1/20/01
11:13:59 PM
There are too many humans in the world. We now have over 6 billion humans on the planet and it can't support that many. Each day, the world's human population increases by 260,000. That's almost 95 million a year. If the world's human population continues to increase at its current rate, there'll be 10 billion humans on Earth by the year 2040. Because of human overpopulation, we are rapidly running out of natural resources, rainforests are being destroyed, stores, schools and shopping malls are becoming increasingly overcrowded, and poverty,starvation,war and pollution exist. Each human produces 4 1/2 pounds of garbage every day. Each human baby will use about 10,000 diapers between birth and the time he/she is potty trained. If humans don't stop having so many children, the world will soon become entirely overrun with tham and there'll be absolutely no room left for anyone in the world. Humans need to STOP HAVING SO MANY CHILDREN in order for the problems caused by human overpopulation to disappear.
1/20/01
2:43:29 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We Cover the Earth For You" SUN SETS ON PRESIDENT CLINTON'S ENVIRONMENTAL LEGACY
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, January 19, 2001 (ENS) - President Bill Clinton did not complete all the environmental initiatives he had planned - or all that environmentalists would have liked. Yet Clinton's administration is likely to be remembered as one of most supportive of the environment in the nation's history.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-19-06.html
POLICY GROUP CALLS FOR EXTENSIVE CHANGES AT EPA
By Brian Hansen
WASHINGTON, DC, January 19, 2001 (ENS) - Sweeping changes are needed at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and now is the time to implement them. That is the underlying conclusion embodied in a new report released today by the Reason Public Policy Institute, a Los Angeles, California based think tank that bills itself as a "leading voice for individual choice, economic freedom, and market based public policy incentives."
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-19-02.html
CANADIAN TAP WATER QUALITY FOUND WANTING
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, January 19, 2001 (ENS) - A survey into how Canada protects, treats and tests water supplies has found that some jurisidictions fare as bad or as worse than Ontario, where seven people died in an E. coli outbreak last year.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-19-11.html
HINDU PILGRIMS RISK DISEASE BY IMMERSION IN SACRED GANGES
ALLAHABAD, India, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - Seventy million people are expected to immerse themselves in the waters of the Ganges River during Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Sacred Jug Festival. The 42 day Hindu ritual began January 14 at Allahabad, some 375 miles southeast of New Delhi, and will end with the bathing on February 21.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-19-10.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JANUARY 19, 2001
BP Corporation Spends $650 Million for Cleaner Air
Advocacy Groups Launch Transitionwatch.org
Conservation Battle Faces Long Odds in Brazilian Amazon
Airbag Manufacturer to Pay $17.6 Million in Hazwaste Fines
Two New National Wildlife Refuges Approved in the Pacific
4.6 Million Acres Protected for Mexican Spotted Owl
Coloradans Detail Norton Role in Controversial Land Deal
Three Indicted for Reformulated Gasoline Fraud
Nature Conservancy Raises $50 Million for Maine Conservation
Wetter Landfills Work Faster
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-19-09.html
HEALING OUR WORLD: WEEKLY COMMENT By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
Fish: A Good Neighbor, but a Dangerous Food
At the same time that the "Journal of the American Medical Association" has published a study recommending that women eat fish two to four times a week to cut the risk of stroke, other studies are suggesting that fish may be one of our most dangerous foods.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a warning last week that pregnant women should not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish because they could contain enough mercury to harm an unborn baby's developing brain.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-19g.html
SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
TO ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Statement From the National Audubon Society Regarding Inaccurate Reports on Oil Drilling
WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 19 -/E-Wire/-- The following statement was released today from Daniel Beard, Senior Vice President and COO of the National Audubon Society:
/CONTACT: John Bianchi, Director of Communications of the National Audubon Society, 212-979-3026, fax: 212-979-3123/
/Web site: http://www.audubon.org/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/19Jan0102.html
TO NATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
EPA Releases FY 2000 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Data
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 -/E-Wire/-- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released data on its major enforcement and compliance assurance activities for FY 2000. Continuing its focus on the most serious health and environmental violations, the Agency placed a high priority on correcting violations among major corporations with multiple facilities throughout the United States.
