World-News

nlnews @archant.co.uk
28 March 2007

ACTORS Neil Morissey, Joe McGann and Cliff Parisi are pictured (left to right) with Lynne Featherstone MP

THE fight isn't over yet - that is the message from TV stars, residents and Lynne Featherstone MP to a mobile phone company wanting to erect a mast outside their homes.

Residents of five roads in Stroud Green - including actors Neil Morissey, Joe McGann and Cliff Parisi - have united and won the backing of the Hornsey and Wood Green MP against Hutchison 3G's plans to install a 13.5 metre-tall mobile phone mast on a covered reservoir in Mount View Road.

Although Hutchison 3G recently won its appeal to overturn Haringey Council's rejection of the mast and base station, residents remain against it.

At a demonstration by the proposed site on Sunday, residents from Mount View Road, Womersley Road, Ferme Park Road, Ossian Road and Mount Pleasant Villas were joined by Ms Featherstone to show their solidarity.

Robin Derham, co-ordinator of the Mount View and Womersley Roads Neighbourhood Group, said: "These masts are being foisted on communities against their wishes, and the 'precautionary approach' to their location - advocated in the Stewart Report - is simply not being observed.

"The whole process appears to be weighted against us, and the only chance of overturning the decision is by judicial review, which can be a cripplingly expensive gamble.

"Ordinary people should not have to suffer the burden of costs to defend the air around them."

A 250-signature petition has been gathered against the mast, which would sit in a conservation area if built, just 20 metres from the nearest homes and 200 metres from St Peter In Chains RC Primary School.

Ms Featherstone added: "Until we are 100 per cent certain of the effects on people's health, I fully support a precautionary approach. Masts should not be built within feet of people's bedrooms as will be the case here. The mast will also spoil one of Haringey's best views over the city.

"The fact that residents are being forced to launch an expensive court action shows yet again how unfair our planning system is for the people who will be most affected by new developments. It is a real case of David versus Goliath and developers cannot be allowed to get away with this."

As the mast has already been given Government approval through the planning inspector, it could be erected at any time.

Copyright © 2007 Archant Regional Limited. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/2uqqtj



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Lynne+Featherstone

Der Berliner Datenschutzbeauftragte Alexander Dix beklagt eine zunehmende Überwachungstendenz in Deutschland. Dix warnte vor einer "Überwachungs- und Präventionsgesellschaft", die Wirklichkeit werden könnte, falls nicht energisch gegengesteuert werde. Zugleich rügte er am Mittwoch bei der Vorstellung seines Jahresberichts 2006 zahlreiche Verstöße gegen Datenschutzbestimmungen auf Landes-, Bundes- und EU-Ebene.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=15641

David Corn writes: "In that note to Joshua Bolten, President Bush's chief of staff, Waxman requested information about a $140,000 contract the White House awarded in July 2002 to MZM, Inc. This was Mitchell Wade's company. What's intriguing about the contract Wade received from the White House is that its amount equals the exact price Wade paid in August 2002 to buy the Duke-Stir, the yacht Republican Representative Randy 'Duke' Cunningham lived (and partied) on in Washington. This raises the intriguing possibility that Wade that summer needed money to buy Cunningham the yacht and - presto - a White House contract materialized."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032807F.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Waxman
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mitchell+Wade
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cunningham
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Corn

Last week, a convoy of approximately 20 veterans riding in converted school buses left Fayetteville, North Carolina. They were sponsored by Veterans for Peace, armed with literature and headed for New Orleans, where they are spending this week rebuilding houses in the Ninth Ward. On the way, the group stopped at military bases throughout the South. Their goal? To pass out copies of the Appeal for Redress, GI rights information and copies of the videos "Ground Truth" and "Sir! No Sir!"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032807B.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=redress
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sarah+Olson

Matt Renner reports that a Congressional probe into the dismissals of eight US attorneys last year has raised new questions about the role that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff played in the 2003 demotion of Frederick Black, the former US attorney in Guam. At issue is whether a report compiled by the Department of Justice’s inspector general took into account the fact that White House officials had been using email accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee before concluding that Black was not demoted for political reasons.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032807A.shtml



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

Datenerfassung ohne Identifizierung

Ein Bericht der Royal Academy of Engineering warnt vor der Überwachungsgesellschaft und fordert die Entwicklung von Datenschutztechniken, die in Produkte und Dienste integriert werden müssen.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24955/1.html

http://www.rfidupdate.com/articles/index.php?id=1327

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RFID and the End of Privacy
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3494652/

President Bush again misframes the Iraq war debate. It's about the bases, not "funds for our troops."

http://ga3.org/ct/Ad20pgF1uzpZ/

by Barbara Burt and Jonah Goldman, TomPaine.com

U.S. attorney scandal? Just one battle in the Republican campaign to disenfranchise traditionally Democratic voters.

http://ga3.org/ct/Md20pgF1uzPq/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=election+fraud

by Isaiah J. Poole, TomPaine.com

In an Enron ruling, conservative judges close a door to defrauded investors.
http://ga3.org/ct/A120pgF1uzpK/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Enron
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Isaiah+J.+Poole

http://www.streiflicht-online.de/Bertelsmann.pdf
http://www.meinepolitik.de/netzwerk.htm
http://www.meinepolitik.de/gliedppp.htm
http://www.meinepolitik.de/gesamtte.htm

--------

Schattenkabinett aus Gütersloh

„Die Bertelsmann-Stiftung wurde 1977 von Reinhard Mohn gegründet. Heute ist sie der mit Abstand einflussreichste Politikberater im Land. Und da sie offiziell als „gemeinnützig“ agiert auch gleich ganz oder teilweise von Steuerzahlungen befreit. Das ist kein unbedeutendes, sondern wichtiges Detail, denn während es bspw. in den USA untersagt ist, dass eine steuerbegünstigte Stiftung mehr als 20 Prozent der Anteile eines Unternehmens hält, hält die Bertelsmann-Stiftung bereits 76 Prozent der Anteile der Bertelsmann AG, einem der bedeutendsten Medien- und Dienstleistungsriesen weltweit – und spart somit – ganz im Sinne ihres Stifters – einen Großteil der Steuern für die jährlich etwa 18 Milliarden Euro Bertelsmann'schen Konzernumsatz ein. Das uneingeschränkte Stimmrecht in Sachen des Konzerns liegt dabei nicht etwa bei der Stiftung, sondern bei den Mitgliedern der Familie Mohn, die ebenso in der Stiftung selbst themensetzend und tonangebend sind…“ Artikel von Jens Wernicke vom Mai 2007 http://www.labournet.de/branchen/medien-it/bertelsmann/wernicke.html


Aus: LabourNet, 31. Mai 2007

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Schattenkabinett aus Gütersloh

Das Rezept der allgegenwärtigen gemeinnützigen Stiftung ist stets das Gleiche: Die Gesellschaft soll wie ein Unternehmen geführt werden.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/25/25406/1.html

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Wie der Bertelsmann-Konzern sein «Netzwerk der Macht» errichtet
http://linkszeitung.de/content/view/117034/42/



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

by Brenda Carney

Residents from Cloonlyon held a demonstration outside the offices of Galway County Council on Monday in protest against a proposal to build an 02 phone mast in the area.

Residents from Ballygar say the visual impact of the 36-metre phone mast will be incredible.

Cloonlyon resident Majella Grogan said the mast would be 210 metres from her back door. British guidelines stipulated that a phone mast should be at least 500 metres away from a dwelling, she claimed.

"It's too near our house and it's too big," said Ms Grogan. "No conclusive research by an independent body has gone into looking at the effects of having a phone mast so close by. Any studies done before have been funded by telecommunications companies," she claimed.

However, a spokesperson for 02 said that 02 endeavoured to minimise the environmental impact and visibility of its mobile infrastructures. 02 also complied with all Irish and EU health and safety legislation and all relevant industry health and safety standards. Health and safety issues were of prime importance to 02 Ireland, which was conscious of its responsibility to customers and the general public, they said.

02 Ireland said its nationwide network of base stations "adhere to the strictest of standards set by the International Commission for Non-ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and supported by the World Health Organisation.

"The communications regulator, ComReg, also audits 02 base stations to ensure full compliance with international standards and guidelines. Independent analysis from ComReg has shown that 02 sites operate thousands of times below safety standards set by the ICNIRP."

Omega read "Base Stations, operating within strict national and international Guidelines, do not present a Health Risk?" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/771911/ and
"Competing interests, conflicts of interest: Who's funding WHO?"under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3347390/

Galway County Councillor Tom Reilly gave his full backing to the protestors, saying he fully supported the plight to have the mast relocated. He called on Galway County Council not to grant permission on the basis of the submissions made by the Cloonlyon group.

"02 should think seriously about health not money. There is a serious visual impact on this community," said the councillor.

A petition with over 850 signatures was handed into the council and a decision is expected to be made in relation to either granting or refusing permission to 02 in the coming weeks.

http://www.galwayindependent.com/news/10995.html



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

http://www.inside-it.ch/frontend/insideit?XE7lhitk4Bck9Gp5GVdaee4lmywQ194SErhC4liIIimjMqrDNhrOeo1Bg5V2w



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

By Richard Harris

Amanda Hodgson and Terry Smith stand by the existing mobile phone in Melrosegate

HEALTH fears have been raised over plans for a second telephone mast in a York street.

Mobile phone company 3 has applied to erect the 12.5m high mast in Melrosegate, Heworth, near St Aelred's RC Church.

The first mast, which belongs to T Mobile, was installed in November 2005 and one resident has said that another mast in the street would be "beyond a joke".

Amanda Hodgson, who lives on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Melrosegate, objected about the first mast but to no avail.

