World-News

Venezuela's state-run oil company begins demanding payment in euros as US dollar weakens

Rafael Ramirez said the initiative by Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, to charge euros rather than U.S. dollars was ''advancing,'' but not yet completed.

http://tinyurl.com/2zsepo



Numerous Countries Have Recently Dropped The Dollar as Their Reserve Currency

In the past couple of years, the following countries have stopped using the dollar as their reserve currency or have dropped their currency's peg against the dollar.

http://tinyurl.com/27kq6z



Federal Reserve slashes US rates

The Federal Reserve has cut US interest rates sharply in an attempt to restore confidence to nervous financial markets and boost the ailing economy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7303404.stm



Housing Construction Declines

In another sign of troubles in the beleaguered housing industry, construction of new homes fell by a larger-than-expected amount last month.

http://tinyurl.com/2bysbq



Even experts can't grasp this crisis

Raise your hand if you don't quite understand this whole financial crisis.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/19/business/19leonhardt.php


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Venezuela
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=dollar+weak
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=reserve+currency
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+markets

Six Questions for Aram Roston

Author of 'The Man Who Pushed America to War'

By Scott Horton

It's common to see Chalabi linked closely to the Neocons who played key roles in the Bush Administration's national security and defense establishment, but you make clear that his key ties with the Republicans lie elsewhere.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19567.htm



The Chalabi Factor in Iraq

By Robert Dreyfuss

The passel of neoconservatives who pushed for war in Iraq in 2003 believed fervently that the war would change the face of the Middle East. How right they were!

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24769.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bush+legacy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chalabi
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Middle+East
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Aram+Roston
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Scott+Horton
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Dreyfuss

By TERENCE HUNT

President Bush says he has no doubts about launching the unpopular war in Iraq despite the "high cost in lives and treasure,'' arguing that retreat now would embolden Iran and provide al-Qaida with money for weapons of mass destruction to attack the United States.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19564.htm



I Prayed

By Layla Anwar

I prayed that you all become exiled, displaced... I prayed that you lose all your belongings, your livelihoods, your homes, your parents, your children, your families, your loved ones...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19566.htm



The Left Was Right

By Curt Guyette

They take no satisfaction in knowing that they were right in opposing this ill-fated Iraq war from the outset. All they want is for people to listen to them now.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19569.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Layla+Anwar

Urteil Sozialgericht Stade (Niedersachsen) S8AS 349/07 und S8AS 31/08: Die Klage ist begründet. Die angefochtenen Bescheide sind insoweit rechtswidrig, als die Beklagte (Arge Jobcenter LK Cuxhaven) einen zu hohen Kostenanteil für die Warmwasserbereitung abgezogen hat. Die Kammer folgt nicht der Auffassung der Beklagten, daß für die Warmwasserbereitung 20 v. H. der tatsächlichen Heizkosten zu veranschlagen sind, zummal die Beklagte nicht dargelegt hat, wie sie diesen Kostenansatz berechnet.

Lesen Sie weiter: http://www.gegen-hartz.de/urteile/0344e19a600ab7e0c.html

Aus verschiedenen Orten wird von einer härteren Gangart berichtet. Es scheint vermehrt zu Sanktionen zu kommen, wohl 40 Prozent seien rechtsfehlerhaft. Der Rest darf auch nicht mit der vom SGB II gebotenen Härte erfolgen: Die Prinzipen des Grundgesetzes sind höher einzuschätzen das „Fordern und (Be-) Fördern“ des SGB II.

Lesen Sie weiter: http://www.gegen-hartz.de/nachrichtenueberhartziv/0344e19a5e079c505.php



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

Wie viel Lohn ist dem Staat die Arbeit seiner Angestellten wert? Anscheinend nicht sehr viel, denn immer mehr Angstellte im öffentlichen Dienst sind auf zusätzliche Arbeitslosengeld II (ALG II) Leistungen angewiesen. Diese Tatsache wurde bislang von der öffentlichen Meinung verschwiegen, obwohl es ein weit verbreitetes Phänomen ist.

Lesen Sie weiter: http://www.gegen-hartz.de/nachrichtenueberhartziv/0344e19a630da1c28.php

Am Abgrund mit der Dollarflut

Die Weltfinanzmärkte taumeln, der globale Spätkapitalismus könnte in eine schwerwiegende Systemkrise geraten.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/27/27542/1.html

Neil MacFarquhar, writing for The New York Times, reports, "A sheaf of documents that a federal court forced the Treasury Department to release indicate there have been repeated complaints from American consumers who have been falsely linked to terrorism or drug trafficking during routine credit checks, the organization that sought the documents in a lawsuit said Tuesday."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908E.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=treasury+list

For The Nation, Jeremy Scahill writes, "Hillary Clinton has just become the most significant US political figure to come out in favor of banning Blackwater and other armed private security contractors from operating in Iraq."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908D.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Hillary
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Blackwater
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=contractor
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jeremy+Scahill

Mike Lillis, writing for The Washington Independent, reports, "They came to the nation's capital this week from as far away as Denver, Chicago and Niagara Falls-five people who'd had tough experiences with their credit cards and were asked to share those tales with a House panel. Instead, they ran headfirst into the buzz-saw of Washington politics when the panel's Republicans insisted the visitors allow their lenders to discuss their financial histories publicly-in any forum, at any time."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908B.shtml



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

Fünf Jahre nach Beginn des Irak-Krieges im März 2003 zieht die Opposition im Deutschen Bundestag eine vernichtende Bilanz. Der Außenpolitiker der Linken, Wolfgang Gehrcke, sagte, Zehntausende Menschen hätten ihr Leben verloren, Hunderttausende seien auf der Flucht. Die Infrastruktur des Irak sei zerstört. Gehrcke rügte: "Die USA haben die Welt in diesen Krieg hineingelogen. Sie waren mächtig genug, diesen Krieg vom Zaune zu brechen, die Folgen aber beherrschen sie nicht mehr." Der Krieg habe zudem das Kräfteverhältnis im Mittleren Osten grundlegend verändert. Eine Folge sei der Aufstieg Irans zur regionalen Hegemonialmacht. Gehrcke forderte den umgehenden Rückzug der US-Truppen aus dem Irak, ohne den eine neue Nahost-Politik nicht denkbar sei. Mit US-Luftangriffen auf Ziele in Bagdad hatte am 20. März 2003 der Irak-Krieg begonnen.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=17552

New Quay (library picture)
The mast is being erected in New Quay

Mobile phone firm O2 has been accused of "riding roughshod" over the concerns of residents by erecting a 49ft (15m) mast without planning permission.

