12/7/01
5:00:18 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE <http://www.gristmagazine.com>
INTERIOR'S ULTERIOR MOTIVE
Ever since the White House declared energy independence a matter of national security, some unlikely evangelists have been belting out the clean energy gospel. Case in point: Last week, Gale Norton presided over the first national renewable energy summit in history, co-hosted by the Departments of Interior and Energy. Next the Department of Defense got into the groove, and things only got weirder from there. Is renewable energy making its way into the mainstream, or is the Bush administration playing the enviro tune to plug its war? Amanda Scott reports from the renewable energy summit, only on the Grist Magazine website.
only in Grist: Behind the scenes at the Bush administration's renewable energy summit -- in our Main Dish section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/scott120701.asp?source=daily>
LOST AT SEA
In the midst of an expedition to document the impact of global warming and pollution on the Amazon Basin, America's Cup champion Sir Peter Blake was shot and killed yesterday, when pirates boarded his research boat at the mouth of the Amazon River. Blake, a 53-year-old native of Auckland, New Zealand, won the yacht race in 1995 and 2000, but had recently retired from competitive sailing to devote his time to studying ecological problems and launching an adventure travel company. Blake was revered in New Zealand, where flags are being flown at half-mast to mourn his death.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Scott Gold, 07 Dec 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-000097318dec07.story>
SUIT UP
Two environmental groups launched the first legal assault on the Bush administration's energy policy, suing to overturn last September's sale of 12 new oil and gas leases by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in southern Utah. The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance claim that BLM officials violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act by issuing the leases to explore for oil and gas. The groups say the BLM neglected to analyze the impact of the leases on environmental and historic resources, and failed to solicit adequate public input before making its decision.
straight to the source: Salt Lake Tribune, Brent Israelsen, 07 Dec 2001 <http://www.sltrib.com/12072001/utah/155793.htm>
straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jim Carlton, 07 Dec 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB100766286132598320.htm>
BAD AIR DAY
As if flying didn't already make you nervous: Air quality aboard commercial jets can be hazardous to passenger's health and the airlines, but federal regulators have done little to address the problem, according to a report released yesterday by a panel of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The report said the systems for collecting health data about cabin air quality "are woefully inadequate," making it hard to establish clear connections between health complaints and cabin air. Areas of concern for passengers and flight crews include cabin pressure, ozone and carbon monoxide levels, and possible exposure to pesticides and fumes from engine oil, hydraulic fluids, and de-icing liquid. Panel members recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration begin a thorough investigation of the problem and assess whether to impose tougher air quality regulations on the industry.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, 07 Dec 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000097352dec07.story>
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
In a blow to environmentalists and unions, Republicans in the U.S. House pushed through a plan yesterday to give President Bush broad authority to negotiate trade agreements. The bill, which was approved by a single vote, would take away from Congress the power to amend trade deals brokered by the administration; lawmakers could merely vote yea or nay on the pacts. Enviro groups and unions fear their concerns would receive short shrift under such a system. Democrats also argued that the bill would enable foreign investors to challenge environmental regulations in the U.S.. To win the vote, the White House and GOP leadership played the terrorism card and doled out favors to any fence-sitting House members. A similar bill is expected to pass easily in the Senate.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, 07 Dec 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5609-2001Dec6.html>
WHAT RECESSION?
What's with all the talk about national energy security and a recession? American consumers aren't listening to the worrywarts -- they're out there doing their patriotic duty, lining up to buy SUVs at a record clip. Sales in November were up 13.7 percent last month from the year before. In fact, so far this year, half of the 20 best-selling vehicles in the country have been SUVs, according to the Commerce Department. (Could this have something to do with an announcement by the U.S. EPA in October that fuel efficiency for all 2001 model cars is only 20.4 miles per gallon, the lowest in two decades?) Senate Democrats said this week that they would fight to increase fuel-efficiency standards for SUVs, but somehow they forgot to mention just what size increase they would push for.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 07 Dec 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13620/story.htm>
straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Ball, 06 Dec 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB1007590025149604920.htm>
12/7/01
4:56:04 PM
Time for another edition of Greenpeace's Clean Energy Now! weekly campaign update - POSITIVE ENERGY!!!!
L.A. COMMUNITY COLLEGE SOLAR INITIATIVE AT RISK
Students and faculty at Los Angeles's nine community colleges have joined Greenpeace calling on the Community College District Board of Trustees to lead the way to a solar energy future for California and the country. The Board of Trustees is deciding how to spend $1.245 billion that voters approved for renovations and new buildings in a ballot measure. Students and faculty are working hard on campus and in the district's halls of power to ensure that a significant amount of that money goes to investments that will ensure clean air and a reduction in California's global warming emissions. Six out of nine student Senates, and all of the student body Presidents have passed resolutions calling on the Trustees to ensure that any new buildings constructed on community college campuses receive at least 25 percent of their energy supply from solar energy, and exceed California Building Code efficiency requirements by at least 25 percent.
Despite the overwhelming outcry for solar energy, the president of the Board of Trustees, Sylvia Scott Hayes, is refusing to meet with students, faculty, and activists, and is attempting to delay the solar vote in order to diffuse the public's interest in clean air and climate protection. You, however, can help . . .
Contact Mrs. Hayes now, and demand that the Community Colleges invest in solar and green buildings, by going to:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/bin/takeaction.pl?action_id=97
SWEDEN GOES BEYOND KYOTO
On November 29th 2001, Sweden demonstrated how governments can reduce greenhouse gas emissions without bankrupting their economy. It was officially announced that they have set their emissions reduction target at -4%, and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions without using "sinks" to capture carbon dioxide. While this is not nearly enough to stop the onslaught of global warming impacts, it is, according to a recent Greenpeace Nordic press release a "stumbling step in the right direction." Originally, the European Union required the emmissions only increased by +4% in Sweden from 1990 levels. This -4% emissions target is a tremendous improvement from that original goal.
We are far behind Sweden here in the US, but there is still hope that our local political leaders will move to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite the lack of leadership from the White House.
***CITY OF VALLEJO TO INSTALL 30MW OF RENEWABLE ENERGY***
The city of San Francisco is not alone in its efforts to meet future energy demands with renewable power. By early 2002, the city of Vallejo expects to begin construction on an initial 1 megawatt (MW) of solar and 10 MW of wind energy and could expand to meet the city's 100 MW base load energy demand within five years. This would allow the city to sell extra energy back to the grid! In May, the Vallejo City Council voted to negotiate a deal with BP Solar to build a 1 MW solar farm with half the energy going to city hall and the rest for sale on the grid. And, in then a 7-0 vote in August, the Vallejo authorized a round of talks with Terra Moya Aqua, a Wyoming wind generator, to build a 10 MW wind farm, at least one third would be devoted to the city's highest electricity costs: pumping reservoir water. Right now, the city is stuck buying power from the corporate culprit PG&E, but could soon be energy independent! Way to go Vallejo . . .
To find out more information, go to: www.ecologycenter.org
The "Positive Energy" newsletter and the web site,
will give you good news about ways to achieve clean air, climate justice and renewable energy solutions to our current energy crisis.
Want to do more? Become a Greenpeace member today!
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/join2/cen.htm
12/7/01
4:52:44 PM
ENVIRONMENTAL, TRIBAL COALITION CAMPAIGNS AGAINST COAL STRIP MINE
TEMPE, Arizona, November 30, 2001 (ENS) - A coalition of four grassroots and environmental groups, and the Pueblo of Zuni, is working to save the sacred Zuni Salt Lake from destruction by a sprawling strip mine.
The planned industrial facility in western New Mexico would destroy sacred shrines, human burial sites, and places of worship used by seven American Indian tribes. The Zuni Salt Lake Coalition brings together diverse groups seeking environmental justice.
"The proposed SRP Fence Lake coal mine directly affects our interests. Our input has been convoluted and dismissed at the expense of opening an unneeded mine," said Governor Malcolm Bowekaty of the Pueblo of Zuni. "We continue to seek all avenues to protect our Salt Lake. The Zuni Salt Lake Coalition is an additional means to safeguard a precious and rare resource."
The Salt River Project (SRP), an Arizona electric utility, has proposed a strip mine that would extract over 80 million tons of coal from 18,000 acres of public, state, and private land around the Zuni Salt Lake. Studies by the Department of Interior found that the mine will drain the Dakota Aquifer, damaging the sacred Zuni Salt Lake and destroying the delicate balance of water and salt found in this rare, high desert lake.
For thousands of years Zuni, Hopi, Acoma, Laguna, Navajo, and Apache people have come to the Zuni Salt Lake to collect its salt for ceremonial and domestic use. The tribes consider the lake and surrounding lands not only neutral territory, free for all to use, but also sacred. The Zuni believe the Salt Lake is home to Salt Woman, an important deity to their People.
Grassroots and environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, the Citizens Coal Council, and the Water Information Network have joined the tribe's fight.
"The strip mine will tear the heart out of these sacred places and belch greenhouse gases into our fragile atmosphere," said Andy Bessler of the Sierra Club. "If Salt River Project is serious about being 'Earthwise,' as they claim, they will drop plans for the Fence Lake Coal Mine and look to energy from wind and solar, not dirty coal."
The Pueblo of Zuni and the Center for Biological Diversity have appealed the state permit for the mine. The federal permit for the Fence Lake Coal Strip mine is not signed yet, but Coalition members fear that Interior Secretary Gale Norton will sign the permit.
"For over 30 years, my family and I have been living with the destruction, pollution and hatred brought by strip mining," said Norman Benally of the Citizens Coal Council, a Dine (Navajo) from Black Mesa, Arizona. "Coal companies have destroyed the grave sites of our loved ones, our ceremonial sites, and the homes of some of my family members. I don't want to see the Zuni go through what my family and other members of the Citizens Coal Council have suffered."
We do not know of any prepared action letters for this issue. In lieu of something more specific, we suggest going to the following website:
There you can enter your zip code and be able to send a message telling how you feel about this issue (or about any issue) to 4 government officials with just one click of your mouse: to your two US Senators, your US Congressperson, and to Bush.
12/7/01
4:49:54 PM
DEA Targets Hemp Foods, Sparks Canadian Complaints
By Ann Woolner
Atlanta, GA. (Bloomberg) -- Chomping on watercress and sipping lentil soup, I find it hard to believe that the bag sitting next to me could be filled with illegal drugs.
No one at the Whole Foods market raised an eyebrow when I plucked from the shelves and dropped into my basket items the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says may be as illegal as cocaine or marijuana.
Now, with my soup steaming and shoppers walking by, I reach into the bag and pull out this: a clearly marked bag of Healthy Hemp Sprouted Bread. I open it up and remove a slice. It is dark and full of seeds.
And then, in front of whoever may be watching, I eat it.
Indeed, unabashedly, I ingest it.
Doing so is not now illegal. But in two months, the DEA will treat hemp food containing even trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, as it would treat hemp's brother, marijuana. Its use, sale and distribution will be a criminal act, the DEA says.
THC is what makes marijuana users high, and scientists say it exists only in small amounts in the hemp plants that produce the oil and seed used in food. Almost all of it's removed in processing.
Bread Labels
Still, because hemp's merely a different strain of the plant known as marijuana, the DEA now says hemp is a controlled substance if it contains even an infinitesimal amount of THC.
Most hemp food makers say their products contain no THC, and often their labels say so. The label on my bread bag contains such a statement, for example. All that means, however, is that lab tests detected no THC.
A DEA spokeswoman says that's good enough for the DEA. The industry's still worried, because the vagaries of agriculture and more sophisticated testing could turn up trace amounts in products previously declared void of them.
It's not possible to get all the THC out of every seed and drop of oil, says Gordon Scheifele, a research scientist with the University of Guelph in Ontario and one of Canada's leading hemp scientists.
Besides, "It's absolutely impossible to establish a criteria of zero scientifically," he says "There's no equipment or lab technique capable of doing that."
That's why Canada and the European Community allow up to 10 parts per million of THC in hemp oil and seed.
Blame Canada
Canada's rules are important because commercial hemp farming, forbidden in the U.S., has been allowed there since 1998 under strict government scrutiny. That's where U.S. hemp food makers get their seed and oil.
Under the new DEA policy, products perfectly legal in Canada will be barred from U.S. markets. This violates the North American Free Trade Agreement, unless the DEA can show a scientific basis for doing so, hemp food advocates say.
And yesterday, Canada's embassy in Washington accused the DEA of breaching another international agreement. In a letter to the agency, the embassy complained that the DEA is barring a Canadian product without assessing health risks or notifying World Trade Organization members.
The DEA's not alleging health risks, nor does it care whether trace amounts of THC produce a high.
The agency has simply interpreted existing law to mean that any amount of THC makes hemp a controlled substance under its jurisdiction, says Rogene Waite, a DEA spokeswoman.
"It's a zero threshold," says Waite.
No High
At the levels Canada allows, "it's inconceivable" that someone could eat enough hemp food to produce a high, says Scheifele.
Even the then-chief of the Justice Department's Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, John Roth, said as recently as last year that hemp food products "have THC at levels too low to trigger a psychoactive effect." In a letter to the DEA last March, he said they're "explicitly excluded from regulation under the Controlled Substances Act" by the wording of the law itself.
He did suggest, however, that new "regulatory language" could make the products subject to control.
The new language came from the new administration.
The Hemp Industries Association and hemp food companies have gone to court to keep the DEA's enforcement power away from their products. Their court petition says the DEA overstepped its bounds by "rendering criminal one day conduct that was lawful the day before."
The zig-zags in U.S. policy has kept this new industry from growing as it otherwise would, say those in the business. They say hemp offers a rare combination of important health benefits, and tastes good, too.
'New Oat Bran'
"It's the new oat bran," declares Linda Cross, who works at my neighborhood health food co-op, Sevananda.
It's an industry that should, um, mushroom. But, "How can we attract capital when the government's threatening to shut you down," asks John Roulac, president of Nutiva, a California hemp food maker.
The DEA's new interpretation of the law takes effect immediately, although the agency has granted a grace period before enforcing it. The DEA rule gives those who make, distribute or sell hemp food products containing THC have until Feb. 9 to "dispose" of them.
Bloated
For the consumer, this means get them while you can.
Scouring the shelves at Whole Foods, a natural nutrition shop and Sevananda, I wind up with this cache: a 30-hit bottle of capsules, each containing 1,000 milligrams of pure hemp oil; "Hempini" hemp butter; Hemp Seed Nut (I get the large size, fearful of the future); two boxes of HempPlus Granola; two flavors of Govinda Hemp Bars; and, of course, the aforementioned bread.
Over the next 24 hours, I sample them all. I slather hemp butter on hemp bread. I bite into a hemp bar. I sprinkle hemp granola on my yogurt. I even eat seeds, all by themselves. Except for the oil capsules (which really should be swallowed whole), everything's so tasty I help myself to more. And more.
I also learn what happens if you eat a lot of this stuff. You don't get high. You get bloated.
12/7/01
4:42:52 PM
New at http://www.ips-dc.org
"Fast Track Passage Won't Defeat the Seattle Coalition" by Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh of IPS's Global Economy Project.
Also -- John Cavanagh will be on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show on Monday, December 10, at 10am Eastern. The Diane Rehm show is on 88.5 fm in Washington and syndicated throughout the country. You can also listen live or after the fact via the web at
The Institute's Democracy Summer/Democracy Action Project has also recently unveiled a new website, and there is plenty of new material on the IPS/The Nation magazine Electoral Reform pages.
12/7/01
4:40:55 PM
Researchers look at a time when the Army sprayed what it thought was harmless on San Francisco and other cities
By Jim Carlton, WALL STREET JOURNAL
SAN FRANCISCO -- Fifty-one years ago, Edward Nevin checked into a San Francisco hospital, complaining of chills, fever and general malaise. Three weeks later, the 75-year-old retired pipe fitter was dead, the victim of what doctors said was an infection of the bacterium Serratia marcescens.
Decades later, Mr. Nevin's family learned what they believe was the cause of the infection, linked at the time to the hospitalizations of 10 other patients.
In Senate subcommittee hearings in 1977, the Army revealed that weeks before Nevin sickened and died, the Army had staged a mock biological attack on San Francisco, secretly spraying the city with Serratia and other agents thought to be harmless.
The goal: to see what might happen in a real germ-warfare attack. The experiment, which involved blasting a bacterial fog over the 49-square-mile city from a Navy vessel offshore, was recorded with clinical nonchalance: "It was noted that a successful BW (biological warfare) attack on this area can be launched from the sea, and that effective dosages can be produced over relatively large areas," the Army wrote in its 1951 classified report on the experiment.
Now, with anthrax in the mail and fear mounting of further biological attacks, researchers are again looking back at the only other time this country faced the perils of germ warfare -- albeit self-inflicted.
In fact, much of what the Pentagon knows about the effects of bacterial attacks on cities came from those secret tests conducted on San Francisco and other American cities from the 1940s through the 1960s, experts say.
"We learned a lot about how vulnerable we are to biological attack from those tests," says Leonard Cole, adjunct professor of political science at Rutgers University in New Jersey and author of several books on bioterrorism.
"I'm sure that's one reason crop dusters were grounded after Sept. 11: The military knows how easy it is to disperse organisms that can affect people over huge areas."
In other tests in the 1950s, Army researchers dispersed Serratia on Panama City, Fla., and Key West, Fla., with no known illnesses resulting.
They also released fluorescent compounds over Minnesota and other Midwestern states to see how far they would spread in the atmosphere.
The particles of zinc-cadmium-sulfide -- now a known cancer-causing agent -- were detected more than 1,000 miles away in New York state, the Army told the Senate hearings, though no illnesses were ever attributed to them as a result.
Another bacterium, Bacillus globigii, never shown to be harmful to people, was released in San Francisco, while still others were tested on unwitting residents in New York, Washington, D.C., and along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, among other places, according to Army reports released during the 1977 hearings.
In New York, military researchers in 1966 spread Bacillus subtilis variant Niger, also believed to be harmless, in the subway system by dropping lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto tracks in stations in midtown Manhattan.
The bacteria were carried for miles throughout the subway system, leading Army officials to conclude in a January 1968 report: "Similar covert attacks with a pathogenic (disease-causing) agent during peak traffic periods could be expected to expose large numbers of people to infection and subsequent illness or death."
Army officials also found widespread dispersal of bacteria in a May 1965 secret release of Bacillus globigii at Washington's National Airport and its Greyhound bus terminal, according to military reports released a few years after the Senate hearings.
More than 130 passengers who had been exposed to the bacteria traveled to 39 cities in seven states in the two weeks following the mock attack.
The Army kept the biological-warfare tests secret until word of them was leaked to the press in the 1970s. Between 1949 and 1969, when President Nixon ordered the Pentagon's biological weapons destroyed, open-air tests of biological agents were conducted 239 times, according to the Army's testimony in 1977 before the Senate's subcommittee on health.
In 80 of those experiments, the Army said it used live bacteria that its researchers at the time thought were harmless, such as the Serratia that was showered on San Francisco. In the others, it used inert chemicals to simulate bacteria.
Several medical experts have since claimed that an untold number of people may have gotten sick as a result of the germ tests.
These researchers say even benign agents can mutate into unpredictable pathogens once exposed to the elements.
"The possibility cannot be ruled out that peculiarities in wind conditions or ventilation systems in buildings might concentrate organisms, exposing people to high doses of bacteria," testified Stephen Weitzman of the State University of New York, in the 1977 Senate hearings.
For its part, the Army justified its experiments by noting concerns during World War II that United States cities might come under biological attack. To prepare a response, the Army said, it had to test microbes on populated areas to learn how bacteria disperse.
"Release in and near cities, in real-world circumstances, were considered essential to the program, because the effect of a built-up area on a biological agent cloud was unknown," Edward Miller, the Army's secretary for research and development at the time, told the subcommittee.
But in at least one case -- the bacterial fogging of San Francisco -- the research may have gone awry.
Between Sept. 20 and Sept. 27 of 1950, a Navy mine-laying vessel cruised the San Francisco coast, spraying an aerosol cocktail of Serratia and Bacillus microbes -- all believed to be safe -- over the famously foggy city from giant hoses on deck, according to declassified Army reports.
According to lawyers who have reviewed the reports, researchers added fluorescent particles of zinc-cadmium-sulfide to better measure the impact. Based on results from monitoring equipment at 43 locations around the city, the Army determined that San Francisco had received enough of a dose for nearly all of the city's 800,000 residents to inhale at least 5,000 of the particles.
Two weeks after the spraying, on Oct. 11, 1950, Nevin checked in to the Stanford Hospital in San Francisco with fever and other symptoms. Ten other men and women checked in to the same hospital -- which has since been relocated to Stanford University in Palo Alto -- with similar complaints.
Doctors noticed that all 11 had the same malady: a pneumonia caused by exposure to bacteria believed to be Serratia marcescens. Nevin died three weeks later. The others recovered. Doctors were so surprised by the outbreak that they reported it in a medical journal, oblivious at the time to the secret germ test.
After the Army disclosed the tests nearly three decades later, Nevin's surviving family members filed suit against the federal government, alleging negligence.
"My grandfather wouldn't have died except for that, and it left my grandmother to go broke trying to pay his medical bills," says Nevin's grandson, Edward J. Nevin III, a San Francisco attorney who filed the case in United States District Court here.
Army officials noted the pneumonia outbreak in their 1977 Senate testimony but said any link to their experiments was totally coincidental.
No other hospitals reported similar outbreaks, the Army pointed out, and all 11 victims had urinary-tract infections following medical procedures, suggesting that the source of their infections lay inside the hospital.
The Nevin family appealed the suit all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to overturn lower court judgments upholding the government's immunity from lawsuits.
Today, the U.S. military is again patrolling San Francisco's coastline, guarding against someone who might try to copy the Army tests of half a century ago. Local officials say such an attack is unlikely, given the logistical problems of blasting the city without Navy ships.
Partly as a result of Nevin's death, says Lucien Canton, director of San Francisco's emergency services, "One thing we now know is that it takes an awful lot of stuff to produce casualties, especially in a place like San Francisco that always has a stiff breeze."
12/7/01
4:38:18 PM
Government Eyes Its Own for Anthrax
The FBI investigates federal laboratories and contractors as possible sources for the pathogen used in the attacks
By William J. Broad and Judith Miller
The FBI has expanded its investigation of the anthrax attacks to include the laboratories of the government and its contractors as a possible source of anthrax that has infected and killed five people, say scientists and law enforcement officials.
While theories about the culprit have focused mainly on domestic loners and foreign states or terrorists, law enforcement officials are now examining the possibility that the criminal may be a knowledgeable insider.
Asked if the FBI was investigating U.S. military and nonmilitary laboratories that held the anthrax strain used in the attacks and individuals associated with such centers, a law enforcement official replied, "Certainly."
The official said, "We are aggressively investigating every possible lead and every possible avenue," adding it was "logical."
Federal agents are known to be interrogating the military establishment that replaced the nation's old program for making biological weapons.
The facilities of that program, in western Maryland, are major repositories of the anthrax strain used in the attacks.
Col. Arthur Friedlander, the senior research scientist at the Army's biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., said Friday that officials there were cooperating with federal investigators.
"They've asked us about personnel who had access," Friedlander said, speaking reluctantly and offering no details.
"They didn't talk to me about my personal experience," said Friedlander, a physician and leading anthrax expert.
"They asked me about other personnel."
He went on to dismiss the insider idea as improbable.
The person who made the killer anthrax, he said, "clearly knew what they were doing. But to make the leap that this came out of a government lab is somewhat large."
He emphasized that no one in his organization, the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, a leader in creating germ defenses, even knew how to make dry anthrax, as was found in the letters.
Instead, he said, scientists there used wet anthrax, which is far easier to make. It is used in developing vaccines and testing their effectiveness.
"We haven't had an offensive program for a long time," Friedlander said. Nobody at the Army's lab, he added, "has that kind of expertise."
A dozen or two U.S. laboratories are said to have the Ames strain, though no one knows for sure because researchers over the decades have shared such pathogens informally.
Military laboratories such as the one at Fort Detrick, as well as military contractors, are central to the Ames network, as they have often pioneered the nation's research on vaccines and other defenses against germ weapons.
The United States began its military program to make germ weapons during World War II and over the decades developed many ways to spread many diseases.
A top agent was anthrax, a gallon of which was strong enough to kill 8 billion people. President Richard Nixon, after renouncing germ weapons in 1969, championed a global treaty that, starting in 1975, banned such arms.
Since the start of the anthrax attacks, federal officials, scientists and amateur sleuths have scrambled to identify the source.
Some see the attacker as home-grown, perhaps a disaffected scientist or a militia group, while others discern a conspiracy by a state such as Iraq or a foreign terrorist group.
The current avenue of inquiry is consistent with the official profile of the suspect, released Nov. 9 by the FBI.
The profile describes a man with a strong interest in science who is comfortable working with hazardous material and has "access to a source of anthrax and possesses knowledge and expertise to refine it."
Separately, a private expert in biological weapons, Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, has recently published a paper contending that a government insider, or someone in contact with an insider, is behind the lethal attacks.
Though not an expert on criminal profiling, Rosenberg, a molecular biologist at the State University of New York, has testified on biological weapons before Congress, advised Bill Clinton when he was president and addressed international arms control meetings, including one a few days ago in Geneva.
Law enforcement officials said Rosenberg's assertion might turn out to be well founded, though they emphasized that the investigation was still broad-based.
One official close to the federal investigation called the Rosenberg theory "the most likely hypothesis."
Referring to her paper, the official said, "I might not have put it so strongly, but it's definitely reasonable."
Other analysts, including some scientists and experts in germ weapons, expressed more skepticism that it was an insider, contending that the skills and knowledge needed to produce the type of anthrax in this attack were widely available.
The paper laying out Rosenberg's thesis was distributed on Thursday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an arms control group.
Rosenberg, who conducts research at State University of New York and is chairwoman of an arms control panel at the Federation of American Scientists, a private group in Washington, D.C., has argued repeatedly that states, not individuals, have the wherewithal to make advanced biological weapons.
International treaties that prohibit that work, she believes, are critical.
Rosenberg reasoned that the Ames strain probably did not originate in 1980 or 1981, as is often asserted, but arose many decades earlier and was used in the secretive U.S. program to make biological weapons.
She noted a conclusion reached by some experts knowledgeable about the investigation, that the anthrax powder distributed in the attacks by letter was treated in a sophisticated manner so it floated easily, as was done in the old U.S. offensive program.
"All the available information," she said, "is consistent with a U.S. government lab as the source, either of the anthrax itself or of the recipe for the U.S. weaponization process."
Rosenberg contended that the anthrax used in the attacks either originated in the U.S. weapons program itself or was made by someone who had learned the secret recipe.
The killer, Rosenberg concludes, is "an American microbiologist who had, or once had, access to weaponized anthrax in a U.S. government lab, or had been taught by a U.S. defense expert how to make it.
"Perhaps he had a vial or two in his basement as a keepsake."
The paper, "A Compilation of Evidence and Comments on the Source of the Mailed Anthrax," dated Nov. 29, is based on interviews with federal and private experts, published reports and scientific articles.
Richard Ebright, a microbiologist at Rutgers University who has closely followed the anthrax case and has read Rosenberg's paper, said he found it provocative but unconvincing.
"This is one extreme in the theorizing," Ebright said. "There are elements that are reasonable, but elements that are not. I'm confident that she started with the insider conclusion and then selected the facts."
Even so, he said, U.S. foes seem likely to seize on the paper and amplify the provocative thesis.
"Every state that's hostile to the United States is going to pick up on this," Ebright said. "They'll say it was an orchestrated government attack, which I don't believe for a second. But you can see people believing it."
Source: http://www.NYTimes.com
12/7/01
4:34:27 PM
Anthrax Hoax
If one of our own agents or scientists is suspected of perpetrating the Anthrax scare, why are we proposing to spend billions of more dollars on a faulty remedy.
Irradiation of US mail is in the pipeline and already happening in Washington DC. Because irradiation destroys/changes seeds, film, drugs, food, etc., to create a system that would allow the mailing of items like seeds, film, drugs, food, a complex series of loopholes would have to be devised which would make this expensive "Anthrax Defense System" worthless. Public Citizen and the Center for Food Safety have released a report on dangerous changes in food (the formation of unique radiolytic compounds) caused by the lower levels of irradiation" [now in use on foods in the US]
http://sf.indymedia.org/2001/12/111201.php
http://sf.indymedia.org/2001/12/111201.php</A
"Terror Anthrax Linked to Type Made by U.S."
By WILLIAM J. BROAD, NY Times
The high quality, the adviser said, lends credence to the idea that someone with links to military laboratories or their contractors might be behind the attacks. "It's frightening to think that one of our own scientists could have done something like this," he said. "But it's definitely possible."
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=99633&group=webcast
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=99633&group=webcast</A
US Expert Believed Behind Anthrax Attacks
GERMANY: November 29, 2001
BERLIN - The anthrax attacks in the United States were probably the work of a member of a U.S. biological warfare programme, the magazine of environment pressure group Greenpeace Germany reported yesterday.
The magazine said its article was based on information from a U.S. delegation source at the United Nations biological weapons conference in Geneva that began last week. The attacks have killed five people.
"The U.S. delegation believe it is an inside job... Their members also have more information than has been made public," Kirsten Brodde, a reporter for the magazine, told Reuters.
The magazine said: "It seems the attacker...wanted to force through an increase in the budget for U.S. research on biological weapons."
It speculated that the attacker, who used anthrax-laced mail, had probably wanted to cause panic rather than kill anyone.
U.S. investigators have still not determined who was behind the attacks, but Attorney General John Ashcroft has signalled the authorities were inclined to believe they had a domestic source.
The attacks occurred in the aftermath of the September 11 suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington and prompted initial accusations by President George W. Bush that Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden may been responsible.
Asked about the magazine article, an FBI spokesman reiterated that investigators were pursuing a number of leads but no arrests appeared imminent.
A spokesman for the U.S. delegation in Geneva said he did not have any information about the article.
The magazine is linked to the environmental lobby group and shares its offices, but it said it was financially and editorially independent.
12/7/01
4:24:19 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
WORMWOOD THE BASIS FOR A CANCER-FIGHTING PILL
by Environmental News Network
-- A nontoxic pill consisting of wormwood may be useful in treating breast cancer and leukemia, according to two University of Washington bioengineers.
ON SOCIAL JUSTICE: REVISITING PENRY
by Vivian Berger, The National Law Journal
-- Since the 1989 Penry v. Lynaugh case, the highest court reviewed no cases about capital punishment on individuals with mental retardation. All that changed when the U.S. Supreme Court accepted the recent Atkins v. Virginia case.
SATIREWIRE'S 2ND ANNUAL POETRY SLAM...ER...SPAM
SatireWire.com
-- Last year we showcased the winners of SatireWire's Poetry Contest; this year we're ahead of the curve. If you need to express your feelings about all the spam in your inbox, here's your chance.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
12/7/01
4:21:23 PM
"When you get caught up in ideas that there is an enemy -- and there is certainly enough evidence to work with for that idea -- you perpetuate the experience of being a victim. You choose the downward spiral. Are there people working in concert -- a conspiracy toward certain aims? Absolutely. But are you working in concert with others to create a new world, to assist the planet in her ascension? We hope so! Is that a conspiracy, too? Are you "conspiring" to bring about "Heaven on Earth"? We hope so!..."
http://www.operationterra.com/Messages/Vol02/Cross_Roads26.html
12/7/01
4:17:44 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
ASSESSMENT OF AFGHAN ENVIRONMENT PROPOSED FOR RECONSTRUCTION
NAIROBI, Kenya, December 6 2001 (ENS) - Environmental issues should form part of the package being considered by governments for the rehabilitation of Afghanistan, Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said today.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-06-03.html
U.S. HOUSE PASSES FAST TRACK AUTHORITY
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, December 6, 2001 (ENS) - Late this afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to give President George W. Bush the authority to approve international trade agreements without Congressional input. Conservation groups say the so called fast track legislation could undermine efforts to include environmental, public health and labor provisions in new trade pacts.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-06-06.html
LANDMINE DANGER DROPPING WORLDWIDE, BUT NOT IN AFGHANISTAN
WASHINGTON, DC, December 6, 2001 (ENS) - The number of deaths caused by landmines and unexploded ordnance has fallen to less than 10,000 a year from the previously reported 26,000 casualties annually, according to a new U.S. State Department report.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-06-02.html
ANTI-INCINERATION PROTESTS ACROSS SPAIN
MADRID, Spain, December 6, 2001 (ENS) - A new campaign against waste incineration was launched last weekend in Spain with protests outside 12 cement-works and municipal waste incinerators aimed at generating public debate about health risks associated with the emission of dioxins and furans.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-06-01.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: DECEMBER 6, 2001
Senate Energy Bill Has Pros, Cons
Farm Bill Opposed by Bush, Supported by Enviros
Leap Years Throw Wrench in Climate Predictions
Comprehensive Report Details Health of California Rivers
Peconic Bay Gets Long Term Restoration Plan
Shell Fined $350,000 Over Plant Explosion
Invasive Algae Threatens Hawaiian Corals
Suit Would Rein In Wild Horse Roundups
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-06-09.html
12/7/01
4:15:09 PM
MOJOURNAL
* German Greens' Changing Colors * - Web Exclusive: Critics of the German Green Party's vote supporting the deployment of troops in Afghanistan say it cost the party its principles. Will it also cost the Greens their political base?
