World-News

Le Monde's editorialist chooses to focus on how unequally the rain of Bush's mercy falls.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070607G.shtml



A Profile in Cowardice

Frank Rich writes: "There was never any question that President Bush would grant amnesty to Scooter Libby, the man who knows too much about the lies told to sell the war in Iraq. The only questions were when, and how, Mr. Bush would buy Mr. Libby’s silence. Now we have the answers, and they’re at least as incriminating as the act itself."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070807C.shtml



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

"The Senate is expected to join the House next week in reducing funds in the fiscal 2008 Defense Authorization Bill for construction of ten interceptor missile sites in Poland and for deployment of an X-band radar in the Czech Republic," reports Walter Pincus in the Washington Post.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070607F.shtml



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

Elizabeth de la Vega writes: "President Bush has again made it as clear as a Wisconsin lake that he has nothing but contempt for equality and the 'rule 'a law' he is so fond of championing. Yes, a president has the constitutional power of clemency. He may pardon a criminal defendant, thereby wiping out the entire conviction and its consequences, or commute the sentence, thereby lessening it to some degree or entirely. But even this power, broad as it is, can be abused and, in the case of United States v. Libby, President Bush has done just that."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070607A.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Elizabeth+de+la+Vega

"After a concerted lobbying effort by property developers, mine owners and farm groups, the Bush administration scaled back proposed guidelines for enforcing a key Supreme Court ruling governing protected wetlands and streams," reports The New York Times.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070607N.shtml

Norman Solomon writes for Truthout: "Many of America's most prominent journalists want us to forget what they were saying and writing more than four years ago to boost the invasion of Iraq. Now, they tiptoe around their own roles in hyping the war and banishing dissent to the media margins ... More than four years - and at least several hundred thousand Iraqi civilian deaths - later, the most reliable epidemiology available confirms that those claims were more than misleading. They were fundamentally out of touch with human reality."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070607M.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Norman+Solomon

US diplomats in Iraq have become increasingly fearful over their personal safety after recent mortar attacks inside the Green Zone. A large number of mistakes, delays and building and safety blunders in the $592 million US Embassy construction project in Baghdad may leave them vulnerable in the coming months, The New York Times reports.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070607K.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Baghdad+embassy

In These Times
by Hans Johnson

07/05/07

On their tours of monumental Washington, summertime visitors often stand in awe of the Supreme Court. The gleaming white building, with its oath of ‘equal justice under law’ proclaimed above its grand west entrance, suggests solidity itself. Yet far from living up to that promise, the current Roberts Court has begun to tilt the scales against ordinary Americans while undermining the basic notion of fair play. In steadily reversing hard-won progress on privacy, freedom of speech, church-state separation and civil rights, a radical four-man bloc is reminding people of the precariousness of standards we had long taken for granted and the primacy of court appointments in the 2008 election. Time and again in its term just concluded, the Roberts Court has thumbed its nose at the principle of an even playing field in American life and the value of individual liberty...

http://tinyurl.com/2uaf7a


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Supreme+Court
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Roberts+court
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Hans+Johnson

The American Prospect
by Ezra Klein

07/05/07

‘President Bush’s decision to commute the sentence of I. Lewis Libby Jr. was the act of a liberated man,’ wrote the New York Times. ‘A leader who knows that, with 18 months left in the Oval Office and only a dwindling band of conservatives still behind him, he might as well do what he wants.’ If the Buddha and Machiavelli had a child, this would be the type of liberation he’d speak about: Liberation from the suffering imposed by democratic checks and balances. It is a liberation George W. Bush has pursued with a single-minded vigor. From the beginning, he has consciously sought to govern from division, realizing early on that popularity can actually constrain an administration, and consensus is just another word for compromise...

http://tinyurl.com/3y63r2


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=commute
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ezra+Klein

ABC News

07/05/07

President George W. Bush’s Iraq war policy continued to hemorrhage support in the U.S. Senate as another senior Republican called on Thursday for a new strategy that would start to bring troops home. A day after Bush appealed to Americans to be more patient with the unpopular war, six-term New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, who is up for re-election next year, urged a new course. … Domenici joined the ranks of influential Republican lawmakers who recently have broken with Bush over the 4-year-old conflict in Iraq, declaring themselves unable to keep backing a war that has no end in sight after the deaths of 3,590 U.S. troops...