Read More...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/7304844.stm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=without+planning+permission

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/19/7774/



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

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/19/7761/



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

Iraq War Protesters Arrested at IRS
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/19/7758/

--------

Hundreds Arrested in War Protests

Chris Kuttruff, writing for Truthout, reports, "On Monday, more than 200 protesters across the nation were arrested in response to their demonstrations against the war. The protests, rallying thousands across the nation, were organized by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), an organization comprised of a broad coalition of individuals who, according to their web site, oppose the Iraq War and the US 'government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building.'"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032108B.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chris+Kuttruff

19. März 2008

Das Bundesverfassungsgericht hat heute die Vorratsdatenspeicherung gebilligt, aber hohe Hürden gesetzt. Dazu erklärt das Mitglied des Parteivorstandes Jan Korte (MdB):

Das Urteil zeigt, dass das Bundesverfassungsgericht an die Grenzen seiner Möglichkeiten kommt. Der Innenminister treibt es ständig mit immer neuen Sicherheitsgesetzen vor sich her und die Richter können nur im Nachhinein entscheiden. Trotz aller Urteile zu Gunsten der Bürgerrechte und der mittlerweile elf Niederlagen der Bundesregierung ist das Ergebnis eine schrittweise Erosion der Grundrechte. Das aktuelle Urteil deutet einen Meinungswechsel des Gerichts an. Hatte bislang der Bürger theoretisch noch die Hoheit über seine Daten, ist nun die grenzenlose Speicherung gebilligt und der Zugriff auf diese Daten unter gewissen Bedingungen erlaubt. Das heißt konkret, dass der Anwendungsbereich des Grundrechts auf informationelle Selbstbestimmung weiter schrumpft. Nach den bisherigen Erfahrungen ist zudem davon auszugehen, dass die beschriebenen Hürden im Laufe der Zeit immer weiter abgesenkt werden, weil der Staat jede Hemmung verloren hat, sich der Rechte seiner Bürgerinnen und Bürger zu bemächtigen. Ich hätte mir ein klares Nein des Verfassungsgerichts gegen die Vorratsdatenspeicherung gewünscht. Aus der Sicht des Schutzes der Bürgerrechte wäre es unverzichtbar gewesen. Deshalb darf die Politik die Verantwortung für den Schutz der Bürgerrechte nicht nach Karlsruhe abschieben. Ich erwarte vom Gesetzgeber, diese Verantwortung selbst in die Hand zu nehmen. DIE LINKE nimmt dieses Urteil zum Anlass, weiterhin auf einer grundsätzlichen politischen Debatte darüber zu bestehen, wie viel Freiheit wir uns leisten wollen.

http://www.die-linke.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/detail/artikel/politik-darf-verantwortung-fuer-den-schutz-der-buergerrechte-nicht-nach-karlsruhe-abschieben/

--------

Karlsuher Beschluss zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung

Das Bundesverfassungsgericht hat die massenhafte Speicherung von Telefon- und Internetverbindungsdaten vorerst gebilligt, aber deren Nutzung für die Strafverfolgung stark eingeschränkt. In dem am 19. März veröffentlichten Beschluss gaben die Karlsruher Richter einem Eilantrag gegen das seit Januar geltende Gesetz zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung teilweise statt. Die Telekommunikationsunternehmen dürfen dem Beschluss zufolge die Daten zwar sechs Monate lang speichern. Die Daten dürften aber nur dann an die Strafverfolgungsbehörden weitergegeben werden, wenn es in einem Ermittlungsverfahren um eine "schwere Straftat" gehe und der entsprechende Verdacht durch Tatsachen belegt sei. Zudem müsse die Erforschung des Sachverhalts auf andere Weise "wesentlich erschwert" oder aussichtslos sein. In den übrigen Fällen sei von der Übermittlung der Daten "einstweilen abzusehen".

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=17539

--------

Vorratsdatenspeicherung einstweilig eingeschränkt

Eilantrag in Sachen "Vorratsdatenspeicherung" teilweise erfolgreich

Pressemitteilung des Bundesverfassungsgerichtes vom 19. März 2008 zum Beschluss vom 11. März 2008 – 1 BvR 256/08 – http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/pressemitteilungen/bvg08-037.html

und die Entscheidung http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/entscheidungen/rs20080311_1bvr025608.html

Bundesverfassungsgericht schränkt Vorratsdatenspeicherung ein - Zypries' Rücktritt gefordert

„Der Arbeitskreis Vorratsdatenspeicherung begrüßt die heute verkündete Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, die von CDU, CSU und SPD beschlossene verdachtslose Sammlung der Verbindungs- und Standortdaten der gesamten Bevölkerung (Vorratsdatenspeicherung) durch einstweilige Anordnung einzuschränken. Die Verfassungsrichter entschieden: "In dem Verkehrsdatenabruf selbst liegt ein schwerwiegender und nicht mehr rückgängig zu machender Eingriff in das Grundrecht aus Art. 10 Abs. 1 GG (Schutz des Telekommunikationsgeheimnisses). Ein solcher Datenabruf ermöglicht es, weitreichende Erkenntnisse über das Kommunikationsverhalten und die sozialen Kontakte des Betroffenen zu erlangen."…“ Pressemitteilung des Arbeitskreis Vorratsdatenspeicherung vom 19.3.08 mit vielen weiteren Hintergrundinfos http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/content/view/209/55/lang,de/


Einstweilige Anordnung gegen Vorratsdatenspeicherung: Das Verfassungsgericht zieht die Notbremse

„Das Verfassungsgericht hängt etliche Waggons ab und lässt das Gesetz vorläufig nur in sehr langsamer Fahrt weiterfahren - wegen "erheblicher Gefährdung des Persönlichkeitsschutzes"…“ Kommentar von Heribert Prantl in Süddeutsche Zeitung vom 19.3.08 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,tt1m1/deutschland/artikel/745/164283/


Bitte bevorraten Sie sich

„Nach der Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung dürfen die Daten nur genutzt werden, wenn eine schwere Straftat vorliegt, aber es gibt noch weitere Konsequenzen…“ Artikel von Burkhard Schröder in telepolis vom 19.03.2008 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/27/27544/1.html


Rückschlag für Abmahnanwälte und Abfrageprovider? Mögliche Konsequenzen aus der gestrigen Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung

„Das, was das Bundesverfassungsgericht gestern vorläufig verbot – nämlich die Weitergabe von Vorratsdatenspeicherungsdaten zur Verfolgung von Bagatelldelikten - könnte potentiell Auswirkungen auf das Geschäft mit Filesharing-Abmahnungen haben…“ Artikel von Peter Mühlbauer in telepolis vom 20.03.2008 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/27/27547/1.html


Aus: LabourNet, 20. März 2008



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

Mar 19 2008

by Joanne Kelly, Midweek Visiter

PARENTS in Birkdale parked their cars across a garage entrance to successfully stop a phone mast being erected.