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/greens.html
* On to Iraq? * - Web Exclusive: Novelist Simon Pearson predicted a US attack on Iraq in his fiction -- a scenario that is looking more and more like a potential fact.
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/totalwar_book. html
* Beyond the Blasts * - Web Exclusive: Arab fighters can't return home; foreign students to face more restrictions; an obliterated village where "nothing" happened; Mullah Omar car camping; MIA: Missing in Afghanistan; more ...
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/blast13.html#120501
* Bush Files * - Web Exclusive: Investigating "un-American" art; Bush's first Sept. 11 thought; O'Neill on his way out?; regulatory czar asks business which rules to dump; Bush to nominate "biblical law" activist; more ...
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/bushfiles42.html#120501
* Discuss * - Coming out of the woodwork: Far-right groups in the US are using the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to promote their own agendas at home. Is a nation at war particularly vulnerable to messages of racial hatred, division, and isolationism?
http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/WebX?50@@.ee9a04f
12/7/01
4:11:42 PM
GreenPeace True Food Network
Trader Joe's Drops GMO Food
After a year of a national consumer campaign targeted against it, Trader Joe's announced on November 14th that the grocery store chain would no longer use genetically engineered ingredients in its store brand products. Trader Joe's is the first mainstream grocery store chain to announce a non-GMO food policy for their store brands.
http://www.truefoodnow.org/inside_scoop/index.html#traderjoes
True Food Guide: Help Stop New Genetically Engineered Fruits And Vegetables
When Greenpeace released our True Food Shopping List in October 2000, we received thousands of requests for the popular list and many questions about eating GMO-Free.
In response, we have created a bigger and more comprehensive Guide. Released in November 2001, the new Shopper's Guide not only includes a list of food brands that do and do not contain GE ingredients, but it also list of common fruits, grains and vegetables and what the biotech industry is planning to do with these food. Don't want to eat herbicide tolerant rice or drink wine from GE grapes? Help stop the next wave of genetically engineered foods!
http://www.truefoodnow.org/gmo_facts/whole_foods
The FDA Denies Mandatory Labeling, Volunteers Just Label It!
In October, Greenpeace True Food Network activists in 10 cities joined with local groups to label genetically engineered foods in supermarkets.
The FDA, in January, only approved voluntary labelling of genetically engineered food, despite receiving 600,000 public comments in support of mandatory labeling. So concerned citizens volunteered to do just that - label it!
http://www.truefoodnow.org/inside_scoop/index.html#labelit
Starlink Corn: Consumers Stop EPA's Approval For Food Supply
Despite industry moves to allow StarLink corn in the human food supply, the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year reaffirmed that the GE corn will not be allowed for human consumption.
The EPA's moves followed outcries from consumers and environmental groups. And their decision followed an EPA advisory panel decision that StarLink was indeed a "potential allergen" and was not safe in the food supply. In addition, the panel called for a two-year allergy testing regime, and urged federal agencies to take measures to prevent this type of contamination from occurring in the future.
http://www.truefoodnow.org/inside_scoop/index.html#starlink
Biotech Company Feel the Heat on GE Fish
In March, Greenpeace exposed that the FDA was considering approving genetically engineered salmon for the human food supply. In timing with the International Seafood Show in Boston, Greenpeace helped draw attention to this issue by hanging a 6,000 square foot banner reading "Stop Genetically Engineered Fish" over the roof of A/F Protein, Inc, the company responsible for making genetically engineered salmon. News stories were generated in over 15 different countries about the Greenpeace action.
Following news of the AF Protein's petition to commercialize the GE Salmon, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, an international body, reaffirmed their position that GE salmon should not be raised in or near open waters where the fish could escape and threaten wild species.
http://www.truefoodnow.org/inside_scoop/index.html#gefish
Greenpeace Exposes Rice with Human Genes Growing in California
Unbeknownst to the residents of Sutter County, pharmaceutical (pharm) rice is growing in open-air fields in this rice-growing region of northern California. The rice has been genetically engineered with human genes to produce human proteins for drug production. The biotech company, Applied Phytologics, which is responsible for the rice drug, was field testing the pharm crop within a few hundred feet of conventional rice.
Neither the USDA nor the state of California has any regulations on the production of these pharmaceutical crops, putting the environment and food supply at risk.
http://www.truefoodnow.org/inside_scoop/index.html#pharmarice
International Round Up:
Mexican Corn Contamination
In September, the Mexican Intersecretarial Commission on Biosafety (CIBIOGEM) publicly acknowledged the genetic contamination of local varieties of corn. Fifteen out of twenty-two communities in the States of Oaxaca and Puebla have been affected.
EU Labels, Says No to new GMOs
In October, European Union (EU) governments adopted a plan to require mandatory labeling of GE ingredients in food products and animal feed. The EU also kept in place a 1998 ban on the commercialization of new GE crops in the union.
http://www.truefoodnow.org/inside_scoop/index.html#international
12/7/01
4:06:07 PM
t r u t h o u t | 12.07
By a Single Vote House GOP Prevails on Fast Track
http://www.truthout.com/12.07A.GOP.215-214.htm
Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's Top Aide Reported Dead
http://www.truthout.com/12.07B.Zawahiri.Dead.htm
WILLIAM SAFIRE | 'Voices of Negativism'
http://www.truthout.com/12.07C.Safire.Voices.htm
CONYERS Blasts; "Help America Vote Act" "Actually Weakens Current Law"
http://www.truthout.com/12.07D.Conyers.Loaf.htm
RUMSFELD Warns of 'Messy' War
http://www.truthout.com/12.07E.Messy.War.htm
Civil Rights Commissioner in Showdown With Bush
http://www.truthout.com/12.07F.Showdown.htm
12/7/01
4:04:22 PM
AlterNet Headlines
IT'S ONLY THE CONSTITUTION
Nat Hentoff, The Progressive
Looking at the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 in historical context, it is clear that playing fast and loose with civil liberties is a bad idea.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12032
GERALD LEVIN'S NEGATIVE LEGACY
Jeffrey Chester, AlterNet
As front-page stories gush over the accomplishments of Gerald Levin, AOL Time Warner's CEO, his retirement has obscured the more negative part of his legacy.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12039
HUFFINGTON: THE EVILDOERS AND THE MISLED
Arianna Huffington, AlterNet
What are we to make of John Walker, the 20-year-old All- American kid who turned Taliban warrior? Maybe that Bush's "us vs. them, good vs. evil" talk is hollow rhetoric.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12041
PEARL HARBOR: A LOOK BACK, A LOOK FORWARD
Tucker Teutsch, AlterNet
In remembering the Dec. 7 anniversary of Pearl Harbor, history has largely forgotten the U.S. internment of German families living in America.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12018
IT'S PERSONAL: RACE AND OPRAH
Tammy Johnson, ColorLines
Has Oprah taken on the role of New Age mammy for suburban soccer moms? In other words, does she play it weak when it comes to boundaries of color and race?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11994
ZENFULLY YOURS
Justin Berton, Metro Silicon Valley
Once the packaging schtick of organic farmers and soulful, independent health food producers, the mind/body/spirit marketing niche has a new pal: Madison Avenue.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12017
HOW THE TALIBAN STOLE CHRISTMAS
Santa Claus, Sacramento News and Review
Can Santa Claus save Christmas, revive the economy and help make the world more safe and free? Damnit, he's gonna try! A hilarious rant penned by St. Nick himself.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12029
FOR GLOBAL SECURITY, FAST TRACK IS THE WRONG PATH Kevin Danaher and Jason Mark, AlterNet
A Congressional vote on whether to give the President "fast track" powers in trade negotiations could happen any day. For our safety in the terror war, Congress should vote no.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12030
QUESTIONING THE QUESTIONING
Nancy Guerin, Metroland
Is the federal government's Muslim-American voluntary interview program violating civil rights?
* In Human Rights USA: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=22
GARCIA: FILM FEATURES REFUGEE'S STORY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
James E. Garcia, AlterNet
A new documentary fluidly melds the experiences of Maria Guardado with broader, critical questions about the sometimes unsavory alliances that result from U.S. foreign policy.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12034
HUTCHINSON: POLICE-FBI ROUNDUPS NOT NEW
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet
The seed for the government ethnic targeting of Arab Americans was planted in the 1960s. The ghetto riots that rocked hundreds of American cities triggered the first major escalation in police power.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12033
DURST: PATRIOTISM SALE 2001
Will Durst, AlterNet
The challenge is terrorism. The answer is a 20 percent Patriots Sale(tm) on everything in the store! (Not including video games or consoles.)
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12027
LAND LOSS, POVERTY AND HUNGER
Anuradha Mittal, International Forum on Globalization Agricultural liberalization has failed to live up to its advertising as the key to improving farmers' economic situations in developing nations and solving world hunger.
* In Globalization: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=21
12/7/01
3:58:39 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
US green groups sue to halt Utah canyon drilling - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13610/story.htm
US fuel standard can't be raised until 2004 models - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13614/story.htm
UPDATE - Trade bill passes House in victory for Bush - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13617/story.htm
US drivers in SUV gas-guzzling buying spree - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13620/story.htm
UK minister, Ofgem at odds over green power costs - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13615/story.htm
Metraux wins car waste processing order - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13623/story.htm
Vattenfall mull swapping Barseback n-plant for gas - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13616/story.htm
Hundreds fan out in Indian reserve to count tigers - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13621/story.htm
Denmark seals its first CO2 pollution deals - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13611/story.htm
Canadian farms forecast to be eco-friendly by 2005 - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13618/story.htm
British Columbia still seeks offshore oil drilling - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13619/story.htm
Brazil orders studies into third nuclear reactor - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13622/story.htm
12/6/01
7:07:48 PM
Dear Friends,
Please feel free to share this with others:
On Monday November 26th, 2001 I met with a group of about 15 Japanese activists and students in Tokyo to talk about low frequency active sonar (LFAS). I felt this was important to do because I had learned that the boat equipped with this system is stationed off Japan. I am grateful to Earth Island Institute for alerting me to this as I was going to Japan anyway to teach workshops. They put me in touch with Ms. Nanami Kurasawa of the Dolphin and Whale Action Network of Japan. I was very impressed with her work and that of this small dedicated group of Japanese environmentalists.
They're working very hard to stop the killing of whales and dolphin hunts which is part of fisheries practice in Japan. They're also trying to prevent aquariums from keeping orcas captive. Another focus of their work is to protect a pod of about 50 dugong (manatees) in Okinawa. This is the northernmost group of dugong and several of the people in the group are trying to protect them. One man told me that 75 percent of the United States Navy is stationed in Okinawa, something I had not known.
I felt a little badly adding LFAS to their list of concerns but they were very interested . After after explaining the basic situation, I showed the KGO news videotape. My interpreter did excellent job of communicating with the audience ( apparently she has interpreted for other American ocean activists visiting Japan and is familiar with the issues). The meeting went on longer than we had expected as people had many questions. One woman who leads eco-tours in Okinawa was particularly eager to find the LFAS boat and put herself in the water to protest. Thanks to Douglas Webster, I was able to give her a website with a photo of the boat.
I asked the group members to introduce themselves to me and to one another. This provided an opportunity for some of them to connect with one another and to know that there are others who care. As we have done at SeaFlow events in Hawaii and the San Francisco area, and at Nanami-san's request, I closed with a guided meditation. I also asked them to spread the word about LFAS with any American friends they might have.
ALERT: If anyone finds out where LFAS boats might be stationed, please let me know so that I can communicate this to the Japanese contact. The woman eco-tour leader was so eager to find the boat that I want to be sure to let her know if it is no longer in Japan so she doesn't waste her precious energy.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this sharing of information and inspiration.
May there be peace in all the worlds.
Love and aloha,
Hallie Austen Iglehart
12/6/01
7:04:37 PM
Breaking Free Of The Oil-Hog Cycle
By David Suzuki
There's never been a better time to buy a new vehicle! Zero percent financing! Be a patriot: Buy a car! The ads are hard to miss, and they're striking a chord with North Americans. Low interest rates are pushing record vehicle sales. And what vehicles are selling? In the United States last month, light trucks and SUVs topped the list. Those vehicles may guzzle gas, but with low prices once again returning to the pumps, people aren't very concerned about fuel efficiency.
That's too bad for a number of reasons. First, transportation has a bigger impact on the environment than any other sector of society. A whopping 40 percent of all the oil consumed in the United States is used to power passenger vehicles. And although modern pollution controls have reduced some vehicle emissions that cause smog, the average new passenger vehicle today still burns more gasoline than a new vehicle did nearly two decades ago. That means higher emissions, especially of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
The atmosphere and climate are not limited by human borders, so transportation isn't just a local, regional, or even a national issue. It's global. Certainly the effects of air pollution are largely local and regional, but the costs of dealing with the health problems associated with poor air quality extend to a national level. And global warming is a problem that affects the whole planet, and it will impact the world's poorest people the most.
Consider Bangladesh, for example. Most of its 130 million citizens earn less than US$1 a day. Together, these people emit just O.1 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. But because of the country's low-lying geography, it could be one of the hardest hit by a changing climate. Even a small rise in sea level could have catastrophic effects, and increases in extreme weather events like cyclones could be equally disastrous.
Second, all the gas-guzzling done by our light trucks and SUVs doesn't just change the climate, it also drives wild fluctuations in oil prices — what MIT economist Paul Krugman calls the "oil-hog cycle." Those price fluctuations and the high demand for imported oil in the United States is one of the causes of the instability that plagues the Middle East. Reducing our consumption of oil would help reduce that instability. And in a recent editorial in the New York Times, Mr. Krugman argues that politically and economically, now is an ideal time to implement conservation policies.
One of those policies would be to close the loophole that exempts SUVs and pickup trucks from passenger fuel-efficiency standards. Manufacturers have resisted this step on the grounds that it would be too expensive. But the Union of Concerned Scientists says existing technologies can "green" SUVs by using a more efficient engine and low-resistance tires, improving aerodynamics, and reducing body weight to improve fuel efficiency by nearly 50 percent. These changes would increase the price of the vehicle slightly, but reduced fuel costs would, over a few years, more than make up the difference and eventually yield substantial savings. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences also recently concluded that automakers could improve fuel efficiency of the vehicle fleet by 40 percent without undue cost burdens.
Unfortunately, Canada doesn't set its own fuel efficiency regulations. It essentially copies those from the United States and makes them voluntary for manufacturers, not compulsory. This leaves Canadians at the mercy of the American political process, and that is unacceptable. It's time for Canada to take a stand and require stricter standards, as California has done for air quality. As Mr. Krugman notes, it's time to acknowledge that conservation is more than a personal virtue; it's a way to make the world more stable. Although he was referring to politics and the economy, the most important increased stability in the long term might just be to the climate.
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/12/12062001/s_45792.asp
12/6/01
7:01:48 PM
Mass Inoculations Opposed by Nation's Largest Doctors' Group
By REUTERS
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 4 - The American Medical Association said today that it would not support an immediate national smallpox vaccination program, saying the potential threat of a bioterror attack did not warrant the risks.
The association, the nation's largest doctors' group, noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opposed a mass inoculation program in part out of fears that some people, roughly one in every million, could die from adverse reactions to the smallpox vaccine.
The A.M.A. said it supported study of alternative vaccination strategies, like immunizing "rings" of people around smallpox cases, a strategy that eradicated smallpox by 1980.
12/6/01
7:00:19 PM
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: World Bank Fails to Enforce Logging Moratorium
TAKE ACTION:
http://forests.org/emailaction/png.htm
By Forests.org, Inc.
Papua New Guinea's moratorium on new logging has been allowed to lapse. Several logging operations have commenced during the moratorium, violating the conditions of a World Bank loan. In accepting a Structural Adjustment Loan from the World Bank, the government of PNG agreed to a moratorium on new logging concessions until the entire forestry sector was reviewed and properly reformed. The government has not fulfilled their obligation under the loan conditions, yet the Bank refuses to suspend economic lending. The World Bank has failed to follow its own policies on this loan.
In response PNG landowners have filed an Inspection Panel grievance with the World Bank, claiming they have lost their land and forests while the government was contractually bound to the World Bank to improve forest governance and not commence new logging. The Centre of Environmental Law and Community Rights Inc. has lodged the claim on behalf of landowners along the Kiunga Aiambak Road in the Western Province. The area is one of several areas that have been illegally logged during the period that the PNG government committed itself to the moratorium in exchange for loans. Illegal logging along the Kiunga Aiambak Road has caused severe environmental damage as logs worth millions of kina are unlawfully removed. Protesting landowners have been unlawfully imprisoned, beaten and tortured.
Should the World Bank disburse the final loan payment without maintaining the moratorium it would be in violation of the contractual provisions of the loan, as well as in conflict with their own operational directives. Their failure to follow their own policies comes as they propose a forest sector reform project. The proposed Forestry and Conservation Project (FCP) includes an important trust fund to support community-based projects that protect biodiversity, but does nothing to ensure their legal status. The project does not support policy-making for community based eco-forestry efforts that strive for ecological sustainability, local ownership and community development. This project must be strengthened before it is deserving of the support of forest conservationists. The moratorium must be maintained and the forest project amended to include support for other types of forest management besides industrial log export.
The World Bank and government of PNG must be taken to task over failing to ensure the moratorium is maintained, failing to end illegal logging in Western Province and elsewhere, their failure to suspend further loans, and their continued subsidies and support for commercial forestry (while ignoring alternatives).
Please go to the following website
http://forests.org/emailaction/png.htm
to send an action letter to
Mr. James Wolfensohn
President
The World Bank
1818 H. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
12/6/01
6:58:16 PM
Problem Gamblers
A University of Illinois professor predicts attorneys will begin filing class-action lawsuits soon on behalf of "problem gamblers," much the way they took on tobacco companies on behalf of smokers.
John W. Kindt said the gambling industry is vulnerable to such suits because it profiles customers to target those likely to wager a high percentage of their income. That profiling is done through credit cards and other marketing tools.
In an article published in the latest issue of Managerial and Decision Economics, Kindt said the industry's efforts to promote gambling among vulnerable groups make it potentially liable for the harm its product causes to the general public.
Kindt studied tobacco litigation and found corporate liability centered on the claim cigarette executives "knew, but long hid, their knowledge" of the addictive properties of nicotine and "manipulated nicotine levels ... to hook unsuspecting smokers." He said the gambling industry has studied the tobacco lawsuits as well and has tried to insulate itself from legal liability by admitting there are problem gamblers and sponsoring public service announcements advising those with a problem to get help.
The situation is complicated by state legalization of casino and other forms of gambling. Kindt said the industry could argue a state should not benefit financially from a lawsuit against an activity it has promoted. But the state could come back with accusations the gambling industry presented incomplete or misleading studies in winning approval for casinos.
Kindt said ultimately, governments will have to decide "whether the goal is to reduce the public's utilization of an alleged potentially hazardous product or to impose increased costs on the industry," which would then be passed on to the public in the form of higher prices.
12/6/01
6:54:04 PM
SojoNet News Daily Headlines
Ashcroft Seeking to Free F.B.I. to Spy on Groups
Attorney General John Ashcroft is considering a plan to relax restrictions on the F.B.I.'s spying on religious and political organizations in the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/01/national/01BURE.html
GOP Bargains for Fast Track Trade Powers
On the eve of today's House trade vote, Republicans continued to woo undecided lawmakers, offering additional benefits for unemployed workers and personal audiences with the president in an effort to round up votes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64863-2001Dec5.html
Pat Robertson Resigns from Christian Coalition
The coalition has been losing members, influence and financial support since the mid-1990s. The 1994 GOP takeover of Congress failed to enact the religious right's social agenda, but coalition leaders could no longer blame Democratic leaders.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62621-2001Dec5.html
Justice Dept. Bars Use of Gun Checks in Terror Inquiry
Even as the Justice Department is instituting tough new measures to detain individuals suspected of links to terrorism it is being unusually solicitous of foreigners' gun rights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/06/national/06GUNS.html
Senate Democrats push US energy conservation
Senate Democrats offered an alternative yesterday to a Republican plan to allow drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge and instead called for more energy conservation and stricter fuel mileage standards for cars and sport utility vehicles.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13585/story.htm
'Voices of Negativism'
The sudden seizure of power by the executive branch, bypassing all constitutional checks and balances, is beginning to be recognized by cooler heads in the White House, Defense Department and C.I.A. as more than a bit excessive.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/06/opinion/06SAFI.html
A Veil on the Truth
Having routed the enemy, perhaps the United States would stop the bombing, allowing food trucks to move in from across the border. But, instead, the opposite is true. The bombing continues, civilian populations are left at the mercy of marauding gangs, and food aid dwindles.
http://www.zmag.org/petersveil.htm
In an ill-defined war, what next?
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the cold war 12 years ago, the United States has been searching for an overall foreign policy to replace the anti-communism of that era. We may have found it in antiterrorism.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1206/p9s2-coop.html
12/6/01
6:48:03 PM
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.... Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
12/6/01
6:46:46 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE <http://www.gristmagazine.com>
NUCLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER?
With allies in the White House and energy issues on everybody's mind, the nuclear power industry was on something of a roll this summer. Now, the momentum has shifted. David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said, "Sept. 11 has been the biggest challenge to nuclear power since Chernobyl." Elected and appointed officials have raised serious concerns about whether a nuclear plant could withstand a plane crash, and at several public hearings, citizens living near plants have expressed similar fears. Meanwhile, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided not to shut down a nuclear power plant in Ohio, despite concerns that an important reactor safety feature may be cracked. On Tuesday, the NRC said the plant's owner, FirstEnergy, could continue to run the reactor until mid-February, when the plant is scheduled to come off-line for refueling and safety checks.
straight to the source: New York Times, Matthew Wald, 05 Dec 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/05/national/05NUKE.html>
RESERVE JUDGMENT
Concerned about threats to Africa's remaining rainforest, the New York City-based Wildlife Conservation Society has been forming closer ties with logging companies. The group believes that in some cases, working hand-in-hand with loggers is the best way to protect what's left. Last year, the group helped negotiate a deal that traded away 260 square miles of the 2,000-square-mile Lope Reserve in Gabon to a timber company; in exchange, logging was prohibited throughout the remainder of the reserve and 160 square miles of forest were added to it. In July, the group brokered an arrangement whereby a logging company agreed to protect 100 square miles of forest in the Republic of Congo, forgoing timber harvests valued at $40 million. Some other environmental groups, however, criticize the conservation society's tactics, saying they result in only minor victories and draw too much positive attention to logging companies.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Associated Press, Tim Sullivan, 06 Dec. 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59270-2001Dec5.html>
PATRIOT MISSILES
Hopping aboard the post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism bandwagon, some Republicans have set their sights on so-called eco-terrorists. U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) and six other Republicans have asked mainstream environmental organizations to publicly disavow groups like the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, which have claimed responsibility for many acts of vandalism and arson in recent years. In a letter to the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and their brethren, the seven congressmen say that although the acts of eco-terrorism haven't been as severe as the World Trade Center attack, they are "no less deplorable." Mainstream enviro leaders, most of whom are already on the record condemning eco-terrorism, have denounced the congressmen's request as "McCarthyesque." Greenpeace's John Passacantando: "They are trying to stick it to environmentalists in the name of patriotism."
straight to the source: Salon.com, Paul Tolme, 26 Nov 2001 (access ain't free) <http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/11/26/ecoterror/index.html>
DASCHLING THROUGH THE SENATE
U.S. Senate Democrats unveiled an energy bill yesterday that would place more emphasis on conservation and efficiency than the GOP alternative, while keeping the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drill-free. Currently, about 2 percent of the country's electricity comes from renewable sources; the new bill would require the number to jump to 12 percent by 2020. Democrats also called for higher miles-per-gallon fuel standards for SUVs, but gave no details. Enviros said the bill was a vast improvement over the GOP one, though they worried that it was too light on specifics. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) is scheduled to bring the bill up for debate early next year.
straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Liz Ruskin, 06 Dec 2001 <http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/738355p-786075c.html>
SONY-SIDE DOWN
Sony said yesterday that it would replace the peripheral cables for 1.3 million PlayStation 1 consoles destined for sale in Europe, in response to environmental concerns raised by the Dutch government earlier this week. A European Union rule forbids the sale of products that contain more than 0.01 percent cadmium; the Dutch say the cables pose a health threat because they contain between three to 20 times that amount. Sony questioned the Dutch regulators' interpretation of the rule, but said it would replace the cables nonetheless. The company has no plans to replace PlayStation 1 cables outside of Europe.
straight to the source: CNN.com, Reuters, 05 Dec 2001 <http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/12/05/sony.playstation.reut/index.html>
12/6/01
6:39:56 PM
Bush's Inexperience Is Showing
Dire threats emanating from Washington have horrified America's allies
By Eric Margolis, Contributing Foreign Editor
Crusades are messy, bloody affairs, and it's often hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys.
Exhibit A: Afghanistan, where the United States just suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the wily Russians. Happily for the White House, neither the media nor the American public understand what just happened. They continue to cheer on the president, who is mighty thankful he is leading a jolly little war against Muslims instead of having to explain to voters why the economy is nose-diving and hundreds of thousands are losing their jobs.
The Northern Alliance is not a merry band of pro-American freedom fighters battling the wicked Taliban, but a Russian front organization run by leaders of the revived Afghan Communist party. It has also reopened the heroin trade the Taliban had shut down.
The Alliance proclaimed itself Afghanistan's legitimate government last week. Moscow recognized the Alliance, and rushed "advisers" and troops into Afghanistan.
On Sept. 11, Alliance forces were a mere 10,000 men. A month later, it fielded 30,000 with an array of Russian armour and artillery. It's likely regular troops from neighbouring Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan - all Russian satellite states - were sent into Afghanistan.
OIL AND GAS RESOURCES
Russia now dominates Afghanistan, thus reversing its historic defeat of the 1980s, shutting the U.S. and Pakistan out of Central Asia, and ensuring future Russian control of the Caspian Basin's oil and gas resources. Bush was too busy trying to "smoke out" outlaws Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar to notice his new best friends, the Russians, had drygulched him and grabbed the lion's share of Afghanistan.
The much ballyhooed Afghan unity conference in Germany last week, hailed by the U.S. and UN as a "breakthrough" and the beginning of a viable "democratic" government in Afghanistan, was a farce.
The U.S., UN, and Europe are waiting to shower tens of millions in aid on a "new," non-Islamic Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance realize they need a few women and some toothless royalists to create the illusion of a multi-party government in order to cash in on western aid. Armed, supplied and guided by the Russian Army and KGB, the Alliance remains the real power in Afghanistan.
Last week, hundreds of Taliban prisoners of war were reportedly massacred in the Mazar-E-Sharif fort by soldiers of communist warlord Rashid Dostam, assisted by U.S. and British special forces, and air strikes by U.S. warplanes. Our side says the prisoners tried to break out and had to die. Some more neutral observers claim the prisoners were murdered en masse. Amnesty International is calling for an investigation. U.S. troops also watched while 140 Taliban prisoners were executed in southern Afghanistan.
The U.S has been using fuel-air munitions that rights organizations claim are inhumane weapons that should be banned.
Last week, bin Laden's holy war syndrome seemed to infect the White House. Bush proclaimed a new jihad against Saddam Hussein, warning Iraq was next on his hit list. Saddam was moved into the terrorist column by Bush for allegedly planning to produce weapons of mass destruction to threaten his neighbours. The president forgot to mention Israel and India, who have also threatened their neighbours with nukes.
While Bush was preaching a new crusade against Iraq, other high administration officials were warning that Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Somalia and even Pakistan might be added to Bush's jihad list. A decade ago, this would have been called warmongering. Now, the frightful Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. are being used to justify all sorts of adventures abroad, and the curtailment of civil rights and free speech at home.
Bush's anti-Muslim crusading policy is being advocated by a group of Dr. Strangeloves, hardline "neo-conservatives" - the Washington chapter of Ariel Sharon's far-right Likud party. They want to use America to destroy all of Israel's enemies and block peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
RESTRAINT
Sensible Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and the administration's sharpest mind, Secretary of State Colin Powell, are trying to restrain the Sharonistas, who seem dangerously close to convincing Bush to launch a crusade against much of the 1.2-billion-person Islamic world. They failed with clever Bill Clinton, but are succeeding with the unworldly Bush.
America's European, Asian and Muslim allies are horrified by the dire threats emanating from Washington, but so far no one has dared to publicly break ranks and tell the president to holster his sixguns and simmer down. America is not refighting World War II.
In fact, it is not even at war, since none has been declared by Congress. It is fighting a handful of small but deadly international criminal organizations. This is not D-Day, nor the Alamo, and certainly no reason to launch America on the 21st century's first world war.
Eric can be reached by email at mailto:margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com
Letters to the editor should be sent to mailto:editor@sunpub.com
Source: http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/margolis.html
12/6/01
6:32:39 PM
FAIR
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
MEDIA ADVISORY:
NEW YORK TIMES SHOULD TELL FULL STORY IN TERROR BLAST
Hamas Leader Was in Palestinian Prison Until Freed by Israeli Attack
December 6, 2001
Three separate terrorist attacks in Israel claimed at least 25 lives this past weekend, and subsequent Israeli army attacks on Palestinian areas have killed at least five people. The Palestinian group Hamas claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings, which it said were in retaliation for the November 23 assassination of the group's senior West Bank leader, Mahmoud Abu Hanoud.
Echoing the response of the Bush administration, the U.S. news media have largely blamed the attacks on Palestinian Authority leader Yasir Arafat, despite the fact that Hamas is an unaffiliated rival of the PA. "Arafat didn't send the suicide bombers, but he didn't stop them either," reported CBS Evening News correspondent David Hawkins (12/3/01). Although no one has charged that the Palestinian Authority carried out or authorized the suicide attacks, Israeli airstrikes against Palestinian Authority headquarters and police facilities were presented in some outlets as a direct response to the suicide bombings, as with the December 4 New York Daily News front-page headline: "PAYBACK."
The New York Times made the Palestinian Authority's failure to arrest more Hamas militants a major theme in its December 3 reporting and commentary. According to a news analysis piece, "Mr. Arafat's lieutenants said they would crack down on two powerful extremist groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and began making arrests. Mr. Arafat had said before that he would take this step, without doing so." The Times added that Arafat's Fatah organization "has maintained uneasy relations with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Palestinian analysts and officials say-- relations that are likely to end if he puts their leaders in prison and keeps them there."
The paper quoted Secretary of State Colin Powell as telling Arafat, "You've got to go after the organizations who are conducting these kinds of acts of terror... putting them in real jails where they are not walking free several days later." The Times' editorial followed the same line, warning that "a decisive moment is now at hand in which Mr. Arafat has to assert his authority with actions, not merely words. He must, as Washington demands, break up the terrorist organizations led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad by arresting leaders involved in planning violence and by seizing illegally held arms."
While it is certainly valid to investigate whether either the PA or Israel have done enough to pursue suspected terrorists or to stop violence under their control, the New York Times has omitted crucial facts about this latest cycle of violence, even though the paper has reported these facts in the past.
On August 26 of last year, Hamas' Hanoud was wounded by Israeli forces in a shootout near the West Bank town of Nablus. Hanoud then surrendered to the Palestinian Authority, and four days later he was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Palestinian military tribunal for training and arming military groups (Associated Press, 9/2/00).
On May 18, Israel launched an F-16 attack on the Nablus jail where Hanoud was being held, in an attempt to kill him. The action proved disastrous: Eleven Palestinian police officers are believed to have died, and Hanoud escaped (New York Times, 5/20/01). Castro Salameh, the Palestinian commander of the Nablus post, told the Times, "Abu Hanoud has been my charge for nine months, and I have kept him under lock and key... But now Israel has liberated him. I have absolutely no idea where he has gone to."
