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"Neutralität des Verwaltungshandelns"

Der Bundesrechnungshof will offenbar im ersten Quartal die externen Mitarbeiter in allen Ministerien zählen lassen. Um zu ermitteln, "wer die Personen bezahlt, die in den Ministerien, beispielsweise an Gesetzen mitarbeiten", werde ein Fragebogen verschickt, sagte Rechnungshofsprecher Michael Reinert der Wochenzeitung "Die Zeit". Geklärt werden solle, ob und in welcher Funktion die Ministerien Mitarbeiter von Unternehmen oder Verbänden beschäftigten. Zudem werde gefragt, warum externe Beschäftigte in das jeweilige Ministerium eingebunden und wie deren Arbeitsergebnisse verwendet würden. Es sei nötig zu prüfen, ob "die Neutralität des Verwaltungshandelns gewährleistet" sei, wenn beispielsweise "Personen an Gesetzen mitarbeiten und von Verbänden oder Unternehmen bezahlt werden".

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=15298

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020807E.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Craig+Unger

Nicholas D. Kristof writes: "Mr. Vice President, did you push Mr. Libby to dig into Joe Wilson's background and discredit him? What did you mean when you wrote, in a note to Scott McClellan that has been entered into evidence, 'not going to protect one staffer + sacrifice the guy the Pres. that was asked to stick his head in the meat grinder because of incompetence of others.'"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020807C.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joe+Wilson
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby

Paletten voller Geldscheine

363 Tonnen Geldscheine mit einem Wert von 4 Milliarden Dollar wurden
2003 und 2004 mit Flugzeugen aus New York in den Irak gebracht und versickerten dort.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24604/1.html

57 Staaten haben das Abkommen, das deutlich gegen die Praxis der USA gerichtet ist, bereits unterschrieben - u.a. die US-Regierung und Deutschland nicht.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24610/1.html

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US national security adviser, told Congress the war in Iraq is a calamity and likely to lead to "a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020807L.shtml



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

Matt Renner reports, "The Congressional Progressive Caucus is leading the Democratic effort in the House to stop the president's escalation plan in its tracks and bring US troops home within the year."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020807K.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Matt+Renner

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/earthworks/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6691&t=nodirtygold_sansleft.dwt



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

The Ombudsman

by Bill Barnstead

It's time to impeach George W. Bush. Not for Iraq. Not for Afghanistan. But for the American factory worker because the president has broken his word to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The president allowed Congress to dilute the Bill of Rights under his watch to benefit our neighbors to the south, and as the commander-in-chief of our military, the President is responsible for securing our borders. Bush made a farce of that act by placing National Guard troops with empty weapons on the border.......

http://www.newswithviews.com/Barnstead/bill5.htm



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

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=245382


Informant: NHNE

Gestern lud Ver.di in Berlin zu einer Demonstration gegen die Energiepolitik der EU-Kommission ein. Diese will klimaschädliche Braunkohle zurückdrängen und eine Entflechtung der Stromkonzerne erreichen. Ver.di-Chef Frank Bsirske kämpft gemeinsam mit den Stromkonzernen dagegen. Wir sind entsetzt! Wir brauchen starke Gewerkschaften, aber solche, die sich für zukunftsfähige, ökologisch verträgliche Arbeitsplätze einsetzen.

Schreiben Sie dem Kollegen Bsirske Ihre Meinung: frank.bsirske@verdi.de

Weitere Infos: http://www.taz.de/pt/2007/02/08/a0180.1/text http://www.taz.de/pt/2007/02/08/a0083.1/text.ges,1


Christoph Bautz

Aus: Campact-News 03/07

--------

Klima: ver.di-Chef antwortet auf E-Mails

Im letzten Newsletter haben wir Sie aufgerufen, Ver.di-Chef Frank Bsirske zu schreiben und gegen seine Position zur Klimapolitik zu protestieren. Gut informierte Kreise berichten, Bsirske habe über 350 individuelle E-Mails erhalten. Der Ver.di-Chef hat mittlerweile auf die Schreiben geantwortet. Wir haben unsere Kritik daraufhin noch einmal ausführlich belegt.

Lesen Sie mehr: http://www.campact.de/verdi


Aus: Campact-News 04/07

Texas HPV Vaccination: Parents can opt Out

by Devvy

This immediately set off a firestorm on the Internet and talk radio. Those of us who live in Texas know Rick Perry for the corporate lackey he is and how he has sold out this state with the Texas-Trans Corridor (1) to foreign interests and is a proponent of the SPP (Security & Prosperity Partnership), although he will deny it, his actions prove otherwise......

http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd247.htm



Is Texas Governor Subjecting Children to Questionable Vaccine?

by Donna Voetee

King Perry’s intrusive executive order bypassed the legislature and the proper means of enacting a new law. In a political move usually reserved for( tyrants and dictators, he has unilaterally decreed that all 11- and 12- year old girls shall submit to a controversial vaccine for sexually-transmitted cervical cancer, Gardasil. Since these children are minors and depending on their parents for their protection and well-being, essentially this is an edict for all parents to surrender their children to the state for medical experimentation......

http://www.newswithviews.com/guest_opinion/guest106.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/Devvy

Earth Meanders,
http://earthmeanders.blogspot.com/
By Dr. Glen Barry
February 8, 2007

Environmental sustainability and abject poverty are the issues of our and all time, the resolution of which will either save the Earth and relatively civilized society, or continued neglect lead to global ecological and social collapse. The big lies underlying ecological crises and wealth inequities are that economic growth will solve these problems, is endless, and is always desirable. Corporation's and government's emphasis upon exponential economic growth in a finite biosphere is the disease destroying the Earth.

In a growth driven capitalist market economy, there can never be such a thing as "Sustainable Growth". It is time to dust off the Club of Rome's findings in the 1970s, and acknowledge that limits to growth have been put off by technology, not eliminated. How can we speak of sustainable growth when the economic system is not even sustaining large portions of the world's population that now lives in utterly miserable poverty?

We are well into the disintegration of the biosphere and human habitat as a result of policies promoting unfettered economic growth at the exclusion of virtually all other values.

How grotesque that some shall live the life of opulent splendor gluttonously consuming while most wither in abject hunger and despair. I am stunned at humanity's - and particularly the rich, powerful and celebrity types' - inability to see the big picture. Nearly half of the world is living in grinding poverty polluting little while about 20% consume exorbitantly destroying the Planet's biosphere. It is like a disturbing Alice in wonderland world - Africa starves, suffers wars, murder and rape; while we in the North overfeed and entertain ourselves while shitting our pollution on the poor.

Global inequities are obscene. How much longer will the have- nots sit passively by watching the good life of democratic consumption from which they are excluded? Why can't anyone tell the Americans and Europeans they must have less? The greatest threat to the American way of life is that it is not able to be universalized. Rich North and poor South conflict is inevitable.

