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NRDC goes to court against deadly sonar

Citizens' Initiative Omega | 10.07.2003 21:11 | Anti-militarism | Ecology | Globalisation | London | World

Hillel station will be closed - Radar Lawsuit - Is That A Cell Phone In Your Pocket? - Cahra - Weapons of mass compliance - Schmeiser’s Battle for the Seed - People of Peace, Stand Proudly as Patriots - OUR CLIMATE: DEAD OR ALIVE? - Blair faces fresh Iraq questions - Fight for Your Rights - White House admits "error" on Iraq claim - Eden's long gone - Confidence in Bush slips further - A government for, by, and of the people

Hillel station will be closed
-----------------------------
Hillel station, the radio transmitters - will be closed until 31.12.2003, that is the commitment of the government to the high court.

Dr Eliahu Richter helped them with his written expression of opinion which said that the electromagnetic fields they are exposed to - endanger their health, including cancer.

Hopefully it will be done, the sooner - the better.


and

Radar Lawsuit
-------------
A news article: 5 israeli soldiers who worked 4 years ago at the same unit with radars (with Hock missiles) have cancer, 4 testicles cancers, 1 lymphoma.

The soldiers were aware it it was dangerous - they warned, they applied to the army, but the army chose to ignore them. Now they recceive chemotherapy and radiations.

At the same time, the air force asked one of these soldiers to lecture the soldiers about his disease, how it was caused, and how lack of filling the protection orders [which are to be distant from the radar. Not said how many meters. And - doing medical examinations - this DOES NOT prevent the disease, it is just for saying "you've got it".]

He filed his lawsuit 3 months ago, served in the air force in operating "Hock" missiles. The army states that there is no proof in the medical litrature about the connection cancer-electromagnetic radiation. Further more they rely on the WHO: The WHO says the radiation does not cause malignancy.

These are the consequences when a world health authority protects the radiation instead of protecting the people.

Among the reactions to the internet version of the article, one mother said that her daughter worked with radars and got uterus cancer. "If they don't want us here - say it. We'll just buy one way ticket abroad" she added.

Another woman wrote that her sister worked with radars and died from cancer. Her sister's friend who served at the same unit, got cancer also. They were exposed about 2 years. They tried to sue the army but the army denied.

Source: Yediot Ahronot, Eitan Glickman 7/7/03
"Lawsuit- because of the radar of Zaha"l, I have cancer".
 http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-2683634,00.html


Informant: Iris Atzmon

--------

Re: Struggle with the City Officials and Sprint in Berkeley, CA
---------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Radi,

I understand you are in Canada now. Great work up there!

Please understand that the Berkeley community had retained an attorney, Lawrence Teeter, who is a terrific environmental, civil rights and anti-telecom attorney with decades of experience in the CA and federal courts. He's ready to go to work for them - they just haven't CALLED him for months! He's at 323-753-4035.

They think they need a local attorney, but don't understand that in these battles, you need an expert lawyer, one who is very persistent and strong, someone very experienced, who knows not only local law, but state and federal law, which trump local law! That's what Larry does, in my observation of his cases. He's powerful, he wins. Of course, it's helpful to have someone nearby who can go to all the meetings and show up in court at a moment's notice; but in order to file the most important documents, you need someone with far greater prowess than you would find in a merely local attorney.

Berkeley has a winning case and they have a great attorney - they just need to have their attorney file the documents before the filing deadlines run out.

Susan

--------

Is That A Cell Phone In Your Pocket?
------------------------------------
July 4, 2003

Thousands of travellers go through airport security every day with cell phones. But at vancouver international airport last weekend a Korean traveller was arrested for having one.

The cell phone was actually a disguised stun gun. Customs personnel discovered it in the baggage of a Korean traveller who was wanted on a Canada-wide immigration warrant.

