World-News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6370905.stm


Informant: binstock

After enjoying great deference in the conduct of national security for his first six years in office, President Bush now faces an assertive opposition Congress that has left him on the defensive. The nonbinding resolution passed on a largely party-line vote seems certain to be the first of a series of actions that will challenge Bush for the remainder of his presidency.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021707G.shtml

Discontent with President Bush's call for bolstering US troops in Iraq not only is flaring in Congress but also is beginning to surge in state capitols. The National Guard is the chief flash point between the Bush administration and governors when it comes to the war.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021707C.shtml



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

In the Congressional maneuvering with President Bush over Iraq, both Bush and his adversaries agree that the vote next month on his request for $100 billion in emergency funding is the crucial moment. "This vote will be the most important vote in changing the direction of this war; this vote will limit the options of the president and should stop the surge," said Representative John Murtha (D-Penn.).

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021707B.shtml



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

http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/04/iraq-victims-of-violence.html


Informant: Jennifer Van Bergen

From ufpj-news

http://www.counterpunch.org/leas02162007.html


Informant: Jennifer Van Bergen

From ufpj-news

By mid-March, Democratic Congressman John Murtha will offer legislation that he says would set such stringent rules on combat deployments that Bush would have no choice but to begin bringing troops home.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021707Z.shtml



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

Her daughter was killed by a bomb in Iraq. Eight months later, Susan Jaenke is both grief-stricken and strapped - behind on her mortgage, backed up on her bills and shut out of the $100,000 government death benefit that her daughter thought she had left her. The problem is that Jaenke is not a wife, not a husband, but instead grandmother to the 9-year-old her daughter left behind. For the Jaenkes and others like them, the toll of war can be especially complex: They face not only the anguish of losing a son or daughter but also the emotional, legal and financial difficulties of putting the pieces back together for a grandchild.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021707Y.shtml

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2274481.ece


Informant: binstock

The US trade deficit has ballooned once again to record levels. While some see the trade gap as a natural economic phenomenon, public-interest groups and progressive economists say it represents an unsustainable trade agenda that harms workers across the globe.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021607LB.shtml

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/02/14/behoerde-junge/offenbarungseid.html


Informant: Knut W. Schlanert

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5773/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



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

Tighter laws on mobile phone antennas

16 February 2007

Brussels' parliament has approved a bill aimed at protecting people and the environment from the effects of electromagnetic rays, notably those produced by mobile phone antennas.

According to the authors of the bill, the proposed law, which should be implemented in two years, would impose standards 47 times more restrictive than the current national law and would apply to a much broader range of frequencies.

The aim is to limit the potential impact of mobile phone antennas on health. This law follows complaints from Brussels citizens about sleep disruptions after the installation of a mobile phone antenna in the vicinity of their homes.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=24&story_id=36647

--------

ICNIRP (UK, not Brussels) is around 40-55 V/m depending on frequency.

2-3 V/m is typical in houses within 100m of a mast already. I had up to 6V/m where I used to live.

I can't see that there is researched dosimetric reason behind this figure, which is why ICNIRP has hung around so long so securely. So why 3V/m?

Certainly it is not a fix for EHS. Certainly it doesn't challenge the industry a whole lot, but it does have implications for shared sites IF it applies to sites not individual bases. It should also be measured not "as radiated" but "as received/observed" since environments (other than open fields) are complex.

But is this the right measure? Is it equivalent to a limit on power density (measured in W/m^2)? Is energy absorption the issue?

Either way, this limit does not avoid all known EMF effects and I can't see it overturning ICNIRP here in the UK yet.

Andy



Jane

The alignment concerns me. Mast companies will think nothing of this. Each will be "thousands of times below ICNIRP" and no-one is concerned about the combined effect.

Each will also be well within the Brussels suggestion, again for which we have not as yet seen evidence of base that would mean anything to the operators.

Brussels does not apply, and there is no sign that the HPA would adjust its opinion from ICNIRP to this standard without very good reason.

I am currently arguing with council planning and environment about mast numbers 9 and 10 on a small football ground surrounded by dense housing! There are no regulations for ten masts: each is counted on its own. There is no argument that will influence planning in the current state of affairs, I'm afraid.

Sorry

Andy

--------

Brussels news and cell phone harm

This is an interesting story about harm caused by cell phones, from Iris Atzmon in Israel. Please note, that cordless phones used in the home are just as likely to cause similar problems if they are used for long periods. Iris has also attached a news story from Brussels, where the Government has voted to dramatically lower electro magnetic radiation levels, and introduce a strong monetary fine system for non compliance.