She said: "Even though we said we didn't want it they still put it up. Now they have said they want a second one on the corner by the church. It's directly opposite our house and we're concerned about it. Firstly it's right outside where all the kids are and it's even closer to the children in the houses."

Mrs Hodgson admitted there was no evidence that phone masts are dangerous to people's health, but said that situation may well have changed in ten years, by which time the damage would have been done.
advertisement

Omega: phone masts are dangerous to people's health. See under:
http://tinyurl.com/32fhhe

In addition to the health fears she says the mast would be "aesthetically disgusting" and, although she has no plans to sell her home, would affect house prices in the street.

Mrs Hodgson is being supported by local hairdresser Terry Smith, who is a council candidate for the Conservatives at the next election.

He said: "I would like to see evidence that they are safe and I feel that local residents are right to express their concerns about this mast."

A spokesman for 3 said: "In reply to concerns voiced by residents, the proposal is for a slimline pole type antenna base station with a small transmission dish that will blend with the existing street furniture. Health concerns can be addressed by a recent World Health Organisation fact sheetconcluding that there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF signals from base stationscause adverse health effects."

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

© Copyright 2001-2007 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/yorknews/display.var.1290015.0.fury_over_plan_for_second_mobile_phone_mast_in_york_street.php

States that commit acts of torture should be forced to pay for victims' rehabilitation, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak has said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6501541.stm


From Information Clearing House



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

Saudi King Abdullah, whose country is a close US ally, on Wednesday slammed the “illegitimate foreign occupation” of Iraq in an opening speech to the annual Arab summit in Riyadh.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/March/middleeast_March452.xml&section=middleeast&col=


From Information Clearing House

Despite Tony Blair’s adamant denial that the 15 British sailors and marines captured by the Iranians were intruding in Iranian waters, Commodore Nick Lambert, who headed the naval task force, was by no means as categorical.

http://barrylando.com/?p=135


From Information Clearing House

Retired general paints grim picture of Iraq

An influential retired Army general has released a dire assessment of the situation in Iraq, based on a recent round of meetings there with Gen. David Petraeus and 16 other senior U.S. commanders.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usgen285148209mar28,0,3363150.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-print


From Information Clearing House

--------

General McCaffrey Says US Military in "Strategic Peril"

An influential retired Army general released a dire assessment of the situation in Iraq, based on a recent round of meetings there with Gen. David H. Petraeus, and 16 other senior US commanders. "The population is in despair," retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey wrote in an eight-page document compiled in his capacity as a professor at West Point. "Life in many of the urban areas is now desperate." McCaffrey says that the US military is in "strategic peril."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032807C.shtml

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US Armed Forces are in a position of strategic peril
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/6002/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

The White House senselessly risks a new Cold War.

By Anatol Lieven

As if the U.S. did not have enough on its plate, the latest strongly anti-American statements of President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials suggest the possibility of a new Cold War with Russia.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17431.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Anatol+Lieven

By Richard Horton

With more than 650,000 civilians dead in Iraq, our government must take responsibility for its lies.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17429.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=650%2C000+Iraqi+Deaths

The House Administration (full committee) is planning to markup Rep. Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007 (HR.
811) on Thursday, March 29 th at 10am. Any letters in support (no!) of or opposition (yes!) to this bill should be addressed to House Administration and faxed to them today or tomorrow so they can be inserted in the Record. The fax numbers for the committee are listed below. The letters can be the same letters you have been sending to your Congressional delegation, simply readdressed to Chairwoman Millender-McDonald and Ranking Member Ehlers.

Members of the Committee on House Administration

Democrats – Fax Number 202-225-7664 Republicans – Fax Number – 202-225-9957

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, CA-37, Chairwoman
Rep. Robert A. Brady, D PA-1st
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D CA-16th
Rep. Mike Capuano, D MA-8
Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D TX-20
Rep. Susan Davis, D CA-53
Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R MI-3,
Ranking Member
Rep. Dan Lungren, R CA-3
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R CA-22

Please fax both the Democratic and Republican House Admin. Cmte a short statement or here is the letter I drafted, which you may borrow and revise if you would like.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Dear House Administration Committee Members:

I write this letter in opposition to the passage of HR811 or HR1381. Problems with HR811 and HR1381 which would need amending include:

1. Unreasonable Time Frames for Software Disclosure & Text Verification Technology Implementation: If voting system software were fully publicly disclosed (with no exemption for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software), voting equipment would be more secure, reliable, have longer life cycles, and be less costly. However, HR811 and HR1381 allocate:

* Insufficient time to develop standards and testing procedures, to develop new voting systems, and to purchase and implement new voting systems for text verification for voters with disabilities.

* Insufficient time to develop standards and testing procedures, develop new verification and testing infrastructure, purchase and implement new voting systems with publicly disclosed software

2. Insufficient Budgets:

* Budget for nationwide audits with 99% minimum success rates would be approximately $8 Million per federal election (for HR811/HR1381 audits with their 10% success rates cost would be $14 Million/election)

* Budget to immediately replace all in-auditable Paperless DRE machines with 44,000 optical scanners and 67,000 ballot marking devices (BMDs) for voters with disabilities and alternate language requirements would be $555 Million (HR811/HR1381 costs to replace all DREs without durable paper that protects ballot privacy with 74,000 optical scanners and 124,000 BMDs would be $990 Million)

* HR811/HR1381 budgets nothing for the ongoing infrastructure and technical manpower that would be required to verify that the publicly disclosed software is the same as that actually used during elections.

3. Audits are Ineffective, Administratively Burdensome, and Costly

* When tested against actual 2002 and 2004 election results, the HR811/HR1381 election audits have minimum success rates of 10% but cost up to 94% more and are more administratively burdensome than a
99% success rate audit.

4. Strengthens the role of the US Election Assistance Commission
(EAC): HR811 and HR1381 consolidate and strengthen power in the executive branch of government in an agency that is currently run by former board members of The Election Center. The Election Center was co-founded by Doug Lewis, a used computer vendor and Doug Wilkey, the current EAC Director, in order to bring election officials together with suppliers of election products. The current executive director Wilkey and the current chair of the EAC, Davidson, were board members of The Election Center, and became NASED officers when The Election Center incubated NASED; and now they control the EAC. Wilkey, Lewis, and Davidson were largely responsible for the control, selection and oversight of the voting machine test labs and the certification of voting machines; and have resisted measures to subject election results to independent scrutiny. According to GAO reports, the EAC has not accomplished any of the functions it was assigned by Congress. It would be dangerous to our form of government to cede so much power over elections to the federal executive branch.

5. HR811 does not provide for meaningful Citizen Oversight over elections via access to election records, and HR1381 does not budget for the equipment that is needed by election officials to make election records publicly available. (up to $30 Million to provide special scanners to each jurisdiction that could easily scan all election records to make electronic and paper copies)

6. HR811 permits network connections to election management systems, allowing remote manipulation of election results. Network connections are unnecessary for either upgrading systems or for uploading election results. These tasks can be accomplished using removable write-once physical media.

7. HR811 has a loophole that allows states which declare "recounts" to avoid having their election results subjected to any independent audits, despite the facts that

* most state recount procedures are not independent; and

* many state "recount" procedures involve merely rerunning electronic tallies and involve no manual audits; and

* many state "recount" procedures involve manual audits that are insufficient; and

* some states "recounts" involve manual audits but do not compare the manual counts with the electronic tallies used on the central tabulator, which are kept secret from the public and even from candidates.

Instead of passing HR811 or HR1381, we recommend splitting current election reform legislation into several separate bills which each address fewer topics and which have more reasonable time frames, enforceable requirements, provisions for citizen oversight, respects states' rights and allows states more flexibility, provides sufficient funding to cover its requirements, and is more cost-efficient and effective than current election reform proposals, as outlined in this "One-Page Concept Proposal for Federal Election Reform Legislation" available online here:

http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/EI-FedLegProposal-v2.pdf

Dozens of persons contributed to writing the "One-Page Concept Proposal for Federal Election Reform Legislation" over many months of discussion, after dedicating themselves for years to bringing verifiable integrity to U.S. elections. Recent revisions were based on input from state and county election officials including Bruce Funk, former (23 year) chief election official of Emery County, Utah; and revisions were made by Nancy Tobi, Co-founder and Chair of Democracy for New Hampshire; by Bev Harris, Director of Black Box Voting; and by Phil Fry, Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections (CASE), Ohio.