When activitated the gun emits a loud siren and sends out a brilliant blue arc of electricity. The Korean man has been charged with importing a prohibited weapon and remains in police custody.

 http://www.bcctv.ca/

Informant: Gotemf

--------

P.S. Visual demo of effects when EHS is misdiagnosed as psychosis
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Concerning pictures from Imelda: the right shows Imelda during Spring of 1997, the left is from the last days.

Omega

--------

NRDC goes to court against deadly sonar
---------------------------------------
I wish you could have been with us in court last week as we argued our landmark case to save millions of marine mammals from the Navy's deadly LFA sonar system.

Getting this case to U.S. District Court has been an enormous undertaking: eight years of legal sparring with the Navy; hundreds of pages of carefully drafted legal arguments; tens of thousands of pages of documents entered into the court record; and a never-say-die belief on our part that the health of ocean ecosystems will one day prevail over the world's most powerful military establishment.

But, above all, the road to the courthouse door was paved with thousands and thousands of letters and contributions from caring people like you. That's why, with a ruling in this case still a month away, I wanted you to know right away that we fought the good fight on your behalf last week. The rest is now up to Judge Elizabeth LaPorte.

As you know, Judge LaPorte stunned the Navy last fall by blocking deployment of LFA sonar across 75 percent of the world's oceans until this case could be heard in full and all of NRDC's evidence presented. It is unusual for a judge to clamp this kind of injunction on the military -- especially in times like these -- unless the case against the government is exceedingly strong. We have that kind of case.

Judge LaPorte's courageous ruling last year signaled that the Bush administration had likely violated multiple laws when it gave the Navy permission to harass and injure thousands of marine mammals by flooding ocean habitats with high-intensity noise.

Since then, NRDC's case has only gotten stronger. We have uncovered reams of new evidence -- much of it drawn from the Navy's own files -- that high-powered LFA noise can cause hemorrhaging in whales, internal injuries in fish, and seizures in human divers.

When our Marine Mammal Protection staff entered the courtroom last week, they encountered a phalanx of Bush administration lawyers and a parade of the government's top scientific experts. But that formidable array of government talent(all paid for by your tax dollars!) faced an uphill battle trying to refute the almost overwhelming case against LFA sonar that we have painstakingly constructed over the past decade.

Based on Judge LaPorte's many thoughtful questions, there is little doubt that she understands the far-reaching dangers posed by this technology -- as well as the illegal manner in which the Bush administration approved its deployment.

All we can do now is wait and hope that Judge LaPorte will impose a permanent ban on the global deployment of this acoustic menace until such a day as the Navy can prove it has complied with federal law and will do no serious harm to marine life. I will, of course, alert you via email the minute we have the judge's ruling in hand.

On behalf of our entire legal team, I want to thank you again for coming to the defense of marine mammals around the world and making this historic case possible.

Sincerely,

John H. Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

--------

Cahra - With related background information on Russian/U.S. mind control technology
 http://www.raven1.net/cwrussia.htm

and

Russian Psychotronics Human Rights Group Sends Information to Cahra
 http://www.raven1.net/russtran.htm

--------

Big Brother gets a brain
------------------------
The cameras are already in place. The computer code is being developed at a dozen or more major companies and universities. And the trial runs have already been planned. Everything is set for a new Pentagon program to become perhaps the federal government's widest reaching, most invasive mechanism yet for keeping us all under watch. Not in the far-off, dystopian future. But here, and soon. The military is scheduled to issue contracts for Combat Zones That See, or CTS, as early as September...

 http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0328/shachtman.php

and

Weapons of mass compliance
--------------------------
Police and military alike face new challenges not only from the usual terrorist suspects, but from all manner of uppity civilians the world over, from at-times unruly displays of democratic zeal at protests ... to occasional bits of ugliness in the dingier corners of
the globe when the ungrateful subjects of American military 'humanitarian' missions rudely snap at the hands that feed them. The primary challenge for a more media-savvy police state: to make people calm and compliant without actually making them dead...

 http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/33/features-ehrenreich.php


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

Schmeiser’s Battle for the Seed
-------------------------------

What makes a farmer from a small rural community in Saskatchewan stand up to Monsanto? And possibly, win? Dr. Mae-Wan Ho reports.