Martin Weatherall



Severe Brussels towards antennas GSM
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/brussels_standards.doc

Today I spoke with a 23 years old who suffers from aches deep in the ear and strong pressure in the ear, after examining her on Friday, the conclusion of the doctor from a medical center in Jerusalem was that it had been caused by her cellular phone. He used exaclty these words which she emphasized several times: "YOU TOASTED YOUR EAR". He also told her that lately the doctors received "an internal study" that was not published in the media, which shows that the phone causes terrible damage. When she tried to ask more he didn't want to give her details. He added that he has many patients like her and that the rate of tumors "has increased significantly" lately, and many people come to him with ear and head aches. When she asked him what she can do he told her: "there is nothing that can be done, it is like to be healed from a burn, simply throw your cell phone". He told her of his minimal use of the phone and he always asks people to phone him to the wired phone. She was very shocked from this experience, she has been using the phone since the age of 16 and then she was not aware of possible risk, used to talk 3-4 hours aday. Today she cannot talk more than 5 minutes or else she has strong aches, she suffers all the time from the ear, even in days she doesn't use the phone (but then the pains are less painful) also in the nights it bothers her, it has become a nightmare. Although her awareness of possible damage raised in recent years, she still didn't imagine something like this can happen. Her hearing is still ok, in the past she didn't feel any special symptoms "maybe only a short ear ache". That's the situation. In the clinics the damage is already felt. The public is kept ignorant.

Health to all. Who needs more than that in our crazy world?...

Iris Atzmon.

--------

From Grahame Blackwell.


David

I agree with Phil - but it's a start. It opens up the debate on 'ICNIRP is clearly not enough - and if not, why not ??' ICNIRP is generally agreed to be adequate for thermal effects - so what is it that Brussels are worried about? It can ONLY be non-thermals - and as soon as that's acknowledged it opens the way to seriously questioning the whole basis of the criteria on which 'safety levels' are determined.

It's interesting to note that NOT ONE minister in Brussels voted against this proposal.

This is a very firm wedge in the door of the 'thermal' argument - and it's not going to go away !! The telcos aren't going to like it - and Blaney and his ilk are going to have to work a lot harder for their money once the implications of this become clear at grass-roots level.

Is this perhaps a time for mass petitioning of MPs on the grounds of a nation state in the EU taking a position which clearly calls into question not only the levels used in the UK, but more significantly the criteria by which those levels are set?

You may wish to push this email round the circuit.

Best regards to all of you

Grahame

A rebuke of a surveillance practice greatly expanded by the New York Police Department after the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal judge ruled Thursday that the police must stop the routine videotaping of people at public gatherings unless there was an indication that unlawful activity may occur.

http://tinyurl.com/37ckdh


From Information Clearing House



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

The principal glacier of the world’s biggest tropical ice-cap could disappear within five years as a result of global warming, one of the world’s leading glaciologists predicted yesterday.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1392295.ece


From Information Clearing House

The dollar fell against most major currencies Thursday after a U.S. government report showed net capital inflow tumbling in December, suggesting foreign securities are attracting investors.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/02/15/ap3432299.html



Drop in capital flow to U.S. poor dollar omen

An unexpected drop in demand for U.S. financial assets in late 2006 bodes ill for the dollar unless December's data on capital flows released on Thursday proves an anomaly instead of the start of a trend.

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN1535653620070216



The US as leading currency manipulator

Median family annual income has declined by nearly US$1,300 over recent years as income disparity widens. More than 3 million US manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2001, the steepest and most prolonged loss since the Great Depression.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IB15Cb03.html



Anti-China bills follow U.S. trade deficit

The record $764 billion U.S. trade deficit has led to bipartisan bills in Congress that could punish China for its exports, a newspaper analysis said Friday.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/20070216-104731-7635r/



U.S. plans China hotline as deficit soars

Direct connect to Vice-Premier Wu Yi hoped to help iron out trade issues
http://tinyurl.com/375amp


From Information Clearing House

Video

FRONTLINE examines the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces challenging the news media today and how the press has reacted in turn.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newswar/view/


From Information Clearing House

Video

It would probably be nice to check on the guy that you just caused to roll his truck. To see if he's, you know, dead or something.

http://tinyurl.com/3yfg5x


From Information Clearing House

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has backed the Hicks camp, accusing the Howard government of betraying the former Adelaide man by not trying him in Australia.

http://tinyurl.com/2mw5nk



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

A former Western Australian Labor premier has lashed out at the Australian and US governments over the treatment of terrorism suspects like David Hicks.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1850140.htm



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

"Mr. Padilla is suffering from mental defects stemming from his incarceration in the naval brig," writes Anthony Natale, an assistant federal public defender, in a brief to the court. "The effects of that incarceration ... have left Mr. Padilla in such a psychologically frail posture that he cannot bear to revisit his past and, hence, cannot assist counsel in defending him against the government's allegations."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0216/p02s01-usju.html


From Information Clearing House



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

This chart shows FCNL's calculations of how much of your 2006 tax dollars go to pay for current and past military activities.

