World-News

Kompetenzinitiative lädt zur Pressekonferenz
http://www.diagnose-funk.ch/aktuell/00000097f313f5d03/033ea299201246b11.html

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Deutsche Wissenschaftler schließen sich zum Mobilfunkprotest zusammen

Im März 2007 haben sich bundesweit zahlreiche, derzeit 68 namhafte Wissenschaftler, Ärzte, Techniker, Professoren und umweltengagierte Vereinigungen in einer interdisziplinären Kompetenzinitiative zum Schutz von Mensch, Umwelt und Demokratie zusammengeschlossen. Anlass war der nicht mehr zu verantwortende Umgang von Politik und Wissenschaft mit dem Thema Mobilfunk. Ihre Homepage http://www.kompetenzinitiative.de . Der Presse war dies keine Zeile Wert. Widerstand ist überall – er wird totgeschweigen. Dass es tausende Bürgerinitiativen gegen Mobilfunkmasten in Deutschland gibt, hunderte Protestveranstaltungen stattfinden, das sollen die Menschen nicht erfahren. Es gibt eine Pressesperre, wie der Journalist Uwe Krüger [ http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Uwe+Krüger ] aufdeckte. Hier ein zufällig beim Surfen gefundenes Beispiel aus einem kleinen Ort am Main: 500 Menschen kommen in Mechenhard http://www.der-mast-muss-weg.de/pdf/Widerstand/Mechenhard.pdf auf eine Protestversammlung.

http://www.der-mast-muss-weg.de/


Aus BI Mobilfunk West/Stuttgart/ Kurzmitteilung Nr.7

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Kompetenzinitiative zum Schutz von Mensch, Umwelt und Demokratie gegründet
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/kompetenzinitiative_zum_schutz_von_mensch_umwelt.htm



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

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,480010,00.html



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

Auf der Nato-Konferenz in Oslo wird der Ton zwischen Russland und der USA rauer.
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/25/25162/1.html

Mit der Überführung von Abd el-Hadi aus CIA-Haft nach Guantanamo soll das heimliche Entführungsprogramm noch einmal legitimiert werden, CIA-Direktor Michael Hayden geht, sichtlich nervös, mit harten Vorwürfen gegen Kritiker vor.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/25/25165/1.html



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

A congressional committee on Friday requested documents from the White House and Pentagon describing how and when the Bush administration learned the circumstances of Pat Tillman's death.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042807E.shtml



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

This week, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri and Rep. David Price of North Carolina, both Democrats, asked the Government Accountability Office to provide details on the use of private security contractors in Iraq. Skelton and Price want to know how many such contractors are working there, for what purpose and under what legal authority.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042807D.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=private+contractors

The Interior Department will announce a proposal Monday to allow oil and gas drilling in federal waters near Virginia that are currently off-limits and permit new exploration in Alaska's Bristol Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, according to people who have seen or been told about drafts of the plan.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042807C.shtml

A senior Justice Department official has resigned after coming under scrutiny in the department's expanding investigation of convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042807B.shtml



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

As a new report charged that the US Department of Homeland Security is illegally delaying the citizenship applications of thousands of immigrants by profiling Muslims and subjecting them to indefinite security checks, a major American-Arab advocacy group launched a campaign to end a controversial post-9/11 program it says discriminates against Muslim visitors to the US.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042807A.shtml

The White House told a Republican member of Congress last summer about its plans to fire a US attorney in Arkansas and replace him with a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove, but it did not tell Democratic lawmakers, according to a new Justice Department e-mail released yesterday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042807Y.shtml



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

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/696833202

Stop Trading of Dogs and Cats Skins
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/753898834


From Adriana R.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/735205128


From Adriana R.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/308144888

[This petition is for Americans; if I sent this to a non-American, please pass on to your American friends! BMT]

http://tinyurl.com/ytydbl



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

Randall Tobias, head of the Bush administration's foreign aid programs, abruptly resigned Friday after his name surfaced in an investigation into a high-priced call-girl ring, said two people in a position to know the circumstances of his departure.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042807Z.shtml

Pharmacia and Upjohn Company Inc., a unit of Pfizer Inc., pleaded guilty to one count of offering a kickback to a pharmacy benefit manager and was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $19.68 million. Pharmacy benefit managers often recommend drugs to health plans.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042707HA.shtml