The planned site lies close to a children’s playground and adults feared for the youngsters’ safety.

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

By Simon Tostevin

John Curran, director-general of the Office of Utility Regulation, speaking at the Chamber lunch yesterday. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0552468)

THE Office of Utility Regulation is going to review phone mast emissions.

Read More...
http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2008/03/19/check-on-masts-is-ordered/



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

By Diana Pilkington

Worrying news: A number of residents had objected to the plans for Imperial College Boat Club

Plans to place mobile phone antennas on a Putney boat club have been given the green light, despite fears of "terrifying" frequency levels.

The 2G and 3G masts, which have sparked 64 objections from residents, will be installed inside replica chimneys on the roof of the Imperial College Boat Club in the Embankment.

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

http://www.enumax.de
http://www.enumax.de/index_en.php

ENUMAX -- Technologie Die ENUMAX "Non Fuel Energy" - Technologie ist geeignet, stationäre und mobile Energiegewinnungsmaschinen zu betreiben, die ohne den Verbrauch von fossilen Brennstoffen Wärme- und Elektroenergie liefern. Die ENUMAX-Technologie wird bestehende Energieversorgungen in vielen Anwendungen ergänzen und ersetzen und einen neuen Stand der Technik darstellen.

KurzInfo (pdf): http://www.enumax.de/download_summary_de.php

Tiefere ErForschung für diesen Ansatz:
http://www.implosion-ev.de http://www.implosion-ev.de/html/zeitschrift_implosion.html



Advanced Energy Research Organization (AERO), Inc. is a new research and development group formed to develop and strategically protect new energy and propulsion technologies. It is our goal, utilizing a unique strategic approach, to bring forth these new environmentally sound technologies to replace virtually all fossil fuel, internal combustion and ionizing nuclear technologies within 20-30 years.

http://www.aero2012.com



Charlottesville/ USA - Unter dem Namen "The Orion Project" wurde in der Nähe der University of Virginia in Charlottesville eine Forschungseinrichtung gegründet, die sich der Entwicklung von sauberen Energie- und Antriebssysteme verschrieben hat. Bereits innerhalb von zwei Jahren will man funktionierende Lösungen präsentieren, die fossile Brennstoffe sowie die Atomenergie vollständig ersetzten sollen.

Weiter:
http://grenzwissenschaft-aktuell.blogspot.com/2008/03/orion-project-forschungsinstitut-fr.html
http://www.theorionproject.org



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=fossile+Brennstoffe
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Atomenergie

19. März 2008

Anlässlich des fünften Jahrestages des Beginns des Irakkrieges bekräftigt DIE LINKE ihre Forderung nach einem Abzug aller Besatzungstruppen als Voraussetzung für eine dauerhafte, selbstbestimmte und gewaltfreie Entwicklung des Landes. Dazu erklärt Helmut Scholz, Mitglied des Parteivorstandes der LINKEN und der Partei der Europäischen Linken:

Für den Abzug aller Besatzungstruppen notwendig ist die Aufstellung eines festen Zeitplans, der von der UNO zu begleiten und abzusichern ist. Die Lösung der gravierenden wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Probleme in Folge des Krieges erfordert die Übertragung ungeteilter Verfügungsrechte über irakische Ressourcen an den irakischen Staat. Wir unterstützen in diesem Sinne die Irakische Kommunistische Partei, die sich für die Rechte der Frauen, den Ausbau sozialer Rechte und eine friedliche Perspektive des Landes engagiert. Der Angriff und die Besatzung des Iraks durch die USA müssen vor dem Internationalen Gerichtshof in Den Haag verhandelt werden. Kriege dürfen kein Mittel zur Durchsetzung von Interessen sein. DIE LINKE setzt sich daher für eine friedliche Wirtschafts- und Sozialordnung ein, in der Menschenwürde und Solidarität die wichtigsten Prinzipien darstellen. Das ist auch ein Schwerpunkt der diesjährigen Forderungen der LINKEN zu den Ostermärschen 2008. Wir rufen alle Mitglieder und Sympathisanten auf, sich in den kommenden Tagen aktiv auf nationaler und regionaler Ebene an den Aktivitäten der Friedensbewegungen zu beteiligen. Vor fünf Jahren begann der völkerrechtswidrige Angriffskrieg der USA und ihrer Verbündeten gegen den Irak. Doch ungeachtet der maßlosen Gewaltspirale und den verheerenden Folgen für die irakische Zivilbevölkerung trotzt die Bush-Administration jeder Kritik ihrer Besatzungspolitik, in dem Bestreben, eigene politische und ökonomische Interessen in der Region dauerhaft durchzusetzen. Der US-amerikanische Think Tank "Fund for Peace" führt den Irak in seiner Liste gescheiterter Staaten auf Platz zwei hinter dem Sudan. Im Herbst 2007 schätzte das unabhängige britische Forschungsinstitut ORB die Zahl der seit Beginn des Krieges getöteten Iraker auf über eine Million. Hinzu kommt die desolate humanitäre und justizielle Situation. Vier Millionen Iraker leben als Flüchtlinge. Zwei Drittel der Bevölkerung haben keinen Zugang zu sauberem Wasser und Elektrizität. Prozesse sind der Willkür preisgegeben, Beweise werden unter Folter erzwungen, hunderte Menschen wurden seit 2003 zum Tode verurteilt. Das totale Scheitern ihrer Politik vor Augen geführt, klammert sich die US-Regierung an den letzten verbliebenen Strohhalm: Sie behauptet, die Demokratie im Irak durchgesetzt zu haben. Demokratie ist aber nicht nur ein Akt freier Wahlen. Es ist ein Prozess, der auf dem Dialog zwischen allen Teilen der Bevölkerung beruht und Selbstverwirklichung in einem Rahmen von Rechtstaatlichkeit und Sicherheit, körperlich wie sozial, garantiert. Die Durchsetzung dieser Prinzipien kann nicht mit militärischen Mitteln und unter Verletzung des Völkerrechts erfolgen. Zugleich sehen wir, dass es der arbeitenden Bevölkerung, demokratischen Initiativen und sich für eine säkulare, demokratische Entwicklung einsetzenden politischen Kräften zunehmend gelingt, erste Schritte hin zu einer zivilgesellschaftlichen Erneuerung der irakischen Gesellschaft zu gehen. Das muss durch konkrete und breite Hilfe international unterstützt werden. An dieser Stelle ist auch der Einsatz der Bundesregierung gefragt.