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=2336&issue_id=18


From Information Clearing House

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0216/p01s02-usec.html


Informant: binstock

Soon the Firebolt will be joined in the region by one of the Navy's most heavily armed behemoths: the 1,092-foot-long carrier John C. Stennis, with a crew of 5,000 and more than 80 warplanes. The Stennis will head a strike force of destroyers, cruisers and submarines deployed to the region by the Bush administration amid heightened tensions with Iran.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17086.htm

Video

A former NSC Director is saying that the Bush administration is trying to provoke Iran into creating a pretext that would spark a US war on Iran.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17085.htm

War pimp alert

Pentagon leaders blamed the Iranian government again today for deadly explosive devices being used against American soldiers in Iraq and tried to tamp down suggestions of a dispute on the subject.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17083.htm

A panel of experts painted a picture of an Islamic terrorist organization far different from the one President Bush portrays: that al-Qaida “is on the run.”

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/dnalqaida070215/


From Information Clearing House

From the moderate suburbs of Delaware to the rural, conservative valleys of eastern Tennessee, House Republican opponents of President Bush's latest Iraq war plan cut across the GOP's ideological and regional spectrum.

http://tinyurl.com/2qbwgh



GOP Activists: Bush Won't Listen on Iraq

Here's another measure of how much trouble President Bush is in politically: Even once-loyal Republican activists are complaining that Bush's senior advisers, including political architect Karl Rove, don't want to listen to their ideas about changing policy in Iraq.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070214/14gop.htm


From Information Clearing House



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

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17087.htm



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

By Jorge Hirsch

Congress is on notice. The expanded role for nuclear weapons logically calls for a change in the decision-making process on when nuclear weapons should be used, at least in cases where no extreme urgency exists. Under current law, the President has sole full authority to order their use, Congress has no say.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17094.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jorge+Hirsch

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17091.htm


Informant: Kev Hall

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17095.htm


Informant: Kev Hall



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

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0216-02.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0216-01.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0216-26.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=James+K.+Galbraith

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0216-32.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0216-24.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0216-07.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Darfur
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Aaron+Glantz

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0216-02.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Harriet+E.+Miers
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gonzales

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5774/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0216-06.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0216-04.htm

--------

GREENHOUSE GASES HIT NEW HIGH, MAY BE ASIA GROWTH
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40399/story.htm


Informant: NHNE



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=greenhouse+gases

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0216-08.htm



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/travis1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Pharma

http://www.lewrockwell.com/chartier/chartier63.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=private+contractors
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mercenaries
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Blackwater
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/chartier

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese342.html



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/callahan/callahan165.html



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul370.html



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

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0216-30.htm


Informant: binstock

Rendering The CIA Useless

by John Prados, TomPaine.com
http://ga3.org/ct/Gd20pgF1nX0u/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=secret+rendition
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+Prados

Revisiting The Dream by Leutisha Stills, TomPaine.com
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/16/revisiting_the_dream.php

A FATHER and son fear a 20ft mobile phone mast next to their factory could have a devaststaing impact on their business.

Barrie Fitzpatrick and son Colin (34) opened Formet metal works at Great paxton in 1981.

A planning application has been submitted to Huntingdon District Council for the mast by T-Mobile, next to the businessmen's factory on the Harley Works industrial estate, Paxton Hill.

The pair are concerned radio waves from the monopole could affect a sensitive laser which is crucil to the factory's production of sheet metal.

Barrie Fitzpatrick, managing director of Formet, claimed any interference to the Amada 2610v machine could damage the business and even threaten the jobs of its seven workers.

He said: "It is more the unknown that we are frightened of. We have a laser machine that handles every bit of production we do.

"If they were to put the mast up and it did affect the machine we would have to close the factory. We live and die by that machine.

"I am worried about the health side, and I don't like phone masts, but if we are going to live with mobile phones they have to go somewhere.

"But why they need to put it right next to a building I don't know?"

The company has written to the district council objecting to the siting of the monopole.

Colin Fitzpatrick, general manager of Formet, said: "We are only a small business, and if we couldn't afford to move. There is just no need to have it that close to the factory."

The latest objections follow concerns reported in the Town Crier last week from mother-of-three, Fleur Bateman, who is worried about potential health risks from the phone mast.

Objections to the planning application must be made to Huntingdon District Council before Wednesday next week.

A spokesman for the mobile phone company said: "T-Mobile understands there sometimes can be concerns when locating base stations in communities.

"Base stations are low powered radio transmitters, and it is important to recognise that the radio frequency signal from mast the represents just one source of RF (Radio Frequency) in everyday lives.

"Based on over 40 years of research, T-Mobile is confident that its base stations, operating within strict national and international guidelines (recognised by the World Health Organisation), do not present a health risk to any member of the public."