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

A Bush administration plan to change rules of the Endangered Species Act protecting American wildlife drew pointed questions Wednesday from five US senators, who called the proposed changes "troubling."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042707EB.shtml

Divisions over climate change threaten to derail a set piece EU-US summit and overshadow moves to strengthen transatlantic economic ties.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042707EA.shtml

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calififornia) has asked former CIA Director George Tenet to testify before his committee next month about claims that Iraq sought to buy uranium in Africa.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707S.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=uranium+Africa
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Waxman
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tenet

Congressional sources who have seen unedited internal documents say the Bush administration considered firing at least a dozen US attorneys before paring down its list to eight late last year. The latest revelation could provide new evidence to critics who contend that politics, not performance, played the determining role in the firings.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707R.shtml



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

The Pentagon takes an interest in a rapidly changing area of scientific knowledge, and the world is forever changed. And not for the better.

http://www.thebulletin.org/columns/hugh-gusterson/20070410.html


From Information Clearing House

The dollar dropped to an all-time low against the euro after the U.S. government reported the economy grew at its slowest pace in four years.

http://snipurl.com/1ihe2



GDP growth weakest in four years

Economic growth during the first quarter was the weakest in four years, hurt by a slumping housing market and deteriorating international trade, the Commerce Department reported on Friday.

http://snipurl.com/1ihe3



Three U.S. home builders report losses

Deteriorating U.S. housing market forced them to write down the value of property and abandon land purchases.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/26/news/bxhomes.php


From Information Clearing House



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

Amnesty International is appalled by the killing of Du'a Khalil Aswad, aged about 17, who was stoned to death - for a so-called honour crime. She was killed by a group of eight or nine men and in the presence of a large crowd in the town of Bashika, near the city of Mosul. Some of her relatives are said to have participated in the killing.

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE140272007


From Information Clearing House



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

The former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) says Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials pushed the country to invade Iraq without "serious debate" about whether Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat.

http://snipurl.com/1ihdb


From Information Clearing House

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Tenet Book Blames White House for "16 Words"

George Tenet and his top aides warned senior White House officials in late 2002 that allegations about Iraq's attempt to acquire yellowcake uranium from Niger were unreliable and should not be cited in public presentations by any member of the executive branch, the ex-CIA chief claims in a new book.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042907A.shtml



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

Richard Clarke

The puppy dog theory is the corollary to earlier sloganeering that proved the President had never studied logic: "We are fighting terrorists in Iraq so that we will not have to face them and fight them in the streets of our own cities."

http://snipurl.com/1ihd8


From Information Clearing House

It's difficult to decide which is more frightening- car bombs and militias, or having to leave everything you know and love, to some unspecified place for a future where nothing is certain.

http://snipurl.com/1ihd5


From Information Clearing House



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

"Basra is lost, they are in control now. It's a full-scale riot and the Government are just trying to save face," said Private Paul Barton.

http://snipurl.com/1ihd4


From Information Clearing House



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

The Iraqi government has refused to provide the United Nations with civilian casualty figures for its latest report on the hardships facing Iraqis, the U.N. said.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/nation_world/story.asp?ID=186594


From Information Clearing House

By Ramzy Baroud

The plundering of Iraq's wealth, first by the UN and now by Iraq's new Green Zone czars, is the biggest, most shameful financial-political scandal of our times.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17610.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ramzy+Baroud

By Lt. Col. Paul Yingling

In 2007, Iraq's grave and deteriorating condition offers diminishing hope for an American victory and portends risk of an even wider and more destructive regional war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17613.htm

Video - BBC Newsnight For 26/04/07
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17609.htm



Background On The U.S. Sponsored War In Somalia

Audio and transcript

"The Most Lawless War of Our Generation" - Fmr. UN Spokesperson on Somalia.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17612.htm



Looting abounds as Somalis clear dead from Mogadishu streets

The Coca-Cola factory in the city's north was among those properties being ransacked, Somali news agency Shabelle reported, as guns fell silent and Somalis began clearing away the corpses left behind after the recent flare-up of fighting.

http://snipurl.com/1ihdp



Impending humanitarian disaster in Somalia

Rosemary Heenan of Trocaire Somalia has expressed her anger and dismay at the flagrant disregard for civilian safety and well-being, and the inadequate response to date from the international community.