Any help that you can be in getting this election reform legislation sponsored in time for independent verification of election integrity to be in effect by November 2008 would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kathy Dopp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kathy+Dopp

"A rational immigration policy should end trade and investment policies abroad that produce poverty and displace people. In the US, immigration policy should emphasize rights and equality, and protect all families and communities - of immigrants and native-born alike. Using immigration raids instead as a pressure tactic to get Congress to approve guest worker programs is not a legitimate use of enforcement. It undermines the family and community values for which this country stands," writes David Bacon.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032807M.shtml



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

American warplanes screamed off two aircraft carriers Tuesday as the Navy staged its largest show of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, launching a mammoth exercise meant as a message to the Iranians.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032807L.shtml

An FBI agent was warned to keep quiet about the dismissal of a US attorney after he told a newspaper her firing would hurt the agency's ongoing investigations, and speculated politics were involved.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032807K.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys

Congressional Democrats are showing no signs of backing down on their rebuke of the Iraq war, insisting that President Bush will have to accept some sort of legislative timetable in exchange for the billions of dollars needed to fund the war.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032807J.shtml

Nearly a million displaced people in Iraq's increasingly volatile southern provinces are in urgent need of food, medicines and municipal services, local officials and NGOs say. Aid workers have called on international humanitarian organizations and the central government to provide more assistance to the growing numbers of displaced in the south of the country.

http://electroniciraq.net/news/2971.shtml

AlterNet
by Arianna Huffington

03/27/07

There is a subject being forgotten in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House. While all the major candidates are vying for the black and Latino vote, they are completely ignoring one of the most pressing issues affecting those constituencies: the failed ‘war on drugs’ — a war that has morphed into a war on people of color...

http://www.alternet.org/rights/49782/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Power of Narrative
by Arthur Silber

03/27/07

The open secret about the Iraq occupation is that the Democrats could end it in a matter of months if they chose to, as Feingold, Kucinich and one or two others have made absolutely clear. Instead, and please let us state the critical fact accurately, the Democrats have chosen to fund the continuation of the Iraq occupation for the indefinite future...

http://tinyurl.com/yrglr8


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Feingold
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kucinich
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Arthur+Silber

Salon
by Gary Kamiya

03/27/07

Democrats should give two cheers for George W. Bush. He and his political mastermind, Karl Rove, dreamed of achieving a permanent Republican majority. Instead, his disastrous presidency has dealt a devastating blow to the GOP, one from which it may not recover for many years. That’s the inescapable import of a major study of American voters’ values and attitudes by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, released March 22. The study finds that voters have turned dramatically away from the GOP since Bush took office. Iraq, of course, is the single biggest reason for this...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/03/27/pew/



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

CounterPunch
by Monica Benderman

The Veterans For Peace were well received in Hinesville. Soldiers and their families continue to speak of the event and the information they received about the Appeal for Redress. The community of Hinesville understands the need, but they also understand the need for so much more. My husband went to prison as a result of his public protest of this war and the lack of support the soldiers were receiving. He spent over a year in prison yet continued to speak of the need for a legal remedy for soldiers to have the right to speak about their concerns regarding this war. The Appeal for Redress does just that. We hope many will support it so that soldiers do not have to face what my husband faced simply for telling the truth.”

http://www.counterpunch.org/benderman03272007.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=redress
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Benderman


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

From Adriana R.

URGENT!!!! - ACT QUICKLY!!!!!!! Make haste. In just a few days China will be conducting a mass murder of all pet dogs. Please sign both petitions. Let your voice be heard. These animals can not speak for themselves. We must be their voices. Please sign and forward far and wide. We have just a short time to try to help save the lives of these innocent pet dogs.

* China's Champaign to Kill All Pet Dogs
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/440348024

* Protest China's Barbaric Killing Of Pet Dogs
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/665021184

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/mar2007/bw20070328_446453.htm?chan=autos_autos+index+page


Informant: binstock



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

DAN GRIMMER
28 March 2007 09:23

Families, pensioners and bikers who fought a campaign to stop a mobile phone mast from being installed near their homes are celebrating after the plans were rejected by Norwich City Council.

T-Mobile had submitted plans to build the mast in Aylsham Road next to popular bikers' pub the King Edward VII pub.

But the mast would also have been near homes, sheltered housing at Edmund Bacon Court and the Royal British Legion's branch headquarters, and just across the road from the Aylsham Road Motor Company which is being turned into flats by the end of the year. More than 600 people signed a petition against the mast.

A spokesman for T-Mobile had said the mast was needed to provide a quality service and would comply with stringent guidelines.

But Norwich City Council's planners, acting under delegated authority, decided to reject the mast - to the delight of the campaigners.

Vicki Smith, 34, landlord of the King Edward VII pub, who had said the mast would be out of keeping with the area and would endanger the safety of motorists and bikers trying to leave pub's car park, was delighted with the outcome.

She said: "I am really pleased. We have had tremendous support and I would like to thank everyone for getting involved in the campaign."

Steve Morphew, Norwich City Council leader, said: "It was a really good campaign, where all parts of the community came together."

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

Are you fighting a mobile phone mast application where you live? Telephone Evening News reporter Dan Grimmer on 01603 772375 or email dan.grimmer @archant.co.uk

Copyright © 2007 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/34ozc7

https://secure2.convio.net/pepib/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr005=u8rv3mys71.app1b&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=103

Demand that Articles of Impeachment be introduced!

(excerpt) March 17, 2007 has come and gone. Despite two days of cold torrential rain followed by snow and cutting arctic winds, tens of thousands of people passionately committed to right the grievous wrongs of the Bush Administration, marched on the Pentagon to demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and the impeachment of President Bush and other U.S. officials chiefly responsible for U.S. crimes of the past six years. Five days later, the House of Representatives by the narrow margin of 218 to 212 voted to compel withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq by September 2008.

The bill itself is terribly inadequate and has no chance of becoming law over George Bush's veto. But before the mid-term elections in 2006 and for several months thereafter, the House did not have the will to seek, or pass even so weak a bill. Hundreds of demonstrations, large and small, all over the country calling for impeachment, nearly 900,000 Votes To Impeach at ImpeachBush.org, and the sheer undeniable pity of Congress's failure to assert its constitutional powers have taken us this far.

The passion of the marchers on the Pentagon representing hundreds of united organizations and tens of thousands of individuals was palpable and contributed significantly to the turning point we have reached. Action now can hold the Congressional votes calling for withdrawal and add many more in support of a much earlier and complete withdraw, and for impeachment.

We must press on with renewed energy, commitment, unity and focus to Bring Our Troops Home Now, to proceed to impeachment and to bring about a desperately needed social agenda that is good for children everywhere.

We have seen that the Congress can be moved. Chance, which, as Herman Melville said in Moby Dick, has with necessity and free will "the last featuring blow at events," is with us. The Bush Administration is reeling from its own wrongdoing. The horror its war of aggression has wreaked on the people of Iraq must trouble the sleep of every sentient American. The Surge is only adding to the death and destruction. The tide is turning in Afghanistan because human nature resists foreign occupation. Pakistan is rebelling because human nature resists foreign-supported military dictatorship. Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and many others nations are resisting because nations, like people, were not born to be forced.

The Bush Administration's assault on human dignity at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, demeaning the Geneva Conventions and Habeas Corpus; invading the privacy of any American it chooses; corrupting the rule of law in the Department of Justice, in politicizing prosecutions; the four key resignations including a Presidential appointee in the Department of Justice within a month (with potentially more to come); and the criminal convictions of high civil officers, Scooter Libby, Chief of Staff to the Vice President, Steven Griles, Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior -- these reveal a need for affirmative action for peace and processing impeachment.

We must try now to achieve a fundamental shift toward peace, justice and freedom including the end of poverty, which can be done despite the policies of the Bush Administration, which have enriched the rich while spreading poverty.

Our focus must be on Congress, and the priorities of withdrawal from Iraq and impeachment now.

Everyone should write his or her own Representative, Senators and Congressional leadership. Tell them the vote for partial withdrawal, in a year and a half prolongs crime, spreads suffering and creates more enemies for the U.S. everywhere.

http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=QsCCzQpbNFmV6jeOI_gn8g..

Urge votes for complete withdrawal, reparation and impeachment now by clicking on this link.

http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=avLN916TakMwreJbA1rGHw..

Identify House members and Senators in your state who may vote for withdrawal or impeachment and organize constituents to persuade them to do so.

In addition to individual action, everyone should consider the feasibility of organizing or joining groups within their own neighborhood, town, city, county and state and reach out to others and enlist as many as possible to demand troop withdrawal and impeachment.

Woodrow Wilson once observed that the highest and best form of efficiency is the spontaneous cooperation of a free people.

Having watched Iranians organize and take to the streets without violence to force the flight of a seemingly all powerful Shah in the late 1970's and the heroic people of the Philippines drive Marcos from power in 1986 with their voices, bodies and votes, I believe the power to prevail is in the people. The questions is one of will, commitment and perseverance.

In the coming weeks we will be engaged in a full mobilization using a variety of ways to build this movement. The impeachment movement will carry out a massive letter writing to Congress, newspaper ads, local and regional demonstrations, city council resolutions, and people's impeachment hearings. With your continued support we can make this happen.

Ramsey Clark
March 27, 2007


The legal basis for impeachment
http://www.impeachbush.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr005=9alkr6ytn1.app13a&page=NewsArticle&id=5054&news_iv_ctrl=1061



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

The consumer confidence report followed Monday's unexpected fall in U.S. new-home sales data, which underscored concerns the housing sector has yet to stabilize.

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=usDollarRpt&storyID=2007-03-27T163433Z_01_N27439048_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-FOREX-UPDATE-8.XML


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=housing+crash

http://yournewreality.blogspot.com/2007/03/rumsfeld-deserted-his-post-on-morning.html


From Information Clearing House



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

Impeachment Threat Is Real

Growing Scandals And Abuses Force Impeachment Into Discussion
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/27/opinion/main2612221.shtml



The Case Against George W. Bush

With prominent Republican Senators speaking out against a scandal-plagued White House, talk of impeachment has moved from the margins to the mainstream. That may seem politically far-fetched, but in fact, there is a strong case to be made.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3759


From Information Clearing House



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

Any normal Australian, facing a system weighted so heavily against them and broken by five years of unimaginable privation, is likely to have signed a document that would get them out of Guantanamo – regardless of their guilt or innocence.

http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070327-David-Hicks-guilt-by-incarceration.html



Hick's father says plea was part of deal

Terry Hicks, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Tuesday he believed his son had pleaded guilty as part of a bargain with prosecutors that would get him out of the Guantanamo prison: "It's a way to get home, and he's told us he just wants to get home."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/guilty-plea-to-get-out-hicks-dad/2007/03/27/1174761469740.html


From Information Clearing House



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

Iran is pressuring its oil customers to start paying in currencies other than U.S. dollars and many have begun to comply, oil executives here say.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/27/business/euros.php


From Information Clearing House

Moscow urges the United States to avoid escalating tensions around Iran over its nuclear program as it could lead to a "clash of civilizations," the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070327/62693395.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=clash+of+civilizations

Russia's Foreign Ministry Tuesday sharply criticized the U.S. for what it called over-reliance on force and warned Washington against military action against Iran.

