World-News

24.11.06

Im Skandal um die Entführung ausländischer Staatsbürger in US-Geheimgefängnisse ist ein weiteres Opfer aufgetaucht. Nach einem Bericht des ARD-Magazins Kontraste ist der seit 25 Jahren in Deutschland lebende Ägypter Abdul Halim Khafagi 2001 in ein US-Geheimgefängnis in Bosnien verschleppt worden. Ähnlich wie der Deutsch-Libanese Khaled El Masri soll der damals 69-jährige in ein Lager gebracht worden sein, in dem er zwei Mal auf einen Mann getroffen sein soll, der sich als Deutscher vorgestellt habe.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14811

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3886


Informant: ranger116

A message from BMutiny

STOP WELLS FARGO BANK FROM FINANCING THIS ABUSIVE PRACTICE Wells Fargo, one of America’s largest banks, is a top financier of destructive oil, coal, logging, and mining operations that contribute to global warming, ecosystem destruction, and human rights abuses.

The corrupt power of their finances funds organizations that have worked to rollback forest, endangered species and clean water protections devastating eco-systems and communities from Alaska to Appalachia.

Other US banks, like Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, have taken a more responsible approach. Yet, Wells Fargo still does not have a comprehensive environmental and social policy.

It's time Wells Fargo took responsibility for the destructive impact of its investments and charted a new course toward justice and sustainability. Sign this petition telling Wells Fargo to get their act together!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/376470895

Why is Wells Fargo continuing to support environmentally and socially destructive projects from Alaska to Appalachia?

In Alaska, Wells Fargo supports logging in the Tongass National Forest by funding anti-environmental groups such as the Pacific Legal Foundation and the Resource Development Council of Alaska. These organizations have worked to rollback forest, endangered species and clean water protections, creating an atmosphere ripe for destruction of old-growth forests on our public lands.

In America's west, oil and gas companies financed by Wells Fargo's $4 billion energy portfolio are drilling in desert and mountain landscapes, causing destruction and pollution.

In Appalachia, Wells Fargo finances coal companies using mountaintop removal, a brutal strip mining process that is literally exploding the tops off of mountains across West Virginia, Kentucky and other states in the region, while polluting waterways and destroying forests and local communities.

Other US banks, like Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, have taken a more responsible approach and developed social and environmental policies with safeguards to prevent financing of destructive projects in sensitive ecosystems, while Wells Fargo remains committed to a world of irresponsible and exploitative lending practices.

Mr. Kovacevich, please take responsibility for the environmental and social impacts of Wells Fargo's financing. Work with Rainforest Action Network to develop 21st century policies that can put Wells Fargo on track to protect biodiversity, slow climate change and respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and impacted local communities.

[Your comment]

I look forward to your reply. SIGN PETITION! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/376470895

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND PASS IT ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND GROUPS!!! MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL IS EXACTLY THAT, TO GET AT THE RESOURCES BURIED DEEP IN THE EARTH, IN THE CHEAPEST WAY POSSIBLE. IT LITERALLY TAKES OFF THE TOPS OF MOUNTAINS; CHANGING THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE ECOLOGY FOREVER. IT HAS DESTROYED COMMUNITY AFTER COMMUNITY IN APPALACHIA. IT HAS POISONED THE WATER SUPPLY. THERE IS SIMPLY NO WAY TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE AFTER SUCH DEVASTATION.

B M T

Aus Ihrem Nein wird ein gemeinsames Nein

Jedes "Mein-Nein" auf dieser Seite steht für einen Haushalt ohne Genfood. Hier können Sie sich öffentlich dazu bekennen und haben die Möglichkeit, Ihre persönliche Meinung kund zu tun. Sagen Sie selbst, warum sie kein Genfood in Ihrem Haushalt wollen.

Mit unserer Aktion möchten wir möglichst vielen Menschen die Möglichkeit geben, sich öffentlich zum Thema Genfood zu äußern. Aus vielen "Mein-Neins" wird ein großes gesellschaftliches Bekenntnis. Und damit eine gewichtige Stellungnahme unterschiedlicher gesellschaftlicher Gruppen für die Ernährungsindustrie und die politisch Verantwortlichen in Berlin.

Genfood und seine Folgen...

... für die Gesundheit.
Niemand weiß, wie gentechnische Veränderungen sich langfristig auswirken. Weiterführende Untersuchungen zum Verzehr gentechnisch veränderter Pflanzen gibt es nicht.

... für die Umwelt.
Schon jetzt leidet die Artenvielfalt unter dem Einsatz von Gentechnik. Es besteht die Gefahr, dass resistente Unkrautsorten entstehen und von gentechnisch veränderten Pflanzen produzierte Gifte sich im Boden anreichern. Durch Auskreuzungen verbreiten sich Gene aus gentechnisch veränderten Pflanzen.

... für die Freiheit.
Schon bei relativ wenigen Feldern mit Genpflanzen muss aufgrund des Pollenflugs mittelfristig von einer generellen Verunreinigung des Saatguts und der Ernte ausgegangen werden. Die Verbraucher können nicht mehr frei entscheiden, was sie essen.

.... für die Entwicklungsländer.
Genfood fördert die Abhängigkeit der Landwirte. Gerade in armen Ländern treiben von Genpflanzen hervorgerufene Ernteausfälle Bauern in den Ruin. So wird das Problem Hunger nicht gelöst, sondern verstärkt.

... für den Landwirt, der gentechnikfrei produziert.
Werden Gentechnisch veränderte Organismen (GVOs) angebaut, bedeutet dies für die Landwirte in der Nachbarschaft erhebliche Mehrkosten, um gentechnikfreie Produkte garantieren zu können. In kleinräumigen Gebieten ist ein gentechnikfreier Anbau in der Nachbarschaft zu GVO-Anbau langfristig unmöglich.

... für den Bio-Landbau.
Werden in Bio-Produkten nur die geringsten Spuren von Gentechnik gefunden, sind die Produkte für die Verbraucher nicht mehr "bio". Dadurch werden hoch qualifizierte Arbeitsplätze in der Landwirtschaft aufs Spiel gesetzt.

... für künftige Generationen.
Es ist unvertretbar, zugunsten vager Vorteile die funktionierende Landwirtschaft nachhaltig und gegebenenfalls irreversibel aufs Spiel zu setzen. Die Verantwortung für zukünftige Generationen sollte uns davon abhalten, dieses Risiko einzugehen.

http://www.mein-nein.de/

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"Steuerzahler zahlt": NABU kritisiert Genehmigung von Genweizen-Anbau in Sachsen-Anhalt

24.11.06

Der Naturschutzbund NABU hat die Genehmigung des Genweizen-Anbaus in Gatersleben durch das Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit heftig kritisiert. Damit habe die "Seehofer-Behörde" den ersten Freisetzungsversuch mit genmanipuliertem Weizen in Deutschland seit zwei Jahren genehmigt. "Die Entscheidung für den Genweizen-Anbau ist eine klare Absage an Risikovorsorge und Verbraucherschutz. Hier werden Steuergelder für ein unsinniges Projekt zum Fenster herausgeworfen", kritisiert NABU-Präsident Olaf Tschimpke. "Statt einseitiger Hightech-Strategien brauchen wir dringender denn je eine moderne, vielfältige Züchtungsforschung, die Lösungen für unsere Zukunftsprobleme wie Klimawandel und Energieknappheit bietet." Obwohl rund 30.000 Einwendungen von Bürgern, Verbänden und Lebensmittelhändlern gegen den Anbau des Genweizens an das Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz übergeben worden seien, habe die Behörde "dem riskanten Vorhaben" zugestimmt.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14808

