8/25/01
11:32:56 AM

UTNE WEB WATCH

The Best of the Alternative Web

WORLD'S GREATEST ONLINE UNION FESTIVAL

Web site review by Al Paulson, Laborday.aflcio.org

-- Rejoice in the contributions you and fellow workers have made to this country with the second annual online Labor Day celebration courtesy of the AFL-CIO. The celebration features music, games, "online actions" and other attractions.

THE MAMA DILEMM

by Beth Lucht, Hip Mama

-- Though financially motivated, working also helped one mother regain a sense of self after being a stay-at-home mom.

YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?

by Patricia Chui, The Nation

-- Eric Schlosser, author of "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," talks about the societal and health-related impact of noshing at your local processed, ubiquitous, franchised restaurant.

Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch

8/31/01
5:03:18 PM

Freelance Conservationists

The Economist

Private parks are springing up all around the world. If conservationists are to achieve their goals, therefore, they must work with the private sector

In the days of Captain Cook, Hawaii's native goose, the nene (pronounced neh-neh), was abundant. By the 1950s it was almost extinct. What nearly cooked this particular goose was not, however, the Hawaiian habit of baking it in underground ovens for supper, but the loss of its habitat—most of which has become farmland. Today, successful captive breeding programmes have produced hundreds of nene, but that is only half the battle. If the goose is to prosper, it must be returned to the wild. That means restoring its habitat. And that, in turn, means dealing with the private landowners on the island of Molokai whose property is the most suitable for nenes to live on.

According to researchers at a meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology held in Hilo, on Hawaii, earlier this month, the nene is not alone. Many conservationists see government-run national parks as the key to the survival of endangered species. In America, however, between a third and a half of such species are believed to live only on privately owned land. And in many other countries the role of private reserves is even more crucial. The national parks in impoverished tropical countries are often poorly protected or even poached with the connivance of corrupt officials—and some exist only on paper. In these places, private parks may actually offer better protection to wildlife than their publicly owned counterparts. Governments that care (or wish to be seen to care) about wildlife conservation would thus do well to encourage the growth of private reserves.

Money isn't everything

As Jeffrey Langholz, a researcher in international environmental policy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, in California, told the conference, private reserves already constitute about an eighth of the total amount of land on which wildlife is protected around the world. And in some countries, notably Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Kenya and South Africa, their area is growing fast.

Unfortunately, while many governments would like to encourage private conservation, they often have little idea how to do it. That, in turn, is due to a misunderstanding about why people have set up such reserves in the first place. For example, Dr Langholz has surveyed the owners of many private reserves in Costa Rica, where they protect some 640km2 of land. He found that government offerings to these owners—in the form of tax breaks, protection against occupation by squatters and access to technical assistance—had little incentive value.

That was because the majority of owners are not motivated primarily by money. Only 30% of them rely on their reserves for a steady stream of income, in the form of revenue from “ecotourists”. (This may be abnormally low: a wide-ranging survey of private reserves in Africa and Latin America suggests that 59% of those that host ecotourism are profitable.) Most owners say they are more concerned about threats to biodiversity, and what they see as the failure of governments to promote conservation. One, who prefers to remain anonymous, used to run one of the largest logging operations in the Amazon. Now he is dedicated to protecting his private reserve of 10km2 of Costa Rican forest in penance for his earlier career.

Even profitable reserves frequently have their revenue devoted to conservation, rather than the owner's bank balance. Some idea of the economics involved can be gathered from the example of a Costa Rican reserve that made profits of more than $3m in its first six years of operation. The owners used $1.2m of that to pay off the loan for the original land purchase. But instead of spending the rest on champagne and cruises, they invested another $1.1m in an endowment fund that is intended to pay for the reserve's protection in perpetuity.

Costa Rica is not alone in this potential misunderstanding between governments and landowners, though the details differ from place to place. In the United States, for example, landowners' perceptions are often that the government is doing too much for conservation, not too little.

A few years ago a scheme for registering natural landmarks, including the habitats of endangered species, in America, backfired because it failed to take account of the country's strong tradition of property rights. Even today, after the scheme has been made voluntary (it was originally compulsory) it is still regarded by some landowners as part of a conspiracy by the government to acquire control of their property.

A similar problem was encountered with the Endangered Species Act. Initially, this had the perverse effect of making it harder to persuade people to agree to promote habitat conservation on their land. The fear was that the arrival of a rare species would restrict the use an owner could make of that land in the future. An experimental scheme is now trying to get round this, granting exemptions from such restrictions for those who “invite” rare species on to their property.

Not all American landowners feel the same way. In Hawaii, regarded by some as the “world capital” of extinction because of the number of unique species it has lost since it was first settled by people, the largest private landowner in the state is prepared to compromise profit for conservation. Kamehameha Schools is a trust that owns 1,500km2 of land (originally a legacy from one of Hawaii's last princesses). The trust's income is used to run schools for Hawaiian children. Most of this income, though, comes from investments rather than land exploitation. As a result, half of the trust's land is kept for conservation purposes and generates no revenue at all.

This apparent contradiction of the trust's official purpose is justified, according to Peter Simmons, its senior land manager, because, as Hawaiian landowners, the trustees “care spiritually, and in some cases religiously, about the land”. This, he says, is connected to the belief that livelihood and quality of life are directly related to the quality and life of the land.

Noble sentiments. And ones that seem to motivate many custodians of private reserves in other countries, too. Whether they will be enough to re-establish the nene, remains to be seen.

Source: http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=748602

8/31/01
4:35:01 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

SAVING PRIVATE LION

Private reserves, rather than public ones, may be the key to survival for many endangered species, according to researchers who presented at the Society for Conservation Biology in Hawaii earlier this month. Jeffrey Langholz of the Monterey Institute of International Studies said private reserves already account for about an eighth of the world's land dedicated to wildlife protection. In the U.S., between a third and a half of all endangered species are believed to live only on privately owned land. Some observers believe ecotourism could help encourage private landowners to conserve biodiversity. In Africa and Latin America, for example, a survey of private reserves found that 59 percent of those involved with ecotourism were profitable. But Langholz argued that many people who set aside land aren't motivated to do so by financial considerations.

straight to the source: Economist, 23 Aug 2001 <http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=748602>

do good: Take action to protect private forest lands from development in the U.S. <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/forests.asp?source=daily#private>

JAKARTA FOUR: THE HEARSE

In a big victory for the Indonesian environmental group Walhi, an Indonesian court this week found that mining giant Freeport Indonesia had given false information to the country's parliament about a fatal mining accident last year and ordered the company to improve its toxic waste management. Four workers died in a landslide at the mine last year, but Freeport told legislators that no fatalities had occurred. Freeport yesterday denied that it didn't care about worker safety and that it was harming the environment; the company said it would appeal the ruling.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 31 Aug 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12226/story.htm>

OILY TO RISE

It seems likely that the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will approve a plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Reuters predicts the vote will be 12-11 in favor of drilling, with Democrat Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) crossing party lines in support of drilling and Republican Sen. Gordon Smith (Ore.) opposing drilling. Drilling opponents still believe they will prevail on the Senate floor and block efforts to open the Arctic Refuge. Meanwhile, in other oily Alaska news, a coalition of local and national environmental groups want state and federal leaders to bill ExxonMobil another $100 million to help clean up after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 30 Aug 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/621684.asp>

do good: Take action to save the arctic refuge <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/climate.asp?source=daily#arctic>

straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Doug O'harra, 31 Aug 2001 <http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/673932p-716241c.html>

VICTOR VICTORIOUS

Mexico's environmental minister, Victor Lichtinger, is trying to slow down sprawl by actually enforcing environmental laws on the books. For example, he has closed or suspended 19 hotel and condo developments, including a 1,400-room complex that would have been built alongside a federally protected sea turtle sanctuary in Cancun. Lichtinger said his moves were meant to be a "signal to entrepreneurs and society that there is law in Mexico, and that the law will be respected, independent of the importance of investment in Mexico." But Lichtinger may have to give some ground to Mexican President Vicente Fox, who has cooked up plans for at least three huge tourism projects.

straight to the source: New York Times, Tim Weiner, 31 Aug 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/international/americas/31MEXI.html>

8/31/01
4:28:07 PM

Help with your pet care

VetCentric is a great resource for pet owners who want to educate themselves about preventive care, diseases, grooming, and more. The site includes an encyclopedia of health problems, a knowledge base containing answers to common questions, and discussion forums in which veterinarians participate (a free registration is required for the forums). Go to:

http://www.vetcentric.com

8/31/01
4:10:31 PM

Study On Income Disparity

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has analyzed a new Congressional Budget Office study that includes the best data that any agency or institution has compiled on income and tax trends in recent decades. It shows that the average after-tax income of the richest 1 percent of Americans grew by $414,000 between 1979 and 1997, after adjusting for inflation, while average after-tax income fell $100 for the poorest 20 percent of Americans and grew a modest $3,400 for those exactly in the middle of the income spectrum. In percentage terms, after-tax income grew an average of 157 percent over this period for the top 1 percent of the population, rose a modest 10 percent - about 1/2 of 1 percent per year -for the 20 percent of Americans in the middle of the income spectrum and was effectively unchanged for those in the bottom fifth.

For the analysis by The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, go to:

http://www.centeronbudget.org/5-31-01tax-pr.htm

8/31/01
3:33:21 PM

A list of major U.S newspapers and the people who read them:

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The Washington Post is read by people who think they ought to run the country.

4. USA Today is "read" by people who think they ought to run the country but don't understand the Washington Post.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could spare the time.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country, as long as they do something scandalous.

9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country, or that anyone is running it.

10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country.

Source: http://www.SoJo.net

8/31/01
3:29:54 PM

High-Tech Workers Feel The Heat

by David Batstone

The tech industry has fallen on hard times around the globe. Entrepreneurs who spent the latter half of the 1990s in stock option euphoria are now seeing the flip side of the coin.

During a business luncheon this week, the CEO of a high-tech company gloated to me about how easy it was for him to find low-cost labor. "People are so desperate I don't even have to pay them a salary any more; I put them all on pure commission." To make sure I got the point, he added with a smile, "We're really ruthless when it comes to employment."

The concept of working for a low salary and yet being compensated by stock options worked as long as company values rose steadily. In fact, not long ago many people in the high-tech industry were willing to take that risk voluntarily, in hopes of sharing in the wealth that they were creating. Now there are no options but stock options. But with no end in sight for current down market conditions, stock options seem more like tissue paper than adequate compensation.

Beyond being callous, I believe the CEO in question is a poor excuse for an entrepreneur. Particularly in the world of high-tech start-ups, business success is highly contingent on a robust workforce, people who tie their personal success to the success of the company. Loyalty and identity within the company - what management consultants call "believing" in the company - increases the likelihood of strong performance and retention. In this case, the CEO treats his employees like replaceable cogs. He may very well discover one day that a constant change in cogs leads to a clunky machine.

As for the high-tech employees, I hope they use their experience to understand better the plight of lower-income workers around the globe. Day laborers are accustomed to being squeezed by unjust employers who refuse to pay them a living wage. They often are forced to labor on pure piece-work (the poor person's commission); cogs in a machine, used, abused, then tossed aside by the forces of profit.

For most of us, this territory is not a distant shore. And if not for us, surely a generation or two back that was the plight of our kin. Don't forget. That's the way to begin your Labor Day.

*David Batstone, a founding editor of Business 2.0 magazine, is executive editor of Sojourners/SojoNet.

Source: http://www.SoJo.net

8/31/01
2:40:10 PM

UTNE WEB WATCH

The Best of the Alternative Web

POWER FAILURE: AMERICA'S FUTURE UNDER THE BUSH ENERGY PLAN

-- President Bush's energy plan is like a sinister robot, goose-stepping across America's wild lands and coasts, chanting "Dig, Drill, Destroy! Dig, Drill, Destroy!" Find out what effect this disastrous plan will have on our environment and explore the simpler, safer alternative.

COLIN-ECTOMY?

-- As Secretary of State Colin Powell is slowly slipping out of the spotlight in the White House's foreign policy team, everyone in Washington is speculating on the likeness of his resignation.

CULTURAL TIES

-- In an attempt to celebrate cultural diversity among artists, London art dealer Kapil Jariwala asked 240 artists to design, of all things, neck ties.

Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch

8/31/01
2:37:55 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

NEW ENGLAND, EASTERN CANADA PLEDGE ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

WESTBROOK, Connecticut, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - New England governors and Canadian premiers have adopted a Climate Change Action Plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the region shared by the two nations. The government officials also agreed to slash emissions of mercury from power plants and incinerators by 75 percent by 2010.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-06.html

INSECTS MAY NEED REFUGE FROM BIOTECHNOLOGY

CHICAGO, Illinois, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - Crops which have been genetically modified to resist pests are only useful until the bugs outsmart them, developing their own protections against the toxins produced by the plants. A Michigan entomologist argues that some crop eating insects must be protected in order to keep them all from becoming resistant to engineered crops.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-07.html

ECUADORIAN NAVY ORDERS SEA SHEPHERD OUT OF THE GALAPAGOS

PUERTO AYORA, Galapagos, Ecuador, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - Ecuadorian naval personnel have given Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Captain Paul Watson a written order to leave Ecuador aboard his ship the Ocean Warrior by 0800 hours on Friday.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-02.html

EUROPEAN CHEMICALS REPORT UNDER INDUSTRY FIRE

BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - Europe's chemical industry has made its first official response to hard line proposals for tougher EU chemicals policies by Swedish Green Member of the European Parliament Inger Schörling.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-04.html

SATELLITE TRACKING SHOWS MARLIN VULNERABLE TO LONGLINERS

HOBART, Tasmania, Australia, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - A satellite tag found by a beachcombing dog has recorded the journey of a black marlin tagged last November off Cairns. The pop-up archival tag was attached to the fish for a month before detaching automatically.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-03.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 30, 3001

Hidden Cracks Could Plague Nuclear Power Plants

DOE Seeks Cooperation from South Carolina Over Plutonium

Shortages Cause Gas Prices to Rise

Wildfires Force Evacuations, Burn Homes

Yellowstone Business Owners Protest Planned Drilling

Wisconsin Promotes Fish Passageways on Dams

New Technology Treats Dairy Wastes, Odors

Saggy Tires Reduce Fuel Efficiency

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-09.html

8/31/01
2:27:36 PM

Global GM Market Starts To Wilt

Static profits, tighter laws and consumer health doubts slow growth of disputed technology - except in US

by John Vidal, The Guardian

The global GM food bubble may have burst after almost 10 years of exponential growth. Companies are investing less in research than five years ago, profits are static, countries are tightening up labeling and import laws, the promised new generation of crops which could bring health benefits is still years away, and no major new markets are expected to develop for some time.

Paradoxically, Guardian research has also found that the acreage of GM crops is still growing in the US and, at more than 109m acres now across the world, is 25 times what it was five years ago. The industry, moreover, has now convinced almost all governments and world bodies to back the bitterly disputed technology.

But Sergey Vasnetsov, Wall Street's leading chemical industry analyst with Lehman Brothers, says: "The outlook [for the GM food industry] is less certain than it was three years ago. The euphoria has gone. Growth has fallen significantly. The industry has overstated the rate of progress and underestimated the resistance of consumers.

"Acceptability will only come with new products but that seems to be something the industry cannot achieve. The crops that will benefit people [as opposed to farmers] are still three or four years away. The market is not expanding and research budgets are down 5-7% on five years ago. Conceptually, the value [of GM foods] has come down," says Mr Vasnetsov.

Benedict Haerlin, Greenpeace International's GM analyst, agrees: "The wonder times are over. The promises have not materialised. There are still only four major crops being grown. The world market is reducing in terms of delivery.

Scathing

But the GM food companies are confident they can overcome regulatory hurdles and global opinion. World leader Monsanto, whose seeds were planted on more than 80m acres last year - but which has had to slash costs, cut back on research and fire almost 700 people - is conducting field trials in many developing countries and reported an 11% increase on acreage. The global GM acreage is thought to be 17% higher than in 2000. Most of the new plantings, however, have been in north America.

Mr Vasnetsov is scathing of the claims made by the UN, chemical companies and scientists that GM crops will alleviate hunger in developing countries. "Let's stop pretending we face food shortages. There is hunger, but not food shortages. GM food is for the rich world. The money from GM is in developed countries. The battle is in Europe," he says.

Greenpeace's Benedict Haerlin agrees. "No GM company is going to produce varieties for poor countries unless it sees a market," he says.

US analysts fear that GM crops, after 10 years of plantings, are still a north American phenomenon, with the rest of the world proving increasingly cautious. The US now has 80% of all plantings, followed by Canada, Argentina and China. Ten other countries grow small amounts.

Overcoming Europe's five-year-old moratorium on new commercial plantings is crucial for the development of the crops. EU draft laws announced last month would allow imports with 1% contamination of conventional crops by GM organisms, but while allowing new GM crops to be grown, they could increase to up to three miles the buffer zone between them and conventional ones which could put most farmers off. The companies are expected to lobby to relax the limits.

US growers and government fear that their £30bn food export industry is being undermined as countries try to substitute their exports for those of the US. Despite the objections of the US government and lobbyists, many countries are now trying to turn the screw on US agriculture by increasing regulatory pressure.

Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, is bringing in strict laws on labeling and traceability; Algeria, a large food importer, may ban completely their import, manufacture or sale; Japan, which takes 20% of all US food exports worth $11bn a year, has imposed tough labelling rules on 24 product categories and new Chinese laws may delay GM maize for several years. In Sri Lanka, the government has come under intense pressure from the World Trade Organisation and business not to reimpose a ban on imports and growing of the crops.

Wariness

The US government and farm organisations admit that GM has severely hit exports. Europe, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea have largely switched to buying non-GM maize and soya from Brazil and China rather than the US. The US department of agriculture recently lowered its maize export forecast by 50m bushels as a result of GM's unacceptability.

Meanwhile, legal uncertainties surrounding the testing of GM crops are leading some European biotech and seed companies to shift their research to north America. "We won't be carrying out any more field trials in Germany for this year," said seed company Norddeutsche Pflanzenzucht (NPZ).

The companies say farmers are happy with the performance and profitability of the crops, but the global wariness has prompted even biotech supporters to question GM. A recent survey of the 14,000 members of the American Corn Growers' Association suggested 78% would abandon GM to recover lost export markets.

While animosity to growing the crops may have peaked in Europe, consumer support is waning in the US. An ABC poll in June found 52% saying GM foods were "not safe to eat," and only 35% expressing total confidence. A year earlier, a Gallup poll found the reverse, with 51% seeing no health hazard.

The hoped-for "ethical" GM crops which have been promoted by governments and scientists are also reported to be years away from markets. Subsistence farmers will not be able to benefit from Syngenta's much-hyped "golden rice", modified to include vitamin A for the benefit of people in developing countries, for at least four years because at present it is only viable in temperate climates.

Monsanto is preparing to introduce GM wheat within two years but US and Canadian farmers, who dominate world exports, are cautious. More than 200 Canadian groups, including the National Farmers' Union and the Canadian Wheat Board, want the test plantings to stop, fearing GM wheat will damage exports.

In the past month, the UN has claimed GM crops could significantly help developing countries, the EU has taken the first steps to ending its moratorium on new plantings, Britain has sanctioned 30 more major trials in readiness for commercial growing, and the New Zealand government has strongly backed the crops.

Testing times - 25,000 trials in 40 countries

•The genetic modification of plants involves transferring DNA from a plant, bacterium, or even an animal, into a different plant species

• The four main GM crops are corn (maize), cotton, soya bean and canola

• More than 109m acres of GM crops are grown worldwide

• The main planting areas are in the US, Canada, Argentina and China

• Since 1985, when genetically engineered plants resistant to insects, viruses, and bacteria were first tested, 25,000 trials have been carried out in more than 40 countries

• In 1995 the EU approved the importation and use of genetically modified soya

• The UN development programme, and all major national scientific bodies, believe GM crops can benefit farmers and consumers

• This year more than 30 test sites have been wholly or partly destroyed in Britain

• Apart from all major crops, tests have been done on most vegetables, as well as trees and fish.

The four types of GM crops

• Bt crops: Protected against insect damage and reduce pesticide use. Plants produce a protein - toxic only to certain insects - found in the common soil bacterium bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt

• Herbicide tolerant: Allow farmers to control weeds without harm to the crop

• Disease-resistant: Armed against destructive viral plant diseases with a "vaccine"

• Nutritionally enhanced: Foods that could offer higher levels of nutrients and vitamins

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,543222,00.html

8/31/01
2:18:11 PM

Alpine Eden Proves Mother Nature Knows Best

Quote from this article below: "If people would only realize that if one leads a life in cooperation with nature and not against it, then nobody in the world need die of starvation."

By Reuters

RAMINGSTEIN, Austria -- In the coldest part of Austria, a farmer is turning conventional wisdom on its head by growing a veritable Garden of Eden full of tropical plants in the open on his steep Alpine pastures.

Amid average annual temperatures of a mere 39.5 Fahrenheit, Sepp Holzer grows everything from apricots to eucalyptus, figs to kiwi fruit, peaches to wheat at an altitude of between 3,300 and 4,900 feet.

Once branded a fool, fined and threatened with imprisonment for defying Austrian regulations that dictate what is planted where, he is now feted worldwide for creating the only functioning "permaculture" farm in Europe.

Permaculture, an abbreviation of permanent culture, is the development of agricultural ecosystems which are complete and self-sustaining.

"Once planted, I do absolutely nothing," Holzer told Reuters. "It really is just nature working for itself -- no weeding, no pruning, no watering, no fertilizer, no pesticides."

His 110 acres of land in the mountainous Lungau region in the province of Salzburg are classed by European Union directives as unfit for agricultural cultivation due to the steep gradient and poor soil.

When Holzer inherited the farm -- then 44.5 acres -- 39 years ago, it was only used for the grazing of the family's cows and sheep. He carved terraces out of the steep inclines --like the ancient Incas and Maya of South and Central America --to stop erosion and trap rainfall.

He rejected the use of pesticides and fertilizers, which he considered poisonous, and the concept of monoculture -- the cultivation of just one plant type over an expanse of land --because he believed it sapped the soil of all nutrients.

Instead he began growing a host of timber and fruit trees, shrubs and grasses all mixed up together.

"Everyone said I was mad and I had to pay numerous fines because the authorities said that it was illegal to plant such a combination," Holzer said.

"When I bought this patch of land off a farmer, it was not fit for the cows and sheep grazing on it. People scoffed that I was neglecting my land -- but now they come to harvest cherries from June to October."

"This is the worst type of soil, which just goes to prove that there is no bad soil, just bad farmers," he added.

PROOF IS IN EATING OF PUDDING

Most of the plants Holzer and his wife Vroni grow at his "Krameterhof" holding are not meant to flourish in Alpine conditions, according to experts.

In winter, the temperature can fall to below minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit and a blanket of snow lingers into May. Snow can even fall in the height of summer.

Holzer said he found agricultural textbooks and his own years at agricultural college virtually useless.

"I followed their advice initially, but my trees started dying off. I then realized that I had to eradicate from my memory all that I'd learnt at college," he said.

Enlightenment came one winter during one of Holzer's routine moonlight strolls, when he noticed that the only apricot tree faring well in the harsh winter conditions was one he had forgotten to cut back according to ministerial regulations.

Unlike the pruned trees whose main lower branches snapped off under the weight of snow, the "neglected" tree's branches were intact.

Their unrestricted length had allowed them to droop with the tips touching the ground for support while the snow slid off, Holzer found. Allowing natural vegetation to grow around the trunk provided further support and nourishment for the tree.

"If people would only realize that if one leads a life in cooperation with nature and not against it, then nobody in the world need die of starvation," he said.

LET NATURE TAKE ITS OWN COURSE

Holzer's philosophy is that nature knows best and needs negligible interference from Man.

"We're born into paradise, but are destroying its foundation, the soil. The soil can look after itself, there's no need for Man to tamper with it."

Giant stone slabs pepper the landscape and serve as incubators by absorbing the sunlight and giving off warmth. The trees do their part as well in keeping the ground warm. Fallen foliage helps keep frost from reaching the roots.

Tree stumps dot the plantations to regulate irrigation. Like

a sponge they soak up water and later distribute it.

Animals too have a role in the Holzer ecosystem. Scavenging pigs till the soil in place of a tractor, while grass snakes were reintroduced to keep voracious slugs and mice in check.

Holzer is modest about his achievement which has led to projects in more than 40 countries and lectures on "the elimination of poverty in agriculture." He has rejected suggestions that he should have his method of permaculture patented.

"I would consider that as theft from nature. It's not my possession, I got it from nature and have an obligation to pass this knowledge on," the bearded 59-year-old said.

INSPIRATIONAL, BUT ECONOMICALLY VIABLE?

Holzer says his method of organic farming produces a much higher quality of crops than conventional farming, and at a fraction of the cost and effort.

He says his rare strain of grain contains 12 times the goodness of conventionally grown grain and as a result fetches a price 100 times higher.

His success means that he no longer lives directly off the crops in his sprawling garden, or the rare fish in his Alpine ponds and lakes.

People pay to pick their own fruit from his land, experts visit to study "Holzer Permaculture," and the man himself regularly holds seminars when not in a far-off country such as Colombia solving chronic problems of the soil.

And only one thing has so far stumped the man with green fingers.

"Bananas," he said with a shrug of his burly frame. "They froze. It's no surprise as they need an average temperature of 30 degrees. But I'm still working on it."

