September 28, 2006

The Empire of Darkness Series #35: Marching Into Nuclear Oblivion

Hello everyone!

I don't want to sound pessimistic here, but from what I gathered for this compilation, its title seems to correctly represent what is looming ahead of us all right now. People Power, if enough people wake up and throw enough sand in the wheels of the US/Israeli military/industrial war machine, could still make the crucial difference. But we are passed the eleventh hour and the midnight doomsday bell is just about to ring...

And there is also the other Way, the spiritual Way, if enough of us rally as one Love-resonant collective mind to catalyze a critical mass of Will for Peace... Even soldiers and generals will rebel against the insane madness of the terminally desperate and frightened lost souls still at the helm of the mightiest military power on Earth, because everything in them will refuse to follow them any longer in their mad dash towards oblivion.

There will be a new Meditation Focus issued for this next Sunday global meditation. Guess what the focus will be...

Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator

Your feedbacks are as always welcomed and may be included in a coming compilation - unless you prefer they are not. Circulating this compilation (or any part of it) and personally inviting your correspondents to subscribe to this list would also help enlarge the circle of people who have access to this material. Please include the following note and the URL address for the archived copy below along with your forwards, so others may have the opportunity to explore the original copy, if they so choose.

Free subscription to a large weekly Earth Rainbow Network compilation by simply sending a blank email to earthrainbownetwork-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

This compilation is archived at
http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com/Archives2006/EmpireDarkness35.htm


STATS for this compilation: Over 30,400 words and 128 links provided.

To unsubscribe from the Earth Rainbow Network automated listserver, or change your listing on it when you have a new email address, the simplest way is to do it yourself by sending a blank email at earthrainbownetwork-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net -- IMPORTANT: You MUST do it from the email account you wish to unsubscribe otherwise the system won't recognize your request.


"9/19: Bush's speech at the UN today sounded like a bomb threat in a velvet glove. The world's governments were told to get behind thinly veiled threats on the entire Middle East, and in particular Iran. This is a president whose diplomacy comes off like a bully on the schoolyard; but what's at stake is not lunch money, but quite literally the fate of millions of people around the world. (...) This is truly a moment in which the future is being shaped one way or another. As Bush's recent series of "war on terrorism" speeches have made clear, this regime has every intention of steamrolling ahead with their endless war for empire, and NO WHERE in the official political structures, including the upcoming midterm election, is anyone even saying they will stop this. The diplomacy being conducted in the halls of the UN is nothing more that than the Bush administration letting the world know its disastrous plans and demanding everyone and every government either sign on or submit. As the very right wing, pro-Bush National Review reported when two of its writers did an interview with Bush recently, "his language suggests that the thesis that the seemingly interminable Iran diplomacy is the necessary run-up to a strike on Iran has something to it. Bush says, 'It is very important for the United States to try all diplomatic means.' That's what we did in Iraq." The question people around the world are asking is when will the American people stand up and stop this, and at present time Bush's voice is speaking louder than the widespread anger and discontent that exists among millions of people in this country. October 5th will be a day to change that – to answer the Bush regime's clear intentions to commit even bigger crimes with massive protests across the country determined to bring all this to a halt. This is what the world demands of us right now."

- Taken from Bush's UN Speech: Bomb Threat in a Velvet Glove


"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

- Albert Einstein


"The human experience has been a fear-based series of events and lifetimes. Everyone ends up dying. When we do not know who we are, that is very frightening…and we have all forgotten. Some have called it collective unconsciousness or created amnesia. That’s why the leaders can hold up the mirror of terror and generate the fear they desire. It’s easy—except among those who are starting to remember, a number that is increasing exponentially, by the way.What is it that WE are remembering? As we peer more deeply into out own fear of mortality, images fade in and out of view. These recollected images reveal something beyond the fear, or perhaps even hidden deep within it. They are images of immortality, images indicating that we are more than mere finite beings having a human experience. We are Spirit. However, unless you are able to sense those images in some manner and accept that they are revealing deeper reality, you won’t get it. You’re stuck in the surface layers, which offer little hope. That hope comes in the deeper layers, which everyone who is willing can access. In fact, Life keeps on presenting us with mirrors until we become willing. That’s called Love, believe it or not. Life Loves life! That’s its job. It loves us so much that it never quits; it never gives up on us. We are all Children of Life whose destiny is to rediscover that we are all Masters of Love, too."