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20070327\ACQDJON200703270958DOWJONESDJONLINE000376.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na


From Information Clearing House

Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran's borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070327/62697703.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=U.S.+military+buildup+on+Iran+border

The U.S. Navy today began its largest demonstration of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by a pair of aircraft carriers and backed by warplanes flying simulated attack maneuvers off the coast of Iran.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4664203.html


From Information Clearing House

"We have informed the Iranian brothers ... that we are not party to its conflict with the United States and will not allow our territories to be used for any military, security or spy activities against it."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27163479.htm


From Information Clearing House

Many adults in the United States believe their country should not become involved in a military conflict with Iran, according to a poll by Harris Interactive. 50 per cent of respondents are opposed to bombing Iran if it is proven that the Islamic country is helping the Shiites in Iraq.

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/15185


From Information Clearing House

The policy of divide and rule is as old as the Roman empire – a constant guide to the Christian West and implemented ruthlessly during its colonial onslaught on the rest of the world.

http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0198.htm


From Information Clearing House

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=105953&bolum=8


From Information Clearing House

"Eight of the kids already fell on the ground. The guys kept shooting, they just wanted to make sure everyone was dead."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,21452353,00.html


From Information Clearing House

By David Michael Green

This top official in the Justice Department, who serves as its liaison to the White House, is now refusing to answer any congressional questions about the US attorneys scandal. You know, the one in which George and Dick and Karl and Alberto have been hiring and firing federal prosecutors based on their willingness to politicize the legal system.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17428.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gonzales
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys

By Sheila Samples

Blackwater is in place to become this nation's shadow police force and is its current shadow army. Go back to the "dry run" of Katrina and take a look at the heavily armed force that laid seige to New Orleans, that sped through the streets rounding up hurricane victims, packing them into a "detention" arena where they were forced to stay for days without food or water or assistance.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17424.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Blackwater
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=shadow+army
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Katrina
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=New+Orleans
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=detention
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sheila+Samples

By Paul Craig Roberts

The 9/11 attack has been used to start wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to plan an attack on Iran, to curtail constitutional protections and civil liberties in the US, to radically expand US military budgets and the power of the executive, and to enrich entrenched vested interests.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17422.htm



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

Washington Post

It no doubt surprised most Americans to learn that between 2003 and 2005, the FBI issued more than 140,000 specific demands under this provision -- demands issued without a showing of probable cause or prior judicial approval -- to obtain potentially sensitive information about U.S. citizens and residents. It did not, however, come as any surprise to me.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17426.htm

More than a half-million tons of hazardous waste annually could escape federal environmental regulations under a new proposal from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032707EB.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Environmental+Protection+Agency

Despite President Bush's unwavering public support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the White House is doing little privately to lobby Republican senators to get behind the embattled Justice Department chief, according to senior Senate sources. In fact, Senate Republicans said Monday that the administration essentially has been absent when it comes to courting defenders for the attorney general, who has been under fire for the controversial dismissal of eight US attorneys.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707T.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gonzales
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys

Bush administration officials throughout the government have engaged in White House-directed efforts to stifle, delay or dampen the release of climate change research that casts the White House or its policies in a bad light, says a new report that purports to be the most comprehensive assessment to date of the subject.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707R.shtml

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/033007ED.shtml

--------

Low-energy bulb disposal warning

There's a short piece on the front cover of Today's Daily Telegraph (Sat 5th) which quotes someone as saying that up to 340,000 people in the UK could suffer from Eczema and skin cancer from the new energy saving bulbs.

Good the news is getting out and in plenty of time.

Haven't checked the other papers but imagine there is more coverage.

Maybe we could use this exposure (no pun int) to point up the health links from microwaves?

What never ceases to amaze me is how none of these reporters ever ask "If these devices can do this to God knows how many people, what are they doing to the rest of us?"

Gary


mastsanity.org wrote:

BBC, 5/1/08

Low-energy bulb disposal warning

Energy-saving light bulb

Low-energy bulbs contain a small amount of mercury...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7172662.stm



Low-energy bulbs 'worsen rashes'

2/1/08

Low-energy light bulb Energy saving bulbs could reduce carbon dioxide emissions The switch to energy-saving light bulbs may put thousands at risk of painful skin reactions, health charities warn...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7170246.stm



Low-energy bulbs 'cause migraine'

BBC

2/1/08

Low-energy bulbs

The lighting industry says that the latest bulbs do not flicker Energy-saving light bulbs could trigger migraines, say campaigners...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7167860.stm



Low-energy bulbs 'could cause skin cancer'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/01/05/eabulb105.xml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=energy+bulb
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mercury

New Bush Plan To Gut Endangered Species Act
http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0327-01.htm

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BUSH PLAN TO GUT ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT EXPOSED

The Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility have exposed a secret plan by the Bush administration plan to gut the Endangered Species Act from top to bottom. The leaked Bush plan made headlines across the country last including National Public Radio, MSNBC, ABC, and Reuters, prompting editorial denouncements by Newsday, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, New York Times, and the Arizona Republic.

See the Center’s detailed analysis of how the draft plan would cripple the Endangered Species Act.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/esa-gutting-03-26-2007.html



BUSH APPOINTEE ROCKED BY ENDANGERED SPECIES SCANDAL

The Center for Biological Diversity’s campaign to have Julie MacDonald fired for abusing and overruling federal scientists trying to protect endangered species took a big step forward last week. The political appointee’s reign of terror over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will surely end in the wake of an Inspector General report concluding that the administration’s “attack dog” bullied federal scientists, altered scientific analyses, shared confidential government documents with industry lawyers and lobbyists, and even sent government documents to her internet fantasy role-playing partner.

The federal investigation was launched in response to complaints from anonymous federal biologists, an expose by the Washington Post, and calls by the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups to investigate and oust MacDonald. In response to the new report, the Washington Post has also called on MacDonald to resign.

For more information on MacDonald’s antics and the Center’s efforts to stop her, see Endangered Earth #373 (11-02-06), #377 (12-14-06), and #378 (12-22-06):

http://aphid.opus1.com/blog/EEO/2006/11/endangered-earth-online-373.html
http://aphid.opus1.com/blog/EEO/2006/12/endangered-earth-online-no-377.html
http://aphid.opus1.com/blog/EEO/2006/12/welcome-new-ringtone-members-welcome-to_22.html

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/27/105/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/27/113/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=James+Madison
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Thom+Hartmann
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Purgegate&btnG=Google+Search

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/27/118/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+pullout

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/27/116/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/27/111/

--------

More CO2 Will Shift Climate Zones

Global warming could remake the world's climate zones by 2100, with some polar and mountain climates disappearing altogether and formerly unknown ones emerging in the tropics. Such changes would endanger some plants and animals while providing new opportunities for others, said John Williams.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032707EA.shtml

http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2007/03/who-won-war-on-terror.html


Informant: Useful I.



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

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/mobil/0,1518,473539,00.html

Amnesty International bringt eigenes MF-Paket
http://www.diagnose-funk.ch/aktuell/033ea298b81479d03/index.html#033ea298fc0f6260d

--------

Mobilfunk und Menschenrechte
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Mobilfunk+und+Menschenrechte

Die amerikanische Mobilfunkindustrie auf der Anklagebank
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3495339/

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

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alexander H. Volger: Mobilfunk und seine Technikfolgen u.a.
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/168670/

Mobilfunk und Gesundheit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3300771/

Gesundheitsrisiko Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1223449/

Ärzte und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/408385/

Ärzteappelle gegen Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1064751/

Ärztekammern und Mobilfunk
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1104181/

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/

Handy-Verbot an Schulen
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1677088/

by Greg Ciola

Since genetic engineering and biotechnology are now impacting our lives in so many ways, isn’t it time that it were examined from a biblical perspective? There is ample evidence from both the Bible and extra-biblical books that shows strong disapproval of genetic engineering...

http://www.newswithviews.com/Ciola/greg4.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com%2FCiola

The Senate defeated an attempt to erase an American troop withdrawal date from an Iraq spending bill this afternoon after an emotional debate about the powers of the presidency and Congress and the well-being of front-line soldiers.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707Z.shtml

--------

Be The Participatory DEMOCRACY That Brings Our Troops Home

Tell The Senate To Go FURTHER Than The House In Stopping the Iraq Occupation/War

Call your members of Congress now toll free at 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/troops_home_now.php

If there is any good news to come out of the House last week, it is that the headlines read that the Democrats are standing up to Bush, even though they still aren't doing so nearly sufficiently. And for his own part Bush painted himself further into the rapidly shrinking corner with an another angry veto threat. Barbara Lee, the sponsor of a TRUE "end the war" amendment was pragmatic afterwards, recognizing that she might have only gotten 100 votes for her measure, even if that vote had been allowed by Pelosi. Why? The answer is self-evident. They need to hear from MORE of us.

Now as debate shifts to the Senate the difference between how many votes we can get to support a proposed 120 day start for withdrawal, or not, is how many of us will pick up the phone right now, call our senators at one of these toll-free numbers, 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803, and then follow that up with a message in writing. Indeed, we could have had the Lee amendment passed already if only more of us were ringing those phones. Polls show that 90% of Democrats say they want the war to end. But it is not enough to only say it to pollsters. Are 90% or us calling on the phone? Why not? The call is free!