http://snipurl.com/1ihdq


From Information Clearing House



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

http://kucinich.us/node/4415


Informant: Robin Rae



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kucinich
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama

http://tinyurl.com/2e8tda

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April 28th Nationwide Impeachment Actions

George Bush and Dick Cheney have lied the nation into a war of aggression, are spying in open violation of the law, and have sanctioned the use of torture. These are high crimes and misdemeanors that demand accountability. Since Congress doesn't seem to get it, on April 28 Americans from Miami, Florida to North Pole, Alaska are going to spell it out for them: IMPEACH!

http://www.a28.org/


From Information Clearing House



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

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18348452/


Informant: ranger116

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Cheney had eye on Iraq long before 9/11

In his book, former CIA director says aides to Cheney and Rumsfeld inserted 'crap' into public justifications for war.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4756983.html


From Information Clearing House



Senator Durbin kept silent on prewar knowledge

The Senate's No. 2 Democrat says he knew that the American public was being misled into the Iraq war but remained silent because he was sworn to secrecy as a member of the intelligence committee.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17615.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tenet
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rumsfeld
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Senator+Durbin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=9/11

by Niki Raapana

Widespread ignorance of communitarianism and denial of the existence of an emerging global legal system has allowed every program necessary to achieve full implementation, unhindered by press or public scrutiny. The vast majority of citizens of the United States do not know what it means when their legislatures say they are "balancing" their laws. They never question why there must be a balance between individual rights and community rights.......

http://www.newswithviews.com/Raapana/niki14.htm



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

PLANS to put a mobile phone mast on a busy Eastbourne roundabout have been shelved — because of a possible threat to bees.

Fears that the controversial masts are wiping out millions of bees have hit the headlines in recent weeks.

Eastbourne planners refused rermission for one to be sited on Langney Roundabout in St Anthony's Avenue at a meeting on Tuesday night because of the scare.

T-Mobile wanted to install the 14.7 metre high mast on the roundabout at
the junction of Pevensey Bay Road and Langney Rise.

Planning officers urged councillors to approve the application saying the phone company had submitted relevant safety certificates and the nearest residential properties were 40 metres away.

But members of the planning committee said they would not grant approval for the application until conclusive evidence is found that the
masts do not harm bees.

Scientists claim phone signals from masts and phones have wiped out millions of bees.

The phone signals are thought to upset their navigation and they die of exposure after losing their sense of direction.

Up to 90 per cent of bees have been killed in some areas and a number of
hives in the South East have been reported as being deserted.

All rights reserved ©2007 Johnston Press Digital Publishing

http://www.eastbournetoday.co.uk/news?articleid=2737575

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Town rejects mast to save bees after IoS report
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3694394/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0427-05.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0427-03.htm



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/27/792/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=9/11
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rosa+Brooks

Schadenfreude Is My Middle Name
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/27/810/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/27/790/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/27/765/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/27/814/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/27/804/

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Gitmo Lawyers Push Back

A Justice Department proposal to limit lawyers' access to the nearly 400 detainees at Guantanamo Bay is drawing sharp criticism from much of the legal community in the US. Mary Shaw of Amnesty International USA told Truthout: "The right to a fair trial is one of the universally applicable principles recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which the US is a signatory. The US took a huge step away from this standard with the Military Commissions Act of 2006. And now the proposal to limit attorneys' access to their clients at Guantanamo Bay will further hinder detainees' rights to full equality under the law."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050407J.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gitmo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Military+Commissions+Act
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=William+Fisher

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/27/789/



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

http://tinyurl.com/38ylvc



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

By Rob Devey

FEARS that radiation from phone masts is killing bees could affect decisions over the location of masts in Bolton.

Radiation from masts has been blamed for dwindling honey bee populations, with scientists claiming it interferes with the insects' navigation systems and stops them finding their way back to their hives.

Research by Landau University in Germany found that 70 per cent of bees exposed to radiation failed to find their way back to their hive after searching for pollen and nectar.

Bolton Council planners will now investigate the claims following a request at a full council meeting by Conservative planning committee member Cllr Norman Critchley.

The evidence could be used in future decisions on applications for mobile phone masts in the borough.

Cllr Critchley raised concerns about the possible loss of honey and said he had also heard that radiowaves from the masts could also affect migratory birds.

