5/2/02
9:20:16 PM

Press Freedom Took A Hit In 2001, Watchdog Says

by Reuters, May 2, 2002

PARIS (Reuters) - Press freedom took a turn for the worse last year and is set to suffer more as the U.S. "war on terrorism" pushes the media to take sides, the Reporters Without Borders press watchdog said on Thursday.

"Press freedom had a rough time in 2001," the Paris-based group said in its annual report. "On every continent, this basic right was harshly attacked, along with those who exercised it."

Thirty-one journalists were killed in 2001, eight of them in Afghanistan, compared with 32 in 2000, RSF said. There were significant increases in the number of journalists arrested, threatened and attacked, the report said.

In the West, tighter controls on the flow of information following the September 11 attacks on the United States had weakened the right of journalists in the U.S. and Canada not to reveal sources, RSF said.

In its war against what it calls 'the evil-doers', the Bush administration is little bothered by the means that are used," RSF said. "The news media are pressed to take sides and propaganda takes precedence over truth."

The enemy must be defeated and media that disagree must be crushed," it added. "Such black-and-white attitudes are worrying."

RSF's report reinforced the message of another media watchdog, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, which last month said journalists around the world faced a "global press freedom crisis" as a result of the war on terrorism.

Listing some pluses for press freedom in 2001, RSF said pressure from strict security laws and secret police had eased in Chile and Peru.

In Serbia, freedom of information accompanied the shift to democracy after the fall from power of Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000. Early statements from the new rulers in Afghanistan were promising.

But nearly a third of the world's people still live in countries where press freedom is heavily restricted, with China the biggest offender, RSF said. Syria, Iraq, Burma and Saudi Arabia all kept "absolute" control of the flow of information, RSF said.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-media-freedom.html

5/2/02
9:13:40 PM

Judge Declares Imprisonment of Material Witnesses Unconstitutional

by Larry Neumeister, May 1, 2002

NEW YORK (AP) - A judge earned the wrath of federal authorities and the praise of civil liberties activists by calling the imprisonment of material witnesses in the government's terrorism probe unconstitutional.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin could have far-reaching implications for anti-terrorism efforts since dozens of people have been jailed under similar circumstances since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Scheindlin's decision was hailed as "a brave and bold" step by constitutional lawyer Floyd Abrams, while Attorney General John Ashcroft called it "an anomaly."

Scheindlin threw out perjury charges against Osama Awadallah, 21, a college student in El Cajon, Calif., who was accused of lying about knowing two of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Awadallah was held as a material witness in a grand jury investigation and spent 83 days in prison before being released on bail. Scheindlin said federal law does not permit such detentions for grand jury probes.

The judge wrote that "imprisoning a material witness for a grand jury investigation raises a serious constitutional question under the Fourth Amendment," which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.

Ashcroft responded that the roundup of material witnesses after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was constitutionally sound and that the opinion of "one trial judge in New York represents an anomaly."

"The department's use of material witness warrants is fully consistent with the law and long-standing practice. Numerous other judges have authorized the use of material witness warrants in the settings that we have been using them, and the use of such warrants has been validated at the appellate level," Ashcroft said.

By contrast, Rachel Ward, a lawyer with Amnesty International, called the judge's ruling a "welcome step forward."

The human rights organization criticized the government's secrecy in a recent report on post-Sept. 11 detentions. "It's a matter of grave concern because it creates a lack of public accountability," Ward said.

First Amendment lawyer Abrams agreed, saying the judge's ruling represented "a brave and bold reaffirmation of core Constitutional principles."

"Speaking as someone who believes that the harm we face is indeed exceedingly grave, I nonetheless think she deserves enormous credit for taking an action that only an American judge would have the courage to do," he said.

In Manhattan, U.S. Attorney James B. Comey said: "We believe the court's opinions are wrong on the fact and the law and we are reviewing our appellate options."

Scheindlin's ruling could complicate the federal government's broad reading of the material witness statute, which the judge said had already "led to serious abuses."

The judge said that federal law only allows "a witness to be detained until his testimony may be secured by deposition in the pretrial, as opposed to the grand jury, context."

Scheindlin cited the case of Abdallah Higazy, an Egyptian-born student arrested Dec. 17 as a material witness after a pilot radio was found in his Sept. 11 hotel room overlooking the World Trade Center. Charges were dropped when it was later found that the radio belonged to someone else and a hotel security guard had lied.

"Since 1789, no Congress has granted the government the authority to imprison an innocent person in order to guarantee that he will testify before a grand jury conducting a criminal investigation," the judge said.

Scheindlin ruled that Awadallah's consent to go with FBI agents to their office and later submit to a lie detector test was the "product of duress or coercion."

Agents also failed to tell Awadallah he had a constitutional right to refuse any searches when they asked him to sign a form consenting to a search, the judge said.

"He did everything he could to be cooperative and they treated him terribly," said Jesse Berman, a lawyer for Awadallah. "I'm just happy that he's been vindicated."

On the Net: http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov

Source: http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/1110/5-1-2002/200205011020248703.html

5/2/02
9:09:36 PM

Arafat Emerges From Besieged West Bank Headquarters

by James Bennet, May 2, 2002

RAMALLAH - March 2 - By turns bitter and triumphant, Yasir Arafat emerged from a monthlong Israeli siege today to survey the damage done to the unofficial Palestinian capital, as leaders on both sides sought new footing after the deadlock here was suddenly broken by American and Saudi Arabian pressure.

Though pale and seemingly frail, Mr. Arafat appeared among his people again with his broad smile and characteristic ambiguity firmly intact, speaking of a commitment to peace while lashing out at the Israeli government. The Palestinian leader flashed V-signs to supporters who chanted that they would sacrifice themselves for him, but whether he was signaling peace or victory was left to the judgment, or inclinations, of his audience.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel was preparing to fly to the United States this weekend for a meeting early next week with Mr. Bush. A senior Israeli political adviser said Mr. Sharon planned to present "specific and detailed proposals" that "could include short-term territorial concessions," provided that Palestinian violence completely halted.

Mr. Sharon has indicated that he is willing to consider concessions to provide the Palestinians with "territorial contiguity," that is, paths to move among the islands of territory now under their control without crossing Israeli-controlled land and army checkpoints.

But Mr. Sharon has also repeatedly said no progress toward peace is possible while Mr. Arafat remains his Palestinian counterpart. He has made clear that he regards any effort to address the fundamental differences between the two peoples as a long-term proposition, more than 10 years away. Palestinians want immediate talks toward establishing their own state.

Though concerned by reports that Saudi Arabia had pressured the Bush administration to assist the Palestinian national cause, Israeli officials believe that the United States is seeking mainly to assuage Arab concerns while it prepares a possible attack on Iraq. They think that at least a temporary quiet period here would help that quest.

The political adviser said Mr. Sharon would argue against any "detailed vision" of an eventual Palestinian state, preferring that questions of precise borders be addressed down the road. The adviser repeatedly said any progress would depend on whether the governing Palestinian Authority acted against violence. "The way the Palestinian Authority will shape up must have an impact on the question of the vision" of statehood, he said.

Mr. Sharon also wants to discuss a so-called Marshall plan to rebuild the Palestinian economy and Palestinian civic institutions "to move the Palestinian way of life forward," the official said.

Blinking in the bright sun, Mr. Arafat came out of enforced confinement in his scorched compound today to find a familiar, hostile standoff with Israel, but one in which the political, military and diplomatic grounds are shifting.

His old nemesis, Mr. Sharon, has gained strength politically from last month's overwhelming Israeli offensive into the West Bank, described by the army as a sweep for militants and their weapons laboratories.

But Israel is also more isolated in the world, having this week defied an attempt by the United Nations to dispatch a fact-finding mission to investigate fighting last month in the Jenin refugee camp. The Israeli Army has denied Palestinian charges of war crimes committed in the camp.

Mr. Arafat moved immediately to draw further attention to Israel's defiance of the United Nations. He urged an inquiry into what he repeatedly called "Jeningrad," a reference to the Nazi siege of Stalingrad.

Ticking off the nations with permanent seats on the security council, Mr. Arafat called on them to "protect the peace in the land of peace - in the terra sancta - for our children."

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/02/international/02CND-MIDE.html

5/2/02
9:06:42 PM

t r u t h o u t | 05.03

Maureen Dowd | The Crawford-Riyadh Connection

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.03A.MD.Connection.htm

Arafat Emerges From Besieged West Bank Headquarters

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.03B.West.Bank.htm

Judge Declares Imprisonment of Material Witnesses Unconstitutional

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.03C.Judge.htm

NATO Prepares to End Its Patrols of U.S. Skies

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.03D.Patrols.End.htm

Sierra Club Congressional Endorsements for 2002

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.03E.Endorsement.htm

Cherokee Constitution: BIA On Way Out

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.03F.Cherokee.htm

Gunmen Stole Gold, Crucifixes, Escaped Monks Report

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.03G.Monks.Report.htm

Health Care Debate Prompts Standoff on Trade Legislation

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.03H.Standoff.htm

Press Freedom Took a Hit in 2001, Watchdog Says

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.03I.Freedom.htm

t r u t h o u t, is a non-profit independent news source

http://www.truthout.org

5/2/02
9:04:32 PM

EU WANTS TO BID ON U.S. MAIL

Carter Dougherty, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The European Union is demanding that foreign companies be allowed to compete with the U.S. Postal Service as part of World Trade Organization talks that began last year.

According to a draft copy of its demands obtained by The Washington Times, Europe also wants access to American markets for municipal water and waste services. It also will call for foreign companies to be given access to Small Business Administration loans.

The European demands, which will be formally presented to the U.S. government by the end of June, mark the opening salvo in WTO negotiations on trade in services, an area that includes industries from finance to telecommunications to energy. The talks began in earnest when the organization agreed at a November meeting in Doha, Qatar, to make a new attempt to remove barriers to international commerce.