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3350223


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

GOP Congressman Joins Sen. Domenici in Breaking With White House on War

"Albuquerque Rep. John Doolittle, a conservative California Congressman, has joined others in his party rapidly deserting the president on the Iraq war," reports Editor and Publisher. The New York Times reports, "Support among Republicans for President Bush's Iraq policy eroded further on Thursday as another senior lawmaker, Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, broke with the White House just as Congressional Democrats prepared to renew their challenge to the war.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070607J.shtml



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

2007-07-05

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24350

Last year Johns Hopkins researchers produced a study estimating that 650,000 Iraqis had died as of July, 2006 as a result of the U.S. invasion. The organization Just Foreign Policy has now created a new estimate, based on the original study, of deaths to the present day. The number they came up with is just under one million.

For more information on the new estimate, including an explanation of how it was created, see here: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

SOURCE: BuzzFlash.com


Informant: Corey

6. Juli 2007

Harald Werner

Zum Haushaltsüberschuss der Bundesagentur für Arbeit erklärt das Mitglied des Parteivorstandes Harald Werner:

Die Bundesagentur für Arbeit ist reich, weil andere arm gemacht wurden. Denn der Geldsegen der Nürnberger Bundesanstalt stammt weniger aus dem aktuellen Wachstum, als aus dem Sozialabbau und Lohndumping der vergangenen Jahre. Verfolgt man die Quellen dieses Reichtums bis zu ihrem Ursprung, stößt man zum Beispiel auf die Praxisgebühr, auf Leistungskürzungen und Beitragserhöhungen. Die Bundesagentur hat sich auf Kosten der Kranken saniert und sie profitiert davon, dass mehr Menschen zur Aufnahme geringfügiger Beschäftigung gezwungen wurden. Der gegenwärtige Aufschwung geht nicht nur an Millionen Menschen vorüber, sie haben ihn durch Einbußen an sozialer Sicherheit und Einkommen überhaupt erst möglich gemacht. Die einzig richtige Konsequenz wäre: Nicht die Beiträge zur Arbeitslosenversicherung werden gekürzt, sondern das Geld fließt an diejenigen zurück, denen es genommen wurde. Der neue Überschuss der Bundesagentur für Arbeit speist sich aus sehr unterschiedlichen Quellen und die magerste darunter dürften die Mehreinnahmen aus neuen Arbeitsplätzen sein. Das beweist auch der weitaus größere Überschuss im vergangenen Jahr, der ausschließlich durch Einsparungen bei den Arbeitslosen zustande kam. Die so genannten Hartz-Gesetze drücken seit ihrer Verabschiedung nicht nur Langzeitarbeitslose unter die Armutsgrenze, sie senken auch die Ausgaben der Bundesanstalt, weil die Bezugsdauer des regulären Arbeitslosengeldes gekürzt und die Zumutbarkeitsbedingungen für die Aufnahme einer neuen Beschäftigung verschärft wurden. Die Kehrseite war ein kräftiges Wachstum bei Ein-Euro-Jobs und prekärer Beschäftigung. Gleichzeitig wurde mit den so genannten Reformen am Arbeitsmarkt die Beitragszahlung der Bundesagentur für die Krankenkassen gekürzt. Die Krankenversicherer beziffern ihren Sanierungsbeitrag für den Haushalt der Bundesagentur auf jährlich vier Milliarden Euro. Darunter leiden in erster Linie die Versicherten, weil der Beitragsausfall durch Leistungskürzungen, genauer gesagt durch die Gesundheitsreform ausgeglichen wurde. Die Hartz-Gesetze haben der Bundesagentur aber auch eine weitere Geldquelle erschlossen, die eigentlich ein Ausgabeposten ist. So muss die Bundesagentur für jeden Arbeitslosen, den sie nach zwölf Monaten in Hartz IV abschiebt, an den Bund einen so genannten Aussteuerungsbetrag von 10.000 Euro überweisen. Doch der gestiegene Druck auf die Arbeitslosen und die kräftige Ausdehnung prekärer Beschäftigungsverhältnisse haben dazu geführt, dass viele Arbeitslose vor dem Auslaufen der zwölfmonatigen Frist lieber mehrere prekäre Beschäftigungsverhältnisse annehmen, als in Hartz IV zu geraten. Das senkt die Arbeitslosenzahlen aber auch die Überweisungen an den Bund. Letztendlich speist sich der Geldsegen der Bundesagentur auch noch aus einer drastischen Verringerung der aktiven Arbeitsförderung. Nach Angaben der Leipziger Volkszeitung soll die Bundesanstalt allein daran und am Aussteuerungsbeitrag im ersten Halbjahr zusammen drei Milliarden Euro gespart haben.