Percy Schmeiser, now in his early seventies, a soft-spoken, mild-mannered Canadian farmer from the small rural community of Bruno some 80km east of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, never dreamt he would be catapulted to the status of a contemporary folk- hero. He had been farming for 40 years when he was taken to court by biotech giant Monsanto in August 1998. The company claimed he had illegally planted its genetically engineered Roundup Ready canola without paying a $37-per-hectare fee for the privilege.

Schmeiser was not alone. Monsanto had accused scores of farmers of patent infringing on its genetically engineered seed. But, instead of settling out of court with Monsanto like the others, Schmeiser fought back. He had been sowing each crop with seeds saved and selected from the previous harvest for years, and had never purchased seed from Monsanto. Even so, he found more than 320 hectares of his land contaminated by Monsanto’s Roundup Ready canola.

Schmeiser insisted that any Roundup Ready growing on his land was spread by wind or by grain trucks travelling on roads adjacent to his fields.

On 10 August 1999, mediation talks to settle the dispute ended in failure. The next day, Schmeiser launched a $10 million lawsuit against Monsanto, accusing the company of a variety of wrongs, including libel, trespass and contaminating his fields with Roundup Ready canola. But Schmeiser’s lawsuit against Monsanto won’t be dealt with until the original lawsuit has been resolved. Little did he know what a long, hard battle he has taken on.

It is a battle for the seed, for every farmer’s right to save and resow harvested seed, to freely share and exchange without restriction, as farmers have been doing for at least 15 000 years since agriculture began.

The trial was heard in June 2000, in the Federal Court in Saskatoon. At the trial, Monsanto presented evidence from two dozen witnesses and samplers that Schmeiser’s eight fields were all more than 90% Roundup Ready. Monsanto had performed no independent tests, however; the tests were all performed in house or by experts hired by the company.

In defence, Schmeiser presented his own farm-based evidence, that the fields ranged from nearly zero to 68% Roundup Ready, which was confirmed independently by research scientists at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. Schmeiser’s defence also contained evidence that he did not knowingly acquire Monsanto’s product, nor did he segregate the contaminated seeds for future use or spray his canola crops with Roundup.

But the Federal Court ruled against Schmeiser. Justice Andrew McKay upheld the validity of Monsanto’s patented gene. In a key part of the ruling, the judge agreed a farmer can generally own the seeds or plants grown on his land if they blow in or are carried there by pollen; but this is not true in the case of genetically modified seed.

It didn’t matter how the Roundup Ready canola got to his fields. He was deemed to have infringed Monsanto patent, and was fined $15/acre x 1030 acres licence fee, plus the value of his entire crop, $105,000(including fields that did not have any Roundup Ready canola), plus $25,000 for punitive and exemplary damages.

"Where does Monsanto’s rights end and mine begin?" Percy Schmeiser asked. He refused to abide by the judgement, and launched an appeal, which was heard in May 2002 in Saskatoon.

Unfortunately, all three judges ruled against him yet again. By this time, he and Louise, his wife of 50 years, had already spent $ 200 000 in legal fees. He had ceased to plant canola, for any canola crop he planted would belong to Monsanto.

Monsanto had kept up a constant campaign of harassment and intimidation all through the trial in 1999 and 2000. And in 2001, Monsanto brought a new case against Schmeiser for $1 million in ‘court costs’: $750 000 for their lawyers, $250 000 for ‘disbursements’ which included travel expenses, payments for expert witnesses and $15 000 ‘lawyer’s night entertainments’.