Have you ever spent time with a family living on $1 a day? About a billion people find themselves in this situation. Where subsistence is still possible people are fed and housed, but there is no room for error. Finding potable water and firewood are a constant struggle. No fancy health care, leisure, travel or electronic toys. Just a grinding struggle to survive as the population grows and the environment continues to deteriorate. Soon this will be the human norm.

The global food supply is near the breaking point. The world is now eating more food than farmers grow, pushing global grain stocks to their lowest level in 30 years. Oceans are overfished. Hunger is already a stark and painful reality for more than 850 million people, including 300 million children. In a world of starvation, the rich are starting to drive themselves around powered by food (biofuels) that could have gone to the poor.

Capitalism will evolve to emphasize a steady state economy and protection and renewal of natural capital - limiting production and consumption to natural systems' constraints - or it will continue ecocidal eating of life giving ecological systems to power a growing wasteful throw away society. The cycle of ever more energy needed to support growing populations all aspiring to consume like a fat ass America must be broken.

Market fundamentalism must be challenged. The failure of markets to place a price upon carbon causes climate change. Widening gaps in income threaten social harmony. The inequalities are grotesque, and the degree of blame for climate change, deforestation and other environmental crises skewed towards the rich. I am stunned. Sickened. We gotta rise up, rise up.

Stabilization of climate change and global ecological sustainability will never be achieved without sharp reductions in economic disparities between the Earth's peoples. Strictly speaking it is too late to achieve global ecological sustainability - where natural ecosystems operate as they have.

Yet we must work to bring human populations and aspirations back into a reasonable balance with ecological systems in order that humanity and the Earth have any future at all. In order that all have enough to meet basic needs, and a biosphere to house themselves and others, there needs to be less of us and less disparity. This will require massively reducing carbon emissions now, cutting population by three quarters, and by necessity bringing the Earthly garden into our care with massive protected areas and widespread regional scale ecological restoration.

There are different ways of showing love, and love is more than between two people or a family. Do you love your Earthly home habitat and the human and other species' families with which we share it? I suggest more love of being and less of you. I am opinionated as hell, but even I do not fully know how we are going to feed, house and clothe the world while shrinking its population, repairing planetary ecosystems and learning to live sustainably. But I do know that we must try.

http://www.stopthesealhunt.com/site/apps/ka/ct/contactcustom.asp?c=hmKYJeNVJtF&b=412891


From Rosemary R.

--------

Should the seal hunt be banned?

Please click yes, as every click helps in stopping the Canadian Seal Hunt.
http://rm.angusreidforum.com/?cid=1162&rs=SHEnGg


Thanks, Earle

--------

Belgium Becomes First EU Nation to Ban Seal Products

IFAW’s seal campaign continues to gain momentum as European countries propose legislation for banning products derived from Canada’s commercial seal hunt. In January, Belgium became the first country in the European Union to implement a national ban on seal products. Belgium joins Mexico, Croatia and the USA in the effort to shut down markets for commercial seal hunt products.

IFAW has been successful in urging other European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, to begin legislative action to propose similar national bans. On a larger scale, the European Union is considering the possibility of a multinational ban. This European mobilization is putting increased pressure on the Canadian government both at home and abroad. IFAW continues to work closely with policy-makers in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, urging them to implement national bans as well.

By closing down markets for seal pelts, the global community sends a strong message to Canada that the commercial seal hunt needs to be ended once and for all

Take action to stop the seal hunt
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M726175939936594342407265



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=seal+hunt

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/637952148


From Rosemary R.

Handys können Krebs auslösen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3261806/

Zunahme der Hirntumore bei Handy-Vieltefonierern: Risiko steigt um 39 Prozent
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3261838/

Lösen Handys Krebs aus, Krebs durch Handy-Strahlung?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3265429/

Handy am Ohr: Hirntumor?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3270151/

Langzeitstudie aus Dänemark: kein Krebsrisiko durch Handy-Strahlung?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3040849/

Kein Beweis für ein erhöhtes Risiko durch Handys?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3271250/

Elektrosmog als Krebsrisiko: Kein Krebsrisiko durch Handy-Strahlung?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3271439/

Flucht aus Oberammergau: Pfarrer flüchtet vor Handy-Strahlung
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3258411/

Wissenschaft zu Mobilfunk
http://tinyurl.com/93epp

„Die Verhandlung gegen einen amerikanischen Irak-Kriegsdienstverweigerer ist überraschend geplatzt. Der Offizier habe irrtümlich ein Dokument unterzeichnet, das gegen ihn verwendet werden sollte, begründete ein Militärgericht die Aussetzung des Prozesses…“ Artikel bei Spiegel online vom 08. Februar 2007 http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,465028,00.html


Prozess gegen in Mannheim inhaftierten US-Verweigerer beginnt am 6. März. Agustín Aguayo soll wieder in den Irak

Beim Termin in den Leighton Barracks der US-Armee am Donnerstag in Würzburg wurde gegen den US-Kriegsdienstverweigerer Agustín Aguayo offiziell wegen "Desertion" und "Verpassens der Verlegung der Einheit" Anklage erhoben. Ihm droht eine Haftstrafe von bis zu sieben Jahren. Das Verfahren wird am 6. März um 9 Uhr in den Leighton Barracks in Würzburg beginnen. Es ist öffentlich…“ Artikel von Christel Mertens im Online-Flyer Nr. 80 vom 31.01.2007 von Neue Rheinische Zeitung http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=10525

Siehe dazu auch:

„US-Kriegsdienstverweigerer flieht aus der Armee. Der in Deutschland stationierte Agustín Aguayo entzieht sich Einsatz im Irak“ - Sonderseite auf der Homepage von Connection e.V. mit allen Hintergründen und Links http://www.connection-ev.de/usa/aguayo01.html


Aus: LabourNet, 8. Februar 2007



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

Bundesberufungsgericht in USA lässt Verfahren wegen Benachteiligung von Frauen zu. Jetzt könnten 1,6 Millionen Mitarbeiterinnen nachträglich mehr Lohn fordern. Artikel von Sven Kulka in der taz vom 8.2.2007 http://www.taz.de/pt/2007/02/08/a0140.1/text


Court says Wal-Mart must face bias trial

Artikel von David Kravets bei Associated Press vom 06.02.2007 http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/news/article.html?article=578


Aus: LabourNet, 8. Februar 2007



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Wal-Mart

Intellectual Conservative
by Patrick Johnston

02/07/07

The past decade, we have entered a transition in politics that will soon bring about a prominent shift in the political spectrum. If the Republican Party doesn’t return to principled conservatism, the party faithful will hold a graveside service for the GOP within two decades, and none of the new leaders will even attend. The two primary parties may have enacted libraries of laws to insulate their political power from third party challenges, and they may have monopolized the public discussion between their political candidates in their carefully crafted political debates, but they do not have a monopoly on the minds of the people...

http://tinyurl.com/2m9n3d


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Human Events
by Newt Gingrich