http://www.die-linke.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/detail/artikel/nuernberger-geldsegen-durch-hartz-gesetze/



Den Großen gibt man, den Kleinen nimmt man

6. Juli 2007

Dietmar Bartsch

Heute hat der Bundesrat der Unternehmenssteuerreform zugestimmt. Dazu erklärt der Bundesgeschäftsführer Dietmar Bartsch (MdB):

Die letzte Hürde ist genommen: Banken und Konzerne können sich ab 1. Januar 2008 über jährliche Steuernachlässe in Milliardenhöhe freuen. Kleine und mittelständige Unternehmen gehen zumeist leer aus. Im Aufschwung auf Steuereinnahmen zu verzichten, macht deutlich, dass es kein Interesse an einem nachhaltigen Aufschwung gibt. Starke Schultern können und sollen mehr tragen als schwache – dies ist für die Koalition kein Thema. Mit der Unternehmenssteuerreform haben SPD und Union die Umverteilung von unten nach oben weiter vorangetrieben: Milliardengeschenke an Großunternehmen auf der einen Seite und Mehrwertsteuererhöhung sowie Kürzung der Pendlerpauschale, des Kindergeldes und des Sparerfreibetrages auf der anderen Seite für Arbeitnehmer, Sozialleistungsempfänger und Rentner. Diese Umverteilung wird auch im Entwurf des Bundeshaushaltes 2008 sichtbar. Zu Lasten von Rentnern, Arbeitslosen und sozial Benachteiligten soll der Haushalt saniert werden. Steinbrücks Fahrplan zur Entschuldung: Wenn man die Kürzung der Ausgaben für aktive Beschäftigungspolitik bzw. noch restriktivere Maßnahmen gegenüber Hartz-IV-Beziehern nur schnell und konsequent genug vorantreibt, dann geht es diesem Land endlich wieder besser. Eine konsequente Einnahmeerhöhung zum Zwecke der Schuldenminderung durch eine gerechtere Steuer- und Abgabenpolitik steht für SPD und Union nicht auf der Tagesordnung. Nach wie vor steht eine Reform der Erbschafts- und Vermögenssteuer aus.

http://www.die-linke.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/detail/artikel/den-grossen-gibt-man-den-kleinen-nimmt-man/

Trüben Traumata die Urteilsfähigkeit des Ministers?
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/25/25046/1.html



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

As technology progresses and data demands increase on the mobile networks, the number of mobile towers has increased sharply in Karachi and many other cities in Pakistan. Internationally experts warn that mobile-phone towers are health hazards because they emit electromagnetic radiation. Recent research shows that mobile tower radiation causes symptoms including headache, earache, blurring of vision, short-term memory loss, numbing, tingling and burning sensations, bad sleep, fatigue and anxiety.

