu cannot routinely affect humans in its current form" the potential threat of bird flu is being given priority over other major diseases that are world-wide killers: malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/052506HA.shtml

On September 29, 2003, three days after it became known that the CIA had asked the Justice Department to investigate who leaked the name of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, columnist Robert Novak telephoned White House senior adviser Karl Rove to assure Rove that he would protect him from being harmed by the investigation, according to people with firsthand knowledge of the federal grand jury testimony of both men.

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

Residents determined to stop it being connected to power

Julie Hemmings

VILLAGERS unhappy about a mobile telephone mast near their homes say they will do anything in their power to prevent it being switched on.
Phone company Orange installed a third-generation services mast on the edge of Sheriff Hutton after an administrative error by Ryedale Council.

The council was a day late in returning paperwork to the communications company which, under planning law, can assume it has consent to put up its mast.

The authority has been in negotiations since October trying to rectify the situation caused by its oversight, to try to agree an alternative location and any compensation payable to Orange for the change and disruption.
Residents assumed Orange would take no action in the meantime so were surprised when contractors appeared on Wednesday to dig a trench to connect it to the electricity supply.

The police were called to mediate as angry villagers went into a stand-off with the contractors, who eventually left without completing their work.
Villager Linda Murphy said it was only by chance that a resident saw the workmen and then rounded-up neighbours who were at home to make their protest.

"We're finding it very difficult to know what's going on," said Mrs Murphy.
"Orange had promised if anything was going to be done they would notify the parish council and Ryedale Council. We will do anything in our power to stop it being connected – we're quite prepared to park our cars to stop work being done. It's a very emotive issue."

Mrs Murphy who has two small children, said the potential health risks of a mast were the main concern to villagers, although they also were unhappy with the mast's appearance. It has been painted green but villagers say it is no less visible.

Ryedale's development control manager Gary Housden said the council had admitted the mistake but was frustrated with lack of progress in talks with Orange since.

In line with Government guidance, concerns over possible health risks from telecommunications masts are not grounds to reject a planning application and Mr Housden said local councils' powers over this type of structure were more restricted than people might think.

If masts are shorter than 45ft, as is the one Sheriff Hutton, the presumption is in favour of permission.

Mr Housden said the council did have concerns about the proposed location, as it is close to the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and talks were continuing to agree an alternative site.
Orange bosses met yesterday to discuss the mast.

Commenting on the protest on Wednesday, an Orange spokesman said: "After a meeting between residents, the local police, the local council and Orange's contractors it was agreed that Orange had legitimate rights to carry out the work but would not do the work that day, rather return at a later date to carry out the work.

"Orange is in negotiations with Ryedale District Council as to alternative locations for a mast and Orange will continue to work with the council to look at all suggested alternatives.

"It is also Orange's intention to carry on with its legitimate right to connect the existing mast at some point in the near future."

julie.hemmings@ypn.co.uk

26 May 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1084&ArticleID=1527801

#Die Linkspartei.PDS: Pressemitteilungen

26. Mai 2006

Zur anhaltenden Debatte um Mindestlohn und Kürzungen bei Hartz IV erklärt die stellvertretende Parteivorsitzende Katja Kipping:

Die Linkspartei.PDS wird weiter für einen Mindestlohn von 8 Euro in der Stunde, die Anhebung der Hartz-IV-Bezüge auf 420 Euro sowie die mittelfristige Einführung einer soziale Grundsicherung, die diesen Namen auch verdient, streiten gemeinsam mit Gewerkschaften und sozialen Initiativen. Unsere Forderungen werden wir auf der Demonstration gegen Sozialabbau am 3. Juni in Berlin kundtun. Die Kosten für Hartz IV übersteigen die im Haushalt eingestellte Summe erheblich sagen Union und SPD. Das ist kein Zeichen dafür, dass das Arbeitslosengeld II zu hoch ist, sondern dass die Armut, vor allem die verdeckte Armut, in Deutschland deutlich höher ist, als es die Regierung wahr haben möchte. Stattdessen soll gekürzt werden: Nach dem Willen der Union ganz direkt durch Absenkung der ohnehin völlig unzureichenden Hartz-IV-Bezüge. Die SPD geht subtiler vor und meint, durch mehr Kontrollen und Schnüffeleien im Privaten eine größere Zahl von angeblichem Missbrauch aufdecken zu können und so mehr Geld in die Kasse zu bekommen. Beide Wege sind grundfalsch und gehen an der Wirklichkeit völlig vorbei. Die Linkspartei fordert eine Anhebung der Regelsätze auf mindestens 420 Euro. Diese Forderung wird von Berechnungen des Paritätischen Wohlfahrtsverbandes und der Caritas unterstützt. Spätestens mit der Anhebung der Mehrwertsteuer sind die Grundlagen für die Hartz-IV-Berechnung von 1998 sowie von 2003 restlos überholt. Und wer sich dann noch hinstellt, wie die Regierungsfraktionen, und die unzumutbare Nähe der ALG-II-Beträge zum Lohnniveau beklagt, der liefert damit nur den Beleg dafür, wie dringend wir in Deutschland endlich einen gesetzlichen Mindestlohn brauchen. Arbeit darf nicht arm machen und wer keine Arbeit hat, darf nicht ins wirtschaftliche und soziale Aus gedrängt werden.