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/science.html

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

16 February 2007

All rights reserved © 2007 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.huntingdontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1704&ArticleID=2056042

Nach Kritik an den großen BMW-Limousinen der Grünen-Führung will der Parteivorstand künftig auf verbrauchsärmere BMW-Modelle umsteigen. "Man muss auch einem geschenkten Gaul näher ins Maul schauen", sagte Grünen-Chef Reinhard Bütikofer dem Berliner "Tagesspiegel" in Anspielung auf die Tatsache, dass der Automobilkonzern BMW die Fahrzeuge der Partei gespendet hat. Bislang fahren die Grünen zwei BMW der 5er-Reihe und einen BMW der 1er-Reihe.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=15373

Die Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW) hat das am Freitag vom Bundesrat bestätigte "Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz" scharf kritisiert. Künftig würden sich Beschäftigte in der Drittmittelforschung noch mehr als bisher von einem befristeten Arbeitsvertrag zum nächsten hangeln müssen. "Unbefristet befristet" - so laute die Perspekte für die Wissenschaftler, kritisiert GEW-Vorstand Andreas Keller. Deutschland brauche vielmehr "attraktive Arbeitsbedingungen" in der Wissenschaft, "um in Forschung und Lehre qualitativ hochwertige Leistungen und Innovationen zu erbringen". Dieses Ziel verfehle das neue Gesetz. Mit der Ausweitung der Befristungsregelungen würden den Beschäftigten elementare Schutzrechte genommen.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=15368

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5771/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Democrats in Congress are moving quickly to impose their economic agenda now that they've returned to power on Capitol Hill. Many Democrats campaigned against the trend of widening income inequality, and they're trying to make good on promises to push economic policy to better serve the poor and middle classes.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021607H.shtml

Outgoing Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker said yesterday that the increase of 17,500 Army combat troops in Iraq represents only the "tip of the iceberg" and will potentially require thousands of additional support troops and trainers, as well as equipment - further eroding the Army's readiness to respond to other world contingencies.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021607D.shtml



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

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday linked her support for President Bush's war-funding request to strict standards of resting, training and equipping combat forces, a move that could curtail troop deployments and alter the course of US involvement in Iraq.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021607B.shtml



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

An Italian judge Friday indicted 26 Americans and five Italians in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect on a Milan street in what would be the first criminal trial stemming from the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021607A.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=extraordinary+rendition

http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3827&Itemid=223


Informant: Mitchel Cohen

From ufpj-news



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

Der Konflikt zwischen Iran und USA wird auch von Medien geschürt
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24656/1.html

By Rob Devey

PHONE giant T-Mobile has won its appeal to install a taller mast outside Horwich Leisure Centre.

Bolton Council's planning and highways committee last year threw out the company's plan to replace the existing 15-metre mast near the centre entrance with a 20-metre version.

Residents had objected and councillors said the increased height would make the mast an even greater blot on the landscape.

T-Mobile, which argued that a taller mast was needed to improve network coverage, appealed and has now been granted permission for the new mast by Government planning inspector Bruce Barnett.

Mr Barnett said that the difference in height "would not be particularly noticeable", adding that T-Mobile had met guidelines on raidation.

However, campaigners are hopeful the council can still block the mast in its capacity as landowner.

A council spokesman said: "While planning permission has been granted on appeal, consent still has to be granted by Bolton Council and the Bolton Community Leisure Trust as landowners and occupiers.

"A report will be presented to the executive member for development."

Last year, Cllr Andy Morgan was backed by fellow councillors in a motion banning masts on council land but subsequent legal advice means the authority still looks at each case on its merits.

He said: "I will be urging executive member Cllr Ebrahim Adia to take account of last year's motion, which means we do not routinely put masts on our buildings.

"I'm very disappointed with the inspector's decision. It seems madness for some faceless bureaucrat at the planning inspectorate in Bristol to overturn a decision made by local councillors.

"There's no proof about whether masts are safe and some people may unwittingly use the leisure centre not knowing about the mast".

He said plenty of youngsters used the centre and the independent Stewart Report into masts urged caution about allowing masts near children.

Cllr Barbara Ronson, leader of the Liberal Democrat group and the party's spokesman for development, said she was also unhappy with the decision.

Cllr Ronson, who is a Horwich borough and town councillor, added: "I would be very disappointed if, having turned down the mast on planning grounds, the council now allowed it as landowners."

Horwich town councillor Lynn Rock said: "It's bad enough having the existing mast, I don't want to see it being made bigger.

"A leisure centre is the wrong place for masts."

The mast sparked a storm of protest when it appeared in 1999. The council receives £5,500 a year in rent for the structure which goes towards a sports and recreation but is not necessarily spent in Horwich.

It says it would seek to negotiate an increased rent if the replacement mast is approved.