Read More...
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?171471

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

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/04/wifi_kids.html



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

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



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

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/6412/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

"A coalition of Defense Department unions is asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its decision to uphold the department's plans to curb collective bargaining and employee rights to contest disciplinary actions," reports MZ Hemingway for The Federal Times.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/070507LA.shtml

A World Bank report on pollution in China, which was produced in cooperation with the Chinese government, found that about 750,000 people die prematurely in China each year, mainly due to air pollution in large cities, reported Richard McGregor for The Financial Times.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/070507ED.shtml

John Vidal of the Guardian UK reports: "A worldwide expansion of nuclear power has little chance of significantly reducing carbon emissions but will add dangerously to the proliferation of nuclear weapons-grade materials and the potential for nuclear terrorism, says a leading research group that has analyzed the possible uptake of civil atomic power over the next 65 years."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/070507EC.shtml



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

In an interview, former US Vice President Al Gore slammed the United States and Australia's motives in creating a global warming pact that is separate from the rest of the world, reports Michelle Nichols for Reuters.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/070507EA.shtml



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

Hearings last year made it clear to Congress that mortgage brokers and nonbank lenders have taken advantage of lax oversight to make unsound loans to people with the weakest credit history, reports Kevin G. Hall of McClatchy Newspapers. As a result, Congress is seeking a way to federally regulate these brokers.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507S.shtml



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

Representative Robert Wexler (D-Florida) has drafted a resolution to censure Bush for his commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence, reported Larry Lipman of the Palm Beach Post today. Wexler says Congress must go on record in strong opposition to Bush's actions.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507R.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Wexler
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=commutation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby

The New York Times writes: "In the 1960s, Chief Justice Earl Warren presided over a Supreme Court that interpreted the Constitution in ways that protected the powerless - racial and religious minorities, consumers, students and criminal defendants. At the end of its first full term, Chief Justice John Roberts's court is emerging as the Warren court's mirror image. Time and again the court has ruled, almost always 5-4, in favor of corporations and powerful interests while slamming the courthouse door on individuals and ideals that truly need the court's shelter."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507N.shtml

--------

Justice denied

The Nation
by Aziz Huq

08/28/07

The resignation of Alberto Gonzales has brought a smile to the faces of many Bush Administration critics, but will it bring real change? Unless the Senate Judiciary Committee seizes its chance in a new Attorney General’s confirmation hearings, the danger is that Gonzales’s exit won’t just leave Justice tarnished–it will also mean justice denied. Denial of justice is a theme for this Administration, as illustrated by some very strange bedfellows...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070910/huq


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Justice+John+Roberts
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Supreme+Court
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Aziz+Huq

"Frustrated by the Bush administration's continued use of presidential signing statements to challenge or ignore provisions of Congressionally approved legislation, Senate Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has reintroduced legislation to rein in President Bush's ability to use the tactic," reports John Stanton of Roll Call.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507M.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=signing+statements
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Arlen+Specter

Jennifer Yachnin of Roll Call reports, "House Democratic leaders plan to force another vote on war policy in July, when lawmakers will take up a proposal that would end military involvement in Iraq by the spring of 2008, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Friday."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507L.shtml



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

"The House Judiciary Committee, upset over President Bush's decision to grant clemency to I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, will hold a hearing on July 11 to examine presidential clemency power," reports Politico's John Bresnahan.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507K.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=House+Judiciary+Committee

http://blog.stopthesealhunt.com/



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

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



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Autism
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Autism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Alzheimer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Thimerosal
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Amalgam
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mercury

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24358


Informant: David Swanson

From ufpj-news



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

http://www.shortnews.de/start.cfm?id=673585

--------

Verteidigungsminister Australien: "Wir sind wegen dem Öl im Irak"
http://www.meta-info.de/?lid=29932

Delinquencies and defaults on U.S. subprime mortgages will keep rising as borrowers who received their loans amid weak underwriting standards miss payments, said Robert Parker, vice chairman of Credit Suisse Asset Management.

http://tinyurl.com/2vc35l


From Information Clearing House



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

In commuting I. Lewis Libby Jr.'s 30-month prison sentence on Monday, President Bush drew on the same array of arguments about the federal sentencing system often made by defense lawyers - and routinely and strenuously opposed by his own Justice Department.

http://tinyurl.com/35yyez


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=commuting

by Gwynne Dyer

America is going home from Iraq bloodied, but the sky won't fall unless George W. Bush bombs Iran.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=340&objectid=10449878


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gwynne+Dyer

Mercenaries who have worked in occupied Iraq are returning home with the same kinds of combat-related mental health problems that afflict United States military personnel, according to contractors, industry officials and mental health experts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/us/05contractors.html?hp