Harry Freeman, a Washington-based analyst of trade negotiations, said the U.S. market is already open to foreign companies and that as a result demands by Europe and other trading partners are bound to be politically contentious here.

"What the European Union is going after is pretty predictable," Mr. Freeman said. "These are the clear bones of contention."

A European official, who asked not to be identified, said the document is "not final and official" but conceded that it gives a clear look at the demands the United States will hear from its trading partners in the new negotiations.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which will present a list of U.S. demands to Europe later this year, had no comment on the document.

Europe is renewing a long-standing demand that the United States allow foreign-owned ships to ferry lucrative cargo between U.S. ports, something that is prohibited by the Jones Act. The law requires these ships be built, owned and operated by Americans. A coalition of shippers, shipbuilders and maritime-state legislators has always frustrated efforts to change the law.

The suggestion that foreign companies be allowed to deliver U.S. letters seems certain to face equally tough opposition.

"We oppose this idea, as does the Postal Service and the other unions," said Sally Davidow, spokeswoman for the American Postal Workers Union.

World negotiations on services are governed by General Agreement on Trade in Services, created in the early 1990s. It lays down rules for regulating services that affect such agencies as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and state insurance regulators.

Also, countries must hash out among themselves promises to allow foreign companies to deliver mail or provide transportation services.

A relatively unknown pact when it was created, the services agreement has become the latest whipping boy for many critics of globalization. The same labor unions, environmental groups and other activists opposed to the WTO are making it the center of their campaign against the new negotiations.

Many of the groups, especially in the United States, say new negotiations will force cities to sell municipal utilities such as water and electricity and could put them in the hands of far-off corporations.

"Now the cat is out of the bag," said Ruth Caplan, who handles trade issues for the Alliance for Democracy, a group critical of the WTO. "From the mail we receive to the water we drink, the European requests show that our basic public services are under threat."

But business groups scoff at the notion that the WTO negotiations will destroy government monopolies.

"The foundation of the WTO is not discriminating against foreign companies," said Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council. "If we don't let American companies do it, we don't have to let European ones in."

Source: http://www.washtimes.com/business/20020426-51693010.htm

5/2/02
9:02:30 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

House Dems criticize Bush defense of forest road ban - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15787/story.htm

Labor, consumer groups seek to block Mexico trucks - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15793/story.htm

Alaska worried by expanded Canadian fish farming - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15791/story.htm

Bush declares tornado-hit Maryland a disaster area - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15790/story.htm

Spectacular fire destroys Texas chemical plant - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15796/story.htm

StarLink stigma begins to fade for US corn - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15788/story.htm

Petro-Canado boosts leases on Alaska North Slope - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15785/story.htm

GM moves closer to fuel cells with new NY plant - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15782/story.htm

NRC approves Entergy Arkansas nuke power increase - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15781/story.htm

UK wind farm fights govt ban in court - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15783/story.htm

UK village takes on government over gene crop test - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15792/story.htm

Miners urged to lead the way on development issues - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15794/story.htm

Japan, NZ agree to push for climate change pact - NEW ZEALAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15784/story.htm

US wind power outlook hits Danish turbine makers - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15780/story.htm

Environment fears spur Quebec hog farm moratorium - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15779/story.htm

Drilling ban on Canada's Pacific coast panned - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15789/story.htm

Shell Australia to spend A$100 mln on refinery - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15795/story.htm

FEATURE - Cuddly koalas stir passions in Australia - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15786/story.htm

5/2/02
8:58:24 PM

A New Outlet For Venter's Energy Genome Maverick To Take On Global Warming

by Justin Gillis Washington Post Staff Writer, April 30, 2002; Page E01

J. Craig Venter, the maverick scientist who altered history when he chose to compile a human genetic map with private money, has settled on his next project: tackling the problem of global warming.

Tapping a $100 million research endowment he is creating from his stock holdings, Venter plans to scour the world's deep ocean trenches for bacteria that might be able to convert carbon dioxide, the gas released when cars and power plants burn fuel, back into solid form without needing a lot of sunlight or other energy.

The idea is to devise a technology that would allow humankind to continue producing energy while lowering emissions of the gas, which threatens to destabilize the Earth's climate.

"We've barely scratched the surface of the microbial world out there to try to help the environment," Venter said in an interview. "We're going to be searching for some dramatic new microbes."

Venter has a 20-year track record of upending scientific dogma and developing new approaches that other scientists eventually embrace. In 1998, he created Celera Genomics Corp., the Rockville company that raced government researchers to a draw in compiling the first draft maps of the precise order of chemicals -- or sequence -- of the human genome.

The scientific jury is still out on whether Venter could have done it without borrowing data heavily from his public rivals, but there is no question the race accelerated the publicly funded Human Genome Project by years. Venter and his scientific rival, Francis S. Collins, eventually put aside their differences to announce simultaneous genetic maps in a White House ceremony in 2000.

Venter recently confirmed that the genome Celera sequenced was in large measure his own. He said he felt that if he was going to ask people to surrender their genetic privacy for the sake of science, he ought to go first.

As the excitement of the genome race faded and Celera -- and its Connecticut-based corporate parent -- turned their attention to the task of using the data to develop drugs, Venter grew increasingly restless, locked in combat with his boss, Tony L. White, over the unit's direction. Eventually, Venter was forced out as president.

Venter would say little about his final months at Celera, declining even to reveal whether he had signed a confidentiality agreement in return for severance pay, as is common for executives at his level who leave.

"I'm quite proud of my accomplishments there," Venter said. "But I did not want to run a pharmaceutical company."

Because of his track record, Venter's plans to jump into environmental "bioremediation" could draw money, competition and public attention to that obscure field.

In an interview last week, which he granted subject to a news blackout that lifted this morning, Venter showed off his new headquarters, the entire top floor of a large Rockville office building. The offices were empty but for a few tables and chairs and three assistants whom Venter has hired away from Celera.

Venter, 55, sat behind a whistle-clean makeshift desk, looking relaxed in dark-gray pants and a light-gray shirt. Workmen hurried to and fro removing signs of the previous occupant, a bank.

Venter emphasized that from now on, his ventures will be set up as not-for-profit corporations. "I'm not in business anymore," he said.

The energy venture is merely the most ambitious of three new entities he plans to create. One, the J. Craig Venter Science Foundation, will hold much of the cash and stock Venter acquired in his jobs at Celera and an earlier association with Human Genome Sciences Inc., also of Rockville. Venter had previously said much of the money would go to scientific research, and the foundation is intended to formalize that arrangement.

The money will support the work of his other two creations. One new entity will be a combination of think tank and specialized research shop that will focus on many of the social issues raised by the genetic science that Venter has helped to push forward. Venter envisions an organization with a small permanent staff and 20 to 30 visiting scholars at a given time. The scholars will be selected on the strength of their ideas and might use the time to produce books, papers or other projects on such issues as genetic discrimination and scientific racism.

The think tank will be closely linked to the Institute for Genomic Research, a nonprofit laboratory Venter founded years ago that is now run by his wife, Claire Fraser, an accomplished genetic scientist. That lab, widely known as TIGR and based in Rockville, attracts extensive government funding and is the world's premier center for researching the genetics of bacteria. The new think tank will be called the TIGR Center for the Advancement of Genomics. Genomics is the study, at a broad scale, of the complete genetic inheritance of organisms -- their genomes.

Venter is calling his third new entity the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives. Venter expects to go after grant money from the U.S. Department of Energy and to have scores of scientists on board within a year. His goal will be to explore whether modern science can use the power of biology to solve the world's most serious environmental crisis.

As industrial societies burn fossil fuels for energy, they are releasing vast amounts of carbon, previously locked in solid form, into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Rising concentrations of the gas are trapping extra heat from the sun -- the famous "greenhouse effect" -- and warming the Earth. Estimates of the impact of this warming in the current century begin with severe economic disruption and the dislocation of millions of people and get worse from there.

As political efforts to cut the use of energy have stalled, many scientists, Venter among them, have grown fascinated by the possibility of a technological fix. The Energy Department has for several years been funding research in the field, which is known as "carbon sequestration."

Scientists are exploring a wide range of ideas, some quite modest and some as wild as fertilizing parts of the ocean to spark growth of algae that would take up carbon dioxide. The Bush administration has supported a broad portfolio of such research and has been increasing funds for it even in tight budget times.

Among the most pragmatic ideas are those that would install colonies of organisms in "bioreactors" near power plants to suck up emissions of carbon dioxide and turn the gas into solids such as sugars, proteins and starches -- which might themselves be useful byproducts. Plant cells can already do this, of course, but they require vast amounts of energy in the form of sunlight, and many scientists believe they are likely to prove impractical on a large scale.

Venter plans to base his approach on one of the most striking developments in biology in recent years -- the discovery, in deep ocean trenches and volcanic hot spots on the ocean floor, of a wide array of bacteria that can perform extensive chemical reactions without needing sunlight. These are thought to be descendants of the most primitive life forms that arose on the Earth, and scientists are just beginning to explore their potential.

Venter said he hopes to find -- or, if necessary, create through genetic engineering -- an ideal organism or group of organisms that would be able to take in carbon dioxide, break it down, and produce both biological compounds and energy.

Ari Patrinos, associate director of science for biological and environmental research at the Energy Department, said he had been discussing futuristic solutions to the energy problem with Venter for a decade and is excited to hear Venter is planning a big move into the field. He cautioned, however, that a great deal of fundamental research remains to be done.

"I think it is indicative of the seriousness of these problems that they are attracting prominent scientists," Patrinos said. "People recognize that some of these problems are stubborn nuts to crack. We need to address them as aggressively as we can with the very best minds."