http://www.die-linke.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/detail/artikel/dem-irakischen-volk-friedliche-perspektiven-eroeffnen/

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/8c64ecf8aa8a9b98?hl=en



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/taylor-j4.html

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Protests Mark Fifth Anniversary of Iraq War

The Associated Press reports: "Anti-war protests were scheduled in Washington, DC, where demonstrators vowed to block the entrance to the Internal Revenue Service and to disrupt the offices of lobbyists who represent military contractors and oil companies profiting from the war. College students from New Jersey to North Dakota planned walkouts, while students at the University of Minnesota vowed to shut down military recruiting offices on campus."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908L.shtml

--------

Five Years Later
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/19/7777/

Winter Soldiers
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/19/7768/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=lobbyists
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=military+contractor
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=war+profit
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jeff+Taylor
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=/taylor
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rebecca+Solnit

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul440.html



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north614.html



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

AntiWar.Com
by Justin Raimondo

03/19/08

As we observe the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, I am sad — and angry — to report that we are on the brink of war yet again, this time with Iran. Sad for all the obvious reasons: the pointless, tragic deaths; the wanton destruction; the horrific costs of a few men’s hubris. And, yes, angry, because no one seems to have learned the lessons of the last war — not even those who said that if they knew then what they know now, they would never have supported or voted for war with Iraq...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12545



The only lesson we ever learn is that we never learn
Independent [UK]

by Robert Fisk

03/19/08

Five years on, and still we have not learnt. With each anniversary, the steps crumble beneath our feet, the stones ever more cracked, the sand ever finer. Five years of catastrophe in Iraq and I think of Churchill, who in the end called Palestine a ‘hell-disaster.’ But we have used these parallels before and they have drifted away in the Tigris breeze. Iraq is swamped in blood. Yet what is the state of our remorse? Why, we will have a public inquiry — but not yet! If only inadequacy was our only sin...

http://tinyurl.com/2mmlln


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=hubris
http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/justin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Fisk

BBC News [UK]

03/18/08

Education in England could soon become ‘Orwellian’ under a regime of targets, testing, tables, inspections and observation, teachers’ leaders warn. Julia Neal, president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said this was the likely outcome of over-measured, over-monitored schools. The focus is on tests and targets, not personalised learning, she told her union’s annual conference in Torquay. Ms Neal imagined a sinister future with CCTV surveillance in every classroom...

http://tinyurl.com/2co5co


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

http://tinyurl.com/yw69bk


Informant: Mitchel Cohen

From ufpj-news



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

SPD und Grüne in Hessen haben den künftig nur geschäftsführend agierenden Ministerpräsidenten Roland Koch (CDU) davor gewarnt, vom neuen Landtag gefasste Beschlüsse nicht umzusetzen. Wenn das Parlament mit Mehrheit für eine andere Politik stimme, müsse die Regierung das Beschlossene "unverzüglich umsetzen", verlangte die SPD am 18. März. Ähnlich äußerten sich die Grünen. Koch beteuerte, seine Regierung werde die vom Parlament beschlossenen Gesetze ausführen.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=17534



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Roland+Koch

Nach Geringverdienern und Rentnern weitet Bundesarbeitsminister Olaf Scholz (SPD) seine Aktivitäten nun auf die "Generation Praktikum" aus. Mit geringfügigen Gesetzesänderungen wolle er die Situation der Praktikanten verbessern, die eine abgeschlossene Ausbildung haben, sagte Scholz am 18. März in Berlin. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei die Vergütung der Berufseinsteiger. Scholz kritisierte, viele der freiwilligen Praktika von Berufseinsteigern seien unbezahlt. Regelungen im Berufsbildungsgesetz, die eine angemessene Vergütung vorschrieben, blieben von den Arbeitgebern oft aus Unkenntnis unbeachtet. Vom Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB) kam umgehend eine vernichtende Kritik an dem Vorschlag. Scholz verzichte - im Gegensatz zu dessen Darstellung darauf, die Situation von Praktikantinnen und Praktikanten zu verbessern, sagte die stellvertretende DGB-Vorsitzende Ingrid Sehrbrock. "An der gesetzlichen Grundlage ändert sich nichts." Schon heute solle ein Praktikum ein "Lernverhältnis" und die Vergütung "angemessen" sein. Aber: "Wir wissen, dass sich viele Unternehmen darum keinen Deut scheren", so Sehrbrock.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=17533

The Associated Press reports: "A House committee opened an investigation Monday into potential conflicts of interest in scientific panels that advise the Environmental Protection Agency."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031808EB.shtml



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

Writing for Truthout, Josh Schlossberg asks, "It may have taken decades, but could it be that the environmental movement has finally gotten the mainstream media, politicians and the American public to understand that protecting the environment doesn't just mean saving a favorite hiking trail or even some fuzzy critters, but is actually about the future of life as we know it on planet Earth?"

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031808EA.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Josh+Schlossberg

According to Justin Rood of ABC News, "The White House has three days to explain why it shouldn't be required to copy its computer hard drives to ensure no further e-mails are lost, a federal judge ordered Tuesday."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808S.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=missing+emails
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Justin+Rood

The Miami Herald's Carol Rosenberg writes: "In a fresh document from the Guantanamo war court files, Canadian captive Omar Khadr alleges that he was repeatedly threatened with rape as an interrogation technique in Afghanistan and at US Navy base in Cuba."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808R.shtml

--------

Khadr accuses U.S. interrogators of abuse

One interrogator court-martialled after an Afghan prisoner was beaten to death.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2008/03/18/5041486.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Omar+Khadr
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Carol+Rosenberg

http://www.next-up.org/Newsoftheworld/EcoleCamusLyon.php#1



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

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/7010a43cf731fc3c?hl=en



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

A number of clips are now available on YouTube from the documentary "Bad Reception: The Wireless Revolution in San Francisco." The film looks at San Francisco residents' response to the potential health and environmental consequences of new wireless technologies as a case study of similar struggles currently underway throughout the United States and around the world.