/CONTACT: Tanya Meekins of the Environmental Protection Agency, 202-564-7819/
/Web site: http://www.epa.gov/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/19Jan0107.html
TO NATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
EPA Finalizes Agreement with Petroleum Refinery
WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 19 -/E-Wire/-- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized an agreement with BP Amoco, the nation's second largest petroleum refinery, to resolve Clean Air Act violations at eight refineries owned by BP, Amoco and Arco (recently acquired by BP). The settlement is the second in a federal enforcement strategy for achieving across-the-board compliance with U.S. refineries (the government settled with Koch Petroleum Group in December).
/CONTACT: Tanya Meekins of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 202-564-7819/
/Web site: http://www.epa.gov/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/19Jan0106.html
TO NATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
EPA Proposes Special Ocean Sites
WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 19 -/E-Wire/-- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today proposed new protections for "Special Ocean Sites" that have outstanding environmental value, including prohibitions for new and expanded ocean development. Also, for the first time, development activities such as mining, oil and gas exploration, and fish farming in federal ocean waters beyond three miles offshore would have to meet protective new standards under the Clean Water Act. EPA today released a draft report that found the overall condition of the nation's coastal waters to be fair to poor.
/Web site: http://www.epa.gov http://www.epa.gov/ow/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/19Jan0105.html
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
AT&T Announces Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowship Winners
NEW YORK, Jan. 19 -/E-Wire/-- For the seventh year in a row, AT&T (NYSE: T) has selected researchers from six leading universities to be the recipients of AT&T's 2000 Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowships:
/CONTACT: Cynthia Neale of AT&T, 908-221-7249, or cneale@att.com /
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/19Jan0104.html
TO INTERNATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
NAFTA Arbitration Panel Makes Precedent Setting Ruling In Favour of Canadian NGO
Decision favours IISD intervention in upcoming Methanex Chapter 11 hearing
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Canada, Jan. 19 -/E-Wire/-- After more than six months of intense effort by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a NAFTA Chapter 11 Tribunal has set a precedent by ruling that it has the power to accept amicus curiae ("friends of the court") briefs. The January 16 decision in the controversial case of Methanex vs. the United States clears the way for a decision to accept IISD's petition to submit its legal arguments to what has until now been a process closed to public participation.
/CONTACT: Terry Collins, Tel. (416) 538-8712, Cell. (416) 878-8712/
/Web site: http://www.iisd.org/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/19Jan0103.html
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Senge Opens January 29-30 Woodlands Conference
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Jan. 19 -/E-Wire/-- A new "environmentalism" -- based on innovation rather than regulation -- is emerging, according to business guru Peter Senge.
/CONTACT: Barbara Peyton of Houston Advanced Research Center, 281-363-7908, or bpeyton@harc.edu; or Marilu Hastings of Mitchell Center for Sustainable Development/Houston Advanced Research Center, 281-364-4021, or mhastings@harc.edu/
/Web sites: http://www.harc.edu http://www.harc.edu/woodlandsconference /
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/19Jan0101.html
SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS
1/20/01
8:00:26 AM
I have written a rock opera, "The Nihilistic Camel" which is ruthless, cunning, patient, and sweet. Two songs have been recorded at Sea West Studios by Rick Keefer.
I could sure use a hand. Just say yes.
MirroredEclipse@yahoo.com
1/19/01
8:29:54 PM
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
MEDIA ADVISORY:
ASHCROFT QUIZZED ABOUT SOUTHERN PARTISAN ENDORSEMENT
Attorney general nominee refuses to condemn white supremacist magazine
January 19, 2001
John Ashcroft, George W. Bush's nominee for attorney general, was questioned during his Senate confirmation hearing about his on-the-record endorsement of the white supremacist publication Southern Partisan.