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5058-2002Apr29.html

5/2/02
8:54:55 PM

DAILY GRIST

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

LABOR'S LOVE LOST

The environmental movement and the labor movement form two of the strongest currents in progressive politics -- and when they join forces, the results can be impressive. In 1970, the Steelworkers of America and environmental organizations worked together to help gain congressional approval for the federal Clean Air Act. In the 1980s, environmentalists built coalitions with unions to pass legislation giving workers and the public the right to know what chemicals were in their factories and communities; and in the 1990s, many environmental and labor leaders found common ground on trade and energy issues. But in recent months, the glue holding together the blue-green alliance has weakened. Keith Schneider reports on the schism, only on the Grist Magazine website.

only in Grist: The blue-green relationship hits the skids -- in our Main Dish section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/maindish/schneider050202.asp?source=daily>

THE TRUCK STOPS HERE

Speaking of the blue-green alliance, a coalition of labor and environmental groups, plus the trucking industry, filed suit yesterday to prevent the U.S. government from allowing some 30,000 Mexican trucks onto American roads. On Friday, the Bush administration is scheduled to sign regulations that would allow Mexican trucks to cross the border for the first time in 20 years. The coalition contends that doing so would increase air pollution from diesel fumes and violate the Clean Air Act, which prevents the federal government from taking any action that would increase air pollution in regions that do not meet air-quality standards, such as Southern California and other border areas. And truckers have another concern on their minds: Currently, products coming in from Mexico must be unloaded at the border and transferred to U.S. trucks. The Teamsters fear that allowing Mexican truck drivers to enter would cost U.S. jobs and depress wages.

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Jane Kay, 02 May 2002 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/02/MN244465.DTL>

MR. GREEN GENES?

When you've skyrocketed into the public eye, become an overnight billionaire, and successfully mapped the human genome, what do you do next? Why, find the solution to global warming, of course. J. Craig Venter, the maverick scientist who gave the federal government's Human Genome Project a run for its money and accelerated the pace of DNA sequencing by many years, now plans to figure out a way to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and thereby slow global warming. Venter is in the process of setting up the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives and plans to seek government funding for research on technological and biological (as opposed to, say political or behavioral) solutions to environmental problems. Venter is especially interested in bacteria found in recent years in deep ocean trenches that may be able to convert CO2 back into solid form without needing much energy.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Justin Gillis, 30 Apr 2002 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5058-2002Apr29.html>

only in Grist: A carbon-sequestration cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/ha/ha090100.stm?source=daily>

do good: Take action on climate issues <http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/climate.asp?source=daily>

CELLS SELL

The internal combustion engine took one small step toward obsolescence yesterday, when General Motors announced the addition of an 80,000-square-foot research facility in upstate New York that will be wholly dedicated to the commercialization of fuel cells. Fuel cells generate electricity by mixing hydrogen and oxygen; the only byproduct of the process is water. The Bush administration has expressed great enthusiasm for fuel-cell development, but to date, only prototype fuel-cell-powered cars exist. With the new facility, GM will explore the feasibility of manufacturing fuel cells on a large scale. The company, which spends hundreds of millions of dollars per year on fuel-cell research, plans to make mass-produced fuel cells available by the middle of this decade. The first ones, however, will be used for non-transport needs; GM doesn't expect to manufacture fuel-cell cars for the retail market until about 2010.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Reuters, 01 May 2002 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/746201.asp>

only in Grist: Fuel speed ahead -- Ballard is leading the charge to spread fuel cells far and wide -- in our Books Unbound column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/books/books063000.stm?source=daily>

do good: Take action to pledge to buy an eco-friendly car <http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/autos.asp?source=daily#pledge>

ABANDON SHIPS

About 15 percent of the world's nitrogen- and sulfur-based pollution is produced by ships -- some 30,000 of them worldwide -- yet the vessels are among the least controlled pollution sources on the planet. That wouldn't change much under rules proposed by the U.S. EPA yesterday. The new regulations, modeled after a five-year-old international accord that has been widely criticized as too lax, would require some ships to reduce their emissions by about 11 percent. But the rules would cover only new ships (although ships sail the seas for four decades) and only U.S. ships (although nine out of every 10 ships entering U.S. ports are foreign). The EPA has admitted that even if the rules were fully in force across the globe, pollution from ships would increase by about 13 percent in the U.S. in the next 30 years. State and local air quality officials say the lack of strict regulations would make it nigh-impossible to meet air-quality standards, and enviros are threatening to go to court over the issue. The Bush administration is expected to finalize the rules by the end of January, after a public-comment period.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Gary Polakovic, 02 May 2002 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000031163may02.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dscience>

5/2/02
3:00:00 PM

GM Demonstrates First Gasoline-Fed Fuel-Cell Vehicle

( Hydrogen Fuel Cell Is The Way To Go Not Gasoline Fuel Cell )

5/2/02

HONEOYE FALLS, N.Y. (AP) _ A high-pitched whine emanated from the electric motor as the bright blue and white pickup truck accelerated to 25 mph on a rural park road.

It was no speed record, but for General Motors Corp., it was a historic moment: the demonstration of what it says is the world's first drivable fuel-cell vehicle, an altered Chevrolet S-10 pickup

Calling the efforts to bring fuel-cell vehicles to the mass market a ``marathon,'' GM vice president Larry Burns said the latest development puts the automaker ``at about mile six.''

The truck demonstrated near GM's fuel-cell research facility is equipped with a processor that reforms low-sulfur gasoline though a series of chemical reactions.

The fuel is mixed with air and water and passed over a series of catalysts that separate hydrogen from carbon. The hydrogen is sent to the fuel-cell stack, where it is combined with oxygen from the air to produce electricity.

Gasoline-fed fuel cells are viewed as a transitional technology as automakers, suppliers and researchers work toward vehicles that run on pure hydrogen.

Every major automaker is working on some sort of fuel-cell vehicle and plans to begin making some available for fleet sales within a year. Mass-produced, affordable fuel-cell vehicles are not expected to be available until at least 2010.

Using gasoline as an interim technology makes sense, said Burns, GM's vice president for research, development and planning, since there are already 175,000 filling stations in the United States, providing an existing refueling infrastructure.

``You're not going to see those filling stations go away overnight,'' he said.

Pure hydrogen-fed fuel cells produce no harmful emissions, while those using gasoline or other fuels are not pollution-free.

GM says the reformer technology installed on the S-10, however, could provide efficiency of 40 miles per gallon while cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent.

The automaker says all regulated emissions would nearly be eliminated except for trace amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. There would be no oxides of nitrogen, GM said.

Burns said heavy, expensive on-board reformers could be replaced with ones at gas stations or in homes with natural gas service. That way, drivers could pump hydrogen into their cars at a filling station or at home.

``Your home or office could become an alternative to a gas station in the future,'' Burns said.

With the fuel-cell-powered S-10, GM says it has made important headway on issues standing in the way of making such vehicles commercially viable and publicly acceptable.

The automaker has been able to reduce the cost of the vehicle tenfold in the last 10 years and has reduced the amount of time the vehicle's fuel processor must warm up before driving from 30 minutes to six, said Gary Stottler, a GM engineer.

A drivable version of GM's Autonomy fuel-cell vehicle that runs on hydrogen will be unveiled by the end of the year, Burns said.

The Autonomy uses an electric motor for each wheel and ``drive-by-wire'' technology, eliminating mechanical controls for steering and braking.

GM already has developed stationary fuel-cell units that could be used as backup power generators for homes or businesses. Other companies, such as DTE Energy Inc., are working on stationary fuel-cell power units as well.

The automaker is working with Hydrogenics Corp. of Toronto and Nextel Communications Inc. on a project to use a 25-kilowatt generator to power wireless telephone towers in the event they lose their primary electrical service.

Source: http://www.planetsave.com/ViewStory.asp?ID=2482

5/2/02
2:51:32 PM

Honda Markets Another Hybrid Vehicle That Approaches Clean Car Standard

CLEAN CAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE

Honda is now selling a gas-electric hybrid version of its popular Civic through dealerships across the country. Read on to learn about this vehicle and how you can register to win one!

The Model Year 2003 Hybrid Civic performs well against our Clean Car Standard (CCC Backgrounder), achieving 49 miles per gallon (combined city and highway driving) and meeting the ultra-low emitting vehicle tailpipe standard. That is more than 1-1/2 times the average fuel economy for compact cars, with tailpipe emissions that meet the cleanest current national rating.

This car also performs very well on the road and is outfitted with "top-of-the-line" features such as automatic climate control and a higher quality interior. Hybrids run on conventional fuel and never need to be plugged in, and the Hybrid Civic can travel over 600 miles on a tank. It costs $19,550 with a manual transmission, or $20,550 with an automatic transmission.

This is the first time that a car meeting these environmental performance criteria has been available as an optional version of an already popular vehicle line. Honda plans to sell 2,000 Hybrid Civics per month, and Toyota will soon increase Prius sales to nearly 1,500 per month. For more information, see Links and More Information.

CLEAN CAR PLEDGE - TELL A FRIEND!

So far, over 100,000 people like you have taken the Clean Car Pledge. Spread the word and invite your friends to take the Pledge:

Clean Car Campaign Site

Action Network Site

TAKE THE PATRIOT'S PLEDGE AND REGISTER TO WIN

And, if you would like another way to express your support for saving fuel, you can take the Patriot's Pledge: http://www.saveabarrel.org

The Patriot's Pledge is a campaign to help Americans reduce our dependence on oil by taking personal steps to meet our transportation needs in more fuel-efficient ways. By taking the pledge, you will save at the pump, help the environment and make our nation more secure. Anyone who makes a pledge between now and June 21, 2002, will be automatically entered into a drawing to win a new Hybrid Civic!

Thank you for your support.

The Clean Car Campaign

Source: http://www.cleancarcampaign.org/civic_hybrid.html

5/2/02
2:49:37 PM

Sierra Club Congratulates Hawaii Legislature For Passing Bottle Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, May 1, 2002

SIERRA CLUB CONGRATULATES HAWAII LEGISLATURE FOR PASSING BOTTLE BILL Hawaii Implements First 5-cent Beverage Container Deposit Law in Twenty Years

Honolulu, HI- The Sierra Club today applauded the Hawaii State Legislature for approving the first 5-cent beverage container deposit legislation, or bottle bill, in twenty years. Hawaii is the 11th state with a bottle bill. With all of the main Hawaiian Islands currently facing a landfill crisis, this measure will shrink landfills, create recycling jobs, and vastly reduce bottle and can litter from beaches and roadways.

