World-News

Residents who battled plans to install a mobile phone mast in Shrewsbury more than 18 months ago have warned the mobile phone giant behind new plans they “have a fight on their hands”.

Last year protesters successfully stopped plans by phone giant O2 to erect a 12.5 metre antenna near their homes in Copthorne.

But councillor Judith Williams last week received a letter from rival firm Vodafone stating its intention to use the site for its mast.

Dr Jon Sharp, of Shrewsbury Chiropractic Clinic in Copthorne Road, said: “We fought the last phone mast and we will fight this one too.

Read More...
http://www.shropshirestar.com/2008/08/26/residents-will-fight-new-plan-for-mast/

ISIS Press Release 26/08/08

The US Department of Agriculture’s give-away insurance rates for GM crops risk bankrupting the public coffers. Prof. Joe Cummins

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) is part of the Risk Management Agency (RMA) that serves under the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), a Federal Executive Department (or Cabinet Department).The USDA-FCIC safeguards the economic stability of agriculture through a system of crop insurance and provides the means for research in devising and establishing such insurance. It is managed by a Board of Directors, subject to the general supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture.

On 12 September 2007, the FCIC Board of Directors approved a Biotech Yield Endorsement (BYE) pilot programme submitted under section 523(d) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act. The result is that farmers growing Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) maize receives crop insurance at a greatly reduced cost of between 20 and 70 percent.

The BYE programme was crafted by the Monsanto Corporation and its first beneficiary is limited to its GM maize. This insurance bonanza is intended for farmers planting Monsanto’s GM maize that has Bt genes against corn borer and root worm stacked with a gene for tolerance to Round-up herbicide. The FCIC Board of Directors, at its 14 August 2008 meeting, approved additional seed technologies for premium rate reduction for producers planting certain corn hybrid varieties; i.e., those containing Bt genes for corn borer and rootworm stacked with genes for tolerance to herbicides such as glyphosate and glufosinate. The companies benefiting from the largesse of the USDA give-away insurance include besides Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta and Pioneer Hi-Bred [1, 2].

Read the rest of this article here http://www.i-sis.org.uk/USDAgifttoMonsanto.php



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=USDA
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Monsanto
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GM+maize
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Syngenta

Matt Kelley, USA Today: "The Senate's longest-serving Republican, Alaska's Ted Stevens, heads into a primary election today at a time when he is fighting for his political life and his party is struggling to hold onto its Senate seats. Stevens, who was indicted last month on federal charges of failing to report gifts he got from a wealthy constituent, is likely to survive the GOP primary over six lesser-known challengers. But he's trailing by 13 percentage points in a recent statewide poll by Rasmussen Reports against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, Stevens' likely fall opponent."

http://www.truthout.org/article/alaska-scandal-underscores-gop-troubles



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GOP
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ted+Stevens
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Matt+Kelley

Erin Emery and David Olinger, The Denver Post: "Five years into the war in Iraq and six years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the Army is sending soldiers with physical and mental injuries back to war, at times overruling physicians' classifications of soldiers as 'nondeployable.' Facing demands unprecedented in the history of the all-volunteer force, the Army has deployed soldiers with slings and crutches and some who need machines to help keep them alive through the night. Thousands are taking pain, sleep or antidepressant medication, with sometimes deadly consequences."

http://www.truthout.org/article/veterans-battle-within



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=injuries
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=veterans
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Erin+Emery

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/676/t/580/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1357

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Ghana: Kein Goldabbau im Ajenua Bepo-Wald
Goldförderung zerstört Regenwald Goldförderung zerstört Regenwald