02/05/07

I know this answer confuses the political consultants and reporters who preoccupy themselves over the minutiae of the presidential campaign horse race. But for now, I’m not focused on Nov. 4, 2008. I’m focused on Sept. 27, 2007. Because on that day — the 13th anniversary of the unveiling of the Contract With America — the new organization that I’ve founded, American Solutions, will do something more urgently needed than presidential posturing. On September 27, American Solutions will reach out across the country to all 511,000-plus elected office holders in America, their staff, and the citizens who are serving or seeking to serve in these offices. Our goal is to create a wave of change that meets America’s challenges, seizes our opportunities and builds a better future for all Americans...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=19287


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

CounterPunch
by Sharon Smith

02/07/07

Hundreds of thousands of antiwar protesters amassed on the streets of Washington, D.C. on January 27, emboldened by the optimism of an antiwar majority that has finally found its voice….. It is politically naïve, however, to expect that a single demonstration of any size would be enough to persuade the world’s lone military superpower to reverse its bloodthirsty course.A demonstration is not a protest movement. Such a movement requires an ongoing commitment to grassroots struggle. The large turnout on January 27 represents the potential to revive the antiwar movement, after an extended period of dormancy...

http://www.counterpunch.org/sharon02072007.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jan27

Frontiers of Freedom
by Randall H. Nunn

02/08/07

The Republican Party suffered a blow in the 2006 elections, losing control of both houses of Congress. Many have hoped that the party would analyze the results of that election and correct the problems before the 2008 elections. However, the signs thus far are not encouraging, as the party leadership seems fractured, indecisive and unsure of itself. Rather than trying to focus on core principles and representing the base that elected them, too many of the Republican leaders are pandering to interest groups and adjusting their positions based on polls and conventional wisdom as laid down by the mainstream media...

http://tinyurl.com/3yasty


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5709/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://tinyurl.com/2jsypt



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=military+commissions
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=ACLU

Francis A. Boyle Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (Voice)
217-244-1478 (Fax)
(personal comments only)


-----Original Message-----
From: Boyle, Francis
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 4:52 PM
Subject: FW: International Criminal Tribunal for Bush et al.
Importance: High


PETITION TO THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO SET UP AN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL TO TRY PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH, VICE-PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO GONZALES

1. The UN General Assembly has the authority to set up such a tribunal by a majority vote as a "subsidiary organ" under UN Charter Article 22.

2. The Statute should be modeled upon the Statute for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which the United States supported at the UN Security Council, so as a matter of law it is unobjectionable.

3. There should be added to the ICTY Statute an additional crime of Crime Against Peace, as defined by the Nuremberg Charter (1945), the Nuremberg Judgment (1946) and the Nuremberg Principles (1950), and as codified by US Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956) paragraph 498.

4. The purpose of the ICTU (International Criminal Tribunal against the United States under the Bush regime) would be to investigate and prosecute United States war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Iraq just as the ICTY did for the victims of international crimes committed by Serbia and the Milosevic Regime throughout the Balkans.

5. The establishment of ICTU would provide some small degree of justice to the victims of US war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Iraq--just as the ICTY has done in the Balkans.

6. Furthermore, the establishment of ICTU by the U.N. General Assembly would serve as a deterrent effect upon US leaders such PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH, VICE-PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY, SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO GONZALES and members of Congress as well as top generals that they will be prosecuted for Their further infliction of international crimes against Iraq.

7. Without such a deterrent, the US administration along with the US Congress might be emboldened to attack other states such as Iran.

*since the USA has refused to become a party to the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, this is the only effective legal redress the rest of the world has against US Officials.

NAME;
GROUP IF RELEVANT;
COUNTRY
E-MAIL ADDRESS

Please send a copy to j.russow @shawlink.ca and to the President or Prime Minister of your country [if you think your country might be sympathetic]

For further information; please contact Francis Boyle at FBOYLE@LAW.UIUC.EDU or Joan Russow (PhD) Global Compliance Research Project at j.russow @shawlink.ca



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

With Democrats in control of Congress, labor will try to make unionizing as simple as signing a card. Business is already challenging this move as an assault on the secret-ballot process. The battle will begin on Tuesday when lawmakers introduce the Employee Free Choice Act. The act would not only streamline unionizing, but also assure newly organized workers a contract and sanction lawbreakers.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020707LB.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Employee+Free+Choice+Act

The United States lags far behind virtually all wealthy countries with regard to family-oriented workplace policies such as maternity leave, paid sick days and support for breast-feeding, according to a new study by Harvard and McGill University researchers. The data comes as politicians and lobbyists wrangle over whether to scale back the existing federal law providing unpaid family leaves or to push new legislation allowing paid leaves.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020707LA.shtml

The marbled murrelet, a threatened sea bird whose rare trait of nesting in old-growth forests made it a factor in logging battles in the US Northwest, is also declining dramatically in Alaska and Canada, where most of the birds live, according to a US government review. The review was released as the Bush administration considers whether to take the marbled murrelet off the threatened species list in Oregon, Washington and California. In those states, protection for the old-growth trees it nests in has dramatically reduced logging on some national forests.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020707ED.shtml

John Nichols writes: "Climate change is real. And the cynical ploy by conservative politicians and commentators of suggesting otherwise has slowed the American response to a crisis scientists say has grown so severe that - no matter what is now done to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases - the gases that have already been produced or are in production will continue to contribute to global warming and the rise of oceans for more than 1,000 years."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020707EC.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+Nichols

"The president has included an extraordinary fatal flaw in his plan for additional US troops in Iraq, a fact that may not make much sense to his advisers and allies, but is psychologically understandable in terms of a mechanism that governs his inner reality. As with many other aspects of the president's sometimes odd behavior, the root of this new self-subverting plan lies not in political expediency, in the advice he's received, or in his intellectual abilities as such, but in a psychological twist that begins with his long and well-documented history of failure (and his sense of his own failure) within his family of origin," according to John P. Briggs, M.D., and J.P. Briggs II, Ph.D.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020707R.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=troop+surge

http://greenpeace.or.jp/whalelove/newsletter/love-letter-25en.htm



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

PETER WALSH

08 February 2007 08:53

Regulars at a city pub are today raising their glasses after people power helped convince council bosses to throw out plans for a mast near their local.

Bosses at telecommunications company T-Mobile have been told to axe proposals for a 12m mast on Grove Road after more than 100 people signed a petition against it.

City council planning officers used delegated powers to refuse consent for the mast, which would have been installed next to a parade of shops and opposite an eight-apartment development which is currently under construction.

Chris Higgins, landlord of the Trafford pub, which is close to the site of the proposed mast, said he was pleased the council had thrown out the plans.

“We often feel that our voice isn't heard, but we're pleased at this result,” he said.

More than 100 people signed a petition which started after Mr Higgins began canvassing the views of regulars at his pub.

He said: “What we were doing was asking for people's opinions as a lot of residents frequent the pub - a lot of people weren't even aware it was taking place.”

Mr Higgins said concern about the mast did not just revolve around the possible health effects, but also the physical impact of the mast in a built-up, residential area.