"Passing the bottle bill is a major victory for Hawaii's environment. Hawaii is paradise. We want to keep it that way," said Jeff Mikulina, Director of the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter. "With shrinking landfill space and an economy that is dependent on a clean environment, the bottle bill makes sense for Hawaii."

Hawaii uses approximately 800 million beverage containers annually. Currently, about 20% of those containers are recycled statewide. A recent national report, co-sponsored by the beverage industry, found that states with bottle bills recover 80% of their beverage container waste. Studies also show that states with bottle bills witnessed a 60-80% decrease in beverage container litter after enactment of the measure. Hawaii's bottle bill will place a nickel deposit on all glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers that would be returned when the consumer brings the empty container back for recycling. Redemption centers and retail stores over a certain size would be required to accept the recyclable bottles and cans.

"Bottle bills work," continued Mikulina. "They provide a real incentive for people to recycle-and an incentive not to litter. The ten states with bottle bills found that bottle and can litter has virtually disappeared. With the bottle bill, we will not only reduce the pressure on our landfills, but we will also improve the safety of our beaches and protect our ocean ecosystem."

The last states to pass nickel deposit bottle bills were Delaware and Massachusetts in 1982. The many measures introduced by states since then have been vigorously opposed by the beverage industry. Over the past 20 years, beverage industry opponents have spent tens of millions on defeating bottle bills around the country, out spending proponents by as much as 30 to 1. In 1996, $3 million was spent to defeat a bottle bill expansion initiative in Oregon. It is estimated that the beverage industry spent upwards of $100,000 attempting to stop the Hawaii bottle bill.

CONTACT: Jeff Mikulina, 808-226-4987 or Wendy Balazik, 202-675-2383

Source: http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/

5/2/02
2:46:33 PM

Changing Climate, Shrinking Habitats And Other Stories

Thursday, May 02, 2002

by Jessie Landau and Kathleen Wong, California Academy of Sciences

Changing Climate, Shrinking Habitats

Computer models suggest that Earth's changing climate will cause most places to have radically different ecosystems within 50 years. The study, led by Townsend Peterson of University of Kansas, determined the geographical ranges of 1,870 mammals, birds, and butterflies in Mexico and then calculated where each species could survive given current climate change trends.

The model predicts that up to 2.4 percent of species are likely to lose up to 90 percent or more of their ranges. More than 40 percent of species in some communities are expected to suffer shrinking ranges and to face extinction. The strongest effects of climate change are expected to occur in flatlands such as the Chihuahuan Desert, where almost half the species may change.

Conversely, mountain species will probably experience the least change. The shifts could be more rapid than those seen at the end of the last Ice Age. The results suggest that conservationists should reexamine which lands they would most like to protect. Creating reserve networks would allow species to adjust to climate change by migrating. The alternative: Reserves set up today might lose the ecosystems they were intended to protect.

Southern California Dam to Fall for Steelhead

One small blow for steelhead will mean one big leap for Southern California's severly endangered steelhead trout. This week, the National Park Service plans to demolish a small dam in the Santa Monica Mountains to allow steelhead access to more spawning grounds. The fall of the Solstice Creek barrier marks the first time such concrete actions have taken place expressly for fish in Los Angeles County.

Biologists smell success in the venture. They call the waters upstream of the dam an anadromous fish's paradise. Cool, clean water riffles across deep gravel beds shaded by native trees. Nearly all of Solstice Canyon is protected from development. And unlike salmon, the southland's steelhead are programmed to settle for just about any freshwater source in an adaptation to an often drought-stricken climate. The project has progressed smoothly so far, giving hope to conservationists gunning for the removal of two much larger silted-in dams: one on Matilija Creek near Ojai and another on Malibu Creek.

Magnetic North Heading South

The Earth's magnetic field may be in the early stages of reversing, which would eventually send magnetic north to the South Pole.

The field is created by the circulation of liquid iron inside Earth's core. Changes in the flow direction of these iron currents are thought to weaken the magnetic field and start the pole-flipping process. The last reversal is thought to have occurred about 780,000 years ago over a period of several thousand years.

Researchers at the Physics of the Globe Institute of Paris and the Danish Space Research Institute in Copenhagen recently compared the strength and direction of Earth's magnetic field using satellite data gathered in 1980 and 2000. In the journal Nature, they report that the magnetic field of one large patch off the southern tip of Africa has already flipped. Anomalies like these have already reduced the strength of the planet's magnetic field by about 10 percent. If the trend continues, it will result in the creation of a new magnetic pole.

Wild Condor Chick Hatches

Pop the champagne and bring out the cigars! A pair of California condors living in the wild have successfully bred, brooded, and hatched a healthy chick in Los Padres National Forest south of Big Sur. The six-day-old ball of fluff is the first to be conceived and born in the wild since biologists collected the last wild condors for captive breeding 18 years ago.

Biologists say the parents have bonded well to the chick and are taking turns feeding it a nutritious diet of regurgitated meat. Lauded by scientists as a major step forward in restoring the endangered birds to the wild, the event almost didn't happen. Biologists tried to remove the egg last month, out of fear its captive-bred, puppet-fed parents couldn't care for it. But the father scuttled that idea by aggressively chasing the egg nabbers away. The chick brings the population of condors in the wild up to 63 and the total population to 185, up from 22 in 1980.

Crayfish Urine Packs a Knockout Punch

Fighting crayfish intimidate their opponents with a quick squirt of urine, say scientists. The battle strategy may be the first known example of direct underwater chemical communication. Freshwater crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) tend to live in dense aggregations of as many as 20 individuals per square meter.

Fierce competition over food, shelter, and mates makes the creatures a quarrelsome lot. In the study, ecologist Thomas Breithaupt of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom staged fighting bouts between crayfish that had been blindfolded and injected with a dye that made their urine glow green. He found that brawl winners squirted as aggressions escalated and were more likely to urinate during the match than losers. Streams were aimed toward an opponent's gills, suggesting pheromones in the urine advertised the combatant's size, strength, and sex.

A preemptive shot, Breithaupt proposes, allows the burliest crayfish to win matches while averting serious damage. The work was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

World's First Cowboys Bunked in Africa

Just when and where humans first domesticated cattle has always been a mystery. Some have speculated that humans in the Near East were the first to tame wild herds 8,000 years ago, and that livestock herding spread to Africa via colonization and ocean-going trade.

However, other archaeologists have suggested on the strength of a few poorly preserved bones that Africans became the world's first cowpokes perhaps 10,000 years ago. New genetic evidence supporting this theory has just been published in the journal Science. Olivier Hanotte in Nairobi, Kenya, and colleagues at the International Livestock Research Institute compared the genes of cattle in 50 herds in 23 African nations.

They found that cattle in the Horn of Africa tend to be related to the humped zebu of Pakistan and probably arrived via trade ships. Those in northern Africa contain the genes of taurine cattle, domesticated about 8,000 years ago in what is now Turkey. But herds in central Africa contained the most genetic diversity, suggesting their bloodlines are the oldest of all. Hanotte suggests that people in central Africa developed cattle domestication independently, and their herding lifestyle spread to the west and south.

Signs Of A Superdense Quark Star

NASA astronomers say they have found the first example of a strange and hypothetical object known as a quark star. Just 11 kilometers in diameter, this unimaginably dense star could weigh more than our Sun.

Named RX J1856, the object had originally been considered a neutron star. Neutron stars are thought to form after large, aging stars have collapsed. If the force of the implosion is great enough, the protons and electrons in its atoms will fuse, creating a core made of densely packed neutrons. One teaspoon of a neutron star is thought to weigh more than a billion tons.

Data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory indicate that RX J1856, located about 360 light years from Earth, is too small to be a neutron star. Instead, RX J1856 could be an even denser quark star. Quark stars are thought to form when a star's collapse progresses past the neutron star stage. Those neutrons are thought to implode into an even denser mass, where the largest distinguishable entities are the fundamental particles known as quarks. Other astronomers remain skeptical about the discovery because alternative scenarios could also explain the star's small size.

Source: http://www.calacademy.org

5/2/02
4:17:38 AM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

FISHERIES REPORT OFFERS BRIGHT SPOTS, DIM FORECAST

WASHINGTON, DC, May 1, 2002 (ENS) - For the first time in five years, annual figures released by the National Marine Fisheries Service show some improvements in the status of commercially fished marine species. While conservation groups applauded the good news, they noted that almost 100 fish species remain in jeopardy, and urged support for new legislation to strengthen the nation's fish conservation laws.

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2002/2002L-05-01-06.html

JUDGE BARS NAVY BOMBING ON FARALLON DE MEDINILLA

WASHINGTON, DC, May 1, 2002 (ENS) - A federal judge has issued an injunction halting all military activities at Farallon de Medinilla that would harm or kill migratory birds.

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2002/2002L-05-01-07.html

NEW CODE TO GOVERN BRITISH COLUMBIA FOREST INDUSTRY

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Canada, May 1, 2002 (ENS) - The government of British Columbia today announced that it is "streamlining" its forest practices regulations "while maintaining strict environmental standards." After years of pilot projects and study, the Liberal government of Premier Gordon Campbell says it has developed a new "results oriented approach," and is encouraging input from all interests before putting new regulations into law.

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2002/2002L-05-01-02.html

EUROPE'S CHOICE: NUCLEAR DANGERS OR GLOBAL WARMING

PAMPLONA, Spain, May 1, 2002 (ENS) - Governments must overcome public concerns about nuclear energy if the European Union is to comply with its Kyoto Protocol commitments, European Energy and Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio warned an informal meeting of EU energy ministers in Pamplona on Sunday. Under the protocol, EU countries must cut the emission of six greenhouse gases linked to global warming by 2012.