Im Bann der Schwarzen Listen
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24047/1.html

Die Heuchelei der neu aufgelegten Gewaltdebatte

"Killerspiele" sind ein Nebenschauplatz der Militarisierung - Populistische Zensurparolen zielen nur auf Symptome eines aggressiven Gesellschaftsmodells.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24052/1.html

http://www.meta-info.de/?lid=24554

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Das Geschäft mit den Terrorismuswarnungen

Der von der Bundesanwaltschaft verfolgte Anschlagsplan von Frankfurt war eine Luftblase.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24053/1.html

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Offenbar keine ernsthaften Verdachtsmomente: Bundesanwaltschaft soll Terrorgefahr aufgebauscht haben

(24.11.06)

Gegen die sechs arabischstämmigen Männer, die einen Anschlag auf den Flughafen Frankfurt geplant haben sollen, haben sich offenbar zu keiner Zeit ernsthafte Verdachtsmomente ergeben. Das berichtet die "Süddeutsche Zeitung" unter Berufung auf aus Sicherheitskreise. Die Ermittler hätten den Fall wegen Nichtigkeit längst zu den Akten gelegt, als die Bundesanwaltschaft am Montag bekannt gegeben habe, sie ermittle gegen eine Gruppe aus dem Rhein-Main-Gebiet, die einen Terroranschlag auf ein Passagierflugzeug vorbereitet habe. Auch Hintermänner der Tat, von denen die Bundesanwaltschaft gesprochen hatte, gebe es nach Angaben aus den Sicherheitskreisen nicht, schreibt die Zeitung. Die Diskussion um tatsächliche oder auch nur behauptete Terrorplanungen ist für die Bundesregierung sehr hilfreich beim Durchsetzen neuer Sicherheitsgesetze.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet: http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14807

Funeral processions began Friday for the more than 160 people who were killed by car bombs and mortars in Baghdad's largest Shiite district. Hundreds of men, women and children beat their chests, chanted and cried as they walked beside vehicles carrying the caskets of their loved ones. "There is a full-scale sectarian war in the country that the media has not been able to fully project to the world," says Bassam Ali, a political analyst from Arbil.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112406Z.shtml

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173
http://tinyurl.com/337x82


Jack Topel



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

CounterPunch
by Alexander Cockburn

11/23/06

The way you end a slaughter is by no longer feeding it. Every general, either American or British, with the guts to speak honestly over the past couple of years has said the same thing: the foreign occupation of Iraq by American and British troops is feeding the violence. Iraq is not on the 'edge of civil war.' It is in the midst of it. There is no Iraqi government. There are Sunni militias and Shia militias inflicting savagery on each other in the awful spiral of reprisal killings familiar from Northern Ireland and Lebanon in the 1970s. Iraq has become Chechnya, headed into that abyss from the day the US invaded in 2003. It's been a steep price to inflict on the Iraqi people for the pleasure of seeing Saddam Hussein die abruptly at the end of a rope...

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn11232006.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Common Dreams
by Joyce Marcel

11/23/06

Thanksgiving is the day we're supposed to be thankful for things: for family, for the true bounty of America from sea to shining sea, for turkey dinners whether they are caged or free-range, and for the recent election that threw out one of the most corrupt Congresses we've seen in many years.So why am I spitting mad this Thanksgiving?Because there will be too many empty chairs and empty sleeves this Thanksgiving. Too many mothers and fathers with cold medals in their hands. Too many men and women not coming back, or living in hospitals and rehabilitation centers, or still serving in hostile lands. And how can we give thanks without tears for the thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan people who've been maimed and killed in the six misbegotten years since George W. Bush and Dick Cheney came to power?

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1122-33.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by Doug Bandow

11/24/06

Iraq is a wreck and Afghanistan is deteriorating, but that doesn't foreclose war with Iran. To the contrary, there is no evidence that the president realizes how much destruction he has wrought. Give him enough time, he seems to believe, and pro-American democracies will bloom across the Mideast. So why not make it a trifecta? Attack Iran, destroy its nuclear facilities, smash the mullahocracy, and establish a liberal society. It's all a fantasy, of course, but no more fantastic than administration policy in Iraq. Assessing the intentions of Washington would be difficult no matter who was president. This administration is even tougher, since policymakers seem fixated on fantasy rather than reality...

http://www.antiwar.com/bandow/?articleid=10052


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Donegal News (subscription) - Omagh, UK A METEOR mobile phone mast to be erected in Ramelton close to two schools has caused outrage in the local community, claimed Councillor Ian McGarvey this week. ...

http://www.nwipp-newspapers.com/dn/free/287574964897011.php

Ein anderer Hartz-IV-Regelsatz muss politisch erstritten werden

Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Erwerbslosen- und Sozialhilfeinitiativen
Geschäftsführung
Moselstraße 25
60329 Frankfurt am Main
Telefon: 069/2722 0896
Fax: 069/2722 0897
Internet: http://www.bag-shi.de

Die BAG-SHI nimmt zur heutigen Entscheidung des Bundessozialgerichts Stellung:

Ein anderer Hartz-IV-Regelsatz muss politisch erstritten werden.

Die Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Erwerbslosen- und Sozialhilfeinitiativen (BAG-SHI) hat nicht erwartet, dass das Bundessozialgericht am 23.11. die Hartz-IV-Regelleistungen für verfassungswidrig erklären würde. Schließlich sind Gerichte nicht dafür zuständig, klare politische Entscheidungen – und seien sie noch so schlecht – zurechtzurücken. Wer dafür sorgen will, dass auch Erwerbslose anständig leben und an Gesellschaft und Kultur teilnehmen können, muss politisch dafür streiten. Das bedeutet, sich mit anderen Betroffenen zusammen zu schließen, gemeinsam zu protestieren und gemeinsam Interessen zu vertreten.

Der Weg zu den Sozialgerichten ist für Menschen, die auf Sozialleistungen angewiesen sind, immer dann richtig und wichtig, wenn Behördenentscheidungen gegen geltendes Recht verstoßen oder willkürlich sind, weil der Gesetzgeber für den zu entscheidenden Fall keine Regelung getroffen hat. Solche behördlichen Rechtsverstöße und solche Regelungslücken gibt es zuhauf, seit das Sozialgesetzbuch II, die Rechtsgrundlage für das Arbeitslosengeld II, in Kraft ist. Die BAG-SHI ermutigt die Betroffenen stets, ihre mageren Rechte im Zweifelsfall auch mit Hilfe der Sozialgerichte zu behaupten, wenn Behörden diese Rechte beschneiden wollen oder ihren Handlungsspielraum zu Ungunsten der Betroffenen nutzen.

Aber die BAG-SHI rät Betroffenen nicht, ihre Energie in sinnlosen Rechtsstreitigkeiten zu verschleißen. Sinnlos sind Rechtsstreitigkeiten in der Regel dann, wenn der Gesetzgeber eine Sache klar geregelt hat. Dass auch Bundesgerichte sich in solchen Situationen ganz formal hinter den Spielraum des Gesetzgebers zurückziehen, wie es jetzt in Kassel geschah, ist normal. In solchen Situationen hilft kein individuelles juristisches Klagen, sondern nur kollektive Gegenwehr.

Anne Ames
Geschäftsführerin

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Bundessozialgericht: ALG II verfassungskonform!

Reaktionen auf das Urteil

Ein anderer Hartz-IV-Regelsatz muss politisch erstritten werden.