8/31/01
2:09:12 PM

Intercepted Missiles Could Fall On Europe

By Adrian Cho, New Scientist

Missiles targeted at US cities and intercepted by President Bush's proposed missile defence shield could fall on Europe, Canada or middle America instead, arms researchers warn.

Bush's missile defence plan includes a system to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) just minutes after launch, while their rocket boosters are still burning. This "boost-phase interception" should be easier than targeting missiles in mid-flight because tracking a flaming rocket is easier than homing in on a relatively cool and easily disguised warhead sailing high above the atmosphere, experts say.

. But destroying only the booster could leave the warhead zinging across the sky, says Ted Postol, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Precisely where the warhead would land would depend on when the booster was destroyed during its 4 to 6-minute burn. That would be difficult to control, so the warhead could potentially hit anywhere between the launch site and the target city, Postol says.

This means that a nuclear missile fired at the US from North Korea could explode over Alaska or Canada, while one fired from Iraq might strike Britain or mainland Europe. "Even if you knew all the details, you couldn't be sure of what would happen in any given engagement," Postol says.

Booster Busting

The US is considering several options for boost-phase interception. One is a powerful airborne laser mounted inside a modified Boeing 747 that the Air Force is developing to intercept shorter-range missiles. The laser's beam could burn a hole in the thin skin of an ICBM's booster, says Geoff Forden, a physicist at MIT. But it cannot destroy an ICBM warhead, which is designed to withstand tremendous heat while re-entering the atmosphere, he says. To destroy the warhead itself during the boost phase would need a larger and more manoeuvrable interceptor than anything the US is currently developing, Postol says.

It would have to be launched from the ground or the sea, and then specifically target the warhead - perhaps by aiming a stream of shrapnel at it. "There are technologies that overcome this narrowly defined problem," Postol says, "but they look nothing like what the Bush administration is considering."

Success Or Failure

Researchers disagree on whether a system that simply caused the warhead to fall short could be judged a success or a failure. If it hit land, the warhead would most likely hit a relatively uninhabited area and kill far fewer people than intended, says veteran physicist Richard Garwin, who helped develop the American H-bomb. That fact should deter nations such as North Korea or Iraq from launching a missile at the US, he says, if they were ever tempted to do so.

But Forden questions this. "The guys who might launch this thing probably won't care enough to say if it doesn't hit New York, I don't want to launch it at all."

The shortfall problem could, however, increase tensions between the US and its allies, says George Lewis, a physicist at MIT. "If you ask how many people are going to be killed, on average, you're clearly better off having the warhead fall short," he says. "But the people who it's going to land on may have a different view."

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns999

8/31/01
1:54:24 PM

The entire text of ENERGY & RESOURCE QUALITY has been scanned and is now online (in .gif format) at

http://www.bu.edu/cees/book/contents/contents.html

WORLD OIL FORECAST #6

by Rich Duncan

ABSTRACT: World Oil Forecast #6 concludes the following: (1) 23 out of 44 nations [representing 99% of world oil production in 2000] have passed their production peaks, (2) 3 out of the 7 regions of the world have passed their peaks, (3) 4 out of 11 OPEC nations have passed their peaks, (4) Non-OPEC production will peak in 2003, (5) OPEC production in 2017, and (6) world oil production in 2005.

8/31/01
1:46:04 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

FEATURE - Nuclear waste recyclers target consumer products - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12219/story.htm

ANALYSIS - US auto sector aluminum demand to fall in '01 - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12221/story.htm

FEATURE - NASA climate satellite keeping tabs on wildfires - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12222/story.htm

Bush close to Senate panel win for Alaska drilling - survey - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12228/story.htm

UPDATE - Ameren says plans for Church Mountain plant are off - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12229/story.htm

US reaches accord on endangered species - NYT - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12233/story.htm

UK floods last year worst since 1947, government says - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12220/story.htm

"Health freak" polar bear steals toothpaste - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12225/story.htm

Fate of Swiss activist a riddle in Malaysia jungle - MALAYSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12224/story.htm

US corn exports to Japan hit hard by StarLink - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12227/story.htm

Freeport to appeal Jakarta court ruling soon - INDONESIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12226/story.htm

Leopard Strayed into a Congested Town in Eastern India - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12223/story.htm

German nuclear waste reaches French plant - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12234/story.htm

UPM set to sell Finnish forest land if buyer found - FINLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12236/story.htm

8/30/01
7:02:44 PM

A Nation Behind Bars: the buried talents of a population

Mumia Abu Jamal, a black man, is on death row after a trial that represented the extreme of procedural unfairness. A convicted cop killer, it is impossible to say for sure that Mr. Abu-Jamal is guilty, because our vaunted "due process" was suspended in his case. And it was clearly suspended because, unlike so many prominent black figures, he simply would not compromise with American racism. He would not moderate his appearance, his dress or his beliefs in exchange for a ticket to the mainstream. As a member of the Black Panthers, and later as a radio journalist covering the Move bombing in Philadelphia, he uncompromisingly identified racism wherever he saw it and would not shut up.

Writing of the beatings, torture and occasional murder of prisoners by guards in Pennsylvania's maximum security prisons, Mr. Abu-Jamal says in his book Live From Death Row, (Addison-Wesley 1995), p. 105:

"..But all [prisoners] found out how fragile the very system that stole their very freedom was when the state committed crimes against them. All found out that words like 'justice,' 'law,' 'civil rights,' and, yes, 'crime' have different and elastic meanings depending on whose rights were violated, who committed what crimes against whom, and whether one works for the system or against it.

For those people, almost a million at last count, who wear the label 'prisoner' around their necks, there is no law, there is no justice, there are no rights.

We must keep our vigil of faith and courage.."

Please join the struggle. A single candle seems very alone, but together we can roll back the night.

SEE the Mumia Links and Online Resources at this excellent website:

http://members.tripod.com/RobtShepherd/mumia.html

8/30/01
6:46:13 PM

TomPaine.com

<http://www.TomPaine.com>

READY FOR YOUR LAST SUMMER BBQ? GET THOSE ANTIBIOTICS OUT OF MY HAMBURGER!

<http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/23/1.html>

Pigs, Chickens, and Cattle Are Eating the Antibiotics You Might Need One Day to Treat Your Children

by Tamar F. Barlam <mailto:tbarlam@cspinet.org>

Instead of forcing the FDA to prove that agricultural uses of antibiotics are unsafe, a new law is needed to ban the drugs unless the manufacturer can prove they are safe.

Dispatch: Havana

HANDING CASTRO AMMUNITION

<http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/14/2.html>

U.S. Funding Would Help Cuban Officials Smear Dissidents as American Lackeys

by Joe Davidson

Senators Jesse Helms and Joe Lieberman want to send U.S. aid directly to dissidents in Cuba, a move that promises to delay the day when the two countries might once again be trading partners.

<http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/14/2.html>

ENVIRONMENTALISM IS NOT JUST FOR TREE-HUGGERS

<http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/20/index.html>

by Ken Midkiff

The Endangered Species Act recognized that we are not self-sufficient. A very wise man a couple of millennia ago stated: What you do to the least of these, you do also to me.

And from the TP.c Archive...

Op Ad Redux: This week we're reposting, "The Secret Life of AAA," to mark the return of that longstanding American tradition: the Labor Day traffic jam.

AAA, Americans' favorite roadside helper, is going to get a lot of calls this weekend. Did you know that as busy as AAA is with towing and repairs, it also keeps busy lobbying in Washington?

As Michael A. Rivlin reports in his story, originally published by The Amicus Journal, "AAA weighs in on highway funding, suburban sprawl, mass transit, car design and safety, air pollution, and global warming. Almost without exception, critics say, it advocates policies that damage the environment and endanger health."

Read Rivlin's detailed report:

<http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/01/index.html>

AAA had a response:

<http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/01/4.html>

Jennifer Bauduy reports on plans for an environmentally minded alternative to AAA - the Triple E.

<http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/01/5.html>

Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman review Jack Doyle's book, "Taken for a Ride: Detroit's Big Three and the Politics of Pollution."

<http://www.tompaine.com/history/2001/05/01/index.html>

HAVE A GOOD LABOR DAY HOLIDAY!

8/30/01
6:32:18 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

WALL-TO-WALL CARPING

Can a 12,000-square-foot house really be eco-friendly? What about Bill Gates's 40,000-square-foot house built of salvaged wood? Architect Will Bruder says adding green features like geothermal heating and solar panels to mongo homes with five-car garages is merely a way "to rationalize decadent expenditures." Daniel Chiras, an enviro professor, says, "[I]f it's a 5,000-square-foot-house, it has to be furnished, heated, cooled, and maintained. That takes a lot of resources and energy. They're fooling themselves if they think it's okay." Others are all for thinking big. Architect William McDonough says, "Size doesn't have to matter." David Warner of Redhorse Constructors in San Rafael, Calif., agrees: "If a guy with a home over 10,000 square feet who doesn't think of himself as green still decides to use photovoltaic power sources, I consider that a victory."

straight to the source: New York Times, Julie V. Iovine, 30 Aug 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/30/garden/30BIG.html>

FLY THE FRIENDLY SKIES?

Betcha never knew that, on average, it is more energy-efficient to fly across the U.S. than to drive alone. But don't rush to board a plan just yet: Pollution controls on planes sure aren't pretty things. For example, planes release hundreds of millions of gallons of smog-producing chemicals a year just landing and taking off. If you must travel, it'd be far better for the environment if you took a bus; buses are nearly six times more energy-efficient than planes. Unfortunately for the bus industry and the environment, however, U.S. air travel is expected to increase by 85 percent in the next 20 years. Read more fun facts about flying on the Grist Magazine website.

read it only in Grist Magazine: Fun plane facts -- in our Counter Culture section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/counter/counter082901.asp?source=daily>

DO YOU SEED WHAT I SEED

Sixty-three percent of Canadians would be less likely to buy a genetically engineered food item than a conventional one, according to a poll released today. The biotech industry is listening. Faced with increasingly skeptical consumers and tighter regulations worldwide, the industry is scaling back its plans, bypassing most genetically engineered crops in favor of big moneymakers like corn and soybeans. Some critics applaud the industry's decision to hold back on new biotech foods, saying that the delay will give science a chance to better determine the environmental and health impacts of altering plant genes.

straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Laurent Belsie, 30 Aug 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0830/p3s1-usgn.html>

8/30/01
6:26:25 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

UNEXPECTED PACT BENEFITS 29 RARE SPECIES

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - In a painstakingly negotiated truce, federal officials and a coalition of environmental groups have reached an agreement that will provide new protections for dozens of rare species and their habitat. The settlement, announced today, will relieve some of the legal pressure on wildlife officials, while expediting protections for species in urgent need of help.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-07.html

ZAPPING ZEBRA MUSSELS WITH RADIO WAVES

CHICAGO, Illinois, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - Low energy radio waves can help kill invasive zebra mussels which have caused millions of dollars in damage to boats and power plants in the United States, researchers said yesterday.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-08.html

FRANCE CONSIDERS TIGHTER GM CROP TEST CONTROLS

PARIS, France, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin promised Tuesday to consider further biosecurity requirements for field test sites of genetically modified crops as national debate over the issue reached a new peak.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-01.html

WHALE EATERS IN NIGERIA RISK ILLNESS

By Abiodun Raufu

LAGOS, Nigeria, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - Nigerian health officials fear an outbreak of illnesses following the mass consumption of a dead baby blue whale washed ashore on busy Victoria Island, Lagos on the night of August 13.

No one could say how exactly the whale died on the beach beside the commercial and restaurant area, but many believe it may have been injured after colliding with a large ship.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-02.html

800 PHILIPPINE PROTESTERS UPROOT TRANSGENIC CORN

MALTANA, Mindanao, Philippines, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - About 800 farmers, church members, students and other citizens stormed Monsanto's experimental field in the southern Philippines this morning, uprooting all genetically engineered Bt-corn plants.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-03.html

AFRICAN DUST CLOUDS FEED TOXIC ALGAE BLOOMS

TAMPA, Florida, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - Saharan dust clouds travel thousands of miles and fertilize the water off the West Florida coast with iron, which kicks off blooms of toxic algae, shows a new study funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The researchers say the international dust contributes to deadly red tides that can kill millions of fish and other sea creatures.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-06.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 29, 2001

Landfill Loses Landmark Status Due to Superfund History

Two Pilots Killed Fighting California Fire

FDA Proposes New Blood Supply Guidelines

Hecla Mining to Pay What it Can Afford for Cleanup

Judge Upholds California Anti-Soot Rules

$10 Purchase Will Protect Florida's Ichetucknee Springs

NMFS Finds Funds to Survey Hawaii's Fisheries

Florida Stabilizes Abandoned Phosphate Plant

Zapping Zebra Mussels With Radio Waves

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-09.html

8/30/01
6:14:26 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

FuelCell shares jump on Q3 results - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12217/story.htm

Green group challenges Florida 'polluter' tax - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12208/story.htm

US attache outlines Australia's GM labeling rules - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12218/story.htm

Senate panel to meet on utility pollution limits - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12213/story.htm

UPDATE - Foot-and-mouth threatens UK rural life - report - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12216/story.htm

Anti-personnel mine ban said gaining support - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12212/story.htm

South Korea says to label GM fish products from Sept 1 - SOUTH KOREA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12205/story.htm

US farm group to hold Asia-wide biotech conference - SINGAPORE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12206/story.htm

DSM, Siemens launch paper waste-to-fuel venture - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12214/story.htm

Kazakh nuclear woes remain a decade after closure - KAZAKHSTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12204/story.htm

UPDATE - Isuzu to make diesel engines for Renault - paper - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12215/story.htm

E.ON says will be almost emissions-free by 2006 - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12210/story.htm

France's Biogemma to sue after GM crop uprooted - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12209/story.htm

German nuclear waste train crosses into France - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12211/story.htm

Teck-Cominco probes contamination at Trail plant - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12203/story.htm

Argentine advocates healthy GM products - ARGENTINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12207/story.htm

8/30/01
6:08:49 PM

U.S. Headed Down Lonely Road In Its Drug Crusade

by Nicolas Eyle

Canada's recent decision to permit the sick access to medical marijuana is just the latest in a long series of refutations by other countries of America's drug policies. It comes on the heels of Portugal's decriminalizing the personal possession of small quantities of all drugs. It follows Mexican President Vicente Fox's call for drug legalization as the way to break the black market. The Conservative Party in Great Britain is arguing heatedly about whether marijuana should be decriminalized, removing penalties for its use, or legalized, which would permit a legal distribution system to be set up, ending the contact marijuana users now have with sellers of harder drugs. All over the world, countries are looking at the disastrous results of America's "War on Drugs" and shifting their drug policies to avoid making the same mistakes.

In fact, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany and nearly every other country in Western Europe have some form of decriminalization of personal possession of drugs in place, and the results are certainly encouraging others to move in this direction. In the Netherlands, marijuana is sold in hundreds of "coffee shops" over-the-counter, and their teen-age marijuana use is half of what it is in the United States. In Switzerland, a program to supply hard-core heroin addicts with heroin has been so successful at lowering health-care costs and reducing the crime associated with that drug's use that its biggest and most vocal supporters are the police and the insurance companies. Recently even the Ukraine, long one of Europe's toughest drug warriors, announced that it was going to release some 35,000 drug offenders from prison in September and make drug use "a non-arrestable offense."

In the United States, nine states have approved medical marijuana use. A recent conference of U.S./Mexico border-state governors organized by New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson agreed that the drug problem should be a public health issue more than a law-enforcement one. Individual counties have gone even farther. Mendocino County in California made marijuana offenses the lowest priority possible for law enforcement. If you are a police officer looking into a possible marijuana crime and a little old lady calls because her cat is stuck in a tree, you have to forget the marijuana and help the cat.

America is in an increasingly difficult position internationally because of the drug war. We purport to be the leader of the free world, yet with five percent of the world's population, we have 25 percent of the world's prisoners, more than half serving sentences for drug-related offenses. Our troops, arms and money fuel civil wars in Latin American countries like Colombia in the name of ridding the world of drugs. Many of our cities are in turmoil, and minorities are targeted for drug offenses in painfully obvious, unjust proportions. And with all this, America's kids have better access to illegal drugs than to beer.

So who are our allies in our naive quest for a drug-free America through prohibition? Iran, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, China and a handful of other notoriously repressive nations. These countries execute drug users regularly, and have for years. These countries still have large and growing drug problems because, like America, they refuse to accept the fact that prohibition does not work.

If America is serious about protecting its children from the problems associated with drugs, then we had better start looking around us. Look at what other countries are doing and see what works and what doesn't. With adolescent drug use up and drugs purer, cheaper and more available than ever before, it should be obvious to us, as it seems to be to most of the rest of the world, that prohibition is not the way to solve the problem.

America has gone down the wrong road many times in its history. There was a time when women were not allowed to vote, when it was quite permissible for white people to own black people, for segregation to exist. A time when Americans were forbidden to drink alcohol. Fortunately, we came to our senses about these things, changed our laws and became a stronger, better country for it.

Sociologist Thomas Sowell once said that the difference between a policy and a crusade is that a policy is judged by its results, but a crusade is judged by how good it makes the crusaders feel. It's becoming hard to refer to what we do with regard to drugs in America as a policy. What we have is clearly a Jihad -- a holy war with no basis in logic or sense. No interest in results or costs. No concern that the medicine may be far worse than the disease. Why is it so hard for us to see this and reconsider how we handle these drugs in America?

Nicolas Eyle is executive director of http://www.Reconsider.org

8/30/01
5:29:28 PM

Prison Policy In A Media-driven America

by Arthur Stamoulis, LiP Magazine

It doesn't matter where you live. It makes no difference what your education, age, gender or income is. Within any demographic group, people who watch a lot of television are more afraid of crime than people who don't.

According to studies by communications professor George Gerbner, people who watch more TV are more likely to believe that their neighborhoods are unsafe, to state that fear of crime is a very serious personal problem and to go out and buy new locks, watchdogs and guns for protection.

And if you think these people are just better informed, think again. No matter what the neighborhood, heavier television viewers are also more likely to overstate their chances of involvement in violence and to assume that crime is on the rise, regardless of the local facts.

This unjustified level of panic among TV viewers makes perfect sense. Gerbner explains that people who watch just a moderate amount of primetime television drama are "entertained" by an average of 21 violent criminals each week, who (together with the "good guys") commit approximately 150 acts of violence, including 15 murders.

If television make-believe can influence Americans' level of anxiety, perhaps it also influences their views on prison policy. Ever wonder why a person could support a justice system that boasts the highest incarceration rate in the world, at a cost of billions of dollars to taxpayers each year, despite the fact that violent crime is down and two-thirds of prisoners are actually locked up for nonviolent offenses? Just consider the world that media consumers are confronted with every day.

Hardasses or Hard Copy?

Reality shows like America's Most Wanted paint the nation as filled to the brim with depraved murderers, brutal serial rapists and career con artists -- all with callous indifference to their ever-increasing stream of victims.

Dramas like Law and Order, CSI and NYPD Blue leave viewers expecting to find a body no matter what corner they turn. Police and victims are depicted as having to battle against a mountainous number of unfair technicalities and uncaring defense attorneys, while alleged perpetrators are most often shown to be common thugs.

Even shows like The Practice -- which sends the radical message that any person accused of a crime deserves a good defense -- also send the message that any person accused of a crime gets a good defense. Lawyers from the program's expensive private law firm constantly take on the cases of indigent defendants, getting them acquitted from all sorts of charges even though the lawyers, clients and viewing audience all know the person is guilty.

Our "objective," "neutral" and "balanced" mainstream news doesn't do much to correct this slanted image of the world either. In fact, most television news works to actually increase America's culture of fear.

If it Bleeds, it Leads

Paul Klite, the late Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Media Watch (RMMW), once pointed out that "Murder, one of the least common crimes, is the number one topic on newscasts." According to the group Children Now, while the homicide rate dropped 33% during the period between 1990 and 1998, news coverage of homicides actually increased by 473%.

An RMMW study of local TV newscasts across the country shows that 40-50% of all news airtime is devoted to violent topics. It's little wonder that heavy television viewers are more afraid of crime than less frequent viewers in the same demographic.

Children Now recommends that parents speak with their kids about the levels of violent crime reported in the news and explain to them that crime reporting is not accurate representation of reality. Perhaps parents should speak with their adult friends, neighbors, co-workers and relatives as well.

Anyone working for progressive prison reform has undoubtedly run up against individuals with a "lock 'em up and throw away the key" attitude. We should keep in mind that this position -- while not necessarily well thought out from a public policy perspective -- does seem understandable for a person that believes violent indifference and criminal brutality are pandemic.

The fact that newspapers like The New York Times, Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times have all used the phrase "country club prison" in headlines also makes the calls for more harsher punishment for prisoners seem somewhat reasonable.

The Idle, Carefree Life of the Prisoner

The prison coverage by Fox News several years back was not atypical. It aired James Fotis of the Law Enforcement Alliance of America stating that "some prisons are like hotels." Guests on the show highlighted prisoners' access to perks like television, videos and tennis courts.

A report that aired multiple times on 20/20 in the 1990s which, according to host Hugh Downes, was about "thieves, child molesters, [and] murderers" suing prisons over "petty gripes," quoted an Attorney General explaining the situation quite clearly:

"What we've got here is a system in this country where prisoners -- the worst of the worst of our society -- have been given special privileges across the board. They get free everything."

You almost expect the next exposé to be about people trying to get into prison. Never mind being locked away from one's family, told when to eat and sleep, having absolutely no privacy, forced to submit to humiliation on a regular basis, living at the mercy of the mood swings of individual prison guards and other prisoners -- you get "free everything"!

As long as people view the "justice" system through the mainstream media's skewed lens on the world, America's insane prison system will continue to seem right to an awful lot of people. Government policies will continue to focus on warehousing and punishment, rather than education, rehabilitation and victim services.

The "prisoners get what they deserve" attitude that is so prevalent in our society, "isn't because of any natural consequence of people's thinking process," explains Prison Legal News editor and Washington state prisoner Paul Wright. "Rather, it is the carefully inculcated notion that comes after years of bombardment on what to think by the media."

Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11413

8/30/01
5:26:38 PM

Nuke Train

by Geoff Schumacher, In These Times

A series of recent high-profile accidents involving trains and trucks carrying hazardous cargo has given new ammunition to opponents of the federal government's plan to build a national high-level nuclear waste dump in the Nevada desert.

The accident that received the most attention from anti-nuclear forces was the July 18 derailment of a freight train in a tunnel beneath Baltimore. The train carrying hazardous chemicals burned for several days at temperatures of up to 1,500 degrees. If the train had been carrying nuclear waste, opponents suggest, the steel casks designed to protect radioactive waste could have been breached. "I hope everyone recognizes the tremendous tragedy that was just barely averted in Baltimore," Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) told reporters after the derailment. "Hydrochloric acid is bad, but not as bad as nuclear waste. A speck the size of a pinpoint would kill a person."

Then, on August 5, a train derailed outside Houston, spilling thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals and forcing the evacuation of 100 homes. Three days later, a tanker truck carrying hazardous chemicals overturned on a busy freeway in Chicago, shutting down area roads and forcing the evacuation of nearby housing complexes. "While these incidents were extremely serious and dangerous," said Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nevada), "one could only imagine the ramifications if any one of these trains contained nuclear waste."

After Berkley made that statement, a truck transporting low-level nuclear waste from New York to Nevada was discovered to be carrying a cracked container. The driver noticed white foam on the truck bed and called authorities, who found an inch-long crack in one of the containers. DOE inspectors said they did not detect radiation around the truck, but the incident nevertheless fueled renewed concerns.

Reid, who recently ascended to the post of majority whip, has cited the Baltimore train accident and the cracked nuclear-waste container as "a wake-up call" about the dangers of transporting high-level nuclear wastes from reactors across 43 states to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Reid's newfound clout -- he's now the No. 2 person in the Senate behind Tom Daschle -- has put any legislative movement regarding the nuclear waste dump on hold. But studies of Yucca Mountain continue, and nuclear regulators are pushing forward with the licensing process. As a result, Reid and other dump opponents are always looking for new ways to attack the plan. Yucca Mountain's opponents maintain that it would be safer to simply keep the waste at the reactor sites than to transport it to Nevada.

Following the Baltimore accident, Reid introduced an amendment to a transportation appropriations bill to study the risks of transporting hazardous materials and to determine whether the nation's emergency response systems are sufficient. The amendment passed 96 to 0.

Meanwhile, the government of Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, recently released a study outlining the human and financial toll of a worst-case accident in Las Vegas involving high-level nuclear waste. The U.S. Department of Energy's planned routes to bring the waste to Yucca Mountain run through the middle of the gambling mecca.

The study looked at the effects of a collision involving a truck carrying nuclear waste and a gasoline tanker on Interstate 15, which runs parallel with the neon-drenched Strip. The accident would expose more than 1,000 people to radiation and result in more than $1 billion in cleanup costs and economic losses.

Source: http://www.inthesetimes.com

8/30/01
4:34:40 PM

Filtered For Your Viewing Pleasure

by Maia Szalavitz, Village Voice

Strange things happen when you seek drug policy information using filters meant to protect kids from the evils of the Net. Try reaching the drug law reform think tank the Lindesmith Center using Cyber Patrol, the highest-rated online screening product --- which is now part of AOL's family filter and used by 9 million people. You can't connect. Try to hit drug czar Barry McCaffrey's site, which takes the opposite political perspective, and the site loads easily. Attempt to access the Lycaeum, which includes information on personal drug experiences and even methamphetamine manufacture, and you can access it without a problem.

