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El Baradei was praised by the Nobel chairman for resisting U.S. pressures to find the hard nuclear evidence against Iran
they could use in their plans to justify attack.
That may not be enough to stop the U.S. and Israel from attacking Iran.

The director-general, Mohamed ElBaradei, said a "good start" would be for the United States and other nuclear powers to cut nuclear weapons stockpiles sharply and redirect spending toward international development.

...an ideal short piece to use to help convince people that they should care about the crimes committed in the name of Democracy and Western Civilisation. More and bigger crimes are being committed every day and far greater crimes may be planned - so long as enough people don't care enough to do anything about it. Darkness, dictatorship and the destruction of endless illegal and unjustified wars loom ahead with the Bush Regime.

Fascism Growing In America, Britain and Australia?
It is likely that the US brand of Fascism will become much more overt and repressive, especially if given a boost along that road by new 9/11 incidents. Bush will have to act soon to reverse his declining popularity and muster public support for US attacks on Syria and Iran. A new 9/11 would allow the Bush Administration to implement the next phase of the neo-conservative US global domination plan.

This report of Dr Robert White's paper on some of the historical background to N.Z.'s 1984 nuclear-free legislation contains many useful and valuable facts.
As the originator of the campaign to make New Zealand a nuclear free zone, I will offer some comment and point out a few gaps. These can be examined in greater detail on our website: http://www.nuclearfree.org.nz/archives/creationnznf.htm
The article does not mention the importance of the local and national nuclear free zone campaign in causing the Labour Party to make the decision for David Lange to propose in 1984:
" If we are elected government of New Zealand we will make the whole country nuclear free."

Dr Robert White spoke to the July meeting of the Auckland Branch of ESR to comment on the historical background to New Zealand's anti-nuclear legislation in 1984, and comment on the present situation.
On 14 July 1984 the Labour Government came to power and introduced the first nuclear-free policy for weapons and reactors on ships that New Zealand had ever had. It also established NZ as the first ever, single-nation, nuclear weapons-free zone. NZ is the only country that has put its nuclear-free policy into law which is comprehensive and expresses our complete rejection of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, or having anything to do with them. For many New Zealanders it is very symbolic and has won our country international recognition as an advocate of a nuclear-free world.

Excellent Source Of Independent Journalists and News

A political and media onslaught is about to be unleashed with the indictments of a whole host of key White House officials (including you-know-who) caught up in the Plamegate coverup. The unraveling of this potentially treasonous scandal -- which began with the outing, for political reasons, of a covert CIA officer -- could well provide the tipping point that will allow the Democrats to retake the House in the next election, initiate Congressional investigations of Bush Administration crimes, and possibly even pass an impeachment resolution.

In discussing the nuclear free issue (which I am in full agreement with) someone replied two days ago "its just a farce because our hospitals are nuclear powered." I have heard this before - is this correct and if so how.

Hospitals do a lot of radiation for medical purposes, with which we have always agreed. The New Zealand Nuclear Free Peacemaking Association has always agreed with the peaceful applications of nuclear technology for medical and industrial uses. However hospitals are not nuclear powered, but powered by electricity. There is no nuclear power in NZ.

David Lange was a great man in many ways. His brilliant wit and his grasp of any topic for debate were the first things one noticed. To my mind his most valuable contribution to mankind was that he chose to make the vitally important stand for world nuclear disarmament by declaring New Zealand nuclear free. This was an idea that I had been promoting since 1981. It developed out of 36 years of peacework since the first nuclear bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945. I am deeply grateful that he recognised the potential good this policy could achieve.
........  "I can smell the uranium on your breadth"

There are many important peace issues and Flyby News gives you vital information about them, as does this web site. Flyby also suggests constructive ways to help and things you can do.

This space ship was traveling at record speeds, more than 10 miles per second, and carrying more than 72 pounds of radioactive plutonium on board. It was only seconds away from a possible inadvertent reentry into Earth's atmosphere, which would have released more than 400,000 curies of radiation in a breathable/ingest able form. This could have resulted in millions of fatalities, and untold suffering for generations to come.
NoFlyby's Press Release, "The FORCE Behind Cassini" explains why NASA might have conducted such a high-risk civilian space mission. Flyby News covers this issue of the militarization of space and other concerns vital for life's survival in the 21st Century.