„Die Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Erwerbslosen- und Sozialhilfeinitiativen (BAG-SHI) hat nicht erwartet, dass das Bundessozialgericht am 23.11. die Hartz-IV-Regelleistungen für verfassungswidrig erklären würde. Schließlich sind Gerichte nicht dafür zuständig, klare politische Entscheidungen – und seien sie noch so schlecht – zurechtzurücken. Wer dafür sorgen will, dass auch Erwerbslose anständig leben und an Gesellschaft und Kultur teilnehmen können, muss politisch dafür streiten. Das bedeutet, sich mit anderen Betroffenen zusammen zu schließen, gemeinsam zu protestieren und gemeinsam Interessen zu vertreten…“ Pressemitteilung der Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Erwerbslosen- und Sozialhilfeinitiativen vom 23.11.06 http://www.bag-shi.de/presse/archiv/pm061123-bsg/view


BSG: Hartz IV nicht verfassungswidrig, aber heftige Kritik an der Verwaltungspraxis

„Nach dem siebten Senat vor zwei Wochen entschied heute auch der elfte Senat des BSG erstmals über Hartz IV. Claudia Fittkow und Erwin Denzler nahmen an der Verhandlung teil und berichten für Tacheles, da die vollständigen Urteilstexte erfahrungsgemäß erst nach einigen Monaten vorliegen werden…“ Bericht bei Tacheles http://www.tacheles-sozialhilfe.de/aktuelles/2006/BSG_HartzIV_Kritik.aspx


Bundessozialgericht blockiert eine Erhöhung der Hartz IV-Regelsätze. Sozialproteste setzen auf sozialpolitischen Widerstand

„Das Bundessozialgericht hat heute entschieden, dass die ALG II-Regelsätze nicht angehoben werden müssen. Offensichtlich ist den verantwortlichen Richtern nicht klar, was es bedeutet, wenn für eine alleinstehende Person für das Mittagessen oder Abendbrot regelmäßig jeweils 1,55 Euro und für das Frühstück 0,87 Euro zur Verfügung stehen. Für verheiratete und in eine Bedarfsgemeinschaft gerechnete Menschen reduziert sich dieser Betrag auf 1,40 bzw. 0,78 Euro, für Kinder bis 14 Jahre 0,93 Euro bzw. 0,52 Euro. Angesichts der drohenden Erhöhung der Mehrwertsteuer gleich um 3 Prozentpunkte schreibt dieses Urteil nicht nur die Regelsätze fest, sondern verfügt praktisch deren Kürzung…“ Aus der Pressemitteilung des Koordinierungskreises des bundesweiten Aktionsbündnisses Sozialproteste vom 23.11.06


Hartz IV-Armut ist verfassungsgemäß. Wut und Fassungslosigkeit unter den Erwerbsloseninitiativen

Pressemitteilung des Erwerbslosen Forum Deutschland vom 23.11.2006 http://www.erwerbslosenforum.de/nachrichten/hartz_iv-armut_ist_verfassungsgemas.htm

Bundessozialgericht legitimiert den Armutssturz – eine Herausforderung für Politik und Sozialprotest

„Die beiden Berliner Sozialwissenschaftler Prof. Peter Grottian und Karl-Heinz Selm haben das Urteil des Bundessozialgerichts zur qualifizierten Festlegung der Regelsätze (Alg II) heftig kritisiert. Die Richter haben sich selbst zum Vollstrecker neoliberaler Haushaltspolitik gemacht, anstatt die menschengerechten Bedürfnisse diskriminierter armer Menschen wirklich ernst zu nehmen…“ Artikel von Peter Grottian und Karl-Heinz Selm vom 23.11.2006 in Linke Zeitung http://www.linkezeitung.de/cms/content/view/1366/32/


DGB erwägt Klage gegen Hartz-IV-Regelsatz. Reichen 345 Euro monatlich zum Leben?

„Der Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund hat sich vom Urteil des Bundessozialgerichts zum Hartz-IV-Regelsatz vom 345 Euro pro Monat unbeeindruckt gezeigt: Obwohl die Kasseler Richter keinen Verfassungsverstoß feststellen konnten, prüft der DGB eine Klage vor dem Bundesverfassungsgericht. Dorthin will auch die unterlegene Klägerin ziehen…“ http://tinyurl.com/ymuedo


Aus: LabourNet, 27. November 2006



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

A message from Courtney

Original Message

After reading the following, there's really not much to say except please help!

"The Bush Administration and companies such as Shell Oil are planning to open the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas to oil exploration and drilling in their shortsighted “drill everywhere” proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing Program for 2007- 2012."

http://www.care2.com/news/member/579583044/227218

A CAMPAIGNER against mobile phone masts is calling on like-minded action groups to attend a "power to the people" meeting.

Mr Dennis Cannon, chairman of campaign group Together Against Masts, has helped to organise the public meeting on Saturday, December 2nd, in a bid to highlight what he sees as the lack of democracy and accountability over local issues.

Mr Cannon, whose group campaigns against the presence of mobile phone masts in Burnley, believes that a number of recent contentious issues in the borough have been decided by "faceless unelected bureaucrats".

He pointed to the recent decision to downgrade services at Burnley General Hospital, the attempts to remove one of Padiham's fire engines and plans to build the new Unity College on Towneley playing fields – all heavily against public opinion – as proof of moves based purely to save money. He said: "All these things have one common thread running through them, and that is all the decisions have been taken by unelected civil servants quoting improvement to the service to the public.

"Yet it is clear that all these exercises are to save money. Further, not one single person will stand up and be accountable for any adverse outcomes of these decisions. They hide behind a bureaucratic mask of anonymity without ever taking responsibility." Mr Cannon is particularly concerned about the possible ill-health effects of mobile phone masts, and criticised Burnley Borough Council's planning officers for sticking rigidly to government guidelines and ignoring the health risks.

He particularly criticised arguments put forward by planning officers that costs on appeal would be substantial to council tax payers, yet he quoted one local example where the costs were just £300.

He said: "I accept that the function of a planning officer is to advise the committee on planning law. However, the ones in Burnley seem to follow government guidelines to the letter, which eliminates personal views. Guidelines are not strict rules.

"Why should they influence what decision the committee makes? Elected councillors should be doing what they can to satisfy their constituents and most of them are against mobile phone masts." Mr Cannon added that Pendle Borough Council employs a telecommunications expert advising them on phone mast applications and where they are needed. But because Burnley Council does not have one, Mr Cannon says the committee just accepts the applicant's argument that a mast is needed in a certain area.

Charter 88, a national organisation aiming to bring democracy back to the people, and the Pure Water Association are expected to have stands at the public meeting on December 2nd at Burnley Central Methodist Church. A number of local community groups and Burnley MP Mrs Kitty Ussher are also expected at the meeting which runs from 1-30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

24 November 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.burnleytoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=12&ArticleID=1894960

DAN GRIMMER

24 November 2006 09:41

Council bosses who pioneered Norwich as a Wi-Fi hotspot have today allayed fears that the wireless computer networks could damage people's health.

Campaigners have for years called for no more mobile phone masts to be built near schools or homes because it has not been proved they are not harmful to health.

And now concern has been raised as to whether the low levels of radiation emitted by transmitters used in the wireless technology could be harmful to health.

Norwich North MP Ian Gibson has called for more research to be conducted into potential dangers after parent power forced some schools elsewhere in the country to ditch the wireless networks.

He said: “We need a departmental inquiry into this situation. The Department of Health should be looking into it seriously. What we really need is another inquiry like the William Stewart report into mobile phone masts.”