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2002/2002L-05-01-03.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 1, 2002

Explosion, Fire Destroy Texas Petrochemical Plant

Logging Halted in Roadless Tongass Regions

Rat Poison Kills Birds on Anacapa Island

El Niño Could Rescue Parched Southwest

Energy Department Seeks Ways to Expand Geothermal Power

Black Bear Study Offers Good News

Hybrid Honda Civic Now in Dealerships

Park Service Tests SegwayTM Human Transporter

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2002/2002L-05-01-09.html

5/2/02
4:13:27 AM

The Carlyle Connection

How The Pentagon Learned To Love The Weapon No One Wanted

by Geoffrey Gray

rank Carlucci never trained much as a salesman. The former CIA spook turned Reagan defense secretary has been working as chairman for the Carlyle Group, the nation's 11th largest military contractor, and for the last five years, he's been championing the the production of 482 Crusader armored vehicles, over $11.2 billion dollars' worth of self-propelled Howitzer firepower.

He might as well have been going door-to-door with vacuum cleaners. Nobody seemed to want the damn things. They were bulky, outdated, expensive. "It looks like it's too heavy; it's not lethal enough," Bush said during a 2000 campaign debate. "There's going to be a lot of programs that aren't going to fit into the strategic plan for a long-term change of our military."

What a difference a war can make.

Late this March, as part of the post-9-11 military buildup, Donald Rumsfeld gave United Defense, Carlyle's subsidiary, the full monty: over $470 million to continue development on the problem-riddled Crusaders, puzzling some military analysts.

"The Crusader has been the GAO's poster child for bad weapons development," says Eric Miller, an analyst who watches defense for the Project on Government Oversight. "Influence is tough to measure, but it's certainly had a friend somewhere."

Make that a very close friend. Two internal Defense Department documents—letters between Carlyle and Rumsfeld—recently made available to the Voice show the intimate relationship between the Bush administration and the Carlyle Group.

"Dear Don," reads the first note, dated February 15, 2001, and signed by Carlucci on Carlyle stationery. "Thanks for the lunch last Friday. It was great seeing you in such good spirits even if you are 'all alone.' "

Rummy, all alone? The Defense Department declined to comment on that one. A spokesman for the Carlyle Group, Chris Ullman, explains that 'all alone' simply means Rumsfeld, fresh in office, felt overwhelmed by the duties of his new job. He invited Carlucci over to the Pentagon for advice—not as a Carlyle chairman, but as a former public servant—along with William Perry, former Clinton defense secretary. The letter, Ullman says, should not have been printed on Carlyle stationary. "It was an oversight."

Still, Judicial Watch, the right-wing group that got the memos through a Freedom of Information Act request, says the connection between the Pentagon and the Carlyle Group —whose advisers include the first president Bush—creates the "appearance of conflict" and violate the public's trust.

"Under normal circumstances, it would be advisable for Rumsfeld to meet with his former secretaries to talk shop," says the group's president, Tom Fitton. "But when [you're] working for a defense contractor, it's probably not a good idea."

The letter indicates they intended to continue chatting. It continues: "We thought it useful to follow up on our discussions on the need for reductions in the infrastructure of the Department [of Defense] and how that might best be done. . . . We would be pleased to introduce to you, or to whomever you might designate, the Commissioners who put this effort together. Best Regards . . . "

Located a few long blocks from the White House, Carlyle has been called the world's most powerful private equity firm. But since September 11, the company has been having a little PR problem, not least because it once had both Bush and bin Laden family money—though not Osama's.

Carlyle's front men tend to come from the dark, Bushy corners of the Republican party—like the president's Florida consigliere, James "the Velvet Hammer" Baker, and former White House budget chief Dick Darman. Their staff is like a fantasy camp for former world dignitaries and international policy wonks.

On the roster of retirees: head of the FCC William Kennard; head of the SEC Arthur Levitt; treasurer and chief investment officer of the World Bank and husband of Bush biographer Afsaneh Beschloss; former Brit prime minister John Major; and former Philippines prez Fidel Ramos.

These bigs do business in 55 countries and specialize in investing in private sectors heavily affected by government change. Which, in simple terms, means they buy smaller companies in areas where they can predict public policy, then sell them for bigger profits.

First in a string of high-profile recruits, Carlucci joined Carlyle in 1989, giving the company an inside edge on the Pentagon's $150 billion Pentagon defense-spending feast. With yearly receipts that topped $1 billion, he also showed company founders the wisdom of having a former cabinet member at the head of the table.

But what people misunderstand about Carlyle, co-founder David Rubenstein told Fortune magazine last month, is that his celebrity staff does less than people think, and whatever the public may be speculating—e.g., global-domination conspiracy stuff—is just not true.

"We don't lobby government," he said—and by law, even if the company did, it wouldn't be illegal. Carlucci, who has been out of office long enough to work as a lobbyist if he wanted to, told Fortune he had been "particularly cautious" not to discuss Carlyle business with Rumsfeld. True, the two have become close friends since their Ivy League days together on the Princeton wrestling team, and the defense secretary and his wife, Joyce, often dine at the Carluccis' house, and Rummy occasionally lends Frank and Marsha the keys to their $280,000 ski condo in Taos, New Mexico. Talk of weapons development could easily come up between the two Tigers alums. In the magazine interview, Carlucci insisted it does not.

"I have never mentioned the word Crusader in his presence," he said.

Maybe so, but the letters uncovered by Judicial Watch indicate the chairman might have gotten his foot back inside the Pentagon doors. On April 3, 2001, Rumsfeld replied:

"Dear Frank and Bill:

"There is no question but that we are going to have to tackle the infrastructure issue. What I may do is ask the two of you to come in and meet with some of the key staff folks who are working on those types of things here in the department.

"I will be back in touch with you. Sincerely, R."

Additional reporting: Jess Wisloski

Tell us what you think. mailto:editor@villagevoice.com

Source: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0218/gray.php

5/1/02
11:00:57 PM

Moussaoui Hijacks The Legal System

An Accused Terrorist Puts The U.S. Courts On Trial

by Dahlia Lithwick, May 1, 2002

Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker, wants to join his friends in martyrdom. In open court last week, he proved he's willing to waive competent counsel and go to the electric chair so long as he can destroy the American legal system by grandstanding at his trial.

Moussaoui used a pretrial hearing to offer a 50-minute diatribe calling for the "destruction of America" and "the destruction of the Jewish people." He insulted the judge and attacked his attorneys. Under the guise of a motion to fire his court-appointed counsel and quoting extensively from the Quran, Moussaoui called for a "fight against the evil forces of the federal government," for "Muslims who want to fight and spend ... money for the real day of judgment" and for other tidbits of generalized craziness (such as the return of Spain to the Muslims). It remains unclear from Moussaoui's babble whether he would prefer to have the court appoint Muslim defense counsel or if he'd rather represent himself. Given that allowing Moussaoui to proceed pro se will unleash a legal nightmare, there's no question that the most pragmatic option for Judge Leonie Brinkema would be to give Moussaoui a Muslim attorney he can work with, even if the law doesn't require such accommodation. But what if Moussaoui—recognizing that this trial affords him a direct connection to Al Jazeera—insists on defending himself? Should he be permitted to? And will he bring down the whole American system of justice if he does?

The Moussaoui trial calls into question many assumptions at the core of the U.S. legal system. For starters, the justice system is predicated on the assumption that an adversarial system will unearth the truth. But Moussaoui doesn't believe that ours is an adversarial system. He informed the court that "this judge is here as a field general, entrusted with the mission to get this matter over quickly." Moussaoui believes his own attorneys are pursuing "greed, fame, and vanity" as well as actively assisting the government in speeding him to his execution.

Another assumption is that open and public trials are better for the defendant, for justice, and for the public than closed and secret trials are. We believe that nonsense spouted by parties at trial will be revealed as nonsense when subjected to the "free market of ideas." But when an alleged terrorist and self-professed enemy of the state seeks to use a trial to broadcast his message, incite his confederates, and to possibly pass coded messages to America's enemies, the assumption that a free, open trial is best for this democracy is called into question.

Finally, we assume that even criminals are ultimately rational actors; that given a choice between sending a message and preserving his life, no defendant would reasonably choose to die and send a message. Sept. 11 tells us this assumption is no longer true either.

Defenders of military tribunals say the Moussaoui mess vindicates their position that Western freedoms and Western values are too good for terrorists unwilling to abide by the basic bargains that underpin Western life. And more alarming, Moussaoui's insistence that our legal system is corrupt will, in fact, corrupt the system. At every juncture, he will force the court to either grant his fundamental rights or risk violating them. To grant his fundamental rights may be to endanger the whole country. And to violate them is to undermine our most basic legal and moral values.

For example, long-standing American tradition preserves a defendant's right to examine the evidence against him, even when it's classified for security reasons. Usually the law allows defense counsel to review classified information, but only after counsel pass background checks and sign statements indicating they won't divulge the information. But our defendant wants to represent himself. Moussaoui's signature is worth less than the Bic pen he'd use to freely access state secrets. And while Judge Brinkema has the option of clearing only Moussaoui's "stand-by" counsel, Moussaoui's already made clear that he's only interested in lawyers who share his kind of "Islamic understanding." Brinkema may need to choose whether such lawyers should be entrusted with classified documents or whether to stage a show trial in which Moussaoui can't defend himself because he can't examine the evidence.

As Moussaoui also points out, the Sixth Amendment protects absolutely the right to represent oneself, even if one is a galactic idiot. In a 1973 case, Faretta v. California, the Supreme Court reasoned that "although [the defendant] may conduct his own defense ultimately to his own detriment, his choice must be honored out of 'that respect for the individual which is the lifeblood of the law.' " Moussaoui—so long as he's deemed mentally competent to do so, has the right to act as his own lawyer. Thus, even if you believe that citations to the Quran count as binding legal precedent in the Eastern District of Virginia, the Constitution gives you the right to mount your own defense. So, Brinkema must either let Moussaoui broadcast his message of hate or violate his constitutional right to do so.