In spite of National hecklers causing her to cut short her speech, Helen Clark emphasised her party's nuclear-free
message to Canterbury University students today September 13.
I hope there is still time for this message, and for the range of nuclear issues and consequences if it is changed, to be communicated to voters, so that they take it into account when voting - as they did in 1984 and 1987 when Labour treated it as an important issue.
As mentioned in my September 7 posting, previous Labour leaflets circulated to homes, omitted this important issue.
In fact nuclear issues, and the dangers of a nuclear war, are more important in 2005 than in 1984 when Labour first used this benefit during an election.
NZ media were a bit more honest then and more accurately reported the dangers of nuclear war under US President, Ronald Reagan. People were better informed. Today, the NZ media is much more under foreign control. Most openly support the Bush Regime and illegal war on Iraq. That means that much of the real news about nuclear dangers under Bush and the extremism of the Bush regime is either suppressed, not mentioned at all, or completely misrepresented.

Bush creates a phoney situation, launches a totally unjustified war on Iraq based on a number of untrue accusations; then accuses other middle east nations, such as Syria, of hindering his conquests, even if his accusations are themselves untrue. Then one of his mindless disciples, such as Rep Sam Johnston, call for the US to commit the greatest crime in history - the unprovoked use of nuclear weapons - to enforce Bush's will in the deliberately manufactured situation.
Millions of Americans will be appalled, but millions of Bush supporters will be persuaded that this is the right thing to do.
Increasingly, Bush supporters believe they have some kind of divine right to launch a nuclear armageddon against any imagined opponents, or nations which the Bush Administration claims are opponents.

Washington, DC -- Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) has advocated for attacking Syria with nuclear weapons. Rep. Johnson was quoted telling a recent church gathering, "Syria is the problem. Syria is where those weapons of mass destruction are, in my view. You know, I can fly an F-15, put two nukes on 'em and I'll make one pass. We won't have to worry about Syria anymore." The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is outraged at Rep. Johnson's statement advocating for mass destruction and genocide and views this as a sad day in our country's tradition when an elected member of the United States Congress openly advocates for attacking another country with nuclear weapons.

Cindy Sheehan spells out the truth and reality of Iraq and Bushites as never before. Just what America desparately needs right now - a dose of reality to cut through tons of lies endlessly repeated by Bush's cheerleading mass media.

The media are wrong. The people who have come out to Camp Casey to help coordinate the press and events with me are not putting words in my mouth, they are taking words out of my mouth. I have been known for sometime as a person who speaks the truth and speaks it strongly. I have always called a liar a liar and a hypocrite a hypocrite. Now I am urged to use softer language to appeal to a wider audience. Why do my friends at Camp Casey think they are there? Why did such a big movement occur from such a small action on August 6, 2005? .....full story

After 60 years of studying nuclear issues, I agree with famous anti-nuclear activist Dr Helen Caldicott who recently warned that 'the re-election of Bush means endless war and probably a nuclear war during the next four years.'
.... People's last thoughts will probably be: "I wish I had faced the facts, been less apathetic and done something positive to prevent it".

or How Easily Accidents or Terrorists Can Start A World Nuclear War

Op-ed for August 6th the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima - signed by the Mayor of Hiroshima and co-signed by 72 Belgian mayors
Sixty years ago at 8:15 a.m. the sun was radiant in a blue and silent sky when the U.S. B-29 Enola Gay bomber appeared as a shining silver bird above the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Seconds later it dropped the uranium bomb 'Little Boy' which was detonated 580 meters above the city. The bomb instantly created a blinding flash and firestorm of up to 4000 degrees Celsius. Never before had a bomb of 15,000 tons of TNT equivalent been dropped above a city with hundred of thousands of people. It immediately turned the city into a living nightmare, where thousands of people burned alive, while thousands of others were killed by the enormous blast which destroyed most buildings. The city was soon changed in a ghost-town, with heavily burned people and enormous suffering everywhere. There was hardly any medical help as hospitals, doctors and nurses had not been spared by the atomic bomb.