These facts have been reported in the New York Times, most recently in a November 25 story about Hanoud's assassination. But the stories written after the latest round of violence have omitted these facts. Targeting civilians is never acceptable, but context is critical as people seek a way out of the cycle of Mideast violence: If the Times reminded readers that the Hamas leader whose killing sparked the recent round of violence was in a Palestinian jail until the Israeli military tried to assassinate him, it would put the contention that the Palestinian Authority bears most of the responsibility for the current strife in a different light.
On December 5 the Times did report that Arafat and others believe that Israeli attacks on Palestinian police facilities are in fact encumbering their ability to arrest militants. But the troubling connection between Israel's attempt to kill a prisoner in Palestinian custody and the recent rash of bombings is still not being pointed out by the paper.
Source: http://www.FAIR.org
12/6/01
6:30:02 PM
Corvallis Police Refuse To Question Foreign Visitors
Corvallis Joins Portland Police
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland police are no longer alone in their refusal to interview foreign visitors as part of a federal terrorism probe.
Corvallis police joined their Portland counterparts Wednesday, and the Eugene police might soon follow suit.
The City of Eugene was awaiting its lawyers' advice before making a decision.
Until Wednesday, Portland had been the only city in the nation to refuse a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to participate in the interviews, citing state privacy laws. As many as 5,000 foreign visitors will be questioned nationwide, some 200 of them in Oregon.
Corvallis Police Chief Pam Roskowski believes the city's officers can legally participate in the federal probe, according to a statement released Wednesday.
However, Roskowski believes the city will be better served if officers concentrate on criminal investigations rather than in interviewing people on the federal list who are not criminal suspects, police spokesman Lt. Paul Miller said in the statement.
"It is incumbent on all law enforcement agencies to promote the balance of protecting the community ... while preserving the freedoms and civil liberties of all residents," the statement said.
Eugene police were waiting Wednesday for advice from city attorneys before deciding whether to participate in the FBI interviews. Salem police said federal agents have not yet asked them for help.
"Give us some legitimate reason to talk to the people -- other than that they're from the Middle East -- and we'll be glad to," said Pam Alejandere, a Eugene police spokeswoman.
Federal agents will likely question 23 foreign visitors in the Portland area, the U.S. Attorney's office said Wednesday. Another 40 will be questioned in Eugene. About 30 people will be interviewed in Corvallis.
The state attorney general on Tuesday said there is nothing in Oregon law that prevents state investigators from helping with the interviews, but Portland officials have a different interpretation.
City attorney Jeffrey Rogers said Wednesday a few of the Justice Department's questions could violate state privacy laws protecting people not accused of crimes.
Federal authorities want to question about 200 people in Oregon who are in the state on student, work or tourist visas. All have come to the state in the past two years from countries known to harbor terrorists.
The people on Oregon's list will be questioned, one way or another, said Kent Robinson, chief of the criminal division at the U.S. Attorney's office in Portland.
The Oregonian newspaper obtained a partial list of the questions federal agents instructed local police officers to ask as part of the probe.
The paper identified three guidelines issued by federal authorities that Portland city officials believe would violate state law if posed during interviews.
They are:
"You should obtain all telephone numbers used by an individual and his family or close associates." "If he lives with others you should inquire as to their identities. You should note any information that would assist us in locating the individual in the future." "You should inquire specifically whether he or anybody he knows has ever visited Afghanistan."
Those were among the guidelines sent to U.S. Attorneys on Nov. 9 by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, the newspaper said.
A group called the Portand Peaceful Response Coalition (PPRC) is holding a march in support of the Portland police decision not to take part in the questioning. The group plans to meet at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland at 5 p.m. Friday and will march to City Hall.
http://www.koin.com/c6k/news/stories/news-109721420011129-131127.html
12/6/01
6:26:02 PM
Feed The Afgan People
International Aid Efforts Hampered by US Military Strategy
Urge President Bush to allow multinational peacekeepers to ensure safe delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan. Take Action!
There is now enough food in place to feed hungry people in Afghanistan, but banditry and the lack of security on the ground is preventing its distribution. The UN and relief agencies report that routes are either blocked or sporadically interrupted due to the violence and chaos of post-Taliban Afghanistan.
In northern Afghanistan where the largest number of hungry people are the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs reports a situation that "remains very unstable" with reports of continued fighting and looting. For the period of November 15 to December 15, the UN says, less than 20% of identified food needs have been met. Two million people are estimated to be vulnerable.
Last week, a number of allied governments, including Britain, France, Canada, Turkey and Jordan were preparing to send peacekeeping forces to help stabilize the situation and permit the safe passage of food before winter completely arrives. The Northern Alliance, now nominally in control of northern Afghanistan, agreed to allow these forces in.
But that peacekeeping force has been blocked. The US General in charge of the war ruled that these forces might interfere with US military operations and vetoed the deployment. Nor is the US military offering to provide protection for relief distribution itself.
This is morally outrageous. The US doesn’t want any other force in the country, won’t help with food distribution itself, and is now standing in the way of feeding starving people.
Write to President Bush, urging him to support the necessary multinational peacekeeping force to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan so that hungry people can be fed. There are millions still at high risk, winter snows have arrived in many locations, and every day lost could cost lives. Tell the President to act now.
Source: http://www.sojo.net/feedtheAfghanpeople
12/6/01
6:22:45 PM
Public Citizen
Public Citizen Urges Nuclear Industry, NRC to Support Safety
Industry, Agency Opposition to Enhanced Security Measures Puts Corporate Wishes Before Public Interest
WASHINGTON, D.C. -The nuclear power industry and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are putting corporate interests before public safety by opposing legislation that would enhance security measures at nuclear power plants, Public Citizen warned today.
"For the NRC and the industry to oppose this bill reflects a breathtaking disregard for the health and safety of people living near nuclear power plants," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "People want assurances that they are safe from a terrorist-triggered radiological nightmare. The industry and the NRC are meeting those concerns with cold contempt."
The need for sweeping security upgrades at the nation's nuclear facilities had been well-documented prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and alarm about security problems at the plants has heightened since Sept. 11. Public officials and their constituents living near nuclear facilities are now questioning the adequacy of security precautions and in some instances demanding that plants immediately be shut down.
Legislation co-sponsored by Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and James Jeffords (I-Vt.), along with Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), attempts to address some of those security concerns. The measure would federalize security forces at the plants and drastically expand the number and types of threats that security forces must envision when they determine if and how the plants can be defended against assaults. Other provisions of the bill would seek to protect the public by establishing stockpiles of potassium iodide -recently dubbed the Cipro of radiation - near nuclear plants and expand a plant's emergency response and evacuation zone from a 10- to a 50-mile radius.
Plant operators would be charged fees to pay for the nuclear security force and other provisions of the legislation. Reid has estimated the cost to the industry could be as high as $1 billion. Public Citizen cautioned, however, that the bill's language may have to be improved to assure that taxpayers are not asked yet again to subsidize the cost of nuclear power, this time by paying for adequate security at nuclear power plants.
Shortly after the bill was introduced, NRC Chairman Richard Meserve and Joseph Colvin, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's lobbying organization, blasted the legislation. In a prepared statement, Colvin dismissed the issue of nuclear power plant security as "a problem that does not exist." In a letter to Reid, Meserve parroted the views of the industry he is charged with regulating and asserted that the bill "addresses a non-existent problem."
In fact, very real security problems have been identified at the nation's nuclear power plants. From 1991 through 1998, the NRC conducted a series of "force-on-force" tests, in which mock assailants "attacked" nuclear power plants. In nearly half the tests, it was found that a real attack would have jeopardized the reactor and potentially resulted in core damage and the release of radiation to the environment.
Even before Sept. 11, watchdog groups and concerned citizens were warning that the scope of threats envisioned by plant operators and the NRC was ridiculously narrow. For instance, current safeguards don't adequately account for attacks from air, water or large truck bombs (the latter is a particularly egregious deficiency after the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City). Current defense planning also assumes that attackers would arrive in small numbers, possess little or no technical expertise, and would not be suicidal, at least with regard to aircraft - clearly unrealistic assumptions.
Since Sept. 11, news reports have quoted terrorists describing the temptation of nuclear power plants as targets of attack. The government has also acknowledged the potential terrorist threat to power plants: National Guard troops have been deployed, no-fly zones have been declared and Meserve himself declared that immediately following the terrorist attacks that an NRC review of security and procedures at nuclear power plants was warranted. The NRC even shut down its Web site, citing concerns that potential assailants might obtain sensitive information about power plants that would prove helpful in an assault.
Yet now that legislation has been introduced attempting to address known security problems at nuclear power plants, the NRC opposes it, and the commission chairman claims the problems targeted in the bill don't exist.
"The NRC and the nuclear power industry are nearly indistinguishable from each other, and their coziness has been both a regulatory farce and a public disservice for years," Hauter said. "But the NRC's lockstep agreement with industry at this particular time, and on this particular issue, is singularly odious. Richard Meserve should change his title from 'commission chairman' to 'industry apologist.' And he should hang his head in shame."
While the legislation takes several steps in the right direction toward protecting the public from attacks on nuclear power plants, reactors and their high-level nuclear waste will continue to loom as an unnecessary public safety risk, Hauter said.
"If they become law, the enhanced security measures in this legislation will not remove the urgency of replacing nuclear power with conservation and renewable energy sources," she said. "In fact, this legislative response to Sept. 11 underscores yet again the folly of relying on nuclear power, let alone promoting it, as Bush calls for in his energy plan."
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org
12/6/01
6:21:57 PM
Public Citizen
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Ignores Public Health and Safety; Sides with Nuclear Industry on Yucca Mountain Dump Proposal
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Concerned citizens and representatives of national environmental and public interest groups demonstrated their opposition to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump outside a media briefing that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held today. The Chamber of Commerce, together with the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, recently launched a lobbying campaign in support of the nuclear waste dump proposal.
"This is another disappointing instance of the business lobby abandoning the health and safety concerns of the communities in which they operate," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program.
In addition, there appears to be a lack of solidarity among Chamber of Commerce members over the issue. Apparently, the Chamber did not bother to seek approval from its 3,000 state and local chambers before launching its pro-repository campaign. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the third largest in the country, officially opposes the nuclear dump proposal and has resigned from the U.S. Chamber in protest.
Yucca Mountain, located about 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nev., is the only site being considered as a potential repository for 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste from U.S. Department of Energy weapons sites and commercial nuclear power plants across the country. Despite numerous unresolved technical, environmental and policy issues, the pro-nuclear Bush administration appears committed to pursuing the project. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to formally recommend the Yucca Mountain site early next year, but it faces an uncertain future in Congress.
Yucca Mountain is in a seismically active area and lies above an aquifer that is the only source of drinking water for area residents. Opponents of the repository project are concerned that radioactivity would eventually leak into the groundwater. High-level nuclear waste remains dangerously radioactive for a quarter-million years.
Spokespeople for the Chamber of Commerce campaign have brushed aside the fundamental question of the site's suitability and have tried to claim that it's better to have all the nation's nuclear waste in one spot, rather than scattered across the country. However, Yucca Mountain will not contain all of the country's nuclear waste. This waste must be stored on-site at nuclear power plants for at least five years before it can be moved anywhere, and even then, the proposed repository is not big enough to store all the waste projected to be generated by the currently operating U.S. reactors.
"The repository proposal does nothing to resolve security concerns at U.S. nuclear power plants," said Kevin Kamps, a nuclear waste specialist with the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. "To the contrary, the repository design features massive, exposed surface operations, which would establish a larger, highly vulnerable and potentially more devastating target for attack, close to a major population center."
Further, the prospect of shipping 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste to Nevada raises other safety and security concerns. A severe transportation crash or terrorist attack could have grave environmental and health consequences and result in billions of dollars in damages.
"Tens of thousands of shipments of dangerous nuclear waste would pass through as many as 45 states, and no one can guarantee that accidents won't happen," Kamps said. "This unprecedented nuclear transportation scheme would introduce new risks all along the highways and railways of this country."
The Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, the other sponsor of the pro-repository campaign, is a spin-off of the nuclear industry's lobbying organization, the Nuclear Energy Institute.
"Long-lasting radioactive waste is the ugly underbelly of nuclear power, and the nuclear industry is desperate to sell policy-makers on an 'out of sight, out of mind' solution to this problem," Hauter said. "Now that the Yucca Mountain project faces an uncertain future, the nuclear industry has turned to its friends in the business community to help market this disastrous idea. But problems with the project extend far beyond the realm of marketing, and certainly cannot be resolved by the Chamber of Commerce."
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org or http://www.nirs.org
12/6/01
6:14:17 PM
Dispatch From Anthrakistan
Martin A. Lee, AlterNet
IT'S A HELLUVA war our government has gotten us into. It could go on for years, we're told. There's no end in sight.
I'm not talking about the war against terrorist networks in Afghanistan and beyond. I'm referring to another troubling conflict: the crusade against civil liberties on the domestic front, the jihad against dissent that's taking shape in Anthrakistan, our anxious homeland.
This nervous nation used to be called the United States of America (a.k.a. America the Beautiful). That was before the World Trade Center towers came crashing down and "everything changed" on Sept. 11. We actually had a Constitution with 10 original amendments, which were meant to protect our freedom in times of war, as well as in times of peace.
Anthrax isn't contagious, but the spores of fear are everywhere. Inflamed by calamity and dread, our patriotic paranoia is running rampant. We're all on edge about what al-Qaeda might do next. A commercial jet crashes in Queens, and we immediately get the willies: was it a terrorist attack too? We don't know where or when, but another Sept. 11 seems inevitable.
Desperate to stop terrorists from striking again, the Central Intelligence Agency has pulled out all the stops -- even hiring psychics to join the manhunt for Osama bin Laden. Now that Kabul has fallen, CIA strategists are eager to dust off the 87-year-old Afghan king, Zahir Shah, who has lived in exile for the past three decades, and install him as the figurehead chief of a post-Taliban government.
Ah, the wish for kings ... I feel it stirring among us, a deep-rooted authoritarian impulse that throbs during times of crisis, the age-old hankering for an almighty power to issue decrees and set matters straight. Personally, I think George W. Bush would make a good monarch. After all, he has always been a titular kind of guy, a front man for oil and ordnance. So let's proclaim him King George. It's a fitting appellation for a sovereign who rules by capricious whim and exercises power without judicial scrutiny or statutory authorization. That's how things work these days in Anthrakistan.
Lord John Ashcroft, leading emissary of the royal court, tightened his Richelieu-like grip on the homeland last month when King George affixed his seal of approval to the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, which gives the government sweeping new powers to conduct secret searches without a warrant, tap telephones and computers, and detain suspects indefinitely in the name of fighting terrorism.
The USA Police State Act of 2001 would have been a more appropriate title for the bill that zoomed through Congress "without deliberation or debate," as Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) noted. Feingold, the only senator who opposed the draconian legislation, accused the Justice Department of exploiting "the emergency situation to get some things they've wanted for a long time."
"It's overkill," says David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "The new legislation gives federal authorities too much power. The potential for abuse is enormous."
Another new rule imposed by Lord Ashcroft allows the government to eavesdrop on conversations and intercept correspondence between prison inmates and their lawyers -- in effect nullifying the Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel. And last week King George signed a decree that the government can try people accused of terrorism behind closed doors in a special military tribunal, rather than in a civilian court.
Meanwhile, the government still holds more than a thousand "aliens" who were rounded up and taken into custody after Sept. 11. Under the new regime, a foreigner visiting Disneyland can be arrested, jailed without a hearing, and incarcerated in perpetuity without ever being charged for a crime. Some detainees later cleared of any link to terrorism have been held in harsh conditions for prolonged periods and denied a chance to notify relatives of their whereabouts.
There's even talk of using torture to make people divulge information about terrorism -- an idea supported by 45 percent of Americans, according to a recent CNN poll. "U.S. investigators are considering resorting to harsher interrogation techniques, including torture," the London Times reports. "The public pressure for results in the war on terrorism might also persuade the FBI to encourage the countries of suspects to seek their extradition, in the knowledge that they could be given a much rougher reception in jails back home."
Subcontracting foreign police organizations that torture prisoners might afford novel opportunities for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but it's an old routine for the CIA, which has been given more leeway to engage in domestic spying in the wake of Sept. 11. CIA operatives continue to run amok, while court jesters on Capitol Hill fulminate about unshackling our spies, blithely ignoring the fact that they were never shackled to begin with. There was never any law that prohibited the CIA from enlisting narco-traffickers, death squad dons, neofascists, and other malefactors as sources and espionage assets, only a proviso that such unwholesome machinations be cleared with a superior officer. According to CIA spokesperson Bill Harlow, the agency "never turned down a field request to recruit an asset in a terrorist organization."
It was precisely this type of covert activity -- whereby unsavory characters were recruited to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives -- that set the stage for the tragic events of Sept. 11. Islamic extremists, who had been trained and financed by the CIA to battle the Red Army in Afghanistan during the 1980s, subsequently turned their psychotic wrath against their erstwhile patron. But instead of reprimanding the reckless U.S. spymasters who ran the Afghan operation, our officials have rewarded the CIA with billions of additional dollars to combat "terrorism," a term that is vaguely defined by the PATRIOT Act.
A "federal terrorist offense" is distinguished by "the intent to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct," explains Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii). "This broad, unclear definition may include groups such as Greenpeace, along with the terrorists." Ditto for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which "could be investigated as a terrorist group because one of its members hits the secretary of agriculture with a pie," says Laura W. Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington office.
In recent weeks, student demonstrators, civil libertarians, global justice workers, and peace and animal rights activists have all been pegged as terrorist sympathizers. No less an expert than Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan has dubbed globalization "the antithesis of terrorism," implying that those who condemn disparities in the global economic order are supporters of terrorism. The assault on the World Trade Center, according to King George himself, was above all an attack on free markets.
A few months prior to Sept. 11, FBI director Robert Mueller named a couple of harmless guerrilla theater-type groups -- Reclaim the Streets and Carnival Against Capitalism -- during Senate testimony on the terrorist threat. The FBI continues to probe other organizations it claims are linked to terrorism, including the U.S. chapter of Women in Black, a pacifist cadre that holds peace vigils to protest violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories. "If the FBI cannot or will not distinguish between groups who collude in hatred and terrorism and peace activists who struggle in the full light of day against all forms of terrorism, then we are in serious trouble," one Women in Black member remarked.
Unfortunately, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies often seem oblivious to such nuances. Throughout American history, federal investigators have targeted and harassed political dissidents. During the 1960s the FBI mounted a full-fledged vendetta against Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., while spying on numerous civil rights and anti-Vietnam War activists. By the mid 1970s the FBI had accumulated dossiers on more than one million Americans, though only a few individuals were actually charged with committing crimes. In the 1980s government sleuths kept tabs on the sanctuary movement, which provided asylum in the United States for families fleeing Central American deaths squads.
Today a big chill is upon us, and many are peevish toward anything that smacks of dissent. If you question official policies, you run the risk of being labeled an apologist for terrorism. Lampoon our leaders and you'll be banished from the airwaves, while the major media grovel for Pentagon handouts and military analysts strut their stuff on television. Film-industry executives admit that they have been under pressure to take an "American stance" on issues, giving rise to concerns that the upsurge of jingoism could result in an anti-dissident blacklist much like the one that muzzled Hollywood during the McCarthy era.
Even two ostensibly liberal organizations, the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council, censored themselves and withdrew ads that chided Bush for his woeful environmental record. Such is the mood in Anthrakistan, where criticism of the king is frowned on and newspaper columnists are fired for expressing patriotically incorrect views. "People have to watch what they say and what they do," White House press secretary Ari Fleisher admonished.
Fifteen-year-old West Virginia sophomore Katie Sierra was recently suspended from her high school for wearing a T-shirt that read, "When I saw the dead and dying Afghani children on TV, I felt a newly recovered sense of national security. God Bless America." Several college professors who opposed the carpet bombing of Afghan cities were censured by university officials.
A group of prominent intellectuals -- including Edward Said of Columbia University and philosopher Anatole Anton of San Francisco State University -- signed a letter asserting that they had been threatened and attacked for speaking out against U.S. foreign policy. Shortly thereafter, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a right-wing academic group founded by Lynne Cheney (the veep's wife), released a report accusing 40 college professors of not showing enough patriotism since Sept. 11.
In what may be a harbinger of things to come, Nancy Oden, a Green Party USA coordinating committee member, was grabbed by armed guards and detained at Bangor International Airport in Maine on Nov. 1 as she attempted to board an American Airlines flight to Chicago. Prevented from flying, Oden was unable to attend a Green Party meeting in the Midwest the next day. "An official told me that my name had been flagged in the computer," Oden said. "I was told that the airport was closed to me until further notice and that my ticket would not be refunded."
An organic farmer with no prior arrest record, Oden believes she was targeted because of her outspoken political views. An airport spokesperson claims that Oden caused the confrontation by refusing to cooperate with airport security -- a charge Oden adamantly denies. Whatever the case, it's doubtful that this incident would have occurred before Sept. 11.
Perhaps if they spent less time spying on law-abiding citizens and nonviolent social activists, our law enforcement agencies would be more successful in thwarting terrorist networks that are plotting mass murder.
Martin A. Lee is the author of Acid Dreams and The Beast Reawakens.
mailto:martinalee117@yahoo.com
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11976
12/6/01
6:06:03 PM
The Corporate Play For China
by Jim Hightower
"This is a defining moment," declared the head of the World Trade Organization. "The world has now changed."
Indeed it has. He was not referring to Sept. 11 crashbombing into the World Trade Towers, but to another attack on the well-being of workaday people here in America and all around the world. This is the assault by global corporate greedheads and their political henchmen on: one, the jobs, wages and middle-class aspirations of workers; two, the purity of the world's air, water, and food supply; and three, the very sovereignty of free people, enthroning corporate power as supreme over the democratic policies enacted by the people themselves.
What made the WTO's head man so exultant was that the corporate creators of this anti-democratic, secretive, powerhouse had just managed to bring China into its ranks. This has long been their dream. Most of our Congress critters, funded by these same greedheads, rationalized their support of this by claiming that WTO membership means China will have to open its markets to more U.S. products. Horsefeathers. China's people are overwhelmingly impoverished. The corporate powers are not after China's markets, but after the dirt cheap labor, cheap land, and non-existent enforcement of environmental protections.
WTO membership opens up China's unlimited production capacity to global corporations, and it prohibits our country from putting any tariffs, quotas, or other restrictions on the China-made products that they'll flood into our markets. There'll now be a gold rush of corporations moving their manufacturing and agricultural production over there. Indeed, Motorola, an eager proponent of getting China into the WTO, announced just one week prior to the vote that it would invest $6.6 billion in new Chinese factories, abandoning more jobs and communities here.
This is Jim Hightower saying ... To support bringing China into the WTO is like chickens giving a henhouse membership to Col. Sanders.
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11943
12/6/01
5:50:11 PM
This Raging Colossus
The new US ruthlessness may turn out to be a greater threat than the Islamist fanaticism that provoked it
Madeleine Bunting, Guardian
Over the past few days, I've been ordered on to a strict diet of my words. A stream of emails arrived from American readers with plenty of advice (get laid, get pregnant, shut your fat legs, shut up) and prognostications for my future (you'll be fired). One told me that I made them feel sick: "untouched by our tragedy, yet [you] feel the right to criticise our country's actions". One asked if "you have a molecule of shame or humility within your entire being?" and promised to pray for me. Another asked: "how stupid do you feel now?... this is one of the best wars ever fought" and another asked: "as the US war on terror becomes increasingly successful, could the world say 'thank you'?".
Thank God for the volume of seawater which puts these kind of nutters on another continent. It's not so much the fine line in misogynistic abuse from US patriots, but the intolerance of debate and diversity of opinion which is really frightening. But the truth is that this kind of emotional intensity has also seeped into the war on this side of the Atlantic - entrenched camps for and against are waging a bitter war of words over the heads of a majority who are worried and confused, but see no alternative to war.
Fear drives this kind of emotional intensity. It is a pitifully short time, only two months, since we learned of a ruthlessness born of fanaticism which we had not thought possible; our perception of human nature is having to painfully readjust to the revelation of a capacity for calmly premeditated brutality. I'm sure that fear has influenced my continuing conviction that waging war on Afghanistan is unlikely in the long term to defeat that kind of ruthless Islamist terrorism, and is very likely to have disastrous consequences for the poor benighted country itself. I very much hope I will be proved wrong.
It must have been so comforting to have been swept up in the emotional euphoria of VK day. It was the ultimate Disney ending after a month of nation-builders' storytelling. If only it were that simple. But even on VK day, the excited reporters and commentators surrounded by a telegenic rabble of boys curious at television cameras found no echo among anxious Afghan women, most of whom remained behind their burkas.
Nor did the VK story last long, quickly replaced by the tension of warlords struggling to position themselves; in Jalalabad, young men jostled around the cameras, their eyes, cartridge belts and guns all gleaming, poised for what they know best -waging war.
And yet, it's not even those Jalalabad warriors that have made the last week's events so troubling, but the growing appreciation of just how ruthless and ambitious the US is likely to become in its war against terrorism. What the events of the past few days have starkly revealed is that the US had only one interest in this war in Afghanistan, capturing Bin Laden and destroying al-Qaida; that imperative outstripped all considerations of Afghanistan's future. So the timing of the attack was decided by US military preparedness rather than any coherent political strategy for the region, and the US war aim determined the crucial switch in tactics around November 4 when the US decided to throw its weight behind the unsavoury Northern Alliance by bombing the Taliban frontlines.
For the US, the whole country of Afghanistan is collateral damage. Or, to put it another way, a little hors d'oeuvre before they move on to the next course - Somalia, Yemen or, most worryingly of all, Iraq? The latter is already being openly touted in Washington as a possibility for the "second stage" and tension is growing in the Gulf region. Meanwhile, as far as the US is concerned, the UK with its nation-building agenda, the UN and everyone else is welcome to spend their soldiers' lives on the onerous task of clearing up the mess the US bombing has left behind, freeing it to concentrate on the next task.
All this strengthens the view that what we have to fear from September 11 is not just Islamist fanaticism, but the US response to it. Indeed, the latter could well prove a far greater threat to the stability of many countries, further stoking the Islamist fanaticism it seeks to extinguish. The template has been developed in Afghanistan: lavish bribery of neighbours, unchecked deployment of vicious military hardware, keep US soldiers out of it and use others to do the fighting. It is a foreign policy of brute force and it draws legitimacy within the US from a lethal combination of three factors: a profound sense of righteous anger, the reality of unchallenged economic and military power and a pervasive ignorance of and indifference to the rest of the world.
To increase the danger, the US actions are unchecked by fear of another superpower and, at present, unchecked by its usually vibrant civil society where debate about the purposes or methods of the war against terrorism has been cowed into virtual silence in the mainstream. The result is that an ugly ruthlessness is creeping into US political culture. For example, "physical interrogation" or torture is proposed in the columns of Newsweek while President Bush signs an order allowing military tribunals of suspected terrorists in private and without a jury, for the first time since the second world war.
In time we may come to see the disastrous timing of a rightwing presidency intent on asserting US unilateralism assuming power shortly before September 11: that tragic catastrophe has provided the moral mandate at home and the freedom for manoeuvre from allies for such a unilateralist policy. For all the US has needed western support for its war, we seem to have been singularly unsuccessful in extracting in return any compromises on US unilateralism. Putin's protestations on NMD are brushed off, and barely a murmur is raised in criticism of the US's failure to deliver its climate change plan while the world went ahead in Marrakesh last week.
From the start, this administration has been unabashed, denying any sense of responsibility to anyone other than its own citizens. Now, everyone has the almighty headache of how they are to tiptoe round and placate this raging colossus. Blair, white with exhaustion, has opted for the role of chief cheerleader, and while it may incense some that Britain, like every other country, is reduced to such impotence, the harsh reality is that it was AOS - all options stink. Bush will use and discard Blair, and the British prime minister is likely to be one among many casualties.
The Labour party has traditionally been deeply split over the conduct of US foreign policy. Vietnam, Central and Latin America and the Iran-contra affair all provoked intense controversy. That was bad enough, but we were not involved in playing the supporting role. At the risk of further incensing my American correspondents, the manipulation of the CIA in Central America could come to seem like child's play compared with what we are likely to glimpse over the next decade.
mailto:m.bunting@guardian.co.uk
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4301679,00.html
12/6/01
5:44:15 PM
Chemicals and the Right to Know
Since September 11, the chemical industry has pressed the government to withhold information about chemicals that are used and released without regard for public safety. Take Action! Urge your senators to oppose efforts by the chemical industry to restrict your "Right to Know" about hazards at its facilities.
You can take action on this alert via the Web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/RTK/w65k67ra78x6j6
Spread the word about the campaign to protect your "Right to Know" about chemicals in the environment. Visit the web address below and tell your friends to take action on this important campaign!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/RTK/forward/w65k67ra78x6j6
We encourage you to take action by December 7, 2001
Protect Your Right to Know about Chemicals in the Environment
12/6/01
5:37:26 PM
European Fishing Quotas Slashed To Save Species
BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 5, 2001 (ENS) - Too many European Union fishing boats are competing for too few fish, resulting in what the European Commission is calling the "alarming state of fish stocks." The commissioners have proposed steep cuts in fishing quotas for 2002.
Quota reductions are the first step in a multi-annual strategy to help the recovery of a number of fish species, in particular cod and hake, "whose capacity to replenish themselves is threatened," the Commission said.
All European Union Member States with fishing fleets will be affected by these reductions in Total Allowable Catches (TACs). Some TACs which were substantially reduced last year will be maintained at those reduced levels this year.
Among the TACs which the Commission proposes to reduce significantly for the first time is the cod TAC in the Kattegat by 58 percent, haddock in the Irish Sea by 52 percent, sole in the North Sea by 25 percent and langoustines in the Bay of Biscay by between 45 and 50 percent.
Scientists also warn that the level of fishing is far too high for haddock in the Irish Sea. In the case of west of Scotland whiting, and sole in the western English Channel, the amount of adult fish able to reproduce is well below the levels required for the regeneration of these species.
The Commission's proposal does not include catch quotas for a group of fish populations that the European Union co-manages with Norway which is not an EU Member State. These 2002 quotas must be decided in the Fisheries Council December 17 and 18.
Commissioner Franz Fischler, who is responsible for agriculture, rural development and fisheries, said, "I am well aware that this is another black day for European fishermen. The Commission is anxious to limit the hardship for fishermen as much as possible. But if we want to avoid the complete extinction of some fish stocks, which would spell the end for our fishermen, decisive action is the only way forward. We have to preserve what our fishermen make their living from - fish."
Fischler called on EU Fisheries Ministers to "show courage and resolve to refrain from political horse-trading and set the TACs at levels that ensure sustainable fisheries."
"We can now see the results of too many years of excessive fishing due to the substantial overcapacity of the EU fleet," Fischler said. "We now have our backs to the wall. The stocks are down and fishing pressure is too high. If we are serious about securing the future of the European fisheries sector, there is no way around significant reduction of catches and fishing."