From Information Clearing House



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

http://www.counterpunch.org/schwartz07052007.html


From Information Clearing House



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

They say that 540 corpses - many of them tortured or mutilated - were discovered in the city in June.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6272624.stm


From Information Clearing House

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html


Informant: John Stroebel



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=commute
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dan+Froomkin

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/113032.htm



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

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20070629p2g00m0dm008000c.html
http://prd34.blogspot.com/2007/07/mainichi-news-overuse-cell-and-zap-your.html



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=brain+cells

http://tinyurl.com/ysls8k



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

by John Nichols, The Nation

Paine and his contemporaries were brave in facing a tyrant named George. We must follow in their footsteps.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=210566


From TomPaine.common sense



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

HLV INFO 68/AT

6-07-2007

BÜNDNIS90/DIE GRÜNEN im Bayerischen Landtag

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

liebe Freundinnen und Freunde,

wir laden Sie ganz herzlich ein zu unserer Anhörung

Mobilfunk, Gesundheit und die Politik

- Aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse aus der Medizin

- Immissionsminimierung durch Standortwahl

am Freitag, den 20. Juli 2007, 10.30 – 16.30 Uhr, im Bayerischen Landtag

einladen.

Das Programm entnehmen Sie bitte dem Anhang. Um Rückmeldung wird gebeten.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/einladung_anhoerung_mobilfunk_20_07_07.pdf


Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Sabine Gramer-Muck
Mitarbeiterin Dr. Martin Runge, MdL
Vorsitzender des Ausschusses für Bundes- und Europaangelegenheiten, wirtschaftspolitischer Sprecher sowie Sprecher des Arbeitskreises II
(Haushalt, Finanzen, Wirtschaft, Ökologie, Verbraucherschutz, Landwirtschaft, Europa...) von BÜNDNIS90/DIE GRÜNEN im Bayerischen Landtag, Medienrat
Maximilianeum
81627 München
Tel. 089/4126-2753
Fax 089/4126-1135

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/05/2306/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Supreme+Court
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Helen+Thomas

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/05/2299/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=commutation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Thom+Hartmann

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/05/2319/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/05/2312/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/05/2313/



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

Jeremy Leaming, writing in Church and State says, "American Vision produces reams of material that push Christian Reconstructionism, a form of fundamentalism that argues for a re-writing of American history, dismantling secular democracy and constructing an America governed by 'biblical law.'"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507F.shtml

"Though Bush calls the 30-month prison term 'excessive,'" report Richard B. Schmitt and David G. Savage of the Los Angeles Times, "records show defendants convicted of similar crimes served jail time."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507E.shtml



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

"Life in an FBI muzzle is no fun," reports Luke O'Brien of Wired. "Two Connecticut librarians on Sunday described what it was like to be slapped with an FBI national security letter and accompanying gag order. It sounded like a spy movie or, gulp, something that happens under a repressive foreign government."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507C.shtml

The Howard Government has today admitted that securing oil supplies is a factor in Australia's continued military involvement in Iraq, according to The Age.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507B.shtml

--------

Iraq deployment linked to oil: Nelson

By ABC News - Australia

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson says securing the world's oil supply is one of the Federal Government's considerations as it decides how long to keep troops in Iraq.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17968.htm



Oil a factor in Iraq conflict, says Australian defence minister

The Australian defence minister triggered a political storm when he suggested that protecting Iraq's huge oil reserves was a reason for the continuing deployment of foreign troops in the war-torn country.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,2119110,00.html



Australia: Howard Hits Iraq Oil Slick As Truth Becomes A WMD

Murdoch's Media Rewrites Stories After Furious Calls From Prime Minister's Office.

http://tinyurl.com/2vrh58


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Murdoch
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Howard
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070507A.shtml



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

Der Vizepräsident des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, Winfried Hassemer, sieht den Datenschutz zunehmend gefährdet. Vor allem von der "Datenverarbeitung in privater Hand" wüchsen derzeit "massive Bedrohungen der informationellen Selbstbestimmung" heran, schreibt Hassemer in einem Beitrag für die "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". Als Beispiele nannte der Verfassungsrichter "Intimitätsverletzungen durch private Fotos und Videos im Internet". Hassemer warnte zugleich davor, "gegenüber dem datenverarbeitenden Staat" sorglos zu sein.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=16280