Seit Jahren kämpfen Kleinbauernfamilien und die in der National Coalition on Mining (NCOM) zusammengeschlossenen Nichtregierungsorganisationen in Ghana gegen die Freigabe der Naturschutzgebiete des Landes für Bergbauaktivitäten wie den Abbau von Gold. Schon heute sind 13 Prozent der Landesfläche als Konzessionen an Bergbauunternehmen vergeben. Die Freigabe der Waldschutzgebiete für den Bergbau hätte weitreichende Konsequenzen für die Natur und Ernährungssicherheit des Landes. (Start: 26.08.2008)

http://www.regenwald.org/protestaktion.php?id=306

„In Potsdam und anderen ostdeutschen Städten bekommen Mitarbeiter der deutschen Telekom einen Vorgeschmack auf das, was ihnen blüht, wenn der Konzern nach Ablauf der mit der Gewerkschaft ver.di vereinbarten Haltefrist weitere Callcenter verkauft. In einem 2007 von der Telekom an die Bertelsmann-Tochter Arvato verkauften Center sollen die 60 Beschäftigten neue Arbeitsverträge unterschreiben, die unter anderem eine Lohnabsenkung um bis zu 30 Prozent, eine Wochenarbeitszeiterhöhung von bisher 38 auf 40 Stunden sowie die Verringerung des Jahresurlaubs von derzeit 30 auf 26 Tage beinhalten. Nach Informationen von ver.di plant die Geschäftsleitung mittelfristig weitere Schritte. So soll der durchschnittliche Bruttojahresverdienst der Beschäftigten auf rund 15000 Euro gedrückt werden…“ Artikel in der jungen Welt vom 23.08.2008 http://www.jungewelt.de/2008/08-23/011.php

Siehe dazu:

»Einige Kollegen sind in ihrer Existenz bedroht«

Im Callcenter Arvato in Potsdam sollen die Gehälter um 30 Prozent gekürzt werden. Ein Interview von Gitta Düperthal mit Jörg Kiekhäfer, Gewerkschaftssekretär für den Fachbereich Telekommunikation im ver.di-Landesbezirk Berlin-Brandenburg, in der jungen Welt vom 25.08.2008 http://www.jungewelt.de/2008/08-25/017.php


Aus: LabourNet, 26. August 2008

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Arvato setzt auf Privatisierung staatlicher Dienstleistungen

Bertelsmann trennt sich vom Musikgeschäft Sony/BMG und schichtet eine Milliarde um. Vermutlich fließt ein Großteil in den Bereich Arvato: Logistik, Internet, "Government Services": Ein 20-Milliarden-Euro-Markt.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28605/1.html



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

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese491.html

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Army, Flag, and Cross

Reverie on a Ribbon

By Stephen J. Gallagher

Romantic nationalism takes as its starting point the "white man's burden" and America's unique world-historical mission to "bring" democracy to the benighted peoples of the wold.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20625.htm



Fascism Anyone?

Sadly, historical amnesia is the norm.

By Laurence W. Britt

Fascism's principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4113.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=exporting+democracy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=fascism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/reese

http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan96.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Georgia
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/buchanan

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reed/reed144.html



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

Handys können ganz schön auf die Nerven gehen. Besonders lästig können die tragbaren Telephone werden, wenn die unterschiedlichen Klingeltöne den Schulunter-richt stören. Einge Gemeinden haben deshalb bereits reagiert. So hat der Gemeinderat von Lintgen unlängst auf Betreiber und Lehrerschaft angeordnet, dass die Schüler ihr Handy weder in der Schule noch auf dem Pausenhof benutzen dürfen.

Weiter unter...
http://www.wort.lu/index.php?art=6631373


Informant: Pesché Jeannot

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Handyverbot an Schulen
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1677088/

Asia Times
by Jim Lobe

08/25/08

In a ‘breathtaking’ two weeks of foreign policy failures, Washington has seen bloody attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the possibility of renewed civil war in Iraq and the embarrassment of Russia’s invasion of Georgia. In sum, the Pax Americana era, in which the US maintained a monopoly on the use of military force, came to an end...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JH26Aa02.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pax+Americana
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Georgia
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pakistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jim+Lobe