Source: http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-05-01.html
12/6/01
5:34:33 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
EPA AUTHORIZES HUDSON RIVER PCB CLEANUP
WASHINGTON, DC, December 5, 2001 (ENS) - After decades of work to make General Electric take responsibility for cleaning toxic PCBs from the Hudson River, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a massive dredging project that will remove an estimated 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediments from a 40 mile section of the river.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-05-06.html
EUROPEAN FISHING QUOTAS WILL BE SLASHED TO SAVE SPECIES
BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 5, 2001 (ENS) - Too many European Union fishing boats are competing for too few fish, resulting in what the European Commission is calling the "alarming state of fish stocks." The commissioners have proposed steep cuts in fishing quotas for 2002.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-05-01.html
NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE MOTHERS DYING OUT
WOODS HOLE, Massachusetts, December 5, 2001 (ENS) - The North Atlantic right whale as a species is predicted to become extinct within 200 years if environmental conditions continue as they have prevailed since 1995 along the east coast of North America. These rarest of the world's large whales live in Atlantic waters from the coast of northern Florida to the Bay of Fundy off eastern Canada.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-05-04.html
HOWARD GOVERNMENT PLEDGES MILLIONS TO PROTECT AUSTRALIAN COAST
CANBERRA, Australia, December 5, 2001 (ENS) - Up to 300 new projects will protect Australia's coasts with around A$4.3 million in the latest round of Commonwealth-State funding, the country's new Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Dr. David Kemp, announced today.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-05-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: DECEMBER 5, 2001
Maryland Stripped of Clean Air Authority
$20 Billion Emission Trading Program Goes Online
Mississippi Gopher Frog Listed as Endangered
California Cancer Label Law Faces Court Challenge
EPA Grant Supports Water Quality Monitoring
Rising Waters Could Swamp Bloodsworth Island
Oceanographers Track Georges Bank Food Chain
Alabama's Vermilion Darter Called Endangered
Geothermal Power Projects Installed on Long Island
Big Cats Rescued from Abuse, Neglect
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-05-09.html
12/6/01
5:29:57 PM
t r u t h o u t | 12.06
ACLU Sues Ashcroft / Justice Department
http://www.truthout.com/12.06A.Feds.Sued.htm
Ashcroft to Face Senate on Tribunals
http://www.truthout.com/12.06B.Ashcroft.Senate.htm
NEW BOOK | U.S. Policy Towards Taliban Influenced by Oil - Authors Say
http://www.truthout.com/12.06C.Book.Oil.htm
DASCHLE Introduces Democratic Energy Plan -- Thumbs Up from Sierra Club
http://www.truthout.com/12.06D.Daschle.Energy.htm
Rare JFK Photographic Negatives Destroyed in WTC Attack
http://www.truthout.com/12.06E.Kennedy.Negatives.htm
GAO | Gift to HMO's Has Not Helped Medicare
http://www.truthout.com/12.06F.GAO.Medicare.htm
BBC | Nightly Video "3 US Soldiers killed, 19 Injured in Friendly Fire"
12/6/01
5:21:21 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
More renewable fuel use will help US economy - study - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13595/story.htm
FACTBOX - Comparison of Democrat, Republican energy bills - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13609/story.htm
INTERVIEW - Standard GMO crop tests in the pipeline - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13596/story.htm
UPDATE - Senate Democrats push US energy conservation - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13585/story.htm
US NRC plans rules on sabotage, attack drills - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13594/story.htm
Experts say 'dirty bombs' easy to make - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13593/story.htm
Senate energy bill a mixed bag for FERC initiatives - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13589/story.htm
US EPA sends Hudson River dredging plan to New York - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13588/story.htm
BP says will pursue "opportunistic" growth - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13590/story.htm
UK Appeal Court to rule Friday on nuclear plant - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13599/story.htm
Britain scrambles to meet EU rules on junk mobiles - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13600/story.htm
Cooking oil, chicken to power UK supermarket trucks - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13606/story.htm
Dutch sign CO2 cutting agreement with Panama - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13586/story.htm
Poachers kill first Kenyan rhinos for eight years - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13605/story.htm
India may soon allow sale of gene-altered seeds - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13603/story.htm
German government calls new talks on GM crops - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13601/story.htm
Brazil biodiesel programme may tap soyoil stocks - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13602/story.htm
UPDATE - Banker tapped to run Brazil oil giant Petrobras - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13597/story.htm
Bolivian government authorizes gas pipeline to Brazil - BOLIVIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13598/story.htm
Hydro Tasmania eyes Australia mainland wind power - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13592/story.htm
12/6/01
5:19:51 PM
TomPaine.com
ENERGY: Which Way Will We Go?
Americans must choose an energy future. No decision facing us today has greater implications for the health of our economy, our communities, and the environment that sustains us. Which way will we go?
A new report, the "Clean Energy Blueprint," proves that energy efficiency and renewable power development are in the nation's best interest if we want job growth, enhanced national security and a cleaner environment.
Measured against the Blueprint, the White House energy plan is a fraud -- simple payback for contributions from oil, gas, coal and nuclear industry cronies. It would protect their profits and perpetuate their pollution at public expense.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney claim to be public servants. But they put the interests of their cronies and contributors first. On energy, they're leading us down the wrong path.
READ OUR Op Ad...
AND READ THESE Op-Ad FEATURES...
THE CLEAN ENERGY BLUEPRINT: Part One
A Smarter National Energy Policy for Today and the Future A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, and the Tellus Institute is an authoritative analysis comparing the "business-as-usual" approach embodied in the White House energy plan against a package of common sense, clean-energy policies. The results are astounding.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/30/index.html
THE CLEAN ENERGY BLUEPRINT: Part Two
Efficient Use of Electricity Increases the Efficiency of the Economy Dick Cheney says conservation is nothing more than "a personal virtue." The Clean Energy Blueprint shows that Cheney ought to take some economics classes.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/30/1.html
THE 800-MILE LONG CHAPSTIK...
...And Other Tales of Domestic Energy Insecurity
by Amory B. Lovins
Replacing Mideastern oil with even more vulnerable domestic systems -- the cornerstone of the White House energy plan -- would decrease energy security, not increase it.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/10/30/5.html
LOOKING FOR JOBS IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES
Shortsightedness Prevails at Leading Labor Unions
by Jennifer Bauduy
The Teamsters are lobbying for the White House energy plan, claiming it will create jobs. But the union -- along with the AFl-CIO -- ignores the far greater number of jobs that would result from an aggressive program of energy efficiency and renewable power development.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/09/18/index.html
THE STIMULUS THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
Energy Efficiency and the Economy
by Joseph Romm
An energy efficiency stimulus package would directly create tens of thousands of jobs manufacturing and installing energy-efficient hardware; save corporate America billions of dollars each year for the life of the hardware; minimize the likelihood of power outages; and dramatically reduce air pollution. What other stimulus strategy can match those results?
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/10/30/3.html
LETTING MINERS REGULATE MINING
One Bush Nominee's Troubling Record
by Phillip Babich
Unfortunately for residents of coal-mining communities, President Bush's pick to head the Office of Surface Mining is a former coal company executive. But questions about his past behavior might derail the nomination. NOTE: Hearings on the nomination of Jeffrey Jarrett will resume in the Senate today (12-5).
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/12/03/3.html
ANOTHER 9/11 MEDIA SCAPEGOAT?
Clear Channel Clears "Davey D" Off the Air
by Jennifer Bauduy
Was radio personality "Davey D" Cook fired by media giant Clear Channel Communications to cut costs, or to clear the way for all-patriotism-all-the-time programing?
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/12/03/1.html
HOW ENRON'S CHAIRMAN CHANGED THE WORLD
by David Morris
Kenneth Lay turned a sleepy, even stodgy, energy system -- that nevertheless was the world's lowest-cost and most reliable energy system -- into a go-go, take-no-prisoners, wildly competitive system. Was it for the better?
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/12/03/index.html
RAISING ARCTIC VOICES
Is Six Months of Oil Worth the Demise of Gwich'in Indians?
by Jennifer Bauduy
"I don't want us to be documented in a book -- 'Oh, they used to live like this. This was one of the last surviving native cultures of America, and then oil development happened.”
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/12/03/2.html
Tips, Leads, and Links
by The TomPaine.com Staff
Faith-based Politics... Profiteering in Public Schools... The Sacking of Science as Interior... Deserting Ethics for Ethic's Sake... Wartime Democracy... and more.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/12/04/index.html
12/5/01
6:59:39 PM
U.S. military policy hinders food distribution
by Jim Wallis
Today I spoke with Ken Bacon, president of Refugees International. He told me there is now enough food in place to feed hungry people in Afghanistan, but banditry and the lack of security on the ground is preventing its distribution. The U.N. and relief agencies report that routes are either blocked or sporadically interrupted due to the violence and chaos of post-Taliban Afghanistan.
In northern Afghanistan, where the largest number of hungry people are - particularly around the city of Mazar-i-Sharif - the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs reports a situation that "remains very unstable" with reports of continued fighting and looting. For the period of November 15 to December 15, the U.N. says, less than 20% of identified food needs have been met. Two million people are estimated to be vulnerable.
Last week, a number of allied governments, including Britain, France, Canada, Turkey, and Jordan were preparing to send peacekeeping forces to help stabilize the situation and permit the safe passage of food before winter arrives completely. The Northern Alliance, now nominally in control of northern Afghanistan, agreed to allow these forces in. It was the obvious solution - a multinational force to ensure safe passage of food.
But that peacekeeping force has been blocked. The U.S. Central Command's General Tommy Franks, in charge of the war, ruled that these forces might hamper U.S. military operations and vetoed the deployment. Why? According to a "diplomat representing a U.S. ally" quoted in The Washington Post, "General Franks is very much in charge of everything, and he doesn't want to have to worry about a multinational force. The U.S. has one goal: attack al Qaeda and get the job done. They're not too worried about the rest of it right now."
If the U.S. doesn't want an international force, are we offering to provide protection for relief distribution ourselves? No, the U.S. government is focusing on the war.
This is morally outrageous. The U.S. doesn't want any other force in the country, won't help with food distribution itself, and is now standing in the way of feeding starving people.
I ask each of you to write to President Bush, urging him to support the necessary multinational peacekeeping force to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan so that hungry people can be fed. There are millions still at high risk, winter snows have arrived in many locations, and every day lost could cost lives. Tell the president to act now.
Source: http://www.SoJo.net
12/5/01
6:57:14 PM
SojoNet News Daily Headlines
US cluster bombs add to Afghan landmine tragedy
Each cluster bomb contains 202 bomblets which are designed to shred enemies' flesh and wreck their equipment on the ground. But somewhere between seven and 30 percent fail to detonate on impact and effectively become landmines.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13573/story.htm
Cooking Oil, Chicken to Power Supermarket Trucks
British supermarket chain Asda said on Wednesday it would be using chicken waste and used cooking oil to power its delivery trucks. Asda's Environment Manager said the chain's 258 stores generated 138,000 liters of chicken waste and cooking fat, which would be transformed into biodiesel.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011205/sc/energy_biodiesel_asda_dc_1.html
U.S. prepares for next fight
Even before U.S. forces have tracked down Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, President Bush is laying the groundwork on four continents for the next phase of the U.S. war on terrorism.
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20011205/3673930s.htm
Christian Churches Defy Zimbabwe´s President
Faced with increasing reports of deaths from malnutrition in Zimbabwe, churches are openly defying a presidential edict that only ruling-party officials may distribute food aid.
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=13600
Sharon's War Cannot Be Won
So they send Yasir Arafat back to Tunis or assassinate him--the occupation will still be there. The Israelis will be the losers because they will no longer have the decrepit old man, their bin Laden, to blame for all their problems. They will come face to face with the fact that it is the occupation that is the fuel of the conflict.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/05/opinion/05ABUN.html
A village is destroyed, and America says nothing happened
After reports that American B-52s unloaded dozen of bombs that killed 115 men, women and children in easter Afghanistan, a Pentagon spokesman explained that they were not true, because the US is meticulous in selecting only military targets associated with Osama bin Laden's terrorsit network.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia_china/story.jsp?story=108209
Hawks Take Aim at Iraq
It's all but official. Despite strong opposition from Arab allies, not to mention our NATO partners in Europe, it seems we're headed for Round 2 of the 1991 Gulf war against Iraq.
http://www.fpif.org/progresp/volume5/v5n41_body.html#neoconservatives
12/5/01
6:53:22 PM
DAILY MEDIA NEWS
http://www.mediachannel.org/news/today/
EXCLUSIVE: Global conflict coverage from Globalvision News Network's 150 international news providers http://www.gvnews.net
EXCLUSIVE: News Dissector's Daily War Report Danny Schechter critiques what's reported - and what's not with reader input.
http://www.mediachannel.org/weblog
DECEMBER 5, 2001 *New Features*
RIPPING MIDDLE EAST MEDIA
Can media-monitoring Web sites help us understand the Israeli- Palestinian conflict or are they simply spreading divisive rhetoric? (From OJR, MEMRI, Palestine Media Watch and more)
WORLD IN CRISIS, MEDIA IN CONFLICT
The global "War on Terrorism" continues to threaten both journalism and journalists. Here's how the media worldwide are coping with danger, trauma, censorship and bias.
Our special coverage continues, including: *An interview with CNN International's Chris Cramer * The New York Times' Joseph Lelyveld on journalists' duty * And much, much more..
http://www.mediachannel.org/atissue/conflict
PUTIN'S NEW FANS
Western media has dramatically altered its coverage and perception of Russian leader Valdimir Putin, but what's behind this transformation? (From Transitions Online)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#putin
NEWS DISSECTOR: WAR CRIMES
The massacre of prisoners in an Afghan prison is being condemned by many throughout the world as a war crime. Danny Schechter asks: Why is the US. media largely ignoring the controversy?
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/omissions.shtml
USE THE WEB TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Six organizations focused on the global South have collaborated to launch a collection of tools and guides for using the Internet for social justice and sustainable development. (From OneWorld)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#change
MEDIA READER
The best media about the media. MediaChannel's international, biweekly, multimedia magazine * Peace Journalism In Colombia * Report: The U.S. Is NOT The Center Of The World * Coming Out In Yugoslavia And much, much more... Plus: Streaming audio and video
http://www.mediachannel.org/news/mediareader
WHAT YOU'RE SAYING: VOICES FROM THE FORUM
* "We are at the mercy of what is reported to us..." * "Some Indian Newspapers have reported on this but no news channel in the U.S. ..." * "Saving Private Rambo: War In Film..." Join the discussion!
MEDIACULTURE A collaboration between MediaChannel and Alternet exploring the currents, crises and cultures of American media. Featured this week: * Oprah and Race * Happy Birthday, Public Broadcasting * LIVE WEBCAST DECEMBER 6! Visions For A Safer World And much, much more... http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#mediaculture
12/5/01
6:50:36 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE <http://www.gristmagazine.com>
THE DREDGE GREAT-SCOTT DECISION U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman said yesterday that her agency would order General Electric to spend almost $500 million to dredge PCBs from the upper Hudson River. In doing so, Whitman disregarded a multi-million-dollar P.R. campaign by the giant company claiming that dredging would not improve the river's health. Enviros, who had feared that closed-door meetings between the EPA and GE would result in a scaled-back cleanup plan, said the announcement was a big-time victory.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin and Michael Powell, 05 Dec 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57956-2001Dec4.html>
ONCE MORE OUT OF THE BREACH
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said this week that it would recommend against breaching four hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River in Washington state to help restore salmon populations. The agency's stance on salmon restoration, which is shared by the White House, is that it would be less disruptive to communities in eastern Washington and more cost-effective to modify the dams in smaller ways, such as improving fish ladders. Farmers, barge operators, and some recreational users of dam reservoirs also oppose the idea of breaching the dams. But environmentalists say breaching the dams would be the cheapest and most effective way to help endangered salmon populations.
straight to the source: New York Times, Sam Howe Verhovek, 05 Dec 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/05/national/05DAMS.html>
COD PEACE
Concerned that some fish populations are bottoming out, the European Commission has proposed deep new cuts in fishing quotas. For example, cod catches in the Kattegat strait between Denmark and Sweden would be reduced by 60 percent; haddock catches in the Irish Sea by 52 percent; and sole in the North Sea by 25 percent. Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler said some fish species would disappear unless the dramatic cuts were approved. Meanwhile, about 400 government officials and environmentalists have been meeting in Paris this week to draft recommendations to protect the world's oceans, in preparation for next year's Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
straight to the source: BBC News, 04 Dec 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1691000/1691669.stm>
straight to the source: CNN.com, Associated Press, 04 Dec 2001 <http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/12/04/un.environment.ap/index.html>
NOW WE'RE COOKIN'
A British supermarket chain said today that it would begin fueling its delivery trucks with chicken waste and used cooking oils. The Asda chain, which includes 258 stores in the U.K and is a part of the Wal-Mart company, generates about 36,500 gallons per year of chicken waste and cooking fat that currently winds up in landfills. But starting in April, the gunk will be transformed into biodiesel to power the company's trucks. For fact-happy readers: According to Asda, the U.K. produces as much as 23 million gallons per year of used cooking oil.
straight to the source: ABCNews.com, Reuters, 05 Dec 2001 <http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/SciTech/reuters20011205_334.html>
TREE? NO THANKS, I'M TRYING TO CUT BACK
Indonesia said this week that it would tighten its forestry laws to rein in illegal logging. Under the new rules, companies will lose their licenses to log in 2003 unless they can prove they are managing forests sustainably. Enviros cheered the change, though it remains to be seen just how the theory will translate into practice. This week's move follows a policy shift in October, when the government banned some log exports to help slow the pace of logging in the country's tropical rainforests. The World Bank estimates that Indonesia lost about 3.7 million acres of forest per year from 1985 to 1997; by 2000, the country's forests had been reduced to 49 million acres, down from 106 million pre-1985.
straight to the source: CNN.com, 04 Dec 2001 <http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/12/03/indonesia.rainf orest/index.html>
12/5/01
6:47:12 PM
Public Citizen
Statement for the Record before the House Judiciary Committee by Joan Claybrook, President of Public Citizen, on Ney-Hoyer "Help America Vote" Bill
The Ney-Hoyer "election reform" bill would do relatively little to fix our broken election system - which "lost" about six million votes in the 2000 presidential race. Unveiled barely three weeks ago, Ney-Hoyer compares unfavorably to the more pro-reform Dodd and McConnell-Schumer bills in the Senate. Both Senate bills require states and localities to meet strong national voting standards as an indispensable condition for federal assistance. But Ney-Hoyer offers only weak standards - shot through with loopholes - in a "hands off" program of grants to states and localities. Rather than fixing the wound to our democracy, Ney-Hoyer would largely perpetuate the flawed state and local system that produced the 2000 election fiascoes.
Unlike both Senate bills, the Ney-Hoyer bill:
· Does not require national standards for the permissible "error rate" of voting machines in counting and tabulating ballots. · Does not require that voters be notified if they have voted for too few or too many candidates so they can know whether they need to correct their errors. · Does not mandate that the states and localities ensure the availability of voting technology that would enable vision-impaired and other disabled voters to independently and privately fill in their ballots. · Does not ensure that citizens deficient in English will have access to ballots in alternative languages. · Does not ensure that voters are notified of their right to file a provisional ballot if their names are not on the precinct register, and to be informed whether their registration was ultimately verified and their vote counted. · Undermines the "Motor Voter" law by allowing voters to be purged from registration lists if they have not voted in four years and not responded to a notice (regardless of whether they actually received it, for example, at a new address).
Nearly 80 percent of the Senate is co-sponsoring a better bill than Ney-Hoyer, so it is not true, as some argue, that the House "can't do better than this." If House leaders want to pass a serious reform, the best thing they could do now would be to await the imminently anticipated results of ongoing Senate compromise negotiations among Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) and the principal sponsors of the superior Senate legislation, and take its cue from there. At the very least, they need to fix Ney-Hoyer and send a credible bill to an eventual House-Senate Conference.
The American people will not accept a fraudulent reform that makes a new Florida fiasco almost inevitable.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit public interest organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org
12/5/01
6:46:16 PM
Public Citizen
Nuclear Waste Nominee Raises More Conflict of Interest Issues for Troubled Yucca Mountain Project
WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Bush's nomination of Margaret Chu to the office responsible for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository raises conflict of interest concerns because of her previous work at Sandia National Laboratories, a key participant in the project, Public Citizen said today. Chu has been nominated as director of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM). The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the confirmation today.
"Such blatant organizational conflict of interest makes this nomination unacceptable," said Lisa Gue, policy analyst with Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "As director of OCRWM, Chu would be in a position to review the work of a program she formerly directed."
For more than two decades, Chu was employed by Sandia National Labs, most recently as director of the Nuclear Waste Management Program. Sandia is a DOE nuclear weapons and research facility operated by Lockheed Martin Corp. The facility has conducted several studies related to the Yucca Mountain repository proposal, including a series of "Total System Performance Assessments" (TSPAs) that aim to predict the ability of the DOE's repository designs to contain nuclear waste far into the future. As stated on Sandia's Web site, "Any decision on whether to build and operate a repository at the [Yucca Mountain] site will be strongly influenced by past and future TSPA analyses."
Yucca Mountain, located northwest of Las Vegas in Nevada, is the only site under consideration for a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository. OCRWM is responsible for evaluating the suitability of the site, which may lead to a recommendation by the energy secretary early next year. Numerous technical, environmental and policy issues remain unresolved, but the pro-nuclear Bush administration appears committed to pursuing the project.
"Sandia's Yucca Mountain studies have tended to favor the repository proposal," said Gue, noting that the presidentially appointed Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board has frequently been critical of the high level of uncertainty involved in the TSPA analyses. "If the DOE decides not to recommend the site, Sandia's reputation would certainly be hurt."
"Because of her long association with Sandia's Nuclear Waste Management Program, Margaret Chu will be under immense pressure to support a favorable evaluation of the Yucca Mountain repository proposal regardless of evidence that should disqualify the site," Gue said.
Recent events have brought to light other instances of conflict of interest within the Yucca Mountain Project, seriously damaging its credibility. The law firm Winston & Strawn resigned last week after the DOE's inspector general reported that lawyers serving as counsel to the Yucca Mountain Project were simultaneously registered as members and lobbyists for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's pro-repository lobbying group. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspector general also is investigating an alleged leak of unpublished NRC documents to Winston & Strawn lawyers. Additionally, a draft Government Accounting Office document, reported on last week in the Washington Post and elsewhere, appears to indicate that DOE's current site recommendation activities are premature because many studies are incomplete.
"The repository proposal should be shelved pending a thorough and independent review of the causes and consequences of contractor conflict of interest and pro-industry bias within the Yucca Mountain Project," said Gue. "The integrity of the program has been seriously undermined, and by nominating Margaret Chu the administration shows no interest in improving this dismal track record."
Public Citizen is a nonprofit public interest organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org
12/5/01
6:43:41 PM
The Global Justice Movement: Alive and Kicking
By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
Since September 11, the media have rushed to write obituaries for the movement against corporate globalization.
Don't believe everything you read.
The movement is alive and kicking.
While media commentators have rushed to bury the global justice movement, the many strands of the movement against corporate globalization have been busy organizing, campaigning, lobbying, demonstrating -- and, frequently, winning.
* As the world's trade ministers huddled in Doha, Qatar last month in an effort to fashion agreement to launch a new round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, activists around the world demonstrated against the trade organization. In place of a new round of negotiations, the protesters demanded the WTO's power be curtailed or the institution abolished altogether.
In the United States, demonstrators hit the streets in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Harrisburg, Madison, Wisconsin, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Sacramento.
Even more impressively, protests and meetings were held across the globe -- in Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada (in a dozen cities), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany (in more than two dozen towns), Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Russia, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and the UK. In Thailand, more than 1,500 farmers, union members and HIV/AIDS activists called for the WTO to get out of agriculture and medicines.
* In Doha itself, the campaign to promote access to essential medicines in poor countries scored a significant victory. Fortified by protests in recent years from HIV/AIDS activists and a torrent of technical information from advocacy groups, the developing countries extracted from the rich countries a pledge that "the TRIPS Agreement [the WTO's intellectual property agreement] does not and should not prevent Members from taking measures to protect public health." All WTO countries joined in "affirm[ing] that the Agreement can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO Members' right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all."
This declaration will provide developing countries with the political space they need to begin introducing generic versions of on-patent medicines, including drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. Because generics are priced dramatically below the brand-name companies' products, the result may be that millions gain access to life-saving treatment they would otherwise be denied.
* On November 13, a coalition of environmental organizations, including Forest Ethics and the Dogwood Alliance, coordinated a day of action against Staples, featuring more than 200 demonstrations at Staples stores. The protesters demanded the company stop selling paper made from endangered forests and switch to recycled sources.
Staples -- which, according to the environmental groups, says that 97 percent of the paper it sells come from forests --has responded to the Stop Staples campaign by introducing some recycled paper lines in its stores and sponsoring America Recycles Day.
The message from activists: "Staples must get out of the business of destroying forests," says Forest Ethics' Todd Paglia. "Putting a couple new recycled products on the shelves and buying their way into America Recycles Day doesn't save forests."
* On November 20, thousands massed in the streets of Ottawa for a militant demonstration against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
Following September 11, the two institutions canceled the meetings they had scheduled for late September in Washington, D.C. -- where they would have been greeted by tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding open meetings, debt cancellation for poor countries, an end to structural adjustment, and the elimination of lending for socially and environmentally dangerous projects, like oil, mining, gas and large dams.
When the institutions rescheduled scaled-down meetings with little notice, activists in Ottawa mobilized on the fly -- again showing that the proponents of corporate globalization that there is nowhere they can hide. When they meet, the people will take to the streets.
* This week, the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives is pushing a vote on fast track, which would give the president unbridled negotiating authority to expand NAFTA to all of the Americas, as well as the power to negotiate other bilateral and multilateral treaties that will drag down living standards in the United States and around the world.
But a coalition of labor, environmentalists, consumer groups and many others has out-organized the Big Business interests supporting fast track. As of this writing, it appears fast track -- if indeed the vote is held -- will be defeated.
[And to make sure that's so, U.S. residents should call their Member of Congress at 1-800-393-1082 (just give your zip code, and you will be connected to your representative) and urge them to vote "no" on fast track.]
This is just a small sampling of the global justice movement's accomplishments in the last month.
The tens of thousands who turn out for its major demonstrations are just the most visible manifestation of a movement that continues to gain strength. The global justice movement is a majoritarian movement, in the United States and around the world. There will be more major mobilizations in the months and years ahead, but there will also be more coordinated international days of action, more boycotts, more pressure campaigns, more lobbying -- and more victories. Not only does this movement have staying power, it is going to win.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor and co-director Essential Action. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1999).
Source: http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2001/000095.html
12/5/01
6:33:15 PM
The Deficit President
And how he's getting away with it.
By Jonathan Chait
In a column last March generally cheering President Bush's tax cut, Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria warned that, "if the surpluses shrink, the GOP will be blamed for the resulting deficits and for years after will be tarred as the fiscally irresponsible party." This was the consensus view. If you asked people what would happen if the passage of the Bush tax cut was followed not only by the government dipping into the Social Security surplus, which the president swore would never happen, but several years of actual deficits, almost everybody would have said that Bushonomics would be repudiated.
Well, just last week, less than five months since the tax cut was enacted, White House Budget Director Mitch Daniels admitted that the federal government is going to be in the red for the foreseeable future. And is this being interpreted as an unambiguous vindication for the tax cut's critics? Not exactly. The New York Times, typifying the reaction, consigned the story to its inside pages and would venture only to say that the deficit would "lead to an intense partisan battle over who is to blame for the stunning turnabout in the nation's fiscal condition." After all this time, who can even remember which party pushed through a huge tax cut, and which party warned it would lead to deficits? It's like the Simpsons episode where Homer forgets to pick up Bart at soccer practice. "I know you're mad at me right now," he tells Bart, "and I'm kinda mad too. I mean, we could sit here and try to figure out who forgot to pick up who 'til the cows come home. But let's just say we're both wrong and that'll be that."
Part of the reason the deficit hasn't hurt Bush, of course, is that everybody's paying less attention to domestic policy these days. But it's also because the White House has managed to muddle the issue with enough budgetary mumbo jumbo to leave everybody scratching their heads. Budget Director Daniels attributes the deficit to a "convergence of factors," namely, "the recession, the newly necessary spending," and "new estimates of long-term growth." Hmm. Are there any factors missing here? Oh, yes, the tax cut! When specifically asked if the tax cut had any role in the deficit, White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer replied that, in 2001, the surplus had dropped by $154 billion, while the tax cut was only $40 billion, so "something else was going on. That something else, we now know, is a recession."
This bit of analysis is flawed in so many ways I almost don't know where to start. First, Fleischer seems to be admitting, without realizing it, that the tax cut is at least 25 percent (40 out of 156) responsible for the deficit. Second, Fleischer only mentions the budget numbers for this year. But deficits are projected to begin starting next year. And the tax cut is structured so that it costs relatively little at first, but soars later. In 2010, according to congressional estimates, it will reduce federal revenues by $260 billion.
Third and most important, it's bizarre for Fleischer to deny that the tax cut is going to reduce tax revenues, since that was the point of it: Bush said over and over that "Washington" would spend the surpluses unless they were returned to the people as tax cuts. This contradicts not only what the administration is saying now about the looming deficit but also its case for a second tax cut, the "stimulus bill." That case is essentially the old free lunch: Cutting taxes will increase tax revenues. "Surpluses are returned through strong growth," Fleischer maintains, "In the absence of a stimulus package, there is a strong possibility, according to private sector forecasters, that the economy will come back with only low to perhaps moderate growth." So the previous tax cut was supposedly needed to make the surplus disappear. The next one is needed to bring it back. Whatever.
It's true, as Daniels and Fleischer say, that a big reason we're facing deficits is that the economy turned south. Where they go wrong is portraying this as an unforeseeable event for which the White House can't be held responsible. When the Bush tax cut was being debated, one of the key points made against it was that it left no room for error in case budget projections turned out to be too optimistic or some unforeseen crisis arose. Indeed, just about every speech or op-ed criticizing the tax cut made this argument in some form. And just about every time Bush and his spokespeople were presented with this objection, they would reply that they had erred on the side of caution. Here, to take one of many examples, is what Daniels said on Nightline last February when Ted Koppel questioned his rosy assumptions:
Well, we really can't miss here. … We've been underestimating revenue by as much as $80 billion a year. And we are likely to continue doing that. … We've constructed a budget very carefully, on very conservative assumptions, and leaving lots of room for the unforeseen contingencies of the future.
The entire public rationale for the tax cut was not merely wrong or reckless, but outright dishonest. When Bush took office, remember, most people wanted to pay off the national debt and spend money on things like education and prescription drugs far more than they wanted tax cuts. Bush was only able to make his tax cuts acceptable by convincing the public that he first planned to take care of popular priorities and only cut taxes with all the leftover money.
So, last week a reporter asked Fleischer what, given projected deficits, Bush planned to do about his promise to enact a prescription drug benefit. He replied that "anything dealing with large spending increases, particularly creation of new entitlements, has to be done with an eye toward what is achievable." In other words, it turns out we can't afford a drug plan, so too bad. If Bush's you-can-have-it-all budgeting was merely a miscalculation, he could scale back the tax cut to make way for more debt reduction or spending. But the truth—which subsequent developments now expose—is that Bush always placed his tax cut ahead of debt reduction or the various government policies he endorsed as a "compassionate conservative."
It wasn't just some giant miscalculation. It was a lie.
Source: http://www.Slate.com
12/5/01
6:27:33 PM
The Nation
This week, the Bush Administration, assisted by an army of business lobbyists, are launching a last-ditch effort to gain approval of fast track authority from a reluctant Congress.
Described by critics as NAFTA on steroids, Fast Track has been one of the Bush Administrations's key policy objectives since day one. After numerous delays and retrenchments, House GOP leaders have scheduled action on Fast Track for tomorrow, Thursday, at 10 am. With Congress' end-of-the-year recess fast approaching, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Cal., says, "There will be no delay in the date."
Having finally drawn their line in the sand, Bush and his allies are preparing for a no-holds-barred battle. And part of their battle plan, exhibited by House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, among others, is to link fast track authority with the fight against terrorism -- echoing an administration line launched just hours after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
For the full story read the latest installment of John Nichols' Online Beat. Exclusively available at:
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat
There are a number of good sites offering ways to sign petitions and send informed letters of protest to the politicians who will be debating Fast Track starting tomorrow.
The AFL-CIO, which is mounting considerable opposition to the bill, offers the most comprehensive resource for learning about and combating Fast Track, especially how Fast Track would devastate American working families. Check out its special site at:
http://www.aflcio.org/convention01/takeaction.htm
Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch also offers much useful information on Fast Track, including a range of activist options for those opposed to its passing. All available at:
http://www.publiccitizen.org/trade/fasttrack/action/
And don't miss William Greider's recent related essay on how the right has used trade law to undermine American democracy. Published in the October 15, 2001 issue of The Nation, this seminal piece is currently available at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011015&s=greider
You can also read other recent Nation web articles on a wide range of subjects by Marc Cooper, Matt Bivens, Aram Roston, Joel Rogers & Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jerry Sanders, AC Thompson, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., Doug Henwood, Robert Scheer, Steve Cobble, Gayle Foreman and Jordan Green & Chris Kromm.
All available now at:
12/5/01
6:18:32 PM
National Security or National Smoke Screen?
Under the guise of protecting the national security, the Bush administration has been quietly reversing environmental policies, making legal settlements, and creating regulations that will rob our children of their future.
I explore the consequences of adopting a consumer oriented definition of patriotism in a special Healing Our World commentary called,"National Security or National Smoke Screen?"
You can find this commentary at my website at
http://drjackie.freeservers.com/articles/NOV26-2001.html
12/5/01
6:16:55 PM
ATTACK ON WTC: Why didn't our government respond until it was too late? Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001
President Bush and his administration have received a great deal of criticism about the total lack of response to the hijackings until too late. Here are some excerpts from a series of articles that have developed this issue in some depth:
Why didn't our government respond to the attack?