— Ron Van Dyke - Taken from LIBERATING LOVE BY SEEING OUR REFLECTION IN THE MIRRORS


"Ultimately, being "right" or "wrong" is irrelevant, a puerile ego game. Living, breathing, thinking, BEING FREE is what everything is all about - free of dogma, ideology, hate, violence, compulsive ego competition and the desire to sabotage the joy of other living beings."

- Antares Antares@magickriver.com>


"Many sensitives and adepts are feeling the ongoing shifts of energy which are exponential in nature like great waves passing through the Earth. These shifts are creating change on every level. We are being told over and over there will be another grand shift yet this one has some real big hitters involved. Universal Beings coming together for this event to assist adding their consciousness to the already ongoing awakening and healing process. The negative grid as we speak is being shattered, the denser energies which allowed the forces of tyranny, the concepts of separation and againstness as well as competition over cooperation are finding it harder and harder to operate. Those who hold onto and operate in alignment with these energies are experiencing physical aliments such as heart attacks and mental disorders as seen in the top levels of almost all institutions. What was hidden is being revealed, the true nature and motive of each individual is surfacing. With the great wave of energy coming in November it just may very well be the end of tyranny, the dismantling and fall of individuals and collectives which are not aligned with the awakening and healing process. I would expect to see some great changes on every level between now and November continuing on until December. We are not getting details of the events yet the same message over and over is BIG EVENT coming in November."

— James Gilliland ecetiwebmaster@yahoo.com> - September 22, 2006 http://www.eceti.org - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eceti/
Recommended by "Barbara Tomczyk" barbarat33@gmail.com> -- See also "UFOs and the Days to Come" at the very end of this compilation.



Worthy of Your Attention

The World can't Wait! Drive Out the Bush regime - Protests planned in over 105 cities http://worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2418&_event=14
October 5: No Work. No School. Protest in the Streets. Check also http://www.myspace.com/wcwnational

Stephen Wiltshire, the living camera
http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2006/rome-drawing-p1.php
Autistic savant draws perfect Rome

If you have not yet watched anything about the movie America - From Freedom to Fascism, there is a new 14 minutes trailer that neatly summarizes the whole movie. It is absolutely worth your complete attention...
http://www.thelastoutpost.com/site/991/default.aspx
Then check also http://www.thelastoutpost.com/site/811/default.aspxs

Jerusalem Peacemakers
http://www.jerusalempeacemakers.org
This is a web-based project supporting and honouring the efforts of grassroots peace-builders and interfaith workers who stand on the frontline of the reconciliation movement in the Holy Land. They bring a spiritual-humanitarian dimension to the peace process, working to heal separation between two peoples who in reality are so intertwined. Recommended by Suzanne Keehn dskeehn@pacbell.net> - Please, check also below the related item on Ibrahim Issa.

U.S. $8.5 trillion dollars in debt
http://mwhodges.home.att.net/debt_a.htm
All U.S. citizens should look at this debt report - Be sure to check out the second page on foreign debt and how our children and grandchildren will inherit our debts. Recommended by Ariel Ky (gemstonedeva@yahoo.com)

Strange Atmospheric "Waves" in the Caribbean
http://www.wholelook.com/Waves1.htm


CONTENTS

1. Silence in a Time of Torture is Complicity
2. War Signals?
3. Why Bush Will Nuke Iran
4. Bush Administration Plans for a US War vs. Iran
5. The March to War: Iran Preparing for US Air Attacks
6. Imperialism 101 - The US Addiction to War, Mayhem and Madness
7. Bush Fighting Hard Against Impeachment!
8. Rumsfeld’s Guinea Pigs: US Citizens at Risk for Military-Weapons Testing
9. Feedback to Announcing a Day of Mass Resistance
10. Meeting Ibrahim Issa and the Hope Flowers School
11. Feedbacks to Veracity Series #15 & Tax resistance suggestion
12. International Day against Monoculture Tree Plantations
13. UFOs and the Days to Come


See also:

Bush War III: Going to War to Save His Own Ass
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092706B.shtml
Dave Lindorff writes: "Unless the American people and their ostensible representatives in Congress act quickly to make it clear that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force does not apply to an attack on Iran, and that it did not make the president a dictator with the power to make war at will, I'm betting that we'll be at war with Iran before Election Day." MUCH MUCH MORE ON THIS IN THE MAIN ITEMS BELOW!