The Constitution also guarantees the right to an open trial. Which is why Judge Brinkema's courtroom is full of reporters and the pleadings are available on the Web. So, Brinkema can either conduct this trial in secrecy, or (as she did last week) invite a suspected terrorist to step up to the mike.

The great irony here is that most criminal law experts agree that even a dismal lawyer could probably get Moussaoui acquitted on these conspiracy charges. The case against him is largely circumstantial, and the government faces a steep uphill battle. But the rules of evidence are complicated, and Moussaoui likely can't understand legal procedures well enough to mount a credible defense. Also, Moussaoui really doesn't mind losing his case and dying. In fact, he looks like he plans to enjoy it.

The judge won't rule on Moussaoui's motion to represent himself until she has seen the results of his mental exam. Yesterday, Brinkema ordered that Dr. Raymond Patterson (whose examination of John Hinckley kept him confined to a mental hospital over his doctor's objections) perform a competency exam on Moussaoui and determine whether he is mentally fit to stand trial and fit to fire his lawyers. While in some jurisdictions courts require a higher level of mental competency to fire one's lawyers than to stand trial, the 4th Circuit follows the rule laid out by the Supreme Court in a 1993 case, Godinez v. Moran, holding that the standard of competence for waiving counsel is identical to the standard of competence for standing trial. According to the Supreme Court's holding in Dusky v. United States, Moussaoui need only be competent enough to confer with his lawyers and understand the charges against him. It's doubtful that even his suicidal religious extremism will be enough to render Moussaoui mentally incompetent under that test.

So, what is Judge Brinkema to do? Does she chip away at American constitutional freedoms—Moussaoui's right to see the evidence against him, his right to self-representation, his right to an open trial—all in the name of keeping him on a short leash? Or does she let him hijack this trial for the delectation of his buddies back in Afghanistan?

To condone chipping away at constitutional rights is to suggest that becoming more brutally repressive—or more like them—is the American way in times of trouble. It suggests that we never really trusted any of our ephemeral democratic ideals in the first place. In any liberal society, it's sometimes necessary to hold one's nose and admit that ephemeral high-minded rights are never as important as they are in times of war when accorded our enemies. If we really do believe in the freedoms and rights that represent the warp and woof of this democracy, it's absurd to argue that they stop at U.S. borders or that we can just put them on pause during wartime. If we really believe in the free marketplace of ideas, we'll have to allow Mr. Moussaoui to put his own asinine convictions on the block. Be warned: It will be ugly. Be warned: Our enemies will hoot with joy. But what's the alternative? If 200 years of constitutional ideals can't withstand the taunts of one angry little lunatic, we shouldn't be fighting a war to defend them. Moussaoui can go ahead and trash this trial, trash U.S. morale, giggle with his terrorist buddies, and embarrass the court. He still won't have taken our whole justice system down with him, unless we give it to him.

Source: http://slate.msn.com/default.aspx?id=2065191

5/1/02
10:53:54 PM

t r u t h o u t | 05.02

1.5 Million French Rally vs. Le Pen

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.02A.French.Rally.htm

Fighting Erupts Near Bethlehem Church

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.02B.Fighting.Erupts.htm

Levin Statement | Gas Prices: How Are They Really Set?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.02C.Gas.Prices.htm

Leahy, Kennedy, Boxer | Letter to Thompson on Medical Privacy

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.02D.Medical.Privacy.htm

Reid Calls on President to Match Education Rhetoric with Resources

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.02E.Match.Education.htm

Paul Krugman | Herd on the Street (The Economic Recovery That Isn't)

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.02F.PK.Street.htm

Geoffrey Gray | The Carlyle Connection

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.02G.GG.Connection.htm

Mike Ferner | War, Inc.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.02H.MF.War.htm

White House Stonewall: Day 68

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.02I.Stonewall.htm

t r u t h o u t, is a non-profit independent news source

http://www.truthout.org

5/1/02
10:51:46 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

FEATURE - Serb town still waiting for NATO bombing clean-up - YUGOSLAVIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15762/story.htm

Pechiney deal to expand Venezuelan aluminum mine - VENEZUELA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15773/story.htm

US Army Corps to suspend work on 150 projects - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15765/story.htm

Alliant's Iowa unit to build $400 mln power plant - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15768/story.htm

US ruling on Western gas leases may spur lawsuits - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15766/story.htm

UK Co-Op Bank spurns genetic modification business - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15763/story.htm

Digging for gold in the mountain of old mobiles - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15774/story.htm

Animal lobby makes Novartis wary on UK investment - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15760/story.htm

Britain launches 66 million pound biomass scheme - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15770/story.htm

Carnival atmosphere at London May Day protests - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15771/story.htm

Two people die in Turkish landmine explosion - TURKEY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15767/story.htm

Taiwan isle residents protest against nuclear waste - TAIWAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15758/story.htm

NZ questions claims organic foods tastier, healthier - NEW ZEALAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15759/story.htm

Quebec mulls moratorium on huge hog farms - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15764/story.htm

Supply security to top Detroit G8 energy agenda - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15769/story.htm

Australia resists Japan's call to join climate pact - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15761/story.htm

Japan PM greeted in Australia by pomp and protests - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15772/story.htm

5/1/02
10:50:21 PM

This may be news to you, but tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer. An annual event established by an act of Congress five decades ago, the point of the NDP was to encourage Americans to pray for their nation--at least once every twelve months. Each year, the president and state governors issue proclamations encouraging such importuning. And the NDP has become a major ritual for the religious right.

For the full story, read the latest installment of "Capital Games," David Corn's exclusive web feature. Currently available at:

http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=52

The far-right antiabortion movement has also been active lately. See Bill Berkowitz's national roundup for a look at what this violent fringe has been up to. Available at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=berkowitz20020429

5/1/02
10:47:26 PM

Irradiation Provision In Farm Bill A Sellout To Agribusiness

Statement of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook

Any time a huge piece of legislation is being chewed over by Congress, there's a good chance that big business interests are hovering at the table like pigs at a trough. The farm bill that lawmakers approved today is just such a bill, and agribusiness lobbyists were at the trough.

One disturbing provision in particular bodes very badly for our food supply and for anyone who buys food at a supermarket. That provision guts current rules that prevent irradiated food from being labeled euphemistically as "pasteurized." Food producers who use irradiation want to label their products with the word "pasteurize" because it conjures up images of wholesome milk. This is designed to confuse and mislead people; they don't want consumers to know the truth, which is that irradiated food may deplete nutrients and may create harmful chemicals.

The bill's irradiation language gives the industry several bites at the apple to label irradiated food as being pasteurized. One provision permits the industry to request permission from the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to use the term "pasteurization" on the labels of irradiated foods. If the Secretary does not respond within 120 days, the irradiator can label the product as being pasteurized. There is no public notice requirement, nor is any consumer input requested or required before a decision on the industry request.

A second provision directs the secretary of HHS to revisit the issue of food irradiation labeling through the standard regulatory process. However, during that process, any irradiation firm can petition the secretary to use alternative labeling terminology. The secretary has 180 days to respond. Again, there is no provision for a public notice requirement nor an opportunity for the public to comment.

We believe the language was inserted largely at the behest of Sen.Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who has accepted $175,591 in agribusiness money in the past two election cycles, and of Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), who has accepted $86,225 in agribusiness money in the same period. We are dismayed and disgusted that they chose to do so much for their contributors at the expense of consumers.

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org

5/1/02
10:46:12 PM

GROUPS SEEK TO HALT BUSH ADMINISTRATION FROM ALLOWING ENVIRONMENTALLY UNSAFE TRUCKS FROM MEXICO ON U.S. HIGHWAYS

Lawsuit by Public Interest, Labor and Environmental Groups Shows New Evidence of Health Risks from Air Pollution

May 1, 2002, Washington, DC - Claiming the Bush Administration has failed to address environmental health concerns for Mexico-domiciled truck emissions, an environmental, labor and industry coalition led by Public Citizen, the Environmental Law Foundation and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today took legal action to prevent the Bush Administration from allowing Mexico-domiciled trucks on highways throughout the United States. The plaintiffs are seeking an emergency injunction to prevent proposed federal regulations from becoming effective on May 3, 2002.

The lawsuit claims that trucks from Mexico will dramatically increase U.S. air pollution because:

· At least 30,000 Mexico-domiciled diesel trucks are set to enter the U.S. in 2002, including many older, pre-1994 trucks that are the most egregious polluters.

· Within ten years, diesel emissions from US trucks will be dramatically reduced due to new engine and fuel standards; no legislation is pending in Mexico to require Mexico-domiciled trucks to meet the same or even similar standards.

· Trucks from Mexico may not be covered by a settlement that requires U.S. trucks to remove "defeat devices" that enabled them to test clean at inspection sites but run dirty on the open road.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "diesel exhaust is likely to be carcinogenic in humans by inhalation." Diesel exhaust has also been linked to birth defects, asthma and premature death.

"By failing to accurately assess the true environmental impact of allowing these trucks from Mexico throughout the United States, the Administration has put the health of millions of Americans at greater risk," said Joan Claybrook, President of Public Citizen.

The plaintiffs are challenging the Bush Administration's "finding of no significant impact," or FONSI prepared concerning these trucks and seeking an injunction requiring the Administration to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS would address the significant public health concerns about these trucks before they are allowed throughout the country.

The lawsuit, which was filed in a San Francisco federal court, points to a new study that raises serious questions about the public health impact of allowing these environmentally unsafe trucks from Mexico to drive throughout the United States. For example, the study shows, by the year 2010, these trucks will emit twice as much particulate matter and nitrogen oxides as U.S. trucks. Fine particulate matter is considered to be the largest environmental public health problem in the United States today. Nitrogen oxides are dangerous because they help form ozone, which is a strong irritant to the lungs and eyes. At high concentrations, ozone causes shortness of breath, and aggravates asthma, emphysema and other conditions.