He said bees had aided the medical profession over thousands of years and honey-based dressings could help in the fight against superbug MRSA.

Cllr Ebrahim Adia, executive member for development, agreed to ask the council's planning improvement working party, made up of two councillors from each of the three parties on the council, to look into the matter.

The party meets quarterly to look at improvements to the planning system.

Cllr Adia said: "Our powers in relation to phone masts are somewhat limited but in spite of that, we are proud as a council to promote bio-diversity and ecology as part of the planning process."

Some beekeepers in Britain have reported losses exceeding the usual 10 per cent of colonies that die during winter.

But beekeeper, Keith Hibbert, who keeps bees in New Springs, Wigan, said he was sceptical of the phone mast claims.

Mr Hibbert, of Fallbirch Road, Horwich, said: "I have lost more bees over the winter than I would in a normal winter and I'm not quite sure why.

"But I'm not aware of any phone masts nearby and it may have been because I was away for a while and wasn't there to tend to them."

© Copyright 2001-2007 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.1360364.0.a_honey_trap_set_by_phone_masts.php

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Town rejects mast to save bees after IoS report
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3694394/



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

Der Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) hat Agrarminister Horst Seehofer aufgefordert, die bestehenden Mindeststandards für den Anbau gentechnisch veränderter Pflanzen nicht aufzuweichen. Die Landwirtschaft in Deutschland brauche kein "Gentechnik-Durchmarschgesetz". Das belege die hohe Zahl der Zusammenschlüsse von mehr als 30.000 Landwirten in über 100 "gentechnikfreien Regionen" mit einer Gesamtfläche von mehr als einer Million Hektar.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=15849



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

Paul Krugman writes: "One of the distinctive features of the modern American right has been nostalgia for the late 19th century, with its minimal taxation, absence of regulation and reliance on faith-based charity rather than government social programs. Conservatives from Milton Friedman to Grover Norquist have portrayed the Gilded Age as a golden age, dismissing talk of the era's injustice and cruelty as a left-wing myth. Well, in at least one respect, everything old is new again. Income inequality - which began rising at the same time that modern conservatism began gaining political power - is now fully back to Gilded Age levels."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707F.shtml



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

For all prospective Gitmo closers, the question remains: What are we going to do with individuals the Bush administration doesn't pretend to have sufficient evidence to try (even under its own deficient military commission process), but who, officials claim, are too full of potentially useful information to release?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707D.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gitmo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Karen+J.+Greenberg

The Bush administration considered firing the former US attorney in Minnesota as well, but he left his job voluntarily before the list of attorneys to be ousted was completed, two Congressional aides said Thursday.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707B.shtml



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

An active-duty Army officer has published a blistering attack on US generals, saying that they have botched the war in Iraq and misled Congress about the situation there. Yingling's comments are especially striking because his unit's performance in securing the northwestern Iraqi city of Tall Afar was cited by President Bush in a March 2006 speech and provided the model for the new security plan underway in Baghdad.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707A.shtml

http://action.aclu.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=17481.2&dlv_id=23301&JServSessionIdr007=rn4m5y5nl4.app25a



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

Die Mehrzahl der Deutschen scheint keine Probleme mit erweiterten Schnüffel- und Überwachungsmaßnahmen zu haben, wie sie von Innenminister Schäuble gefordert werden.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/25/25159/1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Überwachungsmaßnahmen
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Schäuble

by Frida Berrigan, TomPaine.com

After four years, apparently the Iraq War needs ... a new name.
http://ga3.org/ct/v720pgF1MRGW/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Frida+Berrigan

by Rick Perlstein, TomPaine.com

A single page of USA Today reveals conservatism's ugly side.
http://ga3.org/ct/5720pgF1MRGj/

Influential US senators vowed on Thursday to restore to foreign terrorism suspects the right to challenge their imprisonment, saying Congress made an historic blunder by stripping them of that right last year. "Creating a legal black hole where rights are denied is as un-American as it is illegal," said Anthony Romero of the American Civil Liberties Union.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707K.shtml



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

A small but increasingly vocal group of protesters is charging that a United States attorney in northern New York has pursued a series of terror-related "political prosecutions" to enhance his reputation as "a loyal Bushie," thus avoiding the fate of his eight colleagues who were recently fired by Alberto Gonzales's Department of Justice.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707J.shtml



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

Plans to site a 38ft mobile phone mast at a shopping centre in Rugeley have been thrown out by planning officers who used their delegated powers.