We made OUR calls last week. How about you? Are you calling all of your members of Congress on an ongoing basis, once a week as part of your regular activist routine, to tell them again, and again, that is time to end the horrific madness in Iraq? We know that Bush is not going to stop trying to use his bully pulpit to make a least one statement a week, to try to bully us all in the other direction. Where Harry Truman once said, "The buck stops here," Bush keeps demanding, "Just give me the war bucks."

We can't just hold our breaths waiting for our elected politicians to show "leadership". For the vast majority it's never going to happen without our voices continuously prodding them. In fact, we don't even need any leaders. All we need are REPRESENTATIVES, and we have enough of those right now, who will respond to their constituents' calls, and vote accordingly. But unless we ARE calling, and incessantly, we cannot expect the result to happen on its own.

The aspiring presidential candidates we hear talking on the stump so early, do they actually want to END the Iraq war, or do they just want to CAMPAIGN on ending the war? There's a pretty big difference. For truly, those who are senators have the power this very instant to end the war. They must stand up to Bush NOW, not just let him play defiantly loose cannon for another two years. But they aren't going to really do it without constant pressure from we the people.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/troops_home_now.php

And if matters were not urgent enough, while all this is going on there has already been a serious border incident with Iran. 15 British soldiers were captured by the Iranians, after venturing into a DISPUTED border area of open water. Leaving aside the issue of what they thought they were doing in known questionable waters, if they had been American soldiers the bombs might be raining down on Tehran right now, blowing the gates of hell entirely off their hinges in Iraq. We are that dangerously close to total Armageddon.

The wackos in Iran want war because they have evidence from Iraq that they no longer have anything to fear from American military power. The wackos in the White House want war because they are too high on the fumes of their own arrogant belligerence to know better. Only we the people can stop them by bombarding our representatives with our messages, by speaking out now to bring the troops home immediately, if not sooner.

Our military in Iraq has become nothing but a provocation, the greatest obstacle to achieving any kind of political settlement there, and the greatest threat to our own national security. Every day the risk grows of another incident that Bush will try to use as an excuse to unleash whatever dogs of war remain. That's what he wants, his deliberate plan, what he likely sees as his only remaining personal salvation, at the expense of own utter destruction as a country.

Please make your calls and send your emails today. Talk to all your friends and neighbors. Forward them this email. Encourage them to do the same. Our lives and our future depend on the number of messages we can generate every week from now on.

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

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



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+withdrawal

Arbeitslose in den Krieg? Bundeswehr soll Jugendliche "skruppellos" anwerben

Die innenpolitische Sprecherin der Linksfraktion, Ulla Jelpke, wirft der Bundeswehr vor, sie betreibe "eine skrupellose Rekrutierungspolitik". Mit über 600 "Einsätzen" alleine in diesem Jahr wolle sie Jugendliche werben. Die Aktion koste 1,3 Millionen Euro. Dabei mache sich die Truppe in Innenstädten, Schulen, Messen und Ausstellungen "breit". "Karriere-Treffs", Info-Mobile und Messestände des "Zentralen Eventmarketings" der Bundeswehr und der Zentren für Nachwuchsgewinnung richteten sich "primär an die Abschlussklassen" von Schulen, habe die Bundesregierung in ihrer Antwort auf eine Kleine parlamentarische Anfrage der Linksfraktion mitgeteilt.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=15627

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Bundeswehr bekommt zunehmend Probleme in der ARGE. Nicht nur in Köln

“Seit einiger Zeit stiften AntimilitaristInnen nicht nur in Köln erfolgreich Unruhe bei öffentlichen Auftritten der Bundeswehr. Schwerpunkt sind deren mittlerweile monatlich stattfindenden Werbe- und Beratungsveranstaltungen in Arbeitsämtern. Die Initiative Bundeswehr-Wegtreten schafft es zunehmend, die Bundeswehr in ihrem Streben nach mehr gesellschaftlicher Akzeptanz, verbunden mit ihrer Selbstinszenierung im öffentlichen Raum, eben genau dort anzugreifen und sie dort wieder zurückzudrängen…“ Artikel von Christel Mertens in NRhZ-Online - Neue Rheinische Zeitung Nr. 88 http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=10686


Aus: LabourNet, 30. März 2007



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

Neue Sanktionen gegen Iran beschlossen

Der UN-Sicherheitsrat hat am Wochenende die Sanktionen gegen den Iran verschärft. Die neue Resolution 1747 sieht ein Waffenembargo, Einfrieren von Auslandsgeldern und Reisebeschränkungen vor. Der Iran soll innerhalb von 60 Tagen seine Urananreicherung einstellen. Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel betonte beim Treffen der europäischen Staats- und Regierungschefs in Berlin, dass die EU weiterhin offen bleibe für Verhandlungen. "Wenn der Iran zum Pfad der Völkergemeinschaft zurückkehrt, dann sind wir natürlich auch bereit, dem Iran sehr große Angebote zu machen", sagte Merkel am 25. März. Der iranische Außenminister, Manuschehr Mottaki, sagte, das iranische Parlament sei bereit, das Zusatzprotokoll des Nicht-Verbreitungsvertrages zu ratifizieren. Zahlreiche Berichte deuten auf baldige Luftangriffe des Westens hin.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=15621

Jonathan Chait writes: "The financial relationship doesn't quite explain the entirety of GOP skepticism on global warming. For one thing, the energy industry has dramatically softened its opposition to global warming over the last year, even as Republicans have stiffened theirs. The truth is more complicated - and more depressing: A small number of hardcore ideologues (some, but not all, industry shills) have led the thinking for the whole conservative movement."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707H.shtml



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

Philippe Meirieu writes: "Today, the entire social machinery, far from supplying points of support to the child for freeing himself from infantilism, infinitely echoes and reflects exactly that principle education must teach him to free himself from: 'Your impulses are your orders.' Thus has the 'purchase impulse' become the motor of our economic development."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707G.shtml

Pat Tillman's family firmly rejected the Defense Department's findings into the former NFL star's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan, calling for Congressional investigations into what they see as broad malfeasance and a cover-up. "Perhaps subpoenas are necessary to elicit candor and accuracy from the military," his family said in a statement Monday night, after hearing the results of the latest probes.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707D.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pat+Tillman

Flynt Leverett, a senior fellow at the New American Foundation, and a Middle East specialist who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and on the staff of the National Security Council, said he believed that Iran was supplying munitions to Shiite militias. But Mr. Leverett said the threat to American troops from Sunni insurgents, who draw on Syria and Saudi Arabia for money and other logistical support, was "orders of magnitude" greater than that from Shiites, and he contended that the Bush administration's public emphasis on the EFP's was part of a larger administration strategy to blame Iran "for the failure of the American project in Iraq."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707C.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Flynt+Leverett

The firestorm over the fired US attorneys was sparked last month when a top Justice Department official ignored guidance from the White House and rejected advice from senior administration lawyers over his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. McNulty went well beyond the scope of what the White House cleared him to say when it approved his written testimony the week before the hearing, according to administration sources closely involved in the matter.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707B.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys

Former Army Sgt. Sam Provance was one of the heroes of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the only uniformed military intelligence officer at the Iraqi prison to testify about the abuses during the internal Army investigation. When he recognized that the Pentagon was scapegoating low-level personnel, he also gave an interview to ABC News. For refusing to play along with the cover-up, Provance was punished and pushed out of the US military.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707A.shtml

--------

Abu Ghraib Film Obscures Truth
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/043008b.html


Informant: Dorothee Krien



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Abu+Ghraib
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sam+Provance

Rush Limbaugh just called us "creeps" for running our Polar Bear S.O.S. ad on television and broadcasting the plight of the polar bear across America.

Here's what he has to say ...

"... the ice floe melts into the letters 'SOS,' with the two polar bears on top of the SOS! I predicted little children will see this and say, 'Mommy, mommy, mommy! The polar bears! The ice floe is almost gone! They're going to die! What can we do? What can we do?'"

I guess Rush finally gets it! The point of the ad is, of course, that the polar bear's sea ice is melting away ... along with its future ... and we need to respond quickly.

But Rush and other global warming deniers would stop the Bush Administration from doing the right thing and protecting polar bears before it's too late.

In the face of their opposition, it's more important than ever that you submit your own Official Citizen Comment in favor of polar bear protection -- BEFORE THE APRIL 9 DEADLINE -- at http://www.polarbearsos.org/takeaction

Then, please forward this email to as many friends as you can -- to create a blizzard of comments to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Help us stop Limbaugh and the pro-pollution crowd from sacrificing the polar bear's future.

Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=polar+bears
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rush+Limbaugh

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5983/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070326220628.uo998sdi&show_article=1


Informant: NHNE

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B09C0BC3-9CFC-4F8C-84B9-C8AC743C7389.htm


Informant: Amy Sasser

From ufpj-news

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5982/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HUMAN_ANIMAL_CLONING?SITE=MOSTP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Informant: binstock

http://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/


Informant: binstock

--------

Internationales Bündnis klagt gegen Patente auf Saatgut und Nutztiere
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24949/1.html

http://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/index.php?lang=en


Informant: binstock

--------

Please share this site: no patents on seeds and animals
http://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/

Monsanto is attempting to try to OUTLAW gardening by private individuals and try to monopolize all food production. They're therefore trying to get "patents" on seeds. They want to make seed saving by home gardeners a Federal crime. It's the same sort of nonsense as the National Animal Identification Act, which has as it's sole intent to stop individuals growing their own animals for food.

DitziSis



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

Mar 27 2007

CAMPAIGNERS have lost their battle to stop a mobile phone mast going up in Caversham after councillors decided it was a bore.