Sen. Joe Biden (D.-Del.) asked Ashcroft to respond to a series of quotes from the magazine, each of which had appeared in FAIR's January 12 media advisory on Ashcroft and Southern Partisan (http://www.fair.org/press-releases/southern-partisan.html). The statements included claims that David Duke represented the "American ideal"; that slave-owners were concerned about the "peace and happiness" of slave families; that ethnic groups from outside of Northern Europe "have no temperament for democracy"; and that only "Italians, Jews and Puerto Ricans" live in New York, not "Americans."
In response to this questioning, Ashcroft responded: "On the magazine, frankly, I can't say that I knew very much at all about the magazine. I've given magazine interviews to lots of people. Mother Jones has interviewed me. I don't know if I've ever read the magazine or seen it. It doesn't mean I endorse the views of magazines. It's a telephone interview. And I regret that speaking to them is being used to imply that I agree with their views."
Of course, it is not his speaking with Southern Partisan that implies that he agrees with its ideas, but his telling the magazine: "Your magazine also helps set the record straight. You've got a heritage of doing that, of defending Southern patriots like [Gen. Robert E.] Lee, [Gen. Stonewall] Jackson and [Confederate president Jefferson] Davis. Traditionalists must do more. I've got to do more. We've all got to stand up and speak in this respect, or else we'll be taught that these people were giving their lives, subscribing their sacred fortunes and their honor to some perverted agenda." Presumably, he did not make a similar statement to Mother Jones.
Given several chances to explicitly distance himself from Southern Partisan, Ashcroft declined, saying carefully, "I condemn those things which are condemnable." When asked directly whether he thought the magazine was racist, he said, "I should probably do more due diligence on it. I know they've been accused of being racist.... I would rather be falsely accused of being a racist than to falsely accuse someone of being a racist."
Biden suggested that Ashcroft must have been briefed on the content of the magazine for the confirmation hearings, given that his association with it was an obvious topic to come up. Ashcroft responded, "I don't want to be disrespectful, but for you to suggest that I was told that all these things that you've alleged are true, I wasn't told that. And, frankly, I have been told that some of them aren't true.... And I don't know the source of your things."
That a nominee for U.S. attorney general would endorse a magazine that he knew celebrated the Confederacy is troubling in itself. That he would make no effort to check whether he had in fact promoted a racist magazine, even after his endorsement became a national issue--or would lie under oath about not having done so--is deeply disturbing.
Columnist Bob Herbert of the New York Times discussed Ashcroft's dodging of the Southern Partisan issue in a column that cited FAIR. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/18/opinion/18HERB.html (registration required)
1/19/01
6:27:12 PM
Super-road spells death for Amazon forest
By Steve Connor
The most detailed investigation of the fate of the world's greatest tropical rainforest estimates that as little as five percent of the Amazon may remain in its pristine, wild state by 2020.
This pessimistic scenario is painted by a team of Brazilian and American scientists who have analysed how the delicate Amazon ecosystem will respond to a new $40-billion (R312-billion) road development project.
Although the Amazon now accounts for about 40 percent of the Earth's rainforest, the scientists believe that within 20 years this will have dwindled alarmingly as a direct result of an ambitious scheme, known as Avanca Brasil, to "advance Brazil" by building roads, railways and hydroelectric dams.
The scientists accuse the Brazilian government of fast-tracking the project by keeping out environmental agencies - including its own environment ministry - thus accelerating logging and deforestation.
William Laurance, of the Smithsonian tropical research institute in Panama, who led the study, said: "Once a road or highway is built, a Pandora's box is opened which is almost impossible for a government to control.
"Once you build a road into a pristine forest you start an inevitable process of illegal colonisation, logging, land-clearing and forest destruction."
The team, which included scientists from Brazil's National Institute for Amazonian Research, developed computer models to predict the course of forest destruction based on what has happened to the Amazon during the past 20 years of road-building and development.
"We used the past as a guide to the future. We looked at the entire network of roads and highways in the Amazon to see how deforestation occurred in the region of a new road," said Laurance.