A search for "marijuana" using Searchopolis, the free Web-based search meant to be safe for children, also produces surprising results. Searchopolis uses the same technology as Bess, the server-based filter that leads the market for educational and library filtering and was recently tested in the city's public schools. Though unfiltered searches find a predominance of marijuana law reform sites as well as government institutions and think tanks, on Searchopolis, the top 10 hits are government and anti-marijuana sites. Presuming student laziness while researching homework -- quite often a sound assumption -- you can figure that most NYC kids are safe from alternative perspectives online.

However, if you do click to the next page, you get "Slick Willie Brand" marijuana bags (a party gag? or perhaps the search engine likes Republican perspectives?) and then, finally, some reform sites. An advertisement for the stealth government site freevibe.com, which pretends to offer unbiased information but is actually a project of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, appears.

If they worked as advertised, these filters would be dangerous, with the ability to exclude some political perspectives while offering access to others. Though many people assume these blockers exclude only porn, they can also keep out information that "promotes" drug use, offers recipes for bombs or contains violence or even information on sex education. As the Cyber Patrol example indicates, the technology isn't quite there yet -- but it is clear that drug warriors, upset over the dominance of the reform perspective on the Net, are fighting back.

Used only by parents in their own homes, this software is simply a tool to screen out information inappropriate for kids. But there has been a great push to install it in schools and libraries; and while one bill to mandate it in these institutions recently failed in Congress, presidential candidate John McCain is pushing another. (Yet another bill, which passed the Senate and was introduced in the House, would impose criminal penalties on owners of Web sites that "directly or indirectly advertise" drug use.)

Filtering software is estimated to reach one-third of American households with Net access. Filter manufacturers have focused on schools and libraries and are currently aiming their marketing efforts at getting businesses to buy the software to "increase productivity" by limiting Net access. Schools have already begun to recognize the problems with these filters as students find that access to research material they need is blocked. New York City public schools currently use a program called I-gear, made by Symantec. Recently, students found that they could access Operation Rescue but not Planned Parenthood, and that drug-related sites, the National Rifle Association, and even a reference from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath were barred. The filter also blocked access to major news organizations and scientific and medical groups.

Other districts have had difficulties as well. Jonathan Wallace of Censorware.org, a collaborative that examines and fights blocking software, says his group was contacted by high school students in Ohio who were having difficulty researching teen drug use for a homework assignment because so many sites were blocked by Bess. While allowing searches for "marijuana," Bess is set not to search the word "heroin" or "cocaine," and bars pages that contain these words.

Some software manufacturers recognize the political nature of their products and let users see the criteria that determine which sites are blocked and customize the filter. One filter, Surfwatch, says explicitly on its Web site that it doesn't block sites devoted to drug legalization, recognizing this as political, rather than drug-promoting, speech.

Susan Getgood, vice president in charge of Cyber Patrol for the Learning Company, says, "Our criteria are carefully crafted based on the appropriateness for children. Medical marijuana isn't blocked and policy material wouldn't be blocked, but it has to be appropriate for a 12-year-old."

Bess's manufacturer, N2H2, says that there is no political agenda in its filtering criteria. "It's based on choice," says CEO Peter Nickerson. "Schools can set up different levels of filtering and can override them if need be. These issues are all subjective, and what someone decides is appropriate to block in South Carolina may not be appropriate to block in California."

Other manufacturers recognize the political potential of filters and use it to their own ends. The most notorious of these is Cybersitter, which would not allow you to read this page on the Web, nor Mother Jones, the NOW site, any gay or lesbian sites, or even sites devoted to arguments about software filters. When one teenager set up a site in 1996 to protest filtering software, his name and site were blocked by Cybersitter and the company contacted his service provider to try to cut his account. Two years later, the company sent an e-mail bomb to another opponent. (Cybersitter said it was done by a "frustrated technical support employee.") Cybersitter's right-wing agenda is not mentioned on its site or in any of its promotional material, and since it keeps its filtering criteria private, consumers can't easily tell how it skews searches.

"Almost all of these products have a political agenda," says Wallace. "With some of them, it's more balanced, but still it's de facto censorship: letting one point of view through and blocking another."

So far, legal judgments have favored Censorware's position that enforced use of these products, at least in libraries, is unconstitutional. In Loudoun, Virginia, where the library board had mandated the use of filters on terminals in the adult section, a federal judge ruled that this violated the First Amendment. "We were beaten like a rented mule on this lawsuit," a town trustee told the Washington Times. In Livermore, California, a mother sued the library for providing unfiltered Net access, which her son used to download porn. She lost too, though she has appealed.

Despite this unfavorable legal atmosphere, Congress is still attempting to mandate filtering in schools and libraries as a prerequisite for receiving funding in the bill pushed by Senator McCain.

In the early days of the Net, cybergurus were fond of claiming that the Internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it. So far, this holds true -- but many powerful forces are working against it. How free information remains --particularly information that contradicts government perspectives on drug policy -- is an open question.

Maia Szalavitz is a journalist who has written for New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday and The Village Voice, among others

Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11380

8/30/01
4:04:07 PM

The Secret Behind The Sanctions

by Thomas Nagy, The Progressive

Over the last two years, I've discovered documents of the Defense Intelligence Agency proving beyond a doubt that, contrary to the Geneva Convention, the U.S. government intentionally used sanctions against Iraq to degrade the country's water supply after the Gulf War. The United States knew the cost that civilian Iraqis, mostly children, would pay, and it went ahead anyway.

The primary document, "Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities," is dated January 22, 1991. It spells out how sanctions will prevent Iraq from supplying clean water to its citizens.

"Iraq depends on importing specialized equipment and some chemicals to purify its water supply, most of which is heavily mineralized and frequently brackish to saline," the document states. "With no domestic sources of both water treatment replacement parts and some essential chemicals, Iraq will continue attempts to circumvent United Nations Sanctions to import these vital commodities. Failing to secure supplies will result in a shortage of pure drinking water for much of the population. This could lead to increased incidences, if not epidemics, of disease."

The document goes into great technical detail about the sources and quality of Iraq's water supply. The quality of untreated water "generally is poor," and drinking such water "could result in diarrhea," the document says. It notes that Iraq's rivers "contain biological materials, pollutants, and are laden with bacteria. Unless the water is purified with chlorine, epidemics of such diseases as cholera, hepatitis, and typhoid could occur."

The document notes that the importation of chlorine "has been embargoed" by sanctions. "Recent reports indicate the chlorine supply is critically low."

Food and medicine will also be affected, the document states. "Food processing, electronic, and, particularly, pharmaceutical plants require extremely pure water that is free from biological contaminants," it says.

The document addresses possible Iraqi countermeasures to obtain drinkable water despite sanctions.

"Iraq conceivably could truck water from the mountain reservoirs to urban areas. But the capability to gain significant quantities is extremely limited," the document states. "The amount of pipe on hand and the lack of pumping stations would limit laying pipelines to these reservoirs. Moreover, without chlorine purification, the water still would contain biological pollutants. Some affluent Iraqis could obtain their own minimally adequate supply of good quality water from Northern Iraqi sources. If boiled, the water could be safely consumed. Poorer Iraqis and industries requiring large quantities of pure water would not be able to meet their needs."

The document also discounted the possibility of Iraqis using rainwater. "Precipitation occurs in Iraq during the winter and spring, but it falls primarily in the northern mountains," it says. "Sporadic rains, sometimes heavy, fall over the lower plains. But Iraq could not rely on rain to provide adequate pure water."

As an alternative, "Iraq could try convincing the United Nations or individual countries to exempt water treatment supplies from sanctions for humanitarian reasons," the document says. "It probably also is attempting to purchase supplies by using some sympathetic countries as fronts. If such attempts fail, Iraqi alternatives are not adequate for their national requirements."

In cold language, the document spells out what is in store: "Iraq will suffer increasing shortages of purified water because of the lack of required chemicals and desalination membranes. Incidences of disease, including possible epidemics, will become probable unless the population were careful to boil water."

The document gives a timetable for the destruction of Iraq's water supplies. "Iraq's overall water treatment capability will suffer a slow decline, rather than a precipitous halt," it says. "Although Iraq is already experiencing a loss of water treatment capability, it probably will take at least six months (to June 1991) before the system is fully degraded."

This document, which was partially declassified but unpublicized in 1995, can be found on the Pentagon's web site at www.gulflink.osd.mil. (I disclosed this document last fall. But the news media showed little interest in it. The only reporters I know of who wrote lengthy stories on it were Felicity Arbuthnot in the Sunday Herald of Scotland, who broke the story, and Charlie Reese of the Orlando Sentinel, who did a follow-up.)

Recently, I have come across other DIA documents that confirm the Pentagon's monitoring of the degradation of Iraq's water supply. These documents have not been publicized until now.

The first one in this batch is called "Disease Information," and is also dated January 22, 1991. At the top, it says, "Subject: Effects of Bombing on Disease Occurrence in Baghdad." The analysis is blunt: "Increased incidence of diseases will be attributable to degradation of normal preventive medicine, waste disposal, water purification/distribution, electricity, and decreased ability to control disease outbreaks. Any urban area in Iraq that has received infrastructure damage will have similar problems."

The document proceeds to itemize the likely outbreaks. It mentions "acute diarrhea" brought on by bacteria such as E. coli, shigella, and salmonella, or by protozoa such as giardia, which will affect "particularly children," or by rotavirus, which will also affect "particularly children," a phrase it puts in parentheses. And it cites the possibilities of typhoid and cholera outbreaks.

The document warns that the Iraqi government may "blame the United States for public health problems created by the military conflict."

The second DIA document, "Disease Outbreaks in Iraq," is dated February 21, 1990, but the year is clearly a typo and should be 1991. It states: "Conditions are favorable for communicable disease outbreaks, particularly in major urban areas affected by coalition bombing." It adds: "Infectious disease prevalence in major Iraqi urban areas targeted by coalition bombing (Baghdad, Basrah) undoubtedly has increased since the beginning of Desert Storm. . . . Current public health problems are attributable to the reduction of normal preventive medicine, waste disposal, water purification and distribution, electricity, and the decreased ability to control disease outbreaks."

This document lists the "most likely diseases during next sixty-ninety days (descending order): diarrheal diseases (particularly children); acute respiratory illnesses (colds and influenza); typhoid; hepatitis A (particularly children); measles, diphtheria, and pertussis (particularly children); meningitis, including meningococcal (particularly children); cholera (possible, but less likely)."

Like the previous document, this one warns that the Iraqi government might "propagandize increases of endemic diseases."

The third document in this series, "Medical Problems in Iraq," is dated March 15, 1991. It says: "Communicable diseases in Baghdad are more widespread than usually observed during this time of the year and are linked to the poor sanitary conditions (contaminated water supplies and improper sewage disposal) resulting from the war. According to a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)/World Health Organization report, the quantity of potable water is less than 5 percent of the original supply, there are no operational water and sewage treatment plants, and the reported incidence of diarrhea is four times above normal levels. Additionally, respiratory infections are on the rise. Children particularly have been affected by these diseases."

Perhaps to put a gloss on things, the document states, "There are indications that the situation is improving and that the population is coping with the degraded conditions." But it adds: "Conditions in Baghdad remain favorable for communicable disease outbreaks."

The fourth document, "Status of Disease at Refugee Camps," is dated May 1991. The summary says, "Cholera and measles have emerged at refugee camps. Further infectious diseases will spread due to inadequate water treatment and poor sanitation."

The reason for this outbreak is clearly stated again. "The main causes of infectious diseases, particularly diarrhea, dysentery, and upper respiratory problems, are poor sanitation and unclean water. These diseases primarily afflict the old and young children."

The fifth document, "Health Conditions in Iraq, June 1991," is still heavily censored. All I can make out is that the DIA sent a source "to assess health conditions and determine the most critical medical needs of Iraq. Source observed that Iraqi medical system was in considerable disarray, medical facilities had been extensively looted, and almost all medicines were in critically short supply."

In one refugee camp, the document says, "at least 80 percent of the population" has diarrhea. At this same camp, named Cukurca, "cholera, hepatitis type B, and measles have broken out."

The protein deficiency disease kwashiorkor was observed in Iraq "for the first time," the document adds. "Gastroenteritis was killing children. . . . In the south, 80 percent of the deaths were children (with the exception of Al Amarah, where 60 percent of deaths were children)."

The final document is "Iraq: Assessment of Current Health Threats and Capabilities," and it is dated November 15, 1991. This one has a distinct damage-control feel to it. Here is how it begins: "Restoration of Iraq's public health services and shortages of major medical materiel remain dominant international concerns. Both issues apparently are being exploited by Saddam Hussein in an effort to keep public opinion firmly against the U.S. and its Coalition allies and to direct blame away from the Iraqi government."

It minimizes the extent of the damage. "Although current countrywide infectious disease incidence in Iraq is higher than it was before the Gulf War, it is not at the catastrophic levels that some groups predicted. The Iraqi regime will continue to exploit disease incidence data for its own political purposes."

And it places the blame squarely on Saddam Hussein. "Iraq's medical supply shortages are the result of the central government's stockpiling, selective distribution, and exploitation of domestic and international relief medical resources." It adds: "Resumption of public health programs . . . depends completely on the Iraqi government."

As these documents illustrate, the United States knew sanctions had the capacity to devastate the water treatment system of Iraq. It knew what the consequences would be: increased outbreaks of disease and high rates of child mortality. And it was more concerned about the public relations nightmare for Washington than the actual nightmare that the sanctions created for innocent Iraqis.

The Geneva Convention is absolutely clear. In a 1979 protocol relating to the "protection of victims of international armed conflicts," Article 54, it states: "It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive."

But that is precisely what the U.S. government did, with malice aforethought. It "destroyed, removed, or rendered useless" Iraq's "drinking water installations and supplies." The sanctions, imposed for a decade largely at the insistence of the United States, constitute a violation of the Geneva Convention. They amount to a systematic effort to, in the DIA's own words, "fully degrade" Iraq's water sources.

At a House hearing on June 7, Representative Cynthia McKinney, Democrat of Georgia, referred to the document "Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities" and said: "Attacking the Iraqi public drinking water supply flagrantly targets civilians and is a violation of the Geneva Convention and of the fundamental laws of civilized nations."

Over the last decade, Washington extended the toll by continuing to withhold approval for Iraq to import the few chemicals and items of equipment it needed in order to clean up its water supply.

Last summer, Representative Tony Hall, Democrat of Ohio, wrote to then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright "about the profound effects of the increasing deterioration of Iraq's water supply and sanitation systems on its children's health." Hall wrote, "The prime killer of children under five years of age--diarrheal diseases--has reached epidemic proportions, and they now strike four times more often than they did in 1990. . . . Holds on contracts for the water and sanitation sector are a prime reason for the increases in sickness and death. Of the eighteen contracts, all but one hold was placed by the U.S. government. The contracts are for purification chemicals, chlorinators, chemical dosing pumps, water tankers, and other equipment. . . . I urge you to weigh your decision against the disease and death that are the unavoidable result of not having safe drinking water and minimum levels of sanitation."

For more than ten years, the United States has deliberately pursued a policy of destroying the water treatment system of Iraq, knowing full well the cost in Iraqi lives. The United Nations has estimated that more than 500,000 Iraqi children have died as a result of sanctions, and that 5,000 Iraqi children continue to die every month for this reason.

No one can say that the United States didn't know what it was doing.

See for Yourself

All the DIA documents mentioned in this article were found at the Department of Defense's Gulflink site.

To read or print documents:

1.go to www.gulflink.osd.mil

2.click on "Declassified Documents" on the left side of the front page

3.the next page is entitled "Browse Recently Declassified Documents"

4.click on "search" under "Declassifed Documents" on the left side of that page

5.the next page is entitled "Search Recently Declassified Documents"

6.enter search terms such as "disease information effects of bombing"

7.click on the search button

8.the next page is entitled "Data Sources"

9.click on DIA

10.click on one of the titles

It's not the easiest, best-organized site on the Internet, but I have found the folks at Gulflink to be helpful and responsive.

Source: http://www.Progressive.org

8/30/01
3:58:22 PM

FBI's New Generation Of Cointelpro

by Hank Hoffman, In These Times

Is the FBI back in the business of trying to squelch political dissent? An obscure paragraph in congressional testimony this past spring by departing FBI Director Louis Freeh has fanned fears that the agency is planning a surveillance and disruption effort against anti-globalization groups similar to Cointelpro, which focused on the anti-war and Black Power movements in the '60s and '70s.

Freeh delivered his testimony on the "Threat of Terrorism to the United States" before the Senate Appropriations committee on May 10. In the section on "domestic terrorism," Freeh identified "right-wing extremist groups," such as the World Church of the Creator and Aryan Nation, as "representing a continuing terrorism threat." One of the two paragraphs dealing with "special-interest extremists" focused on the eco-sabotage of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. In contrast, extreme anti-abortion groups, with their record of murder and clinic bombings, merited only a passing mention.

But it was the final paragraph in Freeh's assessment of "left-wing extremist groups" that raised eyebrows among anti-globalization activists: "Anarchist and extremist socialist groups -- many of which, such as the Workers World Party, Reclaim the Streets and Carnival Against Capitalism -- have an international presence and, at times, also represent a potential threat in the United States," Freeh said. "For example, anarchists, operating individually and in groups, caused much of the damage during the 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle."

"These are extremely dangerous and inappropriate comments," says Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder of the Washington-based Partnership for Civil Justice. Verheyden-Hilliard is the lead attorney on a lawsuit against the FBI and other police agencies for civil rights violations during the April 2000 protests at the Washington meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Noting that Freeh's remarks were made in the context of an appropriations hearing, she says that he "may be trying to legitimate funding for a government-sponsored war against the social justice movement."

Freeh's comments do provoke serious concerns. No justification is offered for the naming of Workers World Party, a Marxist group, and Reclaim the Streets, a network founded in London in 1995 that merges protests and raves, as representing potential threats. Freeh seemingly criminalizes all anarchists based on vandalism during the Seattle WTO protests. "By demonizing this movement and suggesting these folks pose a threat," says Verheyden-Hilliard, "they justify declaring some form of martial law [during large demonstrations]."

Verheyden-Hilliard notes that protests in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Washington have been met with excessive police response: illegal arrests, intrusive surveillance, pepper spray and the employment of agents provocateur. Washington police traveled to Philadelphia, Quebec and Genoa to observe protests, while local and state police are cooperating with the FBI on "joint anti-terrorism task forces." She adds: "It appears there's been substantial funding, sending people all around the country."

According to Jon Weiss of New York Reclaim the Streets, activists' initial response to Freeh's testimony was fear "because the phrase 'domestic terrorism' is usually just a packaging tool for the mass suspension of civil liberties."

Weiss suspects the FBI cribbed the terrorist tag from Scotland Yard, based on actions that devolved into riots. Reclaim the Streets' actions in Britain had been nonviolent since the network's founding in 1995, but that changed on June 18, 1999. As part of an international "global street party" to protest the G8 meeting in Cologne, Germany, 10,000 gathered in London's financial district. What started as a street party ended in the trashing of several businesses, including a McDonald's and a bank.

Chuck Munson, an anarchist and co-editor of Alternative Press Review, says the feds are grasping at "broad terms to tar and feather" the movement and dismisses as "demonization" the "insinuation that all anarchists are violent." The real violence, Munson argues, is perpetrated by the police. "They're the ones who bring guns, bullets, gas, dogs and water cannons to protests," he says, "and they use them."

FBI spokesman Steven Berry would not elaborate on Freeh's reasons for targeting anarchists, Workers World and Reclaim the Streets beyond drawing attention to Seattle. But their inclusion wasn't random. "There are a lot of groups in the anti-globalization movement who have exhibited some potential to commit a terrorist incident," Berry insists.

Asked whether these groups or others are under investigation or subject to counterintelligence operations, Berry says, "We don't comment on specific investigations." Berry denies that Freeh's comments were a politically motivated smear. "We recognize that every group has the right to assemble, the right to meet, has the right to exist no matter how abhorrent their message is," Berry says. "The FBI only gets involved when there is a violation of federal law."

Says Weiss, "If blocking a road or having a party constitutes a terrorist act these days, I suppose we're guilty. The FBI is trying to get their mind around the concept that there is a global democracy movement, and they don't quite understand it yet."

Source: http://www.inthesetimes.com

8/30/01
3:57:19 PM

AlterNet Headlines

http://www.alternet.org

CORN: BUSH'S SURPLUS LIES

David Corn, AlterNet

New economic projections have caught Bush red-handed in his lies about the budget surplus, Social Security and tax cuts.

http://www.alternet.org/

POWERING THE WHITE REVOLUTION

Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet

Record labels are sprouting up not to capitalize on the pop music scene, but to help recruit white supremacists. "White power music" has become the movement's greatest recruiting tool.

http://www.alternet.org/

WHEN WORK GOES GLOBAL

Tamara Straus, AlterNet

Telemarketers in India with perfect West Virginian accents. American cyber-boys paving the high-tech road in Africa.

A new PBS series, "PlanetWork," explores the changing nature of employment.

http://www.alternet.org/

FOOTING THE BILL

Kate Silver, Las Vegas Weekly

Lacking insurance, sufficient wealth and a helping hand from Medicaid or Medicare, Paul Morgan will amputate his injured feet himself. Watch it on the Web for $19.99!

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11381

THE SIX-YEAR ITCH

David Moberg, The Nation

Despite bumps in the road, John Sweeney is turning the labor movement towardf more aggressive organizing, political molbilization and advocacy for working people.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11386

DARN, I FORGOT TO HAVE BABIES!

Sharon Lerner, Village Voice

For women hoping for both a career and a family, the conflict between biology and the workplace can provoke a frenzied midlife crunch.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11412

SCIENTOLOGY INC.

Jim Evans, Sacramento News and Review Publishing executives in Folsom are spreading the word on technology in government. But some employees say it's actually the gospel of L. Ron Hubbard.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11392

THE SECRET BEHIND THE SANCTIONS

Thomas Nagy, The Progressive

Recently discovered Defense Intelligence Agency documents show how the U.S. intentionally destroyed Iraq's water supply after the Gulf War.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11398

NONE OF YOUR BEESWAX

Jennifer Foote Sweeney, Salon Certainly we have better things to do than judge each other's feminist credentials.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11405

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER...

Tracie McMillan, City Limits

A new generation of organizing academies asks: Does making the good fight your life's work have to be a one-way ticket to martyrdom?

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11342

SEEDS OF PEACE

Julie Joy, WireTap

What happens when you attend a summer camp with the very people who you have been told are your enemies?

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11385

WHY JOHNNY CAN'T STAY IN SCHOOL

Donna Ladd, Village Voice

Under the guise of leaving no child behind, Congress quietly passed two Education Bill amendments this summer that would leave more minority and disabled kids without services -- and deny families legal recourse.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11403

FBI'S NEW GENERATION OF COINTELPRO

Hank Hoffman, In These Times

The FBI may be planning a disruption effort against anti-globalization groups similar to Cointelpro, which focused on the anti-war and Black Power movements in the '60s and '70s.

*In D.C. Protests: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11411

FILTERED FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE

Maia Szalavitz, Village Voice

Net filtering software censors much more than sex and violence. It also blocks alternative political perspectives from reaching one-third of American households.

*In MediaCulture: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11380

NUKE TRAIN

Geoff Schumacher, In These Times

A series of accidents involving hazardous cargo-carrying vehicles is increasing opposition to the Fed's plan to build a nuclear waste dump in the Nevada desert.

*In EnviroHealth: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11406

PRISON POLICY IN A MEDIA-DRIVEN AMERICA

Arthur Stamoulis, LiP Magazine

Although violent crimes are decreasing, Americans continue to support strict prison policy -- thanks to the media, which has us looking for bloody psychos and bodies around every corner.

*In HumanRights USA: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11413

U.S. IS ON A LONELY ROAD IN ITS DRUG POLICY

Nicolas Eyle, AlterNet

All over the world countries look at the disastrous results of the U.S.'s "War on Drugs" and shift their drug policies to avoid making the same mistakes. It's time for us to catch up.

*In DrugReporter: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11400

THE MULTITASKING MAN

Gabriela Bocagrande, Texas Observer

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick is shepherding the FTAA trade agreement with one hand and carrying the corporate flag with the other.

*In Globalization: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11379

SOLOMON: THIRTY YEARS LATER, MEMORIES OF ATTICA CRY OUT

Norman Solomon, AlterNet

"The Ghosts of Attica" -- premiering nationwide Sept. 9 on Court TV -- is an historically accurate look at the bloody prison uprising and an indictment of what has passed for journalism in reporting on prison-related events.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11409

GARCIA: TORTILLA SOUP SAVORS LATINO CULTURE

James E. Garcia, AlterNet

A new movie savors Latino culture.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11414

TECHSPLOITATION: TALK TO ME

Annalee Newitz, AlterNet

I was plunged into geek space, a familiar social location where we could talk to our heart's content about drivers and free software and visualization programs for cell biologists.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11390

WEISBROT: RETURN OF THE LOCKBOX

Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet

Both parties need to rethink the shaky economics of using the mythical Social Security "lockbox" to pay off the national debt.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11383

HIGHTOWER: THE MIDDLE-CLASS FUTURE IS UP TO US

Jim Hightower, AlterNet

Lest we allow years of labor progress to go wasted, workers must continue to fight to keep the promise of a prosperous future.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11395

8/30/01
1:57:17 PM

THE MYTH OF THE DEMOCRATIC INTERNET

The Internet is far from being a decentralized and democratic forum for communication. Plus: The commercialization of search engines. (From FAIR [Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting], Online Journalism Review)

http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#myth

MICROSOFT'S ASTROTURF?