Torture reaches new depths in Iraq
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15047.htm
Torture in Iraq is reportedly worse now than it was under deposed president Saddam Hussein, the United Nations' chief anti-torture expert said Thursday. Manfred Nowak described a situation where militias, insurgent groups, government forces and others disregard rules on the humane treatment of prisoners."What most people tell you is that the situation as far as torture is concerned now in Iraq is totally out of hand," said Nowak, the global body's special investigator on torture. (...) "You have terrorist groups, you have the military, you have police, you have these militias. There are so many people who are actually abducted, seriously tortured and finally killed," Nowak told reporters at the UN's European headquarters. "It's not just torture by the government. There are much more brutal methods of torture you'll find by private militias."Nowak has yet to make an official visit to Iraq, and said such a mission would not be feasible as long as the security situation was so dangerous. He based his comments on interviews with people during a visit to Amman, Jordan and other sources. "You find these bodies with very heavy and very serious torture marks," he said. "Many of these allegations, I have no doubt that they are credible."

Democrats Wary of Detainee Trials Compromise
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092306Y.shtml
The Senate compromise on detainee trials is "legal mumbo jumbo to obscure the fact that the CIA will continue to be allowed to use torture and will actually be insulated from legal liability for previous acts of torture," says Congressman Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee.

FBI Protests CIA Interrogation Tactics
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091006Y.shtml
Abu Zubaydah, the first Osama bin Laden henchman captured by the United States after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was bloodied and feverish when a CIA security team delivered him to a secret safe house in Thailand for interrogation in the early spring of 2002. The events that unfolded at the safe house over the next few weeks proved to be fateful for the Bush administration.

Why Retired Military Brass Don't Want Torture (September 24, 2006) http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-kaiser24sep24,1,326876.story
For all 43 retired generals and admirals, it was a combination of moral outrage and deep disgust over President Bush's proposed legislation on interrogating terrorist suspects that propelled them. "None of us feels comfortable speaking out publicly," said retired Rear Adm. John D. Hutson, who served as the Navy's judge advocate general from 1997 to 2000. "That's not the nature of what military officers do. [But we] care very, very much about the country and the military." The group of retired flag officers first came together in 2005, when a dozen of them signed a letter opposing the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general for his role in developing Bush's policies on torture in the war on terror. Late last year, they supported Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) ban on cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees in U.S. custody anywhere in the world. The retired officers believe that the negative consequences of the president's anti-terror policies could have been avoided if the administration had followed traditional military practices. No higher-ups were prosecuted for the abuses uncovered at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. What further fuels the officers' outrage is that the policies they believe have undermined the military were mostly formulated by men, like Bush, who have not seen combat. "Cheney made mention in the days after 9/11 that he wanted to operate sort of on the dark side," [Brig. Gen. James] Cullen said. "Here was a guy who never served, and now something terrible had happened, and he wanted to show that he was a tough guy. So he's going to operate outside the rules of law. Bad message."

US Threatened to Bomb Pakistan Back to Stone Age
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206Z.shtml
Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said the US threatened to bomb his country back to the Stone Age if he did not assist the administration's war on terrorism. The threat was delivered after the attacks of September 11, 2001, by Richard L. Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, to Musharraf's intelligence director, the Pakistani leader told CBS's "60 Minutes" for Sunday's broadcast.

CENTCOM Sergeant Details Traitorous Stand Down Orders On 9/11 (September 26 2006)
http://infowars.net/articles/September2006/260906Chavez.htm
Military whistleblower comes forward with key information - Alex Jones was joined on air yesterday by a former Sergeant in the United States Army named Lauro "LJ" Chavez. Chavez was stationed at MacDill AFB where he claims he witnessed unusual preparations for a potential airplane hitting the base on the morning of 9/11 and distinctly heard officers talking about a stand down. This has led him to go public in questioning the NORAD stand down and the demolition of the twin towers. (...) Then we see the other plane come in and hit it and at that point everybody is standing up. The air force had commanders in contact with NORAD. The plane, or whatever, hit the Pentagon and then we were like 'Why aren't they scrambling jets?' We were asking, there was eight or nine people... Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels asking the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the air force 'why isn't NORAD scrambling jets? and he said 'we received an order to stand down''. And that just perplexed everybody." Mr Chavez did not know the Lieutenant Colonel and so does not know his name, yet if he can be identified, then we have uncovered a direct link to the stand down order. If that man or any others who were present at CENTCOM on 9/11 can be identified and made to testify under oath, then the whole cover operation could be blown. A real independent investigation would have secured this. CLIP P.S. Apparently, Lauro Chavez has been fired by his employer, Domin-8 Enterprise Solutions, just days after his allegations about 9/11 were made public.