“They're not aesthetically pleasing at all - they are tall and ugly,” he said.

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

Last month it was reported how John Pillow, manager of Mobility 2000 on Grove Road - next to the site of the proposed mast - said he was concerned about the effect the mast would have on his business.

In a letter sent out to people living in the area, planning officer Sue Fletcher said the application would be refused after the consultation period expired yesterday. “We have delegated powers to deal with non-major applications where there are objections but we are refusing consent, so it will not be reported to committee,” she said.

“Had we been recommending approval and there were objections, it would be a committee decision. Anyone who made a representation (to date about 18 including a petition) will receive a letter notifying them of the decision.”

A spokesman for T-Mobile said they were awaiting the reason for refusal and would make a decision about what to do next after that.

“We still have to provide a service for that area, so we will be looking at the options available to us,” he said.

Are you battling against a mobile phone mast where you live? Call Peter Walsh on 01603 772439 or e-mail peter.walsh @archant.co.uk

Copyright © 2007 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/yofkcx

08 February 2007

EDITORIAL - news @royston-crow.co.uk

Not looking like a reality – the computer generated view of the proposed telephone mast

MOBILE phone giant O2 is considering whether to submit a planning application for a massive telecommunications mast in Royston.

And it has been told that any such proposals would probably be turned down.

Under planning rules North Herts District Council has to be approached to comment on the proposals before a planning application is submitted.

A district council spokesman said it has been told about the proposals to erect a 73ft mast on a site at the Royston telephone exchange.

The district council had told O2 that it would be "unlikely" to accept a proposal due to its height and its position on the edge of a conservation area.

National Grid Wireless, which is acting as agent for O2, said it was currently examining responses to the mast proposal.

Once this has taken place it will decide on "a way forward".

Meanwhile, Dr Stephanie North, a member of protest groups that includes residents in Palace Gardens and Kneesworth Street, Royston, said: "We will have to wait to see where it goes from here."

She said the district council had made a "sensible response" to the proposal.

"It is now back in the court of the company," she said.

National Grid Wireless said it chose the site at the telephone exchange because it had a lack of coverage in the area.

"The telephone exchange was the only site able to provide the coverage lacking in the area," it said.

It added: "The visual impact of the proposed mast has been kept to a minimum.

"It is a slim design and its height is needed to provide the required coverage.

Copyright © 2007 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/26ywyu

http://tinyurl.com/3bq3n6



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jan27

The dragon twitched. The dragon, which is China, twitches every so often, and when it does, ears prick up across the world of trade and finance. Dragons can, as you know, breathe fire when they choose to, and should the Chinese dragon emit a plume or two of smoke.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070219/howl


From Information Clearing House

President Rafael Correa, whose rejection of a U.S. military presence in Ecuador reflects widespread resentment over Washington's foreign policy in a region where the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush now has few reliable allies.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/06/america/LA-GEN-Ecuador-US-Base.php


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rafael+Correa

In late 2002 and 2003, there was a flurry of unusual activity at Mazury-Szczytno International Airport, a former military facility that happens to be near a Polish intelligence training complex where European investigators suspect the CIA maintained a secret interrogation and detention facility.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/16632476.htm


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=secret+CIA+flights
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=detention

The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed about 250.000 people and became the most dreadful slaughter of civilians in modern history. However, for many years there was a curious gap in the photographic records.

http://fogonazos.blogspot.com/2007/02/hiroshima-pictures-they-didnt-want-us_05.html


From Information Clearing House



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

Malaysia’s former premier and outspoken critic of the West Mahathir Mohamed yesterday slammed US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair as war criminals and murderers.

http://snipurl.com/19p04


From Information Clearing House



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

Paul Bremer told a Congressional committee investigating allegations of waste and fraud that he had done his best to kick-start Iraq's economy. - Much of the money went missing and critics say there was no system to track how it was used.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6338341.stm



War is a racket!

$12 Billion Missing: Waste in War: Where Did All the Iraq Reconstruction Money Go?

In his opening statement, Rep. Waxman claimed $12 billion dollars were sent to Iraq between May 2003 and June 2004 and is unaccounted for by the U.S. government.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2852426



Iraq's Missing Billions

Video

Exposed: How American Contractors With The Help Of U.S. Government Raped Iraq.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12499.htm


From Information Clearing House

--------

Waxman to Bremer: Show me the money

Mother Jones
by Daniel Schulman

02/06/07

Depending on who you ask, today’s hearing by Henry Waxman’s Committee on Government Reform, convened to examine the Coalition Provisional Authority’s handling of reconstruction funding in Iraq, was either a demonstration of aggressive oversight or a shameless exercise in political grandstanding. … While the impetus for the hearing was a point of contention, there was one thing everyone could agree on regardless of their political persuasion: No one — not the committee members or the distinguished panel assembled to testify — had any idea how billions of dollars in reconstruction funds were ultimately spent. Shipped to Iraq by the ton on C-130 cargo planes laden with bricks of U.S. tender, the funding in question, held in the Development Fund for Iraq and totaling some $8.8 billion, was doled out by the CPA to Iraq’s fledgling government ministries between October 2003 and June 2004. Ostensibly, the cash went to pay for such things as salaries and overhead. Where it actually wound up is another story entirely...

http://tinyurl.com/2mvj8m


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

By Eric Mink

Imagine agents of a foreign government — say, Russia or China — deciding that certain Americans might be plotting against their country. Imagine those agents seizing the Americans while they're on vacation abroad. Imagine those agents then secretly transporting the Americans for interrogation to a third country notorious for its use of torture in interrogations, where they are — no surprise — tortured.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/421/2/



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

By Siddharth Varadarajan

The U.S. will not leave Iraq without first militarily weakening Iran. Washington has scuttled every initiative that could have provided a diplomatic solution to the troubles with Tehran.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/422/2/

By Patrick Cockburn

Confrontation with Iran, diverting attention from the fiasco in Iraq, may be their best chance of holding the White House in 2008.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/425/2/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Patrick+Cockburn

One Week to Global Day of Action against the Chinese Fur Industry
http://www.furkills.org/feature_070207.shtml

Horse Protection Bills Reintroduced to Congress
http://ga0.org/campaign/ahspa07


http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=horse+slaughter

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5713/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://tinyurl.com/2zbyhn



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/gregg5.html



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

http://www.truthdig.com/interview/item/20070206_chris_hedges_christian_right_war_on_america/


Informant: Lew Rockwell



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/nolan-m5.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=/nolan-m

http://www.lewrockwell.com/floyd/floyd59.html

--------

Slaughter and Spin in Najaf

Chris Floyd asks, "What happened in Najaf? It is, of course, hard to see anything clearly through the natural confusions of a nation in chaos and the deliberate manipulations of the powerful and their sycophants, but there are independent Iraqi sources - nonsectarian, nonaligned, democratic - who have been providing eyewitness accounts and analyses of stories in the wide-ranging Iraqi press, which is almost entirely ignored by the Western media.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020607R.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Najaf
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/floyd

By Jane Reader

A VICTORY for common sense. That is how a decision to refuse permission for a mobile phone mast to be put up near homes has been described.