As new reports emerge of Microsoft's phony anti-trust campaign, we revisit MediaChannel's debate on independent advocacy. (From MediaChannel, LA Times, Politech)

http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#bill

DAILY MEDIA NEWS *new format!* Breaking news stories about the international media, from mainstream and alternative sources.

http://www.mediachannel.org/news/today/

New! BUILD YOUR MEDIA LIBRARY!

We're proud to announce our partnership with Powells.com: MediaChannel is now the "Media" section host for "the largest used and new bookstore in the world."

http://www.powells.com/portals/Media.html

The MediaChannel Classroom: A Media Literacy Center

http://www.mediachannel.org/

MediaChannel is proud to launch a new education center for K-12 teachers.

*THE TEACHER'S TOOLKIT: Teaching Units, Lesson Plans, Activities, Handouts and other tools from teachers and experts around the world.

http://www.mediachannel.org/classroom/toolkit

*MEDIA LITERACY TOPIC GUIDES: why understanding and using the media is as important as reading and writing.

http://www.mediachannel.org/classroom

Also, don't miss the new TEACHERS' GUIDE to MediaChannel.

http://www.mediachannel.org/teach

UPDATED! THE GLOBAL NEWS INDEX

Links to more than 1,000 newspapers and news sites from 150 countries. As transnational media companies grow and international coverage shrinks, you can locate the local story anywhere.

http://www.mediachannel.org/links/links-frameset.html

THE MEDIACHANNEL POLICY CENTER

In a time of rapid and sweeping change, media policies matter. MediaChannel previews a new gateway to media policy information, discussion, resources and organizations worldwide.

http://www.mediachannel.org/policycenter

THE GLOBAL OWNERSHIP CHART

Thanks to the merger boom, media power is more concentrated than ever. A new online chart presents the global media overlords in vivid color.

http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership

8/30/01
1:50:30 PM

Power Plant On A Chip? It's No Small Matter To Lehigh Scientists

A silicon chip that produces hydrogen to operate a laptop computer? Scientists at Lehigh University are developing a tiny generating plant, housed on a silicon chip, that they believe can produce enough hydrogen to run power-consuming portable devices.

The amount of hydrogen produced was small, but it was enough to demonstrate that the Lehigh project is feasible. Given time the Lehigh group believes they will develop a working generating plant, housed on a silicon chip, that produces sufficient quantities of hydrogen to run different types of power consuming portable devices.

"About 10 years ago people starting thinking: 'can we take the same fabrication methods for silicon chips and instead of using them for electronics, use them for something else?'" says Mayuresh Kothare, assistant professor of chemical engineering.

Instead of a processing device for electrons, chips would become miniature chemical reactors or power plants. Kothare says that in one experiment a silicon chip was turned into a tiny steam engine. The channels normally used to transmit electrical current were used to carry steam. They could just as easily have been used to carry various reagents to fuel miniature reactors or generating plants housed in the chip's processing areas. In an experiment at the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico scientists created a miniature geared engine on a chip.

"At Lehigh our chip-based micro-chemical plant will take a reagent, such as methanol, or a hydrocarbon, like diesel or gasoline, and carry it to a tiny reactor to produce hydrogen," Kothare says. "We have already produced hydrogen and have been able to get the reagents into the reactor to carry out the necessary reaction."

The hydrogen will be collected in a miniature fuel cell that can power an electronic device. A fuel cell creates power through the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen.

The chip is the same size as an ordinary electronic chip, approximately three centimeters by three centimeters. The micro-plant would be fueled by small cartridges of methanol, or other hydrocarbons, that are fed to the "reformer" by micro-capillaries or miniature fuel lines. The reformer would be heated by electricity and the reaction would produce hydrogen which would be transmitted to the fuel cell via another network of micro-capillaries.

While one chip could not produce enough power to operate a laptop, Kothare says that by wrapping scores or hundreds of the tiny micro-plants together --called "numbering up"-- enough power could be produced to operate all kinds of electronic devices. A recent experiment in Germany demonstrated that a hydrogen micro-fuel cell powered a laptop computer for up to ten hours whereas the operating time of an ordinary rechargeable laptop battery is generally about two hours.

Kothare also notes that by using a chip power plant one would not need to stop to recharge a battery. Just insert a new fuel source of methanol, diesel or gasoline to the chip plant and the power continues.

Currently, one of the hurdles in creating a working plant is getting the reagents into the micro-capillaries. "Think of piping in your own house," Kothare says. "You can buy standard fittings but there are no standard fittings for the chip plant and there are no standardized pipes. To get the reagents in is a whole world of its own. You don't know how much will leak or vaporize or if it is sealed tightly."

While Kothare and his colleagues are working on a chip-based power plant, he notes that there could be unlimited uses for devices developed from microchips. One use could be the implantation of a processing chip inside the body to conduct all sorts of medical functions. A tiny chip-analyzer could take in minuscule amounts of blood, and analyze it for such things as sugar or insulin levels. Blood tests could be done instantly without need of sending the results to a lab.

Funding for Kothare's projects comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico. Support also comes from the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, a consortium of electronics companies in Pittsburgh.

Source: Lehigh University http://www.lehigh.edu

8/30/01
1:45:46 PM

Making A Cleaner, Cheaper Fuel Cell

ROLLA, Mo. -- Fueled by a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers at the University of Missouri-Rolla are working to develop a cheaper and more efficient fuel cell -- a technology that holds promise as a clean, alternative energy source.

The three-year project, which begins Oct. 1 and involves one other university, two national research laboratories and a private fuel cell maker, is part of a national effort by the Energy Department. The initiative aims to make fuel cells an economical power source by the end of this decade.

The UMR-led project involves the fabrication and testing of solid oxide fuel cells, with the ultimate goal of developing a cell capable of producing 5 kilowatts of electricity -- enough to power an average house -- at a cost of about $400 per kilowatt-hour.

Fuel cells function much like conventional batteries. Unlike batteries, however, they do not run down or require recharging. They also are efficient at creating electricity and are cleaner sources of energy than coal, which is the primary source of electric power. Fuel cells consist of two electrodes sandwiched around an electrolyte, or membrane. Oxygen passes over one electrode and hydrogen over the other, generating electricity, water and heat.

The goal for UMR researchers is to create a fuel cell that operates at a cool 750 degrees Celsius (842 degrees Fahrenheit) or below. One major drawback to current fuel cell technology is that it requires extremely high temperatures, as high as 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit), to get the zirconium membrane to convert gas into electricity. But the UMR-led consortium is attempting to build a cell that not only functions at cooler temperatures, but also is less costly to build.

"The reason fuel cells have not entered into the marketplace is because of the costs involved," says Dr. Harlan Anderson, Curators' Professor emeritus of ceramic engineering and director of UMR's Electronic Materials Applied Research Laboratory (EMARC). "The end result of this project will be a demonstration of the technology," says Anderson, who is leading the research effort

The three-year project is a $3.5 million effort in all, with the $2.8 million federal grant matched by $700,000 in funds from UMR, EMARC and two of the consortium members, Akers Industries Inc. of Oakland, Calif., and the University of Colorado-Boulder. Working with UMR, UC-Boulder and Akers on the project is the Energy Department's National Renewable Energies Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley.

The recent energy crunch in the United States and elsewhere has renewed interest in fuel cells as an alternative energy source, says Anderson. Automobile manufacturers are already in the process of developing vehicles that are powered by fuel cells. In the future, some vehicles may use fuel cells as part of a "hybrid" system, combined with traditional gas engines.

"The automobiles are using more electricity than they ever have, and it would be nice to have an additional power supply," Anderson says.

In addition, the Energy Department is interested in developing a stand-alone power generator for the trucking industry that would be more efficient than the typical diesel engine, he says.

In the UMR project, Anderson and his team on campus will manage the overall effort as well as characterize and select the materials to be used in construction of the fuel cell. Working with Anderson is Dr. Vladimir Petrovsky, a UMR research professor working with EMARC, and some graduate students. Akers Industries will fabricate the fuel cells, while the National Renewable Energies Laboratory and the University of Colorado-Boulder develop the membrane technology for the cells. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, meanwhile, will develop the interconnection for the fuel cells. Once the cells are created, UMR researchers will test them and report the results to the Energy Department.

Source: University Of Missouri-Rolla http://www.umr.edu

8/30/01
1:37:18 PM

Study Indicates Alternative Medicine Here To Stay; Complementary And Alternative Medicine Used By Broad Age, Demographic Groups

BOSTON, MA —- Will the demand for complementary and alternative medicine fade or is it here to stay? While U.S. medical schools are developing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) course work, and managed care organizations are providing some coverage for CAM therapies, little data existed to answer this question. Until now. A new study by Harvard Medical School researchers, looking at trends over the past half-century, suggests that CAM is indeed here to stay for the foreseeable future.

The study, which appears in the August 21 Annals of Internal Medicine, examined trends in the use of 20 different CAMs, covering everything from acupuncture to yoga, among representative sociodemographic groups across the continental U.S. "The findings really dispel two ideas, namely that complementary and alternative medicine is just a passing fad, and that it is used by one particular segment of society," said Ronald Kessler, Harvard Medical School professor of health care policy, who authored the study through the Harvard Medical School Division of Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies and the Center for Alternative Medicine Research and Education at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The use of alternative treatments was independent of gender, ethnicity, and level of education. Regional trends and city versus rural differences were also absent. Most of the 20 therapies have steadily increased in popularity since the 1960s, with the largest overall growth rate occurring during the transition from the 1960s to the 1970s.

Data compiled from over 2,000 interviews did show a trend towards the use of these therapies in younger respondents; by age 33, 7 out of 10 post-baby boomers (born 1965-79) had used some type of CAM, compared to 5 out of 10 baby boomers (born 1945-64), and 3 out of 10 pre-baby boomers (born before 1945). However, in all age groups the use of CAMs has steadily increased since the 1950s.

Some individuals reported using alternative therapies for many years. Of those respondents who had tried an alternative therapy, almost 50 percent were still using it 11 to 20 years later. This persistence is consistent with findings in a previous study that suggested most CAM therapies are used—at least in part—as preventative measures or as part of a regular fitness program.

While all therapies showed increased usage over the decades, the study yielded interesting insights into the timing of societal adoption of particular therapies. In the 1960s, four particular therapies increased markedly—commercial diet programs, lifestyle diet therapy, megavitamin therapy, and self-help groups. The 1970s showed increased use of biofeedback, energy healing, herbal medicine, and imagery. During the 1980s, massage and naturopathy increased, while yoga decreased in popularity. The 1990s showed particular increased adoption of aromatherapy, energy healing, herbal medicine, massage, and yoga.

The authors caution that while the data indicates that the demand for alternative medicine will continue and may well grow, their analysis cannot predict dramatic events that may tip prevalence patterns in one direction or another.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the John E. Ferzer Institute, the American Society of Actuaries, Friends of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Kenneth J. Germeshausen Foundation, and the J.E. and Z.B. Butler Foundation.

Source: Harvard Medical School http://www.hms.harvard.edu

8/30/01
1:23:40 PM

ScienceDaily.com

STUDY SPOTLIGHTS OVERFISHING IN COLLAPSE OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS

Overfishing over historical times is largely responsible for the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems around North America and Australia, concludes a team of 18 scientists that has sifted through mounds of geological, archaeological, historical and modern ecological data.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010818004856.htm

STUDY INDICATES ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE HERE TO STAY; COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE USED BY BROAD AGE, DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS

Will the demand for complementary and alternative medicine fade or is it here to stay? While U.S. medical schools are developing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) course work, and managed care organizations are providing some coverage for CAM therapies, little data existed to answer this question. Until now. A new study by Harvard Medical School researchers, looking at trends over the past half-century, suggests that CAM is indeed here to stay for the foreseeable future.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010821075950.htm

NASA GIVES POLE-TO-POLE VIEW OF CLOUD HEIGHTS AND WINDS

Scientists for the first time ever can simultaneously measure the height and motion of clouds over Earth from pole to pole, which may improve weather forecasts. Never before have researchers directly measured cloud heights from a single satellite, simultaneously measured cloud heights and winds, and done this above Earth's polar regions as well as lower latitudes.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010821074324.htm

MAKING A CLEANER, CHEAPER FUEL CELL

Fueled by a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers at the University of Missouri-Rolla are working to develop a cheaper and more efficient fuel cell -- a technology that holds promise as a clean, alternative energy source.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010823083902.htm

POWER PLANT ON A CHIP? IT'S NO SMALL MATTER TO LEHIGH SCIENTISTS

A silicon chip that produces hydrogen to operate a laptop computer? Scientists at Lehigh University are developing a tiny generating plant, housed on a silicon chip, that they believe can produce enough hydrogen to run power-consuming portable devices.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010824081233.htm

DARTMOUTH RESEARCHER INVESTIGATES DIGITAL SECRECY

Hany Farid, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College, is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. Farid strives to unlock the mysteries of steganography - hiding and sending secret information - in the digital age.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010824081336.htm

NASA TECHNOLOGY HELPS WEEKEND PHOTOGRAPHERS LOOK LIKE PROS

If a picture is worth a thousand words, new image-enhancement technology jointly developed by NASA and industry will increase the average photographer's vocabulary many times over.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010824080532.htm

8/29/01
5:26:51 PM

State Enforcers Are Missing Many Water Polluters

by Environmental News Network

State environmental authorities are doing a poor job of enforcing the nation's clean water laws, concludes a new report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. The agency looked at the behavior of water polluters nationwide by documenting violations of the Clean Water Act between October of 1997 and December of 1998 as recorded in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Permit Compliance System database. The information was obtained by U.S. PIRG under the Freedom of Information Act.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) learned that many state enforcement programs are failing to catch or punish companies and individuals that pollute the nation's waters. State programs are required to enforce the Clean Water Act and other federal environmental laws, and President George W. Bush has recently suggested that the states be given more money and autonomy to do just that.

The new GAO report casts doubt on the states' ability to shoulder more of the enforcement burden or even to meet current standards set by the EPA and federal laws.

"We believe that state enforcement programs could be much more effective in deterring noncompliance with discharge permits and, ultimately, improving the quality of the nation's water," states the report. "EPA and the states have been successful in reducing point-source pollution since the Clean Water Act passed in 1972. However, despite tremendous progress, nearly 40 percent of the nation's assessed waters are not meeting the standards states have set for them," the authors write.

The report concludes that the state enforcement strategies reviewed by the GAO need to be modified to better address environmental risks, including contaminated runoff.

"Contaminated runoff, including agricultural and urban runoff, was widely accepted as causing the majority of the nation's remaining water-quality problems," the report notes. "Although many sources of contaminated runoff were regulated, some were not."

Many state enforcement programs were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of water pollution violations, issuing enforcement actions a year or more after the violations occurred, and simply lacked information on hundreds of thousands of smaller pollution sources.

"The states we evaluated did not have sufficient information on dischargers to effectively implement their programs," the GAO said. "A major barrier to state-program management was the lack of information about hundreds of thousands of dischargers that contributed to water-quality problems."

But larger, more serious violators were also overlooked, the GAO found, reporting that many dangerous toxic spills and other water-pollution sources were not reported to the EPA as required.

Electronic transmission of self-monitoring reports would go a long way toward reducing the workload of state enforcement programs, the report says. "Without electronic reporting by dischargers, it was virtually impossible for states to monitor compliance with all permits," the GAO noted.

The states could also do a better job of recovering the costs of enforcement by charging reasonable fines based on the magnitude of the violations.

The GAO recommended that the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, in partnership with the Office of Water and EPA regions, collaborate with states to develop new, risk-based enforcement priorities. The new enforcement guidance needs to better define significant violations for toxicity test failures, minor facilities, and storm-water dischargers, the GAO said.

When asked by the GAO to review the report, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance agreed with many of the report's conclusions but defended its existing guidance to the states.

"In short, the Office was reluctant to change its current way of conducting business," the GAO noted. "However, the current way of conducting business was marginally effective."

The GAO report also emphasizes the EPA's role in the states' enforcement failures, noting that the agency's core program and monitoring systems have emphasized major industrial facilities and larger sewage treatment plants over the smaller facilities that make up the bulk of the states' workload.

State strategies were also inhibited by inadequate water-quality data, incomplete permit data, poor relations between the EPA and the states, and state concerns over regulating small and economically vital businesses and industries, the GAO found.

Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/08/08292001/s_44779.asp

8/29/01
5:05:21 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

THIS LITTLE FARMER WENT TO MARKET

The number of farmers' markets in the U.S. increased 63 percent from 1994 to 2000, with 19,000 farmers now selling at about 2,800 markets, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Many of the farmers tout their produce as being organically certified, and farmers at the New York Greenmarket have agreed to a moratorium on selling any genetically engineered crops. With no intermediaries between themselves and consumers, farmers typically make more money selling at markets than through wholesalers.

straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Ron Scherer, 29 Aug 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0829/p15s1-lihc.html>

COME SHELL OR HIGH WATER

The best way to rid the Great Lakes region of invasive zebra mussels may be to zap them with radio waves, Purdue University researchers told the American Chemical Society at its meeting in Chicago yesterday. The fast-breeding zebra mussels, which were brought to the U.S. in the ballast water of cargo ships, are threatening native aquatic life and clogging pipes at water purification and power plants. The Purdue researchers exposed the pesky mollusks to low-frequency electromagnetic waves that affected their ability to develop a shell, causing them to die within 40 days. The researchers are hopeful that the treatment, which was far less harmful to other organisms, will replace the more toxic chlorine now used to control the mussels.

straight to the source: Chicago Sun-Times, Gary Wisby, 29 Aug 2001 <http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-zebra29.html>

GOPHER IT!

In what could turn into an unprecedented deal to protect imperiled animals and plants in the U.S., the Interior Department and several environmental groups are working on an agreement to safeguard more than two dozen species under the Endangered Species Act. The agreement would cover such species as the coastal cutthroat trout in Oregon and Washington, the Big Cypress fox squirrel in Florida, the Mississippi gopher frog in the South, and the Chiricahua leopard frog in the Southwest. The Center for Biological Diversity, known for suing the feds to protect species, is one of the groups involved in the talks. The center's Kieran Suckling said, "[The deal is] certainly not going to protect all of America's endangered species, but it's a good start."

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Miguel Llanos, 29 Aug 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/620588.asp>

THE JACKSON FIFTY

A coalition of about 50 Wyoming tourism businesses is sending a letter to U.S. President Bush today, asking the administration to reconsider its plans to drill for oil and gas near Yellowstone National Park and other scenic attractions in the state. The Bush administration has claimed it is all about listening to locals and that its energy plans would benefit them. But the businesses are saying otherwise. Adrian Doty, co-owner of a guest ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyo., said, "People want to come to see the wilderness in our backyard, not drilling rigs."

straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jim Carlton, 29 Aug 2001 (access isn't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB99903795514696435.htm>

SLAMMIN' SALMON

Tens of thousands of Atlantic salmon have escaped from British Columbia fish farms into 77 of the province's waterways, according to a new report by the Canadian Parliament's Senate Committee on Fisheries. The aquaculture industry had dismissed concerns that farm-raised Atlantic salmon would ever escape and be able to survive in the wild, posing a threat to native Pacific salmon. But the new report says the escaped fish are doing well in the wild and could endanger native Pacific populations.

straight to the source: Tacoma News Tribune, Les Blumenthal, 29 Aug 2001 <http://www.tribnet.com/frame.asp?/news/top_stories/0829a13.html>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

Un-Happy meal -- a review of Fast Food Nation -- in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books081001.asp?source=daily>

First twins in a twist -- the latest in the comic adventures of Zed, last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed082401.asp?source=daily>

Rise up, organize, and grocery-shop -- a day in the life of Kathleen Whitley, Sustainable Energy Alliance of Long Island <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/whitley082801.asp?source=daily>

8/29/01
4:57:14 PM

DOE Should Cancel "Kangaroo Court"

Yucca Mountain Hearings Unjust, Unfair, Unacceptable

NOTE: The U.S. Department of Energy is holding a Sept. 5 hearing in Las Vegas on the government's intention to establish a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Public Citizen will issue "Kangaroo Court Countdown Alerts" each day until the hearing. For more information about Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste, visit

http://www.citizen.org/cmep

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Denouncing the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) attempt to limit public participation in its efforts to establish a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, national public interest organizations joined citizens' groups in Nevada today in calling for recently announced hearings to be cancelled. The DOE gave Las Vegas residents only nine business days notice of a critical Sept. 5 public hearing on the proposed site, which the groups say should not be turned into a nuclear waste dump. No other sites are being considered.

Residents in Amargosa Valley and Pahrump didn't get much more notice than Las Vegas residents; those hearings will be held Sept. 12 and 13 respectively. The DOE announced the hearings in the Federal Register on Aug. 21. A 30-day public comment period extends to Sept. 20.

"This is disgraceful," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The Department of Energy has abandoned all pretense of integrity and objectivity in announcing these crucial hearings at such short notice during a holiday season. Contrary to its mandate, the agency seems intent on minimizing public participation and is turning the process into a kangaroo court."

Anna Aurilio, legislative director of U.S. Public Interest Research Group, agreed. "The Department of Energy has consistently ignored sound science when it comes to Yucca Mountain. It is outrageous that DOE is now ignoring the public when making this critical decision."

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires the DOE to hold hearings in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain before recommending that the site be developed as a nuclear waste repository. The Secretary of Energy is expected to make a formal recommendation later this year in favor of the proposed nuclear dump. This recommendation would be transmitted to the president, then referred to Congress for final approval.

"The DOE and its friends in the nuclear industry might think that they can sidestep the overwhelming opposition to the repository project by downplaying the significance of these hearings, but we will be there to say in no uncertain terms that Nevada is not a wasteland," said John Hadder, northern Nevada coordinator with Citizen Alert, a member organization of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability.

The DOE is trying to finalize the site while many unresolved issues remain.

"The DOE's Aug. 21 preliminary site suitability assessment of the Yucca Mountain site is premature at best," said Judy Treichel, executive director of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force. "In addition to longstanding technical uncertainties about the repository project, a safe transportation scenario has not been identified, the required environmental impact statement has not been released, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not issued licensing regulations, and the DOE is relying on proposed siting guidelines to fit the site."

Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist with Nuclear Information and Resource Service, emphasized the need to address transportation concerns. "When DOE tried to ship radioactive plutonium through Michigan in recent years, then-Senator Abraham called the absence of meaningful hearings 'irresponsible and offensive to Michigan residents,' in consideration of the serious ramifications of an accident. Tens of thousands of shipments through 43 states to the proposed Yucca Mountain dump would be much more dangerous, but ironically Energy Secretary Abraham is ignoring the transportation issue."

Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Public Citizen, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Women's Action for New Directions, Citizen Alert, Nevada Desert Experience and the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force are calling on the DOE to extend the comment period and postpone hearings in Nevada and consideration of site recommendation until these critical issues are satisfactorily resolved.

The Sept. 5 hearing is scheduled to take place from 5-9 p.m. at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino, 9090 Alta Drive, Las Vegas. The other hearings will be held from 5-9 p.m. on Sept.12 at the Longstreet Inn and Casino, Highway 373, Amargosa Valley, and from 5-9 p.m. on Sept. 13 at the Bob Ruud Community Center, 150 Highway North #160, Pahrump.

Written comments can be submitted to Carol Hanlon, DOE, Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office (M/S #025), P.O. Box 30307, North Las Vegas, NV 89036-0307; e-mail: YMP_SR@ymp.gov; fax: 1-800-967-0739. The DOE's Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office can be contacted by phone at 1-800-967-3477.

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

http://www.citizen.org/cmep

http://www.ananuclear.org

http://www.foe.org

http://www.nirs.org

http://www.psr.org

http://www.pirg.org

http://www.greenpeace.org

http://www.nvantinuclear.org

http://www.citizenalert.org

http://www.wand.org

8/29/01
4:52:04 PM

A letter carrier who rescued two children trapped in a smoldering vehicle following a traffic accident that killed their father has been named National Hero of the Year by the National Association of Letter Carriers.

NALC President Vincent R. Sombrotto will present the Hero of the Year Award to Joseph Cortez, 32, of New York City at a special ceremony Sept. 12 in Washington. Cortez has been delivering mail for the U.S. Postal Service for four years.

Cortez was on his way home Oct. 13, 2000, when he heard a car crash. He saw smoke coming from a vehicle with children trapped in the rear as their fatally injured father was pinned behind the wheel.

Disregarding a warning that the car could explode, Cortez broke a window with his bare hands and, with others who came to the scene, began freeing the children -- a 5-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl. He was later treated at a hospital for cuts to his hand.

"Letter carriers everywhere keep a watchful eye on the neighborhoods they serve and often abandon their own safety to come to the aid of those in need," Sombrotto said.