Pentagon May Lift Restraints on Guard Deployments
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092406X.shtml
Pentagon may change policy limiting National Guard deployments in order to send more weekend warriors to Iraq after November elections.

A Broken, De-Humanized Military in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092606A.shtml
Dahr Jamail writes: "While the deranged chicken-hawks who 'lead' the US continue their efforts to wage another unprovoked war of aggression, this time against Iran, what's left of their already overstretched military continues to be bled in Iraq. When the situation is so critical that even the corporate media is forced to report on it, you know it's bad."

White House Admits Iraq Fuels Extremism
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092606B.shtml
Bush has been trying to convince Americans that the war has made America safer, but with the release of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq and terrorism, which represents the comprehensive consensus findings of the 16 US intelligence agencies, the White House admits that the war in Iraq has fueled the spread of extremism.

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terror Threat
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092406Z.shtml
The American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism, according to portions of the highly classified National Intelligence Estimate.

House OKs additional $70 billion for occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan
http://snipurl.com/xejw
House lawmakers who remain deeply divided over the course of the war in Iraq have easily approved another $70 billion for the military operations there and in Afghanistan.

Dozens Arrested in Several Demonstrations for Peace Held Near Capitol
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092706Q.shtml
The quiet, sunny atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building was transformed into a chaotic scene yesterday when dozens of war protesters filed into the lobby. A circle of protesters saying prayers and reading the names of the Iraq war dead, civilian and military, were arrested. Thirty-five additional peace demonstrators were arrested yesterday around the US Capitol in related protests. Hundreds of anti-war actions have taken place across the country this week as faith-based and other groups push for a timetable for the United States to leave Iraq.

UN says Gaza crisis 'intolerable' (26 September 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5382976.stm
Standards of human rights in the Palestinian territories have fallen to intolerable new levels, says a UN expert on the Mid-East conflict. John Dugard said Israel was largely to blame for turning Gaza into "a prison" and "throwing away the key". But he also criticised the US, Canada and Europe for withdrawing funds to the Palestinian Authority, run by Hamas militants who do not recognise Israel. An Israeli official said the statement was unrealistic and over-simplified. Mr Dugard, UN special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, said three-quarters of Palestinians in Gaza now depended on food aid - a result, he added, of Israeli military raids, blockades and demolitions." I hope that my portrayal... will trouble the consciences of those accustomed to turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the suffering of the Palestinian people," Mr Dugard told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. (...) Palestinian people are punished for having democratically elected a regime unacceptable to Israel, the US and the EU. (...) "What Israel chooses to describe as collateral damage to the civilian population is in fact indiscriminate killing prohibited by international law," he said. Mr Dugard also criticised the embargo on funding to the Palestinian Authority since the victory by Hamas early this year." Israel violates international law as expounded by the Security Council and the International Court of Justice and goes unpunished," he said." But the Palestinian people are punished for having democratically elected a regime unacceptable to Israel, the US and the EU. "In effect, the Palestinian people have been subjected to economic sanctions - the first time an occupied people has been so treated," he said. CLIP

Hi-tech firm boycotts Israel over 'war crimes'
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3308579,00.html
Belgian hi-tech company specializing in development consulting notifies manager of Israeli company seeking cooperation that 'your country has conducted war crimes and is an apartheid regime'