Errol Louis, New York Daily News: "Seventy-two days from now, when an estimated 122 million Americans will vote for our next president, nearly every crucial part of Election Day machinery - from the operation of the machines to the clarity of the ballot choices - will be, in many places, a confusing mess."

http://www.truthout.org/article/casting-doubt-a-voting-plan



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=presidential+election

UK: Banks were accused of 'milking' nearly £3billion extra cash from homeowners and blaming the credit crunch.

http://tinyurl.com/6j2fme



Lone accountant takes on IRS and wins

It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute. Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_10292128



The big secret in U.S. housing

Taxpayers need answers if billions are to be required in a potential crisis or if Congress and Treasury plan to maintain Fannie and Freddie in their present form. Yet debate in the campaign is negligible.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080825/cm_csm/efannie


From Information Clearing House

--------

The Housing Bubble Villains Deny Responsibility

Dean Baker, Truthout: "The central bankers of the world gathered last weekend for their annual meeting at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This was an opportunity to talk about the major issues confronting the world economy, as well as an opportunity to spend some time in a very beautiful vacation spot."

http://www.truthout.org/article/the-housing-bubble-villains-deny-responsibility



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=credit+crunch
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Fannie
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=taxpayer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=housing
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dean+Baker

A band of pre-eminent scientists and war-fighters has concluded that the nation's military might isn't powerful enough for the 21st Century; and so the National Research Council (NRC), an independent, congressionally-chartered body charged with assessing scientific issues, is urging the Pentagon and Congress to get cracking on developing a weapon capable of hitting any target in the world within an hour of being launched.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1834547,00.html

There is a growing belief within the US government that the new leadership in Islamabad has proved to be ineffectual in the fight against the militants.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hg0RDDhYni5_l5ipw0w944Z955zA


From Information Clearing House



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

Aug 28 2008 by Dominic Jones, Gwent Gazette

PLANS to allow a new mobile phone mast to be built near a Six Bells primary school have met with anger from concerned parents.

Blaenau Gwent Council confirmed mobile phone company Vodafone had submitted an application to build a new tower, between 10-15m high, on land adjacent to the Old Quarry in Cwm Farm Road, Six Bells, near Bryngwyn Primary.

A council spokeswoman said they were currently consulting Six Bells householders through site notices and letters to individual properties before making a decision.

The spokeswoman added: “As the proposed mast at Six Bells will be less than 15m in height, the council has, under current planning regulations, 56 days to make a decision on the acceptability of its siting and appearance, which it will do through its normal planning procedures.”

Worried parents and residents have started a campaign to convince the planning committee to think twice about giving the tower the green light.

Read More...
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/blaenau-gwent/2008/08/28/phone-mast-fears-91466-21599836/

http://groups.google.de/group/freepage-news/t/4902cd28a50e44ef?hl=en



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Georgia
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=neocons
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cold+War
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=contractor

Chalmers Johnson, TomDispatch.com: "There have been many dispiriting sights on TV since George Bush launched his ill-starred war on Iraq -- the pictures from Abu Ghraib, Fallujah laid waste, American soldiers kicking down the doors of private homes and pointing assault rifles at women and children. But few have reverberated historically like the looting of Baghdad's museum -- or been forgotten more quickly in this country."

http://www.truthout.org/article/the-smash-civilizations



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

Telford & Wrekin Council could face legal action and a bill of more than £100,000 if it breaks a contract with phone giant Vodafone over a controversial mast in the town, it was claimed today.

Read More...
http://www.shropshirestar.com/2008/08/25/fears-of-big-legal-bill-in-mast-row/

Monday August 25 2008

I have eight questions for Dublin City Council regarding phone masts on top of Northside Swimming Pool.

As a former resident of Kilmore West, and someone whose family still lives in the area, I would also like to register my protest, in the strongest possible way, against the presence of approximately 50 mobile phone masts on top of the Northside Shopping Centre pool.