8/29/01
4:45:13 PM

UTNE WEB WATCH

The Best of the Alternative Web

THE ROLE OF U.S. ARMS TRANSFERS IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: RHETORIC VERSUS REALITY

by William D. Hartung, World Policy Institute

-- The United States sells the majority of weapons that the world purchases - to the tune of $18.6 billion last year. Fortunately, there is congressional legislation aimed at keeping arms sales confined to countries with good human rights records. Unfortunately, the statistics tell a different story.

http://www.utne.com/webwatch

8/29/01
4:42:42 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

GLOBAL COOPERATION URGENT TOEPFER TELLS CLEAN AIR CONGRESS

SEOUL, Korea, August 28, 2001 (ENS) - It is often hard for people to understand that the atmosphere can be pushed beyond its limit to absorb wastes, said Klaus Toepfer, United Nations under-secretary general and executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-28-04.html

STAR WARS PLAN VIOLATES ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS, SUIT CHARGES

WASHINGTON, DC, August 28, 2001 (ENS) - A coalition of environmental and public health groups has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Defense, charging that a planned missile defense test range in the Pacific would violate several federal environmental laws. The suit is the latest roadblock facing the Bush administration's defense plan, commonly dubbed "Star Wars."

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-28-06.html

NEW ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN WORTH BILLIONS TO RURAL AUSTRALIA

SYDNEY, Australia, August 28, 2001 (ENS) - A partnership between Australian corporations, environmentalists and scientists has released a report identifying strategies to mobilize nearly A$13 billion dollars (US$6.9 billion) over 10 years. The funds would come from the private sector and would be invested in addressing salinity and other environmental problems in rural Australia.

This represents the first time business leaders from agriculture, finance, wine and food sectors have united to tackle some of Australia's most serious environmental problems.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-28-02.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 28, 2001

New BLM Director Named

Workplace Air Pollution Can Hurt Hearts

NOAA Begins Sound Research Underwater

Energy Department Lab Develops Cleaner Fuel

Campfires Contribute to Great Lakes Pollution

Lawsuit Challenges Approval of Rock Creek Mine

Pennsylvania Requires Cleanup Bonds for Coal Mines

Landfill Named as Historic Landmark

Indian Point Nuclear Plant Licenses Transferred

The Cats Might Bite Harder Than the Mosquitoes

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-28-09.html

8/29/01
4:37:37 PM

The Evil Empire

The following represents excerpts from the book "THE EVIL EMPIRE" by Canadian Paul Hellyer, Member of Parliament in 1949 and youngest cabinet minister appointed to Louis St. Laurent's government, appointed to senior posts in the governments of Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, former deputy Prime Minister. Lifelong interest in macro economics, dedicated to the concepts of full employment and low inflation, and quality of life issues. Paul currently heads C.A.P. or the Canadian Action Party (http://www.allfreewithfreedom.com/fc-cdnaction.htm).

"....Lewis Lapham, editor of Harpers Magazine, says the U.S. has two governments; the permanent and the provincial. The permanent government consists of:

1) the 500 Fortune magazine's largest companies, along with the largest law firms and public relations firms in Washington that work for those companies;

2) the top bureaucrats, both civil and military.

The provisional government is the one the people elect, actors that come on stage who read the script written by the permanent government...

This kind of democracy in which governments are little more than water boys for the big corporations is a joke, yet it is the brand that is being imposed around the globe. The new kings and queens want to be able to rent politicians who will play the game their way. And that way includes what is euphemistically called economic reform - a perverted way of describing total subjugation to the new kings and queens of business and finance....

and at http://www.allfreewithfreedom.com/fc-index.html

Globalization Impacting On Every Aspect Of Your Life, Including Your Privacy and Individual Rights And Freedoms

From the material contained herein, you'll quickly discover that the issue of globalization is not some silly theory (as the global elite would have you believe), but is in fact very real. It impacts every area of your life (war and aggression, health and the environment, banking and free trade, and, privacy, including your internet privacy, and individual sovereignty).

In all of these areas, the rights that others have suffered or died fighting to gain or maintain, are rapidly being eroded, as the multi-national-run governments of the world, as they have for decades, continue on, covertly behind the facade, through their "secret" societies and unelected "officials", with their march toward their "New World Order".

http://www.allfreewithfreedom.com/fc-evilempire.htm

8/29/01
4:30:31 PM

EU's Secret Network To Spy On Anti-Capitalist Protesters

by Stephen Castle, The Independent

European leaders have ordered police and intelligence agencies to co-ordinate their efforts to identify and track the anti-capitalist demonstrators whose violent protests at recent international summits culminated in the shooting dead by police of a young protester at the Genoa G8 meeting last month.

The new measures clear the way for protesters travelling between European Union countries to be subjected to an unprecedented degree of surveillance.

Confidential details of decisions taken by Europe's interior ministers at talks last month show that the authorities will use a web of police and judicial links to keep tabs on the activities and whereabouts of protesters. Europol, the EU police intelligence-sharing agency based in The Hague that was set up to trap organised criminals and drug traffickers, is likely to be given a key role.

The plan has alarmed civil rights campaigners, who argue that personal information on people who have done no more than take part in a legal demonstration may be entered into a database and exchanged.

Calls for a new Europe-wide police force to tackle the threat from hardline anti-capitalists were led after the Genoa summit by Germany's Interior Minister, Otto Schily. Germany has long pushed for the creation of a Europe-wide crime-fighting agency modelled on the FBI.

Germany's EU partners rejected Mr Schily's call, judging that a new force to combat political protest movements was too controversial, but ministers agreed to extend the measures that can be taken under existing powers. Central to the new push is the secretive Article 36 committee (formerly known as the K4 committee) and the Schengen Information System, both of which allow for extensive contact and data sharing between police forces.

Under the new arrangements, European governments and police chiefs will:

* Set up permanent contact points in every EU country to collect, analyse and exchange information on protesters;

* Create a pool of liaison officers before each summit staffed by police from countries from which "risk groups" originate;

* Use "police or intelligence officers" to identify "persons or groups likely to pose a threat to public order and security";

* Set up a task force of police chiefs to organise "targeted training" on violent protests.

The new measures will rely on two main ways of exchanging police information. The Schengen Information System, which provides basic information, and a supporting network called Sirene Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry. This network (of which Britain is a member) allows pictures, fingerprints and other information to be sent to police or immigration officials once a suspect enters their territory. Each country already has a Sirene office with established links to EU and Nordic law enforcement agencies.

Civil liberties campaigners are dismayed by the plan. Tony Bunyan, editor of Statewatch magazine, said: "This will give the green light to Special Branch and MI5 to put under surveillance people whose activities are entirely democratic."

Nicholas Busch, co-ordinator of the Fortress Europe network on civil liberties issues, added: "People who have done nothing against the law ought to be able to feel sure they are not under surveillance ... By criminalising whole political and social scenes you fuel confrontation and conflict."

Thomas Mathieson, professor of sociology of law at the University of Oslo, said police could have access to "very private information" about people's religion, sex lives and politics. "It is a very dangerous situation from the civil liberties point of view," he said."

Source: http://www.allfreewithfreedom.com

8/29/01
4:23:00 PM

The Quest For Certifiably Eco-Friendly Lumber

by Dan Murphy

JAKARTA, INDONESIA - Ikea sells eco-friendly teak patio tables and chairs. Home Depot stores in Seattle now stock "certified" hardwood flooring. And Wickes Lumber won't be buying wood from endangered forests by the end of this year.

But such examples are few and far between. One of the big problems facing the effort to sell "good wood" - timber that's been certified as coming from a well-managed forest - is the slow pace of certification.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has put its stamp of approval on 59 million acres of forest in 47 countries. But that still only represents about 4 percent of the world's forests being logged. Many major retailers are not advertising eco-friendly wood because the global supply is still minuscule.

"Lauan doors, lauan plywood, and ramin dowels: These things are among the most egregious products [from illegal logging in Indonesia], but they're also industry standards,'' says Tim Keating, executive director of Rainforest Relief, a New York-based group.

The US logging industry has created its own certification system, Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), but because it's industry-run, it has less credibility with environmental groups. The FSC has timber-industry representatives on its board, but takes no industry money. It has the most rigorous certification standard, and is recognized by most environmental groups. The FSC requires a series of independent environmental, economic, and social audits of a forest before certification. FSC third-party auditors will go to a forest to check, for example, the extent of clear-cutting and the quantities of pesticides or herbicides used.

The FSC has 10 guiding principles to gain certification, including: Obey the law, protect the rights of native peoples, limit waste, preserve species, contribute to the economic well-being of nearby communities, and preserve the forest.

The review, which logging companies have to pay for, can take years, and there's no guarantee that the coveted certification will be granted at the end of the process. The FSC also has a "chain of custody" certification that requires tracking wood from the jungle, to the mill, to the container ship, and eventually to the store shelf.

This certification is considered critical to the integrity of the program. Without it, certifications could be used for "greenwashing" - the creation of legitimate documents to cover up trade in illegally cut wood.

"People have been screaming at me for more certified wood since the day I got here,'' says Jeff Hayward, who runs the Asian operations of Smartwood, one of 11 organizations accredited by the FSC to conduct certification audits. "But it's a long, difficult process and there's only a handful of forests that have a chance to quickly meet the standards.''

In April, PT Diamond Raya became the first Indonesian timber company to get a certification - granted by the Indonesian Ecolabeling Foundation, working jointly with the FSC. As of this month, two more forest owners have been certified and four Indonesian firms are working toward certification. Three have failed to meet audit criteria.

Europe leads the way in certifying wood and selling it. For example, in Britain, consumers can buy "everything from a 2x4 stud to a piece of furniture, the handle on a broom, paper, anything sold as a derivative product," says Hank Cauley, FSC's executive director in the United States.

"We are making good progress in Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, the US, and particularly in Sweden and Poland for forest areas," he says. In the United Kingdom, 1.5 percent of wood products sold are now FSC certified. While that may sound like a small number, he notes that it's about equal to the market penetration of organic foods.

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0823/p13s1-woap.html

8/29/01
3:41:42 PM

Big Timber's "Sustainable Forestry" Scheme Blasted Loggers and Conservationists Expose Deception

by Danna Smith, Dogwood Alliance

San Francisco, CA - As executives of the world's largest timber corporations strategize behind closed doors today on the roll-out this Fall of a $20 million public relations and advertising campaign designed to boost their environmental credentials, a unique coalition of conservationists and independent saw mill owners criticized the effort as a "fleecing" of the American consumer. The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) is holding its annual board meeting in San Francisco today.

Under the guise of their "Sustainable Forestry Initiative," or SFI, the timber industry trade association is trying to convince consumers that they are taking care of America's forests.

Critics of the initiative include Rodney Robbins, a third generation logger from Union Mills, North Carolina. Mr. Robbins, who depends on mature, selectively cut, forests for his livelihood was critical of the initiative.

"All of us in the industry know this thing is a sham," stated Mr. Robbins. "The big boys (AF&PA) are trying to promote themselves as some Godly stewards of the environment, when what they're really doing is destroying the land and forcing people like me out of a job by taking away immature timber."

Under pressure from conservationists, several of the world's largest retailers, including Lowe's and Home Depot, have made commitments to buy products coming from well-managed forests that have been independently certified. Critics say the SFI is Big Timber's latest attempt to avoid substantial changes in their forest practices and gloss over their image.

Forty conservation groups took today's industry board meeting as an opportunity to send a letter calling on AF&PA to abandon their misleading promotional campaign.

"SFI is little more than a new name for the old forestry," stated Dr. Michael Marx, Executive Director of ForestEthics. "It is designed to mislead the public into thinking that huge clearcuts, excessive use of toxic chemicals, and cutting old growth trees are ecologically sustainable."

For example, some of the corporations under the SFI program include:

- International Paper IP - the world's largest timber corporation and biggest cutter of forests in the southeastern coastal plain of North Carolina along with the entire South. According to a US Forest Service report released July 18, trees there are being cut down much faster than they are growing.

- Pacific Lumber - A northern California timber corporation with a long history of violating California's forestry laws and cutting old growth forests.

- Interfor - The Canadian timber corporation infamous for clearcutting the pristine watersheds and old growth forests of British Columbia's Clayquot Sound, prompting international protests.

"SFI lacks public accountability, scientific benchmarks and protections for workers, communities and wildlife," stated Danna Smith with the southern based Dogwood Alliance. "More profits for the timber corporations, less forests for American families to use and enjoy - it's the Same-old Forest Industry."

Source: http://www.DogwoodAlliance.org

8/29/01
3:36:30 PM

ET Responds To 1974 Deep Space Radio Transmission

by Fintan Dunne, co-Editor http://www.psyopnews.com

An extraterrestial humanoid intelligence (ET) seems to have responded to our 1974 deep space transmission of a coded message describing earth and mankind. And their reply has now been decoded.

On November 16, 1974 a digitally-encoded schematic was beamed from the Arecibo radio telescope on Puerto Rico. The power of the beamed message was equivalent to a 20 trillion watt omnidirectional broadcast, and would have been detectable almost anywhere in the galaxy. But it was aimed the third of a million star cluster M13, roughly 21,000 light-years from us, near the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. Even if anyone had been listening, the speed of radio waves are limited, so we should not have had a reply for 42,000 years.

But, on 17th August, 2001 two large and incredible images were imprinted on crops beside ANOTHER radio telescope - Chilbolton, near Wherwell in Hampshire, UK. In the style of the now infamous "crop circles", they are drawn by a mysterious flattening of the crop. One image depicts a replica of the schematic contained in that 1974 transmission. The other crop image is that of a humanoid face.

Either this is an incredible hoax or an incredible first contact reply.

The reply schematic is subtly different to the original that we transmitted in 1974. Fintan Dunne, co-editor of PsyOpNews.com, has decoded the reply by comparing it with the logic underlying the construction of our original schematic. Psyopnews.com has decoded the message from the ET as follows:

"Hello Earth. We are replying to your message describing yourselves -which we have understood. We are also a hydrocarbon lifeform with a similar mathematics and logic. We are sending an image of our face which shows us humanoid like you.

However we have a slightly different DNA structure and we are smaller than you, with very large heads. We inhabit three of the planets in our solar system.

We did not use a radio telescope to send you this message but a beam technology. We used a hyperspace capability to intercept your spacetime message and are using hyperspace also to reply."

A full explanation of the analysis leading to this decoding follows shortly.

http://cropcircleconnector.com/2001/chilbolton2/chilbolton2001b.html

and all the other ones in August so far at

http://cropcircleconnector.com/2001/August2001a.html

for all those found up to now this year in England

http://cropcircleconnector.com/2001/2001.html

Here is what I also found on the Corp Circle Connector website - I think you will agree that they really deserve to be supported...

ATTENTION TO ALL VISITORS

On the Morning 22nd August 2001 The Crop Circle Connector was closed to public access due to "bandwidth Limit was exceeded at 50GB. The server was temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later." We have negotiated with our server to increase the limit to another 50GB for the month of August.

Would you?

The Milk Hill formation on the Crop Circle Connector has worldwide attention with the first world exclusive aerial images last Tuesday. Because the Crop Circle Connector has been hit and will be hit many more times because of increased world wide interest, our bandwidth expenses are overwhelming us. This year our membership is down by over 200 members, leaving us in debt with our bank of over 3000 pounds and increasing interest. We need to generate only £3000 to pay off our annual debt to the bank. We hope people will notice our appeal and send donations to us as soon as possible to save the web site again. Many people benefit from the Crop Circle Connector and it is time for you to find in your hearts your appreciation.

DONATIONS OF OVER $23 will automatically become Members on request at

http://cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/ml.html

Please contact Mark Fussell & Stuart Dike immediately at The Crop Circle

Connector at cropcircleconnector@blueyonder.co.uk

8/29/01
3:12:47 PM

Leakey Warns Of Mass Extinctions

http://www.rense.com/general13/leakey.htm

Face Scans Cams To Thumbscans - People Being Readied For Total Control

http://www.rense.com/general12/facescans.htm

http://www.allfreewithfreedom.com/fc-ultimate1.htm

8/29/01
12:44:56 PM

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

http://www.DrMartinLuther KingJr.com

8/29/01
12:21:07 PM

"President Bush's Tax Cut Was Irresponsible Policy"

by Senator John F. Kerry

WASHINGTON - 08.28.01 | Senator John F. Kerry said, "The accounts of how quickly projected surpluses are disapearing may vary, but what's clear is that fiscally irresponsible choices made by this White House are hitting home early, and hitting Americans right in the pocketbooks.

"President Bush's tax cut was irresponsible policy that could ripple through many generations to come -- most dangerous in the long term because it is structured to explode in size in the years when the country will face tough choices to meet the retirement of the baby-boomers and the challenge of modernizing Medicare and Social Security for a very different country in a very different time.

"We didn't have to arrive at this point -- we could have had real tax relief that stimulates the economy immediately, while preserving the fiscal discipline that has kept the economy strong and interest rates low for the working Americans who pay car loans, student loans, and home mortgages. We could have remained true to fiscal discipline while addressing pressing national priorities from health care to education and children -- but now we find ourselves with a different set of very real problems in need of serious solutions."

Source: http://www.truthout.com/0548.Kerry.CBO.Budget.htm

8/29/01
12:14:28 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Hungry bears attacking humans in New Mexico - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12184/story.htm

Smog in California breadbasket clouds gasoline law - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12192/story.htm

UPDATE - EPA moves to increase Midwest gasoline supply - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12191/story.htm

Green groups sue to block Alaska anti-missile site - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12189/story.htm

Radio waves may be cure for pesky zebra mussel - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12185/story.htm

EPA pollution limits draw fire from DOE - sources - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12183/story.htm

Illinois building $20 mln ethonol research center - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12179/story.htm

US study finds campfires could harm Great Lakes - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12186/story.htm

WHO team in Baghdad to probe depleted uranium - IRAQ http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12195/story.htm

UPDATE - Indian capital hit by transport strike over fuel - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12180/story.htm

Prize-winning Indian author faces fresh legal woes - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12188/story.htm

Indian doctors breathe easy after monkey caught - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12177/story.htm

Hungary opens first wind power plant - HUNGARY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12181/story.htm

German industry slams EU emissions trading plan - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12190/story.htm

German HEW urges industry to back emissions trading - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12193/story.htm

French Greens could face disaster at polls - leader - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12182/story.htm

UPDATE - French GM crop field hit, Jospin critical - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12187/story.htm

EU defends new rules on genetically modified food - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12194/story.htm

Native fishermen reject Ottawa's fishery proposal - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12178/story.htm

Shell disputes Brazil toxic site health report - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12176/story.htm

8/28/01
6:30:59 PM

Ozone Depletion Increases Skin Cancer Risk

by Tom Fry

The Sun's UVB rays can cause sunburns and skin cancer.

In an ironic twist, we are no longer simply loving the environment to death. Now it seems we are risking death to love the environment. Around the world, incidences of skin cancer are skyrocketing. Scientists and researchers largely attribute this to a single cause: our love of being outside. However, a long recognized and much studied environmental factor may significantly influence this public health quandary. In the last decade, dozens of researchers have produced scores of reports relating stratospheric ozone depletion to human health concerns. At issue is the amount of ultraviolet B light that penetrates through the atmosphere in areas of low ozone.

Ultraviolet B or UVB is the particular range of the invisible light spectrum from 280 to 315 nanometers. UVB are known as the "burning" rays and are the most common cause of sunburns.

Traditionally, only a small percentage of the Sun's UVB reaches the Earth's surface. The bulk is absorbed in the atmosphere. However, research has indicated that in areas of lower than normal ozone, UV intensity increases. In the December 2000 issue of Photochemical Photobiology, a study by I. Sobolev of Chemical and Polymer Technology Inc. showed a variant 236 percent increase in UVB intensity at Ushuaia, Argentina, and a 285 percent increase at the Palmer Research Stations on Antarctica. These southern climes, of course, lay underneath the ozone hole.

But the bad news is not for penguins and Southern Hemisphere residents alone. Researchers at Oulu University Hospital in Finland reported last year that during recent decades, stratospheric ozone thickness declined between 10 to 40 percent during winter and spring months over portions of the Northern Hemisphere.

This is significantly larger than an estimate in a 1993 report from Germany that indicated widespread global ozone depletion of 3 percent (specifically between 65 degrees North and South latitude). Four years after the German study was published, University of London scientists confirmed its data. Measurements in unpolluted areas such as Antarctica, parts of South America, and pieces of mid to high Northern Hemisphere latitudes definitively pointed to thinning ozone and a corresponding increase in UVB.

This appreciable decrease in ozone and increase in UVB has been so widely documented that a general rule of thumb has emerged: a 1 percent reduction in ozone leads to a 2 percent increase in UV intensity.

The research further indicates that a 2 percent increase in UV intensity leads to a 2 to 4 percent increase in skin cancers. More than 1.3 million Americans are diagnosed each year with the disease. In fact, Nonmelanoma skin cancer is the most common form of cancer today. And nearly 50,000 Americans die annually from the more malignant type of skin cancer, melanoma. Skin cancer researchers have declared the disease to be epidemic in proportion.

The fluctuating ozone hole, often forgotten as an imminent ecological crisis, is a problem that is far from solved. It was first addressed at the Vienna Convention of 1985, where its discovery led to international restrictions on ozone-depleting substances. However, the Montreal Protocol and Copenhagen Amendments, while attempting to address the problem at hand, incorporate measures allowing for an additional 10 percent increase of skin cancer diagnosis by 2060.

In 1990, scientists at the State University of Utrecht in the Netherlands proclaimed that an increase in skin cancer due to an increase in UV is one of the best-quantified effects of stratospheric ozone depletion.

A British Journal of Cancer report, however, contends that the dramatic increases in the incidence rate of malignant melanoma over a 20-year period are not accompanied by increases in exposure to ultraviolet radiation, based on measured ozone levels. These detractors say that a marked increase in exposure to UVB has less to do with the lack of an ozone shield than from the amount of time spent outdoors. This objection raised to the link between ozone depletion and skin cancer points to human behavior rather than environmental factors as a root cause of the health concern.

The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) estimates that as much as 75 percent of the U.S. population over the age of 16 participates in some form of regular outdoor recreation, creating a $35 billion retail market for outdoor goods and services.

Yet despite these detractions, most research agrees that current and future increases in ultraviolet radiation exposure due to ozone depletion will tend to exacerbate a trend toward higher incidence rates of melanoma.

Increases in the rate of skin cancer diagnosis, though, are not the only human health issue associated with increases in UVB radiation exposure. Increased UVB exposure also promotes cataract formation and leads to "immunological perturbations," according to a report from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center based at the University of Texas.

Just like other species, humans' health is dictated by the health of our environment (Earth). This is a fundamental tenet of biology. Ozone plays a central and key role in regulating the amount of harmful UVB exposure we receive from the sun. Continued depletion of ozone promises continued increases in skin cancer diagnoses and other more ominous health concerns.

Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/08/08282001/s_44222.asp

8/28/01
6:22:06 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDFILL

In what must be a flub, U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton yesterday named a toxic dump in Fresno, Calif., as a national historic landmark. Officials weren't sure how the landfill was nominated for the prestigious designation. The 145-acre Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill is also listed as a Superfund site, with cleanup costs estimated at $38 million. City councilperson Brian Calhoun's response upon hearing about the designation: "Are you kidding?"