Million bomblets' in S Lebanon (26 September 2006) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5382192.stm
Up to a million cluster bomblets discharged by Israel in its conflict with Hezbollah remain unexploded in southern Lebanon, the UN has said. The UN's mine disposal agency says about 40% of the cluster bombs fired or dropped by Israel failed to detonate - three times the UN's previous estimate. It says the problem could delay the return home of about 200,000 displaced people by up to two years. The devices have killed 14 people in south Lebanon since the August truce. The manager of the UN's mine removal centre in south Lebanon, Chris Clark, said Israel had failed to provide useful information of its cluster bomb strikes, which could help with the clearance operation. Last month, the UN's humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, accused Israel of "completely immoral" use of cluster bombs in the conflict. CLIP

Israel Occupation Forces Steal Millions in Bank Raids Across West Bank
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060920-061112-4580r
Palestinian security sources said that "millions of dollars, documents, and files were stolen" when Israeli troops raided 24 banks and money exchange shops in several towns, including Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarem, and Jenin.

Top secret: Banff security meeting attracted U.S., Mexico officials (September 21, 2006)
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2006/09/21/secret-meeting.html
A North American security meeting was secretly held in Banff last week, attracting high-profile officials from the United States, Mexico and Canada.The North American Forum was hosted with the help of the Canada West Foundation and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.Among the attendees at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel affair was Stockwell Day, Canada's minister of public safety. The gathering may not have made headlines, but it is still the talk of Banff. Taxi Driver Chris Foote said he first learned of the meeting when he stopped into a submarine shop for a late night snack last week and heard rumours U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld was in town."Here they are talking in my backyard, no media to tell Canadians, Mexicans and Americans about what's going on. [I am] completely outraged," he said. "This is an assault on democracy." John Larson, a spokesperson for the North American Forum, said reporters were not told about the conference. He won't confirm who attended the meeting nor will he give any concrete details about what was discussed." The participants joined the conference essentially knowing that it would be a private function," said Larson. Mel Hurtig, author and founder of the Council of Canadians, obtained internal documents about the Sept. 12-14 forum revealing that the gathering was called Continental Prosperity in the New Security Environment. Rumsfeld was slated to be a keynote speaker and topics on the agenda included North American energy strategy and security co-operation. "We're talking about such an important thing, we're talking about the integration of Canada into the United States. For them to hold this meeting in secret and to make every effort to avoid anybody learning about it, right away you've got to be hugely concerned," Hurtig said. Hurtig says questions should be raised in the House of Commons about why Canadians are being kept in the dark on meetings attended by officials like Day.

Getting closer to Uncle Sam (September 20, 2006) in the Toronto Star
http://tinyurl.com/s9945
Public kept in dark as business leads talks about North American integration. Away from the spotlight, from Sept. 12 to 14, in Banff Springs, Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day and Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor met with U.S. and Mexican government officials and business leaders to discuss North American integration at the second North American Forum. The guest list included such prominent figures as U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Mexican Secretary of Public Security Eduardo Medina Mora and Canadian Forces chief General Rick Hillier. The event was chaired by former U.S. secretary of state George Schultz, former Alberta premier, Peter Lougheed and former Mexican finance minister Pedro Aspe. Organizers did not alert the media about the event. Our government...refuses to release any information about the content of the discussions or the actors involved. The event was organized by! the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.... The media have paid little attention to this far-reaching agreement, so Canadians are unaware that a dozen working groups are currently "harmonizing" Canadian and U.S. regulations on everything from food to drugs to the environment and even more contentious issues like foreign policy. This process... is about priming North America for better business by weakening the impacts of such perceived obstacles as environmental standards and labour rights. This is why the public has been kept in the dark while the business elite has played a leading role in designing the blueprint for this more integrated North America.

Voice of the White House (September 7, 2006) http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=5127
With the frightening November mid term elections coming upon us, there has been a growing panic in senior, and junior, Republicans, both inside and outside of Congress. A probably loss of the House and a very possible loss of the Senate is stirring up panic. Why? Because there is no doubt that if the Democrats gain control of the House, there will be impeachment articles drawn up with Bush as their target and very probably serious investigations launched by them into certain senior Republicans for, among other matters, massive corruptions and bribery. There have been hinted at ‘October surprises’ which may or may not happen or, if they do, have any success. (...) can tell you that all the circumstantial evidence on pre-knowledge of the 9/11 attack very clearly points to the fact that George W. Bush, his top people, to include, Vice President Cheney, Attorney General John Ashcroft, top advisor Karl Rove, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and very probably a number of other senior government persons had been well and very timely informed of the attack, when it would happen, where it would happen and how it would happen. That they did and said nothing but awaited the attack for the many political opportunities it would afford the President and the leadership makes all of them willing parties to murder. At law, this is called being an accessory before the fact. CLIP