Be advised that several shorter, poorer-resolution versions of the following clips have been removed but may still be listed on YouTube (YouTube is slow to deal with changes). But if you use the links below, they should take to you the right place.

Bad Reception: The Wireless Revolution in San Francisco (Opening Montage/Preview)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJvJfgD2ZDI&feature=related


Anti Cell Phone Antenna Demonstration, San Francisco



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


San Francisco Residents Take on the Cell Phone Industry



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYNLZO1TOMA&feature=related


Matt Gonzalez Takes on the Cell Phone Industry



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXMOakKF2bg&feature=related



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=wireless
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=wireless
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bad+Reception
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Bad+Reception

http://www.youtube.com/TheMilitaryCult


Informant: sasha karlik

http://www.infowars.com/?p=895


Informant: shane_digital



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

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/7269/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news



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

Isaiah J. Poole, writing for Campaign for America's Future, says: "A rattled Wall Street. Families imperiled by record foreclosures and rising unemployment. A stymied Congress. A five-year war in Iraq that continues to take lives. The Take Back America conference launched Monday amid some of the most dismal headlines in years, and yet the movement is closer than ever to being able to dramatically change the nation's politics."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808H.shtml



Unsung Heroes and Alternate Voices

Greg Mitchell, writing for TomDispatch.com, says: "In the five years since the tragic US intervention in Iraq began, many journalists for mainstream news outlets have certainly contributed tough and honest reporting. Too often, however, their efforts have either fallen short or been negated by a cascade of pro-war views expressed by pundits, analysts, and editorial writers at their own newspapers or broadcast/cable networks. This sorry record is detailed in my new book, 'So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits - and the President - Failed on Iraq.'"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808I.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=progressives
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Campaign+for+America+Future
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=foreclosure
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Isaiah+J.+Poole
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Greg+Mitchell

Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, reporting for The Free Press, write: "At least 15 touch-screen voting machines that produced improbable numbers in Ohio's 2006 statewide election are now under double-lock in an official crime scene. And the phony 'Homeland Security Alert' used by Republicans to build up George W. Bush's 2004 vote count in a key southwestern Ohio county has come under new scrutiny."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808E.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=voting+machines
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ohio
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Homeland+Security
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bob+Fitrakis
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Harvey+Wasserman

Putin calls for rouble vigilance as dollar plummets

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his government and Central Bank on Monday to keep a close eye on rouble appreciation as the dollar continues to plummet against world currencies.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7391155



Is Britain heading for a Great Depression?

The financial crisis plunged to a new low today as £51 billion was wiped off the value of Britain's top companies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/17/view17c.xml



A financial crisis unmatched since the Great Depression, say analysts

Students of the markets say the only recent parallel with the current turmoil is Japan in the 1990s, but other than that they have had to study the 1930s, when 9,000 banks failed, 1907 when JP Morgan told Wall Street enough was enough after a 50% drop in shares, and even to the series of economic and financial upheavals during the final quarter of the 19th century.

http://tinyurl.com/28gm2t



Europe idle as US battles meltdown

The US Federal Reserve has resorted to the nuclear option in its ever-more depleted arsenal, invoking a Depression-era clause to shoulder the risk of losses stemming from the collapse of Bear Stearns, and to lend money directly to broker dealers.

http://tinyurl.com/2ax5ty



Fears mount over US economy

The dollar on Friday fell below the Swiss franc for the first time ever and George Bush, US president, conceded that the country was "going through a tough time".

http://tinyurl.com/yq9hec



Paulson admits US economy is in decline

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today said the economy is in "sharp decline," the closest he has come yet to conceding that a recession has already set in.

http://tinyurl.com/24b8e8



ANALYSIS: U.S. economy in crisis as it pays price for greed

The stock market usually runs on 90 percent economics and 10 percent psychology. On Monday the proportions were reversed. Fear rules, the future looks threatening and uncertain, and the biggest fear is the collapse of the U.S. financial system.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/965543.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=dollar+plummet
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=currencies
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Great+Depression
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=meltdown
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bear+Stearns
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=US+economy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paulson
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=recession
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=stock+market
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+system

Almost 32 years to the day after President Gerald Ford created an independent Intelligence Oversight Board made up of private citizens with top-level clearances to ferret out illegal spying activities, President Bush issued an executive order that stripped the board of much of its authority.

http://tinyurl.com/yplzc2


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Intelligence+Oversight+Board
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=spying
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=executive+order

Sen. John McCain, traveling in the Middle East to promote his foreign policy expertise, misidentified in remarks Tuesday which broad category of Iraqi extremists are allegedly receiving support from Iran.

http://tinyurl.com/3copuh



McCain: A History of Being Wrong About Al Qaeda, Iraq and Iran

McCain Has on Several Occasions Implied that Iran is an Important Al Qaeda Partner.
http://tinyurl.com/3bspdv


From Information Clearing House

--------

McCain Says It's "Common Knowledge" That Iran Is Training Al Qaeda
http://www.infowars.net/articles/march2008/180308McCain.htm

--------

McCain's repeated "slips of the tongue" on Iran and al-Qaida
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/19/mccain/index.html


Informant: Lew Rockwell

--------

Media Firestorm Over (Repeated) McCain Al Qaeda Gaffe? Hardly
http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0319-06.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Middle+East
http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Glenn+Greenwald

20pc of Iraqis displaced or refugees:

NEARLY one in five of Iraq's population before the US-led invasion five years ago are living as internally displaced people or refugees in other countries, a global relief agency says.

http://tinyurl.com/256w8q



Five-Year Iraq Occupation Has Caused Massive Refugee Crisis

IRC Commission Calls U.S. / World Response 'Grossly Inadequate'
http://tinyurl.com/28vwgm


From Information Clearing House



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

By Tom Burghardt

The Washington Post revealed Friday that the FBI is continuing its systematic violation of Americans' Fourth Amendment guarantees against "unreasonable searches and seizures."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19558.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=security+state

By Larry Elliott, economics editor

The crisis will only end when house prices stop falling and banks stop racking up huge losses on their loans. Doing that, however, will require the US government to intervene directly in the real estate market to end the wave of foreclosures. Ideologically, it is ill-equipped to take that step and, as a result, property prices will fall and the financial meltdown will go on and on.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19562.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=real+estate
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=foreclosure
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=meltdown
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Larry+Elliott

Paul Craig Roberts

In his famous book, The Collapse of British Power (1972), Correlli Barnett reports that in the opening days of World War II Great Britain only had enough gold and foreign exchange to finance war expenditures for a few months. The British turned to the Americans to finance their ability to wage war. Barnett writes that this dependency signaled the end of British power.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19556.htm



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

The Despoiling of America

By Katherine Yurica

George W. Bush began to wield the sword of God's revenge with relish from the beginning of his administration, but most of us missed the sword play. I have taken the liberty to paraphrase an illustration from Leo Strauss, the father of the neo-conservative movement, which gives us a clue of how the hiding is done.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5646.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Leo+Strauss
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19563.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Linda+Heard

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/45dcbe05538cf489?hl=en



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

Special Alert!