Phone giants O2 appealed to the government when Bournemouth council turned down its application for a mast on land at the back of Warnford Road.

But an inspector has backed residents and has told O2 to go back to the drawing board.

Inspector Phil Grainger, appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said the proposed mast would adversely affect the quality of life for nearby residents, who have been concerned about health implications.

"It would be plainly visible from some houses and the concern caused would detract from the well-being of their occupiers," the inspector concluded. "I dismiss the appeal."

O2 applied for permission for the mast due to concerns over limited reception in the area.

But the inspector concluded it had not properly examined other potential sites further away from homes and schools, such as Iford playing fields or Iford Meadows.

Cllr Dr John Millward said: "This is a victory for common sense and it will give hope to other people who are campaigning against phone masts. As far as I am concerned there is no doubt that this technology is harmful."

The proposed mast would have been disguised as a telegraph pole, another element which provoked criticism from Dr Millward.

He added: "People should know where they are and how many of them there are - they should not be disguised." But he warned: "People want mobile phones with good reception but they don't want masts. It is something everyone should think about."

© Copyright 2001-2007 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.thisisdorset.net/mostpopular.var.1176462.mostviewed.inspector_throws_out_mast_plan.php

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/020507.html



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

http://www.rense.com/general75/eip.htm


Informant: ranger116



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

Eric Seitz on Watada court martial mistrial
http://ga0.org/ct/ipSWyvs164Xw/

--------

Judge declares mistrial, court-martial may be delayed till
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5710/

Mistrial 'very likely to end case,' says Watada attorney
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5712/

Seitz says ‘Lt. Watada cannot be tried again’
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5714/

Carolyn Ho, Ann Wright, and Eric Seitz comment on mistrial
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5715/

Seattle Times publishes stipulation of facts, recounts dramatic Seitz-Head clash
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5718/


Informant: jensenmk



Watada Court Martial Ends in Mistrial
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/18305

by David Swanson


From ufpj-news



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

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0207-03.htm

--------

U.S. fails to sign treaty banning secret prisons

Nearly 60 countries signed a treaty on Tuesday that bans governments from holding people in secret detention, but the United States and some of its key European allies were not among them.

http://snipurl.com/19p0f


From Information Clearing House



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

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/next_up_news_n178.htm



France inter 6 février 2007, Service public : Antennes relais, quels dangers pour la santé ?

Les reportages et les témoignages des auditeurs de l'émission (compilation des extraits - audio 17'16).

http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=nouvellesdumonde24#1

Human Rights

A new UN Convention for the Protection of All People Against Forced Disappearance opened for signing in Paris on February 6. Le Monde considers this important addition to internationally recognized human rights.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020707G.shtml

According to trial transcripts obtained by Truthout, former White House staffer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby testified before a grand jury in 2004 that Vice President Dick Cheney instructed him to divulge portions of a then-classified report to New York Times reporter Judith Miller. Libby testified that Cheney said authorization to leak a section of the report had come directly from President George W. Bush, the court transcripts state.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020707A.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jason+Leopold

by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, DO

But vaccine injuries are real despite claims that occurrences are rare. Fears of developing autism as a result of vaccination have been dismissed by mainstream medicine which prefers to attribute the increase incidence of autism, currently at 1 in 166 children, to a “better diagnosis.” Thimerosal (mercury) in vaccines has received much attention in the association with autism. Undoubtedly, many children have.....

http://www.newswithviews.com/Tenpenny/sherri13.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/Tenpenny

- die katholischen Nachrichten berichten ausgiebig:

http://www.kreuz.net/article.4650.html

"Notfalls durch Gewaltanwendung"

15 Polizisten wurden kürzlich in Deutschland eingesetzt, um ein gesundes, 15jähriges Mädchen aus intaktem Elternhaus in die Psychiatrie abzuschleppen. Melissa (15) - die älteste Tochter - wurde der Familie mit Gewalt entrissen und zwangsweise in die Psychiatrie eingeliefert.

Jetzt sitzt das Mädchen im Klinikum Nürnberg Nord, Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie. Den Eltern wurde per richterlichem Beschluß das Sorgerecht entzogen.....

Und http://www.kreuz.net/article.4663.html

Der Fall eines normalen 15jährigen Mädchens, das von den Behörden aus ihrem Elternhaus verschleppt wurde, erschüttert gegenwärtig Deutschland....


Eine Nachricht des Werner-Fuß-Zentrum im Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Str. 4
10405 Berlin
http://www.psychiatrie-erfahrene.de

Richard W. Behan writes: "The long-held suspicions about George Bush's wars are well-placed. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were not prompted by the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. They were not waged to spread democracy in the Middle East or enhance security at home. They were conceived and planned in secret long before September 11, 2001, and they were undertaken to control petroleum resources."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020707P.shtml

As Senate Democrats seek votes on capping troop numbers and funding for Iraq, they may use the pending bill on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission as a vehicle, setting up a replay of the debate over funding for troops that this week derailed their leadership-backed non-binding resolution on Bush's "surge" proposal.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020707L.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=troop+surge

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0207/p03s02-sten.htm


Informant: binstock

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/07/MNGR1O07N51.DTL


Informant: binstock

--------

Boxer Rips EPA Chief as Bowing to Industry

California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer ripped the Environmental Protection Agency's top official Tuesday for rules changes that could limit the input of scientific advisers into agency decisions and reduce public access to information about toxic substances in communities. Boxer accused EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson of bending to the wishes of industry, rather than protecting public health.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020707EA.shtml

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/16636683.htm

USDA Faulted On Oversight Of Test Crops
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601712.html


Informant: binstock

http://tinyurl.com/3xfl8p


Informant: NHNE



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bird+flu+pandemic

Die Bundesregierung hat fast 300 Grenzwerte für Pestizide angehoben und sich im Kompetenzgerangel der eigenen Behörden verfangen.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24594/1.html

Das Weiße Haus schlägt für die nationale Sicherheit einen
Rekordhaushalt vor und hat sich damit der Hochzeit des Kalten Kriegs
und der staatlichen Förderung des militärisch-industriellen Komplexes
wieder angenähert.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24596/1.html

http://worldvisionportal.org/wvpforum/viewtopic.php?t=621


Informant: binstock

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/18255


From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=troop+surge
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Swanson

A secret air war is being waged in Iraq -- often in and around that country's population centers -- about which we can find out little. The U.S. military keeps information on the munitions expended in its air efforts under tight wraps, refusing to offer details on the scale of use and so minimizing the importance of air power in Iraq. But expert opinion holds that the forms of aerial assault being employed in that country, though hardly covered in our media, may account for most of the U.S. and coalition-attributed Iraqi civilian deaths there since the 2003 invasion. While some aspects of the air war remain a total mystery, Air Force officials do acknowledge that U.S. military and coalition aircraft dropped at least 111,000 pounds of bombs on targets in Iraq in 2006.