To stop further slaughter in the Middle East, please take action on the possibility of massive bombing, invasion and slaughter of Palestinians by Israel. Some of Sharon's most ardent supporters believe God gave Palestinian territory to Israel 3,000 years ago, and that therefore Israel has the right to drive Palestinians off the land and then possess it as their own. The expansion of Israel into Palestine and building Jewish settlements on Palestine land, is a part of this policy and was initiated by Sharon. Israel needs resistance by the Palestinians and the consequent killing of some Jews, which they call "terrorism", in order to justify continued expansion, bulldogging Palestinian homes and stealing their land.

What May Come After the Evacuation of Jewish Settlers from the Gaza Strip
We feel that it is urgent and necessary to raise the alarm regarding what may come during and after evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip occupied by Israel in 1967, in the event that the evacuation is implemented.

....Some believe his [Bush] Administration was implicated in committing the 9/11 attacks - the new 'Pearl Harbour' called for in the neocon PNAC papers. Without 9/11, his lies and war crimes would not be possible. So far, he has got away with all these crimes, consolidated and increased his power domestically and externally. He is absolutely committed to continue these crimes, and will likely increase them. There seems to be no serious and powerful opposition from the Democrats or others, such as the mass media, to Bush's administration and actions.

In answer to U.S. Ambassador Swindells (July 5) the theory that humanity must exist under the threat of global nuclear destruction for reasons of security was rejected by New Zealanders when they enacted the Nuclear Free Act in 1987. In spite of the end of the cold war, why do Russia and the U.S. still have thousands of nuclear missiles ready for instant launch against each other.

Dear Friends
Here is just one positive example of the conscious informed Jewish voice of justice in response to the unpleasant knowledge of the Israeli violation of Palestinians that should be stopped.

Amnesty International USA urged foreign governments Wednesday to use international law to investigate Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other alleged American "architects of torture" at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and other prisons where detainees suspected of ties to terrorist groups have been interrogated.

All but unheard in the snarling din are the true voices of peace -- voices calling on the one group of nations to resist the demonic allure of nuclear arms and on the other group to rid themselves of the ones they have, leaving the world with a single standard: no nuclear weapons. Of the countries represented at the conference, fully 183 have found it entirely possible to live without atomic arsenals, and few -- barring a breakdown of the treaty -- show any sign of changing their minds. In the UN General Assembly the vast majority of them have voted regularly for nuclear abolition. Behind those votes stand the people of the world, who, when asked, agree. Even the people of the United States are in the consensus. Presented by AP pollsters in March with the statement, "No country should be allowed to have nuclear weapons," 66% agreed. In other countries, the percentage of supporters is higher. On the day their voices are heard and their will made active, the end of the nuclear age will be in sight.     www.tomdispatch.com - May 23rd edition

at Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review May 2-27
The world community must deliver a unified and unequivocal message that arduously negotiated treaties and international agreements cannot be simply dismissed, undermined or negated. Civil society therefore calls upon all governments to implement the promise embodied in the NPT: a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons.

Since 1945 and the Hiroshima/Nagasaki nuclear bombings, the US has led the way in developing nuclear weapons. A total of nine states now deploy nuclear weapons, supposedly for their security. They were originally portrayed as a deterrent to prevent attack. But now the US, under Bush, has changed the rules. They can now be used for war-making as one of a number of options in a conventional war situation.

More than 30 Nobel laureates have joined hundreds of organizations and lawmakers in signing a statement to be released today calling for all strategic nuclear weapons to be taken off "hair-trigger" and "launch on warning" alerts
(see GSN, June 22, 2004).