Voting machines put U.S. democracy at risk (September 20, 2006) http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/19/Dobbs.Sept20/index.html
There is little assurance your vote will count. As we've been reporting almost nightly...for more than a year, electronic voting machines are placing our democracy at risk. These machines time and again have been demonstrated to be extremely vulnerable to tampering and error, and many of them have no voter-verified paper trail. Only 27 states have laws requiring the use of voter-verified paper trails. 15 states [have] no mandated requirements for safeguarding your vote. During the 2004 presidential election, one voting machine...added nearly 3,900 additional votes to Bush's total. Officials caught the machine's error because only 638 voters cast presidential ballots at that precinct, but in a heavily populated district, can we really be sure the votes will be counted correctly? [In] the May primary election in Cuyahoga County, Ohio...the electronic voting machines' four sources of vote totals -- individual ballots, paper trail summary, election archives and memory cards -- didn't even match up. The report concluded that relying on the current system for Cuyahoga County's more than 1.3 million people should be viewed as "a calculated risk." Are we really willing to risk our democracy? A 2005 Government Accountability Office report on electronic voting confirmed the worst fears of watchdog groups and election officials. "There is evidence that some of these concerns have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes." That is simply unacceptable. Congress and the White House need to immediately take steps to assure the integrity of electronic voting with paper trails that could be audited in any recount. Note: For lots more reliable, verifiable information on the various aspects of the elections cover-up, see http://www.wanttoknow.info/electionsinformation

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Will The Next Election Be Hacked?
http://snipurl.com/wzp1
Fresh disasters at the polls -- and new evidence from an industry insider -- prove that electronic voting machines can't be trusted

What Would Real Election Integrity Mean?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092606F.shtml
"A voting system that cannot assure that every vote is accurately counted is fundamentally broken," write Evan Frisch and Arianna Siegel. "We must recognize this broken system as a far greater threat to our democracy than the threat of undocumented or "criminal" voters, and make its correction our highest priority."

Consumers See "String-Pulling," Believe '06 Election Affecting Gas Prices
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092606G.shtml
Almost half of all Americans believe the November elections have more influence than market forces. For them, the plunge at the pump is about politics, not economics.

The ID Chip You Don't Want in Your Passport (September 15, 2006) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/15/AR2006091500923.html
If you have a passport, now is the time to renew it -- even if it's not set to expire anytime soon. In many countries, including the United States, passports will soon be equipped with RFID chips. And you don't want one of these chips in your passport. RFID stands for "radio-frequency identification." Passports with RFID chips store an electronic copy of the passport information: your name, a digitized picture, etc. And in the future, the chip might store fingerprints or digital visas from various countries. By itself, this is no problem. But RFID chips don't have to be plugged in to a reader to operate. Like the chips used for automatic toll collection on roads or automatic fare collection on subways, these chips operate via proximity. The risk to you is the possibility of surreptitious access: Your passport information might be read without your knowledge or consent by a government trying to track your movements, a criminal trying to steal your identity or someone just curious about your citizenship. Security mechanisms are also vulnerable, and several security researchers have already discovered flaws. One found that he could identify individual chips via unique characteristics of the radio transmissions. Another successfully cloned a chip. The Colorado passport office is already issuing RFID passports, and the State Department expects all U.S. passport offices to be doing so by the end of the year. Many other countries are in the process of changing over. So get a passport before it's too late.

Global Warming Nears "Dangerous" Level
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092606EA.shtml
Global temperatures are dangerously close to the highest ever estimated to have occurred in the past million years, scientists reported Monday. In a study that analyzed temperatures around the globe, researchers found that Earth has been warming rapidly, nearly 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit (0.2 degrees Celsius) in the last 30 years.

Toxic Waste Headed for a Third World Dump
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/092606EB.shtml
The Panamanian-flagged ship Probo Koala unloaded more than 550 tons of toxic waste at a port in Cote d'Ivoire a month ago. Emissions from that toxic waste have killed seven people and poisoned thousands. Environmental experts estimate that more than 100 million tons of toxic waste is produced worldwide every year, and about 10 percent of this waste is exported.