© Copyright 2001-2007 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.1199131.0.phone_giants_victory_for_taller_mast.php

Democratic senators introduced legislation that would bar U.S. use of cluster bombs in or near civilian areas. The bill would restrict funding for the use, sale or transfer of cluster munitions unless their submunitions have a failure rate of less than one percent, or unless the president grants a waiver on national security grounds.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021607P.shtml

--------

Support regulation of cluster munitions
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/jvfp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6791


Informant: WRL West

From ufpj-news



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

"If UnitedHealth can be shown to have broken the law - and let's just say that this company, which is America's second largest health insurer, has a reputation for playing even rougher than its competitors - by all means, let's see justice done. But the larger problem isn't the behavior of any individual company. It's the ugly incentives provided by a system in which giving care is punished, while denying it is rewarded," writes Paul Krugman.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021607O.shtml



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

Jay Bookman writes, "Trying to make sense of the Bush administration's strategy toward Iran may be a fool's game, because it assumes a strategy exists in the first place. That doesn't seem the case. Statements and policies issued one day are contradicted the next, perhaps the result of internal White House struggles between hardline and more moderate factions who can't agree on a single approach."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021607L.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jay+Bookman

Arbeitstreffen in Berlin am Samstag, 17.2. Peter Grottian (pgrottia@zedat.fu-berlin.de, Tel.: 0171/8313314) bittet die lokalen Aktionsbündnisse dringlichst darum, ihm und der Koordinationsgruppe mitzuteilen, wer am Hungerstreik teilnehmen will (nur Leute, für die es nach ärztlichem Rat gesundheitlich zu verantworten ist, dürfen selber hungerstreiken!) und welche einzelnen lokalen Aktionsbündnisse durch eine Fahrt nach Berlin die Aktion in Berlin unterstützen werden. Er bittet Mitmachende und UnterstützerInnen zum 1. Vorbereitungstreffen am Samstag, d. 17.2. von 12-18 Uhr in das Café Cum Laude (Ecke Dorotheenstr./Universitätsstr., 3 Min. vom S-Bhf. Friedrichstr.). Die Hungerstreik-Gruppe soll sich kennenlernen, ihr Konzept entwickeln und den Ablauf des Hungerstreiks besprechen. Fahrtkosten können zu 50% ersetzt werden. Da diese Rundmail nicht früher versendet werden konnte, hat Peter Grottian viele Initiativen, die in der Vergangenheit Interesse an einer Beteiligung am Hungerstreik bekundet haben, bereits telefonisch kontaktiert.

Aus Rundmail: Gegen-Armut-2007 - Statt Kombilohn für Niedrigverdiener



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

Dezentrale Aktionen

In der Aktionswoche sollen vielfältige dezentrale Aktionen von allen lokalen Bündnissen umgesetzt werden. Aktionsideen gehen von der Magdeburger "Mauer der Grausamkeiten" über "Sattessen im Supermarkt", Aktivitäten gegen bestimmte Träger von 1-Euro-Jobs, evtl. Blockaden des Fernverkehrs und der Idee, dass Eltern ihre Kinder bei der Behörde abgeben, weil sie die Kinder von den Hartz-Regelleistungen nicht mehr versorgen können, bis zu Aktionen für ein Sozialticket, wie sie in Leipzig stattfanden und stattfinden. Einige Aktionsideen wurden auf dem Treffen in Göttingen genannt und können im Protokoll nachgelesen werden. Dies sind aber sicherlich nicht alle. Wir denken, dass ein gegenseitiger Austausch nicht nur durch den Besuch der anderen Webseiten möglich ist, sondern auch das Online-Diskussions-Forum sich für die gegenseitige Anregung und Diskussion der verschiedensten Aktionsideen eignet. Ihr findet es unter http://www.aktive-erwerbslose.de/forum und Ihr könnt Euch dort registrieren lassen. Kampagnenmaterial, welches bundesweit verwendet werden kann, wird in den nächsten Wochen durch den Koordinierungskreis erarbeitet werden. Auch hierzu würden wir uns über Anregungen freuen. Es sollen Flugblätter für die Erläuterung unserer Forderungen erstellt werden. In ihnen sollen auch die Hintergründe, die in diesem Zusammenhang von Bedeutung sind, wie verfehlte unsoziale Steuerpolitik und andere wichtige Tatsachen und Betrachtungen in einfacher Form dargestellt werden. Außerdem sollen für die Aktiven vor Ort häufig gestellte Fragen und Antworten darauf zusammen gestellt werden, damit wir als Sozialproteste gemeinsam in der Öffentlichkeit und beim persönlichen Gespräch auf der Straße gezielt die Diskussionen in dieser Gesellschaft weiter beeinflussen können.