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, 28 Aug 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2001/08/28/ state0820EDT0046.DTL>

NO WAY, SAYS JOSE

Wielding scythes and shears, hundreds of protesters hacked down two test fields of genetically engineered corn in southeast France on Sunday. The incident was the fifth such protest against biotech foods in France since late June. Jose Bove, a French farmer who is one of the world's leading anti-globalization activists, has called for a campaign of civil disobedience unless the government orders the destruction of all test plots of biotech crops. French Environment Minister Yves Cochet has condemned the attacks, while acknowledging that the concerns motivating them are legitimate. Worldwide, consumer support for genetically engineered foods is low, but the industry has convinced most governments to back its products, reports the London Guardian.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 28 Aug 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12170/story.htm>

straight to the source: South Africa Independent, 26 Aug 2001 <http://www.iol.co.za/html/frame_news.php?click_id=143&art_id=ct200108 26175503856G5265738>

straight to the source: London Guardian, John Vidal, 28 Aug 2001 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,543222,00.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: The Roquefort files -- Jose Bove's quest to sell his cheese and fight globalization -- by Donella Meadows and Hal Hamilton <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/citizen/citizen071700.stm?source=daily>

YANKEE DOODLE DANDIES

Tired of waiting for the U.S. federal government to act, New England governors, including three Republicans, joined yesterday with Eastern Canadian premiers to vow to cut the region's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2010, and 10 percent below that by 2020. No regional or international agency exists to enforce the deal, but the pact outlines in some detail how the goals could be met. The governors and premiers also agreed to reduce mercury emissions from power plants and incinerators by 75 percent by 2010. Enviros accused the Canadian coal industry of watering down the goal, which had been to eliminate mercury emissions by 2010.

straight to the source: Concord Monitor, Jim Graham, 28 Aug 2001 <http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/local/shaheen_global_warming.shtml>

straight to the source: Boston Globe, Beth Daley, 28 Aug 2001 <http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/240/metro/Agreement_targets_NE_merc ury_emissions+.shtml>

DODGE BAWL

Earlier this year, U.S. environmental groups and automakers met with congressional members to back a tax credit for fuel-efficient hybrid cars. Now enviros are saying the auto industry has violated the spirit of the agreement by pushing for tax credits for hybrid SUVs with low mileage ratings. Under a House bill, for example, a hybrid Dodge Durango getting only 22 miles per gallon -- five more miles per gallon than a conventional Durango -- would qualify for a tax credit. David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists says, "What we should be rewarding is how little fuel a vehicle uses, not how much it saves compared to how inefficient it was before it was made." Enviros hope to have better luck in the Senate.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Richard Simon and Terril Yue Jones, 26 Aug 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000069123aug26.story>

MISSILE OFFENSE

Enviros and arms-control groups are suing the Pentagon today over its plans for a new missile defense test range in the Pacific. The Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and a number of Alaska-based plaintiffs charge that the Defense Department must conduct an analysis of the environmental impact of missile testing on Alaska, California, Hawaii, and other places in the proposed range. They fear the test range could harm salmon and lead to pollution problems. Environmental impact statements can take well over a year to complete. The department had planned to begin constructing portions of the range early next year.

straight to the source: New York Times, James Dao, 28 Aug 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/28/politics/28MISS.html>

BOXY BUT GOOD

Greenpeace and the small London-based group Families Against Bush are using consumer pressure to try to embarrass corporations into supporting the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Earlier this summer, the groups put the heat on Ford by highlighting a rift between the U.S. automaker and its Swedish subsidiary Volvo. Volvo publicly supports Kyoto; Ford does not. A Ford official who asked to remain anonymous said the company is now gauging whether consumers are growing more concerned about climate change. Another example: Coke, like Ford, belongs to the U.S. Council for International Business, which opposes Kyoto. But Coke's subsidiary in Spain has endorsed the treaty. Pedro Antonio Garcia, from the Spanish subsidiary, said, "You cannot operate if you are against the Kyoto Protocol in a European context. It's the price of entry."

straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Ball, 27 Aug 2001 (access isn't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB998873573555076796.htm>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

A new resource for tire recyclers? -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha082701.asp?source=daily>

How's the weather? -- taking the Earth's temperature -- in our Heat Beat section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/heatbeat/weather080201.asp?source=daily>

Power: the next generation -- a day in the life of Kathleen Whitley, Sustainable Energy Alliance of Long Island <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/whitley082701.asp?source=daily>

8/28/01
1:58:31 PM

Brazil Environmentalists Face New Battle On Amazon

by Marco Sibaja

BRASILIA - Brazilian farmers and environmentalists are gearing up for battle again ahead of a key congressional vote that could ease the limits on how much forest can be cut down in the Amazon jungle.

A special congressional commission will vote on Sept. 4 on a bill environmentalists fear could pave the way for accelerated destruction of the world's largest tropical forest.

The dispute centers on a bill by Moacir Micheletto, a lawmaker from the agricultural lobby in Congress, which calls for the introduction of a "zoning" study of the Amazon to determine how much forest can be cut down in the future.

Most of the Amazon, which is larger than all of Western Europe combined, is in Brazil and it is home to up to 50 percent of the world's animal and plant species.

If approved on Sept. 4, and subsequently by Congress, Micheletto's bill would replace a so-called provisional measure by the government that requires 80 percent of all property in the Amazon to be set aside for protection.

A spokesman for Micheletto said the bill maintains the 80 percent limit but added that it would open the way for a reduction if local studies in the Amazon area recommended such changes.

Environmentalists favor the current provisional measure, which dates back to 1998, and hope it will be made permanent.

They worry that its provisional status leaves it in a "legislative limbo" that could allow Congress to change it or replace it with a permanent law at any time. Provisional measures renew themselves automatically every few months if they are not challenged by Congress.

The Sept. 4 vote on Micheletto's bill will be the second time in six months that the agricultural lobby in Congress has attempted to push through a new law. They failed in May and have changed the bill slightly since then.

Reduced cohesion in the government's ruling coalition ahead of presidential elections next year could give the bill greater chances this time as lawmakers are more likely to vote without following party lines.

Assuero Veronez, an environmental adviser to the National Agriculture Confederation - a group backing the bill, said just 25.6 percent of the Amazon is currently in private hands, while the rest is already protected by nature parks and Indian reserves.

CURRENT LEVEL OF PROTECTION CRITICIZED

"We are not against preserving the Amazon," Veronez said. "This (protection) is a right of Brazilian society, but we consider 80 percent as an exaggerated level of protection."

Environmentalists do not like it. They fear, above all, that the zoning studies envisioned by the bill could be carried out by local governments in the Amazon that do not have the technical know-how to evaluate what segments of the forests are threatened.

"In practice, this implies the possibility of the complete elimination of the obligation of maintaining a legal reserve set aside in the Amazon," said Andre Lima, a lawyer from the Social Environmental Institute.

Environmentalists warned that the bill could also lead to more damage in other threatened ecosystems in Brazil, such as the Mata Atlantic coastal forests, where it stipulates much smaller reserve levels.

Source: http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12175/story.htm

8/28/01
1:52:36 PM

Green Part Blasts Bush Agenda

WASHINGTON, DC, August 27, 2001 (ENS) - Green Party organizers and activists call the policies of the Bush administration "irresponsible and reckless," and warn of severe damage to the world environment, the U.S. economy, and the role of the U.S. in international relations.

In their end of the summer review of President George W. Bush's agenda, the Greens add that the lack of a strong, unified response from Democrats in Congress on many of these policies shows an "urgent need" for a progressive third party.

"When Clinton adopted the Republican Party's rhetoric about 'big government,' it gave Republicans an excuse to call for even more deregulation and privatization," said Jo Chamberlain, member of the steering committee of the newly formed Green Party of the United States and a California Green. "These extremes come out of the Bush White House on a daily basis, schemes like the privatization of Social Security and the halt on federal prosecutions for violations of the Clean Air Act."

The Green Party criticizes Bush administration plans to open more public lands, including a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to energy exploration. Also condemned are President Bush's moved to withdraw from a number of international agreements, including the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

"Bush has been reckless as the leader of the only global superpower," said Ben Manski, a member of the Green Party Steering Committee and a Green from Wisconsin. "Bush refuses to sign agreements establishing the international ban on biological warfare which updates the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, a United Nations proposal to curb the international sale of small arms, an international court to investigate and prosecute genocide and war crimes, and the Kyoto Treaty committing the U.S. to a first step in slowing global warming."

The Democratic Party can not be counted on to block Bush's policies, warned Chamberlain.

"Thirty-six Democratic members of the House joined with Republicans to allow Bush to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling," Chamberlain noted.

"The Green Party is now the party of the newly emerging center," said Carol Miller, a New Mexico Green Party member. "We demand government that's locally based and which advances environmentally healthy sustainable economies, democratic workplaces, human rights, and a strong social safety net."

More information is available at: http://gpus.org

8/28/01
1:46:42 PM

Nuclear Waste Recyclers Target Consumer Products

by Allyce Bess

NEW YORK - Orthodontists could soon be giving their patients more than they bargained for with their brand new braces: a mouthful of radioactive waste.

Under a Department of Energy plan, braces aren't the only product which could contain radioactive waste. Zippers, lawn chairs, hip replacements and countless other consumer products could include trace amounts of waste taken from nuclear reactors or weapons complexes and recycled into scrap metal.

The Department of Energy (DOE) sees the recycling as a way to clean up waste at decommissioned nuclear plants and weapons facilities, but environmental groups call the idea ridiculous.

"It's hard to imagine a nuclear enterprise more tone deaf to public concerns or a more cockamamie scheme than taking radioactive waste and disposing of it in consumer products," said Dan Hirsch, president of nuclear watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap.

The energy department will spend the next 12 months to 18 months studying the environmental and health risks of the plan, having held 12 public hearings in six cities this summer, said DOE spokesman Joe Davis,

Critics say recycling radioactive waste, even at low levels, is reckless. But energy officials say that the government needs to look at all options for getting rid of the growing pile of hazardous wastes. Proponents of the plan say that by spreading small, non-lethal amounts into recycled scrap, the need for large waste dumps could be avoided.

CONCERN IS HEALTHY

A moratorium was placed on radioactive recycling last year by former Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson after environmental groups protested the possible sale of 6,000 metric tons of contaminated nickel from the energy department's Oakridge nuclear facility in Tennessee to scrap metal dealers.

But under the Bush administration, the program is being revisited and the energy department is considering lifting the moratorium. But before that, it is required by law to conduct a thorough study on the safety risks of recycling radioactive waste.

The proposal does not specify any uses for scrap metal containing the radioactive waste, but metal industry executives say the material would go into the supply of scrap metal and could be used to make anything.

Even the study has proven problematic. The DOE recently dropped Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) -which it initially chose to conduct the study and prepared a report - because of its business partnership with British Nuclear Fuels Limited, the company that last year was going to contract with the government to help sell the waste from the Oakridge facility.

Hirsch of the Committee to Bridge the Gap said it was an enormous potential conflict of interest. SAIC's report "is quite dangerous in terms of arguing how much radioactivity would be acceptable for use in consumer products."

The energy department has not said who was hired to complete the study, but some are arguing that the level of radiation in any recycled materials would be too low to actually pose a health risk.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade association representing some 260 companies in the nuclear power industry, has lobbied in favor of radioactive recycling and says the public may be overly concerned.

"Concern is healthy," said Felix Killar, director of material licenses for the institute. "But people need to understand the facts. This isn't truly radioactive waste. It's no more radioactive than any other material recycled in to consumer products."

Killar continues: "There isn't a place on Earth that is totally free of radioactivity."

A LITTLE RADIATION IS OK

John Wittenborn, attorney for the Metal Industries Recycling Coalition (MIRC), comprised of a variety of metal industry trade groups, says their polls indicate the public doesn't buy the idea that nuclear waste can be safely recycled into everyday products.

"We've spent a lot of time and effort to build the perception that products made from recycled materials are safe and good and that recycling itself is something that society should be in favor of," said Wittenborn, whose group strongly opposes recycling of radioactive waste into scrap metal.

Beyond the public image problem the industry would face in using the recycled waste, companies are concerned about the potential contamination of their mills and workers.

Wittenborn says it can cost from $5 million to $15 million to shut down, inspect by hand and then clean a steel mill that has registered radioactivity above a background level.

Recently, Wittenborn attended an energy department public hearing on the issue in Crystal City, Virginia where he presented his polling data and the metal industry's case.

In fact, those who have attended the hearings say most of the comments have opposed lifting the moratorium on radioactive recycling.

"The observer might ask 'Why does the DOE continue to propose to do this if no one is willing to come forward and testify on behalf of it?'" said Dan Guttman, executive director of President Clinton's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments,

"This is being cast as a question of convincing the hysterical public that a little radiation is OK."

Source: http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12173/story.htm

8/28/01
1:24:29 PM

The last new episode of "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" airs on PBS stations nationwide this week. Rogers is retiring after producing the children's show for decades from studios in Pittsburgh. However, he says the show will continue "forever" in re-runs and he'll continue giving lectures and producing material for children.

8/28/01
1:19:29 PM

Corporate Globalization And The Poor

by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

100,000 or more activists could converge in Washington, DC this September for the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF. See

http://www.abolishthebank.org and http://www.globalizethis.org

George Bush has thrown down the gauntlet, issuing a public challenge to the anti-corporate globalization movement. When hundreds of thousands last month demonstrated against the G-8 meeting of rich country leaders in Genoa, Italy, George Bush decried the activists, saying it was the advocates of corporate globalization who genuinely are seeking to advance the interests of the world's poor.

It's not enough to mock Bush's pretension of being a defender of the poor by pointing out that, through his giant tax cut, the president has overseen one of the history's great transfers of wealth to the rich in U.S. history. Critics must respond to his claims.

Unfortunately, that turns out to be a remarkably easy challenge to meet. The last 20 years of corporate globalization, even measured by the preferred indicators of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, have been a disaster for the world's poor.

Source: http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20010822120657869.html

8/28/01
1:17:14 PM

Bob Ornelas, City Council, Arcata CA

Becoming the first California Green to be elected to three 4-year terms, Bob Ornelas won re-election to the Arcata City Council in November, finishing third out of seven candidates for three seats.

The 47-year-old business owner of a local brewery, Ornelas stated his reasons for running for a third term in his official ballot statement. Citing his love of the community, Ornelas detailed "a long history of successful efforts to provide for affordable housing, senior housing, support for the creation of new businesses, environmental protection, sustainable forestry, educational opportunities, a low crime rate and safe parks and great recreational programs."

Ornelas was the first California Green ever elected to a city council, back in 1990. He stepped down after one term, and fellow Green Jason Kirkpatrick ran and took his place in 1994. Then in 1996, Ornelas and Green Jennifer Hanan were both elected, joining Kirkpatrick to form the first Green Party city council majority in U.S history. The three received national and even global attention over the next two years, providing an exceptional opportunity to publicize Green approaches to governance.

Source: http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20010823122418436.html

8/28/01
1:15:31 PM

Amy Goodman Suspended Without Pay

The crisis with Pacifica's flagship national news show, Democracy Now!, has gotten worse. Pacifica management has now suspended Amy Goodman without pay. Incredibly, the Democracy Now! team found this out in the morning newspapers.

As you will remember, Amy and the Democracy Now! staff last Tuesday, August 14, moved production from Pacifica station WBAI in New York to an alternate studio in downtown Manhattan because they feared for their safety. At WBAI, they had been physically and verbally attacked by interim station manager Utrice Leid and her loyalists. When Pacifica senior management ignored repeated written requests that something be done about the atmosphere of intimidation and threats at the station, they felt they had no choice but to fashion some interim solution and find a safe and secure workplace.

But instead of taking steps to investigate the assault on Amy, and to ensure a violence- and harassment-free workplace, it is Amy and the Democracy Now! team that are now being disciplined by Pacifica Executive Director Bessie Wash. For more than a week, Pacifica management has refused to broadcast live editions of Democracy Now! that Amy and her staff have been producing from Downtown Community Television (DCTV). This is despite the fact that other shows at WBAI are produced from alternate sites and fed to the station by ISDN line.

Source: http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20010824072301848.html

8/28/01
1:12:51 PM

Greens Say Democrats Are Complicit With Bush's Reckless Agenda

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party organizers and activists call the policies of the Bush Administration irresponsible and reckless, and warn of severe damage to the world environment, to the U.S. economy, and to the role of the U.S. in international relations. But Greens say that the lack of a strong, unified response from Democrats in Congress on many of these policies -- and Democratic collusion in their introduction and passage -- shows the urgent need for a progressive third party.

"When Clinton adopted the Republican Party's rhetoric about 'big government,' it gave Republicans an excuse to call for even more deregulation and privatization," said Jo Chamberlain, member of the steering committee of the Green Party of the United States and a California Green. "These extremes come out of the Bush White House on a daily basis, schemes like the privatization of Social Security and the halt on federal prosecutions for violations of the Clean Air Act."

"How much can Americans trust the Democrats to put up a fight against Bush's destructive and regressive White House policies?," asked Jo Chamberlain. "36 Democratic members of the House joined with Republicans to allow Bush to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Democrats in Congress blocked Bush's proposed $1.6 billion tax break that benefits the rich and which will cut the safety net for the poor -- by okaying a $1.35 billion tax break, which is already erasing the budget surplus and threatening to dip into Social Security funds. Sen. Hillary Clinton, the darling of liberals, voted for a bankruptcy bill that enriches credit card companies and hurts Americans in a financial crisis because of job loss or medical bills. Sen. Russ Feingold, who's considering a White House run in 2004 as a progressive, helped Bush install John Ashcroft and Gail Norton."

Source: http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20010826151417129.html

8/28/01
1:11:12 PM

Genetically Modified Organisms In Agriculture

Genetically Modified Organisms in Agriculture illuminates the greatest technological controversy of the day, combining research information about the most common genetically engineered crops, Bt corn and cotton and glyphosate-resistant soybeans with a diverse range of opinion pieces. It represents the range of debate by bringing together essays by employees of Monsanto, Consumer's Union and a British grocery chain as well as anti-globalization activist Vananda Shiva and Dennis Avery, author of "Saving the Planet with Plastic and Pesticides." After reading it, I discovered that the benefits of genetically engineered crops are currently small and that the risks, like that of nuclear power, depend on fine details of biochemistry and ecology. I reccomend this book to anyone who's interested in the science, economics and politics of this controversial technology.

Source: http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20010827052734511.html

8/28/01
1:05:52 PM

Dubya Makes Fun Of A Bald Guy

by Robert Parry, Consortium News.com

A presidential milestone passed almost unnoticed Friday. For the first time in the history of televised news conferences, a president of the United States made fun of a bald person. Click for Printable Version

The moment arrived as the press conference in Crawford, Texas, was going poorly for George W. Bush. He had just struggled through an answer about why he had believed there were 60 stem-cell lines that could be used for finding cures to debilitating human ailments, from spinal-cord injuries to Alzheimer's disease.

Beyond the question of whether those 60 stem-cell lines actually exist for federally funded research, it now appears that most or all of those lines have been mixed with mouse cells and might be dangerous if used to develop cures for humans. The stem-cell lines were intended for only initial stages of research, though Bush's stem-cell decision of Aug. 9 now prevents untainted lines from being created for the advanced research. [Washington Post, Aug. 24, 2001]

Bush, who had made his intensive personal research into the stem-cell issue a counterpoint to critics who consider him intellectually lazy, put the blame for this crucial oversight on scientists at the National Institute of Health. He said they "came into the Oval Office and they looked me right in the eye and they said, 'We think there is ample stem cells ­ lines to determine whether or not this embryonic stem-cell research will be ­ will work or not.'"

Seemingly flustered by this embarrassment to his widely lauded stem-cell decision, Bush turned to a familiar reporter who had covered him as Texas governor. In a boisterous bonhomie, Bush called the Texas reporter "a fine lad, fine lad," drawing laughter from the national press corps.

The Texas reporter began to ask his question, "You talked about the need to maintain technological "

But Bush, acting like an excited party guest who couldn't keep a funny comment inside, interrupted the reporter to deliver the punch line. "A little short on hair, but a fine lad. Yeah," Bush said, provoking a new round of laughter at the reporter's expense.

The young reporter paused and acknowledged meekly, "I am losing some hair."

The reporter then soldiered on with a question about whether the administration would "go forward with the V-22" warplane, a question of particular interest to the economy of Fort Worth, Texas.

Bush, however, wasn't through having fun with the young reporter, who "represents Fort Worth," Bush noted, prompting another round of knowing laughter from the national press corps.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was with Bush, joined in on the joke. "I never would have guessed," he cracked, eliciting more laughter.

A Bush Pattern

The event of a president mocking someone for an appearance ­ in this case, thinning hair ­ might have seemed odd if it had come from any other national leader. Even during stressful times, other presidents have avoided such cheap shots in their public comments, apparently understanding how hurtful a personal insult from a president can be ­ and from a sense that such comments could diminish the office.

Going bald is not a matter of choice. It is caused by family genetics or illness and is a sensitive point to millions of men and women who have lost their hair for no fault of their own.

But Bush seemed oblivious to the possibility of hurt feelings, like some office jokester who pokes fun at co-workers when they return from vacation a little plumper than when they left. Indeed, over the past few years, Bush has found his loose tongue a political asset as many of his supporters view it as a sign that he's a straight-talking guy of the Rush Limbaugh mold.

Ribbing the young Texas reporter for his thinning hair fits with a long pattern of Bush making others the butt of his jokes. Sometimes the comments seem playful, such as giving reporters slightly demeaning nicknames. Other times, they have a touch of malice.

Early in Campaign 2000, Bush was traveling around with conservative writer Tucker Carlson, who was preparing a profile. Carlson later recounted Bush's ridicule of convicted murderer Karla Faye Tucker as she pleaded for her life.

Asked about her clemency appeal, Bush mimicked what he claimed was the condemned woman's message to him: "With pursed lips in mock desperation, [Bush said,] 'Please don't kill me.'" Carlson wrote in Talk magazine.

Other times, Bush makes jokes at the expense of his friends. Again early in the campaign, Bush lined up for a photo at an event in Texas and fingered the man next to him. "He's the ugly one!" Bush joshed. Then, spotting a reporter, Bush offered the explanation that he was only kidding an old buddy. [NYT, Aug. 22, 1999]

Harsh Words

In earlier years, when he was drinking heavily, Bush's public behavior could turn downright nasty. In early April 1986, for instance, Bush was angry about a prediction from Wall Street Journal columnist Al Hunt that Bush's father would lose the Republican nomination.

Bush spotted Hunt having dinner at a Dallas restaurant with his wife, Judy Woodruff, and their four-year-old son. Bush stormed up to the table and started cursing out Hunt. "You [expletive] son of a bitch," Bush yelled. "I saw what you wrote. We're not going to forget this." [Washington Post, July 25, 1999]

Bush's supporters have excused his behavior before his 40th birthday on the ground that he was often drunk. However, last year, he continued to lash out at journalists who wrote what he considered critical stories.

In one of the campaign's most memorable moments, Bush uttered an aside to his running mate Dick Cheney about New York Times reporter Adam Clymer.

"There's Adam Clymer -- major league asshole -- from the New York Times," Bush said as he was waving to a campaign crowd from a stage in Naperville, Ill.

"Yeah, big time," responded Cheney. Their voices were picked up on an open microphone.

Bush also continued to make light of people facing the death penalty in Texas. In the second presidential debate, for instance, Bush argued that a stronger hate-crimes law was not needed in Texas because three men were facing the death penalty for the racially motivated murder of James Byrd, a black man dragged to his death behind a pickup truck.

"It's going to be hard to punish them any worse after they're put to death," Bush said, with an out-of-place smile across his face.

Beyond the inaccuracy of his statement -- one of the three killers had received life imprisonment -- there was that troubling smirk again when discussing people on Death Row.

'Politically Incorrect'

While many of Bush's backers find his biting humor refreshing ­ the sign of a "politically incorrect" politician ­ some critics see it reflecting a sense of superiority over those he rules.

In olden times, kings felt free to ridicule their subjects, who knew that any insubordination in return would be most unwelcome. Bush seems to enjoy the same one-sided delivery of put-downs.

Beyond his comments, some critics even contend that Bush's clumsy use of words ­ his gaffes, his mispronunciations, his poor grammar ­ fits with a dynastic sense of entitlement toward the presidency.

"Although the GOP machine has spun his elementary goofs as signs of kinship with the Common Man, they are in fact an insult to the people," writes Mark Crispin Miller in The Bush Dyslexicon.

"Every bit of broken English, every flash of comfy ignorance, reminds us of a privilege blithely squandered: Bush attended Phillips Andover Academy, then Yale ­ olympian institutions that would never have admitted him if he were not a Bush," Miller continues.

"However, he was both too limited and too secure to take full advantage of an opportunity that countless brighter, poorer folks have worked for, prayed for, and then been denied. Bush did the minimum at Yale, mainly partying and making good connections.

"Thus, in the matter of his education, this president, despite his folksy pretense, is something of an anti-Lincoln ­ one who, instead of learning eagerly in humble circumstances, learned almost nothing at the finest institutions in the land.

"When he comments on how many hands he's 'shaked,' or frets that quotas 'vulcanize' society, he is, of course, flaunting not his costly education but his disdain for it ­ much as some feckless prince, with a crowd of beggars watching from the street, might take a few bites from the feast laid out before him, then let the servants throw the rest away."

Much like this prince taunting the beggars, Bush asserts a privilege to speak condescendingly to commoners in his presence. He puts them down with little jokes that they feel they have no choice but to accept.

Yes, the young Texas reporter responded to the president of the United States, "I am losing some hair."

Source: http://www.rense.com/general13/bald.htm

8/28/01
12:54:54 PM

Sea Shepherd Ship Seized By The Ecuadorian Navy

PUERTO AYORA, Galapagos, Ecuador, August 27, 2001 (ENS) -The Ocean Warrior, flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was seized today by the Ecuadorian Navy in the Galapagos Islands.

There are two Navy vessels on scene, one armed with Exocet ship destroying missiles. Two Navy guards have been placed on board the Ocean Warrior. The Ocean Warrior has not been allowed to refuel. The Ecuadorian Navy is preventing anyone from getting on or off the ship.

The Ocean Warrior, flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (Photos courtesy Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

"They are basically saying 'your papers are not in order,'" said Ocean Warrior Captain Paul Watson, founder of the California based marine conservation organization.

"On Friday, they told us we would have to leave in 48 hours. Over the weekend, they put the vessel and our international crew under virtual house arrest. The mayor of Puerto Ayora, the people of the city and the National Park Service, have expressed their full support for Sea Shepherd."

The largest settlement in the Galapagos, Puerto Ayora is the port town on Isla Santa Cruz. Most yachts offering cruises of the Galapagos hail from Puerto Ayora, which is also home to the National Park Services and the Charles Darwin Research Station.

Last November, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society signed a joint agreement with the Galapagos National Park to defend the Galapagos Marine Reserve from poaching.

Galapagos school children greet the Sirenian earlier this year. (Photos courtesy Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

Sea Shepherd's patrol vessel Sirenian collected donations of cash and equipment en route from the United States to Ecuador to help compensate the park for an estimated US$30,000 in computer and communications gear lost when fishermen ransacked park offices demanding a higher fishing quota.

Ocean Warrior is now in the Galapagos to re-supply the Society’s patrol vessel Sirenian, which has been assisting the National Park Service in policing the Galapagos Marine Reserve since last March. In that time, Sirenian has seized seven commercial vessels caught in the marine reserve.