The suit claims that the Bush Administration disregarded key requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Air Act in its efforts to allow these trucks access to all U.S. highways. The study was conducted by Sierra Research Inc., a Sacramento, Calif.-based company.

According to the Sierra report, the Bush Administration's Environmental Assessment failed to:

§ Consider the long-term effects on U.S. air quality because it looked only at data for the year 2002. The disparity between the emissions rates of U.S. and Mexico-domiciled trucks will increase as tougher U.S.-EPA standards take effect in the years ahead.

§ Take into account specific emission differences between U.S. and Mexico-domiciled trucks. For instance, the emissions rates of Mexico-domiciled trucks for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) will be higher than U.S. trucks over a 20-year period.

§ Assess the effects of more inspections on air quality. Increased number and duration of inspections will heighten the amount of emissions at these inspection sites.

§ Look at the effects of increased emissions on local areas and instead focused exclusively on a national scale. This is particularly significant since the trucks would cause increased emissions in communities that are already above existing air quality standards. In the interests of accuracy and fairness, air quality evaluations are usually confined to smaller, more specific geographical areas.

"In light of new concerns over air quality and the Bush Administration's refusal to comply with NEPA and the Clean Air Act, we believe a full environmental review is necessary before these trucks are allowed on U.S. highways," said James Wheaton, President, Environmental Law Foundation. The plaintiffs are calling on the Administration to comply with NEPA and the Clean Air Act by conducting an EIS and a conformity determination -- an EPA-administered emissions test for mobile vehicles. California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a friend of the court brief in support of the plaintiff's request for an injunction.

"Commercial trucks from Mexico will not meet this country's tougher emissions standards," said James P. Hoffa, General President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. "We should make sure that these trucks are safe and in full compliance with the same clean air rules that we hold American trucks to before we allow them to travel throughout the Southwest and elsewhere that already suffer from poor air quality."

Many urban areas in the U.S., including Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, El Paso and San Francisco, are currently in non-attainment with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and/or particulate matter. New, more stringent air standards will make it even more difficult for these communities to comply with the law if these trucks from Mexico began arriving in their present form.

In addition to Public Citizen, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF), other plaintiffs in the suit include the California Federation of Labor AFL-CIO and the California Trucking Association. The plaintiffs are represented by Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes and Lerach LLP and Altshuler, Berzon, Nussbaum, Rubin & Demain.

"Diesel kills," said Al Meyerhoff, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. "Older trucks from Mexico, due to their dangerously high emission rates, present a clear and present risk to public health."

A copy of the complaint, the press release, the Sierra Research study - including maps, and a fact sheet are available on the Internet at:

http://www.milberg.com (see cross-border trucking)

5/1/02
10:44:14 PM

Public Citizen

Arbitration More Expensive Than Court - So Costly That Many Victims of Consumer Fraud, Employment Discrimination Give Up

Sens. Kennedy and Feingold Unveil Arbitration Bill to Protect Workers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Arbitration, although widely billed as a low-cost alternative to court, is actually far more expensive for consumers and employees who seek redress for discrimination, fraud and malpractice, a new Public Citizen report reveals. In fact, arbitration costs are so high that many people drop their complaints because they can't afford to pursue them, Public Citizen found.

Arbitration is a private legal system in which, practically speaking, no appeals are allowed. Arbitrators tend to favor businesses, and arbitration awards tend to be much lower than jury verdicts, because arbitrators often favor companies that will provide them future business.

Mandatory arbitration clauses are increasingly being written into everything from basic equipment purchase forms to employment contracts. If consumers use a credit card or cell phone, or have health insurance, they likely have signed or received a form with fine print prohibiting them from suing the company and instead requiring them to take disputes to arbitration. Employees, too, are increasingly finding out too late that they have given up their right to sue, and instead must submit disputes with their employers to an arbitrator instead of a judge.

Public Citizen unveiled the report at a Law Day press conference at which Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) introduced legislation protecting employees from arbitration clauses.

According to the report, the cost of initiating an arbitration case is almost always higher than the cost of filing a lawsuit. For instance, an $80,000 consumer claim brought in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., would cost $221, versus $11,625 at National Arbitration Forum (NAF), a 5,260 percent difference. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) would charge the plaintiff up to $6,650, and Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS) would charge up to $7,950, amounting to a 3,009 percent and 3,597 percent difference in cost, respectively. In requiring payment of these high fees up-front, arbitration destroys the benefits of attorney contingency fee arrangements, which allow plaintiffs to pursue cases without advancing funds.

"Congress, the courts and the public have been victims of a disinformation campaign, portraying arbitration as an inexpensive and impartial alternative to the public courts," said Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen president. "Today, we authoritatively debunk this myth. The grim fact is that for people who are victims of consumer rip-offs and workplace injustices, arbitration costs much more than litigation - so much more that it becomes impossible to vindicate your rights."

People caught in arbitration's net include home buyers complaining of shoddy workmanship, employees pursuing discrimination cases, patients seeking redress for poor care from their HMOs, small business owners in dispute with franchisors and consumers who are improperly billed.

Los Angeles resident Stephanie Paul had to arbitrate a malpractice claim against her lawyer. She was charged $5,000 for filing the claim - a fee the arbitration association refused to waive even though she was unemployed. Each fiscal quarter, the association charged her $150 for processing fees. When the law firm filed a motion to have the case dismissed, Paul was charged $2,425 for the time the arbitrator spent handling it. More fees were added over time. Finally, when the bill hit $10,474, Paul dropped her claim because she could no longer afford to pursue it.

In another case, the Malkani family of Austin, Texas, had to take its dispute with a homebuilder to arbitration. The Malkanis were charged $3,500 as an initial administrative fee, followed by $1,375 in other miscellaneous fees. In the end, the family was awarded $18,819; however, the builder didn't have to pay the family's attorney fees or administrative fees. The arbitration fees cost the family $13,069 - not counting attorney fees.

The report also found that:

§ Arbitration costs are high under pre-dispute arbitration clauses because there is no price competition among providers. Clauses in contracts lock consumers in to a specific arbitration firm. Companies that want to use arbitration to prevent consumers and others from asserting their legal rights have no incentive to arrange low-cost arbitration. Instead, it is to their advantage to seek out the most expensive providers.

§ Arbitration costs will probably always be higher than court costs because the expenses of a private legal system are so substantial. The same support personnel that expedite cases at a courthouse, such as file clerks and court administrators, are also needed to manage arbitration cases. While it costs the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County an average of $44.20 to administer a case, AAA's administrative cost per case averages $340.63, about 700 percent more.

§ Arbitration saddles claimants with a plethora of extra fees that they would not be charged had they gone to court. For example, the NAF charges $75 to issue a subpoena, which is provided for free by courts. The NAF also charges fees for discovery requests ($150) and continuances ($100), which are also free in court.

"We challenge Corporate America and the arbitration apologists to rebut this report," said Jackson Williams, legislative counsel for Public Citizen, who prepared the report. "Show us your substantiation for the claim that arbitration is cheaper."

The executive summary of the report is available online at

http://www.citizen.org/congress/civjus/arbitration/articles.cfm?ID=7546

5/1/02
10:40:26 PM

Berkeley Readies A Boycott Of Israelis And Palestinians Divestiture

Seen As Way To Bring Peace

by Chuck Squatriglia, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer, April 23, 2002

Having led the nation in divesting from South Africa and helping bring an end to apartheid, the Berkeley City Council tonight will consider clearing the city's portfolio of investments in Israel and Palestinian territory in an attempt to bring peace to the Middle East.

The ambitious plan also calls on City Hall to boycott firms doing business with Israel and the Palestinians and would prohibit the purchase of products made there. Backers believe it would make Berkeley the first city to boycott the two sides.

No one backing the proposal by the city's Peace and Justice Commission believes that Berkeley alone can end the violence. But they hope other cities will follow its lead, creating economic incentive for Jews and Palestinians to make peace.

"Berkeley is a small city, and its economy is not going to make or break the Middle East," said commissioner Steve Freedkin. "But if others follow suit,

it could have quite an impact."

The true effect of the measure remains to be seen, as no one at City Hall had a clue yesterday how much money Berkeley has invested in the region, nor did anyone know how many contracts it holds with companies doing business with Israel and the Palestinians.

City Manager Weldon Rucker is urging the council to delay action until May 28 so he can answer those questions. He also wonders how the measure would be adopted and enforced.

"Managing this thing would be a major undertaking," said Fred Medrano, who supervises the Peace and Justice Commission for Rucker. "The finance department is real concerned with its ability to implement this."

If the measure is approved, every city investment and contract would have to be reviewed. The effect could be huge because some of the nation's biggest companies, including General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, AOL Time Warner and Microsoft do business in Israel.

While there is mounting pressure on many college campuses -- including the University of California at Berkeley -- for universities to divest from Israel,

Berkeley is unique in making targets of both Israel and the Palestinians.

"We feel that all parties need to respect human rights and provide for peace and security in the region," Freedkin said.

Although the council probably will delay deciding on divestiture, it is expected to embrace the commission's more mainstream proposals, including "supporting all efforts by individuals and groups toward a just peace in Israel and Palestine."

Berkeley has long used its pocketbook to influence global affairs with varying degrees of success. Its pioneering decision to divest from South Africa in 1979 was widely seen as a turning point in the effort to end apartheid.

But the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago unanimously barred Berkeley and other cities from boycotting Burma because the United States must speak with one voice in foreign affairs.

In an embarrassing turn of events, the city in 1997 had to scramble to find a gasoline supplier when it decided to boycott Nigeria, precluding it from dealing with most petroleum firms.

email Chuck Squatriglia: mailto:csquatriglia@sfchronicle.com

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/23/MN.DTL

5/1/02
10:36:41 PM

City government using divestiture to bring peace in Israel

Having led the nation in divesting from South Africa and helping bring an end to apartheid, the Berkeley City Council [may clear] the city's portfolio of investments in Israel and Palestinian territory in an attempt to bring peace to the Middle East.