More than 100 neighbours living around the Ilkley Road-Woodcote Road junction challenged Hutchison 3G's proposal for a 41-foot mast concealed in a lamppost, with three equipment cabinets around it.

But Reading borough planners left a decision on the mast to one of their officers [2014] who approved it even though the official deadline for objections had not passed.

And when neighbours turned up for a planning committee debate they were furious to hear councillors discussing the best colour for the equipment cabinets [2014] ignoring their arguments about its position and appearance.

Cllr Richard Stainthorp appeared to be taking a nap while Tory Thames ward councillor Isobel Ballsdon voiced her constituents' concerns and Labour's Cllr Pete Ruhemann later announced: "Frankly,I find this whole business quite boring as a debate."

Later, Ilkley Road resident Christine Bradbury said: "I have sent a letter outlining the reasons why I think the whole thing has been mishandled to committee chairman, Cllr Tom Crisp.

"I am incensed we have such a small voice while councillors sleep,hurl abuse and say how bored they are when dealing with important issues."

Cllr Stainthorp said: "I had read the officer's report, including the objections and how they were addressed, and listened to what Cllr Ballsdon and the resident who spoke had to say.

"I actually listen better when I have my eyes closed.

"I didn't feel either of them added anything to the report, but I actually didn't contribute to the debate about the phone mast."

Cllr Ruhemann said: "I was concerned with the way Cllr Ballsdon, and Reading East MP Rob Wilson with his letter, were climbing the nimbyism band wagon and trying to present a totally baseless case.

"The reality is that almost everybody has mobile phones, and if people want to use them in residential areas then there are going to be masts in residential areas.

"I understand fears about safety,but they are not legal grounds for refusing a phone mast application, and it is irresponsible of anyone to suggest otherwise."

© owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Southern Limited 2007

http://tinyurl.com/2nnu7f

British government officials have backed the methods used by scientists who concluded that more than 600,000 Iraqis have been killed since the invasion. The government publicly rejected the findings published in the Lancet in October. But the BBC said documents obtained under freedom of information legislation showed advisers concluded that the much-criticized study had used sound methods.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707P.shtml

The David Hicks trial has begun, and was immediately thrown into disarray when the judge effectively disqualified two of his three lawyers. The Australian Democrats and Greens today condemned the ejection of Hicks's lawyers, saying it was further evidence of the judicial process being rigged against the Australian.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707O.shtml



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

FBI agents repeatedly provided inaccurate information to win secret court approval of surveillance warrants in terrorism and espionage cases, prompting officials to tighten controls on the way the bureau uses that powerful anti-terrorism tool, according to Justice Department and FBI officials.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707N.shtml



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

Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the US Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707L.shtml

The Republican National Committee and chairman of George W. Bush's 2004 campaign have been ordered to preserve all email related to White House business because they might be relevant to multiple Congressional investigations.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707K.shtml

283 pages of email and other documents were released Friday that were not part of the Justice Department's initial 3,100-page document dump from the previous Monday. Among the sensitive new email and other documents are discussions of how best to publicly spin the simultaneous firings of six US prosecutors, reports Arlen Parsa.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707J.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Arlen+Parsa

Slate
by Walter Dellinger and Christopher H. Schroeder

03/26/07

The notion that Congress has no legitimate interest in overseeing White House involvement in the administration of law — as White House spokesman Tony Snow suggested last week — has no support in history. President Nixon thought that the White House itself was special and immune from oversight, but this extreme view has never been endorsed by Congress or by any court. The argument for an executive privilege to withhold information from Congress is less obvious, but still substantial. As the Supreme Court has recognized, the privilege of protecting the deliberative process within the White House ‘is fundamental to the operation of Government.’ The country is best served if the president’s advisers are free to give him blunt, candid, even harsh, assessments. Judges and their law clerks, senators and their staffers, editors and their reporters all believe the quality of their work and the candor of their advice benefits from confidential consultations. So it is with the president...

http://www.slate.com/id/2161448/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

03/26/07

The conventional wisdom for dealing with Iran is demanding repeatedly that the Iranians end their uranium enrichment program, and slapping on new sanctions. Although the December 2006 United Nations Security Council sanctions that banned countries from exporting nuclear and missile materials and technology to Iran probably were prudent, widening the sanctions outside the nuclear and missile areas is a mistake. Broadening the sanctions changes their main purpose from being instrumental to being merely punitive...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1950


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ivan+Eland

Salon
by Andrew Leonard

03/26/07

For some time, How the World Works has been convinced that the rush to biofuels will significantly boost the ongoing rollout of genetically modified organisms. There’s just too much money at stake in the energy business for it to be otherwise. The popularity of the latest biotech crops is a perfect illustration of this. These seeds aren’t cheap — they are top-of-the-line products. But for well-financed farmers and industrial-scale agribusinesses aiming to cash in on ethanol demand, seed costs are not a significant barrier. It seems reasonable to expect, in the not-too-distant future, quadruple- and quintuple- and sextuple-stacked hybrids that do all kinds of fancy things such as incorporate herbicide resistance, targeted pesticides, and modifications that make the corn cheaper and easier to industrially transform into ethanol. As more and more modifications are incorporated into a single organism, our ability to understand and predict how wide-scale proliferation of those organisms will affect the greater environment will become even more difficult than it already is...

http://tinyurl.com/3bprv3


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=biofuels
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=ethanol
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Monsanto

National Review
by Fred Thompson

03/26/07

The House’s emergency war-funding bill contains several conditions on how the war should be run. They’ll never become law but they ’send signals’ they say. They’re big on sending signals in Washington. But what I was really surprised to find in the bill was what looked like $25 billion in pure pork. Since a lot of the people who voted for the bill campaigned against pork, I was puzzled. I’m puzzled there’s $283 million for dairy farmers in an emergency war-funding bill. But there’s also $74 million for peanut farmers so, I figured our soldiers are eating a lot of peanut-butter sandwiches; they need more milk to wash them down with. Hey, I’m trying to keep an open mind, here, okay? But I also wondered why the bill gives $25 million to spinach producers...

http://tinyurl.com/283xpu


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Fox News
by Susan Estrich

03/26/07

What’s the difference between testifying in private, with no oath, tapes or transcript, and answering the same questions in sworn, public testimony? Or to put it another way … if you’re willing to tell all in private, why make a federal case of doing it under oath in public? If it’s a question of principle, what’s the principle? It certainly isn’t about secrecy. In general, you might think that the reason to have private sessions is to keep things private. But in this context, nothing could be more absurd...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,261046,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Susan+Estrich

The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner

03/26/07

The House of Representatives should begin impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Gonzales, the nation’s highest legal officer, has been point man for serial assaults against the rule of law, most recently in the crude attempt to politicize criminal prosecutions. Obstruction of a prosecution is a felony, even when committed by the attorney general. The firings of U.S. attorneys had multiple political motives, all contrary to longstanding practice. In some cases, Republican politicians and the White House were angry that prosecutors were not going after Democrats with sufficient zeal. In other cases, they wanted the prosecutors to lighten up on Republicans. In still others, exemplary prosecutors were shoved aside to make room for rising Republican politicians being groomed for higher office...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=12596


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gonzales
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Kuttner
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=impeach
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=impeach

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G. Hornberger

03/26/07

The presiding judge in the Jose Padilla case has held that the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a speedy trial does not protect American citizens from being indefinitely incarcerated by the Pentagon. Padilla had filed a motion to dismiss the case on the ground that the federal government had denied him his right to a speedy trial. Padilla has been in custody since May 2002 and his trial, which is scheduled to begin in April, is not being held until some five years later...

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0703j.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Padilla
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jacob+G.+Hornberger

http://www.strike-the-root.com/71/fontana/fontana9.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=%2Ffontana

Fred On Everything
by Fred Reed

03/26/07

The US is fighting a war crucially dependant on religion, politics, and culture without knowing anything about the religion, politics, or culture. Think about it. The GIs are late adolescents who have only the vaguest notion of where they are. The State Department has bright people who do know a lot about Islamic lands but, aside from being ignored, I doubt they much get out of the Green Zone. The upper ranks of American government? How much time have Congress, the Senate, Bush, Cheney, or Rice spent in Moslem countries?

http://www.fredoneverything.net/MoslemWars.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Unknown News
by Leon Fisher

03/26/07

The crash of the US economy has begun. Although the reasons for the now-accelerating economic fiasco have been in place for decades, the chickens are only now coming home to roost. The murder weapons used to kill the economy are ‘free trade,’ outsourcing, illegal immigration, special work visa programs, and unrestrained government spending,which have all contributed to the death of what was just a few decades ago the economic powerhouse of the world... [editor’s note: Actually, “illegal immigration” has been one of the factors that has kept the US economy afloat for longer than it otherwise would have been - TLK]

http://www.unknownnews.org/070326a-LeonF.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=crash+of+the+US+economy

AntiWar.Com
by Pat Buchanan

03/27/07

Stephens believes the successors to Bush and Blair will find they have no option but to intervene to prevent the new world disorder. Perhaps. But given the rage and revulsion Americans feel at having been stampeded into Iraq and pinioned in Baghdad, unable to stop the bleeding but unwilling to walk away in defeat, the American appetite for intervention has probably been sated for a long, long time. U.S. global hegemony is history. Like every nation, America must now choose — between what is vital and worth fighting for, and what may be ‘idealistic,’ but is not worth a war...

http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=10729


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=global+hegemony
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pat+Buchanan

Monday, March 26, 2007

RE: Who Is Supporting and Who Is Opposing Current Election Reform Legislation? http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_kathy_do_070325_who_is_opposing_or_s.htm

Will Congress pass election reform legislation by early 2007 in time to be in effect by the 2008 general election? Will The U.S. Congress Pass Any Election Reform Legislation?