Undaunted, Percy Schmeiser took his case to the Supreme court, and in May 2003, when I caught up with him at the Biodevastation 7 meeting held in Monsanto’s hometown St. Louis, Missouri, he just got the good news that he has won his right to be heard in the Supreme Court. There were loud cheers in the hall.

Percy Schmeiser has been tireless in travelling the world to tell his story. Everywhere, farmers are fighting for their lives and livelihoods. Monsanto winning would be the very last straw, not just for farmers, for everyone. Schmeiser has come to symbolise our collective struggle against corporate serfdom. Just as independent scientists are oppressed and victimised, farmers are subject to the same or worse treatment.

Monsanto’s tactics are well known. The company gets farmers to sign away all their rights in an unbelievable technology contract. The farmer must not use his or her own seed, must buy seed and chemicals from Monsanto. Monsanto can send inspectors onto your fields for three years even if you grow the company’s crops for only one year.

Monsanto also openly advertises for people to tell on their neighbours if they are suspected of having GM crops without licence. The company’s representatives can trespass onto your fields even when you are not at home, or fly over your field and spray Roundup to see if the crop dies.

Immediately after Monsanto had obtained its judgement against Percy Schmeiser, the company had declared war on all Saskatchewan farmers. Schmeiser received hundreds of phone calls from farmers who have been contacted by Monsanto representatives and received demand letters saying that they have unauthorised GM crops growing in their fields and must pay so many thousands of dollars to avoid lawsuit. Many of the farmers who called Schmeiser were in the same circumstances: they never bought any seed from Monsanto or signed any contract.

But things may be turning Schmeiser’s (and our) way at long last.

In June 2002, a report from the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee said that the Patent Act should be amended to permit farmers to save and sow seeds from patented plants such as genetically engineered (GE) crops.

It also said that farmers who find GE plants growing in their fields through "the adventitious spreading of patented seed or patented genetic material or the insemination of an animal by a patented animal" should be considered as innocent bystanders and not be liable to prosecution.

While biotechnology developments are patentable, the report said the holder does not have "the right to market or even use the invention. This is because some applications of the technology may pose risks to human or animal health or to the environment, challenge the capacity of current approaches to protecting health and the environment and or raise other serious social and ethical questions that must be addressed."

The report suggests that the farmer be allowed to use the seed of a GE crop or the offspring of a GE animal for his or her own use but not for commercial purposes.

Better yet, in December 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the genetically engineered Harvard oncomouse is not patentable (see "Canada rejects patents on higher forms of life ", ISIS Report, March 2003 ). This opens the door to revoking patents on GM seeds, such as Monsanto’s Roundup Ready canola. This could be the last nudge to get GM crops off our globe.

Help Percy fight Monsanto and get patents on life revoked for a GM-Free world. Make a donation on his website: www.percyschmeiser.com


 http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SLBFTS.php

--------

People of Peace, Stand Proudly as Patriots
 http://buzzflash.com/buzzscripts/buzz.dll/sub3

OUR CLIMATE: DEAD OR ALIVE?
 http://www.nwbotanicals.org/oak/newphysics/schuclimate.htm

--------

The Politicians' Constitution
 http://www.libertyforall.net/2003/archive/july20/constitution.html

Blair faces fresh Iraq questions
 http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/07/08/uk.iraq/

White House admits "error" on Iraq claim
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23777-2003Jul7.html

A diplomat's undiplomatic truth: they lied
 http://www.salon.com/opinion/scheer/2003/07/09/lying/

Responsibility for war's consequences
 http://babelogue.citypages.com:8080/bsmith/

Eden's long gone
 http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20030709/index.php

The forgotten and the damned
 http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/heard/heard1.html

Confidence in Bush slips further
 http://www.msnbc.com/news/936329.asp

A government for, by, and of the people
 http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1463

Fight for Your Rights
 http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16337

Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Citizens' Initiative Omega
- Homepage: http://www.grn.es/electropolucio/omega235.htm

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