http://electroniciraq.net/news/2894.shtml

--------

America's Secret Air War in Iraq
http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt261.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/engelhardt

Übersicht über Leistungen der sozialen Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende

Broschüre von Jonny Bruhn Tripp und Gisela Tripp vom November 2006 (Stand: Gesetz zur Fortentwicklung der Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende vom 25. Juli 2006), hrsg. vom Evangelischen Bildungswerk Dortmund (pdf) http://www.evangelisches-bildungswerk-do.de/pdf/A_A_2006-Optimierungsgesetz-Leistungen.pdf


Was man als Erwerbsloser zur Gegenwehr alles wissen muss…

Hinweise, die ein Mitstreiter des Erwerbslosen Forum Deutschland zusammen getragen hat (pdf) http://www.erwerbslosenforum.de/Gegenwehr.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 7. Februar 2007

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/gewerkschaft/debatte/organisierung.html


Aus: LabourNet, 7. Februar 2007

--------

Selbstorganisierung fördern

„Das Job-Wachstum während des zurückliegenden Jahrzehnts bedeutete vor allem einen Zuwachs an flexiblen, überwiegend prekären Beschäftigungsverhältnissen. Das Phänomen der Prekarität lenkt die Aufmerksamkeit auf die Wiederkehr sozialer Unsicherheit in die an sich reichen und sicheren Gesellschaften des Westens. Die Gewerkschaften sind gut beraten, eine wirksame Politik der Entprekarisierung zu entwickeln…“ Artikel von Prof. Klaus Dörre bei ver.di Perspektiven ohne Datum http://perspektiven.verdi.de/gewerk_persp/selbstorganisierung


Aus: LabourNet, 26. Februar 2007



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=prek%C3%A4r
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Prekarisierung

You report that the mobile phone mast in Akers Way has been moved 40 metres away from its original position (SA, February 1).

I don't think the residents of Manor Crescent should get the champagne out just yet, though. If your article is correct, it will still be only 85 metres from people in Manor Crescent.

The 10-year Naila study by doctors in Germany found a threefold increase in the risk of malignant tumours in people living within 400 metres of a mast. Another (Israeli) study discovered a fourfold increase in cancer within 350 metres, and a tenfold increase specifically among women, compared to people living away from the mast.

We have good reason to fear the spread of these masts, particularly with regard to our children who are particularly vulnerable to radiation. Their brains are still developing and undoubtedly there will be trouble ahead unless mast proliferation is better controlled.

The dangers are not confined only to cancer. Other problems have been found, including headaches, dizziness, depression, fatigue and poor concentration - just what our children need as they try to cope with the demands of our education system.

If I lived in Manor Crescent, I would demand that the mast be moved at least a further 600 or 700 metres away. Then the champagne corks could really pop.

B Jones (Chairman).
SHOC (Stop Harming Our Children).
Old Town, Swindon

© Copyright 2001-2007 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.thisisswindon.co.uk/news/swindonletters/display.var.1174709.0.you_mast_the_point.php

--------

The Naila-Study
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/398279/

No Force, No Fraud
by Bob Smith

02/03/07

There are times when I think our species is hopeless. In my fellow humans, I see high energy, bountiful creativity, and splendid innovation. I see that in our personal dealings, almost all of us treat each other with respect and fairness. We are superbly capable and talented beings, yet we have one flaw that is very likely to destroy our species if we don’t recognize it and dispense with it. We, as individual beings, are so willing to live in subjugation to others. We eagerly subject ourselves to territorial governments that abuse us no end. We also humbly accede to a variety of mystical claimants seeking our obedience and worship...

http://libertyed.org/noforce/2007/02/can-our-species-survive.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bob+Smith

Legalization now!

Liberty For All
by David Goree

As I listened to the President’s speech on the War on Drugs, I was astonished at his unbelievable lack of understanding of the problem and any realistic solution. It would seem with his own history of drug use, he openly admits to a past drinking problem, and with that of his daughters and niece, Mr. Bush might actually understand. He, in one sentence proposes spending 19 Billion dollars on the failed War on Drugs, including over 9 Billion for interdiction, then a scant minute later states: ‘As long as there is a demand for drugs in this country, some crook is gonna figure out how to get ‘em here’... (written 02/02; posted 02/03/07)

http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=500


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=war+on+drugs

It’s time to sharpen the scissors

Slate
by Fred Kaplan

02/05/07

The military budget that President Bush released today is much bigger than the official summaries let on. It’s not $481.4 billion, as the Defense Department is claiming. No, a squint through the fine print of the White House and Pentagon budget documents reveals that the true request for new military-spending authority comes to $739 billion. Measured in real terms (that is, adjusted for inflation), that’s about one-third higher than the previous record for U.S. military spending, set in 1952, when more than 30,000 American soldiers were dying in the Korean War and the Pentagon was embarking on its massive Cold War rearmament drive...

http://www.slate.com/id/2159102


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Fred+Kaplan

The Libertarian Enterprise
by Andrew G. Eggleston Sr.

02/05/07

Those few of us who are responsible for ourselves are constantly under attack; on the defensive against a government that is no longer beholden to the voters, under attack daily by police who wish to rule as medieval Lords over some fiefdom they imagine is theirs, and defending ourselves illegally against neighbors who would “see us do well, but not better than them”. We are under attack by the minions of the lazy and as a result are overwhelmed; the pain of day-to-day life is compounded when we are forced to also take responsibility for those who would not take care of themselves...

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2007/tle404-20070204-04.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Andrew+G.+Eggleston

Hawaii Reporter
by Tom Macdonald

02/06/07

Perhaps enough time has passed since the last election for partisan passions to have cooled sufficiently to entertain a question with profound implications for American democracy: Is the average American voter well enough informed to vote intelligently? In the recent campaign we heard the slogans ‘count every vote’ and ‘every vote counts’ ad nauseam, but did most of those casting ballots know who or what they were voting for?

http://tinyurl.com/38o87m


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Attleboro Sun Chronicle

02/07/07

Democratic critics of the Iraq war seized the offensive at both ends of the Capitol on Tuesday, disclosing plans for a symbolic rejection by the House of President Bush’s decision to deploy additional troops and filing legislation in the Senate to require withdrawal of U.S. military personnel. ‘We’re going to stand by our soldiers, but we’re not going to stand by a failed policy that exposes more of our soldiers to death and suffering,’ said Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois …

http://tinyurl.com/2vgdtd


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

#Die Linkspartei.PDS: Pressemitteilungen

07. Februar 2007

Heute vor 15 Jahren unterzeichneten die Staats- und Regierungschefs der damals 12 Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Gemeinschaften im niederländischen Maastricht den Vertrag über die Europäische Union. Aus diesem Anlass erklärt das Mitglied des Parteivorstandes Helmut Scholz:

Betrachtet man den Maastrichter Vertrag aus heutiger Sicht, so ist sein Beitrag zur europäischen Integration zwiespältig: Einerseits war erkannt worden, dass die Herausforderungen der Globalisierung nicht nur wirtschaftliche, sondern auch politische Integration erfordern. Dem wurde mit der Schaffung der EU als Staatenverbund entsprochen, jedoch waren und sind die praktischen Ergebnisse sowohl was den Inhalt betrifft als auch die vertraglichen Grundlagen und Institutionen nicht auf der Höhe der Zeit. Andererseits wurde durch die Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion ohne Sozialunion eine neoliberale Entwicklungsrichtung zementiert, die dazu führte, dass die Schere zwischen Arm und Reich in der EU immer größer wurde. Das Grundprinzip einer offenen Marktwirtschaft mit freiem Wettbewerb führte nicht nur zu gnadenloser Konkurrenz zwischen den Mitgliedstaaten im Bereich der Beschäftigungs- und Sozialpolitik, sondern zugleich zur Unterminierung und schrittweisen Beseitigung ihrer sozialstaatlichen Sicherungssysteme, jahrzehntelang erkämpft von der Arbeiter- und Gewerkschaftsbewegung. Und leider veranschaulicht das Ansteigen von Rechtsextremismus, Rassismus, Nationalismus und Gewalt in ganz Europa auch wachsende Bedrohungen für die Rechtsstaatlichkeit. Das Grundübel des Maastrichter Vertrages und seiner Nachfolger einschließlich des EU-Verfassungsvertrages besteht darin, dass sie die vertraglichen Grundlagen für eine Politik maximaler Profite der Großkonzerne und Großbanken legen, die Bedürfnisse aller hier lebenden Menschen aber viel zu wenig berücksichtigen. Die europäische Integration seit Maastricht hat für sehr viele Bürgerinnen und Bürger zu einer direkten Verschlechterung ihrer Arbeits- und Lebensbedingungen und zu wachsender sozialer Unsicherheit geführt. Das löst nicht nur Fragen und Irritationen zum europäischen Projekt" aus, sondern lässt sie richtigerweise auch an seiner Ausrichtung zweifeln. Das haben auch die Volksentscheide in Frankreich und den Niederlanden zum EU-Verfassungsvertrag gezeigt: eine solche Politik gehört abgelehnt. Deshalb ist es auch notwendig, die Logik und die Substanz des EU-Verfassungsvertrages zu verändern: nicht Festschreiben einer neoliberal geprägten Wirtschaftsordnung und Militarisierung von Politik sind die Lösung für die Überwindung der Krise im europäischen Integrationsprozess. Sie sind vielmehr das eigentliche Problem! Europäische Integration wird nur dann erfolgreich sein, wenn in ihrem Mittelpunkt die realen Bedürfnisse von Mensch und Natur stehen, wenn die Bürgerinnen und Bürger, alle hier und heute auf unserem Kontinent lebenden Menschen real gefragt sind, das Zusammenleben in Europa konkret auszugestalten; wenn sie über die weitere Entwicklung der EU entscheiden können. Dafür kämpft die Linkspartei.PDS und mit ihr viele Verbündete in Parteien und Bewegungen in Deutschland, in der EU und in ganz Europa. Der Maastrichter Vertrag stellte die bisher größte Vertragsänderung seit den Römischen Verträgen dar. Mit ihm wurde aus einer Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft ein Staatenverbund mit einer konzipierten Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion (1.Säule), einer Gemeinsamen Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik (2.Säule) und einer Zusammenarbeit in der Innen- und Rechtspolitik (3.Säule), der zugleich eine Union der Mitgliedstaaten als auch der Bürgerinnen und Bürger (Unionsbürgerschaft) sein sollte. Die PDS hat damals den Maastrichter Vertrag abgelehnt, weil er zwar eine Union von Mitgliedstaaten und Bürgerinnen und Bürgern begründete, vor allem aber die Bürgerinnen und Bürger weitgehend von der Mitentscheidung und Mitgestaltung der Politik der Europäischen Union ausschloss. Die wirtschaftliche Integration wurde über die Währungsunion realisiert, die auf ausschließlich monetären Kriterien beruhte. Mit der Europäischen Zentralbank wurde zudem eine Institution geschaffen, die ausschließlich der Preisstabilität verpflichtet ist, keiner Kontrolle unterliegt und aufgrund der Abgabe der nationalen Souveränität in der Währungspolitik gravierenden Einfluss auf die nationalen Ökonomien hat. Eine Sozialunion wurde von vorn herein ausgeschlossen.

http://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=35078

Wearing hats shaped like smokestacks and carrying signs that said, "Coal Investments Cook the Climate," a group known as Billionaires for Coal raised awareness last week about the plans by TXU, a Dallas-based utility company, to build eleven pulverized coal-fired power plants in Texas. The activists delivered suitcases of coal, but the recipient of their gift was not TXU, and they were a long way from Texas. Instead, their action took place in New York's financial district, where they visited the headquarters of Merrill Lynch - a company that is putting coal and profits above human health and climate change.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020607EC.shtml

The Bush administration again proposed selling off hundreds of thousands of acres of forestland to help continue a program that is vital to Oregon county and school budgets.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020607EB.shtml

Under a 2005 energy bill signed by President Bush, an array of programs was promised more money. But when Bush unveiled his new budget Monday, some of these programs - including energy assistance for low-income families and energy efficiency - lost out.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/020607EA.shtml

The former US occupation chief in Iraq defended Tuesday the way he haphazardly doled out billions of dollars in Iraqi funds after the US invasion, as Congressional Democrats began a two-year effort to scrutinize fraud, waste and abuse under the Bush administration.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020607T.shtml



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

Permission Be Damned

William Rivers Pitt writes: "Because I was unable to attend the anti-war demonstration in Washington, DC, last week, I made sure to watch the broadcast of it on C-SPAN. It was, from what I could see through the camera's eye, almost exactly like every other protest against this Iraq occupation that has taken place in the capital since October of 2002. It was loud and colorful, festooned with famous faces and eloquent voices, a showcase for the hundreds of thousands of souls who stand against this terrible conflict."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020607S.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jan27
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=William+Rivers+Pitt

http://www.lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson169.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/anderson

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/060207falseflag.htm



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

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601606.html


Informant: binstock

Growing political instability in the US will weigh heavily on the dollar during 2007. This weight, combined with growing political pressure for dollar devaluation and a slew of negative economic factors, is likely to prompt significant dollar depreciation against most other currencies. The dollar's decline will help send asset values in the US sharply lower and precious metals prices soaring.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/392/2/

The U.S. military will establish a separate U.S. Africa Command to oversee military operations on the African continent, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced during Congressional testimony today.

http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?id=2940


From Information Clearing House

Iranians are giving greater weight to the threat of a U.S. military attack after a former chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on the state television monopoly, Sedaosima, last week that Washington had opted for "serious confrontation" with Iran.