The health scare comes at a time when the city is leading the way with the technology. In August the £1.1m Norfolk Open Link project was launched in the city.

The two-year pilot project, managed by Norfolk County Council and funded by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), means people can get free broadband internet access.

It covers most of the city centre as well as key sites such as UEA, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and Norwich Science Park.

More than 200 small aerials have been fixed to lampposts to create the network, with the main internet connection on top of County Hall.

Kurt Frary, Norfolk Open Link project manager at Norfolk County Council, said: “The technology used for Norfolk Openlink is similar to that used in some modern mobile phones and laptops and it has been well received by people in Norwich. All aerials are sited high on lampposts and buildings so that they are at least 30cm from the user.”

But in other parts of the country parent power has sparked schools to ditch their wireless networks.

Wi-Fi, your questions answered:

Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity and enables data to be transmitted over a wireless network.

This means people can get a rapid connection to the internet without the need for cables.

It works using antennae to create Wi-Fi hotspots. These hotspots receive radiowaves which are then encoded and sent to Wi-Fi compatible equipment such as computers and mobile telephones.

Norfolk Open Link is the first large-scale community wireless network of this type in the UK to use lamp posts to host over 200 access points.

The network features more than 200 small Telabria APM 300 aerials, fixed to existing street furniture and buildings, mostly lampposts so that no masts have been needed.

Each aerial has a 250m to 300m reception radius.

The aerials feed signals back to “backhaul” sites which then link back to County Hall up to the project's 40mb internet link.

The output power of wireless networks like Norfolk Open Link is very low (0.1 watts) and, as the equipment is not held against the user's head, there is very little exposure to radio wave energy.

Do you know of a school which has banned Wi-Fi? Or are you a parent campaigning to get it banned at the school your children go to? If so telephone Evening News reporter Dan Grimmer on 01603 772375 or email dan.grimmer @archant.co.uk.

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/weved

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Health fears lead schools to dismantle wireless networks
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/2957963/

WiMAX could fry your brain
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2974443/

Wireless technology made me sick
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2975957/

Protect Santa Fe’s Public Libraries from Wireless Technology
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1790941/

School sued for installing a wireless computer network
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1121957/

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Wireless networks health debate on BBC "You And Yours" radio programme

Radio programme extract of debate over health dangers of wireless networks in schools.
http://www.mast-victims.org/resources/audio/bbc-you-and-yours-wifi-23-11-2006.mp3

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Will a WiFi network harm your children?

ANNA DAVIS

EVENING STANDARD
Monday November 20

CAMPAIGNERS have called for parents to remove wireless computer networks from their homes amid fears for children's health.

It comes as some schools have dismantled their wireless systems - known as WiFi - and gone back to using cables in case radiation emitted by transmitters harms pupils.

Scientific evidence is inconclusive, but some researchers believe low-level radiation causes loss of concentration, headaches, fatigue, behavioural problems and possibly cancer.

They say children could be more at risk because of their thinner skulls and developing nervous systems.

Karen Barratt, from campaign group Mast Sanity, said: "There is no good reason to have something like that in your house apart from the fact it is a lot tidier not to have cables. But it is worth having a bit of mess to protect children's health."

Some schools use transmitters in classrooms to give pupils access from laptops to the school computer network and the internet.

Last month, a group of parents at the Prebendal School in Chichester, West Sussex, successfully lobbied the headteacher to remove wireless networks.

At Ysgol Pantycelyn, a comprehensive in Carmarthenshire, governors also agreed with parents' requests to switch off its wireless network.

Parent Judith Davies said: "Many people campaign against mobile phone masts near schools, but there is a great deal of ignorance about wireless computer networks. Yet they are like having a phone mast in the classroom."

Professor Sir William Stewart, chairman of independent body the Health Protection Agency, said that while there is no hard information, evidence that microwave radiation can have harmful effects has become "more persuasive" recently.

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Schools abandon wireless revolution

NICK MCDERMOTT

Daily Mail
Monday November 20, 2006

A GROWING number of schools are removing wireless Internet connections amid health fears.

Wireless hubs have been installed by many schools to allow staff and pupils online access from any part of the building using laptops.

But many researchers believe the radiation from the transmitters can cause loss of concentration and memory, headaches and even cancer, with children more susceptible because of their thinner skulls.

After intense lobbying from worried parents, Tim Cannell, headteacher of Prebandal School, in Chichester, West Sussex, agreed to remove the network from his school's grounds.

'We listened to the parents' views and they were obviously very concerned,' Mr Cannell told the Times. 'The authorities say it's safe, but there have been no long-term studies to prove this.' Headteacher Hywel Pugh removed the wireless network at Ysgol Pantycelyn, a comprehensive in Carmarthenshire, following complaints by teachers and parents, while part of the wireless system was switched off at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire after a teacher fell ill.

A spokesman for the Department of Education and Skills said: 'It is up to individual schools to decide on this.'

--------

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=wireless+networks
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=wireless+networks
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=wireless
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=wi-fi
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=wi-fi
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Fred+Gilbert
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Fred+Gilbert

History wants us to believe that the Indian was a savage, illiterate, uncivilized animal. A history that was written by an organized, disciplined people, to expose us as an unorganized and undisciplined entity.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/207/207_day_of_mourning_wampsutta.html


From Information Clearing House

Federal prosecutors are asking an appeals court to reinstate a terrorism conspiracy charge against alleged al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla that could bring him a life sentence.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/21/terror/main2204338.shtml


From Information Clearing House



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

Data Agency Broke Privacy Laws

The Belgian-based company, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, "committed violations of data protection laws" by secretly transferring data to the United States.

http://tinyurl.com/y4kgm9


From Information Clearing House

Parents will be devalued and family privacy shattered by the mass surveillance of all 12 million children in England and Wales, says a report today commissioned by Parliament's Information Commissioner.

http://tinyurl.com/spnsw


From Information Clearing House

Whether the U.S. military departs Iraq sooner or later, the United States will be hard-pressed to leave behind a country that does not threaten U.S. interests and regional peace, according to American and Arab analysts and political observers.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/16082761.htm


From Information Clearing House

By Langston Hughes

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4004.htm

Technology is being used to monitor Americans more than ever before.

CNBC Special Video Report

Documentary provides an inside peek at an AOL division that works solely to satisfy the requests of law enforcement for information about AOL's members.

Click to view
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15716.htm

By AAP

A YEAR before the invasion of Iraq, the then Australian ambassador to the United Nations, John Dauth, confidentially told AWB's former chairman Trevor Flugge the Howard Government would participate in military action with the US to overthrow Saddam Hussein, new AWB documents reveal.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15715.htm

--------

Memo added to mountain of evidence that Iraq invasion was cooked up by globalists years before it went

http://www.infowars.net/articles/november2006/241106Iraq.htm

http://www.harpers.org/MisinformationIntern.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

Chaos-Update 24.11.2006

Befreites Dokument: Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse zur Gesundheitskarte

Dokumentation eines Technologie-Desasters: Der CCC-Abteilung Dokumentenbefreiung ist eine interne Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse zur elektronischen Gesundheitskarte zugespielt worden.

Der CCC-Abteilung Dokumentenbefreiung ist eine interne Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse zur elektronischen Gesundheitskarte zugespielt worden. Erstellt wurde die Analyse von Booz-Allen-Hamilton im Auftrag der Firma gematik, die das Projekt durchführen wird.