Read More...
http://www.herald.ie/opinion/letters/is-your-community-being-put-at-risk-1462658.html

Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

08/22/08

The U.S. missile defense program, which contributed to the deterioration of U.S.-Russian relations that helped generate the Russian-Georgian conflict, has benefited from that conflict and may cause a further downward spiral in the relationship between these two great powers. Along with the recognition of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia and repeated rounds of an expanding NATO — a Cold War alliance the Russians perceive as hostile — to Russia’s doorstep, the unilateral U.S. abrogation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty to pursue missile defense humiliated a weakened Russia. But with oil prices high, economic growth robust, and new bold leadership, a much stronger and grumpier Russian bear has emerged from hibernation, as predicted by U.S. doves as early as the mid-1990s...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2300



The war that never was

AntiWar.Com
by Nebojsa Malic

09/11/08

Had there actually been a war on terrorism, targeting the jihadists, Washington could have counted on help from just about anyone. Once it was obvious that America was pursuing not Islamic fanatics but global hegemony, offers of assistance dried up. Worse yet, Washington has done its best to annoy and alienate other powers, such as China and Russia in particular, from the bogus ‘missile shield’ in Eastern Europe to the secession of Kosovo in February this year. In August, when the U.S. client regime of Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia decided to ‘reintegrate’ a couple of pro-Russian provinces refusing to accept his authority, Moscow struck back. Howls of outrage from the West only underscored the hypocrisy over Kosovo. Either no one in Washington realized that the price of crushing Serbia would be ‘losing’ Russia, or they didn’t care...

http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=13443


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

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Russian Jerks Meet Western Knee-Jerks

Steve Weissman, Truthout: "The Russians can be real jerks, but they are not the only ones dragging us into a cold war redo. Blockheads on all sides are bringing back the risk of all-out nuclear conflict, along with a new arms race and the thrusting of American power from the Russian borderlands to wherever we see a Russian proxy. Even if Barack Obama and Joe Biden manage to win the election in November, the financial cost of a rush to yesteryear could cripple any real chance for a better tomorrow."

http://www.truthout.org/article/russian-jerks-meet-western-knee-jerks



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=missile+shield
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=nuclear+conflict
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=arms+race
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=hegemony
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Georgia
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kosovo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ivan+Eland
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Steve+Weissman

Common Dreams
by Christopher Brauchli

08/23/08

August 2008 was a banner month for passports. They played a significant role in world events that garnered them rare publicity. Two of the events demonstrated how easy a government can make it to get passports and one demonstrated how difficult it can be...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/23/11106/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Christopher+Brauchli

http://list.lewrockwell.com/t/1079675/12759198/55982/0/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Simon+Jenkins

Biden for Vice-Dictator
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/24/ignatius/index.html


Obama's Cheney
http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13378


Informant: Lew Rockwell

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Obama Selects Biden to Reassure the US Ruling Elite

By Patrick Martin

It is impossible to conduct a serious struggle against American imperialism, and its program of social reaction and war, without first breaking free of the straitjacket of the Democratic Party.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20619.htm



Oh, No! Not Joe Biden!

The Democratic Party has a death wish! There is no other rational explanation for hapless Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) ending up as Sen. Barack Obama's VP running mate.

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/08/27/oh_no_not_joe_biden


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Joe+Biden
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=US+ruling+elite
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Glenn+Greenwald
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/justin

http://www.lewrockwell.com/akers/akers91.html

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If possible, don’t visit the United States

Liberty & Power
by Wendy McElroy

08/21/08

Even the customs guards in Communist China were professional and polite (in a bored way) compared to almost every American security or customs official I’ve encountered. Travel agents up here (in Canada) say that one of the most common requests they hear is ‘How do I avoid making a connection in the U.S.?’ Going through an American aiport is like being processed through a prison or an animal stockyard. And Feder is correct; one of the most unsettling aspects is that American guards are not just doing a job; they seem to be emotionally invested in it and swollen with an arrogant enjoyment of authority. Which is not to excuse those security agents who are just doing a job. You do not escape responsibility for brutalizing someone just because you are being paid to do so...