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/2c3e4662b411cec8?hl=en
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Buffalo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bison

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/18/7740/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Abu+Ghraib
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Winship

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/18/7739/
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance137.html

Anti-War Grannies Arrested Trying To Enlist
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/18/7744/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Odom
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dahr+Jamail
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/vance

Hannah Allam and Qassim Zein report for McClatchy Newspapers, "Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday made a surprise visit to Baghdad, where he pledged that US forces would 'not quit before the job is done' and said that a massive troop buildup had achieved 'phenomenal' improvements in security."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808P.shtml

--------

Journey to Baghdad killing fields
http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1170&thisview=item

Baghdad is more divided than ever
http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1171&thisview=item

--------

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq "1,185,800" http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html



Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially Acknowledged) In America's War On Iraq 3,987
http://icasualties.org/oif/



The War in Iraq Costs $502,216,875,875

See the cost in your community http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182



Cheney again links Iraq invasion to 9/11 attacks

Vice President Dick Cheney told soldiers in Iraq that the 9/11 attacks spurred the decision to invade Iraq.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/story/461967.html



Cheney On Two-Thirds Of The American Public Opposing The Iraq War: "So?"

Video

ABC's Good Morning America aired an interview with Vice President Cheney on the war. During the segment, Cheney flatly told White House correspondent Martha Raddatz that he doesn't care about the American public's views on the war.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/19/cheney-poll-iraq/



What is the real death toll in Iraq?

The Americans learned one lesson from Vietnam: don't count the civilian dead.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/19/iraq


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=troop+surge
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Hannah+Allam
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Martha+Raddatz

Truthout's Matt Renner talks with Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) about the Democratic presidential primary contest, the ongoing occupation of Iraq, the sudden resignation of Adm. William Fallon and the recent revelations about the Bush administration's surveillance programs.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808J.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Peter+DeFazio
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Fallon
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=surveillance
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Matt+Renner

Maura Reynolds and Janet Hook report for The Los Angeles Times: "In some ways it was a throwaway line, the kind of praise a boss tosses out casually. But as the economy teetered Monday, President Bush's words to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson struck many as discordant and disengaged. 'I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for working over the weekend,' Bush said as he met with his economic advisors at the White House."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808O.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paulson
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Janet+Hook

Josh Meyer, of The Los Angeles Times, reports, "Adding to the litany of complaints about one of the nation's primary counter-terrorism safety nets, a Justice Department audit has concluded that the FBI provided the government-wide terrorism watch list with incomplete, inaccurate and outdated information about suspects for almost three years."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808N.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=flawed+data
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=terrorism+watch+list
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Josh+Meyer

Steven Rosenfeld reports for AlterNet, "For at least four years, since the 2004 presidential election, when a veteran, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was the Democratic Party nominee, the Department of Veterans Affairs has blocked efforts to help US soldiers register to vote at its facilities in all 50 states."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808L.shtml



Veterans Department Creates Roadblocks to Voter Registration for Injured Vets

Steven Rosenfeld reports for AlterNet, "On the same day the Pentagon's commander in Iraq told the Senate that new troop withdrawals could not considered for months, Secretary of Veterans Affairs James B. Peake told two Democratic senators that his department will not help injured veterans at VA facilities to register to vote before the 2008 election."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041008O.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=voter+registration
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=2008+elections
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=veterans
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Veterans+Affairs
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Steven+Rosenfeld

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/ba49defce806a99e?hl=en



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=CodePink
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=winter+soldier

"Entmachtet die Banker!"
http://www.meta-info.de/?lid=31185

--------

Steinbrück eilt Deutsche-Bank-Chef Ackermann zu Hilfe

Es wirkt wie ein abgestimmtes Drehbuch. Am Abend des 17. März ruft fordert Deutsche Bank-Chef Josef Ackermann wegen der Finanzkrise in den USA Unterstützung auch vom deutschen Staat. "Es reicht nicht mehr, die Banken zu gegenseitiger Hilfe aufzufordern. Es gibt keinen Liquiditätsengpass, sondern einen Investorenstreik. Ich glaube hier nicht allein an die Selbstheilungskräfte der Märkte." Der mächtige Bank-Chef rief zu "gemeinsamen Aktionen" von Regierungen, Zentralbanken und Privatbanken auf, um das Vertrauen in die globalen Finanzmärkte wiederherzustellen. Die Regierungen müssten Einfluss nehmen auf die Märkte. Er forderte eine globale Regulierungsbehörde. Ackermann musste nicht lange warten. Schon am nächsten Morgen reagierte Bundesfinanzminister Peer Steinbrück (SPD) - und forderte praktisch das Gleiche. Zunächst sprach Steinbrück in Potsdam von der "größten Finanzkrise der letzten Jahrzehnte". Und forderte wie Ackermann: Nur durch einen engen Schulterschluss von Politik, Zentralbank und Kreditbranche sei die Finanzkrise zu bewältigen. "Wir in Deutschland sind sehr stark darauf angewiesen, die gute Zusammenarbeit zwischen Politik, Bundesbank, den jeweiligen Bankenverbänden und Bankeninstituten so dicht zu halten, dass wir die Folgewirkungen minimieren können", so der Bundesfinanzminister. Der Bundesverband deutscher Banken hatte vor dem Hintergrund der Finanzkrise schon vor einiger Zeit "eine verbesserte internationale Zusammenarbeit" gefordert. Das globalisierungskritische Netzwerk Attac protestierte gegen die Bestrebungen, die Folgen einer "verfehlten neoliberalen Finanzmarktpolitik" nun auf die Allgemeinheit abzuwälzen.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=17531



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Josef+Ackermann
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Steinbrück
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Finanzkrise