In bester Tradition staatlicher Software-Großprojekte wird hier sehenden Auges ein weiteres extrem kostenträchtiges Prestigeprojekt angegangen, dessen Nutzen in keinem sinnvollen Verhältnis zu den Risiken und absehbaren Problemen steht. Eine erste Sichtung der Daten deutet auf eine massive Kostenexplosion bei der Einführung der Gesundheitskarte und ein weiteres Technologie-Desaster hin.

Die Sicherheits- und Zuverlässigkeitsauslegung der Software-Architektur der elektronischen Gesundheitskarte genügen den Anforderungen an ein bundesweit ganztägig im Einsatz befindliches System in keiner Weise. Im Ernstfall droht ein Totalausfall des Systems zu kritischen Zeiten, wie z. B. im Fall einer Grippeepidemie.

Das Dokument: http://www.ccc.de/crd/whistleblowerdocs/20060731-Gesundheitstelematik.pdf

Wir möchten die Gelegenheit für den Hinweis nutzen, daß der CCC ein Berliner Büro [*] mit geräumigem Briefkasten und großem Schlitz (damit auch große, neutrale, graue Kouverts reinpassen) in Laufreichweite der Bundesregierung betreibt, damit für brisante Dokumente an dokumentierter Stelle ein Abwurfort existiert.

[*] Koordinaten siehe http://www.ccc.de/regional/erfa/berlin

Diese Meldung ist zu finden unter: http://www.ccc.de/updates/2006/gesundheitskartenfuckup

Robert Parry writes: "With Congress hoping for a new Defense Secretary who has both the guts and the clout to stand up to White House pressure, the senators who will evaluate Gates’s fitness for the job may want to look back at this troubling Iran-Contra episode."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112306E.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Gates
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Parry

The Democrats' takeover of Congress this month has turned official Washington upside down. Labor and environmental representatives, once also-rans in congressional influence, are meeting frequently with Capitol Hill's incoming Democratic leaders. Corporations that once boasted about their Republican ties are busily hiring Democratic lobbyists. And industries worried about reprisals from the new Democrats-in-charge, especially the pharmaceutical industry, are sending out woe-is-me memos and hoping their GOP connections will protect them in the crunch.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112306D.shtml

Robert Scheer writes: "President Bush has said many dumb things in defense of his Iraq policy. Citing the Vietnam War as a model, however, is perhaps his most ludicrous yet."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112306C.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Scheer

Camden New Journal - by RICHARD OSLEY

Published 23 November 2006

Mobile firm given short shrift

MOBILE phone giants Orange have become the first operators to see plans for a new phone mast torn up by a committee of Camden planners.

The company wants to improve reception in the West Hampstead area but came up against a storm of protest from residents when it tried to place a pole antenna in Dynham Road.

While deluged with letters about health worries, planners cannot legally take such opposition in to account.

The strict national rules have meant scores of mast applications have already been approved in Camden without even reaching the sight of a committee of elected councillors.

But planning chiefs turned Orange’s application on its head on Thursday night by refusing the plans on the grounds that it would clutter the residential street. Nine out of 12 councillors on the panel voted against.
Deputy planning chairman Councillor David Abrahams said: “I can’t accept that this is the best possible site for a eight-metre pole. I think it’s completely wrong.”

The news was welcomed by residents who turned up at the planning meeting to protest.

Simon Holmes, who lives in the street, told the meeting: “There should be proper consultation between the residents, operators and the council.”

He said that the mast would block views from his young daughter’s bedroom window.

His concerns were matched in a series of written protests sent to councillors by neighbours.

Nichola McKerrow, one of the objectors, said: “It is my understanding the council’s policy to reduce the street scene clutter not to increase it.

Bollards, a lamp post, two traffic signs, a cabinet, a bench, a small tree and a flowerbed already exist in the area – this is enough.”

Lib Dem finance chief Councillor Janet Grauberg, a ward councillor, also spoke against the application.

But there was a word of caution from one of the committee’s most experienced heads.

Conservative councillor Mike Greene said that he had fought mobile phone mast applications elsewhere but that he felt forced to vote in favour of this one.

He said the refusal opened the Town Hall to a costly appeal case which Camden was bound to lose. The council’s planning department had recommended that the proposals were approved.

Cllr Greene said: “The situation is deeply unsatisfactory. It is horrible that people should have to live next to a mast. But I don’t think we have a cat in hell’s chance of winning this. We are not going to win on appeal.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor Flick Rea added: “They do cause an enormous amount of concern amongst residents, rightly or wrongly. There is an alternative. We could all discard our mobiles. We are in a stuck position until we are allowed to take people’s distress and worries over phone masts into account.”

All content © New Journal Enterprises, 2006

http://www.thecnj.co.uk/camden/112306/news112306_20.html

TUPSLEY residents are opposing a plan to erect two new mobile phone masts near their homes.

Mobile phone company T-Mobile UK is seeking planning permission to install two telecommunications towers at the junction on Whittern Way and Folly Lane in Hereford.

Local councillor Brian Wilcox attended a residents' meeting on Wednesday evening and listened to their concerns.

One resident, Ron Maul, said: "They are planning on installing an 11.7 metre mast literally 30 metres from my house and 10-20 metres from the local shops.

"There are also several schools in the vicinity and schoolchildren often congregate round by the shops which is right where the mast will be."

Others voiced concern over the health implications of having a mast so close to their homes.

John Shaughnessy, T-Mobile Community Affairs spokesman, said: "In May 2006 the World Health Organisation in Geneva published a fact sheet on mobile communication masts concluding that considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak radiofrequency signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects'."

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

He added: "In the UK there are now over 65 million mobile phones in use and they cannot work without a network of base stations in places where people want to use them."

Councillor Wilcox advised those opposing the development to write their letters of complaint to the planning office by the end of the month but could not say whether the issue would be discussed in the council's planning meeting in December or in the new year.

Residents have vowed to fight the application and started planning a petition to block it.

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.herefordtimes.com/display.var.1036706.0.residents_oppose_phone_mast_plan.php

Den großen Einfluss von Lobbyisten und Interessenverbänden auf Regierung und Abgeordnete offenbart eine Antwort der Bundesregierung auf eine parlamentarische Anfrage der FDP Fraktion. Laut Bericht der Berliner Zeitung sind demnach “insgesamt 100 externe Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter, die ganz oder teilweise von Unternehmen, Verbänden oder Gewerkschaften bezahlt wurden” in Ministerien sowie im Kanzleramt zeitlich befristet tätig gewesen oder aktuell eingesetzt.

http://www.lobbycontrol.de/blog/index.php?p=334

Ein paar aktuelle und ein paar ältere Hinweise rund um Lobbyismus und Verflechtungen, von Roland Koch, über Merkel und die Manager, bis zum Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung und Johannes Kahrs.

http://www.lobbycontrol.de/blog/index.php?p=336

Düstere Bilanz von "Reporter ohne Grenzen" zum internationalen Tag "Journalisten hinter Gittern".

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24043/1.html

Was mach ich hier eigentlich?

Nach dem Schulabschluss ist vor der Arbeitslosigkeit: Noch nie gab es so viele Ausbildungsberufe und Studienfächer. Die Jugendarbeitslosigkeit ist gleichwohl auf hohem Niveau.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24046/1.html

"Worst Country"

Nach einer Umfrage eines US-Verbandes der Reisebranche gelten die USA im Hinblick auf die Einreiseprozeduren weltweit als "schlimmstes Land".