Sea Shepherd has been outspoken in its criticism of the close ties of the Ecuadorian Navy and Merchant Marine to Ecuador’s powerful commercial fishing sector. Sea Shepherd personnel have been openly critical of the Ecuadorian practice of releasing vessels apprehended fishing illegally in the Marine Reserve without charge or fine.

Sean O'Hearn Gimenez, marine conservation officer for Sea Shepherd International, has been aboard the Sirenian in the Galapagos since March.

Sean O'Hearn Gimenez aboard the Sirenian examines a shark that has been finned. Shark fins supply the Asian foods market for shark fin soup.

On May 30, he reported that 18 boats fishing illegally had been captured within the Galapagos Marine Reserve since January 1, 2001. But many have been released, says O'Hearn. "The Sirenian has captured four boats in less then three weeks. Three of them have been released and the remaining one is about to be released after having been caught red-handed illegally shark finning within the Galapagos Marine Reserve."

O'Hearn says the ships and their illegal cargoes of shark fins are being released because of economics. "There are huge economic interests involved whom are influencing people from judges, port captains, admirals and even the minister of the environment, who recently resigned," he says.

The Galapagos consists of 13 major islands, 17 smaller islands and more than 40 rocks covering an area of 3,100 square miles. Ninety percent of the land surface and the entire ocean area are incorporated into the Galapagos National Park.

The Galapagos Marine Reserve, which covers a larger area surrounding the island group, is scheduled to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the World Heritage Committee's upcoming meeting later this year.

Source: http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-27-01.html

8/28/01
12:48:24 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

WILDFIRES SEND TONS OF MERCURY UP IN SMOKE

BOULDER, Colorado, August 27, 2001 (ENS) - The wildfires now burning across the Western United States are releasing tons of mercury into the atmosphere, say researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research. More than 21,700 firefighters and support personnel are now battling wildland fires burning on more than 200,000 acres in seven states.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-27-06.html

NICAD BATTERIES TOO TOXIC FOR NORDIC COUNTRIES

BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 27, 2001 (ENS) - Environment ministers from the European Union's three Nordic member countries have intervened in the European Commission's troubled internal debate over whether to propose a Europe wide ban on nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries (Nicads).

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-27-03.html

U.S. SAVES ONLY THE LANDS NOBODY WANTED

WASHINGTON, DC, August 27, 2001 (ENS) - America's large system of nature preserves fails to encompass the full range of the nation's biodiversity, a new report shows. The study by U.S. Geological Survey biologists shows that the United States has selectively protected lands that lack commercial, agricultural or other human values, leaving entire ecosystems unrepresented.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-27-07.html

SEA SHEPHERD SHIP SEIZED BY THE ECUADORIAN NAVY

PUERTO AYORA, Galapagos, Ecuador, August 27, 2001 (ENS) - The Ocean Warrior, flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was seized today by the Ecuadorian Navy in the Galapagos Islands.

There are two Navy vessels on scene, one armed with Exocet ship destroying missiles. Two Navy guards have been placed on board the Ocean Warrior. The Ocean Warrior has not been allowed to refuel. The Ecuadorian Navy is preventing anyone from getting on or off the ship.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-27-01.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 27, 2001

Green Party Blasts Bush Agenda

Florida's Fourth Human Case of West Nile Virus Confirmed

Testing Firm Admits False Reporting on Underground Tanks

$1.7 Million Protects 2,100 Acres in the Gunks

Chromium Sampler Could Tease Out Toxic Metal

Pennsylvania Cancer Center Cited for Illegal Uranium

Rachel Carson Refuge Gains 157 Acres

Ministers Ask Staples to Stop Destroying Forests

Fewer Fishers Could Make Sablefishing Safer

Environmental Satellite Gets Higher Orbit, Longer Mission

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-27-09.html

8/28/01
12:44:29 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Texas in big push to develop wind power - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12169/story.htm

US pressing EU to change GMO rules - Washington Post - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12171/story.htm

FEATURE - Nuclear waste recyclers target consumer products - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12173/story.htm

NZ biotech sector extends GMO moratorium to Oct 31 - NEW ZEALAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12168/story.htm

FEATURE - Malaysian natives en route for land rights fight - MALAYSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12165/story.htm

Japan Grain-Normal buying of new US corn expected - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12167/story.htm

UPDATE - French activists destroy more GM test sites - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12170/story.htm

ANALYSIS - Wind makers give mergers the thumbs down - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12172/story.htm

Radioactive leaks in Lake Ontario raise concerns - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12174/story.htm

Brazil environmentalists face new battle on Amazon - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12175/story.htm

FEATURE - Alpine Garden of Eden proves Mother Nature knows best - AUSTRIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12164/story.htm

Victoria court sets path for PNG Ok Tedi lawsuit - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12166/story.htm

8/28/01
11:12:09 AM

Sedona EcoFest 2001: Where The Arts And Ecological Education Merge

by Stacey L. Fowler

Sedona Cultural Park. Capital Butte, the tallest peak in Sedona, is peeking out from behind.

A key to raising environmental consciousness is creating forums that link entertainment with education. The Second Annual Sedona EcoFest is built around that very notion. “That’s probably the biggest issue — promoting ecological education in a fun, musical, festival environment,” says Philip Walker, executive director of Sedona EcoFest.

Event attendees get the opportunity to learn about the natural world and issues threatening it, he says, “but at the same time they’re having a really, really good time listening to the music, seeing the booth vendors, sitting out on the grass lawn looking at the Mogollon Rim and the wilderness area that’s behind the stage.”

The theme for EcoFest 2001, which will take place from 11 AM to 8PM on Sept. 15, is Endangered Species and Open Spaces. Performers will include Yonder Mountain String Band, the Ambassadors of Reggae, Third World, Merle Saunders and the Rainforest Band, and headliner Blues Traveler. An environmental speaker is a new addition to Sedona EcoFest.

“And we chose none other than environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill to come speak at this years event,” says Walker, “and also receive the first-ever Sedona EcoFest Environmental Steward Award.” Event organizers will honor Hill at a benefit event the evening before EcoFest. She will give a speech and sign books and autographs for members of the public who attend the benefit. Hill will also give a presentation during the show.

She feels that events like EcoFest are important in that they allow people to celebrate and express the power that she believes already lies within them. “Anytime creativity is used in changing consciousness it’s extremely powerful because creativity is the life-force-- that’s the passion,” says Hill. She believes that too often people forget the essence of who they are and how that relates to the bigger picture of environmental activism. “We get so good at defining what we’re against that what we are against begins to define us. But creativity is who we really are,” she explains.

For her, an event like Sedona EcoFest that blends the arts with ecological education gives people a unique chance to celebrate themselves and what they have to offer. “Creativity is a living embodiment and expression of who we are,” says Hill, “that’s where our passion comes from and that’s a tool we have when we, oftentimes, have overwhelming odds to overcome.”

Philip Walker says that part of the motivation for EcoFest was celebrating the natural beauty of northern Arizona. Each year, millions of tourists visit the Sedona area and its magnificent national parks, forests and monuments. Walker notes that the Cultural Park provides the perfect venue for EcoFest. “The Cultural Park is located on a 50-acre nature preserve surrounded on 2 sides by the Coconino National Forest,” he explains. “The venue is built into a natural bowl on the side of the hill, and the backdrop is the Mogollon Rim and the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness,” says Walker.

Sedona EcoFest also features a live animal observation area where attendees can see and learn about animals that come from local wildlife rehabilitation centers. “I’ve learned, whether through going to the rainforests of Costa Rica, or just being outdoors that seeing an animal face-to-face really does have a positive impact on people,” says Walker. “They have a better appreciation for the animals and they understand their plight when they can get up close and personal with them,” he says.

Volunteers from the Garuda Aviary will also be educating concertgoers about exotic birds. “There will be an onstage display with some exotic macaw birds from the rainforests of Central and South America,” says Walker. The birds have been rescued from neglectful owners. “We really want to teach folks that these animals deserve to be in their wild habitat,” he says. And, if people do purchase exotic birds from registered and licensed dealers, Walker says they should be aware of the responsibility that comes with owning such pets. Due to their high intelligence, exotic parrots need much attention and stimulation.

Walker says his older brother, Wayne Walker, has been a catalyst for making EcoFest a reality. He says his brother demonstrates that people can change their lives to make a positive difference in the world -- that they can do a job that makes them happy and do so without sacrificing quality of life. “My brother left a very lucrative semiconductor sales job and went back to school to get his masters degree in environmental studies,” explains Walker. “Now, he’s working in a very forward-thinking business that promotes sustainable energy development,” he says, “so I believe the environment doesn’t have to suffer for the sake of money. There continue to be more and more jobs out there that pay well, but are also environmentally responsible.”

Walker hopes that EcoFest can send a message about sustainability and become, “a bridge between corporate America and the environmental movement.” Julia Butterfly Hill encourages attendees of Sedona EcoFest 2001 to make it a true eco-fest. “I am astounded at how many festivals I go to that are consciousness-type festivals and how much waste we produce at them-- where is the consciousness, where is the ecology in that?” she asks. “And so when it comes to festivals, and every day in life, I love to encourage people to bring their own bag, their own utensils, their own mug, to use throughout the day,” advises Hill. Sedona EcoFest 2001 is sponsored by The Wilderness Society, Rainforest Action Network, The Defenders of Wildlife, EarthShare, Center for Biological Diversity, Leave No Trace, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and National Geographic Adventure Magazine.

http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/08/08272001/ecofest_44755.asp

8/28/01
11:04:18 AM

Solar Roofing Tiles Generate Integrated Energy

By Environmental News Network

Shown under construction, this Palo Alto, California home has Atlantis Energy roofing tiles and AstroPower PV modules. The five-kilowatt system has a battery backup and is also linked to the local utility.

You just drove home through an eye-burning cloud of air pollution. You go into shock after looking at your electric bill, and now the roof is leaking. Put a pan under the drip and consider one solution to all those problems.: A new roof of solar tiles.

Solar roofing could solve the problem of the leaking, cut your power bills and help combat air pollution. A solar tile is a photovoltaic (PV) module and a connection box, laminated together and glued to the surface of a unit of roofing material, such as a slate made of lightweight concrete. It measures about 12 x 16 inches and weighs about nine and a half pounds. Lightweight enough to replace that leaking roof, it is attractive enough to blend in with existing design. Photovoltaic modules create electricity from the energy of the sun. No fossil fuel is burned, no greenhouse gases, emitted, and no rivers are crippled by hydroelectric dams. Solar power for home uses not new. But today's new technology means that homeowners no longer have to have enormous solar panels bolted to the roof, and can dispense with bulky storage batteries that do not fit anywhere. New developments in thin, strong films are revolutionizing solar roofing. The new materials function as an integral part of the design and building materials of the house. Users on the cutting edge of technology are roofing with tiles which can be connected to the power grid which provides electricity to the house. Electricity made by the roof can be used on site, or, if not all of it is required at once, it can be fed back to the grid through the use of a sine wave inverter. The homeowner, now a power generator, is credited grid at the end of the month for energy fed back into the grid through a process called net metering. California and Florida, two of the most populous and sunny states, have jumped on the solar bandwagon. The owners of 13 affordable homes in Compton, California have been enjoying solar benefits for more than a year. A group of companies and agencies cooperated to build the homes, among them the California South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). According to Ranji George, program supervisor for the AQMD, homeowners are saving about one third of their electricity costs, paying $20 as opposed to $60 per month. Sandy Miller, account manager for the emerging renewables buy down program at the California Energy Commission, explains that the sine wave inverter is necessary, because PV power is direct current, and homes use alternating current. The grid will accept only alternating current in volts and cycles identical to that which the grid produces. The inverter makes the adjustment. Installed near the main breaker panel, the device is no bigger than a breadbox, Miller said. Miller's program is one which has money to offer for those interested putting in a solar tile roof. Checking out your state is one of the first things to do if you are interested in a solar roof. There may be buy down money available to help pay for it. The state will also have information on whether the power company you use will allow you to connect to the grid, or whether you have the option to change providers if it does not. Florida is the first state to require approval of PV systems by a state agency. The Florida Solar Energy Center has approved photovoltaic kits for home use, and has buy down money available for approved projects. Siemens Solar Industries manufactures the solar electric kits approved in Florida. Atlantis Solar Systems Ltd. provided SunSlates, the solar tiles used to roof the Compton homes. Keith Dresbach, project manager for Atlantis in Sacramento, California explained the construction of a solar tile roof. Solar tiles can be added to an existing roof by removing some or all of the shingles or tiles, said Dresbach. Solar tiles must have ventilation underneath, plus space for the wires that connect them together. They are applied parallel to the surface of the sub-roof, 1.5 to 2 inches above it and sealed at the gutter and ridge line. A two kilowatt roof, facing due south, in Sacramento, California, would produce 1400 kilowatt hours of direct current, equaling 2800 hours of alternating current, each year. Dresbach estimated that a three to five kilowatt roof at that location would provide a saving of 50 to 80 percent of electricity costs. Variables that affect the performance of a solar roof include your geographic location, the pitch of the existing roof, and its orientation toward the sun. At their website, Atlantis will calculate costs, savings, economic incentives and tax benefits for users who click on Payback Calculator and enter their zip code. New home builders are ideally positioned to consider a solar roof. Solar tile roofs come with a much longer guarantee than conventional roofs, plus the energy cost cutting benefits. Check to be sure that a solar roof can be included in a new home financing package. There may be an added advantage to a solar tile roof on a second home occupied only part of the year. That roof will produce electricity all the time, allowing the owner to bank the the power generated when the home is unoccupied for vacation days, winding up with no vacation electric bills. In very warm areas, solar roofs may lose some efficiency. Extremely cold temperatures affect roof efficiency less than heat. Residents in the northern tier of states need not ignore solar tile, and Canada is embracing solar power in a big way. The United States government is making a big push for solar energy. Public and commercial buildings are featuring solar arrays from the Library/Community Center in Tuckahoe, New York to the Mauna Lani Bay Resort Hotel in Hawaii. In view of a recent report issued by a coalition of environmental and public health groups claiming that power plant pollution contributes to 30,000 premature deaths in the United States each year, 93 million miles away may be the perfect location for a power plant - the Sun.

http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/08/08272001/tiles_44756.asp

8/28/01
10:54:14 AM

Boeing's 45,000ft Cruise To Ozone Disaster

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor

High above our heads in the upper atmosphere lies a thin, lifesaving shroud of poison. Near ground level it is a troublesome pollutant: but high in the stratosphere it screens out ultraviolet radiation that would otherwise sterilise the surface of the planet.

Over recent decades it has been under attack, notably from CFCs – long used in aerosol sprays and a host of other applications – and other chemicals that drift up to the stratosphere. They have opened up a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica the size of the United States, threaten to produce a similar hole over the Arctic, and, this spring, thinned the shield over Europe and North America by about 10 per cent.

This poses huge risks to health; the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has estimated that each 1 per cent loss causes an extra 50,000 cases of skin cancer each year. This has stimulated an unprecedented international effort to ban the chemicals – perhaps the world's greatest environmental success story. UNEP predicted last month that the ozone layer would start to recover "in the near future".

Boeing's sonic cruiser has thus come as a particularly unpleasant surprise. Virgin and many other airlines have expressed interest in the plane and Boeing expects to sell "several thousand" of them.

The controversy will be embarrassing for Boeing, as nine years ago it was given a special US government "Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award" after developing ozone-friendly chemicals for machining and cleaning work.

Two years ago, the official Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calculated that every 1,000 supersonic aircraft, which also fly in the stratosphere, would thin the ozone layer by about 1 per cent a year, suggesting that several thousand operating for years, as is planned for the sonic cruiser, would be devastating.

Dr Helen Rogers of Cambridge University's European Ozone Research Co-ordinating Unit, a contributor to the report, said last week that the sonic cruiser would have a similar effect to supersonic aircraft. They will also fly in the stratosphere to give what Boeing promises will be "a smoother ride".

Boeing says the new plane will emit less nitrogen oxide, a main cause of ozone destruction, than current aircraft. But Dr Rogers and her colleague Dr Joe Farman, who discovered the Antarctic ozone hole, says that, as a result, the planes would be likely to produce more water vapour which, at that altitude, would set off an even more destructive series of reactions.

The company says the plane's design is not yet finalised. It insists "the environment and the ozone layer are very important to Boeing".

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=90715

8/28/01
10:45:19 AM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

PARIS-STROIKA

In his quest to make Paris greener, the city's new Socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, wants to add more than 25 miles of bus lanes and discourage more cars from coming into the city. "Today, private motorists, who make up a quarter of road users, use up 94 percent of Paris's road surfaces. I have a duty, Paris has asked me, to rebalance this equation," said Delanoe on Friday, as he rode in a bus away from town hall.

straight to the source: South Africa Independent, 24 Aug 2001 <http://www.iol.co.za/html/frame_news.php?click_id=143&art_id=qw998658 661956B216>

SCRAMBLED EGG LABELS

With few federal rules in place, many eco-labels and related markers placed on food in the U.S. are meaningless or confusing, says Consumers Union. For example, because the U.S. Agriculture Department doesn't have standards for free-range eggs, no one checks up on whether the chickens producing such eggs really have the run of the farm. Another example: Consumers encountering the Nature Conservancy logo on a box of granola bars might understandably think the bars were produced in an environmentally friendly way. Turns out that the logo signifies nothing more than that the conservancy has made a pretty penny ($115,000) from General Mills.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Melinda Fulmer, 26 Aug 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000069003aug26.story?coll=la%2 Dnews%2Dscience>

LABEL-MINDED

The Bush administration is pressuring the European Union to drop new restrictions on genetically engineered foods. Last month, the European Commission gave preliminary approval to require labeling on most biotech foods. Administration officials say the rules would discriminate against U.S. products and violate World Trade Organization requirements. They say that the rules could cost U.S. businesses $4 billion a year. E.U. officials say the cost estimate is exaggerated, and they want the administration to lay off with the pressure. Compared to the U.S. public, European consumers have been much more concerned about the safety of genetically engineered foods. Saudia Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Mexico are also discussing tough biotech food laws.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Alan Sipress and Marc Kaufman, 26 Aug 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59952-2001Aug24.html>

do good: Take action to label genetically engineered foods <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/food.asp?source=daily#label>

read it only in Grist Magazine: Sum dum gai -- in the wake of Bonn, Bush's isolationism takes a page from China -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho080601.asp?source=daily>

IN THE DRINK

The gasoline additive MTBE, a known carcinogen, has already leaked into 48 public wells that provide water to hundreds of thousands of Californians, according to a San Francisco Chronicle analysis of state data. The additive is leaking from 1,189 underground storage tanks within 1,000 feet of public wells or drinking water aquifers, threatening the water supplies of millions in the state. That's not the full extent of the problem: No data exist on private wells, which may be more prone to contamination because they often draw water from shallow aquifers. MTBE is added to gasoline to make it burn more cleanly; oil companies have only a couple of years to phase it out.

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Jane Kay, 26 Aug 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/200 1/08/26/MN118963.DTL>

NORTH DUCK-OTA

Farmers in several North Dakota counties have stopped plowing under one-fourth of their cropland in exchange for dependable annual payments under the conservation reserve program. Farmer Patty Hofmann said, "Cropping wheat is just very risky and expensive, and we would have lost our farm if we hadn't signed up for the conservation program." How well private farmland is managed in the continental U.S. will affect the survival of ducks and wildlife, the quality of drinking water, and the extent of sprawl. In the last five years, however, conservation payments have dropped from 30 percent to 9 percent of all farm subsides. Some lawmakers in the U.S. Congress will push to expand the conservation program this fall, but they will face resistance from large farms that want more money set aside for traditional subsidies.

straight to the source: New York Times, Elizabeth Becker, 27 Aug 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/27/national/27FARM.html>

do good: Take action to help farmers help the environment <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/land.asp?source=daily#farmers>

SONIC BUST

The emissions from Boeing's new high-speed plane, the Sonic Cruiser, may pose a direct threat to the ozone layer. Two years ago, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that 1,000 supersonic aircraft flying in the stratosphere would thin the ozone layer by about 1 percent a year. Boeing expects to sell, gulp, several thousand of the new planes. Cambridge University's Helen Rogers, a contributor to the IPCC report, says the Sonic Cruiser will be just as damaging to the ozone layer as supersonic planes. Are you doing the math? For its part, Boeing says the plane's design is not yet finalized.

straight to the source: London Independent, Geoffrey Lean, 26 Aug 2001 <http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=90715>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

Give us hybrids, or give us death -- are hybrid SUVs the way to go? -- and other letters to the editor <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/letters/letters082201.asp?source=daily>

Please, don't you be my neighbor -- a day in the life of Patricia Ross, city councilmember, Abbotsford, B.C <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/ross082401.asp?source=daily>

Rainforest bunch -- a review of "The Tapir's Morning Bath" -- in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books082201.asp?source=daily>

8/27/01
4:49:09 PM

Corporate Moles

by Molly Ivins

Bush's appointees have walked straight out of the boardrooms of big business America

AUSTIN, Texas -- More bizarre appointments by the Bush administration. This problem is reaching tidal wave proportions. It's not so much a matter of setting the fox to guard the chicken coop as it is letting the raccoons loose in the henhouse.

Those of you who know how government works are fully aware of the difference agency heads and other top officials can make in the workings of a bureaucracy. With a president who is notoriously uninterested in details, those in charge of the details often actually set the policy. As we have seen in Texas, even when George W. has what might be a good idea, like charter schools, sloppy execution can result in disaster.

"Captive agencies" are a constant problem in government. They are agencies supposedly in charge of regulating an industry or group, which then acquires undue influence over or even control of the agency. In Texas, the most spectacular example is the state's equivalent of an environmental protection agency, to which then-Gov. Bush appointed three commissioners who literally represent major groups of polluters. Texas is, of course, Number One in toxic pollution. The pattern continues in Washington.

-- Bush has nominated B. John Williams, a corporate tax attorney, as chief counsel to the Internal Revenue Service. According to The Wall Street Journal, Williams won a case that could jeopardize the government's attempts to crack down on corporate tax havens. The decision allows two companies to post the same loss when one sells a money-losing unit to the other. Sure, that's fair, just the way you get to double your deductions, right? If the decision stands, it is expected to cost the IRS $10 billion in annual revenue.

-- In another case, also reported in the Journal, B. John Williams (beware the man who parts his initials on the wrong side) tried to justify disputed tax credits taken by his client, Shell Oil Co. He did so by hiring a private investigator, who provided false information to destroy the credibility of the government's expert witnesses. One witness later sued for defamation, a case that was settled out of court, the settlement paid for by Shell.

-- The curious case of John Graham, the "regulatory czar," who can block any new regulation from his position inside the Office of Management and Budget, has attracted some attention because of Graham's unusual public record. While serving on an EPA subcommittee on dioxin, Graham said reducing dioxin levels too far might "do more harm than good." He argued that dioxin might prevent cancer in some cases, an argument so outlandish it produced more amusement than outrage. He also claims the problem of pesticides on foods is "trivial," that the public has "paranoia" about toxic chemicals (it is to be hoped), that safe housing codes kill people and all manner of other dandy theories.

-- Graham was director of the Center for Risk Analysis at Harvard, which tries to apply cost-benefit exams to health, safety and environmental protection. This curious idea, of assigning a dollar value to human life, illness and harm to eco-systems and then seeing if that outweighs the cost of regulation, is like some chilling mad-scientist fantasy. You say it will only cost three lives per million dollars spent and so it's not worth it? Fine, then let one of them be your wife and the others your son and daughter.

-- J. Steven Griles, new deputy secretary at the Interior Department, was a top lobbyist for the oil, gas and coal industries. The new solicitor, William Myers III, was top guy at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and represented the grazing interests in lawsuits against the policies he will now be enforcing. The new Number Two at the EPA was a lobbyist for Monsanto. And as the new chairman of the Council on Environmental Equality, Bush wants the lawyer who represented General Electric in its fight with the EPA over toxic waste sites.

-- A sentimental favorite of mine is Jon Huntsman Jr., the new deputy trade representative, who is hot to trot on a new round of trade liberalization under the World Trade Organization. Huntsman resigned from the privately-owned Huntsman Corporation, a familiar name in Bush's hometown. Huntsman is famous in Midland-Odessa for its "upsets," burn-offs of benzene, butadiene and other carcinogens. Huntsman gets fines even under Texas' toothless standards, and has already paid millions to the plant's neighbors over "upsets." A Huntsman spokesman was memorably quoted in Vanity Fair magazine: "We fear that Huntsman is being held up as the poster child for Bush's sh**ty environmental record here in Texas." Junior was a Commerce Department official under Bush the Elder.

Some of these appointments are merely ironic, if you have a strong stomach. Others literally involve matters of life and death. As Arthur Miller once wrote, "Attention must be paid."

8/27/01
4:13:38 PM

The Loyal Opposition

BUSH'S ROSY SCENARIO HAS PLENTY OF THORNS

Tax Cut and Economic Slump Devour the Surplus

by David Corn

Imagine a fellow comes to your front door, introduces himself as a candidate for city council chairman, and tells you he has a kick-ass economic plan. The town treasury has accrued a modest surplus, and he's proposing to give it back to the taxpayers of the town. "It's your money," he says. What about using that money, you ask, to build a town library, or renovate the local hospital, or fund an after-school program for disadvantaged youths, or rebuild the decades-old bridge on the far side of town. "It's your money," he says.