Concerns were voiced over T-Mobile’s bid to install a phone mast at Fernwood Shopping Centre, in Green Lane, amid possible health implications and the way it would look.

Planning officers at Cannock Chase District Council have now used their delegated powers to refuse planning permission for the equipment to be put at that location.

They decided it would have a detrimental effect on the appearance of the area.

Read the full story in the Express & Star.

© 2007 - all rights reserved

http://www.expressandstar.co.uk/2007/04/27/t-mobile-mast-scheme-rejected/

The Power of Narrative
by Arthur Silber

04/26/07

I will make this point very slowly. I will use simple words. The Democrats and Republicans, the governing class, and the foreign policy establishment all agree that that our foreign policy should be directed to ensuring global hegemony for the United States. … They all agree that the United States is ‘entitled’ to direct events around the world, and that we must have the most powerful military the world has ever seen to make certain that our will can never be thwarted. They all agree that we must always have our way. … Historically, the Democrats have been in the vanguard of this policy, and they have been its most vociferous advocates, beginning with Woodrow Wilson. The Democrats have initiated more overseas interventions, both covert and by means of outright war, than the Republicans, by far. If you have any remaining doubts on this score, read Barack Obama’s recent foreign policy address. A more complete compendium of the vacuous but deadly phrases expressing belief in ‘American exceptionalism,’ our indisputable ‘right’ to rule the world, and the religious belief in U.S. ‘indispensability’ would be close to impossible to find...

http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/04/theater-of-death.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

CounterPunch
by Patrick Cockburn

04/26/07

Ever since President George Bush announced that US soldiers would play a more active role in the war in a speech on 10 January, US casualties have been creeping up. Although it is the figure of 3,332 US soldiers dead since 2003 that is heavily publicised, many of the 24,314 wounded have suffered severe injuries that would have killed them in previous wars but they survive because of advances in medicine. US losses have been surprisingly steady over the past three years, with 849 soldiers killed in 2004, 846 in 2005, 822 in 2006 and 329 so far this year. But the US strategy since the start of the ’surge’ in Baghdad on 14 February has been to make greater use of US troops and give less priority to training Iraqi forces. This is likely to lead to an increase in US casualties that are often a function of the number of patrols being made...

http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick04262007.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Asia Times
by Gareth Porter

04/26/07

The notion of a two-sided war in the Sunni heartland of Iraq between al-Qaeda and US forces bolsters the Bush administration’s position that any talk of a timetable for withdrawal is defeatist. To avoid such accusations, the Democrat legislation setting a timetable for withdrawal contains large loopholes that would allow US troops to carry out operations in the Sunni area indefinitely. This political gamesmanship ignores the anti-al-Qaeda Sunni resistance organizations, which represent a clear alternative to an endless US occupation...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ID27Ak02.html



Dealing with the devil

Truthout
by Marc Ash

04/26/07

The Marines have a rule: they never, ever leave fallen Marines on the battlefield. No such call to honor and duty concerns our political leaders. Those now seeking the latest one hundred billion dollars say that the money is needed to support our troops. That is not true. Our troops have been abandoned in a foreign land, their only purpose, to justify another one hundred billion dollars, and another. The money itself becomes the rational[e] for continuing the war...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042607A.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gareth+Porter

LewRockwell.Com
by Michael S. Rozeff

04/27/07

Since the two parties run the national team, we the owners are merely asked to sign a check already made out in amounts we cannot control to one of two candidates that we do not select. This is a process not greatly removed from voting for a leader in a one-party system. The long and short of it is that the team runs us. We do not run the team. This is why, despite the unpopularity of the current president and the current war, and despite the mid-term election results, the head coach remains in office and continues running up losing scores with the national team...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff148.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

04/27/07

That the media is the handmaiden of power in 21st America comes as no surprise: after all, this is what decadence is all about — a quest for comfort above any principle, and safety (especially career safety) above all. In any age or era, cowardice is the rule rather than the exception: in a truly decadent society, however, bravery is almost unknown — and, in any case, atavistic individuals likely to exhibit it are almost entirely excluded the higher up one travels in the social hierarchy. The worst rise to the top, while the best achieve only obscurity — until the society is so top-heavy with venality that the whole structure is in danger of collapsing...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=10881