„Die Telekom Austria kündigt einen Job-Abbau an, und die Gewerkschaft hüllt sich in Schweigen. Es betrifft ja schließlich nur Zeitarbeiter. Sind Beschäftigte von Leasingfirmen Arbeiter zweiter Klasse? Es war niemals schlimm. Denn die Gewerkschaft hat die Meldung von 1000 Jobs, die angeblich zur Disposition stünden, sogar mit Wohlwollen aufgenommen. Es sei durchaus im Interesse des Betriebsrats, dass zuerst Leasingkräfte statt fixer Mitarbeiter abgebaut werden, sagte Betriebsratschef Michael Kolek zur „Presse“. „Es kann ja nicht sein, dass wir Leiharbeiter aufnehmen und für die eigenen Leute keine Jobs haben.“ Leasingkräfte zählen für Gewerkschafter also nicht zu den „eigenen Leuten“. Und das bekommen sie täglich zu spüren. Erst recht, wenn es um ihre Jobs geht…“ Artikel von G. Hofer und O. Griffe in der österreichischen Die Presse vpm 14.03.2008 http://diepresse.com/home/wirtschaft/economist/369969/index.do?_vl_backlink=/home/index.do


Aus: LabourNet, 18. März 2008



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

Der Swisscom läuft die Zeit davon.

Die Swisscom ist derzeit daran, ein neues Handy-TV-Netz aufzubauen. Erklärtes Ziel ist es, die grossen Agglomerationen bis zum Beginn der Euro 08 im Juni zu abzudecken. Wie "20 Minuten" berichtet, läuft der Telekomanbieterin bei diesem Unterfangen jedoch die Zeit davon, weil Elektrosmog-Gegner den Bau nötiger Anlagen blockieren. Das Pendlerblatt zitiert Hans-Ueli Jakob von der IG Gigaherz, der bereits davon spricht, dass die Swisscom mit diesem Ziel gescheitert sei.

Weiter unter...
http://www.persoenlich.com/news/show_news.cfm?newsid=74363



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Handy-TV
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Elektrosmog
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=IG+Gigaherz

The American Conservative
by Robert Bryce

03/10/08

Napoleon famously said that an army marches on its stomach. That may have been true for his 19th-century force. But the modern American military runs on jet fuel — and lots of it. Today the average American G.I. in Iraq uses about 20.5 gallons of fuel every day, more than double the daily volume consumed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq in 2004. Thus, in order to secure the third-richest country on the planet, the U.S. military is burning enormous quantities of petroleum. And nearly every drop of that fuel is imported into Iraq...

http://www.amconmag.com/2008/2008_03_10/cover.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

from Reason to Freedom
by Peter Namtvedt

03/14/08

The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States announced today before the opening of the stock market that it would create an exchange whereby bundles of mortgages would be bought in exchange for $200 billion of its reserves, for a period of 28 days. If that does not prove sufficient to ’stabilize’ prices and prevent a recession, it would be repeated. Thus, if the prices do not stabilize and a recession does not prove to be prevented in the next month, this will be repeated (I have never heard of a one-month period proving this kind of change of trend). … A grade school kid will quickly tell you that by injecting this much credit into the market, the Fed could be broke in four months...

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


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=stock+market
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=recession
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mortgage
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Peter+Namtvedt

UBS AG posted its biggest drop in more than nine years in Zurich and Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. fell to the lowest in four years. Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index and Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average sank to the lowest since 2005

http://tinyurl.com/3c6xga



Fed acts Sunday to prevent global bank run Monday

Acting quickly to prevent a run on major global financial firms, the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.25% and offered to lend money to a longer list of firms than ever before.

http://tinyurl.com/2yvfyt



Dollar dives to near 13-year low vs. yen

Greenback plunges after Federal Reserve slashes discount rate at emergency meeting.

http://tinyurl.com/39opzw



Global market panic sparks more gold buying, bullion near record

Unrelenting dollar weakness, with the greenback near another record low against the euro and a 12-year bottom against the yen, also sparked gold-buying, as bullion became cheaper for those trading in other currencies.

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/03/17/afx4779779.html



JPMorgan to buy crisis-hit US bank

But the deal announced late on Sunday in the US has failed to soothe worries among Asian investors over the strength of the US economy and the continuing fallout from the global credit crunch.

http://tinyurl.com/2qgv9r



JPMorgan Surges After Capturing Bear Stearns for $240 Million

JPMorgan Chase & Co. surged in New York trading after striking a deal backed by the Federal Reserve to buy Bear Stearns Cos. for $2 a share, 90 percent less than the 85-year old firm's market value last week.

http://tinyurl.com/2fohg5



Banks face "new world order," consolidation: report

Financial firms face a "new world order" after a weekend fire sale of Bear Stearns and the Federal Reserve's first emergency weekend meeting since 1979, research firm CreditSights said in a report on Monday.

http://tinyurl.com/39wdj3



Wall St braced for buy-out loans pain

Wall Street investment banks are poised for further pain from loans to private equity groups when they start reporting first-quarter results this week.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ee1ad274-f3c4-11dc-b6bc-0000779fd2ac.html



Wall Street fears for next Great Depression

Wall Street is bracing itself for another week of roller-coaster trading after more than $300bn (£150bn) was wiped off the US equity markets on Friday following the emergency funding package put together by the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase to rescue Bear Stearns.

http://tinyurl.com/2qlv6p



U.S. to start economic stimulus payments May 2

The IRS said the payments -- tax rebates of about $600 for most middle-income individuals and $1,200 for middle-income couples -- will be sent in the order of the last two digits of the taxpayer's Social Security number. Taxpayers must file a 2007 tax return to receive a payment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1759922420080317



How bad is the mortgage crisis going to get?

What started in subprime is likely to continue cascading into the markets and keep the economy down until 2010, economist Paul Krugman forecasts. Bottom line for homeowners: An average drop of 25%.

http://tinyurl.com/2qlv6p


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dollar+decline
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=credit+crunch
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bear+Stearns
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=stimulus
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mortgage
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Krugman

Muslim prisoners held in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison were submerged in water-filled garbage cans with ice or put naked under cold showers in near-freezing rooms until they went into shock, Sgt. Javal Davis, who served with the 372nd Military Police Company there, has told a national magazine.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/31874


From Information Clearing House



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

VIDEO

At its core, the "War on Terror" is inherently racist. Its central tenet is that all Muslims are interchangeable.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/79865/


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=winter+soldier
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=veterans
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=racism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joshua+Holland

Tens of thousands of protesters across the world have taken part in a day of protests demanding the withdrawal of US and British troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://tinyurl.com/39pna9


From Information Clearing House

Wherever you stand on the Obama/Clinton race, one thing nearly everyone agrees on is this: She voted for the war resolution in 2002, but now says the resolution did not really authorize the war -- and she calls the 2003 invasion a mistake. But what did she do in attempting to halt the war in the two weeks before it began?