American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45 a.m.
"This is a terrorist attack. Notify the Pentagon." NYPD radio broadcast at 9:08a.m.
"In Sarasota, Fla, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading. He addressed the tragedy about a half-hour later."
American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.at 9:30a.m.
".how could [Flight 77] stay in the air, hijacked, for almost an hour after two other hijacked planes had struck the WTC Towers and not be seen by U.S. air defense forces?" [Flight 77 struck 45 minutes after Flight 11 struck the WTC.].
"On 11 September there were two entire squadrons of combat-ready fighter jets at Andrews [Air Force Base - 10 miles from the Pentagon]. Their job was to protect the skies over Washington D.C."
"Asked if rules of engagement would have allowed the Air Force to shoot the plane down, [deputy defense secretary] Wolfowitz said: 'I think it was pretty clear at that point that that airliner[The fourth plane that crashed in Pennsylvania] was not under the pilot's control and that it was heading to do major damage.'
"He said any military intervention would have ultimately been the decision of President George W. Bush....
"Forty minutes passed between the time New York's second World Trade Center tower was struck and another commandeered plane crashed into the Pentagon..."
"So what do we have here?
"A) Officials knew that the third plane, and quite possibly the second, was set to strike important targets.
"B) They tracked the third plane for at least half an hour.
"C) Supposedly George Bush, Jr. needed to approve shooting the plane down.
"D) But instead of going into an emergency meeting, he continued his visit to an elementary school, hearing about [a children's story about] goats.
"What we have here is either criminal negligence beyond belief, and that includes the Commander in Chief, who hearing that planes are destroying the country focuses on goats[children's story], or b) the 'N.Y. Times' piece is repeating a cover story whose purpose is to explain away the obvious flaw in the original story: namely, that a plane could be hijacked in Ohio, and fly all the way back to Washington without being spotted."
Sources of above excerpts:
GUILTY FOR 9-11: BUSH, RUMSFELD, MYERS by Illarion Bykov and Jared Israel
http://emperors-clothes.com/indict/indict-1.htm
MR. CHENEY'S COVER STORY Part 1, Section 2 of 'GUILTY FOR 9-11: BUSH, RUMSFELD, MYERS' by Illarion Bykov and Jared Israel
http://emperors-clothes.com/indict/indict-2.htm
Criminal Negligence or Treason - Commentary on a NY Times article By Jared Israel
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/treason.htm
12/5/01
6:15:02 PM
Secret US plan for Iraq war
Bush orders backing for rebels to topple Saddam
Peter Beaumont, Ed Vulliamy and Paul Beaver, The Observer
America intends to depose Saddam Hussein by giving armed support to Iraqi opposition forces across the country, The Observer has learnt.
President George W. Bush has ordered the CIA and his senior military commanders to draw up detailed plans for a military operation that could begin within months.
The plan, opposed by Tony Blair and other European Union leaders, threatens to blow apart the increasingly shaky international consensus behind the US-led 'war on terrorism'.
It envisages a combined operation with US bombers targeting key military installations while US forces assist opposition groups in the North and South of the country in a stage-managed uprising. One version of the plan would have US forces fighting on the ground.
Despite US suspicions of Iraqi involvement in the 11 September attacks, the trigger for any attack, sources say, would be the anticipated refusal of Iraq to resubmit to inspections for weapons of mass destruction under the United Nations sanctions imposed after the Gulf war.
According to the sources, the planning is being undertaken under the auspices of a the US Central Command at McDill air force base in Tampa, Florida, commanded by General Tommy Franks, who is leading the war against Afghanistan.
Another key player is understood to be former CIA director James Woolsey. Sources say Woolsey was sent to London by the hawkish Deputy Defence Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, soon after 11 September to ask Iraqi opposition groups if they would participate in an uprising if there was US military support.
The New York Times yesterday quoted a senior administration official who admitted that Bush's aides were looking at options that involved strengthening groups that opposed Saddam. Richard Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State, said that action against Iraq was not imminent, but would come at a 'place and time of our choosing'.
Washington has been told by its allies that evidence it has presented of an Iraqi link to 11 September is at best circumstantial. However, US proponents of extending the war believe they can make the case for hitting Saddam's regime over its plan to produce weapons of mass destruction.
A European diplomat said last week: 'In the past week the Americans have shut up about Iraqi links to 11 September and have been talking a lot more about their weapons programme.'
The US is believed to be planning to exploit existing UN resolutions on Iraqi weapons programmes to set the action off.
Under the pre-existing 'red lines' for military action against Iraq -set down by Washington and London after the Gulf War -evidence of any credible threat from weapons of mass destruction would be regarded as sufficient to launch military strikes along the lines of Operation Desert Fox in 1998, when allied planes made large-scale strikes against suspected Iraqi weapons complexes.
Opposition by Blair and French President Jacques Chirac may not be enough to dissuade the Americans. One European military source who recently returned from General Franks's headquarters in Florida said: 'The Americans are walking on water. They think they can do anything at the moment and there is bloody nothing Tony [Blair] can do about it.'
Bush is said to have issued instructions about the proposals, which are now at a detailed stage, to his Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, three weeks ago. But Pentagon sources say that a plan for attacking Iraq was developed by the time Bush's order was sent to the Pentagon, drawn up by Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, chairman of the joint chiefs General Richard Myers, and Franks.
The plan is to work with a combination of three political forces: Kurdish rebels in the north of Iraq, radical Sunni Muslim groups in and around Baghdad, and, most controversially, the Shia opposition in the south.
The most adventurous ingredient in the anti-Iraqi proposal is the use of US ground troops, Pentagon sources say. 'Significant numbers' of ground troops could also be called on in the early stages of any rebellion to guard oil fields around the Shia port of Basra in southern Iraq.
Source: http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,610461,00.html
12/5/01
4:57:43 PM
Israeli security issued urgent warning to CIA of large-scale terror attacks
By David Wastell in Washington and Philip Jacobson in Jerusalem
ISRAELI intelligence officials say that they warned their counterparts in the United States last month that large-scale terrorist attacks on highly visible targets on the American mainland were imminent.
The attacks on the World Trade Centre's twin towers and the Pentagon were humiliating blows to the intelligence services, which failed to foresee them, and to the defence forces of the most powerful nation in the world, which failed to deflect them.
The Telegraph has learnt that two senior experts with Mossad, the Israeli military intelligence service, were sent to Washington in August to alert the CIA and FBI to the existence of a cell of as many of 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big operation.
"They had no specific information about what was being planned but linked the plot to Osama bin Laden and told the Americans that there were strong grounds for suspecting Iraqi involvement," said a senior Israeli security official.
The CIA has said that it had no hard information that would have led to the prevention of the hijacking, but the FBI said it believed that cells operating within America and totalling at least 50 terrorists were behind last week's devastating hijacks; the names of new suspects are being added to the list daily.
America's intelligence agencies are being widely blamed for their failure to predict the attacks, or anything like them, and for not discovering any of the terrorist cells before the hijackings on Tuesday. Some of those who took part had lived in the US for months, or even years.
Evidence that a clear Israeli warning was delivered to American authorities, but ignored, would be a further blow to the reputation of the CIA, which is under fire for its failure last week.
An administration official in Washington said: "If this is true then the refusal to take it seriously will mean heads will roll. It is quite credible that the CIA might not heed a Mossad warning: it has a history of being overcautious about Israeli information."
For years, staff at the Pentagon joked that they worked at "Ground Zero", the spot at which an incoming nuclear missile aimed at America's defences would explode. There is even a snack bar of that name in the central courtyard of the five-sided building, America's most obvious military bullseye.
This weekend, five days after that target was struck with devastating effect by a hijacked plane, the joking has stopped.
It is far from certain that any military commander would have had the courage to recommend shooting down a passenger airliner, even in the unprecedented circumstances of last Tuesday.
For three of the four airliners hijacked last week, however, the question did not even arise. Two pairs of combat fighters were scrambled into action but did not get near enough to shoot any of them down.
Norad, the command headquarters in Colorado responsible for defending all of North America from air attack, was notified of the first hijack at 8.38am and six minutes later two F-15 fighter jets were ordered into the air from Otis airforce base on Cape Cod.
Before they could take off, however, the first hijacked airliner crashed into the World Trade Centre's north tower at 8.46am. Six minutes later the two military jets were airborne, but when the second hijacked airliner hit the south tower shortly after 9am they were still 70 miles from Manhattan.
The only successful action against the hijackers was taken by passengers of the fourth airliner, whose heroic decision to fight back led to its crashing into the fields of Pennsylvania.
The reason lies in the strict distinction America draws between civil and military power, combined with the fact that until last week nobody had confronted the possibility that a terrorist hijacker might turn kamikaze pilot.
Although Norad has its own radar system to track aircraft over the US, its prime task is to watch for hostile aircraft approaching America from outside. "We assume anything originating in US airspace is friendly," said a spokesman.
For the same reason, the 20 or so American fighter planes on permanent full alert in case of a suspect intruder, were deployed at half a dozen bases in the likeliest flightpaths of an attack from the former Soviet Union, several hundred miles from New York or Washington DC.
All aircraft flying over American airspace are monitored and controlled by a network of 20 regional Federal Aviation Authority air traffic control centres, backed up by individual airport control towers. Military aircraft under Norad control can intervene with domestic traffic only if called on for help by their civilian colleagues.
That is what happened on Tuesday, but in no case was there apparently enough time after the FAA's warning for fighter planes to reach the hijacked airliners.
More puzzling, there were 45 minutes between air traffic controllers losing contact with the third airliner, which took off from Dulles airport just outside Washington, and its crash on to the Pentagon.
At that point, however, the aircraft was still flying on its intended course westwards. It may not have been until later, possibly after a passenger's mobile phone call to the Justice Department, that the civil authorities finally twigged what was happening.
It was not the military but civilian air traffic controllers at Washington's Reagan National Airport - tipped off by their colleagues at Dulles - who alerted the White House to the fact that an unauthorised jet was flying at full throttle towards it.
As shaken White House staff began a frantic evacuation, the aircraft banked, performed a 270 degree turn and sailed past lines of aghast drivers on expressways to crash explosively into the west side of the Pentagon.
If the airliner had approached much nearer to the White House it might have been shot down by the Secret Service, who are believed to have a battery of ground-to-air Stinger missiles ready to defend the president's home.
The Pentagon is not similarly defended. "We are an open society," said a military official. "We don't have soldiers positioned on the White House lawn and we don't have the Pentagon ringed with bunkers and tanks."
It emerged last night that two F-16 fighters took off from Langley airforce base in Virginia just two minutes before the American Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the Pentagon, again too late to have a chance of intercepting.
Only the fourth hijacked airliner, which was less than 30 minutes from Washington when it crashed, might have been successfully intercepted: air traffic controllers at a regional centre in Nashua, New Hampshire, told a Boston newspaper that at least one F-16 fighter was in hot pursuit, and defence officials confirmed that the fighters already launched from Langley were on their way to intercept the flight when passengers apparently took matters into their own hands.
Deep inside the Pentagon, in the hardened bunkers of the National Military Joint Intelligence Centre, senior officials were said to be "stunned" by the terrorists' achievement.
Within minutes of the attack American forces around the world were put on one of their highest states of alert -Defcon 3, just two notches short of all-out war - and F-16s from Andrews Air Force Base were in the air over Washington DC.
A flotilla of warships was deployed along the east coast from bases in Virginia and Florida, with two aircraft-carriers to help protect the airspace around New York and Washington DC. Off the west coast, a further 10 ships put to sea to take up station close to the shore.
Extra Awacs aerial reconnaissance aircraft were sent aloft to ensure that nothing other than military aircraft flew in American airspace - a home-grown version of the "no-fly zones" enforced for many years over Iraq. For much of the rest of the week, the unsettling roar of F-15 and F-16 fighters patrolling the skies high above America's biggest cities replaced the usual rumble of commercial airliners.
On Friday, in a tacit admission that America must in future be better prepared, Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, announced that fighters were being put on a 15-minute "strip" alert at 26 bases nationwide.
There was anger among politicians at what many saw as the failure of the intelligence services, and some officials on Capitol Hill began canvassing support for a move to force George Tenet, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, originally appointed by Clinton, to step aside.
James Traficant, a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, said that for years Congress had poured billions of dollars of largely unscrutinised funding into America's intelligence services, "yet we learnt of every one of these tragedies from Fox News and CNN"- two television channels. Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican member of the Senate intelligence committee, said it was "a failure of great dimension".
There are moves to address one severe shortcoming noted by many critics: the CIA's reliance on technological rather than "human" means to gather information, and its weakness as a means of finding out what Osama bin Laden is up to.
During the Clinton administration, Congress banned the CIA from recruiting as a paid informer anyone with a criminal record or who was guilty of human rights violations. James Woolsey, another former CIA director, said: "Inside bin Laden's organisation there are only people who want to be human rights violators. If you don't recruit them then you don't recruit anyone."
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/16/wcia16.xml
12/5/01
3:47:33 PM
ATTACK ON WTC: Why didn't our government respond until it was too late?
President Bush and his administration have received a great deal of criticism about the total lack of response to the hijackings until too late. Here are some excerpts from a series of articles that have developed this issue in some depth:
Why didn't our government respond to the attack?
American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45 a.m.
"This is a terrorist attack. Notify the Pentagon." NYPD radio broadcast at 9:08a.m.
"In Sarasota, Fla, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading. He addressed the tragedy about a half-hour later."
American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.at 9:30a.m.
".how could [Flight 77] stay in the air, hijacked, for almost an hour after two other hijacked planes had struck the WTC Towers and not be seen by U.S. air defense forces?" [Flight 77 struck 45 minutes after Flight 11 struck the WTC.].
"On 11 September there were two entire squadrons of combat-ready fighter jets at Andrews [Air Force Base - 10 miles from the Pentagon]. Their job was to protect the skies over Washington D.C."
"Asked if rules of engagement would have allowed the Air Force to shoot the plane down, [deputy defense secretary] Wolfowitz said: 'I think it was pretty clear at that point that that airliner[The fourth plane that crashed in Pennsylvania] was not under the pilot's control and that it was heading to do major damage.'
"He said any military intervention would have ultimately been the decision of President George W. Bush....
"Forty minutes passed between the time New York's second World Trade Center tower was struck and another commandeered plane crashed into the Pentagon..."
"So what do we have here?
"A) Officials knew that the third plane, and quite possibly the second, was set to strike important targets.
"B) They tracked the third plane for at least half an hour.
"C) Supposedly George Bush, Jr. needed to approve shooting the plane down.
"D) But instead of going into an emergency meeting, he continued his visit to an elementary school, hearing about [a children's story about] goats.
"What we have here is either criminal negligence beyond belief, and that includes the Commander in Chief, who hearing that planes are destroying the country focuses on goats[children's story], or b) the 'N.Y. Times' piece is repeating a cover story whose purpose is to explain away the obvious flaw in the original story: namely, that a plane could be hijacked in Ohio, and fly all the way back to Washington without being spotted."
Sources of above excerpts:
GUILTY FOR 9-11: BUSH, RUMSFELD, MYERS by Illarion Bykov and Jared Israel
http://emperors-clothes.com/indict/indict-1.htm
MR. CHENEY'S COVER STORY Part 1, Section 2 of 'GUILTY FOR 9-11: BUSH, RUMSFELD, MYERS' by Illarion Bykov and Jared Israel
http://emperors-clothes.com/indict/indict-2.htm
Criminal Negligence or Treason - Commentary on a NY Times article By Jared Israel
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/treason.htm
12/5/01
3:40:57 PM
Beyond Osama: The Pentagon's Battle With Powell Heats Up
Jason Vest, Village Voice
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The simmering conflict within the Bush administration over how to prosecute the next phase of the "war on terrorism" suddenly flared up last week as the Taliban fled Kabul. "Where to go next and how big it should be is what's being argued right now-and Baghdad is what's being debated at the moment," said a senior Pentagon official. "This is both an internal discussion at the Pentagon, and one between departments. Our policy guys are thinking Iraq. Our question is, do we make a move earlier than anyone expects?" To some, this goes well beyond madness: With Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda still at large and no obvious ties between Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein or Palestinian groups like Hamas or Hezbollah, taking the fight to Baghdad, Syria, or Lebanon makes little military or diplomatic sense.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11938
12/5/01
3:39:02 PM
Model State Emergency Health Powers Act
On October 31, 2001 the American people and U.S. Constitutional freedoms were attacked, not by the Taliban government or Muslim terrorists, but by CDC officials who advanced the "Model State Emergency Health Powers Act" that will force masses of people suspected of exposure to broadly-defined "infectious diseases" and biological weapons into concentration camp-like holding facilities for drugging, vaccination, and quarantine, without any viable legal recourse.
First, READ the 40 page Model State Emergency Health Powers Act Document at
http://www.publichealthlaw.net/MSEHPA/MSEHPA.pdf
Then...
Read the Health Privacy Project Organization's comments and criticisms on the bill at
http://www.healthprivacy.org/info-url_nocat2303/info-url_nocat_show.htm?doc_ id=90021
12/5/01
3:36:32 PM
Report on Alliance Assembly Governance
Dear friends,
This is a reminder about the new Global Governance discussion list. I am currently at the Alliance's World Assembly of Citizens and will be participating in the working group on Global Governance. The working paper that we will be discussing can now be found on the web at
http://www.alliance21.org/en/proposals/finals/final_globgov_en.rtf
or in french at
http://www.alliance21.org/en/proposals/finals/final_globgov_fr.rtf
There are some very interesting proposals regarding establishing a world parliament, etc. Somewhere around the sections 355-377. However there is a table of contents so you can see what all is there. I'd love to get feedback about what you think of these ideas; and I will send more information as it is presented here during the week.
Thanks
Rob Wheeler
12/5/01
3:36:29 PM
Report on Alliance Assembly Governance
Dear friends,
This is a reminder about the new Global Governance discussion list. I am currently at the Alliance's World Assembly of Citizens and will be participating in the working group on Global Governance. The working paper that we will be discussing can now be found on the web at
http://www.alliance21.org/en/proposals/finals/final_globgov_en.rtf
or in french at
http://www.alliance21.org/en/proposals/finals/final_globgov_fr.rtf
There are some very interesting proposals regarding establishing a world parliament, etc. Somewhere around the sections 355-377. However there is a table of contents so you can see what all is there. I'd love to get feedback about what you think of these ideas; and I will send more information as it is presented here during the week.
Thanks
Rob Wheeler
12/5/01
3:32:31 PM
Call to Pacifists to Strategize a Meta-Democracy
It's all very well and good to stay informed and seek out the truth of what is going on. I haven't been able to figure out what else to do. However, I'm beginning to see the scope of what has to be done.
In 1983 I had a vision of the future where there were two forces struggling to change the world. One side wanted to control everyone and everything with a global martial law imposed by the wealthy to keep down unrest and consolidate their power. The other side was resisting, though pacifist in nature, by networking extensively around the globe, championing freedom, democracy and inner exploration.
These people communicated with each other telephathically, in dreams, and spirit body whether incarcerated or free to coordinate their resistance. Many were jailed. Others moved around continually in order to avoid control of their lives.
There were people on both sides in every country. This struggle was not a national one, but between people with different mindsets and values. It would seem we are approaching this scenario with those who advocate the New World Order attempting to take over control of governments by fiat, political coups, economic manipulation, terrorism, etc.
Have enough people woken up to form a successful resistance to this concerted attempt to establish the New World Order? I don't think so, but for those who have, it is imperative to start going around waking up others as though the house were on fire.
Pacifists need to outstrategize the militarists. Once we start connecting with each other to strategize resistance, we have the overwhelming advantage of those among us who communicate with spirit guides. When asked, higher spiritual beings may assist with timely information and guidance to intuit how to proceed effectively.
At this time, we are in apparently weak position of merely responding to the initiatives of the NWO cohort. This has got to change!
We need to start filing suits in every state against the Bush administration's every move to weaken our democratic form of government. We need to impeach Bush, get Blair out of office, and depose any politican from a position of power who is moving toward greater control of the populace and less freedom for the people.
Even more imperative, we need to start taking initiative in creating the world we want. A good place to begin would be with a constitutional convention. The wise men who formed this country foresaw a time when the forms of government would need to be updated and changed and they built the forum into our constitution to do that with a constitutional convention.
An obvious place to start at a constitutional convention would be to eliminate the electoral college. However, more sweeping changes could be instituted that would reflect the communication processes available today. For instance, do we really need a representative form of government?
If everyone can bank with automated tellers, why can't everyone cast their personal vote on issues? Of course, we would need a much more actively involved citizenry, but that is possible.
And how can we get women involved in decision-making proportionate to their numbers? Our form of government was formed by a body of men. No women were included. Bring women into the process of deciding on how to set up a better government, and believe me, it's going to be different than what just men came up with; it'll be more balanced, deeper, richer, and more equal.
Some people have started to draw up plans for the kinds of radical changes that would bring about a way for people to live in harmony with all living creatures, honoring our great Mother Earth. A resource-based economic system rather than a money-based economic system is one of the best stratagems I've seen for evening out the disparities between poorer and richer countries.
Another stratagem would be to move the United Nations out of New York to any country but the most powerful, richest one in the world.
If we started a brainstorming session on measures that we could take, individually and collectively, to take initiative and act to create the world we want then we would have a better chance at resisting the New World Order takeover that is occurring presently.
Even more, we would be well on our way to creating the world we want. Who knows? Maybe the New World Order forces are humanity's birth canal forcing us to birth the world we want or die in the process.
Ariel Ky
mailto:drumbeatdeva@hotmail.com
12/5/01
3:29:26 PM
U.S. Bombs Strike 3 Villages And Reportedly Kill Scores American bombers struck three Afghan villages Friday night, killing or injuring scores of civilians, witnesses and officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/02/international/asia/02STRI.html
Bush's Inexperience is Showing (December 2, 2001) Sensible Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and the administration's sharpest mind, Secretary of State Colin Powell, are trying to restrain the Sharonistas, who seem dangerously close to convincing Bush to launch a crusade against much of the 1.2-billion-person Islamic world. They failed with clever Bill Clinton, but are succeeding with the unworldly Bush. America's European, Asian and Muslim allies are horrified by the dire threats emanating from Washington, but so far no one has dared to publicly break ranks and tell the president to holster his sixguns and simmer down.
http://commondreams.org/views01/1202-05.htm
BEFORE AND AFTER: SEPTEMBER 11
A fierce battle is being waged for America's post-9/11 soul, pitting Bush's securitycrats and war hawks against a growing chorus of dissent. But what exactly are they fighting for?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12013
INTELLIGENCE FAILURE
Of the 1200 detained in the post-Sept. 11 anti-terror sweep, 548 remain in custody. Only about a dozen of them, it turns out, have any ties to anything that could remotely be characterized as terrorism.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12009
NEXT STOP BAGHDAD? ANTI-WAR WARRIORS SAY 'WHOA'
Some conservatives and their Pentagon pals are lobbying Bush to take his war to Iraq. They are meeting with resistance from not just the left, but from prominent rightwingers as well.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11995
U.S. Making Weapons to Blast Underground Hide-Outs
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/03/international/03WEAP.html
U.S. budget deficit projected until 2005 WASHINGTON -- The federal budget will likely remain in deficit for the rest of President Bush's term, bringing a decisive end to the brief era of surpluses, Bush's budget director Mitch Daniels said Wednesday. CLIP The deficit forecast was a dramatic turnabout after four straight years of government surpluses. Daniels blamed the change on the recession and the economic fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In a question-and-answer session after his speech, Daniels disputed suggestions that Bush's tax cuts contributed to the deficit. The tax package that Congress approved earlier this year will reduce federal revenues by nearly $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years.
http://www.truthout.com/12.02C.Bush.Lucky.Me.htm
Kamen Sees New Industry in Self-Balancing Scooter (December 3) NEW YORK (Reuters) - The ultra-secret invention that has kept the high-tech world abuzz for the past year is a self-balancing, motorized scooter that costs under 10 cents a day to operate and could usher in a new era of individual transport. The machine, once code-named ``Ginger,'' but now known as the Human Transporter, could replace private cars in crowded cities or battery-powered carts on factory floors by enabling riders to zip around safely in close quarters, its developer said. ``Telepathic transportation -- that's the way it feels,'' inventor Dean Kamen said in an interview conducted as he absent-mindedly maneuvered one of his two-wheeled prototype devices at a media demonstration room in New York on Monday. CLIP On top of the scooter's ``dynamic balancing'' technology, Kamen's research arm, DEKA Research and Development Corp., is also working on a so-called Stirling engine, an emission-free energy source that recycles much of its own heat. The potentially revolutionary engine will be incorporated into future versions, Kamen promised.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011203/tc/tech_scooter_dc_3.html
Mystery Invention Is Self-Balancing Scooter (December 3)
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011203/tc/tech_scooter_dc_1.html
WHITE POISON: THE HORRORS OF MILK The pus, blood, antibiotics, and carcinogens in milk -- and the chronic fatigue, anemia, asthma, and autoimmune disorders caused by milk consumption - do no body good.
http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=18
Senate Defeats ANWR 'Sneak Attack'
http://www.truthout.com/12.04A.Senate.ANWR.htm
12/5/01
3:19:36 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
A CRACKDOWN ON DISSIDENT PRISONERS
by Anne-Marie Cusac, The Progressive
-- New prison regulations give the Federal Bureau of Prisons unprecedented latitude to place prisoners in solitary confinement under the guise of security.
THE HIERARCHY OF DEATH
by Anne Karpf, The Guardian Unlimited
-- The author contemplates how the massive attempt to identify victims at Ground Zero through DNA sampling reveals the varying amounts assigned to the worth of a life.
NOT A GIRL, NOT YET A WOMAN: NOT MUCH OF ANYTHING
by Adam Baer, PopPolitics.com
-- When Britney Spears dances and squeals in skimpy outfits on stage, it's not just the image and music that's for sale, it's Britney herself.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
12/5/01
3:15:19 PM
Left Behind
By Jacob Weisberg
Shortly after Sept.11, the Weekly Standard began offering facetious "Susan Sontag Awards" for anti-war comments. The reference was to a snotty 460-word New Yorker article, in which the famous New York intellectual described the terrorist attacks as a "consequence of specific American alliances and actions" and called high-altitude bombing "cowardly." Winners of the Standard's Sontag Award have included the novelist Alice Walker, filmmakers Oliver Stone and Michael Moore, the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, the Indian writer Arundhati Roy, and Ted Rall, a syndicated political cartoonist. A separate feature in the magazine dismembered Katha Pollitt for something she wrote in The Nation.
Around the same time, the New Republic initiated an "idiocy award" for dumb comments about the war against terrorism. Honorees have included Katha Pollitt, Alice Walker, Michael Moore, Oliver Stone, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Arundhati Roy, and Ted Rall, as well as the novelist Barbara Kingsolver. In a separate column in the magazine, Lawrence Kaplan compared Susan Sontag's comments to the views of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. AndrewSullivan.com has also put forward nominations for a "Sontag Award"—to Pollitt, Stone, Walker, Roy, and Rall. Sullivan's Web site clobbered Moore and Kingsolver under a different rubric.
If the point of these anthologies is simply to call people out for saying foolish things, then I have no complaint other than the repetition. I recently criticized Pollitt myself for her views on the American flag. But if, as I suspect, the suggestion is that these comments represent a significant body of anti-war opinion, I'm far from persuaded. Stone and Moore are well-known cranks, regarded with considerable distaste even on the left. Roy and Stockhausen aren't even American. The sins of the others fall somewhere short of lending aid and comfort to the enemy. Kingsolver published something in a Milwaukee newspaper equating patriotism with terrorism. Walker wrote something incoherent in the Village Voice about how "the only punishment that works is love." I'm not sure many people have even heard of Ted Rall.
As for the much-maligned Susan Sontag, she subsequently regretted writing that New Yorker piece in an interview with David Talbot of Salon. "I'm not against fighting this enemy—it is an enemy and I'm not a pacifist," Sontag said. She added: "I want to make one thing very clear, because I've been accused of this by some critics. I do not feel that the Sept. 11 attacks were the pursuit of legitimate grievances by illegitimate means."
In other words, anti-war villain No. 1 isn't even against the war, much less in sympathy with the other side, as she was during Vietnam. But Sontag's critics aren't much interested in finding out what she—or the other rogues in their gallery—actually think. To do so might undermine their enjoyable hunt for heretics. Even some leftists have joined in this fun. In the latest issue of the Atlantic, Christopher Hitchens describes his heroic resistance to Osama Bin Laden's radical-chic sympathizers. And who are these sympathizers? Stone, Sontag, and Noam Chomsky, in whom Hitchens now recognizes clinical symptoms that have been obvious to everyone else for years. On the basis of these people's views, Hitchens heaps contempt on a group he calls "American liberals."
But neither Hitchens nor anyone else can produce the name of a single prominent "liberal"—as opposed to a radical literary figure or European intellectual—who actually opposes military action against Osama Bin Laden. Among Democratic elected officials, the only opponent of the war is Rep. Barbara Lee of Berkeley, Calif. Barney Frank, Paul Wellstone, and David Bonior are all firmly in the war camp. So is the American Prospect. So is Arthur Schlesinger. So is Molly Ivins.
Even many non-liberal leftists who have protested every American military action since Vietnam aren't against this war. The Nation these days sounds like someone with a mouth full of marbles, because most of the writers can't bear to say that they support what the United States is doing in Afghanistan, even though they do. In the current issue, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, the magazine's editor, struggles to acknowledge that the war "seems justified." Then it's time to change the topic: She hopes that the national unity engendered by the war can be turned to something really important, like campaign-finance reform. And Hitchens is not the only Nation writer in open defiance of the magazine's surviving readership. Eric Alterman, a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy, has recently taken to decrying "the Hate America Left."
As for our college campuses, they're hotbeds of … patriotism. According to a recent study by the Institute of Politics at Harvard, student support for our bombing of Afghanistan is "slightly lower" than that of the general population—79 percent versus 92 percent. That, however, was before the airstrikes began to work. Seventy-five percent of college students trust the American military to "do the right thing all or most of the time." A story in the Los Angeles Times quotes someone from the American Friends Service Committee in Cambridge, Mass., who says the anti-war movement "is still in the process of taking shape." As for such traditional hallmarks as protests, organizations, slogans, buttons, and posters, be patient. "Momentum is building."
Put bluntly, there is no anti-war movement, intellectual or popular, in the United States. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying no one opposes the war. According to polls, 5 percent of the country is against it. There are pacifists and Buddhists. There remain others whose ears hear only evil about the United States. But even among such folk, it's impossible to find anyone who explicitly sides with our enemies, as so many radicals and intellectuals did during the Vietnam. Opposition to the war against terrorism is more like opposition to World War II. You can draw up a list of names, just as you could catalog those who didn't think we should fight the Nazis, such as the critic Dwight Macdonald, the pacifist poet Robert Lowell, and the once pro-fascist architect Philip Johnson. But however wrongheaded it was, such opposition was marginal and idiosyncratic. It meant nothing in terms of the country or the war effort.
If today's anti-war movement is insignificant, why are some supporters of the war so fixated on it? Their reasons vary. Someone like David Horowitz understands everything in terms of the Cold War and Vietnam. Without an anti-American left to do battle against, his life would be drained of all meaning. His fund raising would suffer as well. Other conservatives adopt an embattled posture simply out of long-standing habit, without reference to whether any barbarians are actually at the gates. A furious centrist like Michael Kelly seems to need a treasonous anti-war movement to stir his outrage and generate column inches. A born-again patriot like Hitchens finds it useful in another way. Decrying the left's true believers validates his newly acquired mainstream credentials.
The rest of us, who don't need an anti-war movement for any particular reason, are free to take note of its virtual nonexistence. Those policing the debate are dropping the rhetorical equivalent of daisy cutters on a few malnourished left-wing stragglers. Of course those opposed to the United States defending itself against terrorism are wrong. They also happen to be totally irrelevant.
Jacob Weisberg is Slate's chief political correspondent.
You can e-mail him at mailto:ballotbox@slate.com.