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

from Reason to Freedom
by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

04/23/07

Thanks to George W. Bush children and young people in Iraq never have a ‘normal’ day, a day when they can feel safe and go about their lives. Every day in Iraq children, young people, women and the elderly along with good, decent, men simply trying to survive are snuffed out horribly. Their homes are invaded, going to the grocery store is fraught with fear; they live with one hour of electricity a day. That is how it is. When their loved ones are shot there are no counselors and George Bush, the man who did this to them and to us, leads no memorial service. Now, more than ever, we need to remember what is happening to a country Bush decided to invade to alleviate his feelings about his father and help out his friends who wanted to ensure that the flow of profits from the lives and blood of Americans would continue. Bush and his friends have made violence an ordinary part of our lives...

http://www.reasontofreedom.com/the_bush_legacy_of_death.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Fox News

04/26/07

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she has already answered the questions she has been subpoenaed to answer before a U.S. congressional committee and suggested she is not inclined to comply with the order. Rice said she would respond by mail to questions from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the Bush administration’s prewar claims about Saddam Hussein seeking weapons of mass destruction, but signaled she would not appear in person. ‘I am more than happy to answer them again in a letter,’ she told reporters in Oslo, where she is attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. The comments were her first reaction to a subpoena issued on Wednesday by the committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268684,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Condoleezza+Rice
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=subpoenae
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Waxman

The ties between doctors and drug manufacturers are close indeed, with virtually all doctors reporting some kind of relationship with industry, even if it's as seemingly innocuous as accepting free food and beverages, a new study has found.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042607HA.shtml



Texas Legislators Block Shots for Girls Against Cancer Virus

A revolt by lawmakers has blocked Gov. Rick Perry's effort to make Texas the first state to require sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042607WB.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rick+Perry
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=cervical+cancer

David Leonhardt on why the middle class is being squeezed: "In an economy where volatility was the main problem, you might want to protect jobs by making it harder for companies to cut them. In an economy where inequality was the problem, you would want to protect people. You would help them pay for health insurance, retirement, their children's education and other basic needs when the market, left to its own devices, was not doing so."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042607LA.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=middle+class

Is the Green Movement too White? Van Jones proposes a solution: "The idea of 'social uplift environmentalism' could serve as the cornerstone for an unprecedented 'Green Growth Alliance.' Imagine a coalition that unites the best of labor, business, racial justice activists, environmentalists, intellectuals, students and more. That combination would rival the last century's New Deal and New Right coalitions."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042607EB.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Van+Jones

Carol Lam has been named Outstanding Attorney of the Year by the San Diego County Bar Association, the organization announced Wednesday afternoon. Lam is one of eight former US attorneys across the country whose dismissals ignited a political firestorm and calls for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042607S.shtml



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

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18252887&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222087&rfi=6


Informant: binstock

Einen Einblick in die professionelle Begleitung von Journalisten durch die PR-Abteilung eines Unternehmens lieferte gerade Microsoft. Der Journalist Fred Vogelstein schrieb für das amerikanische Magazin Wired einen Artikel über Microsofts neue Offenheit im Internet. Dabei erhielt er versehentlich ein Briefing über sich selbst und Anmerkungen für seine Interviewpartner, die Microsoft und die PR-Firma Waggener Edstrom zusammengestellt hatten.

http://www.lobbycontrol.de/blog/index.php?p=413

--------

Vermischung von Journalismus und PR bei der Frankfurter Rundschau

Im Rahmen einer Kooperation von Frankfurter Rundschau und Schulen erprobten Schüler ihre journalistischen Fähigkeiten und setzten sich "kritisch" mit dem Unternehmen McDonald's auseinander. Das wäre alles schön und gut, hätte das ganze nicht einen ziemlich bitteren Beigeschmack: McDonald's selbst unterstützte und finanzierte das Vorhaben.

http://www.lobbycontrol.de/blog/index.php?p=403



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

Aus Anlass der Anhörung zur Unternehmenssteuerreform hat LobbyControl diese Woche von Finanzminister Steinbrück Aufklärung gefordert über die Rolle von Denkfabriken wie der Stiftung Marktwirtschaft oder der Bertelsmann-Stiftung bei der Ausarbeitung der Unternehmenssteuerreform. In einer Anfrage auf Basis des Informationsfreiheitsgesetzes verlangt LobbyControl u.a. Einsicht in entsprechende Gutachten, Stellungnahmen oder Akten über Treffen des Finanzministeriums mit den Stiftungen.