Aus: Rundmail: Gegen-Armut-2007 - Statt Kombilohn für Niedrigverdiener

Phillies 2008: 2008 Is Too Late

Rational Review
by George Phillies

02/16/07

Once upon a time, real conservatives like Barry Goldwater stood four-square for protecting the civil liberties of the American people. Now Bush Republicans say we should give up freedom for safety. Let me tell you the truth: When you hear someone say that we should give up freedom for safety, when you hear someone refer to America as the ‘homeland,’ you are listening to someone who hates the real America, hates our Constitution, hates our Bill of Rights, and hates our way of life. That person has no business anywhere near the levers of political power...

http://www.rationalreview.com/content/24945

http://www.businessportal24.com/en/Pelosi_Bush_Lacks_Power_Invade_121092.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

CNN

02/15/07

Setting up a new showdown over Iraq, Senate Democratic leaders announced Thursday they will hold a key test vote Saturday on a resolution opposing President Bush’s plan to send additional troops into combat. Majority Leader Harry Reid said a Saturday session will take up a non-binding measure now before the House of Representatives. The Saturday vote will be a procedural vote on whether the Senate should move on to a final vote on a resolution that expresses opposition to President Bush’s plan to send an additional 21,500 combat troops to Iraq...

http://tinyurl.com/2n6gg9


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

Senate Dems Call GOP Bluff, Iraq Vote Set for Saturday

Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday committed to stay in session through Saturday and perhaps into next week to debate President Bush's proposed troop surge in Iraq, saying they were calling the bluff of GOP moderates who were demanding the Senate sidestep the upcoming recess to consider the issue.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021607K.shtml



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

Watertown Daily Times

02/15/07

A Marine lance corporal cracked jokes and lifted the lifeless hand of an Iraqi civilian whom his squad had just shot, slapping it across the dead man’s face, a sailor testified Thursday. The government called Seaman Recruit Melson J. Bacos as a witness in the sentencing hearing for Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to kidnapping and conspiracy...

http://tinyurl.com/yr8wu6


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

In spite of all of our efforts around the world, the Danish government took part in the pro- whaling meeting in Japan. The Danish government needs to hear from all of us again, and this time even stronger, that their position is not acceptable and we need to convince them to support the whales: not the whalers. Please, HELP ME THINK OF THE BEST GIFT WE CAN BRING OR SEND TO THE DANISH EMBASSIES around the world. The gift has to represent our disgust with the Danish government’s support of whaling. What should that present be?? Flowers? Candles? Chop Sticks??. Let's go to all their embassies around the world and bring them our gift, so they can feel the pressure we need to exert on them to START DEFENDING WHALES!! The gift should be something we can bring them physically, or something we can send as a photograph by e-mail. Greenpeace is helping me by promoting this campaign. We have to decide the gift BEFORE FEBRUARY 18TH !!!

http://whales.greenpeace.org/campaign/5837



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

The House Education and Labor Committee begins markup on the "Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which has strong bipartisan backing in Congress. The EFCA would make it easier for workers to form a union. Under the current law, "even when a majority of workers asks for union representation, their employers can force them to undergo an election process" administered by the Bush administration's "anti-worker" National Labor Relations Board.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021507LA.shtml



Business, Labor Brace for Battle

In what is set to be their first major showdown since Democrats took control of Congress, business and labor interests are poised for a multimillion-dollar clash over a measure to make it easier for workers to unionize.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021507LB.shtml



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

With Democrats controlling the environmental agenda in Congress, a panel of international scientists saying there's a greater-than-90 percent chance that humans contribute to global warming, and former vice president Al Gore calling climate change a moral issue, many besieged global warming skeptics are starting to tone down their rhetoric.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021507EC.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Al+Gore

Two conservation groups sued the federal government, claiming that the US Fish and Wildlife Service did not fully consider the effects of global warming as it wrote regulations allowing for incidental harassment of polar bears and walruses by the industry in the Beaufort Sea and nearby coastal areas.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/021507EB.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Beaufort+Sea

On February 16 at 8:30 p.m. (check local listings), NOW reports on new evidence suggesting the existence of a secret government program that intercepts millions of private emails each day in the name of terrorist surveillance.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507U.shtml



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

Ankündigung der Gründung einer Aktions-Plattform welche die Ziele hat, eine Senkung der gesetzlichen Grenzwerte für Mobilfunk-Anlagen herbeizuführen und unabhängige Studien zur Erforschung der Auswirkungen...

http://www.diagnose-funk.ch/politik/033ea298dd0279c01/033ea298e61211501.html

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3GSM Welt Kongress in Barcelona 2007
http://www.next-up.org/Newsoftheworld/3GSM_WorldCongressBarcelona2007.php#1

Auf deutschen Äckern sollen in diesem Jahr mehr als 3500 Hektar Gen-Mais wachsen, die überwältigende Mehrheit davon in den ostdeutschen Bundesländern. Dies geht aus den Angaben des amtlichen Standortregisters hervor.

http://www.umweltinstitut.org/genmais2007



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gen-Mais

By Sue Vickers

Residents protesting against the Pickersleigh Road phone mast this week.