Source: http://slate.msn.com/?id=2059328
12/5/01
3:02:57 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
THOUSANDS OF LETTERS COULD BE CONTAMINATED WITH ANTHRAX
WASHINGTON, DC, December 4, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says tens of thousands of letters delivered in recent weeks may have been contaminated with trace amounts of anthrax. The news came as authorities speculated that an anthrax tainted letter may have infected a 94 year old Connecticut woman who died last month of inhalation anthrax.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-04-06.html
NUCLEAR WASTE SHIP POISED TO LEAVE FRANCE FOR JAPAN
CHERBOURG, France, December 4, 2001 (ENS) - A cargo ship bound for Japan with a shipment of 61 metric tons of nuclear waste will sail from Cherbourg tomorrow night. The reprocessed radioactive waste, stabilized in glass, is being transported to Japan for storage.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-04-02.html
PEACE CALLED IN TEMELIN REACTOR STRUGGLE
BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 4, 2001 (ENS) - A long standing dispute between Austria and the Czech Republic over the Czech nuclear power plant at Temelín has been resolved after the Czechs agreed to be legally bound to introduce a series of safety improvements.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-04-04.html
WORLD'S WATER STORAGE CAPACITY SHRINKING AS DAMS SILT UP
BONN, Germany, December 4, 2001 (ENS) - The reservoirs of the world are losing their capacity to hold water as erosion brings silt down to settle in behind dams, the chief of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned today.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-04-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: DECEMBER 4, 2001
Lab Workers Acquitted of Fraud
Daschle Offices Decontaminated with Chlorine Dioxide Gas
Whooping Cranes Arrive in Florida after Experimental Migration
New Technology Could Spot Chemical Weapons
Restricting Information Could Do More Harm then Good
Clean Air Exemption for California Farms Will Continue
Butterfly Receives Emergency Protection
Wing Dams Worsen Floods, Study Suggests
Trees Make Great Gifts for Tree Huggers
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-04-09.html
12/5/01
3:00:05 PM
SENATE DEFEATS ENERGY RIDER WHICH WOULD OPEN ANWR
WASHINGTON, DC, December 3, 2001 (ENS) - Late today, the U.S. Senate voted against a proposed amendment to the Railroad Retirement Bill which would have opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to energy exploration.
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, a Missouri Republican, and Alaska Republican Senator Frank Murkowski, attempted to attach controversial House Energy legislation, which allows for oil and natural gas drilling in ANWR, to the unrelated railroad bill in an effort to push the measure through before the Senate ends its current session.
But despite a weekend of lobbying by the energy industry and supporters of the energy bill, and after hours of floor debate, the Senate overwhelmingly rejected Murkowski's effort, 94-1.
Environmental groups applauded the Senate's decision to defeat the energy rider.
"We're pleased that the Senate has once again acknowledged that this fall is not the time to rush through controversial energy policies, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "But it's very unfortunate that there continue to be senators who are willing to delay important and unrelated legislation to further their own irresponsible agenda."
On October 1, the Senate unanimously opposed an effort by Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, to add the House energy bill to the Defense Authorization bill. This time, even Senator Murkowski voted against the energy bill rider.
"This is the second time Senator Murkowski has tried to push Arctic drilling onto an unrelated bill, the second time he has held up the Senate's business, and the second time his arguments have failed," said Betsy Loyless, political director of the League of Conservation Voters. "Hopefully, this will be the last time the Senate leadership spends time on Senator Murkowski's personal political agenda, when they should be focused on national priorities."
Opponents of opening ANWR to energy exploration say that the Republican plan would spoil the untrammeled Arctic Refuge without contributing substantially to U.S. energy security.
"We will not achieve energy security by ruining the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," said Lois Schiffer, senior vice president for public policy at the National Audubon Society. "Opening the Arctic Refuge to drilling would be a disaster for migratory birds, for other wildlife and for future generations of Americans who deserve this pristine wild place. We can secure our energy future and reduce America's reliance on foreign oil by developing newer, cleaner sources of energy, such as solar and wind, and by making our cars, homes, and appliances more energy efficient."
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-03-09.html
12/5/01
2:57:10 PM
Dear AlterNet Reader,
This is a special invitation to a new, experimental kind of public forum -- AlterNet's first ever live Web cast. It's a chance for you to experience the ideas and perspectives of AlterNet in a very different way.
On Thursday, Dec. 6, at 4:30pm PST, AlterNet will bring together five prominent leaders for a community discussion, "Visions for a Safer World" (see below for panelist bios). The broadcast will take place at
http://www.alternet.org/visions.
The question we're trying to answer -- How has Sept. 11 and the war on terrorism affected other issues that Americans care about? What's happening to environmental concerns, globalization issues, local communities and the media?
Like many of us, you may have never seen a live Web cast before. Never fear! It takes no special technology; anyone, with any computer, can participate.
Go to http://www.alternet.org/visions and click on "Real Player" for easy, step-by-step instructions.
So mark your calendars! And don't hesitate to give us your feedback after the event: feedback@alternet.org.
FEATURED PANELISTS:
Randall Hayes The founder and first director of the Rainforest Action Network, and is now President of the Board. He is also the national director for Destination Conservation, an environmental education program that reduces utility bills for K-12 schools.
Anuradha Mittal A native of India, Anuradha is the Co-Director of Food First. Her articles and opinion pieces on trade, women in development and food security have appeared in numerous national and international newspapers and journals.
Michael Shellenberger The Western Division Director of Fenton Communications. Michael founded and directed Communication Works. While under his leadership, the organization executed campaigns that pushed for public health alternatives to the drug war, advanced civil rights protection for gays and lesbians, and countered the trend of locking juvenile offenders in adult prisons.
Thenmozhi Soundararajan Founder and executive director of Third World Majority, a women- of-color-run new media training center by, for, and about diverse communities working for social and economic justice. As a second generation Tamil Untouchable woman, she strives to connect grassroots organizers in developing countries with media resources that can widen their base of resistance.
Stephen Zunes Associate professor of politics and chairperson of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. Zunes is also a senior analyst and the Middle East and North Africa editor at Foreign Policy In Focus.
The discussion will be moderated by Akilah Monifa, media trainer/ PR strategist for the SPIN Project (an affliate of AlterNet), lawyer and freelance journalist.
12/5/01
2:51:29 PM
t r u t h o u t | 12.05
WAXMAN In a Letter Challenges Cheney, Enron and Secrecy "In light of Enron's financial failure, you should reconsider your insistence on secrecy,"
http://www.truthout.com/4.cheney.enron.12.04.pdf
30 Members of Congress Protest Tribunals in Letter to Bush
http://www.truthout.com/12.05B.30.Reps.htm
CONYERS-SANDERS Blast Bush on Domestic Surveillance / Undermining Civil Liberties
http://www.truthout.com/12.05C.Conyers.Sanders.htm
Land Often The Motive For Attacks On Blacks, Lynchings
http://www.truthout.com/12.05D.Blacks.Land.htm
AFL-CIO Chief Says Bush Waging War on Workers
http://www.truthout.com/12.05E.AFL.CIO.Bush.htm
t r u t h o u t, is a non-profit independent news source.
12/4/01
6:56:56 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE, a project of Earth Day Network
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
NEWS FLASH: BUSH ADMINISTRATION FAVORS BUSINESS Evidence continues to mount that the Bush administration is in bed with business groups. The latest proof is an email, provided to the Washington Post by a disenchanted lobbyist, that described a campaign to undermine environmental, health, and safety regulations. A Republican congressional aide to the House subcommittee overseeing federal regulations sent the email in late September to a dozen lobbyists (think U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Farm Bureau types) inviting them to a secret brainstorming session to discuss regulations they found too burdensome. The aide, Barbara Kahlow, explained that President Bush's controversial regulatory czar, John Graham, wanted to work confidentially with lobbyists to target onerous rules; a chart included in her email, listing 57 such rules, was labeled "non-public" (in boldface with underlining). Confronted with the email and chart, Graham denied contributing to or even seeing the list and vowed not to change any regulations without input from affected agencies and the public.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Michael Grunwald, 04 Dec 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52194-2001Dec3.html>
FREE-RANGE CHECKING
The Sante Fe group Forest Guardians is hoping to raise $1 million to boot cattle from thousands of state-owned acres in Arizona and New Mexico. In late November, the group won a case before Arizona's Supreme Court that ended a state policy of allowing only ranchers to lease state school trust land, which includes about 8.3 million acres. The high court said the Arizona Land Department should instead grant the leases to the highest bidder, therefore maximizing the amount of money available for state schools. Ranchers are irate about the ruling, though the state may retain some small ability to tilt the bidding in their favor. After years of frustration, enviros (and some conservative free-market groups) are in seventh heaven. With 1 million bucks, John Horning of Forest Guardians said his group could control 50,000 to 100,000 acres of the most ecologically important school trust land.
straight to the source: Arizona Daily Star, Mitch Tobin, 04 Dec 2001 <http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/11204GRAZINGLEASES2fmai2fmst.html>
ANWR SEDATED
The latest attempt by U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling tanked yesterday when almost the entire Senate (including Murkowski!) voted against it. Working with Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Murkowski had hoped to tag the GOP energy bill and a separate anti-human-cloning bill on to an unrelated railroad retirement bill. Lott and Murkowski needed to get 60 votes to force the Senate to consider adding the amendment. Apparently, they could only rustle up 54 or 55 votes, so they called the whole stratagem off, and the Senate voted 94-1 against the plan. Murkowski downplayed the vote as "meaningless," but environmentalists said it was a victory for their cause.
straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Liz Ruskin, 04 Dec 2001 <http://www.adn.com/front/story/738054p-785814c.html>
TAKE THAT BACK
Maryland yesterday became the first state to lose the authority to enforce federal clean air laws. The loss is the result of the state's failure to act on a U.S. EPA order to create more public participation in the industrial permit application process. Under Maryland law, only the owners of property abutting an industrial polluter can protest a permit application, a stipulation that violates the federal Clean Air Act. The Sierra Club sued the EPA last year to enable more citizen participation in Maryland and many other states. An EPA official said that the agency was slated to approve plans to increase participation in Virginia and D.C., but that Maryland had failed to meet a Dec. 1 deadline to show progress with its program. The EPA will now oversee industry requests for permits in the state.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Anita Huslin, 04 Dec 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52734-2001Dec3.html>
12/4/01
6:54:06 PM
World Environment News - December 5th, 2001 from Planet Ark
UPDATE - Senate vote on Alaska oil drilling bill blocked - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13568/story.htm
Air pollution trading can be done on Internet - EPA - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13578/story.htm
Bin Laden may be close to nuclear weapon - newspaper - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13583/story.htm
Britain earmarks cash for storage of old fridges - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13575/story.htm
Magnox fuel reprocesser ahead of schedule - BNFL - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13572/story.htm
TTM may issue bonds for Thai-Malaysia gas pipeline - SINGAPORE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13576/story.htm
Swedish nuke R2 at 50 pct capacity until next week - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13571/story.htm
Oil spill keeps Lithuania's Butinge terminal closed - LITHUANIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13580/story.htm
AIDS saps farm skills, biodiversity in Africa - FAO - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13581/story.htm
FEATURE - Indian farmers caught in war over GM crops - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13566/story.htm
UPDATE - EU announces 4-month probe of Bayer deal - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13574/story.htm
German turbine maker Nordex woos Enron Wind - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13570/story.htm
Leopards boost Beijing's Green Olympics claims - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13582/story.htm
EU states agree on building power efficiency rules - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13579/story.htm
British Deputy PM urges spread of global alliances - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13577/story.htm
FEATURE - US cluster bombs add to Afghan landmine tragedy - AFGHANISTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13573/story.htm
12/4/01
6:48:10 PM
SojoNet News Daily Headlines
Afghan women want their voices heard
Around 40 Afghan women have travelled to a meeting organized by women's rights groups from Europe and the US to ensure that women's voices are heard in the negotiations to bring peace to Afghanistan. Many are not yet sure that the collapse of the Taleban will bring freedom for them.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1691000/1691274.stm
Amid new Argentine crisis, IMF advice questioned
According to critics, the IMF's rigid free-market medicine imposes unrealistic solutions, bails out Western lenders, ignores local conditions and inflicts pain on residents who must swallow this medicine.
http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0112040264dec04.story
US bombs hit wrong target for second time in two days
US bombers were said to have killed scores of civilians in eastern Afghanistan as well as anti-Taliban fighters supporting the battle against al-Qa'ida.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia_china/story.jsp?story=108045
New rules: Israel widens targets
As it responds to a new deadly cycle of terrorist violence, Israel is taking its cue from the United States' action against the Taliban in Afghanistan: no distinguishing between terrorists and those who harbor them.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1204/p1s1-wome.html
Peace talks
A founder of Workable Peace, David Fairman has another vision of how history can be taught, a way that engages students more deeply, both in the study of the past--and in the present and future of conflicts in their own communities.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1204/p13s1-lecs.html
A MORAL RESPONSE TO TERRORISM: CONSCIENCE IN A TIME OF WAR
A new study series by the editors of Sojourners magazine.
This study guide - designed for use in classrooms, Sunday school sessions, small groups, and study circles - is now available. Call 1-800-714-7474 or order online at:
https://www.sojo.net/resources/index.cfm/mode/display_detail/ResourceID/200/action/catalog.html
Advent's message in a time of terror
What is our relation, for example, to the underlying question of religious absolutism, which fuels the winding of the terrorist gyre? I ask the question as a Christian and realize at once that the Advent season offers a clue.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/338/oped/Advent_s_message_in_a_time_of_terror+.shtml
Dust in Our Eyes
President Bush's order establishing military tribunals has a particular distinction apart from its impact on American traditions of justice. For a presidential directive of such profound importance, it is extraordinarily ill drafted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/04/opinion/04LEWI.html
Next Stop Baghdad? Some Hawks Say No
The bomb-Baghdad lobbying campaign has been attributed to conservative activists and their agents within the Pentagon. But there are prominent rightwingers and experts with hawkish national security credentials who are saying no to war (at this point) with Iraq.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/11/30/index.html
12/4/01
6:28:43 PM
White Poison: The Horrors Of Milk
by Shanti Rangwani
Got milk? If not, then thank your lucky stars. Because if you do, medical research shows that you are likely to be plagued by anemia, migraine, bloating, gas, indigestion, asthma, prostate cancer, and a host of potentially fatal allergies -- especially if you are a person of color.
Ignoring this, the government declares that milk is essential to good health, subsidizes the milk industry to the tune of billions of dollars, and requires milk in its public school lunch programs. And celebrity shills sporting milk mustaches tell us that milk is rich in proteins, calcium, and vitamins -- and very cool to boot.
They forget to tell you about the dangers lurking in that innocuous-looking glass of white. Once criticized only by naturopaths and vegans, now the health effects of milk are being decried by many mainstream doctors. The supposedly hip milk mustache is actually a creamy layer of mucus, live bacteria, and pus.
Former Chairman of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, Frank Oski, M.D. even has a book called Don't Drink Your Milk which blames every second health problem kids suffer on hormone-ridden commercial milk. Sixty percent of ear infections in kids under six years of age are milk-induced, and milk consumption is the number one cause of iron-deficiency anemia in infants today according to the American Association of Pediatrics.
But milk is also a racial issue. Almost 90 percent of African Americans and most Latinos, Asians, and Southern Europeans lack the genes necessary to digest lactose, the primary sugar in milk. The milk industry's response is classic: they have launched new campaigns arguing that non-whites can digest milk if they take in small sips during the day. There is a burgeoning industry worth $450 million a year churning out products designed to minimize lactose intolerance.
Lactose intolerance is the most common "food allergy," but to call it an allergy is to take a white-centric view that trivializes the fact that most of the world's people are not biologically designed to digest milk.
Milk does no body good, but for the vast majority of the world's people -- people of color -- it is a public health disaster.
No other animal drinks cow's milk, not even calves once they are weaned. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, the U.S.'s leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding "cow's glue" to children, saying it can cause anemia, allergies, and diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease, the number one cause of death in this country.
Most of milk's much-vaunted protein is contained in casein -- which is also a raw material for commercial glue. Undigested, it simply sticks to the intestinal walls and blocks nutrient absorption.
The mainstream media and the government ignore the medical studies showing that milk is a serious health threat, in part because people of color are the main victims. The institutionalization of racism is highlighted by U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson Eilene Kennedy's statement on milk, that the government's recommended food pyramid is intended for "the majority of Americans. It doesn't communicate to all Americans."
The USDA continues to require that school lunch programs include milk with every meal, and recommend that we glug milk for calcium, even though Harvard studies show an increase in osteoporosis and bone-breakage in people who consume milk. It says we should drink milk to prevent heart disease (and is echoed by Larry King) even though saturated fat constitutes 55 percent of milk solids.
The dairy lobby perpetrates lies to ensure its profits. It benefits directly from the exaggerated support prices the government shells out for this "health food." The government pays over a billion dollars a year for surplus butter. A General Accounting Office (GAO) study concluded that a reduction in the government price support system would have netted consumers savings of $10.4 billion from 1986 to 2001. And the USDA pays inflated prices to purchase dairy products for both the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and federal school lunch programs -- milking the taxpayers and actually getting them to pay for poisoning 26 million school kids.
The milk lobby has whipsawed its way into the highest echelons of power. Staffers under Richard Nixon were indicted for accepting $300,000 from the dairy lobby for making milk part of the school lunch program.
Dr. Robert Cohen of the Dairy Education Board, a nonprofit organization dedicated to exposing the milk lobby, contends that the dramatic 52 percent rise in asthma deaths among minority kids in New York coincided with the surplus milk, cheese, and butter pumped into them under the USDA's free school lunch and breakfast giveaway programs. The incidence of asthma deaths may be even higher since asthma is not a reportable disease, and asthma deaths are sometimes certified as cardiovascular disease.
There is also a direct link between milk consumption and prostate cancer among African Americans, who have the highest incidence of this disease in the world. A study in Cancer has shown that men who reported drinking three or more glasses of whole milk daily had a higher risk for prostate cancer than men who reported never drinking whole milk.
The controversial Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) -- banned in most countries -- is pumped into U.S. milch cows to increase annual yield (50,000 pounds of milk per cow today compared to 2,000 pounds in 1959). Milk from cows treated with BGH is likely to contain pus from their udders since the hormone leads to mastitis, or udder infection. BGH use results in a tumor-promoting chemical (IGF-I) that has been implicated in an explosive increase of cancer of the colon, smooth muscle, and breast.
The antibiotics dairy farmers use to treat BGH-caused infections in cows appear in their milk and greatly hasten human tolerance to most antibiotics, a potentially life-threatening state of affairs. The Center for Science in the Public Interest reports that 38 percent of milk samples in 10 cities were contaminated with sulfa drugs and other antibiotics.
A fightback is beginning. Protesters picketed New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's planned milk promotion campaign with a photo of the mayor wearing a milk mustache over the caption, "Got Prostate Cancer?" Giuliani (who, like his father, has prostate cancer) dropped the campaign. And doctors from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) persuaded Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams not to declare May 11 as "Drink Chocolate Milk Day" by presenting evidence that milk is harmful, especially to people of color.
The PCRM -- composed of some of the leading doctors in the U.S. -- has campaigned extensively in the health and consumer press and led a successful legal effort in 1999 to make dairy products optional in the federal food guidelines. The campaign was supported by a number of prominent civil rights organizations and leaders, including the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, Martin Luther King, III, Jesse Jackson, Jr., the National Hispanic Medical Association, and former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.
The dairy lobby remains cozy with most medical practitioners to perpetrate its "drink milk" propaganda. However, not one of the 1,500 papers listed in Medicine that deal with milk points to its goodness --only to the pus, blood, antibiotics, and carcinogens in milk, and the chronic fatigue, anemia, asthma, and autoimmune disorders milk consumption causes.
The time has come for the milk industry to face the kind of scrutiny that the tobacco companies face today. Meanwhile, discard the moo juice.
Shanti Rangwani is an allopathic doctor and a columnist for the Times of India.
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12002
12/4/01
6:24:35 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
MILLIONS OF AFGHAN REFUGEES FACE WINTER WITHOUT FOOD
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, December 3, 2001 (ENS) - While United Nations talks on the creation of an Interim Authority to govern Afghanistan continue around the clock in Bonn, Germany, officials and aid agencies here grow increasingly troubled about the situation of millions of internally displaced Afghan people stranded in winter weather without food or shelter.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-03-01.html
STUDY FINDS LOW U.S. RISK OF MAD COW DISEASE
WASHINGTON, DC, December 3, 2001 (ENS) - The risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, sometimes called mad cow disease, occurring in the United States is extremely low, according to a landmark study by Harvard University released last week. Taking no chances, several federal agencies are now taking steps to increase their ability to keep the disease out of the nation.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-03-06.html
IRELAND FAILS IN BID TO BLOCK UK NUCLEAR PLANT
HAMBURG, Germany, December 3, 2001 (ENS) - Ireland's latest attempt to prevent operation of British Nuclear Fuels Limited's controversial mixed oxide (MOX) fuel plant at Sellafield has failed.
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-03-02.html
WORLD'S SMALLEST REPTILE DISCOVERED IN CARIBBEAN
WASHINGTON, DC, December 3, 2001 (ENS) - The world's smallest lizard has been discovered on a tiny Caribbean island off the coast of the Dominican Republic. The newly discovered species is also the smallest of the Earth's 23,000 species of reptiles, birds and mammals, according to a paper to be published in the December issue of the "Caribbean Journal of Science."
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-03-07.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: DECEMBER 3, 2001
Senate Defeats Energy Rider Which Would Open ANWR
Military Veteran Named as NOAA Administrator
Pygmy Rabbit Gains Protection Under Emergency Rule
Prescribed Fires May Not Cure Wildfires
Clean Water Act Violators Made to Pay
$14.5 Million Helps Protect Coastal Wetlands
Web Portal Enables Electronic Reporting at EPA
Enviromentalists, Home Builders Partner to Protect Chesapeake Bay
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-03-09.html
12/4/01
6:14:41 PM
Liberty And Security
By David Johnson and Don Van Natta Jr.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 < Attorney General John Ashcroft is considering a plan to relax restrictions on the F.B.I.'s spying on religious and political organizations in the United States, senior government officials said today.
The proposal would loosen one of the most fundamental restrictions on the conduct of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and would be another step by the Bush administration to modify civil-liberties protections as a means of defending the country against terrorists, the senior officials said.
The attorney general's surveillance guidelines were imposed on the F.B.I. in the 1970's after the death of J. Edgar Hoover and the disclosures that the F.B.I. had run a widespread domestic surveillance program, called Cointelpro, to monitor antiwar militants, the Ku Klux Klan, the Black Panthers and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., among others, while Mr. Hoover was director.
Since then, the guidelines have defined the F.B.I.'s operational conduct in investigations of domestic and overseas groups that operate in the United States.
Some officials who oppose the change said the rules had largely kept the F.B.I. out of politically motivated investigations, protecting the bureau from embarrassment and lawsuits. But others, including senior Justice Department officials, said the rules were outmoded and geared to obsolete investigative methods and had at times hobbled F.B.I. counterterrorism efforts.
Mr. Ashcroft and the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, favor the change, the officials said. Most of the opposition comes from career officials at the F.B.I. and the Justice Department.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said today that no final decision had been reached on the revised guidelines.
"As part of the attorney general's reorganization," said Susan Dryden, the spokeswoman, "we are conducting a comprehensive review of all guidelines, policies and procedures. All of these are still under review."
An F.B.I. spokesman said the bureau's approach to terrorism was also under review.
"Director Mueller's view is that everything should be on the table for review," the spokesman, John Collingwood, said. "He is more than willing to embrace change when doing so makes us a more effective component. A healthy review process doesn't come at the expense of the historic protections inherent in our system."
The attorney general is free to revise the guidelines, but Justice Department officials said it was unclear how heavily they would be revised. There are two sets of guidelines, for domestic and foreign groups, and most of the discussion has centered on the largely classified rules for investigations of foreign groups.
The relaxation of the guidelines would follow administration measures to establish military tribunals to try foreigners accused of terrorism; to seek out and question 5,000 immigrants, most of them Muslims, who have entered the United States since January 2000; and to arrest more than 1,200 people, nearly all of whom are unconnected to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, and hold hundreds of them in jail.
Today, Mr. Ashcroft defended his initiatives in an impassioned speech to United States attorneys.
"Our efforts have been deliberate, they've been coordinated, they've been carefully crafted to not only protect America but to respect the Constitution and the rights enshrined therein," Mr. Ashcroft said.
"Still," he added, "there have been a few voices who have criticized. Some have sought to condemn us with faulty facts or without facts at all. Others have simply rushed to judgment, almost eagerly assuming the worst of their government before they've had a chance to understand it at its best."
Under the current surveillance guidelines, the F.B.I. cannot send undercover agents to investigate groups that gather at places like mosques or churches unless investigators first find probable cause, or evidence leading them to believe that someone in the group may have broken the law. Full investigations of this sort cannot take place without the attorney general's consent.
Since Sept. 11, investigators have said, Islamic militants have sometimes met at mosques < apparently knowing that the religious institutions are usually off limits to F.B.I. surveillance squads. Some officials are now saying they need broader authority to conduct surveillance of potential terrorists, no matter where they are.
Senior career F.B.I. officials complained that they had not been consulted about the proposed change < a criticism they have expressed about other Bush administration counterterrorism measures. When the Justice Department decided to use military tribunals to try accused terrorists, and to interview thousands of Muslim men in the United States, the officials said they were not consulted.
Justice Department officials noted that Mr. Mueller had endorsed the administration's proposals, adding that the complaints were largely from older F.B.I. officials who were resistant to change and unwilling to take the aggressive steps needed to root out terror in the United States. Other officials said the Justice Department had consulted with F.B.I. lawyers and some operational managers about the change.
But in a series of recent interviews, several senior career officials at the F.B.I. said it would be a serious mistake to weaken the guidelines, and they were upset that the department had not clearly described the proposed changes.
"People are furious right now < very, very angry," one of them said. "They just assume they know everything. When you don't consult with anybody, it sends the message that you assume you know everything. And they don't know everything."
Still, some complaints seem to stem from the F.B.I.'s shifting status under Mr. Ashcroft. Weakened by a series of problems that predated the Sept. 11 attacks, the F.B.I. has been forced to follow orders from the Justice Department < a change that many law enforcement experts thought was long overdue. In the past, the bureau leadership had far more independence and authority to make its own decisions.
Several senior officials are leaving the F.B.I., including Thomas J. Pickard, the deputy director. He was the senior official in charge of the investigation of the attacks and was among top F.B.I. officials who were opposed to another decision of the Bush administration, the public announcements of Oct. 12 and Oct. 29 that placed the country on the highest state of alert in response to vague but credible threats of a possible second terrorist attack. Mr. Pickard is said to have been opposed to publicizing threats that were too vague to provide any precautionary advice.
Many F.B.I. officials regard the administration's plan to establish military tribunals as an extreme step that diminishes the F.B.I.'s role because it creates a separate prosecutorial system run by the military.
"The only thing I have seen about the tribunals is what I have seen in the newspapers," a senior official complained.
Another official said many senior law enforcement officials shared his concern about the tribunals. "I believe in the rule of law, and I believe if we have a case to make against someone, we should make it in a federal courtroom in the United States," he said.
Several senior F.B.I. officials said the tribunal system should be reserved for senior Al Qaeda members apprehended by the military in Afghanistan or other foreign countries.
Few were involved in deliberations that led to the directive Mr. Ashcroft issued this month to interview immigrant men living legally in the United States. F.B.I. officials have complained that the interview plan was begun before its ramifications were fully understood.
"None of this was thought through, a senior official said. "They just announced it, and left it to others to figure out how to do it."
The arrests and detentions of more than 1,200 people since Sept. 11 have also aroused concerns at the F.B.I. Officials noted that the investigations had found no conspirators in the United States who aided the hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks and only a handful of people who were considered Al Qaeda members.
"This came out of the White House, and Ashcroft's office," a senior official said. "There are tons of things coming out of there these days where there is absolutely no consultation with the bureau."
Some at the F.B.I. have been openly skeptical about claims that some of the 1,200 people arrested were Al Qaeda members and that the strategy of making widespread arrests had disrupted or thwarted planned attacks.
"It's just not the case," an official said. "We have 10 or 12 people we think are Al Qaeda people, and that's it. And for some of them, it's based only on conjecture and suspicion."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/01/national/01BURE.html?todaysheadlines
12/4/01
6:11:37 PM
Public Citizen
New Study Shows Low-Income, Minority Seniors Restrict Use of Prescription Drugs
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A study of a large, nationally representative sample of older Americans, to be published Dec. 4 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, has found that 43 percent of those people without prescription drug coverage who are of minority ethnicity, have annual incomes of less than $10,000 and have out-of-pocket prescription drug costs of more than $100 per month reported restricting their use of prescribed medicines.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Medicine, who collected information from a random sample of almost 5,000 Americans, 70 or older, with and without drug coverage, who regularly used prescription medicines. Even one of three risk factors -- ethnicity, income and out-of-pocket drug costs of more than $100 a month -- made it significantly more likely that people without prescription drug coverage would be forced to restrict their use of medications due to cost.
In the study, 20.9 percent of minority subjects, 15.6 percent of those with annual incomes under $10,000 and 13.4 percent of those with out-of-pocket prescription drug costs of more than $100 per month experienced medication restriction due to cost. Looked at from a different perspective, low-income study participants lacking prescription drug insurance were about 15 times more likely to limit their use of prescription drugs than low-income participants with full coverage.
Thus, in the absence of a prescription drug benefit, some of the country's most vulnerable seniors are most likely to go without the medicines they may need to maintain their health. The study's authors note that previous studies have shown that "policies designed to limit medication use may have serious consequences for patients' health, resulting in increased emergency department visits, nursing home admissions, [and] use of emergency mental health services."
"These findings bring to the fore the idea that when you judge societies by how they treat their most vulnerable members, the United States ranks very low," said Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. "Our country fails to provide health insurance for about one-seventh of our population and fails to provide prescription drug coverage for millions of Medicare-covered older Americans who cannot afford to purchase drug coverage on their own."
The results of the study are consistent with a Nov. 20 Harris Poll of a random sample of 1,010 adult Americans that found 39 percent of people with annual incomes of less than $15,000 a year had not filled a prescription for medicine in the previous 12 months.
Dr. Michael Steinman, the lead author of the study, works in the Department of Medicine, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and at the University of California, San Francisco.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org
12/4/01
6:10:27 PM
Public Citizen
Tufts Drug Study Sample Is Skewed; True Figure of R&D Costs Likely Is 75 Percent Lower
Public Citizen Critiques Tufts Study Pegging New Drug R&D Costs at $802 Million
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new study claiming that the average cost of developing a new prescription drug is $802 million once again significantly overstates real research and development (R&D) costs, according to an analysis by the national consumer group Public Citizen. The study in question was prepared by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development and was released in Philadelphia on Nov. 30.
The Tufts Center study has two dramatic flaws, according to Public Citizen. First, it is not representative of real drug industry R&D because none of the 68 drugs used in the Tufts study received any government support - a fact admitted by the study's author, Joseph A. DiMasi, at a Nov. 30 briefing on the report. Many, if not most, drugs brought to market receive financial support from the government at some stage in their discovery and development. Therefore, the Tufts study focuses on a skewed sample of drugs and inflates the actual cost of R&D for the average drug.
A National Institutes of Health (NIH) internal document, dated February 2000 and obtained by Public Citizen earlier this year, showed that all the top five selling drugs in 1995 received significant taxpayer backing in the discovery and development phases. Investigations by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The Boston Globe also have examined samples of medically important and top-selling drugs and found that a vast majority of drugs in each group received government support.
The second major flaw of the Tufts Center study is that it exaggerates the actual R&D expenditures for its sample of drugs. Specifically, the new Tufts Center estimate of $802 million includes significant expenses that are tax deductible and theoretical costs that drug companies don't actually incur. For example, roughly half of DiMasi's estimate ($399 million) is the "opportunity cost of capital" - a theoretical calculation of what R&D expenditures might be worth if they were invested elsewhere. DiMasi calculated actual out-of-pocket R&D costs for drugs in the study at $403 million per new drug.
Those out-of-pocket expenditures are pre-tax costs, however. Drug companies can and do deduct 34 percent of their R&D expenses under federal tax law. Therefore, the actual after-tax cash outlay for each drug in the new Tufts study is about $240 million, according to Public Citizen. But it must be stressed that the average R&D cost for each new drug brought to market is significantly less than $240 million because that figure applies only to the drugs used in the Tufts study.
The drug industry's own data show how DiMasi's sample of drugs is skewed toward the most expensive new products. DiMasi puts clinical trial outlays at $282 million per drug, which accounts for 70 percent of his $403 million in total out-of-pocket expenditures.