Mehr Informationen: http://www.lobbycontrol.de/blog/index.php?p=419



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

by Fiona McGarry

Mobile phone company O2 has been sent back to the drawing board once again, after two unsuccessful attempts to secure permission for a 30 metre mast outside Foxford.

The company had sought permission, on two occasions, to build the mast at Clossaghroe, to the anger of a number of local people. However, its latest attempt has been judged by the county council to be invalid. Planners have told the phone company that, during a visit, the council’s area engineer found the site notice was not erected on the local road.

In a letter to O2, planners have also advised the company that the proposed development contravenes the County Development Plan in relation to telecommunications antennae. “The planning authority wish to advise that in rural areas antennae must, where possible, be located at least 500 metres from rural dwellings and sited in forestry plantations for screening,” the council’s letter said.

Mayo County Council has now advised O2 to strongly consider sharing an existing mast in the Foxford area.

The news will be welcome to more than 50 people calling themselves “the residents of Clossaghroe and the surrounding townlands”. The group objected to each of O2’s mast applications on the grounds of possible damage to scenic areas outside Foxford, and the impact on rural families living close to the proposed development.

In a letter to planners, the residents had asked: “We ask you what kind of message would be given to the visiting tourists that use this walk. If they approach Clossaghroe, they are to be faced with the sight of a fenced compound and a 30 metre tower in a beautiful scenic area. The message would not be a positive one. Especially at a time when the Government is investing approximately €20 million in attracting hill-walkers to this country.”

© Mayo Advertiser Ltd,2007

http://www.mayoadvertiser.com/index.php?aid=1872

Apr 27 2007

By Lisa Wright

A NEW Bill that aims to bring mobile phone masts under tighter controls is being backed by one of the borough's MP.

The Telecommunications Mast (Planning Control) Bill was presented to Parliament by Liberal Democrat Local Government Secretary Andrew Stunell MP on March 28 and is listed for Second Reading on June 29.

It also aims to bring in the 'pre-cautionary principle', giving extra safeguards for schools, homes, and medical facilities from the risk of Lorely Burt (Lib Dem, Solihull): "The positioning of phone masts has upset many people across Solihull as masts have been put up close to schools, hospitals and residential areas. There are dozens of stories of people coming home from work to find a mast that they knew nothing about at the end of their garden.

"The Conservatives did a deal with the phone companies when they were in government to cut planning controls for masts. Under the current ridiculous rules it is easier to get planning permission for a 15 metre mast than it is for a five metre conservatory."

She added that the Bill would allow planning authorities to take account of health concerns and will require the industry to produce more evidence about the radiation emitted, and to justify the need for each mast.

© owned by or licensed to Midland Newspapers Limited 2007

http://tinyurl.com/39ebof

A Justice Department filing proposes new limits on the lawyers' contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/26/news/gitmo.php


From Information Clearing House



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

"These are the ways we will answer the challenge that arrived on our shores that September morning more than five years ago. A 21st century military to stay on the offense, from Djibouti to Kandahar. "

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fpccga


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocon

Anti-war activists Wednesday urged Democratic leaders in Congress to pursue articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney, introduced the previous day in the House of Representatives.

http://snipurl.com/1ibrh


From Information Clearing House

Click:



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

New York Senator Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that it might be necessary for America to confront Iran militarily, addressing that possibility more directly than any of the other presidential candidates.

http://snipurl.com/1ibqy



Iran Says It Will Defend Itself By Striking U.S., Israel if Attacked

Iran will strike U.S. interests around the world and Israel if attacked over its disputed nuclear program, a senior official was quoted on Thursday by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3081998


From Information Clearing House



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

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2065440,00.html


From Information Clearing House



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

Missing from the vote were GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both staunch advocates of the president's Iraq policy. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., sided with Republicans in opposing the bill.

http://snipurl.com/1ibql



Senator McCain argues for immediate troop withdrawal from Somalia 1993

Video
http://snipurl.com/1ibqn



Standing on the bodies of 655,000 Iraqi dead

McCain: Terrorists will come here

"If we leave Iraq there will be chaos, there will be genocide, and they will follow us home," the Arizona senator said, calling the war against al-Qaida "a struggle between good and evil."