The fight to restore democracy in our country continues.  I can tell you one thing.  There is a core group of determined people who will not give up this fight, no matter how long it takes.  I invite you to stay informed, help spread the word, and to expand on a cliche, "DON'T get over it."
In this newsletter:
1) New lawsuit filed against e-voting machine company in Washington State
2) New investigation launched into Ohio recount
3) National Conference to Save our Democracy held
4) Election Reform Commission is stacked with GOP
5) Divestment campaign about to enter next phase
6) New tool for writing letters to election officials
7) New Up-to-the-minute Voting News available
8) The CD project
9) This Newsletter to be published in PDF

Professor Michael Klare, for many years, an internationally recognised specialist in Oil politics and anti-war issues has written the following first-rate paper on US reasons for planning a war against Iran. It's oil again. He, UN WMD inspector Scott Ritter, and others have predicted the US will begin the war in June 2005 unless people stop them.
                  PAN meeting on Monday May 2 at 7.30pm at the Greens office on Bedford Row, Christchurch, NZ

As the United States gears up for an attack on Iran, one thing is certain: the Bush administration will never mention oil as a reason for going to war. As in the case of Iraq, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) will be cited as the principal justification for an American assault. "We will not tolerate the construction of a nuclear weapon [by Iran]," is the way President Bush put it in a much-quoted 2003 statement.

• We support UN Secretary/General Kofi Annan’s statement that the US invasion of Iraq is illegal and without any justification.
  
• Therefore it was resolved that all foreign military forces cease hostilities and withdraw from Iraq immediately.
  
• That the invading nations pay reparations to the people and state of Iraq for the killing, torturing and injuring over 100,000 people (as found by the October, 2004 Lancet study) and for their destruction of Iraqi property.
  
• That the UN help rebuild and rehabilitate Iraq with major reparation payments from the invading nations.
  
• That a statement incorporating these resolutions be circulated to various governments, to the UN and to the media.

As the Nobel winners point out, nuclear extinction could happen in an hour - by accident. And this state of instant readiness has been going on for years. As many experts have said, a global holocaust has almost happened several times due to faults in the system, human error, miscalculation and misinterpretations of incoming data.

32 Nobel Laureates and 237 organizations and parliamentarians from around the world have signed a Statement of Endorsement that calls for removing all strategic nuclear weapons from "hair-trigger alert and "Launch on Warning" status. In addition the Statement has been endorsed by the European Parliament and by the Australian Senate.

Monday April 11, 2005
7.30pm - WEA Centre - 59 Gloucester St, Chch, NZ
Members of Christchurch's Iraqi community speak out about their counrty and the American-lead occupation

Was formed by individual Unitarians from Australia and New Zealand, at the biennial ANZ UA conference at the Christchurch Arts Centre
Purposes
1.To publicise the various threats to world peace and survival from wars, threatened wars and environmental degradation
2. To uphold the UN Charter and any threats to the Charter
3. To research and publicise the real causes of various wars
4. To propose just and peaceful solutions to conflicts

But these war crimes are only a beginning. Bush has threatened to widen the war to Iran and Syria. The famous anti-war campaigner, Dr Helen Caldicott says the re-election of Bush means endless wars and the probable use of nuclear weapons as Bush pursues his imperial crusade under the camouflage of “war on terror”
Nelson Mandella calls Bush the most dangerous man in the world. This madman and his crackpot neoconservative regime must be stopped before they destroy the world

Disarmament Minister Marian Hobbs will be advocating for a strengthened nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty when she represents New Zealand at the five-yearly NPT review conference in New York in May.
It is 20 years today since former Prime Minister David Lange won the 1985 Oxford Union debate arguing that nuclear weapons were morally indefensible. Today Marian Hobbs reiterated that nuclear disarmament remains New Zealand's ultimate goal.

Did Anyone Oppose Alberto Gonzales' Confirmation

As Attorney General?
...At the end of the day, six turncoat Democrats did vote WITH the Republicans to confirm Mr. Gonzales (see their infamous names in Appendix B below ).  However, 35 Democrats and one Independent voted AGAINST this terrible appointment (see Appendix A below).  Perhaps the worst act of betrayal came when Democrat-in-name-only Joseph Lieberman (CT) chose to quote a Biblical passage about doing justice, but then perversely ignored Mr. Gonzales' recent complicity in grave injustices, while advocating his confirmation.  