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24044/1.html

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5320/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



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

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5319/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Tom Paine
by Aziz Huq

11/21/06

The general understanding -- if not the universal practice -- is that those on Capitol Hill answer to today's voters, but not tomorrow's. On matters such as global climate change, the consequences are evident. Today's leaders face too small a reckoning for their disregard of ethical obligations to our planet and future generations. Pushing back today's problems, they store up crises for our children. But environmental issues are not the sole arena in which the future holds an accounting for short-sighted policies. Perhaps surprisingly, national security is another. Here Congress seems capable of only acting in frantic fits of unwise activity. Lawmakers should take advantage of the recent change in congressional leadership to both correct recent mistakes and reflect on their bad habit of leaping before looking...

http://tinyurl.com/yfgzuo


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Military+Commissions

„Deutschlands Mittelschicht spricht heute über Arbeitslose, als wären sie Kriminelle. In der öffentlichen Debatte gelten sie nicht mehr als Opfer der Verelendung, sondern als Mitschuldige an der sozialen Krise - die neuen Bürgerlichen wollen sich einreden, dass ihnen selbst so was nie passieren würde…“ Artikel von Christian Rickens in Spiegel online vom 22. November 2006 http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/0,1518,449792,00.html


Aus: LabourNet, 23. November 2006



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

"Nicht mehr nachvollziehbar, was da geschieht": Ein Sozialberater über den Umgang mancher Ämter im Umgang mit Hilfesuchenden. Artikel von Dietrich Mittler in Süddeutsche Zeitung vom 23.11.06 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,immm3/muenchen/artikel/462/92370/


Aus: LabourNet, 23. November 2006

A controversial scheme to install a mobile phone mast in the green belt in Kenilworth has won planning permission.

For the past year Warwick District Council's planning committee has fought off applications for mobile phone masts in the town.

But at a meeting on Wednesday members of the committee agreed with planning officers that the perceived health risks did not justify refusing an application by mobile phone company Hutchinson 3G to erect a 17.5metre mast in Chase Lane.

They said the visual impact would be minimal, the mast would not be in direct line with Priors Field School situated 500metres away and it meets the guidelines for public exposure.

Chase Lane resident Roger Stevens spoke on behalf of neighbours and drew attention to the possible health risks of masts.

He said: "The intensity of the microwave radiation from these aerials is much higher than previous generations.

"The proposed mast will be next to one of the most used footpaths and bridleways in Kenilworth.

"It is well documented that young children are more at risk of ill health from these masts and as residents we are not happy with this."

Mr Stevens added residents had the full support of the Council Protection for Rural England, which believes the mast will change the character of historic and peaceful countryside.

Speaking as ward councillor, Coun Michael Coker (Con, Kenilworth Abbey) reminded the committee that the council was in the green belt, the town's conservation area and near Kenilworth Castle.

He said: "The imposition of this particular item would be completely out of character. It should be an area which is protected more than most. I don't believe that other sites could not be found."

But Coun Bertie Mackay (Ind, Stoneleigh) said this was a decision where the head had to overrule the heart.

He said the distances of 230m and 475m from housing meant almost 80 per cent of masts were nearer development.

He added: "I can't honestly say this is unsightly. I can't honestly say this constitutes a threat.

"And whether this is a lattice mast or not, the reality is that conservation area or not, greenbelt or not the position of the mast, the sparsity of the population and the lack of unsightliness is such that we can only come to one conclusion and that is that we should approve the recommendation."

Councillors voted to allow the mast, subject to the conditions in the agenda.

23 November 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.kenilworthtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=698&ArticleID=1893337

She has so far had some very rude comments. She was trying to write a novel about phone mast! But it has been dropped as the editor says there will be no interest. She thought if we write in to this blog and show interest it may help!

The blog is on The Guardian site!

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/11/why_i_will_never_read_an_ebook.html

Sarah

The National Parks Conservation Association, Center for Biological Diversity and other conservation groups represented by Earthjustice filed papers Nov. 15 http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=76432 to intervene in a case that threatens to allow extreme off-road vehicle use in a rare, fragile desert stre am in Surprise Canyon inside Death Valley National Park. Extreme off-road vehicle use would d amage the canyon's unique character, including waterfalls, towering cottonwoods and lush willows that provide habitat for desert bighorn sheep, endangered birds and rare species found nowhere else on earth except Surprise Canyon and nearby areas. Congress and federal land managers have recognized Surprise Canyon's incredible values for decades. In the 1980's the Bureau of Land Management designated the lower portion of the canyon as an "Area of Critical Environmental Concern."


From Endangered Earth, No. 375

ONLINE-PETITION: Gerechtigkeit für den australischen Guantánamo- Häftling David Hicks

Der Australier David Hicks sitzt seit fast fünf Jahren im US-Gefangenenlager Guantánamo Bay. Die australische Regierung muss sich dafür einsetzen, dass David Hicks in US-Gewahrsam menschlich behandelt wird, und seine Rückführung in sein Heimatland fordern, damit er einen fairen Prozess erhält oder andernfalls freigelassen wird.

http://www2.amnesty.de/internet/deall.nsf/windexde/KA2006024



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Hicks

nlnews @archant.co.uk

22 November 2006

NEIL MORRISSEY outside his home in Mount View Road, where the phone mast could be situated

TV star Neil Morrissey is leading residents into battle against the latest attempt to install a mobile phone mast opposite their homes.

Hutchison 3G UK has appealed Haringey Council's rejection of its application for a 13.5 metre mast on Crouch End Reservoir land off Mount View Road to the planning inspectorate.

But furious residents say the mast will emit radiation that may affect health and spoil sweeping views over London.

Mr Morrissey, 44, the Men Behaving Badly star and voice of Bob the Builder, has lived in the area for around 20 years. He said: "What annoys me is these things seem to be popping up all over the place. Apart from the fact they are ugly they are dangerous too.

"The health implications are not clear. It is also a conservation area. The fact is it is probably going to spoil one of the best views over London you can get.

"You can't build there but you can stick these false masts pumping out radio signals. I don't think anyone has thought about this."

Haringey Council rejected the application earlier this year for the replica telegraph pole that would accommodate the mast, ruling it would negatively affect the conservation area. Residents argued it would block part of the pavement and produce emissions that may contaminate reservoir drinking water.

In a letter to the planning inspectorate, Robin Derham, an architect, who lives next door to Mr Morrissey and is co-ordinator of the Mount View and Womersley Roads Neighbourhood Group, says: "In making their decisions, the inspectors might like to ask themselves whether they themselves would choose to buy a house with an immediate foreground view of the H3G 'telegraph pole' and all its associated gear and have it beaming radiation through their windows directly at them and their families by day and night for the rest of their lives."

The community is backed by Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone. She said: "While the scientific community is still arguing about it we can't risk the well-being of young children."

Anyone with written representations about the mast should send three copies to The Planning Inspectorate at 3/14 Eagle Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6PN by tomorrow (Friday, November 24). A decision is then due in six to eight weeks.

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/wrt3d

Nordic Europe is the guiding light for gender equality in the world, topping a global list of 115 countries and laying claim to the world's best maternity leave, the best political participation rates and an education system in which women now outnumber men.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112206WB.shtml

Hollywood Environmentalist Targets Middle America

Hollywood environmentalist Laurie David's fight to convince America of the dangers of global warming begins in her own bathrooms. David, producer of Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth," is taking her crusade to Middle America and Washington next year, setting her sights on convincing President Bush and average US citizens to make changes to safeguard the planet.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112206EB.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=An+Inconvenient+Truth

Deforestation remains the greatest current threat to the world's forests, claiming 10 to 15 million hectares of tree-covered areas every year, but climate change may represent a bigger challenge in the long term, scientists say. "We're like a two-year-old playing with fire ... We're messing around with something dangerous and don't really understand what will happen," says William Laurance, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa, Panama, in reference to climate change and the Amazon rainforest.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/112206EA.shtml

Maureen Dowd writes: "Iraq now evokes that old Jimmy Durante song that goes, 'Did you ever have the feeling that you wanted to go and still have the feeling that you wanted to stay?' It's hard to remember when America has been so stuck. We can't win and we can't leave."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112206T.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Maureen+Dowd

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/629983962


Informant: julien

Nov 23 2006

By Adrian Short,
Widnes Weekly News

RESIDENTS fear erecting a mobile phone mast near their homes will blight a recreational area and put youngsters' health at risk.