Election reform bills have been proposed by U.S. Congressman Rush Holt and Senator Bill Nelson (HR 811 & S559) and by Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Senator Hillary Clinton (HR1381 & S804). These bills all require improvements to voting technology; strengthen the roll of the US Election Assistance Commission; and require the same election audit protocols.

Who is FOR these election reform bills?

The same organizations which pushed through the Help America Vote Act in 2002 also support the Holt and Nelson bills. Common Cause, MoveOn, and People for the American Way (PFAW); plus a new group called VoteTrustUSA [1] , the Brennan Center, and a few computer scientists such as Ed Felten of Princeton University, and Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins University publicly support the Holt and Nelson proposals. The ACLU supports the Clinton and Tubb-Jones bills.

The opponents of current Congressional election reform proposals include strange bedfellows: election integrity activists, election officials, and voting system vendors.

According to Douglas A. Kellner, Co-Chair of the New York State Board of Elections, "Congress got it wrong when it passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002 and there is a high probability that HR 811 in its current form could create another form of expensive mischief that could interfere with efficient administration of elections." [2]

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) wrote a joint letter on March 19, 2007 urging members of Congress "to oppose H.R.811, S.559 or other legislation that would require dramatic changes in state and local election laws". [3]

Doug Lewis, Founder and Executive Director of the Election Center, opposes having elections subjected to independent manual audits. Lewis told Congress that "Humans count large numbers of ballots less accurately than voting equipment" because "their minds wander" and if outside agencies conducted audits that would "turn the process of live ballots over to people who … will be handling the ballots without the training of what to look for or what to do if there are problems with the ballots." and "there is unlikely to be sufficient time with the audit process specified in HR811." [4]

Is Lewis right? Should we trust his representation of election officials? Not according to Engineer Charles Corry, former member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) voting system guidelines committee. [5] According to its web site, The Election Center brings local election administrators together with suppliers of election products and services and conducts training and certification programs for election administrators and vendors. The Election Center served as an incubator for the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) until 1989. In fact, Lewis is a former director of the Voting Systems Program for NASED; and set up a lobbying meeting in 2003 to help voting machine vendors convince the public to accept their products. [6] Other co-founders or board members of The Election Center include:

* Thomas Wilkey, Executive Director of the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) since 2005 and a former chair of the NASED Voting Standards Board, a past-president of the NASED and past chair of NASED's ITA Committee; and

* Donetta Davidson, Chair of the EAC served with Wilkey and Lewis on the board of The Election Center and also was on NASED's Voting Standards Board while Wilkey was the Chair.

Davidson, Wilkey, and Lewis were largely responsible for the control, selection and oversight of the voting machine test labs and the certification of voting machines, most of which were not secure and not independently auditable. [7] Even after the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as technical advisor to the EAC, reported that "the DRE provides no independent capability to detect whether fraud has not caused errors in the records. In principle, a single clever, dishonest programmer in a voting machine company could rig an entire statewide election" and said that the NIST research staff "do not know how to write testable requirements to satisfy that the software in a DRE is correct"; and the Carter-Baker Commission, the US Government Accountability Office and the League of Women Voters recommended auditing election results, Davidson, Wilkey, and Lewis continued to oppose independent audits of election results.

Many groups of long-time election integrity activists also publicly oppose provisions in the Clinton and Holt bills and have written extensively of the flaws of these election reform bills that need to be fixed.

Kathy Dopp of the National Election Data Archive showed that the proposed election audits would result in low minimum 10% success rate for detecting vote miscount that could alter an election outcome despite the fact that the election audit costs of these bills is from 50% to 95% more than an election audit that is 99% effective. [8]

Nancy Tobi of Democracy for New Hampshire and Ellen Theisen of Voters Unite showed that the US Election Assistance Commission had not accomplished any of its functions and that it would be dangerous to our form of government to cede so much power over elections to the federal executive branch, let alone give it more authority like the Holt and Clinton bills do. [9]

Computer technicians and computer scientists wrote papers showing that the time frames that these election reform bills require for developing and implementing new requirements for voting equipment [10] are unreasonable, and would be virtually unenforceable and could cause a repeat of the HAVA-like buying cycle of voting equipment prior to the establishement of standards and proper certification and enforcement procedures. [11]

Black Box Voting's Bev Harris, Blogger Brad Friedman, Dopp, Tobi, John Gideon of Voters Unite, Bruce O'Dell of the National Election Defense Alliance, and many others wrote lists of reasons why these election reform bills would not work as written. [12]

In sum, the Holt, Clinton, Nelson, and Tubbs-Jones bills face substantial opposition and seem unlikely to pass in the Senate.

An upcoming sequel to this article will present an alternative proposal for election reform legislation that was written over many months by election activists, computer scientists, and election officials, that recommends splitting election integrity legislation into several bills that each address fewer topics; requires sufficient citizen oversight; allows reasonable time frames for implementing secure, publicly disclosed election technology for voters with disabilities; does not reauthorize the U.S. E.A.C.; bans practices which disenfranchise voters; and requires sufficient manual audits to ensure the accuracy of all federal election outcomes by 2008; where the best measures in the Holt and Clinton bills would be split into sections and redrafted into new, more practically achievable bills. Any help that you can be in getting this legislation sponsored would be greatly appreciated.

--------- END ----------

[1] Warren Stewart of VoteTrustUSA testimony on election reform before the House Admin Committee: http://electionarchive.net/docs_other/HearingTestimony/StewartTestimony.doc

[2] Doug Kellner, NYS Board of Elections Co-Chair' comments: http://www.wheresthepaper.org/CommentDouglasAKellner.htm

[3] Joint letter of National Association of Counties and National Conference of State Legislatures http://electionarchive.net/docs_other/HearingTestimony/NCSL-NACoopposeHoltBill.pdf

[4] Testimony of Doug Lewis before the Election Reform Hearing of the House Administration Committee http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/HouseAdminElectionTestimony2007/HouseAdminTestimony-DLewis-3-20-2007.pdf

[5] Trust our Officials?" Dr. Charles Corry's bibliography on "Questionable (and crooked) Election Officials" http://www.ejfi.org/Voting/Voting-51.htm#clerk Dr. Corry is an engineer and former Marine corporal.

[6] In 2003 Doug Lewis set up meetings with the lobbying firm, Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) to help Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S and other voting machine vendors. See http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_andi_nov_070322_halting_holt_thought.htm

[7] In fact all three have opposed requirements which would make voting machines independently auditable.

[8] "Fool Me Once: Checking Vote Count Integrity" http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/TierElectionAuditEval.pdf and "Federal Audit Election Audit Costs" http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/TierElectionAuditEval.pdf

[9] DeForest Soaries says that "EAC and Federal efforts for election reform 'A Charade,' 'Travesty'! http://www.ejfi.org/Voting/Voting-6.htm#soaries

"Why not Re-Authorize the EAC" http://electionarchive.net/docs_other/EAC-DoNotReauthorize.pdf

"The US Election Assistance Commission Has Not Done its Job" http://www.votersunite.org/info/TestimonyTheisen03-13-07.pdf

[10] for voters with disabilities and for publicly disclosed software

[11] "Avoid Another HAVA Train Wreck: Software Disclosure Requirements are a Good Long Term Goal but Need to Be Redrafted in Current Federal Election Integrity Legislation." http://electionarchive.net/docs_other/dopp/VotingSystemSoftwareDisclosure.pdf

David Wagner, computer scientist's testimony on election reform before the House Admin committee: http://electionarchive.net/docs_other/HearingTestimony/wagner.pdf Refer also to endnote xiii.

[12] "Critical changes are needed to Holt's HR811" http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/ChangesNeeded2HR811.pdf

"Holt's HR 811, A Deceptive Boondoggle -- 10 Blunders to Fix" by Bruce O'Dell http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_bruce_o__070221_holt_s_hr_811_a_dece.htm

"What's Wrong with Holt II (HR 811)" by Bev Harris of Black Box Voting http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_bev_harr_070208_what_s_wrong_with_ho.htm

"Summary of E-Voting as a Ponzy Scheme" by Nancy Tobi of Democracy for New Hampshire http://www.democracyfornewhampshire.com/node/view/3571 or http://www.democracyfornewhampshire.com/files/PonziSummary.pdf

"New Version of Holt Bill: A Giant Step Backwards" by Nancy Tobi of Democracy for New Hampshire http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_nancy_to_070207_new_version_of_holt_.htm

Brad Friedman says he would support HR811 if it would ban DRE electronic ballot voting systems.