Last Action Alert: 

The Full Senate Will Debate, And Then Vote On, Alberto

Trends Toward a Fascist Warfare State Seen In

Condoleezza Rice's Confirmation
President Bush has been been able to lead America into a phoney war based on his, and Condoleezza Rice's litany of lies. The war has proved to be disastrous, claimed 1,368 U.S. lives (as of Jan 250, and continues with increased violence and intensity at a cost of over $US200 billion so far. It was all done with Senate approval, including new laws that push the U.S. toward a U.S. brand of fascism.

"Standing for the Founding Principles of the Republic"

This doctrine of preemptive strikes places the sole decision of war and peace in the hands of the President and undermines the Constitutional power of Congress to declare war.

10, 000+ At Inaugural Parade - from ANSWER.

Over 10,000 antiwar protestors at A.N.S.W.E.R. Mass Convergence site on Inaugural Parade route between 3rd & 4th St. on Pennsylvania Ave. Thousands of other protestors blocked at Secret Service Checkpoints

Shredding The Law Ushers in US Fascism

Gonzales as US Attorney-General, would be a giant step toward a "1984" US Fascist state, under Bush and his Neo-con administration. This would have a profound effect on the world and facilitate, with a legal facade, anything and any crime the Bush Administration decided to commit. US torture of prisoners is a good example of how Gonzales tramples on the US Constitution and International Law to suit the Bush Administration. Bush and Rumsfeld authorised the torture. It was not just a few army rogues acting on their own. They were under orders that came from the top.

Action Alert: Vote On Gonzales Appointment Coming Soon...

....Ms. Aron stated that two issues have delayed the SJC's vote: (1) Mr. Gonzales' evasive  testimony during the SJC's 1-6-05 hearing -- he "failed to answer critical questions about whether the president has the power to authorize his subordinates to violate U.S. criminal laws and torture detainees [which is a blueprint for a dictatorship], and he did not explicitly repudiate waterboarding and other interrogation techniques that amounted to torture"; and (2) Bush administration stonewalling -- "...the White House has still not released documents necessary to evaluate Gonzales' role in formulating policies relating to the treatment of detainees and the applicability of the Geneva Conventions."  Latest Action Alert : January 26, 2005

PILGRIMAGE TO STOP A GLOBAL HIROSHIMA

Increasing Dangers of a Nuclear War Make it Urgent to Preserve the NPT and N.Z.’s Nuclear Free Law.
Here is your chance to make a difference to our future - the future of our children and grandchildren.
This Might Be Our Last Chance - Let's All Say No Together to Save Our Planet and Its People.

WAR CRIMINAL FOR US ATTORNEY-GENERAL?

. . . . is that it is an indication to people about the real Bush, and that the domestic legal machinery to authorise torture emanated from Bush himself. US tortures come from the top. That is is no surprise.There are many other reports that Bush and his neocons are using torture as part of their plan to create more hatred of the US, leading to more resistance, which they can call "terrorism". That helps them create another phoney reason to stay and increase their military aggression in Iraq, blame others for "the increase in terrorism", and carry the war to other countries.

Confirming Bush's Appointee is Unthinkable Because Confirming Gonzales Is Confirming Torture
Readers might recall that White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales wrote an infamous "torture memo," dated 25 January 2002, in which he erroneously advised President Bush that he could: (1) use his "commander-in-chief authority" to
override the "quaint and obsolete" Geneva Conventions, the UN Convention Against Torture, and the US War Crimes Act, during his so-called "War on Terror"; and (2) authorize the use of interrogation methods which are tantamount to torture on prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay and other US military prisons.
Mr. Gonzales' legal opinion was meritless but highly consequential, for it ultimately lead to the US military's scandalous use of torture tactics on war prisoners and detainees -- including at least 40 who were tortured to death -- at Abu Ghraib and other prisons. Now the entire world regards Alberto Gonzales as complicit in these war crimes.