Mass Tourism and Climate Change Could Lead to Destruction of World's Wonders (September 22, 2006)
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0922-01.htm
Gloomy predictions of extreme heat and destruction of some of the world's leading holiday destinations were made yesterday in a report assessing the impact of the dangers of mass tourism and climate change. The Future of World Travel report found that by 2020 the natural features of some of the wonders of the world will be damaged by global warming, while other resorts will become seriously overcrowded. It has predicted that in a little more than a decade global warming will erode Goa's beaches and lead to more hurricanes sweeping across the Everglades, while the increase in tourism would send an army of skiers into the once remote kingdom of Nepal.In particular, the report warned that climate change will heat up many Mediterranean destinations, such as Athens, which it said would regularly swelter in temperatures of more than 40C causing "unbearably" hot and humid nights. Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast in Italy will see more heatwaves, with an increase in dry days and a greater risk of fire. Southern Spain "may become a suitable habitat for malaria-bearing mosquitoes," said the report by Churchill Insurance.The report, written with the help of the Centre for Future Studies think-tank, said the rise in mass tourism could result in popular destinations becoming swamped with visitors. Some of the world's most famous sites were likely to become so damaged by tourism that visits would have to be limited. CLIP

Sea levels are rising faster than predicted, warns Antarctic Survey (Sept 20)
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/2698249/
The global sea level rise caused by climate change, severely threatening many of the world's coastal and low-lying areas from Bangladesh to East Anglia, is proceeding faster than UN scientists predicted only five years ago, Professor Chris Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey, said yesterday. Climate change is causing sea levels to rise around the world because water expands in volume as it warms, and because land-based ice, such as that contained in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, adds to the volume when it melts and slips into the sea. (...) Last week, two American studies showed that the melting of the winter sea ice in the Arctic had accelerated enormously in the past two years, with a section the size of Turkey disappearing in just 12 months. CLIP

White House Blocked Report Linking Hurricanes to Global Warming
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092706C.shtml
The Bush administration has blocked the release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes.

Earth within whisker of hottest climate in million years: NASA (AFP) (26 September 2006)
http://tinyurl.com/f249h
WASHINGTON - The Earth’s rapid warming has pushed temperatures to their hottest level in nearly 12,000 years and within a hairbreadth of a million years, a study by the US space agency showed on Monday. Global warming, which has added 0.2 degree Celsius (0.36 degree Fahrenheit) per decade over the past 30 years, has caused temperatures to reach and now pass through the warmest levels in the current interglacial period, which lasted almost 12,000 years, according to the study led by James Hansen, a leading climatologist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The study, published in the September 26 of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said that Earth was now within about 1.0 C (1.8 F) of the maximum estimated temperature of the past million years. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration researcher said that was the most important finding of the team’s research. ‘That means that further global warming of 1.0 degree Celsius defines a critical level. If warming is kept less than that, effects of global warming may be relatively manageable. During the warmest interglacial periods the Earth was reasonably

Rare Woodpecker Sends a Town Running for Its Chain Saws http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/us/24woodpecker.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
BOILING SPRING LAKES, N.C., Sept. 23 (AP) — Over the past six months, landowners here have been clear-cutting thousands of trees to keep them from becoming homes for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.The chain saws started in February, when the federal Fish and Wildlife Service put Boiling Spring Lakes on notice that rapid development threatened to squeeze out the woodpecker. The agency issued a map marking 15 active woodpecker “clusters,” and announced it was working on a new one that could potentially designate whole neighborhoods of this town in southeastern North Carolina as protected habitat, subject to more-stringent building restrictions. Hoping to beat the mapmakers, landowners swarmed City Hall to apply for lot-clearing permits. Treeless land, after all, would not need to be set aside for woodpeckers. Since February, the city has issued 368 logging permits, a vast majority without accompanying building permits. The results can be seen all over town. Along the roadsides, scattered brown bark is all that is left of pine stands. Mayor Joan Kinney has watched with dismay as waterfront lots across from her home on Big Lake have been stripped down to sandy wasteland. “It’s ruined the beauty of our city,” Ms. Kinney said. To stop the rash of cutting, city commissioners have proposed a one-year moratorium on lot-clearing permits. The red-cockaded woodpecker was once abundant in the vast longleaf pine forests that stretched from New Jersey to Florida, but now numbers as few as 15,000. The bird is unusual among North American woodpeckers because it nests exclusively in living trees. CLIP