http://snipurl.com/1ibqr


From Information Clearing House

--------

Iraq Showdown Looms After Senate Vote

With Thursday's vote by the Senate to begin withdrawing troops, the stage has been set for confrontation between Congress and the president. And with US war casualties mounting, Bush, whose low public-approval ratings have been the longest-running of any president in more than 50 years, will likely have a difficult time holding on to nervous Republicans as the election season approaches.

http://electroniciraq.net/news/3033.shtml

--------

With landmark votes, Congress poses 'bold wartime challenge' to Bush
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/6134/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Lieberman
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Somalia
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=655,000
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jim+Lobe

Academics are being assassinated, prisoners are being tortured, women are being murdered by their own families in so-called "honor killings," and civilians continue to be cut down by rampant violence, the United Nations said today in a report painting a grim picture of life in Iraq.

http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/latimes965.html


From Information Clearing House

By Carla Binion

A nation that doesn't care enough about the truth to investigate tenaciously and impeach Bush and Cheney if the probe warrants, is a nation divorced from reality and conscience.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17605.htm



Dying for W

By Robert Parry

George W. Bush admits he has no evidence that a withdrawal timetable from Iraq would be harmful. Instead, the President told interviewer Charlie Rose that this core assumption behind his veto threat of a Democratic war appropriation bill is backed by "just logic."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17606.htm



Bush Veto Of Iraq Bill Could Come 4 Years After 'Victory' Speech

President Bush next week is expected to receive, and swiftly reject, legislation ordering U.S. troops to begin coming home from Iraq this fall. The veto could fall on the fourth anniversary of the president's Iraq 'victory' speech.

http://snipurl.com/1ibqf



Tell Us The Mission (Accomplished)

Video
http://snipurl.com/1ibpl


From Information Clearing House



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

By Agence France Presse.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signalled Thursday that she would not comply with a subpoena to appear before Congress to testify about discredited assertions on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17600.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Condoleezza+Rice
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=subpoena

By Anne Flaherty
Associated Press

A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17604.htm



U.S. Congress Approves Iraq War Withdrawal Plan

By Richard Cowan

In an unprecedented slap at President George W. Bush's war policy, the U.S. Congress on Thursday approved legislation that links withdrawal of combat troops to paying for the war, ensuring a certain veto.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17602.htm

--------

Senate Votes to Bring Troops Home

The Senate narrowly passed a $124 billion war spending bill early this afternoon after an emotional debate about the best way forward in Iraq. The vote will send the measure to President Bush, who has vowed to veto it because it would require American troops to begin withdrawing by October 1.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042607R.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+troop+withdrawal
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bring+troops+home

By Mike Whitney

Get this: Jose Padilla just spent 5 years in solitary confinement for a crime, which the government now admits, never took place. The notion that a man can be imprisoned without proof of a crime is "preemptive justice", which is no justice at all. It denies the "presumption of innocence" and cedes absolute power to the state.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17607.htm



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

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070426/ap_on_go_co/senate_detainees


Informant: John Stroebel



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

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1262990,00.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Wi-Fi
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Wi-Fi

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0426-02.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=probe+of+White+House
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Karl+Rove
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=subpoena
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=firing+attorneys

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/26/766/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jeremy+Brecher
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Brendan+Smith

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/26/786/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/26/738/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/26/765/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Scott+Ritter

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/26/787/



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

- France 5 (extrait) Magazine de la Santé au Quotidien: Infections Nosocomiales et Téléphones portables (vidéo Fr).

- France 5 (extract) The Magazine of Daily Health: Nosocomial Infections, Cell Phones (video Uk).

- Francia 5 (estratto) La Rivista della Salute al Quotidiano. Infezioni Ospedaliere, i Telefoni Portatili (video It).

- Francia 5 (extrato) la Revista de la Salud al Diario: Infecciones Nosocomiales, los Telefonos Moviles (video Sp).

- Frankreich 5 (auszug) Das Magazin Gesundheit im Alltag: Nosokomiale-Infektionskrankheiten, die Handys (Video De).

http://tinyurl.com/2be8re
http://tinyurl.com/ysf7qv http://www.next-up.org/Newsoftheworld/NosocomialCellPhones.php#1