http://tinyurl.com/25anmh


From Information Clearing House



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

The humanitarian situation in Iraq five years after the US-led invasion is 'one of the most critical in the world,' the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a report issued Monday.

http://tinyurl.com/27zzw2



Red Cross says millions of Iraqis lack water and healthcare

Five years after the United States led an invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are still deprived of clean water and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday.

http://tinyurl.com/28myzs



France says Iraqi crisis one of worst in worldwide

"The crisis affecting Iraq is one of the most grave in the world," she said. "In a situation which remains extremely fragile with regard to security, there is a humanitarian dimension of a particular gravity," she added.

http://tinyurl.com/2clbhg



Patrick Cockburn: Iraq is a country no more

'It reminds me of Iraq under Saddam," a militant opponent of Saddam Hussein said angrily to me last week as he watched red-capped Iraqi soldiers close down part of central Baghdad so the convoy of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, might briefly venture into the city.

http://tinyurl.com/2pfz3g



Only Saddam Hussein can run Iraq, says aide

A prominent figure in the Iraqi opposition movement that helped propel America and Britain to war in 2003 has said the country would be better off if Saddam Hussein was still in power.

http://tinyurl.com/2glw8w



Iraq key players, then and now

The world was divided in 2003 into countries that supported or opposed the Iraq war. The UN was in the middle. Here we recount the arguments for and against made by eight key players, and where they stand now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7297592.stm


From Information Clearing House



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

Sen. John McCain stressed the importance of a U.S. commitment to Iraq during talks with Iraq's prime minister Monday, and explosions struck Baghdad during twin visits by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and Vice President Dick Cheney.

http://tinyurl.com/25f94c


From Information Clearing House



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

By Mike Whitney

Bear's travails are just the beginning of Wall Street's woes. Now there's talk of Lehman Brothers going under. According to the Wall Street Journal.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19552.htm

--------

The Fed panics

The American Spectator
by Philip Klein

The extraordinary intrusion into the free market over the past several days by the Federal Reserve Board under Chairman Ben Bernanke should send shudders down the spines of conservatives everywhere. While some so-called free marketers were lauding the Fed’s bailout of Bear Stearns as a necessary rescue of a banking institution that was too connected with the rest of the financial system to be allowed to fail, government should not protect Wall Street firms from the inherent risks of investing. As a result of the deal, American taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars in troubled mortgage assets so that Bear Stearns can avert bankruptcy...

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12911


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bear+Stearns
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bernanke
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=financial+system
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mortgage
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bankruptcy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mike+Whitney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Philip+Klein

By Max Hastings

The next US president must reject the juvenile Bush vision, reach out to Iran and seek justice for the Palestinian people.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19551.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=military+power
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Max+Hastings

BBC News reports: "The rate at which some of the world's glaciers are melting has more than doubled, data from the United Nations Environment Programme has shown."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031708EA.shtml

--------

Glacier ice loss at record levels
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/glacier-ice-loss-at-record-levels-796623.html


Informant: Bob Banner



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=glaciers
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=shrinkage
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=melting
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Geoffrey+Lean

"Should telecommunication companies receive retroactive immunity for their role in helping the government eavesdrop on American phone calls and emails? As Congress and President Bush duel over the answer to that question, NOW on PBS interviews a whistleblower with exclusive insight into the role played by one of those companies."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708U.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=telecoms
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=immunity
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=eavesdrop

The Associated Press reports: "Pope Benedict XVI issued one of his strongest appeals for peace in Iraq on Sunday, days after the body of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found near the northern city of Mosul."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708R.shtml

by Cliff Kincaid

But Paulson’s answer was similar to Bush’s. He said that “on the one hand, you’ve got a moral hazard. On the other, you’ve got what’s right for the markets, what’s right for the stability of the financial system, the U.S. economy.” He said that “All of these situations are situation-specific, depending on what’s going on in the markets at the time. You’re jumping to a conclusion about what the cost is going to be to U.S. taxpayers.”.......

http://www.newswithviews.com/Kincaid/cliff212.htm

--------

Too Big to Bail

The Fed's Wall Street Dilemma

By Pam Martens

Americans learned two new truths last week from the Bush Administration's version of Life's Little Instruction Book: if you're a Wall Street miscreant you're thrown a lifeline; if you're a Wall Street crime fighter you're thrown a land mine.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19555.htm



The Fed is just an Extension of the Banking Establishment; The Bear bailout proves it

By Mike Whitney

Direct intervention into supposedly "free markets" is less defensible when it is merely a matter of saving an over-leveraged banking system from its inevitable Day of Reckoning. And, yet, that appears to be the reason for the White House confab.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19572.htm



If the bailout comes, watch for a dollar dive

If the United States bails out the financial system by buying mortgage debt directly, the price just might be surging inflation and a dollar crisis.

http://tinyurl.com/2zyh8h


From Information Clearing House

--------

The Fed Packages Corruption as Sound Public Policy

David Sirota writes for Creators Syndicate, "If you are a banking executive whose risky loans go bad, your industry's campaign donations get you Big Boy Bailout-ism that makes taxpayers 'take the bad loans off the banks' books,' as one financial analyst gushed this week. If you are a regular Joe who can't pay your home loan, you get foreclosed on."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032108O.shtml



The Gentlemen's Bailout

The Nation's editorial team writes, "The Federal Reserve's announcement of an open-ended bailout for Wall Street's endangered financial firms and banks opens an ominous new chapter in what might be called 'market socialism with American characteristics.'"

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032108LA.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bailout
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paulson
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bear+Stearns
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=free+markets
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=foreclosure
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http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/Kincaid
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pam+Martens
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mike+Whitney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Sirota

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/27/27513/1.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Erwerbslose
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Arbeitslosenstatistik
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ein-Euro-Jobs

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/27/27520/1.html



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

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/27/27525/1.html



Zuversicht in den Ghettos?

Irak: Fünf Jahre nach der Invasion.
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/27/27519/1.html

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/c25e6bca52df470f?hl=en


From ufpj-news



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

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8371



http://freepage.twoday.net/topics/Is+Iran+next/
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Marjorie+Cohn

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/9ce3b36940d0b732?hl=en



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+Veterans+Against+the+War

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/9eb2698be7bcfec7?hl=en



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Greenwald

http://www.lewrockwell.com/hornberger/hornberger146.html



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/chartier/chartier100.html



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