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20070131-115118-7828r_page2.htm


From Information Clearing House

"Military action is not likely to be a short, sharp engagement but could have a profound effect on the region, with shock waves felt far beyond," the report says,

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=76275


From Information Clearing House

Sen. Joseph Lieberman said on Tuesday that Congress should consider a tax to fund the U.S.-declared war on terrorism and reduce the need to cut domestic programs to pay for security spending.

http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06252236.htm


From Information Clearing House



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

If we feel we need to clear Sadr City to bring stability, we will do that. Are there restrictions that will not allow us to do that? Right now there are not," said Heckman, who works with an army division that has responsibility for the area.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=2849790&page=2


From Information Clearing House

By Farhad Manjoo

A radical proposal by two Yale professors goes far beyond any reform envisaged by Feingold or McCain.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/400/2/



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

By Mike Whitney

The massive equity bubbles which arose from artificially low interest rates and the deliberate destruction of the dollar by reckless increases in the money supply have shifted trillions of dollars from working class Americans to the predatory aristocrats at the top of the economic food chain. The gulf between rich and poor has grown so wide that it now poses a direct threat to our increasingly fragile democracy.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/405/2/



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

By James Rothenberg

While most Americans have no difficulty reciting the flattering components of the “American way” – the routine stuff of political speeches such as life, liberty, justice – far fewer seem willing to identify as “American” unflattering, complementary components of our national ethos.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/383/2/



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

By Timothy J. Freeman

In refusing deployment to Iraq Lt. Watada is serving the country with his conscience, and in so doing, is giving the highest service. If Lt. Watada goes to prison, as seems now very likely, he will be a powerful symbol of the injustice of the nation and its shame in ignoring the judgement at Nuremberg and refusal to remember Justice Jackson’s counsel.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/391/2/



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

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/377/2/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Molly+Ivins

By Paul Craig Roberts

The Nobel Committee is experiencing difficulty in finding suitable candidates for the Peace Prize. Perhaps the solution is to consider candidates over a broader range of people.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/385/2/



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

By Fawzy Aboyoussef

We are going to witness within the few coming days and weeks the unfolding of a play authored by President Bush’s Administration about the immediate future of the Middle-East.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/389/2/

By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

During the Cold War, the two super powers realized that there was no logic in engaging militarily given that each had the benefit of resorting to nuclear weapons, thus, with the exception of a few proxy wars, their ‘war’ became a war of propaganda to win over minds and hearts. Today, the Bush White House is following the same pattern of warfare replacing communism with Islam. However, much like everything else this administration embarks on, the disastrous consequences of this war have not been deliberated.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/388/2/



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

By Michel Chossudovsky

The World is at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history. The US has embarked on a military adventure, "a long war", which threatens the future of humanity.

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/398/2/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chossudovsky

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GMFoodNightmareUnfolding.php

--------

Eat To Live: 1 Million against GM Food
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0207-08.htm

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reiland/reiland18.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Santorum
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/reiland

http://www.lewrockwell.com/greenwald/greenwald10.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/greenwald

Brant County Health Unit

Please provide a copy of the attached letter to Dr. Lock and a copy to members of the Brant County Board of Health.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/dr._lock_brantford_electromagnetic_radiation_and_health_concerns.htm

Yours sincerely

Martin Weatherall.

--------

----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew Michrowski
To: Martin Weatherall
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 2:27 PM
Subject: follow-up to letter from M Weatherall to Malcolm Lock MD

Please note that our learned society, The Planetary Association for Clean Energy lends support to the information supplied by Mr. Martin Weatherall to your health unit.

The enclosures may constitute supplementary information to the situation at hand, namely that Brantford is one of communities most affected by the trend of rising levels of environmental radiofrequency / microwave emissions in Southern central Canada.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/wholelife_emf_2005.doc
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/emf_brantford_mayor_rf_mw_advisory_05_30_05.DOC http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/pace_flyer_memberlist_origin_aims.doc

Note that in follow-ups, we have measured doubled environmental levels to what we have reported earlier - still in dry soil conditions, which means some areas of Brantford can get exposures of up to 20 times more elevated that what we reported in 2005.

We are also including information from the City of Toronto Board of Health on the same issue. It is significant that your community is often exposed to levels above the maximum allowed under the Toronto Board of Health.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/toronto_rf_backgrounder.pdf
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/torontorf_boh_technical.pdf
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/toronto_rf_boh_final.pdf

We would be pleased to lend an independent hand to any line of inquiry that you might wish to follow.

Andrew Michrowski PhD
The Planetary Association for Clean Energy, Inc.
100 Bronson Avenue, Suite 1001 Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6G8
(613) 236-6265
http://pacenet.homestead.com

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0206-21.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ben+Cohen

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0206-25.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pierre+Tristam

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0206-01.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jim+Lobe

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0206-05.htm

The Death Toll of 31 Days in Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0206-06.htm

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0206-03.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=troop+surge

Please sign (or help revise) this letter to Congress by emailing me your name, address and credentials or affiliations. We have over 200 signees so far.

California has all other states beat by far.

The Letter to Congress was revised tonight to:

1. Stress citizen oversight at the top of the letter, and

2. Respond to the inadequacies of the Holt tiered election audit.

http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/Letter2Congress.pdf

It has a couple more end notes and an altered paragraph or two.

Thanks to Arthur Keller for helping to make some earlier revisions this a.m., which made it easier for me to revise this now.

Please let me know if the letter to Congress still needs any revisions before tomorrow which is the last day I'll be doing any revisions. And Thursday is the last day I'll be adding any new signatures before my trip back East where I'll visit DC and pass the letter out a little to Congress.

A link to Holt's bill, so you can read it yourself, is here:

http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/HoltBill_FinalDraft_020507.pdf

There are a lot of mischaracterizations of Holt's bill being spread, so read it.

Holt's best provision is that it requires and funds jurisdictions to replace DRE voting systems that do not use voter verified paper ballots as the initial ballot of records, with ballots of archive weight for the official ballots, and which provide voter anonymity.
(thus requiring the replacement of all DRE voting systems which are paperless or use paper rolls and do not meet any of those requirements).

The worst oversight of the Holt bill is the lack of citizen oversight which means that none of its other provisions would be effective.


Kathy Dopp
http://electionarchive.org
National Election Data Archive
Dedicated to Accurately Counting Elections


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

From Elena P.


02/10/07

Sign against Tobacco Experimenting on Animals

PLEASE CROSSPOST FAR & WIDE! This petition is being sent in on Feb. 10th! Their goal is 15,000, but as of this email, there are only 1,673 signatures. Please help bring this up for the impact of the petition to work! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/759977084?ltl=1157245560

"Experiment after experiment attempts on even more in rats, mice, hamsters, lambs, dogs, cats, monkeys, and other animals need to be put to a stop at once! This is so disgusting and horrible that animals are forced to go through this. Do your part and help to put this cruel testing to a stop!"
*READ MORE ON THE SPECIFICS BELOW. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/759977084?ltl=1157245560