PICKERSLEIGH Road protesters want to know where are all the trees that are supposed to camouflage a proposed 40ft high mast.

Residents living near the site say claims by mobile phone company Hutchison 3G that the mast will be disguised by mature trees nearby is nonsense.

"Where are the trees they are talking about? There's a broad green sward but no trees here. The mast won't be disguised at all," said Hilda Forsyth, who is determined, along with neighbours, to fight the phone company's proposal.

"We are not having the mast here and that's final. It's too tall, too near our houses. Why should we have to look at it and live right next to it?" said Mrs Forsyth.

She said she and other residents had concerns about the safety of the mast.

"A friend living near a phone mast in Scotland died from cancer. No one really knows what the risks are. I know I don't want to sleep with a mast less than 50 yards from my bedroom window," said Mrs Forsyth.

“We are not having the mast here and that’s final. It’s too tall, too near our houses. Why should we have to look at it and live right next to it?”
Hilda Forsyth

Signatures for a petition against the mast are already being collected and angry residents have put up banners protesting against the mast in their gardens.

A planning application for the mast, described as a slimline monopole structure painted green, has been made to Malvern Hills District Council.

Originally the company wanted the mast on land near Bicknells garage but this fell through.

Alternative sites considered by Hutchison 3G include the council's former depot site, where the new health centre is being built.

Hutchison 3G spokesman Mike Dobson said the company recognised peoples' right to protest and it was important the planning process was followed comprehensively, in order that their objections could be considered appropriately.

"I'd like to reassure people the equipment is low-powered and well within international guidelines as recognised by the World Health Organisation," he said.

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

© Copyright 2001-2007 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.malverngazette.co.uk/news/malvnewsroundup/display.var.1198364.0.residents_fight_new_mast_plans.php

PETER WALSH
16 February 2007 08:48

Families were horrified to discover a mobile phone mast could be installed near their homes, a community pub - and a 12-apartment development which has yet to be built.

Telecommunications giant T-Mobile has submitted plans to build the mast, with associated equipment cabinets, next to the King Edward VII pub on Aylsham Road, Norwich.

The site is close to homes, sheltered housing at Edmund Bacon Court, the Royal British Legion's branch headquarters and is also just across the road from Aylsham Road Motor Company - which is to be developed into flats by the end of the year.

Deborah Judge, who has lived on Aylsham Road for the past 25 years, said she was “appalled” at plans for the mast so close to people's homes and would be opposing it.

“That's absolutely unacceptable - it's a disaster,” she said. “The health issues have not been proven either way, but you can't just take risks with these sorts of things.

“It's going to make the price of the property drop dramatically - it's absolutely dreadful.”

Damon Aspland, a sales manager at Aylsham Road Motor Company, which is just across the road from the pub where the mast would be put said he did not think it was suitable for the area - particularly with apartments due to be built on the site.

“If I was thinking about buying one of those flats going here it would be a no-no,” he said. “I just think its technology which hasn't been proven and they are using people like us as guinea pigs.” Mr Aspland, who lives in the Bowthorpe area, said he thinks masts should be sited away from people. The Evening News has campaigned against the installation of mobile phone masts near homes and schools until it is proved they are safe.

Dr Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North, said: “It's a fight that's going on everywhere. I'm still waiting to hear what the new planning laws will say about it, but the government are prevaricating and should just go for it.”

A spokesman for T-Mobile said the mast was needed to provide a “quality service”. “Without mobile phone base stations, mobile phones simply do not work,” he said. “All of our installations comply with stringent national and international guidelines.”

Are you fighting a mobile phone mast where you live? Call Evening News reporter Peter Walsh on 01603 772439 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk

Copyright © 2007 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/2qcu5t

Andrew Patel, one of Padilla's attorneys, said brig staff members told him Padilla was so "docile and inactive that his behavior was like that of 'a piece of furniture.'"