Vodafone has informed Halton Council of its intention to construct a 12.5-metre mast on the edge of Birchfield Gardens at the junction of Lunts Heath Road and Birchfield Road, Widnes.

Mum Kathryn Rawlinson, of Elworth Road, who is leading an objection campaign alongside Cllr Carl Cross, gathered 65 names in two hours of door-knocking on Friday night.

She said: 'I know you can't objecton thehealthgroundsbut, personally, that's my main concern because I have three kids.

'The mast will be on open land in the middle of a beauty spot - the local children put up bird boxes there and do nature studies, there are ponds and ditches and wildlife.

'A lot of mums and tots go down there for a walk and, having done research on the internet, some experts reckon masts can cause leukaemia and can affect pacemakers.

'The mast will be five minutes walk away from a nearby school.

'I couldn't sleep at night knowing this mast was there and I certainly wouldn't buy a house near one. It will cause massive house devaluation.

'I expect at least 200 names on the petition and would appeal to everybody to write individually to the council.'

A council spokesman said: 'The council will assess the proposal against both national guidance and local policy - which seeks to ensure that the proposal represents the best environmental option - before reaching a decision.

'Three telecommunication applications have been rejected in the past in the north Widnes area.'

adrian.short @cheshirenews.co.uk

© owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales Limited 2006

http://tinyurl.com/vsgtw

The dollar declined against the euro and yen as traders speculated the economy may be slowing enough for the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aMSxSlXfkBUQ&refer=japan


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=dollar+decline

Our politicians pay court to Rupert Murdoch like Roman vassals. He is a threat to democracy and it is time we took him on.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1953685,00.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rupert+Murdoch

Niece Says Woman 'Gunned Down Like Dog'
http://www.news4jax.com/news4georgia/10379029/detail.html


From Information Clearing House

The Pentagon has extended its timeline to destroy its aging chemical weapons arsenal until 2023. the military won’t eliminate its stock of deadly nerve gases and skin-blistering agents until 11 years after the 2012 deadline set by the international Chemical Weapons Convention.

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2373157.php


From Information Clearing House

So warm, gracious and welcoming were the people of Iran, in just two days I felt safer walking the streets of Tehran, a city of 16 million, than I did in Albany. Where was this "axis of evil"?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15711.htm

Video

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), “The time for more troops is past,” “We don’t want to put more troops in now. Even if we had them, that’s the wrong approach.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/21/hagel-troops/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chuck+Hagel
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=more+troops

By Peter Rost

Drug companies and other multinational companies based in the U.S. systematically avoid paying tax in the U.S. on their profits. The companies elect to realize profits in low-tax countries and because of this the rest of us have to pay billions of unnecessary taxes to make up for the shortfall. writes Peter Rost, an ex-pharmaceutical executive.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15704.htm

By Joel S. Hirschhorn

The time is long overdue for Americans to stop voting for candidates that can win, and start voting for those that should win. What lesser-evil voting has produced is entrenched two-party evil.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15705.htm



The Cumulative Effect of Lesser Evils

By Charles Sullivan

Corrupt self-serving government is the result of over two hundred years of choice between lesser evils: the effect of which is cumulative and permanent. Year after year, election after election, the American voter adds to these strata of evil, like the making of a reef that lays fathoms deep on the ocean’s floor. We are making things progressively worse while deluding ourselves into thinking they are getting better.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15712.htm



America Has Left the Building

An Open Missive of Anger and Hope

By Phil Rockstroh

We must begin to grasp the unsettling knowledge that the things we, as a nation, inflict upon the world -- we will eventually inflict upon ourselves. It is imperative that we start to ask ourselves this question: When so many external and internal forces work to thwart, degrade, and destroy our essential selves -- hence the world -- what can help to restore us?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15713.htm

By Charles Sullivan

Corrupt self-serving government is the result of over two hundred years of choice between lesser evils: the effect of which is cumulative and permanent. Year after year, election after election, the American voter adds to these strata of evil, like the making of a reef that lays fathoms deep on the ocean’s floor. We are making things progressively worse while deluding ourselves into thinking they are getting better.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15712.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Charles+Sullivan

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1122-23.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ray+McGovern

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1122-21.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rumsfeld
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Amy+Goodman

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1122-20.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tom+Hayden

Analysts
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1122-07.htm

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_matt_kje_061121_what_else_is_the_mai.htm


Informant: Amy Sasser

From ufpj-news

nlnews @archant.co.uk

23 November 2006

HARINGEY is covered in nearly 70 mobile phone mast and antenna sites, several of them in public buildings including schools, a hospital and a church spire.

The locations of the phone masts, which many people feel could be a public health risk because of radiation levels, have been revealed in information released to the Journal under the Freedom of Information Act.

There have been masts granted on at least 67 sites across the borough since 1991 - 15 in Tottenham, 14 in Wood Green, 10 in Muswell Hill, eight in South Tottenham, six in Hornsey, five in Highgate, three in both Crouch End and East Finchley, two in Bounds Green and one in Stroud Green.

Sarah Purdy, who lives close to Fortismere School, Muswell Hill, has been involved in numerous protests against mobile phone masts.

She said: "I think we have too many masts in residential areas and near our schools and nurseries, contrary to the recommendations of the Department of Education.

"If people don't want masts near their houses they should think about not making calls on their mobiles from home. Each mast can only take about 100 calls at once, and if a mast has to drop calls then the phone company will want to put up another one to cope with demand."

The most recent site is the spire of the Church of All Hallows, Church Lane, Tottenham.

It was also revealed at a meeting this month that there had been one in Hornsey Town Hall's tower, in Crouch End, since 2002.

One of the earliest masts to be granted was placed on Haringey Council's own River Park House, opposite Wood Green Tube, in 1991.

Tottenham Hotspur football ground has a mast, as does St Ann's Hospital in South Tottenham, Coppetts Wood Hospital in Muswell Hill, Fortismere and Alexandra Park secondary schools, Alexandra Palace and Hornsey Fire Station, Priory Road, Hornsey.

Several masts also sit on council housing blocks.