"Essential Revisions to HR811" http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2007-02-27-08-16-39-news.php

HR811 Review by Marion Beddill http://noleakybuckets.org/holt811/holt811detail.shtml/


Kathy Dopp
http://electionarchive.org
National Election Data Archive



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kathy+Dopp

Petition und öffentlicher Kommentar von Armin Kammrad, Augsburg, vom
25.03.2007
http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/arbeit/realpolitik/allg/kriminal.html


Aus: LabourNet, 27. März 2007

Artikel von Michael Schumacher von Februar 2007 bei forced-labour.de (pdf) http://www.forced-labour.de/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/2007-02-27_schumacher_arbeitslosenstatistik.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 27. März 2007

--------

Online-Petition zur Arbeitslosenstatistik

„Der Petent fordert: Der Deutsche Bundestag möge beschließen, dass das statistische Bundesamt die offizielle Zahl der Arbeitslosen in Deutschland veröffentlicht. Als Arbeitslosenzahl soll gelten: Die Summe aller im gesamten Berichtszeitraum arbeitslosen bzw. arbeitsuchenden Menschen, die Leistungsbezieher nach dem SGB III (ALG I), nach dem SGB II (ALG II), arbeitsuchend mit oder ohne Leistungsbezug sind oder sich in einer Arbeitsgelegenheit, einer Fortbildungs- oder sonstigen arbeitsmarktpolitischen Maßnahme befinden.“ Petition eingereicht durch Naomi-Pia Witte am 22. Mai 2007 http://itc.napier.ac.uk/e-Petition/bundestag/view_petition.asp?PetitionID=455


Aus: LabourNet, 15. Juni 2007

http://tinyurl.com/ysjqrv



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

http://ucsaction.org/campaign/3_23_07_new_nuclear_plan


Informant: Corey

Scientists have created the world's first human-sheep chimera - which has the body of a sheep and half-human organs.

http://snipurl.com/1ay3f


From Information Clearing House

The stupendous fortunes that were-and still are being extracted by the European and North American investors should remind us that there are very few really poor nations in what today is commonly called the Third World. Brazil is rich; Indonesia is rich; and so are the Philippines, Chile, Bolivia, Zaire, Mexico, India, and Malaysia. Only the people are poor.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/318.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Parenti

With nearly two years remaining in his presidency, George W. Bush is alone. In half a century, I have not seen a president so isolated from his own party in Congress -- not Jimmy Carter, not even Richard Nixon as he faced impeachment.

http://snipurl.com/1ax9y


From Information Clearing House

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Bush alone
Human Events

by Robert Novak

03/26/07

Republicans in Congress do not trust their president to protect them. That alone is sufficient reason to withhold statements of support for Gonzales, when such a gesture could be quickly followed by his resignation under pressure. Rep. Adam Putnam, the highly regarded young chairman of the House Republican Conference, praised Donald Rumsfeld last November, only to find him sacked shortly thereafter. But not many Republican lawmakers would speak up for Gonzales even if they were sure Bush would stick with him...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=19971


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

An Estimated 200,000 U.S. War Veterans Are Homless
http://snipurl.com/1ax8l


From Information Clearing House

America is secretly funding militant ethnic separatist groups in Iran in an attempt to pile pressure on the Islamic regime to give up its nuclear programme.

http://snipurl.com/1awh3


From Information Clearing House

The United States and France have bolstered their naval presence in the Gulf region to three aircraft carrier groups to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, US and French naval sources said on Monday.

http://snipurl.com/1auvb


From Information Clearing House

The interrogations innocent Iraqis like Abbas suffer every day deserve as much attention as the now infamous photographs of abuse at Abu Ghraib, Tucker said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070325/film_nm/iraq_doc_dc


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=abuse+Abu+Ghraib
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogations

British government officials backed the methodology used by researchers who concluded that more than 600,000 Iraqis had been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the BBC reported Monday.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/26/news/iraq.php



Iraqi deaths survey 'was robust'

The British government was advised against publicly criticising a report estimating that 655,000 Iraqis had died due to the war, the BBC has learnt.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6495753.stm


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=death+toll

Democracy Dreaming

By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Every rebellion is waged because the benefits sought outweigh the risks taken. Jefferson and the other Founders knew that. Not fixing the government they gave us dishonors them and all the Americans that have died and sacrificed for their country. And it makes our lives miserable and penalizes future generations. Has time run out for restoring American democracy?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17414.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joel+S.+Hirschhorn

By Daniel M Pourkesali

United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has once again voted to impose yet another sanction on Iran for its failure to suspend a legal activity allowed by the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty [1], to which Iran remains a signatory state, and that the IAEA itself has found no indication of any nuclear material being diverted to military purposes.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17410.htm



Iran would be attacked at the beginning of April (Russian military experts)

According to the Russian weekly magazine Argoumenty nedeli, a military action will proceed during the first week of April.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17416.htm



The Pentagon will attack Iranian military targets (Russian expert)

The Pentagon projects to conduct soon a massive attack against the Iranian military infrastructure, estimates the General Leonid Ivachov, vice-president of the Academy of geopolitical sciences.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17417.htm



Iran-Britain Conflict Shows the Dangers of Our Ongoing Presence in Iraq

By Glenn Greenwald

The "debate" over whether to withdraw our troops constantly highlights the dangers of leaving but almost completely ignores the dangers of staying.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17411.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=war+of+aggression
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Glenn+Greenwald

by Pastor Chuck Baldwin

However, I am reminded of both Bush's and Gonzalez's response to critics of the draconian Patriot Act, and other policies highly invasive to the private lives of American citizens, when they arrogantly replied, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about." Well, now the shoe is on the other foot. If Bush and Gonzalez have nothing to hide, they have nothing to worry about......

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin358.htm



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

Tens of thousands of elderly Americans have received life-prolonging care as a result of their long-term-care policies. With more than eight million customers, such insurance is one of the many products that companies are pitching to older Americans reaching retirement. Yet thousands of policyholders say they have received only excuses about why insurers will not pay.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032607HA.shtml

Bolivia is entering its fourth month of onslaught from El Nino, the climate phenomenon that has grown stronger, and threatens to return with even greater force. Experts consulted by Tierramerica agreed that the Andean region should prepare for more frequent and intense visits from El Nino as a result of global climate change.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032607EC.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=El+Nino

Severe droughts and global warming are forcing Australia to consider opening up one of the world's last untouched agricultural frontiers.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032607EB.shtml

A federal judge ruled Friday that the Army Corps of Engineers illegally issued permits for four mountaintop removal mines without adequately determining whether the environment would be harmed. US District Judge Chuck Chambers rescinded the permits.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032607EA.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mountaintop
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Appalachia

Australian prisoner David Hicks stood before a US military judge at the Guantanamo Naval Station on Monday to answer a charge of providing material support for terrorism by fighting for al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The 31-year-old former kangaroo skinner is the first prisoner charged in the revised military tribunals created by the US Congress after the Supreme Court struck down an earlier version that President Bush had authorized to try foreign captives on terrorism charges.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032607T.shtml



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

Monica Goodling, a Justice Department official involved in the firings of federal prosecutors, will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings, citing Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday. "The potential for legal jeopardy for Ms. Goodling from even her most truthful and accurate testimony under these circumstances is very real," said the lawyer, John Dowd.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032607S.shtml



Time for Answers

"The news that Monica Goodling, counsel to the attorney general and liaison to the White House, is invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination takes the United States attorney scandal to a new level. Ms. Goodling's decision comes just days after the Justice Department released documents strongly suggesting that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not been honest about his own role in the firing of eight federal prosecutors. Mr. Gonzales is scheduled to testify before the Senate in three weeks, but that is too long to wait. He should speak now, and explain why he continues to insist that his department did nothing wrong," writes the New York Times.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032707M.shtml

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How rich is this?

Classically Liberal
by CLS

03/27/07

So we have Monica Goodling, an aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales refusing to testify before Congress by invoking her Fifth Amendment rights. Interesting. A Fifth Amendment right is the right to not testify against oneself. But was Goodling accused of committing a criminal act? Or is she just covering up for her superior, Gonzales and the Torturer-in-Chief who besmirches the Oval Office by his presence?

http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-rich-is-this.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gonzales

Emails released by the Department of Justice over the past two weeks in conjunction with a Congressional investigation into the firings of eight US attorneys show that White House officials have communicated with staffers at the DOJ about the attorney purge using email accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee in possible violation of the Presidential Records Act.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032607R.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Presidential+Records+Act

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5974/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=March+17

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hawkscafe/message/129


Informant: Useful I.

http://www.quatloos.com/NESARA.htm


Source: APFN
Informant: Jack Lancaster

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20070323&articleId=5165


Informant: Valerie

http://www.nachrichten.at/lokal/532273

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Gegen Masten bei Schulen
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3482899/

Bisher geheime Studie heizt Konflikt um Handymasten an
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3464649/

Wirkungen von GSM-Sendeanlagen auf den Menschen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3478689/

by Nancy Levant

We the people have no representation. No one stands for the liberty of the people – no one – and no presidential contender will save our rights, our land, our liberty, or Constitution. Therefore, let us begin on the most negative of notes. We the people are now told whom to believe, what to believe, how to live, what to worship, how to work, and to follow all the new codes for behaviors, opinions, and actions. We the.....

http://www.newswithviews.com/Levant/nancy80.htm



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

http://www.salzburg.com/sn/07/03/22/artikel/3173811.html

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Bisher geheime Studie heizt Konflikt um Handymasten an
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3464649/

Wirkungen von GSM-Sendeanlagen auf den Menschen
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3478689/

Mobilfunk soll Stress auslösen
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3483008/

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/26/92/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/26/87/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/26/98/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/26/102/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/26/99/



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

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/5972/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Die Generalsekretärin der Menschenrechtsorganisation Amnesty international (ai) Barbara Lochbihler fordert die Europäische Union auf, bei ihren Beziehungen zu Zentralasien "die Menschenrechtsfrage nicht energie- oder sicherheitspolitischen Erwägungen unterzuordnen". Mit Blick auf das Treffen der EU-Troika mit zentralasiatischen Staaten am 27. und 28. März in Kasachstan fordert die Organisation, in der zur Zeit unter deutscher Ratspräsidentschaft erarbeiteten Zentralasienstrategie sollten die Menschenrechte fest verankert werden. Die EU solle massiv Einfluss auf die Staaten Zentralasiens nehmen, um dort die Menschenrechtssituation entscheidend zu verbessern, fordert Amnesty.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=15611

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=iPXmXSRrU-uM2cl2XQSmRQ..


Informant: Bob Banner



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=ACLU