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/53572.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=police+state
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/akers

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/406.html



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

Nach dem Arzneimittal-Atlas verschreiben Ärzte mehr, was die Mortalität weiter zurückgehen lasse.

http://www.heise.de/tp/blogs/3/114698



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

Der Staat ist sauber

Der "Callcenter-Daten-Fall" weiter sich aus und die Politik kann dem Thema Datenschutz derzeit nicht entgehen. Und nutzt es um einmal öfter die staatliche Datensammlung entweder gar nicht anzusprechen oder aber zu verharmlosen.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28579/1.html

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30.000 personenbezogene Daten aus Callcenter

Schaar und Opposition fordern besseren Datenschutz

Vor dem Datenschutzgipfel an diesem Donnerstag (4. September) erhöhen Experten und Opposition den Druck auf die Bundesregierung und die Wirtschaft. Der Bundesdatenschutzbeauftragte Peter Schaar und Politiker von FDP, Linken und Grünen forderten schärfere Gesetze. In jüngster Zeit waren mehrere Fälle von millionenfachem Datenklau bekanntgeworden. So teilte die Polizei in Hagen am Mittwoch (3. September) mit, dass ein 28 Jahre alter Mann ermittelt wurde, der rund 30.000 personenbezogene Daten von Bürgern verkaufen wollte. Der Beschuldigte sei bei einem fingierten Verkaufsgespräch festgenommen worden. Der Mann habe in einem Callcenter in Hagen gearbeitet.

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=18534

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4. September 2008

Datenschutz ist Verbraucherschutz

Zu den Ergebnissen des „Datenschutzgipfels“ von Bundesinnenminister Schäuble erklärt das LINKE-Vorstandsmitglied Jan Korte (MdB):

Die zahlreichen Daten-Skandale und die kriminelle Energie ihrer Verursacher haben offenbar dafür gesorgt, dass Innenminister Schäuble wenigstens die wichtigsten Weichenstellungen für einen besseren Schutz der Daten von Verbrauchern vornimmt. Ich hoffe, dass das Versprechen des Datenschutzgipfels, dass Daten nur noch mit ausdrücklicher Zustimmung weitergegeben werden dürfen, die nächsten Wochen überlebt. DIE LINKE fordert eine solche Gesetzesänderung schon seit Jahren. Zweifel bleiben dennoch, weil der Innenminister selbst für eine völlig enthemmte Datensammelwut staatlicher Stellen verantwortlich ist. Schäuble könnte im Handumdrehen mehr Glaubwürdigkeit erreichen, wenn er Projekte wie das zentrale Melderegister, die Vorratsdatenspeicherung, die einheitliche Steuernummer oder die Online-Durchsuchung schnellstens auf Eis legen würde. Dies alles sind Projekte, bei denen der Staat als Datenkrake voranschreitet, anstatt Vorbild für einen verantwortungsvollen Umgang mit den Daten der Bürgerinnen und Bürgern zu sein. Klar ist: Eine Gesetzesänderung mit schärferen Strafen für Datenvergehen und Einwilligungsklauseln kann nur der erste Schritt sein. Wie ernst es dem Innenminister mit dem Datenschutz wirklich ist, wird sich schon in Kürze bei der Haushaltsberatung zeigen. DIE LINKE fordert eine deutliche Anhebung der Budgets für den Datenschutzbeauftragten, um eine vernünftige Durchsetzung und Kontrolle zu ermöglichen. Das nötige Geld dafür könnte der Innenminister zum Beispiel bei den unsinnigen und teuren Schnüffelprojekten von BKA oder Verfassungsschutz abziehen.

http://www.die-linke.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/detail/artikel/datenschutz-ist-verbraucherschutz/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Datenschutz
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Callcenter
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Peter+Schaar
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Schäuble