You have to admit, he has a point. If the town had collected more revenues than anticipated, why not send it back? You might wonder if this rebate will return a disproportionate amount to the well-to-do -- who are well-connected in city hall -- than the average working mugs. But the principle has a certain logic to it. "Besides," he says, "leave it with the members of city council, and they'll just find ways to spend it."

Perhaps you're sympathetic with his proposition. Then he adds, "And I got another idea." He explains he wants to boost the budget of the police department by over 10 percent. "Hold on," you reasonably say, "how are we going to pay for that, right after you eliminated the town's surplus." He replies, "Nothing is too good for our men and women in blue." That doesn't strike you as a responsive answer. You try again: "Will you cut other programs to finance this increase? Or are you planning to dip into the city pension fund for this? Or will we engage in deficit spending and have to borrow money?" He smiles and answers, "Our police force must be second to none." Your frustration mounts, you grab him by the collar and say, "You realize that you're proposing a major addition to the town budget without saying how you will pay for it and that you want to give back the very dollars that could fund this initiative?"

"It's your money," he says.

What else is there to do but slam the door on him and send him on his way? On the national scene that huckster is George W. Bush and he deserves the same treatment.

While Bush was vacationing -- or vacating? -- in Texas, pretending to be a plain ol' guy (who owns a spread of several hundred acres and who gets four weeks of time-off after being in a job only six months), new economic numbers made him look as phony as our hypothetical candidate. It turns out that the latest White House budget projections (calculated using questionable accounting tricks and over-optimistic assumptions regarding economic growth) show that the government this year will post a $1 billion surplus, rather than the $124 billion surplus forecasted four months back. Why the change? Bush's tax cut and the economic slowdown. And the picture is the same for next year: another measly $1 billion surplus. A $2 billion surplus is foreseen for 2003, and the new budget forecast shows the ten-year surplus -- not counting Social Security and Medicare -- has fallen from a whopping $2.5 trillion to a next-to-nothing $38 billion.

Those who are not stricken by forgetfulness should recall that when Bush was promoting his trillion-dollar-plus tax cut he claimed that it would not gobble up the entire surplus.

Those among us who are not stricken by forgetfulness should recall that when Bush was promoting his trillion-dollar-plus tax cut -- about a third of which will go to the top one-percent of earners -- he claimed that it would not gobble up the entire surplus, that there would still be money for new spending, and that there would be no need to dip into the separate Social Security surplus, now estimated at $157 billion for 2002. (Both parties have loudly pledged to keep the Social Security surplus in the infamous "lockbox" and not to use it to fund other government programs.) Bush's assertions have all crapped out. The non-Social Security surplus has gone poof, the tax cut has swallowed funds available for new initiatives (such as a fully-funded Medicare prescription drug benefit), and on Capitol Hill there is a growing assumption that legislators might have to tap into --or as they say in Washington, "raid" -- the Social Security surplus (after already spending most of Medicare's $28 billion surplus) to cover the cost of the government in the coming year.

Now if Bush were an honest politician -- please, no jokes or groans -- he could say, "Mission accomplished. I wanted to get rid of the surplus in order to put handcuffs on those spenders in Congress. Maybe even create some deficits to force cuts in social spending programs, like my hero Ronald Reagan did. For if we're going to have new programs, we're simply going to have cut old programs to keep the numbers in line." He could sincerely argue, "It's your money....and the federal government will have to get by without it, even if that means slashing existing programs." But he didn't say that on the campaign trail, he didn't say that while lobbying for his tax cut, and he's not saying it now. Instead, he and his minions are claiming that the tax cut will "eventually" stimulate the economy and boost the surplus numbers again. But they don't define "eventually." Here's an idea: if Bush truly believes in this eventuality, he should declare, "If 'eventually' does not occur by the start of 2004 and if the budget numbers have not improved, that will mean that I was wrong and, consequently, I will not run for reelection."

Bush & Company insists that the tax cut ain't the problem, it's the spending. As White House mouthpiece Ari Fleischer cracked, "Whatever the surplus, there are people in Washington who are going to try to spend it down to zero. When you look at what's left on the operating side of the budget, it's about $1 billion. That will prevent the politicians from busting the budget and spending more pork and more wasteful spending."

Bush is aiming to spend a lot of money we don't have on the Pentagon and missile defense. Where will this big-spender get the bucks for this?

There's one problem with this analysis: Bush's own spending. He is asking for an extra $33 billion in Pentagon spending in the 2002 budget. That's a 10-percent raise for the Pentagon -- awarded even before Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld completes his tip-to-toe strategic review of the US military. (For comparison, this $33 billion hike is greater than the military budget of every country in the world, except for England, Russia, China and Japan.) The White House claims that this request, as part of ten-year $209 billion military build-up, is covered in its latest budget estimates. But the White House projections do note this $209 billion is merely a "first installment," meaning Bush wants to spend more, and this additional amount is not part of the current budget calculations. Moreover, this so-called first installment does not include the tab for his national missile defense pipe-dream, which could run between $100 billion and $200 billion, if not more. So with the surplus essentially gone, Bush is aiming to spend a lot of money we don't have on the Pentagon and missile defense. Where will this big-spender get the bucks for this? What programs will he sacrifice for the sequel to Star Wars? He won't say. But he has put military spending on a collision course with the rest of the budget. (By the way, Bush's surplus projections conveniently leaves out an additional $800 billion to $1 trillion in spending and reduced revenue -- including further tax code changes -- that are likely to occur, with Bush's support. So his current numbers are rosier than a hooker's cheeks.)

No shock here, the Democrats immediately pounced on Bush -- like chickens pecking at a dead bird. (The Dems should be so lucky.) Senator Robert Byrd, who chairs the Senate appropriations committee, lashed out at Bush for asserting that the public should pressure Congress not to overspend. "The administration needs to take a look in the mirror and get a clear view on who has done and who is doing the spending." He had in mind the tax cut and Bush's call for more military spending. Other Democrats huffed that Bush had in seven months squandered a decade's worth of surpluses. Yet these critics declined to mention that 12 Democratic senators had voted with the Republicans in favor of Bush's surplus-swallowing tax cuts. In fact, several had even run ads bragging that they had voted in favor of the measure.

The way out of the hole is to undo the damage done, meaning decut the tax cut by repealing the most egregious elements.

The big problem for the Democrats is what to do after they blast Bush. The Miscalculator-in-Chief is an easy target. But do they advocate dipping into Social Security surpluses to fund needed programs? Of course, not. They don't want to be whacked for breaking their lockbox pledge. In the coming budget battle, they're going to spend most of their time and energy pointing fingers at Bush and the Republicans. The GOPers do deserve to be rapped. But the way out of the hole is to undo the damage done, meaning decut the tax cut by repealing the most egregious elements: the reduction in the top tax rate and the eventual repeal of the estate tax. Few Democrats will be willing to lead this charge and risk being branded a tax-lover. Better to stick to the blame-game. It's tougher to argue "it's our money," and we must stop it from being misused on a relieve-the-rich tax cut.

As part of the Official George W. Bush Self-Defense Tour of Summer 2001, the president appeared recently at Harry Truman High School in Independence, Missouri, to deliver a speech. He sternly warned Congress not to increase spending. But he declined to mention his own profligate ways. Give 'Em Hell Harry had a sign on his desk: The buck stops here. Give 'Em Bunk George should have one of his own: The surplus stops here -- and so does common sense.

David Corn is the Washington editor of the Nation. His first novel, Deep Background, a political thriller, was published recently by St. Martin's Press.

Source: http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/24/index.html

8/27/01
4:02:04 PM

Stop Selling, Start Educating

A Teacher's Back-to-School Message to PBS

by Jerold M. Starr

Labor Day celebrates America's workers by giving them a holiday. For working teachers, like myself, Labor Day also brings the beginning of the school year. I enjoy my work because I value the opportunity to teach young minds how to think critically and reason ethically about their environment and themselves. Like other teachers, my goals are to feed young minds and prepare them for the larger world.

But there are obstacles to my educational goals, perhaps the biggest of which comes from the mass media, not just programming but advertising, too. Last year, $54 billion was spent on broadcast advertising. The average child sees 30,000 commercials a year, despite the wishes of 85 percent of parents that children's TV programs be "commercial free." At the same time, a recent study found 75 percent of high school students are "not proficient in civics," that is, they can not "apply knowledge of government principles of democracy analytically." Both schools and television must share responsibility for this problem.

Perhaps the most egregious development has been the expansion of commercial messages on public broadcasting, by law a "noncommercial" educational service. But on the contrary, PBS kids shows are surrounded by increasingly longer pitches for theme parks, shopping websites and fast food like McDonalds, Chuck-E-Cheese and Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. The PBS children's show "Puzzle Place" has a joint marketing agreement with Toys-R-Us, and "Teletubbies" has such agreements with three companies, including Microsoft.

A "betrayal of parents' trust in what is supposed to be noncommercial educational broadcasting."

Harvard psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint calls this a "betrayal of parents' trust in what is supposed to be noncommercial educational broadcasting." Poussaint is particularly concerned with advertising connected to pre-school programs, like "Teletubbies," because research shows that children do not even understand the concept of advertising until they're six to eight years old.

George Gerbner, a leading scholar on children's television, laments: "For most of human history our children's stories were told by caring people with something to tell, not corporations with something to sell. It is a tragedy that a once safe public broadcasting environment has become polluted by these same commercial messages."

This is not just an ethical problem; it also is a pedagogical problem. In the transition from classroom student to couch potato, something significant happens to our youngsters. They cease to be a subject of learning and become, instead, a commodity -- an object to be sold by broadcasters to advertisers.

The strategy of most advertisers is to suppress critical thinking in favor of emotional appeals to frustrated needs or aspirations. Too much commercialism stunts intellectual and emotional growth.

The strategy of most advertisers is to suppress critical thinking in favor of emotional appeals to frustrated needs or aspirations. Too much commercialism stunts intellectual and emotional growth. This makes my job as a teacher that much harder.

Beyond the issue of commercialism, teachers could use better public-interest programming in their efforts to teach youth how to think critically and to educate them about social problems and issues.

Public broadcasters claim that funding problems compel them to compromise their important mission by appealing to corporate "underwriters." However they are not campaigning for an independent funding structure, something like a Public Broadcasting Trust that would free them of their commercial tether. I lead a group, Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting, that is alone in promoting such reform.

The need is there and so are the means.

Despite billions in profits, commercial broadcasters pay absolutely nothing for their use of the public's airwaves. A two percent fee for commercial broadcast license use or a small tax on license transfers or broadcast advertising would generate at least a billion dollars a year in program funds for public broadcasting. This would take public broadcasting off the federal dole and replace corporate underwriting. It would end the commercials masquerading as "underwriting announcements" in public broadcasting while financing truly independent news and public affairs coverage. It would secure the only refuge we and our children have to commercial broadcasting's hucksterism and, in turn and over time, help produce better citizens. It might even make the job of working teachers a lot easier.

Jerold M. Starr is executive director of Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting, a grassroots campaign to improve public broadcasting. He is also professor of sociology at West Virginia University.

Editor's Note: For an eye-opening look at the facts and figures of television, advertising, and kids:

http://www.cipbonline.org/cgi-bin/quirex/quirex.html

http://www.cipbonline.org

8/27/01
3:35:30 PM

TomPaine.com

For Labor Day...

UNION ADVANTAGE

The Case for Organized Labor and Democracy in the Workplace

by David Kusnet

For half a century, unions helped build a more prosperous, egalitarian, and inclusive America. The deunionization of America has coincided with increasing inequality and stagnating living standards.

http://www.tompaine.com/history/2001/08/25/index.html

WORK AS BLESSING

by Lloyd Schwartz

On this Labor Day, let Coleridge's poem "Work without Hope" be an object lesson for those of us who, though we may complain, can truly celebrate returning to the work we love. A TomPaine.commentary -- Audio and Text -- produced by Sharon Basco.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/16/1.html

For Back-to-School...

STOP SELLING, START EDUCATING

A Teacher's Back-to-School Message to PBS

by Jerold M. Starr

A "betrayal of parents' trust in what is supposed to be noncommercial educational broadcasting."

http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/08/25/index.html

TomPaine.commentary

MARKETING DEHYDRATION, COORS STYLE

This is the Free Market Age. What's right is what sells.

by Dennis Hans

Dying of thirst? Forget water. Real men drink diuretic beer. "A Coors Light for everybody."

http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/08/26/index.html

The Loyal Opposition

BUSH'S ROSY SCENARIO HAS PLENTY OF THORNS

Tax Cut and Economic Slump Devour the Surplus

by David Corn

It may be time to "de-cut" the most egregious elements of the new tax cut -- the reduction of the top tax rate and the estate-tax repeal.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/24/index.html

FOX FANS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

Fury of the Faithful Unleashed on TomPaine.com

by The TomPaine.com Staff

Call it "News Rage" -- anger, hostility and threats directed via email at those who dare debate the Bully Pundits. We offer examples from recent experience.

http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/08/26/1.html

"Where knowledge is a duty, ignorance is a crime."

Thomas Paine, "Public Good" 1780

8/27/01
3:26:45 PM

The Blackout Bomb: What It Means To You

by John Lewallen, NuclearPress.com

If it happens tomorrow, you will be one of the few Americans who know that a nuclear explosion over the Midwest has melted most of the integrated circuits nationwide. A megaton-class thermonuclear explosion about 250 miles over Omaha, Nebraska, would emit an Electromagnetic Pulse large and strong enough to collapse information society from coast to coast, at the speed of light. You wouldn't feel anything. It would come and go in less than a second, a massive radio wave, everywhere at once. Picked up by copper wires and carried to the extremely vulnerable integrated circuits at switching centers, the Blackout Bomb would guarantee that there will be no official announcement of what has happened. This is the Blackout Bomb, the bomb the government doesn't want to talk about. In 1997 Congress held what was apparently its first public hearing on high-altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), a topic that had "riveted the attention of the military nuclear tactical community for three-and-a-half decades since the first comparatively modest one very unexpectedly turned off the lights over a few million square miles in the mid-Pacific," according to the testimony of Dr. Lowell Wood.

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1997_h/ha s197010_1.htm

"The entire topic of EMP was highly classified," said Dr. Wood, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist who has "worked for the past three decades in both the offensive and defensive aspects of EMP." The Blackout Bomb is simply a high-yield nuclear weapon, or a smaller nuclear weapon designed to maximize gamma-ray emissions. The EMP laydown of a thermonuclear burst moves at the speed of light, striking the Earth to the horizon at line-of-sight from the detonation. Gamma rays actually radiate spherically from the blast point, creating space EMP that, Dr. Wood added in written hearing testimony, would damage satellite electronics even at great distances from the explosion.

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1997_h/h9 70716w.htm

"The basic point," said Dr. Lowell Wood, "is that essentially all of our conventional military capability and all of our civilian infrastructure is highly vulnerable to EMP damage. The dollar numbers in the civilian infrastructure alone can be conservatively estimated at several trillion dollars' worth of infrastructure which is at risk potentially even from a single pulse--several trillion dollars." Dr. Wood testified that our civilization's vulnerability to EMP had increased "exponentially" since the 1962 Johnston Island test, which blacked out power grids and shut down autos in Hawaii, a thousand miles away from the burst. Microchips with integrated circuits are much more vulnerable to EMP than were the vacuum tubes used in the sixties. And, Dr. Wood testified, the smaller the integrated circuits get, the more vulnerable they are to EMP. Dr. Wood and other hearing participants recommended a national assessment of EMP vulnerability, military and civilian. But that would mean the government would have to talk about EMP, so the idea has gone nowhere. "Most modern computer systems ranging from laptops to mainframes would wilt. By wilting, they would at least cease to function," said Dr. Wood. He testified that the electrical controls of commercial aircraft would be shut down, but noted that most commercial aircraft are hard-wired to be landed manually. It is probably clear," said Dr. Wood, "that if this attack occurred at night most of the planes, most of the civilian airlines in the air, would be lost for obvious reasons. They simply won’t be able to land. They won’t have landing aids..."Weldon Committee EMP hearing, 1997 any future global war is likely to begin with a few Blackout Bombs. China, Russia, the United States, and other nuclear powers have several nuclear missiles, and perhaps weaponized satellites, designed to lay down EMP over continent-size areas instantaneously. What does the Blackout Bomb mean to you? While every nation on Earth is vulnerable to attack from the United States, the United States is vulnerable, indeed defenseless, to a secret class of nuclear weapons, which, in the words of Dr. Lowell Wood, have riveted the attention of the major nuclear powers--China, Russia, Britain, France, and the United States itself--for the past thirty-eight years. The Blackout Bomb means that we are vulnerable to complete information civilization shutdown, and there is nothing we can do about that in a military defensive sense. Only Peace Strategy, strategy focused on achieving peace, rather than winning war, will head off a global confrontation beginning, and hopefully ending, with a lot of high-altitude Electromagnetic Pulse laydown. The Blackout Bomb means, according to Dr. Wood's written testimony at the 1997 EMP hearing in Congress that our information civilization is subject to anonymous attack:

"What would the U.S. response be to a nuclear EMP 'bolt from the blue'--or even one from a geopolitically overcast sky? What if such an attack, e.g., executed with a single rather modest Earth-orbiting bomb, arguably could have been mounted not only by Russia, but also by China or India or Iran--or North Korea? Particularly if none of our fellow citizens died as a direct-and-immediate result of such an attack, what degree of certitude of attack attribution would we require of ourselves before an American President would order a retaliatory strike imposing condign punishment on the suspect nation? Paralyzed as a modern nation, thrown back decades in time in industrial capabilities but still retaining a reasonably full set of nuclear teeth in our national mouth, how would we Americans then choose whom to bite--if anyone? The intriguing allusion in Dr. Wood's testimony to a rather modest Earth-orbiting bomb is a rare, but revealing, glimpse at the shadowy world of satellite weaponry, which supposedly does not exist. When I was a child, the United States Government never questioned its responsibility to educate the American people about the true effects of nuclear weapons in the hands of our potential enemies. Education about the blast, thermal, and radiation effects of nuclear weapons was considered a fundamental part of the government's duty to provide for the common defense and to promote the general welfare. Nobody imagined a day would come when the nation had grown totally vulnerable to information civilization collapse from weapons deployed by potential enemies, and the United States Government would not actively warn the nation of the true nature of this peril. Dr. Lowell Wood noted that hardening systems to withstand EMP is a small part of cost, if done as part of the initial design. Yet no civilian and few military systems have been hardened to resist EMP. As a Peace Strategist, I recommend spreading word about high-altitude electromagnetic pulse weaponry as fast and wide as possible. We have a duty to educate and warn people. A national assessment of EMP vulnerability is, I believe, a good idea. However, I respectfully disagree with Dr. Wood’s recommendation that any civilian hardening to protect us from EMP be done. After a flirtation with civil defense and bomb shelters, Americans have realized that nuclear attack against the United States is not something they are willing to prepare for, because there is no rational way to prepare for it. I believe Russia, China, and the United States form a Nuclear Triangle with constant low-to high-key nuclear weapons confrontation in the air. If we start hardening our civilian infrastructure to withstand EMP, it will signal to the Russians and Chinese that we are moving toward the brink of nuclear war.

Some Strategic Implications of the Blackout Bomb

Accept for a moment that I am correct: the greatest danger of nuclear attack on the United States today is from Russia or China. The United States, Russia, and China are the Nuclear Triangle: in a constant state of nuclear weapons confrontation, hot or cold, always taking steps either away from the brink of nuclear war, or toward it. All three nations are poised to strike suddenly with high-altitude nuclear explosions over the others' territory, collapsing all the vulnerable electrical systems below, and destroying unprotected satellite electrical systems in line of sight of the blast. In addition to intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads in the megaton class, which China is known to have in the tens, and Russia and the United States in the thousands, for some thirty-seven years, according to Dr. Lowell Wood's testimony, all major nuclear powers have been developing a top-secret class of EMP nuclear weaponry. The secret EMP nuclear weapon of choice may be an orbiting thermonuclear bomb in a maneuverable satellite, miniaturized to maximize gamma ray emission, perhaps disguised as a telecommunications satellite. Note Dr. Wood's allusion above to an Earth-orbiting bomb Neither Russia, China, nor the United States have defense to prevent this. Russia and China are far less dependent on computers than is the United States. On this field of battle, high-altitude electromagnetic pulse warfare driven by nuclear explosions, the United States is the most vulnerable nation of the three contestants, simply because it is the most dependent on integrated circuits. Dr. Wood testified that the United States and Russia took different approaches to EMP warfare from the outset: The Soviets, he wrote, basically decided that EMP represented not only an exceptionally severe threat to the integrity of their military apparatus and their civilian infrastructure, but also offered extraordinary opportunities to their strategic offensive forces. Dr.Lowell Wood, Written EMP Congressional Testimony, 1997 The Russians now, according to Dr. Wood, have inherited more than a dozen Soviet SS-18 ICBM*s which carried large unitary warheads in the 10 megaton class that were believed to have the primary function and military role of conducting an extremely severe military laydown...That EMP strike component exists today in the Russian strategic order-of-battle, moreover at its maximum Cold War strength. I very confidently predict that it will be one of the last features of Soviet strategic nuclear weaponry to be retired from the Russian force structure. Weldon Committee EMP Hearing, 1997 Dr. Wood testified that the Russians have done much more EMP hardening and military/civilian preparedness training than has the United States. We Americans, Dr. Wood wrote, in contrast, collectively saw EMP as a major nuisance, which could be rather precisely understood, defended against 'good enough'--and thereafter largely ignored. Dr. Wood testified that satellites are especially vulnerable to the x-rays and gamma rays from a high-altitude nuclear explosion, which is different from atmospheric EMP but radiated spherically around the explosion. He added that no United States satellites could be considered reliably protected from space EMP, because EMP testing of protective systems is erratic. Chinese weapons strategists must have been ecstatic when they realized that even the possibility that they might be able to place one Blackout Bomb over the American Midwest would threaten their archenemy with devastation as a modern, post-industrial nation. Now, watching the United States rush into a field of battle--information and space weaponry--where it has a distinct strategic disadvantage--being the adversary most dependent on integrated circuits, a democracy with a population blissfully unaware of the Blackout Bomb--Chinese war strategists are focused on dominating information warfare. Major Mark A. Stokes of the U.S. Army War College wrote in his book-length report, "China's Strategic Modernization: Implications for the United States" (September, 1999, p.26): Enthusiasm reached a crescendo when China's leading authorities on strategy and warfare convened in Shijiazhuang for a 'Forum for Experts on Meeting the Challenges of the World Military Revolution' in December 1995....The more than 30 high-ranking experts attending the conference called for the development of weapons which can 'throw the financial systems and army command systems into chaos.* These types of weapons are useful for underdeveloped countries to use against a nation which is extremely fragile and vulnerable when it fulfills the process of networking and then relies entirely on electronic computers.* China must abandon the strategy of catching up* with more advanced powers and proceed from the brand new information warfare and develop our unique technologies and skills, rather than inlay the old framework with new technologies.* Some observers believe by adopting information-based approaches to warfare, China can effectively leapfrog into the 21st century as a preeminent military power."

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/doctrine/china mod.htm

Major Stokes did not connect this statement to high-altitude EMP nuclear weaponry. In fact, his study of China*s real and imagined electronic weaponry has only cursory mention of EMP. Is the Blackout Bomb so secret and potentially panic-causing that even many military strategists are in the dark about its true significance? Dr. Lowell Wood noted in verbal testimony at the 1997 EMP hearing in Congress that nuclear strategists in the United States do war simulations based on the presumption that a capable enemy would begin hostilities with high-altitude EMP weaponry. Since the Russians and Chinese know that we are ready to lay heavy EMP on them at the outset of hostilities, they try to be prepared to do the same to us, preferably first. Therefore, if we careen closer to nuclear conflict with Russia or China, the advantage of first-strike EMP escalates rapidly. The main reason why the Blackout Bomb probably never will be used against the United States is global interdependence: Russia, China, indeed the whole world would be set back massively by collapse of information civilization in the United States. The United States nuclear and non-nuclear forces, which can rain annihilation anywhere on Earth, some elements of which might survive massive EMP laydown, are a deterrent to attack on the U.S. with Blackout Bombs or any other weapons. Today, as we contemplate Russia*s escalating nuclear confrontation with the United States, and deal with the United States government*s push to deploy a system, the Blackout Bombs in the hands of the Russians and Chinese, and perhaps other nuclear powers, are a wild card. If and when our nuclear-armed adversaries decide military conflict with the U.S. is imminent, probably our information civilization will turn off like a light unplugged, and we, you and I, will be where we are at the time, looking at one another in amazed incomprehension. You will know what has happened. But how many others will?

http://www.nuclearpress.com/view.lasso?id=0012&-token.f=3

*Information for this article came from Threat Posed by Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) To U.S. Military Systems and Civil Infrastructure, testimony before the Military Research and Development Subcommittee, Committee on National Security, U.S. House of Representatives, July 16, 1997, available on the Web at the Federation of American Scientists website

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1997_h/h9 70716u.htm

*The real bombshell is the written testimony of Dr. Lowell Wood, EMP weapons scientist of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, at the above-mentioned hearing, written with a good ear for the catchy phrase and sound byte:

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1997_h/h9 70716w.htm

*For a Chinese opera of real and possible electronic weapons and strategy, see Mark A. Stokes, Major, China*s Strategic Modernization: Implications for the United States (U.S. Army War College, 1999).

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/doctrine/china mod.htm