USDA SAYS SHUT UP AND EAT YOUR FRANKENRICE 
http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_2159.cfm
The USDA has finally reacted to the contamination of the U.S. rice supply by an unapproved, genetically engineered variety of rice created by the Bayer Corporation. Three weeks ago, it was discovered that Bayer's mutant rice, gene-spliced to survive heavy doses of a powerful herbicide called glufosinate, had contaminated U.S. long grain rice stocks. The USDA admitted it had "no idea" how extensive the contamination was. Meanwhile Japan has banned all U.S. rice imports, while the EU is rejecting U.S. imports that test positive for contamination. The rice industry has been in a state of upheaval, with rumors of a massive market recall spreading across the country. This week, the USDA announced its plan of action: instead of recalling this illegal, and potentially unsafe rice, it is working with Bayer to fast-track the approval process. "Illegal, potentially hazardous rice in grain bins, on supermarket shelves, in cereal, beer, baby foods, and all rice products. It should be a no-brainer. Recall this stuff to make sure no one eats it," said Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director of the Center for Food Safety. "Instead, USDA plans to rush through 'market approval' of a genetically engineered rice that Bayer itself decided was unfit for commerce. Why? To free Bayer from liability." The question is what to eat: no spinach, no rice, no meat. This is a global crisis because all GMO foods can contaminate natural species, even organic crops. It is long past time to organize effectively to protect our heritage and the future. Recommended by "Anne Marie Cook" light4us@infionline.net>

Protectorate Union of the Citizens and Initiatives for the Protection against Electrosmog
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/emf-omega-news/message/161
Tons of information related to the cancer-causing excessive exposure of millions of people to electromagnetic pollution (cell phone towers, cell phone use, electric power lines, etc.) For instance, check...

Cell Phones & Children: Hazardous Mix?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_suzanne__060911_cell_phones__26_childr.htm
I don't want to scare the bejeebers out of everyone with children who use cell phones, but there are some irrefutable facts. Until children go through puberty (approximate age 16), they are still forming the thickness of the scull's protective barrier and this raises some alarming concern. Additionally, the brain development continues until approximately 25 years old, so their developing nervous system is likely to be more vulnerable than ours. Between 20-80% of the cell phone's Radio Frequency (RF) waves are absorbed into the user's head, it depends on how close the user is to the antenna. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) measured the Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) waves for various household appliances. EMF is a poison we cannot see or smell, and many neighborhoods are exposed to this danger as cell phone towers emit up to 2.5 miles away. Even at several miles away, the radiation emitted from these towers can cause DNA damage, cancer, suppressed immune function, miscarriage, depression, neurological and issues. (...) In 1993, Motorola hired Dr. George Carlo, a leading epidemiologist. Motorola was determined to prove that cell phones are "safe". After six years of research, Dr. Carlo became alarmed, when his sponsors attempted to alter and suppress his findings. At that point, Dr. Carlo became a whistleblower. He and Martin Schram tell the story in Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age: Dr. Carlo's research showed alarming signs: "that cell phones interfere with pacemakers, that developing skulls of children are penetrated deeply by the energy emitted from a cell phone, that the blood brain barrier which prevents invasion of the brain from toxins can be compromised by the cell phone radiation and, most startling, that radio frequency radiation creates micronuclei in human blood cells, a type of genetic damage known to be a diagnostic marker for cancer." CLIP

Gas Is Down - Go Back to Sleep
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092706Z.shtml
Kelpie Wilson looks at the politics of gas prices, how prices can be manipulated, and whether the recent drop in prices can help the GOP in November.

Will We All Become Electrosensitive?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2676298/
(...) Each year an increasing number of people claim to suffer from electrosensitivity, also known as being electrically hypersensitive (EHS). There are also other diseases, such as fibromyalgia and burn-out syndrome, that have symptoms similar to those exhibited by people suffering from electrosensitivity.(...) The extrapolated trend indicates that 50% of the population can be expected to become electrosensitive by the year 2017. CLIP

Omega-News Collection 23. September 2006
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2710924/

BACK TO THE FIRST HOME PAGE OF THIS SITE