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

Quarks & Co.: Krank durch Handystrahlen
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/quarks_co_wdr_weber.pdf


i.A. Griebl

--------

Quarks u. Co von der Mobilfunklobby vereinnahmt?
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/quarks_u._co_stellungnahme.rtf



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Quarks+&+Co

http://pnews.org/ArT/WaR/AnDy.shtml


Informant: Corey

http://www.flegel-g.de/insiderwissen-14.html


Nachricht von Dr. Angelika Schrodt

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Commerzbank, Siemens etc.: Merz und Riesenhuber unter den Großverdienern im deutschen Bundestag

Dass der ehemalige Unionsfraktionschef Friedrich Merz (51) zu den Gutverdienern unter den Bundestagsabgeordneten gehören würde, war angesichts der bekannten Liste seiner Nebentätigkeiten seit langem klar. Seit Donnerstag hat die Öffentlichkeit zumindest grobe Anhaltspunkte dafür, wie viel Geld Merz quasi nebenher noch verdient. In dem dreistufigen System der Offenlegung von Einkünften - Stufe 1: 1000 bis 3500 Euro, Stufe 2: höhere Einnahmen bis 7000 Euro, Stufe 3: mehr als 7000 Euro - der Abgeordneten, dominiert bei Merz die Stufe drei. Allein für seine Mandate in Top-Gremien von acht Unternehmen kassierte Merz im Jahr 2006 mindestens 56000 Euro.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=16274

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Nebeneinkünfte, der Tag danach
http://www.lobbycontrol.de/blog/index.php/2007/07/nebeneinkunfte-der-tag-danach/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Nebeneinkünfte
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Riesenhuber

http://balkin.blogspot.com/2007/04/another-enemy-of-people.html
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Professor_who_criticized_Bush_added_to_0409.html


Informant: starkid



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=no-fly+list

Jul 5 2007

Widnes Weekly News

OUTRAGED residents in Ditton say they are appalled at the prospect of a mobile phone mast being built on their doorsteps.

The protesters fear their families' health could be threatened by radiation emitted by the mast which they claim will become a magnet for teenage yobs.

Read More...
http://tinyurl.com/2hrbgy

6/7/07

PLANS to mount a mobile phone mast above a residential development on the High Street are causing great concern to community councillors, who have called for the application to be thrown out.

They voted unanimously to lodge a formal objection to the project.

Read More...
http://www.eastlothiancourier.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=2424&format=html

Pressemitteilung

Nach dem Rückzug von Rotgrün aus der Kohlekraft: ödp regt jetzt den Bezug von Pflanzenöl aus Jatropha-Nuss-Plantagen an

Mit ihrem Stadtratsantrag schlägt die ödp erneut eine umweltfreundliche Energiequelle vor, die den Stadtwerken München langfristige Versorgungssicherheit und Gewinne gewährleisten kann.

Der Originaltext des Stadtrats-Antrag der ödp München vom 05. Juli 2007:

Die Stadtwerke München prüfen Investitionen in Jatropha-Plantagen zur Gewinnung von Pflanzenöl

Begründung:

Aus der Jatropha-Nuss lässt sich effizient und in großem Maßstab Pflanzenöl gewinnen, das zur Strom- und Wärmeerzeugung in Blockheizkraftwerken und als Kraftstoff verwendet werden kann.

Erdöl, Erdgas, Kohle und Uran werden stetig knapper und teurer. In diesen Jahren wird das weltweite Öl-Fördermaximum erreicht ("Peakoil"). Danach wird die Ölförderung jährlich um voraussichtlich 3 bis 8 Prozent zurückgehen. Beim Kampf um das restliche Öl sind internationale Konflikte und Kriege zu erwarten. Einen Ausweg bieten Investitionen in erneuerbare Energien, darunter auch der Anbau von Ölpflanzen wie Raps, Sonnenblumen, Soja und die Jatropha-Nuss.