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_21264162.shtml


From Information Clearing House



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

India, China and Russia account for 40 per cent of the world’s population, a fifth of its economy and more than half of its nuclear warheads. Now they appear to be forming a partnership to challenge the US-dominated world order that has prevailed since the end of the Cold War.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1386812.ece



Russia may scrap U.S. arms control treaty: Interfax

Russia warned the United States on Thursday it might pull out of a Cold War nuclear arms reduction treaty because of plans by Washington to build a missile shield in Eastern Europe.

http://tinyurl.com/272c5c


From Information Clearing House

A leading Iraq war opponent threatened Thursday to try prohibiting any U.S. military action against Iran without congressional sanction as House Republicans used military veterans within their ranks to oppose a resolution renouncing President Bush's Iraq troop buildup.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2878258


From Information Clearing House



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

The Vermont State Legislature made headlines yesterday when lawmakers passed resolutions in both the House and Senate calling for the immediate and orderly withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/14/1646233


From Information Clearing House

Talk About Anything But Escalation
http://snipurl.com/1adcj


From Information Clearing House



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

A dozen Republicans arrived in the House chamber on Wednesday to set aside their party allegiances and lend their names to a resolution intended to rebuke President Bush for his Iraq policy.

http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt2_15_7_7.htm


From Information Clearing House

The U.S. government is at risk of squandering significantly more money in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has already wasted or otherwise overcharged taxpayers billions of dollars, federal investigators said today.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4556507.html


From Information Clearing House

Video - BBC Money Programme

This programme meets the scientists who believe that we are at the beginning of the long term decline in conventional oil production.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17076.htm



The Ghawar Oil Field: How Much Is Left?

Decline of the world’s largest reserve could cripple the global economy

By David S. Elliott

Back in 2001, before the issue of energy scarcity ever entered my mind, I read a chilling online article called "Ghawar Is Dying" that bluntly speculated about the massive global upheavals modern industrial society would suffer if the largest oil field in Saudi Arabia were indeed running dry.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17077.htm

BBC: Video Report By Greg Palast

Vulture funds - as defined by the International Monetary Fund and Gordon Brown amongst others - are companies which buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply when it is about to be written off and then sue for the full value of the debt plus interest - which might be ten times what they paid for it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17070.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Greg+Palast

By Josh White

A group of Senate Democrats introduced legislation yesterday that would restore habeas corpus rights to all detainees in U.S. custody and would narrowly define what it means to be an "enemy combatant" against the United States, a measure designed to challenge laws ushered in by the Republican-controlled Congress last year.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17073.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=habeas+corpus
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=detainees
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=enemy+combatant
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Josh+White

Video

Images set to Sara Thomsen's powerful song "Is It For Freedom?"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17081.htm



Killers in the Classroom
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17074.htm

Angry residents in Shenley have described a phone company as underhand' and sneaky' after failing to take down a mast it had been ordered to remove this week.

Hertsmere Borough Council issued an enforcement notice for T-Mobile to remove the temporary mast at London Colney Cricket Club in Green Street by Wednesday. But, after the company removed the mast from the enforcement zone, it was erected again just outside the specified area.

Samantha Gee, 37, from London Road, Shenley, said: "I am very dissapointed that they have done whatever they want to do again. It shows that the council does not have any power to stop them. It certainly does not restore my faith in the system. It is an underhand way of dealing with this. It is just sneaky."

The temporary mast was erected nearly four years ago after a mast on Shenley Water Tower, in Porters Park estate, had to be removed when renovation work started on the building at the beginning of 2003. Another mast, owned by O2, was given permission for the cricket ground because it was to be shared with the emergency services.

Shenley councillor Rosemary Gilligan said: "It was so obvious that they T-Mobile have been playing the system until the technology changed to allow them to share the O2 airwaves mast. They have now taken it out of the enforcement zone but have moved it, saying it is an emergency. They have had more than a year to plan the removal of the mast, so how can they say it is an emergency?

"It is definitely a matter that the council is going to take really seriously. I think enough is enough and I am really cross they have blatantly taken advantage of the system. T-Mobile has really taken it to the limit and the council is going to make sure they abide by the decision of the inspectors."

Hertsmere planning officer Chris Lewcock said: "We are exploring the legal implications of this with our advisers. But we are somewhat dissappointed with T-Mobile's approach to this matter."

A spokeswoman for T-Mobile said: "T-Mobile has fully complied with enforcement notice issued and will be looking for an alternative site for a permanent mast in the area, to ensure a high level of service for our customers."

© Copyright 2001-2007 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.thisishertfordshire.co.uk/news/borehamwood/display.var.1197257.0.sneaky_phone_firm_moves.php

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0215-04.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0215-29.htm

Click:

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0215-26.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0215-08.htm

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How Feds' Top Environmental Prosecutor Built Home With Big-Oil Lobbyist

A House committee will investigate and request documents on a real estate deal involving the government's top environmental prosecutor and ConocoPhillips's top lobbyist, and also legal agreements between the government and the oil company. The inquiry by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was announced hours after The Associated Press reported that the prosecutor, Sue Ellen Wooldridge, bought a $1 million vacation home with ConocoPhillips Vice President Donald R. Duncan, nine months before agreeing to let the company delay a half-billion-dollar pollution cleanup.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021507S.shtml

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski175.html



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson171.html



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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/6160775.stm
[ http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/180207smearcontinues.htm ]

Informant: ranger116

http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2007/02/15/84419.html


Informant: Scott Munson

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



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