The ambitious plan also calls on City Hall to boycott firms doing business with Israel and the Palestinians and would prohibit the purchase of products made there. Backers believe it would make Berkeley the first city to boycott the two sides.

To link to the full feature, go to:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/23/MN.DTL

5/1/02
10:34:34 PM

Euros, Americans Show Distinct Sympathies In Mideast Conflict

In the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, which side do you sympathize with more?

United States: Israel 41% Palestinians 13% Germany: Israel 24% Palestinians 26% France: Israel 19% Palestinians 36% Italy: Israel 14% Palestinians 30% United Kingdom: Israel 17% Palestinians 28%

*Source: International Herald Tribune & Council on Foreign Relations

5/1/02
10:32:23 PM

Globalization: From Conquistadors To Corporations

by Richard Parker

The period today that we vainly imagine is so new and revolutionary is only the latest chapter in a fourth or fifth stage of globalization, a wave that began in Western Europe 500 years ago.

There are, of course, undeniably "new" things about the world we live in today. Yet what so many briskly talk about as characteristically modern - as signs of our "new global era" - in fact rest on long-established patterns and achievements. Even those larger features we think are most distinct about our own global era today - the immense trade flows, or the instant information of the worldwide Internet, or the electronic financial markets that send billions coursing around the globe - all have a longer and deeper heritage than most of us understand.

To read the entire feature as it appears in the May-June 2002 edition of Sojourners magazine, link to:

http://www.sojo.net/magazine/index.cfm/action/sojourners/issue/soj0205/article/020510.html

5/1/02
6:10:44 PM

MAYDAY SPECIAL! Davis-Besse #9 -- May 1st, 2002

The latest news, views, and important correspondence.

by Russell D. Hoffman

(1): Industry Funded Study Says Shutting NPP Would Raise Costs -- but EXPERIENCE suggests otherwise (Comments by Raymond Shadis + NY Times article by Winnie Hu, April 30th, 2002)

(2): Nukes close, infant deaths go down - Tooth Fairy Project - NY Times April 30th, 2002

(3) Throwing good money after bad: Davis-Besse to be reopened at any cost: Reactor's restart is further delayed (John Funk, Plain Dealer Reporter, April 25th, 2002)

(4) Their fate WILL BE OUR FATE: Radioactive dust is escaping from the Chernobyl sarcophagus (BBC news, April 26th, 2002)

(5) Spent nuclear fuel is a danger to everyone: The Yucca Mountain Plan by Bob Nichols (forwarded to rdh by Richard Geary)

(6) The Yucca Truck from GM (Gigantic Motors) (also by Bob Nichols and forwarded by Richard Geary)

(7) Spent Fuel Train boarded by escaped convicts in North Carolina! (from NC WARN via Molly Johnson)

(8) A look back at the NY Times' Week In Review on Davis-Besse, March 31st, 2002

(9) Correspondence between Paul Lavely, Director ORS, UC Berkeley (and a former NRC inspector) and rdh regarding dangers of "reracking" spent fuel

(10) New book by Dr. Helen Caldicott / PSR nuke conference in LA June 2nd, 2002

(11) Contact information for the author of this document.

Prior documents in this series on the near-catastrophe at Davis-Besse can be accessed online here:

http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/besse/davisbe8.htm

5/1/02
6:07:28 PM

Arafat And Jenin / What Sort Of Deal Did Bush Strike?

Editorial, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 30, 2002

President Bush and his foreign-policy advisers moved with great creativity to disarm one of the most pressing issues in the Middle East: isolation of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in his Ramallah compound. We'd be applauding full force if it didn't appear that Bush made a bad deal to secure Arafat's release.

Under the agreement, British and American guards will secure six Palestinians, now in Arafat's compound, who are wanted by Israel. Arafat then will be free to move around the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This arrangement represents a significant concession by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Heretofore, a major goal of encircling Arafat's compound with tanks was to isolate him. That such isolation contradicted Israeli calls for Arafat to combat terrorism always was clear to anyone with any emotional distance from this conflict. With Arafat's new ability to move about, calls for him to smash the remaining "infrastructure of terror" will take on new force. Surely he can now see how severely his embrace of violence has backfired for the Palestinian people. Perhaps a visit to Jenin can bring that message home to him.

But it is on the issue of Jenin that this deal smells. Both American and Israeli officials said Monday that in return for freeing Arafat, the United States agreed to stand by Israel in its high-stakes confrontation with the U.N. Security Council and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The Security Council has authorized, and Annan seeks to dispatch, a U.N. fact-finding team to evaluate what happened in Jenin. The Israelis say their soldiers carefully safeguarded civilians. The Palestinians say the Israelis massacred hundreds. That would seem a situation tailor-made for independent fact-finding, and Annan assembled an impressive team: Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland; Cornelio Sommaruga, former president of the International Red Cross, and Sadako Ogata, former U.N. high commissioner for refugees, plus several military advisers.

For 10 days now, however, the Israeli government has prevented the fact-finding team from getting started. Coming on top of the strict control Israel exercised over Jenin during and for five days following the fighting, Israeli delaying tactics have a growing number of people asking whether it is trying to hide something.

That question is additionally informed by condemnations of Israeli actions in Jenin coming from Amnesty International and other human-rights organizations that have visited the camp. London's Independent newspaper also has done credible reporting from Jenin suggesting that while "massacre" may be too strong a word, many civilians were killed, including women, children and the elderly, in situations that cannot be justified as "collateral damage." Of the 50 dead Palestinians identified at the time the Independent was doing its reporting from Jenin, almost half were civilian. In five days of interviews, the Independent constructed horrific individual tales of nurses, disabled people and unarmed schoolboys shot dead by Israeli forces.

Neither Israel nor the United States has any legal authority to interfere with the fact-finding mission. By trying to cooperate with Israel, Annan has put his own credibility on the line. With or without Israel's cooperation, very soon the mission must begin, in service to the truth of what really happened in Jenin.

Please contact your political representatives immediately and ask them to urge a cessation of hostilities on both sides. Also encourage them to urge the use of international observers, many of whom are currently in Ramallah and the surrounding area.

You can easily find how to contact for your own U.S. Senators and Congresspeople at:

http://www.emailcongress.net

5/1/02
6:03:39 PM

Senate delivers 88-11 final vote on Democratic energy bill

"There's something in this bill to disappoint everybody."

The following is from Environment & Energy Daily (April 26, 2002)

A process triggered nearly a year ago when the Bush administration dropped an energy package heavy on production incentives climaxed in the Senate last night when the upper chamber voted 88-11 to approve a comprehensive energy bill, S. 517, after more than six weeks of debate. Republicans and Democrats alike immediately claimed victory, while environmentalists and many industry groups walked away feeling slighted by a bill many regard as watered down to a fault.

A hectic final day of floor maneuvering produced the conclusive margin, but not before the Senate took up a series of last-minute amendments. In a rush of activity, the Senate conducted eight roll-call votes Thursday, resulting in the acceptance of language softening climate change provisions, the dilution of air-conditioning efficiency standards and the defeat of an attempt to strip tax incentives for hybrid-electric vehicles.

The Senate also beat back an attempt to include offsets for $15 billion in energy tax credits and rejected Sen. Tom Carper's (D-Del.) modest fuel-economy transportation boost.

At the end of the day, Republicans and Democrats were quick to take the credit, though Democrats traditionally thought of as representing the more liberal element of the party were clearly unhappy with the bill on several counts. Among those voting "no" Thursday were Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Edward Kennedy (Mass.), all of whom cited either environmentalist opposition or dissatisfaction with S. 517's ethanol mandate.

"No bill is a lot better than a bad bill," Schumer said.

Environmental Defense's Legislative Director Elizabeth Thompson expressed similar thoughts. "This debate has been more painful than a root canal," she said.

Also voting "no" were Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Bob Graham (D-Fla.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

In the bill's defense, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.) described the dissatisfaction from green groups and industry as the bill's greatest strength. "There's something in this bill to disappoint everybody," Bingaman said.

The victors on the GOP side of the aisle, meantime, credited themselves for fixing a "broken" Democratic bill on the Senate floor. "Every step of the way, Republicans have successfully improved the Senate energy bill," Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) said. "Amendment after amendment was approved, leaving this legislation changed for the better."

Passage of the legislation now sets up an election-year House-Senate conference committee on energy that may deteriorate into a pitched battle given the vast differences between S. 517 and the House-passed bill, H.R. 4.

See the following URL address for another review of the Senate Energy Bill from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy:

Senate Takes Small Steps Towards Energy Efficiency

http://www.aceee.org/press/0202senateanalysis.htm

5/1/02
5:58:43 PM

Canada Could Prevent Weaponization Of Space

No other country is in a better position to initiate international action

by James George, Dr. Carol Rosin, Alfred Webre, Toronto Star, April 30, 2002

ON JUNE 13, 2002, the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty will expire following its unilateral termination by the Bush administration, leaving an international legal void that will allow the weaponization of space. The termination of the ABM Treaty will permit research, development, testing, manufacturing, production and deployment of space-based weapons, and space-based components of the U.S. National Missile Defense System to go forward, instigating a dangerous, costly, and destabilizing arms race in space, impacting all of us.

Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Ivanov has already suggested that if the U.S. proceeds, Russia could deploy its own response to the U.S. space-based weapons system. The stated objectives of the United States Space Command in "Vision For 2020" are to seize the strategic high ground of space to "dominate and control." There is a rapidly growing worldwide movement to stop this potentially catastrophic arms race in space. This must be stopped before it begins - this year.

As seen from space, Canada lies between Russia and the United States, and, geography aside, no country is in a better position to initiate international action. Since 1982, Canada has led the growing United Nations lobby opposing weapons in space. Deputy Prime Minister John Manley stated on July 26, 2001: "Canada would be very happy to launch an initiative to see an international convention preventing the weaponization of space."

With the strong support of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the U.N. General Assembly last Nov. 29 voted 156-0 to prevent an arms race in space. Almost everyone wants it. On Sept. 28, 2001, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov had invited "the world community t