PHONE MAST SITES AND YEAR OF INSTALLATION

1991

Northholt Tower, Lordship Lane, Wood Green
River Park House, High Road, Wood Green

1992

Eckington House, Pulford Road, South Tottenham
Barclays Bank, Highgate High Street, Highgate

1995

Alexander House, Hillcrest Estate, North Hill, Highgate
Car park, rear of Green Man pub, Muswell Hill, Muswell Hill
Fortismere secondary school, Tetherdown, Muswell Hill

1996

270 Langham Road, South Tottenham
Chettle Court, Ridge Road, Crouch End
New River Sports Centre, White Hart Lane, Wood Green

1997

312 High Road, South Tottenham
530 White Hart Lane, Tottenham
28 Lawrence Road, South Tottenham
YMCA, Tottenham Lane, Crouch End
BT Telephone Exchange, Reform Row, Tottenham
Dylan Thomas House, Denmark Road, Hornsey
Car park, Shopping City, High Road, Wood Green
Kenley House, Broadwater Farm Estate, Lordship Lane, Tottenham
Stella House, High Road, Tottenham
George Lansbury House, Progress Way, Wood Green

1998

St Ann's Hospital, St Ann's Road, South Tottenham
Cordell House, Newton Road, South Tottenham
Elizabeth Blackwell House, Progress Way, Wood Green
Millicent Fawcett Court, Pembury Road, Tottenham
Edgecot Grove, South Tottenham
Eleanor Rathbone House, Avenue Road, Highgate

1999

Telephone Exchange, Grand Avenue, Muswell Hill
14-28 Fortis Green Road, Muswell Hill
48-50 Muswell Road, Muswell Hill
Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, Wood Green
Middlesex University, Bounds Green Road, Bounds Green
Thomas Hardy House, Commerce Road, Wood Green
Page High Estate, Lymington Avenue, Wood Green
Imperial House, Willoughby Lane, Tottenham

2000

50 Clarendon Road, Hornsey
Sainsbury's Flats, Fortis Green Road, Muswell Hill
Southwood Park, Southwood Lawn Road, Highgate
Hornsey Train Servicing Centre, Hampden Road, Hornsey
British Gas Compound, Garman Road, Tottenham
Cordell House, Newton Road, south Tottenham
Outside The Chestnuts, Cherry Tree Hill, Great North Road, East Finchley
Lordship Lane, near junction with Walpole Road, Wood Green
Wilmott Dixon Building, Hampden Road, Hornsey

2001

Haringey Borough FC, White Hart Lane, Tottenham
Hornsey Fire Station, Priory Road, Hornsey
Tottenham Hotspur FC, High Road, Tottenham
Middlesex University, White Hart Lane, Tottenham
Barrington Court, Colney Hatch Lane, Muswell Hill
41 West Road, Tottenham

2002

Charles Clore House, Fortis Green, Muswell Hill
BHS, High Road, Wood Green
Junction of Bounds Green Road and Whittington Road, Wood Green
Outside Doran Manor, Great North Road, East Finchley
Hornsey Town Hall, The Broadway, Crouch End
Coppetts Wood Hospital, Coppetts Road, Muswell Hill

2003

Junction of Lordship Lane and Granville Road, Wood Green

2004

Site opposite Downhills Park, Downhills Park Road, Tottenham
Outside 1 Williamson Road, Stroud Green
Junction of Seven Sisters Road and St Ann's Road, South Tottenham
Outside The Coliseum, Green Lanes, Hornsey
Highcroft, North Hill, Highgate

2005

Railway land behind Park Motors, Ringway, Bounds Green

2006

Barber Wilsons & Co, Crawley Road, Wood Green
61 Markfield Road, South Tottenham
Telecommunications station outside 64 Aylmer Road, East Finchley
All Hallows Church, Church Lane, Tottenham
Date unavailable
Alexandra Park Secondary School

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/ybb2pm

By David Swanson

Over a year before the United States launched an endless war on Iraq in what President George W. Bush told Congress [ http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/611 ] was an urgently needed action to prevent an attack with nonexistent weapons by non-Iraqi terrorists…

Eleven months before Bush told British Prime Minister Tony Blair [ http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/whitehousememo ] that a good way to start a war on Iraq would be to paint planes with U.N. colors, fly them low, and get them shot at…

Five months before the Downing Street Minutes [ http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1 ] were taken at a meeting revealing the knowledge top British officials had of the secret war plans of the Bush administration…

Just a week or two before several of the Downing Street Memos [ http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/840 ] recorded U.S.-British discussions of the coming war…

On February 27, 2002 – just five months after 15 Saudis, 2 Lebanese, and 2 Yemenis flew airplanes into U.S. buildings – Trevor Flugge, who was then chairman of AWB, the Australian Wheat Board, a private corporation, told AWB's board that John Dauth, who was then Australia's ambassador to the United Nations, had revealed to Flugge the plans of the U.S. and Australian governments for war on Iraq. Tragically, for war-profiteers everywhere, somebody took minutes of the meeting.

You may not have heard about this from the U.S. media. Maybe if we all scream really loudly for six weeks you will. That's how the Downing Street Minutes found their 15 minutes of fame in June 2005. But, as we stuff our faces with dead turkeys, the new Melbourne Minutes are the top news story in Australia. According to the Australian Associated Press [ http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/15781 ]:

"Mr Dauth briefed Mr Flugge in New York in February 2002 - 13 months before the invasion - and the details appear in minutes of AWB's February 27 board meeting tendered to the inquiry.

"'The ambassador stated that he believed that US military action to depose Saddam Hussein was inevitable and that at this time the Australian government would support and participate in such action,' the minutes say. 'The ambassador believed that the Iraqis grossly underestimated the US reaction to September 11 (with the consequent military response in Afghanistan) and that Iraq's request to renegotiate UN weapons inspectors was a direct result of their nervousness about US action. The ambassador believed that the latest olive branch from the Iraqis was likely to stave off US action (for) 12 to 18 months but that some military action was inevitable.'

"Mr Dauth - now high commissioner in New Zealand - predicted the Iraq war would be similar to the campaign in Afghanistan, with heavy use of air support followed by the deployment of ground troops.

"'He undertook to ensure that AWB was given as much warning as would be possible under such circumstances but noted that in these instances often the Australian government had little notification,' the board minutes said."

Where have we heard that word "inevitable" before? Oh, yeah: the Downing Street Minutes: "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

Why are we hearing about the minutes of this Australian meeting only now? Well, the minutes have been released by a government investigation into AWB's bribing of Saddam Hussein's government in order to win contracts to export Australian wheat to Iraq. That investigation may now be expanded in Australia. It's also one that the incoming Democratic chairs of the House and Senate agriculture committees in the U.S. committed last week to investigating [ http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/US-Democrats-to-launch-second-AWB-probe/2006/11/14/1163266510102.html ]. What will they do now, with the wheat bribe scandal having taken this interesting twist?

The past six years of near zero Congressional oversight in Washington is one reason Americans' knowledge of the planning of the Iraq War comes largely from foreign sources. But, if members of the Australian government were passing word around, I shudder to think how many people in the right circles in Washington, D.C., knew the score but kept their mouths shut and are keeping them shut to this very day. It's clear that members of the U.S. corporate media elite were in the know. In fact, if you ask them to condescend to notice this Australian news, they'll almost certainly tell you it's "old news," that they knew it all four years ago. They did, but they didn't tell the rest of us.

Now, here we are years later, still killing and dying in Iraq, and proposing to attack Iran on the basis of lies almost identical to those used to justify the initial attack on Iraq.

We must demand that the new Congress block any new wars and cut off funding for the current one. We must also demand investigations immediately [ http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/investigations ] into the lies that launched the war and the conducting of the war. American citizens are the last to know what our government is doing. We're used to that, but there is no reason we need wait any longer. If the subpoenas don't start piling up in the White House mailbox on New Year's Day, we will have established two critical facts:

1. Future presidents are free to ignore all laws.
2. Democrats are just Republicans with manners.


Informant: David Swanson

From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Downing+Street+Memos

The movie "V" for Vendetta opened earlier this year to interesting reviews. Here, an action by 100 people dressed in "V" masks seek to petition the government. Very interesting photos, and story. A new movement is brewing.

http://www.givemeliberty.org/RTP2/UPDATES/Update2006-11-18.htm


Informant: Mitchel Cohen

From ufpj-news