Da Deutschland zu klein und zu dicht besiedelt ist, reichen die Flächen nicht aus, um neben Nahrungsmitteln ausreichend Pflanzenöl zu erzeugen. Deshalb muss man sich rechtzeitig um Investitionen bemühen, die die Energieversorgung gewährleisten.

Amerikanische und chinesische Firmen sichern sich bereits in globalem Maßstab Agrarflächen zum Anbau von Ölpflanzen. Dabei wird vor allem Regenwald abgeholzt und es werden auf fruchtbaren Böden Monokulturen zur Erzeugung von Treibstoff angelegt. Nicht nur aus Gründen des Arten- und des Klimaschutzes muss der Regenwald aber erhalten werden, und fruchtbare Ackerböden werden für die Nahrungsmittelproduktion gebraucht.

Da die Jatropha-Nuss so genügsam ist, dass sie auch in den reichlich vorhandenen Steppen- und Savannengebieten, auf kargen und degradierten Böden angebaut werden kann und nur sehr wenig Wasser braucht, führt ihr Anbau nicht zur Rodung von Regenwäldern und konkurriert auch nicht mit dem Nahrungsmittelanbau. Im Gegenteil: Der Presskuchen, der bei der Gewinnung von Öl anfällt, kann als biologischer Dünger genutzt werden, verbessert die Bodenqualität und ermöglicht den gleichzeitigen Anbau von Lebensmitteln und hochwertigen Futtergräsern auf bisher unproduktiven Böden.

Weil auf Jatropha-Plantagen langjährig Kohlendioxyd gebunden wird, können die Stadtwerke entsprechende CO2-Zertifikate verkaufen.

Jatropha-Nüsse können nicht maschinell geerntet werden, deshalb entstehen auf den Pflanzungen Arbeitsplätze, die vielen Landwirten in Entwicklungsländern neben dem Anbau von Lebensmitteln eine sichere zusätzliche Einnahmequelle bieten.

Eine Investition in den Anbau von Jatropha-Nüssen dient also neben der Sicherung der künftigen Energieversorgung und dem Umweltschutz auch der Verringerung von Hunger und Armut.

Mechthild v. Walter
ödp-Stadträtin


Eine Historie des Kampfes gegen die rotgrüne Kohlekraft- Beteiligung finden Sie unter:
http://www.muenchen-gegen-kohlekraft.de/


Herbert Brunner
Pressebeauftragter
Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei (ödp)
Stadtverband München
Fon 089/452 474 15 × Fax 089/550 699 86
E-Mail presse @oedp-muenchen.de
http://www.oedp-muenchen.de

Liberty For All
by R. Lee Wrights

As the most-high holy day for patriotic freedom lovers across the country draws nigh, I find myself wondering whether or not the spirit of 1776 has succumbed to indifference. Has the revolutionary fire that once burned hot in the heart of Americans been reduced to a smoldering ember? Have we lost the necessary desire to question authority that forever perpetuates individual freedom? Have we become such poor caretakers that the tree of liberty now is wilted and sagging dangerously close to the ground? Please say it isn’t so... (written 07/02; posted 07/04/07)

http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=739


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=R.+Lee+Wrights

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

07/04/07

In commuting Scooter Libby’s sentence so that the vice president’s former chief of staff won’t spend a minute in jail, the president is sending a message, one that, while going out to multiple recipients, consists of a sentiment succinctly summed up in two words: Screw you! The first recipient is the general public, which is being disabused of the notion that America is a country without an aristocracy. … While the rest of us — the serfs — are at the mercy of such laws as the PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the extensive surveillance and snooping authorized by a Congress that has betrayed its constitutional mandate, our rulers — and especially the philosopher-kings of the neoconservative sect — are exempt...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=11236



The quality of mercy is strained

Slate

by Harlan J. Protass

07/03/07

What’s stunning about President Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence, if you’re a criminal defense lawyer, isn’t that it was politically motivated. Or that it tramples on principles of equal justice. Or even that it is the latest in a long string of Bush administration assaults on the rule of law. Rather, what’s astonishing is that the factors Bush relied on in commuting Libby’s sentence are the same ones that the administration has aggressively sought to preclude judges from considering when imposing sentences on everyone else...

http://www.slate.com/id/2169792/



Why did Bush commute Scooter Libby’s sentence?