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=32839

Gold Star Families Speak Out
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0525-10.htm

Part 1 & 2
http://www.newswithviews.com/Erica/Carle27.htm

http://www.sobran.com/columns/2006/060511.shtml


Informant: Lew Rockwell

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Endangered_Tropical_Forests.html

May 25, 2006

By LISA J. ADAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Ilegal confiscated wood sits in front of the entrance to Ibama, Brazil's environmental protection agency, in the northern city of Itaituba, Brazil, in this April 29 2006 photo. Almost all the world's tropical forests remain unprotected even though two-thirds have been set aside for some sort of preservation over the past two decades, according to a report released Thursday. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

MEXICO CITY -- Almost all the world's tropical forests remain effectively unprotected even though two-thirds have been designated for some sort of preservation over the past two decades, according to a report released Thursday.

The study of tropical forest management by the International Tropical Timber Organization surveyed 2 billion acres - two-thirds of the world's tropical forests - in 33 countries.

All of those forests were designated by the governments and landowners overseeing them as being under "sustainable management," meaning they were completely protected as conservation areas, or designated as sites where economic activities such as logging were only allowed if they didn't destroy the forest.

However, the group said that what it called "the most extensive survey ever" found that less than 5 percent of these forests were managed in a sustainable way last year.

Scientists say tropical forests serve important environmental functions by providing habitat to countless species of plant and animal life, increasing rainfall and humidity, and helping to fight global warming by reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, 1.3 billion acres were designated for sustainable management, but only 27 million acres were actually protected.

In Asia and the Pacific, 415 million acres were earmarked for sustainable management, but only 48 million acres were managed that way. In Africa, only 14.8 million acres of 272 million designated acres were being protected.

The timber organization, a Yokohama, Japan-based group with 59 members representing most of the world's countries with tropical forests, was formed under the auspices of the United Nations in 1986 amid global concern about disappearing tropical forests.

Its mission is to promote forest management that retains the "inherent values" of the forest while allowing businesses like timber to support local communities, the report said, adding: "It hasn't always worked."

"Some countries have already lost a significant part of their natural forest heritage," the study said.

On a positive note, the report noted that the nearly 5 percent of the land that is being managed correctly marks a drastic increase since the group first surveyed the forests: about 89 million acres in 2005 compared to less than 2.5 million acres in 1988.

"It does give us some hope that sustainable forest management is a viable land-use option and will continue to expand," one of the editors of the report, Alastair Sarre, said in a telephone interview from Australia.

Still, sustainable management isn't as profitable, at least over the short term, as illegal logging, agriculture and other uses, he said.

Other obstacles include poor government coordination with local communities and landowners; inadequate resources for enforcement, management and monitoring; armed conflicts that cause social and economic disruption; and long-standing land ownership disputes.

The least progress has been made in countries beset by civil war or other conflicts, such as Central African Republic, Ivory Coast and Liberia, the report said.

In contrast, significant advances have been made in Malaysia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, it said.

Brazil, which has the largest percentage of the world's tropical forests, requires landowners to maintain 80 percent of the forested areas in the Amazon. Logging is permitted in the forest reserve, but companies must file management plans to show their logging is carried out in a sustainable manner, with minimal damage to the forest.

The report recommends that governments and industry create more economic incentives for landowners and forest users; more international aid to help implement better management and enforcement programs on the ground; and legislation at the national level to protect tropical forests.

The survey will be released formally at the 40th Session of the International Tropical Timber Council, which meets from May 29 through June 2 in the Yucatan Peninsula city of Merida.

On the Net:
ITTO: http://www.itto.or.jp/live/index.jsp


Informant: Scott Munson