But according to the drug industry's trade association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), clinical trials accounted for only 29 percent of all industry R&D expenses in 1999 the latest year for which such data is available; see
http://www.phrma.org/publications/publications/profile01/app_a1.phtml#table_6
The Tufts Center figure is important because it is used by the drug industry to defend its extraordinary profits and rising prices. In its last study on the cost of developing a new drug, completed in 1991, the Tufts Center - which receives 65 percent of its funding from drug companies - pegged the figure at $231 million. PhRMA used that in its calculations to conclude that the cost of developing a new medicine, including successes and failures, had grown to $500 million. PhRMA then claimed that any attempt by federal or state governments to moderate drug prices would harm R&D innovation.
But Merck CEO Raymond Gilmartin, who attended the Tufts Center event in Philadelphia, contradicted PhRMA's assertion. Gilmartin said there was no direct link between R&D costs and prescription prices. "The price of medicine is not determined by research costs," Gilmartin stated. "Instead, it is determined by their value in preventing and treating disease." Gilmartin's statement clearly undermines PhRMA's claim that prices are connected to R&D costs.
The updated Tufts study used the same methodology as the 1991 study, which also was prepared by DiMasi. In July 2001, Public Citizen published a detailed critique of the original DiMasi study. It demonstrated that the actual after-tax cash outlay for developing a new drug, including failures, was $110 million - about 75 percent less than PhRMA's $500 million estimate. Public Citizen's analysis was based on a major study analyzing the DiMasi report prepared by the congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). Public Citizen's study, Rx R&D Myths, is available on the web at
http://www/citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7065.
PhRMA commissioned the accounting firm of Ernst & Young to respond to the Public Citizen report. Public Citizen's rebuttal to the Ernst & Young critique is available on the Web at
http://www.citizen.org/congress/reform/drug_industry/articles.cfm?ID=6514
Ernst & Young failed to rebut Public Citizen's separate findings that were based on PhRMA data, which showed R&D costs for all new drugs brought to market (including failures) to range between $71 million and $150 million. This analysis (contained in Section II of Rx R&D Myths) was not based on the DiMasi methodology but on PhRMA's own claims about how much the industry spends on R&D compared with the number of new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Below is a more detailed critique of the DiMasi report.
Revised Critique of the DiMasi/Tufts Methodology and Other Key Prescription Drug R&D Issues
§ DiMasi's figure is the average R&D cost for "self-originated new chemical entities" (NCEs) - which are the most expensive class of new drugs. DiMasi admitted that none of the 68 drugs in his study received any government financial support. This makes his sample non-representative of all drugs brought to market. (Not all new drugs brought to market are NCEs and fewer still are "self-originated NCEs," which means they were created entirely in-house by a drug company.)
§ The R&D costs for all new drugs are detailed in Section II of Public Citizen's July report. Public Citizen found that the R&D costs for all new drugs brought to market between 1994 and 2000, based on PhRMA's data, ranged from $71 million to $118 million. The R&D costs for NCEs were $150 million, on average.
§ DiMasi's new $802 million estimate for self-originated NCEs (like his original $231 million figure) does not represent what companies actually spend to discover and develop new molecular entities. It includes the expense of using money for drug research rather than other investments (known as the "opportunity cost of capital"). DiMasi also does not account for huge tax deductions that companies get for R&D. Therefore, he substantially overestimates net expenditures on R&D.
§ The opportunity cost of capital amounts to 50 percent of DiMasi's total figure. In its analysis of the 1991 DiMasi study, the OTA subtracted opportunity cost to get a pre-tax R&D cash outlay of $127 million for every new drug (including failures). In DiMasi's new study, the pre-tax cash outlay is $403 million per drug.
§ It should be noted that five of the seven previous R&D cost studies that DiMasi references in his 1991 study did not include opportunity cost of capital in their calculations.
§ According to the OTA's 354-page report on pharmaceutical R&D: "The net cost of every dollar spent on R&D must be reduced by the amount of tax avoided by that expenditure." The tax deduction reduces the cost of R&D by the amount of the corporate marginal tax rate (currently 34 percent). This means, in effect, that every dollar spent on R&D costs $0.66.
§ After subtracting tax deductions and the opportunity cost of capital, OTA found that DiMasi's after-tax R&D cash outlay for a new NCE was $65.5 million (in 1990 dollars). That is the estimate of how much the drug companies in DiMasi's 1991 study actually spent on new chemical entities, including failures. Public Citizen inflated this figure to year 2000 dollars and found that actual after-tax cash outlay for NCEs (including failures) was $110 million - based on DiMasi's data.
§ Applying the same methodology to the new DiMasi study, the average after-tax cash outlay for a self-originated NCE is approximately $240 million.
§ Clinical trial costs account for the largest portion of DiMasi's new estimate. DiMasi's new study puts out-of-pocket clinical trial costs at $282 million, based on the NCEs in his study. His estimate is four times more than an estimate of clinical trial costs ($75 million) published by the Congressional Research Service in April 2001.
§ Moreover, DiMasi's estimate of clinical trial costs greatly exceeds the drug industry's own data on the subject. PhRMA's own survey of 1999 R&D expenditures states that clinical trial costs account for 29 percent of all R&D costs. (See Table 6, "Domestic U.S. R&D By Function" in "Pharmaceutical Industry Profile 2001.") Yet DiMasi's study says clinical trials account for 70 percent of all R&D costs ($282 million out of $403 million total out-of-pocket expenditures for each drug).
§ Evidence suggests that the time required to conduct clinical trials on new drugs is also decreasing. A January 2000 report by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development stated that clinical testing time declined by 19 percent for drugs approved in 1996-1998 when compared with drugs approved in 1993-1995.
§ The advent of technologies such as genomics and combinatorial chemistry, has led, according to investment analysts at Lehman Brothers, "to a growing school of thought that the cost of discovering new biological targets and the cost of creating drug leads is falling." The Boston Consulting Group predicts that drug companies will increase the number of new drugs (NCEs) they produce annually by five-to-tenfold by the year 2003.
§ Industry R&D risks and costs are often significantly reduced by taxpayer-funded research, which has helped launch the most medically important drugs in recent years and many of the best-selling drugs. According to the NIH, taxpayer-funded scientists conducted 55 percent of the research projects that led to the discovery and development of the top five selling drugs in 1995 (see Section III of report). PhRMA has not challenged the NIH document.
§ Drug industry R&D does not appear to be as risky as companies claim. In every year since 1982, the drug industry has been the most profitable in the United States, according to Fortune magazine's rankings. During this time, the drug industry's returns on revenue (profit as a percent of sales) have averaged about three times the average for all other industries represented in the Fortune 500. It defies logic that R&D investments are highly risky if the industry is consistently so profitable and returns on investments are so high. (See Section V)
§ Drug industry R&D is made less risky by the fact that only about 22 percent of the new drugs brought to market in the last two decades were innovative drugs that represented important therapeutic gains over existing drugs. Most were "me-too" drugs, which often replicate existing successful drugs. (See Section VI)
§ In addition to receiving research subsidies, the drug industry is lightly taxed, thanks to tax credits. The drug industry's effective tax rate is about 40 percent less than the average for all other industries, according to the Congressional Research Service. (See Section VII)
§ Drug companies receive a huge financial incentive for testing the effects of drugs on children. This incentive, called pediatric exclusivity and which Congress recently voted to reauthorize, amounts to $592 million in additional profits per year for the drug industry - and that's just to coax companies to test the safety of several hundred drugs for children. It is estimated that the cost of such tests is less than $100 million a year. (See Section VIII)
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org
12/4/01
6:03:03 PM
Segway
After a year of wild hype and speculation in the technology world, the mystery invention known only as "Ginger" or "It" finally was unveiled on ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday.
Ginger is a two-wheeled, self-balancing, energy-efficient scooter-like vehicle that can instinctively read body intent to propel riders at about 12 miles per hour, as if by thought alone. The device -- now renamed the Segway -- has no brakes, no engine, no steering wheel and runs on practically no electricity. It's the brainchild of inventor-entrepreneur Dean Kamen, the innovator behind gizmos ranging from the first drug-infusion pump to a wheelchair that climbs stairs.
Rumors began to run rampant about Ginger in January when news leaked about a $250,000 book proposal offered to Kamen from Harvard Business School Press to chronicle the making of Ginger. The hoopla was fueled by a wave of hyperbolic praise from technology giants who were allowed to see "It," including Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who predicted people would build cities around it.
The vehicle, however, is not expected to come cheaply or soon. Consumer models should cost around $3,000. And while the gizmo's announcement comes right in time for the holidays -- with limited quantities going out over the next few weeks -- it should only become widely available by the end of next year.
Endangered whooping cranes
A small flock of endangered whooping cranes arrived at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in central Florida Monday after traveling about 1,250 miles behind an ultralight aircraft.
The birds started their first-ever migration at the Necedah National Wildlife Reserve in Wisconsin on Oct. 17. Eight whooping cranes raised by humans in crane costumes began the trip, but only six birds flew the whole way. One bird died en route and another was forced to travel by truck.
The cranes are expected to return to Wisconsin on their own in the spring, taking about one week for the trip.
The goal of this migration-training program is to establish a second flock of migrating whooping cranes to enhance the species' chances of survival. One flock of about 175 birds already migrates between Texas and Canada, but biologists are concerned this flock could be destroyed by a hurricane.
Currently, there are about 400 whooping cranes. They are the rarest cranes in the world.
12/4/01
5:54:43 PM
Something to ponder
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace ... you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.
If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare.
If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
Someone once said:
What goes around comes around. Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching. Sing like nobody's listening. Live like it's Heaven on Earth.
Smile, you are one of the fortunate! Now go help someone who is not.
12/4/01
5:51:37 PM
Taking Back the 'Eleven': An Esoteric View of 9/11 and our Future
By Carl Aaron Whitestar
On December twenty-first, just days away, we have a unique opportunity to restore the true energy of the number eleven, and take a big step back onto the path towards Love.
In occult fashion, the number eleven was deliberately struck, and its injury was fused into our consciousness by the events now known as '9/11' or 'September Eleven'. By freeing the eleven from the negativity it has absorbed, we can release our fear and sadness, and transform a seemingly bleak future. Let us use December 21, a special 'eleven' itself, to emerge from the emergency. December 21, 2001 falls exactly eleven years before 12/21/12, the end date of the Mayan Calendar. This is the date many sources herald as the Day of Illumination.
There is a planetary transition occurring all around us and within us. Earth is beginning a new 26,000-year cycle. Time seems to be speeding up. We are evolving. This has long been predicted in Vedic wisdom, Hopi prophecies, and in the Bible. We are entering an age of Light, which is knowledge, fueled by Love. We are leaving a time of darkness, which is ignorance and suppression, fueled by fear.
Within days of the attacks, several articles appeared showing a pattern of number elevens: certain flight numbers (11); times of impact (9:02; 9+2=11), numbers of passengers (65; 6+5=11) and crew (11), letter values (New York City: 11 letters; American Airlines: A=1 + A=1 = 11) and much more.
http://hardtruth.topcities.com/destruction_of_the_trade_centers.htm).
The most striking of the 'elevens' was the date 9/11 and how it repeats the 911 national phone number for distress. The twin towers were an eleven as well, by their shape (and having 110 stories, a multiple of 11). They embodied a giant eleven crashing down. The eleven/shock/terror fusion is being further reinforced by the new term "War On Terror," which has eleven letters.
Trivial? Coincidental? Not to the dark ones, who have a history of obsession with such detail and ritual. To those who rule our world - all members of an interlocking system of secret societies and organizations, bent on domination - the occult use of places, dates and numbers is very important.
So why hijack the eleven and crash it into our psyche? To control us. And because eleven is a power number. In numerology eleven is a master number (one of only two; the other is twenty-two). The eleven represents intuition (something we are just re-learning to use), and stands for illumination (that which we are working towards). The eleven is a conduit to the subconscious-and to God. This is a channel that should be used for the highest good, but if not guarded, it can be taken over and used to promote fear. Thus the eleven can either manifest greatness (godliness) or self-annihilation. Applied to human evolution, eleven is that force within us which is guiding us into multidimensional awareness now. Is it any wonder that the dark ones would attack us through the eleven, to block our unfoldment into the Light?
No tangible evidence has been presented to the public to prove who is responsible for 9/11. Two vastly different stories continue to emerge. The one presented by U.S./ British officials and mainstream media claims that Ben Laden is responsible. The other, in the alternative press, names our hidden world government as manufacturer of the attacks as a way to advance their global agenda, the New World Order. We must decide who are the truth-tellers.
Astute observers such as author/speaker David Icke http://www.davidicke.com urge us to question, regarding 9/11, "Who benefits?" Is it the Ben Laden group, who surely knew this would bring them nothing but death and destruction? Or is it the New World Order cartel, which clearly is using the situation to advance their goals of centralized government/ military/ finance, and a subservient, microchipped population? Indeed, sweeping new measures have already been introduced in America and elsewhere to curtail freedom and justice.
And exactly when were most Americans first made aware of this impending New World Order? On September 11, 1990, exactly eleven years to the day before the World Trade Center disaster.
On 9/11/90, just before our destruction of Iraq began, President Bush Sr. told us that "Out of these troubled times, our objective "a new world order" can emerge a world quite different from the one we've known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. America and the world must support the rule of law "and we will." Whose objective? What 'law' did he mean? This was the first time most Americans heard about this.
http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/war/bushsr/htm
Actually, our ruling class has themselves been ruled by other rulers, some of them not in physical form. Through history these entities have inflicted fear upon us by the wars, diseases and famines they created, because they feed on fear. They are fearful themselves, and do not know how to love. We have empowered them indirectly, by accepting the paradigm of fear. All fear is coming to the surface now to be healed. But these entities refuse to give up their power, even as the world shifts into Light. That is why they have started this new terror war. They mean to suppress our awakening and enforce a planetary lockdown; this is their World Order. They know that it's possible to do this, but only a narrow window of time remains: It must occur before 12/21/2012.
Implicit is the need for us to take back the eleven. In fact, we began to on November eleventh at 11 a.m. (11: 11: 11) when people all over the world sounded "Ahhhh" and rang bells. Worldwide, we are beginning to connect in prayer and with intent, building a Light Net-work together, helped greatly by the dedication of facilitators such as visionaries Jean Hudon
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000/
Marianne Williamson and others. Let us continue.
On December 21 let us light candles and welcome back the Light to earth. Let us use this sacred solstice day to declare freedom from fear, and to connect with that special date eleven years hence, in our hearts. This will break the link of 9/11/90-9/11/01, the NWOrder/terror/lockdown link, energetically. And it will energize the 12/21/01-12/21/12 corridor within us. Thus we will recharge our magnetism towards Love and reassure our transit into Love.
Carl Aaron Whitestar is a writer and artist living in Arizona.
Contact: cgrimsman@bigfoot.com
12/4/01
5:44:59 PM
Save Lady Liberty! (MOST ELOQUENT - MUST SEEN! QUICK DOWNLOAD)
For anyone concerned about civil liberties in the age of fighting terrorism, this persuasive mini-movie allows you to turn your frustration into action.
http://www.actforchange.com/liberty/index.cfm
12/4/01
5:20:12 PM
TomPaine.com
HIDING PAST AND PRESENT PRESIDENCIES
The Problems With Bush's Executive Order Burying Presidential Records
by John Dean
"No president can govern in a fishbowl. But not since Richard Nixon went to work in the Oval Office has there been as concentrated an effort to keep the real work of a president hidden."
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/30/3.html
AN AFGHANI PRIMER
Journalists Need To Be Mindful of the Complications of Afghan Politics
by Tamim Ansary
What journalists need to know in order to keep expectations in tune with what's likely to unfold in Afghanistan.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/11/30/index.html
CREATING A CIA POSTER BOY
America's First Casualty Is An Image-Booster for the Beleaguered Agency
by Richard Blow
In releasing the name of Johnny Spann, the CIA is breaking tradition and attempting to rehab its somewhat tarnished image.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/12/03/index.html
The Loyal Opposition
NEXT STOP BAGDAD?
Anti-War Warriors Say 'Whoa'
by David Corn
By directing war-mongering rhetoric at Iraq, Bush has assumed another foreign policy burden "while still in the middle of war in Afghanistan. That's not mission creep; that's foolishness."
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/11/30/index.html
CHECK IT OUT!
Tips, Leads, and Links
by The TomPaine.com Staff
McDonald's v. McChina ... Election Deform ... Nuclear Pariahs ... Take out a #2 Pencil, and Give Me All Your Money ... Smoking Out Terrorism ... and more.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/30/2.html
ECONOMICS REPORTING REVIEW
November 26 - November 30
A Weekly Compendium and Commentary: Copyrights and Counterfeits... The Recession... Social Security... and more.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/12/03/1.html
12/4/01
5:16:48 PM
AlterNet Headlines
BEFORE AND AFTER: SEPTEMBER 11
Tai Moses, AlterNet
A fierce battle is being waged for America's post-9/11 soul, pitting Bush's securitycrats and war hawks against a growing chorus of dissent. But what exactly are they fighting for?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12013
JOHN O'CONNOR, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST, DEAD AT 46
As founder of the National Toxics Campaign, a green business leader and eventually a progressive candidate for Congress, John O'Connor led a notable life of hard-fought battles.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12014
THE MAN WHO SCREWED THE WORLD
David Morris, AlterNet
Enron was once called an "evangelical cult" with its own CEO "messiah" -- Kenneth Lay. The company may be bankrupt, but Lay's legacy of wild deregulation will stay with us for years.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12005
INTELLIGENCE FAILURE
Laura Flanders, WorkingForChange.com
Of the 1200 detained in the post-Sept. 11 anti-terror sweep, 548 remain in custody. Only about a dozen of them, it turns out, have any ties to anything that could remotely be characterized as terrorism.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12009
DITCHING THE MOMMY TRAP
Nina Shapiro, Seattle Weekly
Today's parents, we are constantly told, must either give up their careers or neglect their children. But many couples have found a creative third way to mesh family and work.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12008
WHAT AMERICANS CAN LEARN FROM AFGHANS
Ted Rall, AlterNet
Despite living in one of the harshest and most embattled regions on earth, Afghanis find many ways to help each other out.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12012
A MYSTERY OF MISOGYNY
Barbara Ehrenreich, The Progressive
Why do Muslim fundamentalists hate women? Perhaps because of the particular threat to men posed by globalization.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11996
CORN: NEXT STOP BAGHDAD? ANTI-WAR WARRIORS SAY 'WHOA'
David Corn, AlterNet
Some conservatives and their Pentagon pals are lobbying Bush to take his war to Iraq. They are meeting with resistance from not just the left, but from prominent rightwingers as well.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11995
WHITE POISON: THE HORRORS OF MILK
Shanti Rangwani, ColorLines
The pus, blood, antibiotics, and carcinogens in milk -- and the chronic fatigue, anemia, asthma, and autoimmune disorders caused by milk consumption -- do no body good.
*In Enviro Health: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=18
HUFFINGTON: ENRON -- COOKING THE BOOKS AND BUYING PROTECTION
Arianna Huffington, OverthrowTheGov.com
The Enron debacle has exposed the dark side of capitalism -- and the unseemly link between money and political influence. Let's hope it also sheds a light on the desperate need for fundamental campaign finance reform.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12011
12/4/01
5:06:16 PM
t r u t h o u t | 12.04
Senate Defeats ANWR 'Sneak Attack'
http://www.truthout.com/12.04A.Senate.ANWR.htm
ASHCROFT Attempted to Circumvent Habeas Corpus Entirely
http://www.truthout.com/12.04B.Habeas.Corpus.htm
Sharon Says Arafat 'Will Pay'
http://www.truthout.com/12.04C.Ashcroft.Arafat.htm
Mandela Warns Against Iraq Strikes
http://www.truthout.com/12.04G.Mandela.Iraq.htm
Democrat in Houston Wins With Some National Help
http://www.truthout.com/12.04D.Dem.Houston.htm
Op-Ed | Back to Deficits
http://www.truthout.com/12.04E.Back.to.Deficits.htm
The Witch Hunt | Looking back at State Sponsored Oppression in Argentina
http://www.truthout.com/12.04F.The.Witch.Hunt.htm
t r u t h o u t, is a non-profit independent news source.
12/4/01
5:04:16 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Senate Democrats to unveil US energy bill this week - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13550/story.htm
UPDATE - China endorses deal on GMO soybeans - USTR - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13555/story.htm
US Senate drags out bill to OK Alaska oil drilling - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13560/story.htm
Esso says effects of UK protests not yet clear - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13556/story.htm
Diana Fund calls for action against cluster bombs - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13554/story.htm
UPDATE - EU tries to break deadlock on germ weapons pact - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13561/story.htm
UPDATE - Spain's Gamesa wins 1,000 MW wind turbine order - SPAIN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13552/story.htm
UPDATE - Nine Kyrgyz "metal hunters" die in dump collapse - KYRGYZSTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13564/story.htm
Sharp cautious on solar cells' brisk growth - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13551/story.htm
FAO urges poor nations to boost organic food sales - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13562/story.htm
Hungary claims $100 mln over cyanide river spill - HUNGARY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13557/story.htm
UPDATE - UN court rejects Irish plea to stop UK N-plant - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13563/story.htm
Illegal bear bile farms uncovered in China - CCTV - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13558/story.htm
Suncor approves C$900 million spending for 2002 - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13553/story.htm
Fierce storm hits Sydney, two girls killed - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13559/story.htm
Alcoa alumina workers return to refinery - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13565/story.htm
FEATURE - Scientists see uses for Antarctic fish "anti-freeze" - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13548/story.htm
12/3/01
7:35:04 PM
SojoNet News Daily Headlines
Colombian jungle outpost focus of drug war
Carlos Castano--political chief of the right-wing paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia--said in a book that the killing of leftist guerrilla commander turned presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro was a "true patriotic act."
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011202/wl/colombia_assassination_1.html
U.S. Bombs Strike 3 Villages and Reportedly Kill Scores
The cumulative accounts of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and internally displaced people in Afghanistan suggest that at least several hundred civilians, perhaps more, have been killed in Afghan cities and villages since the American bombing of Taliban and terrorist targets began nearly eight weeks ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/02/international/asia/02STRI.html
Since Sept. 11, Lobbyists Use New Pitches for Old Pleas
"No self-respecting lobbyist," he said, has not "repackaged his position as a patriotic response to the tragedy." None of them ask for anything different from what they had sought from Congress before, but all have new pitches presenting their cases as responses to the attacks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/03/politics/03LOBB.html
U.S. Plans for Iraq War
The plan, opposed by Tony Blair and other European Union leaders, threatens to blow apart the increasingly shaky international consensus behind the US-led 'war on terrorism'.
http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,610461,00.html
Next WTO chief calls for sympathy for poor nations
Supachai Panitchpakdi, who will take over the helm of the WTO next year, said lack of participation by poor countries in these agencies, including the world trade body, had been a major factor hampering free trade around the world.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13541/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
Focus turns to Somalia in search for terrorists
US officials have indicated that Somalia may be a target for future military attacks. "Without a stable society, what you will be doing is creating the very breeding ground for terrorism that none of us wants," said Randolph Kent, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Somalia.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1203/p7s1-woaf.html
When Will It End?
How long will we allow violence to be the only tool used to "resolve" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Each escalation in warfare is more extreme than the previous one.
http://www.ipcri.org/files/when.html
Urge support for a U.S. ban on landmines
The Department of Defense has all but abandoned its efforts towards compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use, stockpile, trade, and production of mines.
http://www.banminesusa.org/urg_act/984.htm
12/3/01
7:31:20 PM
WHAT'S WRONG WITH ECONOMICS?
FIVE FUNDAMENTAL ERRORS
The Short Version, by Jay Hanson
( The Long Version is archived at http://dieoff.com/page241.htm )
Any ONE fundamental error in neoclassical theory should be sufficient reason to reject conclusions based upon that theory. Here are five fundamental errors in the theory:
#1. A fundamentally incorrect "method": the economist uses "correlation" and "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" (after-the-fact) reasoning, rather than the "scientific method".
#2. A fundamentally inverted worldview: the economist sees the environment as a subsystem of the economy, rather than the other way around. In other words, economists are trained to believe that natural resources come from "markets" rather than the "environment". The corollary is that "man-made capital" can substitute for "natural capital". But the First Law of thermodynamics tells us there is no "creation" -- there is no such thing as "man-made capital". Thus, ALL capital is "natural capital", and the economy is 100% dependent on the "environment" for everything.
#3. A fundamentally incorrect view of "money": the economist sees "money" as nothing more than a medium of exchange, rather than as social power -- or "political power". But even the casual observer can see that money is social power because it "empowers" people to buy and do the things they want -- including buying and doing other people: politics.
If employers have the freedom to pay workers less "political power", then they will retain more political power for themselves. Money is, in a word, "coercion", and "economic efficiency" is correctly seen as a political concept designed to conserve social power for those who have it -- to make the politically powerful, even more powerful, and the politically weak, even weaker.
#4. A fundamentally incorrect view of his raison d'etre: the economist sees "Homo economicus" as a "Bayesian utility maximizer", rather than "Homo sapiens" as a "primate". In other words, contemporary economics and econometrics is WRONG from the bottom up -- and economists know it. The entire discipline of economics is based on a lie -- and economists know it. Moreover, if human behavior is not the result of mathematical calculation -- and it isn't -- then in principle, economists will NEVER get it right.
#5. A fundamentally incorrect view of economic élan vital: the economist sees economic activity as a function of infinite "money creation", rather than a function of finite "energy stocks" and finite "energy flows". In fact, the economy is 100% dependent on available energy -- it always has been, and it always will be. See a synopsis of the current energy situation at
http://dieoff.com/synopsis.htm .
12/3/01
7:28:58 PM
HAS GLOBAL OIL PRODUCTION ALREADY "PEAKED"?
Energy issues are discussed in detail at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/energyresources
If you have a particular energy question, first review the synopsis at
http://dieoff.com/synopsis.htm
If you still have a question, join the energy resources mailing list by sending an email message to
energyresources-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
CANADA'S GAS TANK IS RUNNING ON EMPTY!
A mailing list has been established especially for Canadians. Among other issues, a major topic is the the depetion of their natural gas resources. When the gas is gone (< 10 years), Canadians will have no way to heat their homes. How can they survive the freezing winters?
Subscribe at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CanadaEnergy or by sending a message to canadaenergy-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
12/3/01
7:27:11 PM
Gary North's REALITY CHECK
Issue 96 December 3, 2001
Good news! Now you can easily remove the W32.badtrans.B@DD worm from your hard drive. One of my readers sent me a link to a free program that I downloaded from Panda Software. The program is called PQremove. When installed, it went through my entire hard drive and removed every trace of badtrans. Norton Antivirus 2002 no longer detects its presence. You can download the program here:
http://www.pandasoftware.es/library/pqremove_en.htm
Click on the PQremove icon. It's a 940 kb program. It will take a few minutes to download. Then activate it. If your computer doesn't have the badtrans worm, this program will tell you. If it does have it, it won't have it for long.
Another reader sent me this tip on how to keep your e- mail program from sending out virus-infected messages. Go to your address book. Add this name: 000 0000. His address is 000@0000. This, my informant insists, will confuse any invading virus/worm that gets into your address book in search of the next batch of victims. I'm willing to try this. It can't hurt.
12/3/01
7:24:27 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE <http://www.gristmagazine.com>
SPRAYER IN SCHOOLS
Republicans on a congressional conference committee killed legislation on Friday that sought to protect public school students and staff from pesticides. The School Environment Protection Act would have required schools to notify parents when pesticides were being sprayed, and directed states to develop pest-management plans that considered alternatives to toxic sprays. All Democrats on the conference committee supported the legislation, but House Republicans on the committee voted it down, claiming that implementing the act would have been a bureaucratic hassle. Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), who sponsored the legislation, said there was no explanation for the defeat "except the influence of the chemical industry itself."
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Miguel Llanos, 01 Dec 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/666005.asp>
ZUNI DAY, SWEEPING THE CLODS AWAY
The Zuni Pueblo tribe is joining forces with the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and other enviro groups to fight a utility's plans to strip-mine coal from 18,000 acres of state, federal, and private land in western New Mexico. The coalition says the mining would draw water from the Zuni Salt Lake, where the tribe extracts salt for religious purposes, as well as disturb human burial grounds and other religious sites. The utility, the Salt River Project, has yet to receive the go-ahead from the feds for the project.
straight to the source: Albuquerque Journal, Leslie Linthicum, 01 Dec 2001 <http://www.abqjournal.com/news/523856news12-01-01.htm>
PULLING BACK THE RAINS
A single rainstorm can whisk 10,000 tons of dirt and grit and millions of pounds of toxics and nutrient pollution into the Chesapeake Bay. Officials from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia are unveiling plans today to rein in rain-related pollution problems, in the first major restoration effort they've announced since pledging well over a year ago to take action on the issue. Runoff is polluting nearly 1,600 miles of streams and wreaking havoc on thousands of acres of habitat for crabs and fish. The officials hope to encourage new construction strategies in the region, so that future developments leave natural drainage systems in place to absorb rainwater on site. Currently, rainwater is flushed into nearby creeks and sewage overflow systems.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Anita Huslin, 03 Dec 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46719-2001Dec2.html>
THAT'S IT!
Touting it as an environmentally friendly alternative to cars, inventor Dean Kamen finally unveiled his mysterious creation to the world this morning. The gizmo -- which has gone by the codenames "IT" and "Ginger," but will be marketed under the more prosaic "Segway Human Transporter" -- turns out to be a one-person, two-wheeled, battery-powered scooter that looks something like a push lawnmower. Kamen said the Segway "will be to the car what the car was to the horse-and-buggy," adding that it "makes no sense at all for people in cities to use a 4,000-pound piece of metal to haul their 150-pound asses around town." The 65-pound Segway can attain speeds of 12 miles per hour; the battery charge lasts about 15 miles, at about 10 cents a charge. The machine apparently handles snow, ice, and stairs with ease. Cost? $3,000 a pop. The U.S. Postal Service and Amazon.com are among the first customers.
straight to the source: Time magazine, John Heilemann, 10 Dec 2001 <http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660,00.html>
12/3/01
7:21:34 PM
BUSH PREPARED TO NOMINATE 'BIBLICAL LAW' ACTIVIST J. ROBERT BRAME TO NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
BRAME HAS TIES TO GROUPS THAT OPPOSE WOMEN'S RIGHTS, REJECT DEMOCRACY AND BELIEVE GAYS SHOULD BE EXECUTED
According to media sources, President George W. Bush appears ready to nominate J. Robert Brame III to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), despite Brame's long-standing leadership of religious-political extremist groups on the farthest fringes of the Religious Right.
Brame has served as a top official of American Vision, an Atlanta-based group that seeks to replace America's secular democracy with a "Christian" regime based on "biblical law," including enforcement of the harsh legal code of the Old Testament. He has also served as an advisor to the Plymouth Rock Foundation, a Plymouth, Mass., group with similar views.
Brame recently resigned from the American Vision board after the group's controversial agenda became public. Though Brame served on the board since at least 1994, he told The Wall Street Journal that he was unaware of American Vision's extreme views.
American Vision has described democracy as "the first step toward fascism," argues that women must be subordinate to men and insists that the Bible requires the death penalty for gays.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a national church-state watchdog organization, said Brame's service with these groups, which are affiliated with the so-called "Christian Reconstructionist" movement, should disqualify him from a post in government.
"Brame and his allies seek to impose a harsh Christian theocracy on the nation," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "Someone with such radical political views should automatically be disqualified from holding public office.
"Once members of the Senate get a look at Brame's record, his chances for confirmation will quickly evaporate," Lynn added. "Brame's ties to radical groups are indefensible."
To illustrate the radical nature of Brame's views, Lynn pointed to the extremist positions of American Vision (AV), which Brame has helped lead through long-time service on the group's five-member Board of Directors:
On theocracy: Christian Reconstructionists reject democracy and advocate theocracy. In the June 1999 issue of American Vision's Biblical Worldview magazine, an AV representative wrote, "We've been told that Christians cannot impose their religious beliefs on others. Since heaven is at stake, we have no choice. There is no hope outside of Jesus Christ."
On democracy: The June 1999 issue of AV's Biblical Worldview magazine described democracy as "the first step toward fascism."
On women's role in families: American Vision insists that the Bible requires male leadership in society. In the September 1999 issue of Biblical Worldview, an AV author wrote that women fall between men and animals in the "God-ordained order." AV places "God above all, man joyfully under God, woman lovingly under man, and the animals at bottom." AV has also said that women should not serve in the military.
On women in the judiciary: The Plymouth Rock Foundation, which Brame has worked with through service on its advisory council, opposed Sandra Day O'Connor's nomination to the Supreme Court because, in their view, it is wrong for a woman to sit in judgment over men.