Mother Jones
by Clara Jeffery

07/02/07

Bush’s approval ratings are in the toilet. And there’s no good news for the GOP in sight. So why would the president decide to commute the sentence of I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, who was convicted of obstructing justice, perjury, and making false statements in the Plamegate affair, now and not at the end of his term, when everybody expected it? After all a Cable News Network/Opinion Research survey conducted after Libby’s March 6 conviction found that 69% of voters are against a pardon (though commuting is only perhaps a first step toward that); only 18% were in favor of a pardon. The answer seems to be that the base demanded it...

http://tinyurl.com/2txs3c


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Libby
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=commute
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Military+Commissions+Act
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=surveillance
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GOP
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Valerie+Plame
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/justin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Clara+Jeffery

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070704/ap_on_el_pr/bush_congress_plunging_polls


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.pharmalive.com/News/index.cfm?articleid=454629&categoryid=10


Informant: NHNE

Barack, for the second quarter in a row, has surpassed the fundraising prowess of Hillary Clinton. - The Obama campaign, as of late March 2007, has accepted $159,800 from executives and employees of Exelon, the nation's largest nuclear power plant operator.

http://tinyurl.com/yw5y3w


From Information Clearing House



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

Nowhere does the Constitution mention the term or the concept of executive privilege. The belief that it does, the late legal historian Raoul Berger once said, is one of the greatest "constitutional myths."

http://www.alternet.org/story/55718/


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=executive+privilege

K Gajendra Singh

The people of UK have started paying the price with increased 'conspiracies' by UK's Muslims 'stirred' by events in Palestine, Afghanistan and now in Iraq.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17965.htm



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

As if he hadn't already done enough damage, helping to promote the American invasion of Iraq with deeply flawed articles in The New York Times, Michael R. Gordon is now writing scare stories that offer ammunition for the growing chorus of neocons calling for a U.S. strike against Iran.

http://tinyurl.com/ypz3k7


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+R.+Gordon
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons

This partial chronology of U.S. intervention in the Middle East illustrates the lengths to which the U.S. power structure has gone to gain and maintain U.S. domination of the Middle East--a region considered key to the U.S.'s standing as an imperialist world power.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6308.htm



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

The US administration is seeking a deal with Congress to pull large numbers of troops out of Iraq while installing a smaller, long-term contingent to ensure "stability", a report said Tuesday.

http://tinyurl.com/ytsblg


From Information Clearing House

By Ray McGovern

Last week's four-part Washington Post feature on Vice President Dick Cheney removed any doubt in my mind as to whether he and President George W. Bush have committed the kinds of high crimes and misdemeanors that warrant impeachment.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17964.htm



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

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/6404/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQWGaAm53v0


Informant: John Stroebel



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

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070704/D8Q5V5Q00.html


Informant: NHNE

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/26/61020/8043


Informant: Alan Dicey



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

Please tell your House member today--just like I did--to vote YES for strong drug safety reforms!

http://cu.convio.net/HouseFloorVote

Historic drug safety reform can pass this summer if we all pitch in. Consumers Union has relaunched this fun cartoon to help get the word out. Listen, enjoy and then take action! Drug safety reform passed the U.S. Senate after long debate. Now it’s up to the U.S. House of Representatives, and they will be voting on legislation very soon.

View Cartoon and Take Action
http://cu.convio.net/HouseFloorVote


Cheryl Guttman



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=drug+safety

CRICKLADE residents are furious about plans for a 12-metre high mobile phone mast.

They say a blunder by North Wiltshire District Council will allow T-Mobile to erect the mast at the entrance to the town off the A419 and near the Hannick Homes estate.

Read More...
http://www.thisisswindon.co.uk/display.var.1520603.0.it_mast_not_go_here_say_town_residents.php

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/04/2283/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Katrina+Vanden+Heuvel

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/04/2285/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Phyllis+Stenerson

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/04/2281/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/04/2279/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/04/2288/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/04/2284/



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