On homosexuality and the death penalty: Reconstructionist groups such as those Brame is involved with maintain that under biblical law, homosexuals must be executed. According to one American Vision text, "The law that requires the death penalty for homosexual acts effectually drives the perversion of homosexuality underground, back to the closet, to the dark realm of shameful activity." Also, in October 2000, an AV publication called homosexuality "a sin worthy of death."
On gays in Congress: In the September 1999 issue of the group's Biblical Worldview, an AV author referred to openly gay Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) as a "lesbian Congressthing."
On non-Christian dissenters: American Vision argues that once its worldview is enacted as government policy, dissenters would have to submit to its draconian version of Christianity. "Non-Christians would not be forced to become Christians, but they would have to obey laws that came from the Bible," according to one AV text. "This would mean that homosexuality and abortion, for example, could not be claimed as 'civil rights.' They would be crimes."
On Judaism: American Vision sells a book titled, "The Days of Vengeance," which says, "The god of Judaism is the devil." The book also describes Judaism as a "demonic religion."
On American history: AV materials take a revisionist approach to history, insisting that the United States was founded as a "Christian nation." In one book, AV asserts that the Constitution was designed to afford protection to Christianity only and not other faiths. "The First Amendment had the specific purpose of excluding all rivalry among Christian denominations," the group says. "Other competing religions were not protected by the First Amendment."
"Brame makes Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson look liberal," said AU's Lynn, who wrote to Bush in October, urging him not to nominate such a divisive figure to the NLRB.
Concluded Lynn, "The groups Brame is associated with seek to impose their version of 'biblical law' on all of us, and they want to use the government to further those goals. These views are so counter to American ideals that it is difficult to imagine a proponent of this radical philosophy serving in any important public trust."
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Contact: Joseph Conn or Rob Boston
202-466-3234 telephone
202-466-2587 fax
12/3/01
7:18:03 PM
George W. Bush was walking through an airport last week, when he saw an old man with white hair, a long white beard, wearing a long white robe and holding a staff.
He walked up to the man, who was staring at the ceiling, and said "Excuse me sir, aren't you Moses?" The man stood perfectly still and continued to stare at the ceiling, saying nothing. Again George W asked, a little louder this time, "Excuse me sir, aren't you Moses?"
Again the old man stared at the ceiling motionless without saying a word. George W tried a third time, louder yet. "Excuse me sir, aren't you Moses?" Again, no movement or words from the old man. He continued to stare at the ceiling.
One of George W's aides asked him if there was a problem, and George W said, "Either this man is deaf or extremely rude. I have asked him three times if he was Moses, and he has not answered me yet."
To which the man, still staring at the ceiling finally replied, "I can hear you and yes, I am Moses, but the last time I spoke to a bush, I spent 40 years wandering
12/3/01
7:09:41 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
PRESS BRIEFING BY AHMAD FAWZI, SPOKESMAN FOR THE SRSG ON AFGHANISTAN
by Ahmad Fawzi, UN Department of Public Information
-- Afghan civil service groups have gathered to discuss the reconstruction of their nation in a meeting that parallels the U.N.-sponsored talks in Bonn, Germany.
CRANK CALLERS
by Will Rizzo, Missoula Independent
-- The number of methamphetamine dump sites in Montana's and Idaho's national forests is increasing, polluting areas with toxic chemicals and posing health threats.
QVC NATION
by Cheryl Eddy, San Francisco Bay Guardian
-- The beauty, the drama, the French manicures - the truth about home shopping. A brief history of home shopping channels, their profitability, and entertainment value.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
12/3/01
7:00:44 PM
Reinventing The Wheel
Here "it" is: the inside story of the secret invention that so many are buzzing about. Could this thing really change the world?
BY JOHN HEILEMANN
On a quiet Sunday morning in Silicon Valley, I am standing atop a machine code-named Ginger--a machine that may be the most eagerly awaited and wildly, if inadvertently, hyped high-tech product since the Apple Macintosh. Fifty feet away, Ginger's diminutive inventor, Dean Kamen, is offering instruction on how to use it, which in this case means waving his hands and barking out orders.
"Just lean forward," Kamen commands, so I do, and instantly I start rolling across the concrete right at him.
"Now, stop," Kamen says. How? This thing has no brakes. "Just think about stopping." Staring into the middle distance, I conjure an image of a red stop sign--and just like that, Ginger and I come to a halt.
"Now think about backing up." Once again, I follow instructions, and soon I glide in reverse to where I started. With a twist of the wrist, I pirouette in place, and no matter which way I lean or how hard, Ginger refuses to let me fall over. What's going on here is all perfectly explicable--the machine is sensing and reacting to subtle shifts in my balance--but for the moment I am slack-jawed, baffled. It was Arthur C. Clarke who famously observed that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." By that standard, Ginger is advanced indeed.
Since last January it has also been the tech world's most-speculated-about secret. That was when a book proposal about Ginger, a.k.a. "IT," got leaked to the website Inside.com. Kamen had been working on Ginger for more than a decade, and although the author (with whom the inventor is no longer collaborating) never revealed what Ginger was, his precis included over-the-top assessments from some of Silicon Valley's mightiest kingpins. As big a deal as the PC, said Steve Jobs; maybe bigger than the Internet, said John Doerr, the venture capitalist behind Netscape, Amazon.com and now Ginger.
In a heartbeat, hundreds of stories full of fevered theorizing gushed forth in the press. Ginger was a hydrogen-powered hovercraft. Or a magnetic antigravity device. Or, closer to the mark, a souped-up scooter. Even the reprobates at South Park got into the act, spoofing Ginger in a recent episode--the details of which, sadly, are unprintable in a family magazine.
This week the guessing game comes to an end as Kamen unveils his baby under its official name: Segway. Given the buildup, some are bound to be disappointed. ("It won't beam you to Mars or turn lead into gold," shrugs Kamen. "So sue me.") But there is no denying that the Segway is an engineering marvel. Developed at a cost of more than $100 million, Kamen's vehicle is a complex bundle of hardware and software that mimics the human body's ability to maintain its balance. Not only does it have no brakes, it also has no engine, no throttle, no gearshift and no steering wheel. And it can carry the average rider for a full day, nonstop, on only five cents' worth of electricity.
The commercial ambitions of Kamen and his team are as advanced as their technical virtuosity. By stealing a slice of the $300 billion-plus transportation industry, Doerr predicts, the Segway Co. will be the fastest outfit in history to reach $1 billion in sales. To get there, the firm has erected a 77,000-sq.-ft. factory a few miles from its Manchester, N.H., headquarters that will be capable of churning out 40,000 Segways a month by the end of next year.
Kamen's aspirations are even grander than that. He believes the Segway "will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy." He imagines them everywhere: in parks and at Disneyland, on battlefields and factory floors, but especially on downtown sidewalks from Seattle to Shanghai. "Cars are great for going long distances," Kamen says, "but it makes no sense at all for people in cities to use a 4,000-lb. piece of metal to haul their 150-lb. asses around town." In the future he envisions, cars will be banished from urban centers to make room for millions of "empowered pedestrians"--empowered, naturally, by Kamen's brainchild.
Kamen's dream of a Segway-saturated world won't come true overnight. In fact, ordinary folks won't be able to buy the machines for at least a year, when a consumer model is expected to go on sale for about $3,000. For now, the first customers to test the Segway will be deep-pocketed institutions such as the U.S. Postal Service and General Electric, the National Parks Service and Amazon.com--institutions capable of shelling out about $8,000 apiece for industrial-strength models. And Kamen's dreamworld won't arrive at all unless he and his team can navigate the array of obstacles that are sure to be thrown up by competitors and ever cautious regulators.
For the past three months, Kamen has allowed TIME behind the veil of secrecy as he and his team grappled with the questions that they will confront--about everything from safety and pricing to the challenges of launching a product with the country at war and the economy in recession. Some of their answers were smooth and assured; others less polished. But one thing was clear. As Kamen sees it, all these issues will quickly fade if the question most people ask about the Segway is "How do I get one?"
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0%2C8599%2C186660-1%2C00.html
12/3/01
6:44:19 PM
Freedom Of The Press Is Dying
Humanity is at a crossroads, we can decide to fight the system that exists or we can work towards a transformation. Many of us have had dreams that media can be changed, returned to ethical reporting, but what we have found is that it is an up hill struggle and that there are many obstacles in place which prevent change. A question we could ask ourselves is why has the federal Communication Commission and the Justice Department or any of the agencies that regulate information monopolies not acted to stop the consolidation of media ownership? People like Rupert Murdoch control The New York Post, The Weekly Standard, Mushroom Records, Fox Network and 15 TV stations and much more. The same is true for GE Receptor and the Viacom Receptor corporate conglomerates.
I wanted to add briefly that even the so-called "alternative" presses in large metropolitan areas, such as my hometown of Berea (Cleveland), Ohio, are owned by colidated corporations. The biggest "alternatives" in my area are owned by corporations in New York City and Phoenix, Arizona, and these conglomerates are making it a point to buy up oodles and oodles of once independent "alternatives" and then continuing to call the newspapers independent long after they have lost independence. I have a hard time getting certain chain run video shops, bookstores, coffee shops, convenient stores, etc., carry my community newspapers in my own community, while newspapers owned by media moguls who could care less about my neighbors and friends are given automatic access to distribute their "news" and "information" because the corporate consolidation and control has taken absolute authority over freedom, while the people sleep.
This is dangerous and so well hidden from public awareness. Freedom of the press is not only dying out because of press ownership but also because of the way press distribution is also monopolized and controlled. If anyone would ever wish to see a genuine, natural, actual newspaper/free forum "of the people, by the people, for the people," free samples would gladly be mailed out.
Much Love
Ron McEntee
President/Publisher, Active Communications, Inc.,
Active Voice/The Weekly Farce,
P.O. Box 394, Berea, OH 44017
12/3/01
6:40:02 PM
The Enemy Within - the Illusion Without" by Ivan Fraser - from Truth Campaign Magazine, issue 22 –
http://www.truthcampaign.co.uk.
From:
http://www.vegan.swinternet.co.uk/articles/conspiracies/enemy_within.html
Vested interests
Independence Day is just one example of how much subliminal programming we are exposed to by the 'entertainment' media. A comprehensive list of examples would take many pages.
Considering how controlled Hollywood is by Jews, it is not surprising that there is a severe lack of Islam in the movies, except to portray Muslims as the 'bad guys'. The following is a brief overview of just how Jewish US movie and entertainment industry is, consider the following (although the following lists may be a few years out of date, they serve well enough to make the general point):
The Walt Disney Company, is the largest movie corporation. Chairman and CEO is Michael Eisner,
The Disney empire includes several television production companies: Walt Disney Television, Touchstone Television, Buena Vista Television), its own cable network with 14 million subscribers, and two video production companies.
The Walt Disney Picture Group is headed by Joe Roth and includes Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, and Caravan Pictures, Miramax Films (run by the Weinstein brothers).
In addition to TV and movies, the corporation owns Disneyland, Disney World, Epcot Center, Tokyo Disneyland, and Euro Disney.
AOL/Time Warner, Inc. The chairman of the board and CEO is Gerald M. Levin. Time Warner's subsidiary HBO is the country's largest pay-TV cable network.
Viacom Inc. is headed by Sumner Redstone (born Murray Rothstein). It produces and distributes TV programs for the three largest networks, owns 12 television stations and 12 radio stations. It produces feature films through Paramount Pictures, headed by Sherry Lansing; and also owns Blockbuster video stores.
Viacom's publishing division includes Prentice Hall, Simon & Schuster, and Pocket Books.
Viacom is also the world's largest provider of cable programming, through its Showtime, MTV, Nickelodeon, and other networks.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, owns Fox Television Network and 20th Century Fox Films. Murdoch is a Gentile, but Peter Chernin, who heads Murdoch's film studio and also oversees his TV production, is a Jew.
The Japanese Sony Corporation, whose U.S. subsidiary, Sony Corporation of America, is run by Michael Schulhof. Alan J. Levine heads the Sony Pictures division.
New World Entertainment is owned by Ronald Perelman, who also owns Revlon cosmetics. The chairman at New World, is Brandon Tartikoff - formerly head of entertainment programming at NBC.
DreamWorks SKG is run by David Geffen, former Disney Pictures chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, and film director Steven Spielberg.
MCA and Universal Pictures, are both owned by Seagram Company Ltd. The president and CEO of Seagram, the liquor giant, is Edgar Bronfman, Jr., who is also president of the World Jewish Congress.
Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony, Paramount (Viacom), and Universal (Seagram) accounted for 74 percent of the total box-office receipts for the year to date (August 1995).
As is the case with Hollywood, so it is with American news media. Consider the following:
American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and National Broadcasting Company (NBC) are all controlled by Leonard Harry Goldenson and staffed all the way down by hand-picked Jews.
The Newhouse media empire owns 31 daily newspapers, including Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Newark Star-Ledger, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune; the nation's largest trade book publishing conglomerate, Random House, with all its subsidiaries; Newhouse Broadcasting, consisting of 12 television broadcasting stations and 87 cable-TV systems, including some of the countries largest cable networks-the Sunday supplement Parade, with a circulation of more than 22 million copies per week; some two dozen major magazines, including the New Yorker, Vogue, Madamoiselle, Glamour, Vanity Fair, HQ, Bride's, Gentlemen's Quarterly, Self, Home & Garden....etc.
The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Daily News and the Washington Post (run by Katherine Meyer Graham) are all Jewish controlled.
Time under AOL/Time Warner - see above), Newsweek (run by the Washington Post), and U.S. News & World Report (owned and published by Mortimer B Zucherman) are the most significant US news magazines.
The three largest book publishers: Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Time Inc. are owned or controlled by Jews
Western Publishing has more than 50 per cent of the children's book market. Its chairman and CEO is Richard Bernstein.
The White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is also a Jew.
Surely such monopoly on politics, news media and entertainment by such a minority is ludicrous? Of course it is. But then, it's a ludicrous world, isn't it?
Also from:
http://www.vegan.swinternet.co.uk/articles/conspiracies/enemy_within.html
"While the American people are shocked grieving, running telethons, gathering in the streets to proclaim their support for their 'great' leadership and the plan to rid the world of 'evil', the fact that their own government is responsible for their tragic suffering is ignored. The pain and unbridled truth is that the general populous of America are gullible and naïve. They are brainwashed into their illusory mindset that America is the 'land of the free', whilst America is in fact the very evil empire they believe they are opposing. Those same masses of programmed Americans are not only the victims of this terrible event, but are also the cause of it. It is they who give their support to the tyrants who control their country and the world through terrorism and deceit. Without their support in thought and deed, this whole charade could never work."
Plenty more articles at
http://www.vegan.swinternet.co.uk/mainpages/magazines_frame.html
See also
FREE SPEECH, R.I.P.
http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=22
FEAR AND NUMBING IN THE TV ZONE
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11954
12/3/01
6:36:56 PM
INTERESTING PERSPECTIVE ON THE UK MEDIA
For your interest, here are a few bitties concerning the British media and powers that be. I thought I'd send a little info on the standing of British media which nowadays are being widely quoted by folks like you.
Generally, British quality media are high standard and intelligent, though they still have their biases and soap-boxes to stand on, but in comparison to many other countries' media, UK does quite well in terms of objectivity and content quality.
The Daily Telegraph is a quality right-wing newspaper, owned by Conrad Black (Canadian). Since the right wing in Britain is in total disarray and free-fall, their political identity is probably in doubt at present, but they still cater for towards-right, well-heeled customers.
The Guardian (daily) and the Observer (Sundays only) are liberal to left-wing, towards younger generation (under 55ish) bias, British owned by the same company. Interestingly, their sales have grown recently. They're liberal-to-left politically, though when you get to para-political issues such as alternative therapies, crop formations and such things, they generally omit them altogether - very Londonish, too sophisticated and rational for such 'flakey' stuff. Strangely, the righter-wing papers give these subjects more space, as it goes - connected with the funny progressive streak that runs through the British upper classes (such as Prince Charles, a strangely enlightened man, organic farmer and community patron who wears tweeds and still goes shooting birds with his fellow nobs).
The Times was once Britain's flagship newspaper, towards right-wing, owned by News Int'l (Rupert Murdoch), but it has fallen from grace and has become much less significant. Generally for 'toffs'.
All the above papers were founded in the late 1700s, with a long heritage to maintain. The Observer was founded in response to the French Revolution.
The Independent is liberal, founded in the 1980s during Maggie Thatcher's time. Tried to become the big, balanced authority replacing the Times, but didn't quite make it. Generally enlightened, with good judgement and reporting, but not doing so well on sales and influence. Quite quotable and as politically neutral as can be, though a little sterile.
BBC is generally liberal in approach, though mixed too. Owned by the British government and mostly paid for by the British public through annual TV licence fees, with independence safeguards which generally work well. It tends toward the establishment position, though with a liberal bent. Generally, their news service can be middle-roadish, towards 'official line', though their off-peak programmes and features can be quite enlightened, even radical at times. It's a massive organisation which includes BBC World Service, which competes with CNN for world news and current affairs - it also has five national radio channels, numerous local stations, two terrestrial TV channels and several satellite channels. Their news is generally reliable, and they have a strong neutrality standard and philosophy, though, of course, when it comes to paranormal and alternative stuff, which is 'extreme' from the mainstream 'neutral' viewpoint, they're biased. Their website is Europe's biggest, and they invest $400m in it annually - very good integration between broadcast media and Internet.
12/3/01
6:29:03 PM
Renowned U.S. Economists Denounce Corporate-Led Globalization
Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz and internationally acclaimed economist Paul Krugman decry undemocratic, unsound, and unethical corporate agenda
by James L. Phelan
It seems critics of corporate-led globalization have some new allies.
Recent Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, along with well-known economist Paul Krugman, have of late made a flurry of public statements critical of the policies and processes of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank / IMF, and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) - while leaving plenty of harsh words for the blatantly pro-corporate actions of the Bush Administration. Both economists point to the disruptive and distorting influence of large corporate entities through their dominance over both domestic and international institutions.
Stiglitz and Krugman have begun to voice their indignation more frequently in the press, raising many of the same concerns that social justice and environmental advocates have long made about the disproportionate influence of big business and the hypocrisy of "free market" dogma.
Taking Care of Business
In a recent column appearing in the New York Times, Krugman stated: "Cynics tell us that money has completely corrupted our politics, that in the last election big corporations basically bought themselves a government that will serve their interests. Several related events last week suggest that the cynics have a point." As evidence of heavy-handed corporate opportunism, Krugman takes issue with the recent claims by security interests that federalizing airport security would represent a "taking" - a bald move by private interests to maintain a questionable security status quo free from public calls for more systematic scrutiny.
Krugman then assails the House "Stimulus Bill", stating that the "remarkable thing we learned from that bill was that conservative politicians - who used to claim that they were improving incentives by reducing marginal tax rates, and that it was just an incidental side effect that big corporations and wealthy individuals were so richly rewarded - no longer feel the need to disguise their payoffs." As he states, the principal goal of the bill is to repeal retroactively the corporate alternative minimum tax, "which means that selected companies would immediately receive huge lump sum payments from the government, totaling around $25 billion, with no incentive effect at all." What's worse is that "there are no strings attached to those gifts: if the companies want to, say, pay huge bonuses to top executives, they can. Republicans have always depended on the kindness of corporations, but this bill takes that faith to extremes."
Very little here, says Krugman, is representative of sound economic policies aimed at economic recovery, not to mention the need for shared sacrifice in times of belt-tightening. Corporate interests, as Krugman rightly points out, have friends in convenient political circles. In a blunt conclusion, Krugman sums it up saying that "the truth must be spoken. Lately our government has not exactly inspired confidence; its response to terrorism is starting to look a bit scatterbrained. But on some subjects our leaders are quite clearheaded: whatever else may be going on, they make sure that they are taking care of business."
Corporate-Led Globalization
When it comes to decrying the disruptive influence of the corporate agenda internationally - whether in the WTO or the FTAA - most critics have focused their energies on denouncing the anti-democratic nature of international trade and investment regimes and their narrow focus on liberalizing markets at all costs.
A recent interview with Joseph Stiglitz, however - the ultimate World Bank/IMF insider - sheds new light on what many have long suspected: documents and testimony on secret industry-governmental meetings, the behind the scenes agenda-setting of transnational corporate interests, and the apparent hidden agenda of the WB/IMF.
This conspiratorial assessment of hidden agendas could easily be shrugged off as baseless - except that this account comes to us from a fired-up and increasingly political Stiglitz. Fired from the World Bank in 1999 for his criticism of the WB/IMF's policies, Stiglitz has refused to keep quiet as these institutions - largely serving under the dictates of the U.S. Treasury Department - impose policies internationally that he claims have "condemned people to death."
Full article at http://www.earthisland.org/ggn/ggn_article2.html
12/3/01
6:27:56 PM
The Globalization of Repression: A Special Report to the European Parliament
Censored Stories: 'The Technologies of Political Control'
The following is an edited version of a 112-page "Special Report to the European Parliament" prepared by the Omega Foundation for the European Parliament's department of Scientific and Technological Options Assessment (STOA). While this report and its subsequent updates are widely known throughout Europe, it has never appeared in the US media. The full report is available from STOA, Luxembourg, +352-4300-22511, fax: -22418,
http://www.europarl.eu.int/stoa/publi/166499/execsum_en.htm.
Luxembourg (January 6, 1998) - Nearly 30 years ago, the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (BSSRS) warned that a new technology of repression was being spawned in an effort to contain civil unrest. In 1977, BSSRS published The Technology of Political Control which analyzed the function of these new technologies. Largely created as a result of research and development undertaken as part of Britain's colonial wars, work on this technology was further enhanced by technical developments achieved by the US' military-industrial complex.
The BSSRS was the first report to identify a whole class of technology whose principal function was to achieve social and political control. "This new weaponry ranges from means of monitoring internal dissent to devices for controlling demonstrations; from new techniques of interrogation to methods of prisoner control," BSSRS reported.
The Technology of Political Control predicted that, with the deployment of these technologies, governments would no longer reach for the machine gun when threatened at home. They would have plastic bullets that kill only occasionally, interrogation that tortures without leaving physical scars, electronics for telephone taping and night surveillance, and computers to build files on dissidents.
A massive Police Industrial Complex has been spawned to serve the needs of police, paramilitary and security forces. An overall trend is towards the globalization of these technologies.
Many major arms companies have established paramilitary/internal security operations and diversification into these markets is increasing. Weapons specifically designed to quell dissent are incredibly cheap compared to major warfare counterparts like ships, aircraft and tanks. The move into a post-Cold War world has been accompanied by a change in the nature of warfare.
The militarization of the police often begins via "special weapons and tactics squads," such as the Grenz Schutz Gruppe in Germany, the Gendarmerie Nationale in France, the Carabinieri in Italy, the Special Patrol Group in the UK or the federal police paramilitary SWAT teams in the US (FBI, DEA and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms). Security companies now produce weapons and communications systems for both the military and the police.
The Evolution of Repression - The 1972 US National Science Foundation's Report on Non-lethal Weapons listed 34 different weapons including: chemical and kinetic weapons; electrified water jets; combined stroboscopic light and pulsed sound weapons; infrasound weapons; guns that fire drug-filled, flight-stabilized syringes; stench darts that give off an obnoxious odor; the Taser, which shoots 50,000 volts into the target; and "instant banana peel," which makes roads slippery and impassable.
Many of these weapons have since achieved operational status. They include: electronic riot shields and electro-shock batons; bulk chemical irritant distributor systems (delivered by British water cannon or Israeli backpack sprayers); plastic bullet guns; hydraulically fired, slingshot rubber-bullet machines; and biomedical weapons, such as the compressed-air-fired drug syringe now commercially available both in the US and China.
Some 856 companies across 47 countries have been or are currently active in the manufacture and supply of such weapons. This global proliferation has been fueled by private companies wishing to tap lucrative security markets.
Portable electrified riot shields (manufactured since the mid-1980s) comprise a transparent polycarbonate plate through which metal strips are interlaced. A button-activated induction coil in the handle sends 40,000 to 100,000 volts arcing across the metal strips, accompanied by intermittent indigo flashing sparks and an intimidating crackle as the air between the electrodes is ionized. Deaths have been reported from both Tasers and from shock shields.
A wire barrier system dispersed by the Volcano Mine System shoots out a thin wire with something like fish hooks along it in enough mass to cover a soccer-field sized area. "It's intended to snag. It's not going to kill you," said Volcano marketing manager Tom Bierman.
Full article
http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/new_articles.cfm?articleID=279&journalID=49
12/3/01
6:26:37 PM
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience... Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem."
- Howard Zinn, "Failure to Quit", p. 45
12/3/01
6:22:25 PM
Spells and Counterspells: Why Act Now?
By Starhawk
The days are short and cold, the streets are univiting. The political climate seems as chilly as the winter winds, and everybody is saying that 911 changed everything. Why take action now? The government, the media, even some of our own allies warn us that public opinion is no longer with us, that repression will be high, that any action we take will be too costly both personally and politically, that we should hold back and wait.
But The WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and the other institutions of corporate capitalism are not waiting. They continue to meet, to argue for a new round of trade negotiations, to impose policies that result in a widening gap between rich and poor, and a staggering global death toll. And as winter nears, the potential rises for massive starvation in Afghanistan if relief trucks cannot deliver supplies because of our bombs.
And so on bad days we hear our own inner voices murmuring, 'It's hopeless. We've lost. The forces we face are too strong for us. Give up."
These voices seem reasonable, sensible. But any Witch can recognize a spell being cast.
A spell is a story we tell ourselves that shapes our emotional and psychic world. The media, the authorities tell a story so pervasive that most people mistake it for reality. We're fighting a righteous war against the Source of All Evil, and everyone supports Bush, and corporate control is the only way to be safe and to provide what we need, and to question is Evil, too.
The counterspell is simple: tell a different story. Pull back the curtain: expose their story for the false tale it is. Act 'as if'.
Act as if we weren't doomed, as if what we did in the next weeks and months could shift the balance of fate.
Act as if the movement were coming back stronger than ever, attracting thousands and hundreds of thousands who have had their eyes opened by the war.
Act as if this movement were the most creative, visionary, inspiring, funny, welcoming, transforming and truly revolutionary movement that had ever been. As if we had new language, new tactics, new ways of communicating that could waken the dormant dissent and the sleeping visions in every heart.
Act as if a whole new public dialogue was beginning outside the boxes drawn by our traditional political lines and our TV sets.
Act as if all the different factions in our movement were learning how to support each other, how to work in true coalition and act with true solidarity. As if all who should be allies were able to come together and work for our common goals.
Act as of we were going to win.
But won't these actions alienate and polarize people? Maybe, if they're ill conceived, gratuitously violent, or simply a matter of screaming the old slogans of the sixties over bullhorns. Or if they're timid, apologetic, whining, they may simply leave people bored and yawning. But our silence will not change public opinion, will not educate people or get them thinking again about larger issues. Actions that are creative, vibrant, confident and visionary, actions that directly and clearly confront the institutions we oppose and pose alternatives can be empowering both to those who take part and to those who hear of them.
We need to advance, not retreat, to take the political space we want and claim it. If we silence ourselves, we're tacitly agreeing that our protests are indeed some distant kin to the terrorists' acts. If we insist that our voices be heard, that open dissent is not terrorism, but the deepest commitment to democracy, once the inevitable vitriol wears off, we'll find that we've gained legitimacy and shifted the ground of the dialogue. The longer we wait to claim that space, the more rigidified the patterns of oppression will grow. We need to act now, while the future is still fluid, and set the pattern ourselves.
Since 911, I've been to more rallies and marches than I can count. I've marched with Gandhian pacifists and white-haired women in wheelchairs. I've marched with dancing, drumming Pagans. I've marched with Socialists and militants screaming about imperialism. I've marched with black masked anarchists surrounded by riot cops. And you know what? It's been okay. The police have behaved like police behave, sometimes restrained, sometimes provocative, occasionally vicious -- but that's not new. At times we met counter demonstrators, but never been more than a handful. And we often received unexpected support. I've seen construction workers flash peace signs at the Black Bloc.
Of course, our fears aren't just based on fictions. The authorities command real force, real tear gas, real clubs, real guns, real jails. Real people do die, go to prison, suffer. So might we. But fear makes things worse than they are. Fear limits our vision and our ability to take in information, makes the power holders seem omnipotent, and leads to our suppressing ourselves, saving the authorities the cost and trouble of doing it. And despair leads to paralysis.
The counterspell for fear is courage: facing the possibility of the worst and then going ahead with what you know is right. The counterspell for despair is action in service of a vision. The counterspell for paralysis is stubborn, persistent passion. Even if we're wrong, if nothing we do does makes a difference, courage and passion are a better place to be than hopelessness, cynicism and fear. If the authorities repress us, that's better than becoming people who repress ourselves. If we see our dreams ripped out of our hands, that's better than never daring to dream at all.
And if we tell our own stories with enough intensity and focus, we'll start to believe them, and so will others. We'll break the spells that bind us. We'll start to want that other world we say is possible with such intensity that nothing can stop us or deny us. All it takes is our willingness to act from vision, not from fear, to risk hoping, to dare to act for what we love.
12/3/01
6:20:16 PM
Seizing Dictatorial Power
http://www.truthout.com/11.16A.Safire.htm
GW Bush on 9/11 Conspiracy Theories by Robert Lederman
"We must speak the truth about terror. Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th, malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists themselves, away from the guilty." - GW Bush speaking before the UN General Assembly 11/10/2001. When President Bush spoke of "outrageous conspiracy theories" he was for the first time acknowledging something of great significance. There are informed viewpoints completely missing from the propaganda war being relentlessly waged on Americans about 9/11 and its aftermath, viewpoints which are as opposite from the official story as it is possible to get."
http://baltech.org/lederman/bush-conspiracy-11-23-01.html
Congress Will Challenge, Bush and Ashcroft on Secret Tribunals
http://www.truthout.com/11.28C.Dems.Tribunal.htm
Bush Proposes Heavily Arming Egypt
http://www.truthout.com/11.28A.Bush.Egypt.htm
DOMESTIC UNREST STILL GROWING IN UNITED STATES
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/10/18/18529.html
Gore's Victory
http://www.jamesdonahue.com/10gorewon.html
THE Biggest Cover-up in History
Lots of interesting stuff at http://www.jamesdonahue.com
12/3/01
6:18:10 PM
Badtrans virus
http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.badtrans.b@mm.html
To avoid any more worm virus (if you use Outlook Express) and download the security patch go to
http://www.softwarepatch.com/internet/ieeyedog.html
12/3/01
6:16:05 PM
"All this was inspired by the principle -- which is quite true in itself -- that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily, and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes."
- Adolf Hitler
Taken from http://www.island.net/~lbnews/9_11/9-11Files/9-11Files.html
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
- GW Bush during a photo-op with Congressional leaders on 12/18/2000.
12/3/01
6:14:10 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Democrats want nuke plant guards to be federal workers - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13536/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
UPDATE - Senate to vote today on drilling in Arctic refuge - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13537/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
UPDATE - Clint Eastwood's new role - Calif parks commissioner - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13538/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
UN may shift Earth Summit date to avoid September 11 - UNITED NATIONS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13539/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
Britain looks to ease small-scale power generation - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13532/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
Next WTO chief calls for sympathy for poor nations - THAILAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13541/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
Declining cod stocks threaten Iceland's economy - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13529/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
Mexicans see banner year for monarch butterflies - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13527/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
BMW, Magna to develop clean fuel technology - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13533/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
Cost of segregating GM food falling - Greenpeace - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13540/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
China to spend $4.8 bln to clean Three Gorges water - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13530/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
UPDATE - China says delays issuing details of GMO rules - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13544/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
Chile green groups question aluminum plant comment - CHILE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13528/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
FEATURE - Brazil sugar mill plugs into powerful future - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13531/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
Brazil anti-globalization forum to mull war, terror - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13542/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
UPDATE - Austria coalition partner rejects Temelin deal - AUSTRIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13534/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
Watchdog warns of inadequate nuclear security - AUSTRIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13535/newsDate/3-Dec-2001/story.htm
12/3/01
6:12:28 PM
t r u t h o u t is a non-profit independent news source
ISRAEL | On-The-Brink
http://www.truthout.com/12.03A.Israel.Brink.htm
Ashcroft and Leahy Battle Over Expanding Police Powers
http://www.truthout.com/12.03B.Leahy.Ashcroft.htm
DIANE ROBERTS | From the Frat House to the White House
http://www.truthout.com/12.03C.Frat.House.htm
Selkirk Grizzlies Are Dying Out
http://www.truthout.com/12.03D.Selkirk.Grizzlies.htm