"There's really nothing that has been done that approaches the scale of what we've done. Our computer model is very comprehensive." The study, published on Friday in the journal, Science, shows two possible scenarios: "optimistic" and "non-optimistic" futures. Both suggest that the Amazon will be drastically altered by development schemes.
Under the less optimistic scenario, more than 95 percent of the Amazon will lose its untouched status and 42 percent of the forest will be totally denuded or heavily degraded by 2020.
Even under the more optimistic view, well over half of Amazonia will no longer be in a pristine state and about 30 percent will be lost forever.
The Amazon is already experiencing the most rapacious destruction seen in any rainforest in the world, with the loss of about two million hectares a year.
However, the Avanca Brasil plan will increase this rate of loss by between 14 percent and 25 percent each year, according to the study.
"At stake is the fate of the greatest tropical rainforest on Earth," say the scientists.
Deforestation so far has largely occurrred on the southern and eastern fringes of the Amazon, but the building of roads will allow logging deep within the rainforest.
Laurance said the road-building was by far the most potentially destructive aspect of the development programme because of the way it fragmented the rainforest into smaller and increasingly unviable segments.
"To eat a pie efficiently, you chop it into smaller pieces, which is what these development projects have been doing to the Amazon," he said.
Several international and domestic attempts are under way to preserve the Amazon, including a $340-million grant from the G-7 nations, but these efforts "pale in comparison to the scale of the present and planned development activities" - funded to the tune of $40-billion from 2000 to 2007, say the scientists.
"The Amazonian road network is being greatly expanded and upgraded with many unpaved sections being converted to paved, all-weather highways," say the scientists.
"The effects of these massive projects and other development trends on Amazonian forests have not been assessed systematically. Our models suggest that, under status-quo conditions, efforts to promote conservation planning in the Brazilian Amazon will be overwhelmed by prevailing destructive trends.
"Although a combination of threatening factors is responsible, special attention should be focused on Avanca Brasil, because it is a massive new initiative that will open vast areas of the Amazonian frontier to development activities.
"Avanca Brasil typifies the top-down planning process in the Amazon, in which mega-projects are proposed and approved long before the environmental cost and risks can be evaluated," they say.
The study's computer models - partly funded by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) - were made using satellite pictures of rainforest.
"We're trying to map out the implications. We feel it hasn't been looked at yet," he said. "When you view these forests from a distance, they look OK, but when you stand in them, you can see they've been thinned, and that they've changed.
"It's like they have holes punched in them. These holes can make a rainforest dry out and be vulnerable to fire."
Carlos Peres, a Brazilian conservation scientist based at East Anglia University in Norwich, said fires were among the worst side-effects of building new roads in the rainforest.
"Everywhere you get a new road, paved or not, it has increased logging and, wherever you get logging, you increase the risk of fires - far more severe fires that burn the forest canopy.
"In two to three decades, there could be a change from a closed-canopy forest to a scrub, savannah-like landscape," he said.
"If the trends continue, you're going to see a higher increase in the pace of forest conversion and we'll end up with a very fragmented landscape."
The scientists suggest that Brazil should accept "carbon-offset funds" paid by the developed world to save rainforest. Brazil has rejected this, a decision which the scientists call "an appalling mistake".
Dr Peres, who was born in the Amazon, is pessimistic about the Avanca Brasil scheme, but admits many fellow Brazilians would disagree.
"To others, development is a sign of a prosperous future. I'd rather slow down the pace of change, but that's not what a lot of my fellow citizens want."
1/19/01
5:56:42 PM
DAILY GRIST 19 Jan 2001
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
1. AMAZON.GONE As little as 5 percent of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil may remain as pristine forest by 2020, according to a study published today in the journal Science. The researchers say that Brazil's plan to invest $40 billion on development projects in the Amazon Basin will overwhelm conservation efforts. The 1.3 million-square-mile Amazon forest makes up 40 percent of the Earth's remaining tropical rainforest, but the researchers fear that logging, oil exploration, roads, and new homes will devastate the area.
straight to the source: South Africa Independent, Steve Conner, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.iol.co.za/general/newsview.php?click_id=143&art_id=qw97984 9741574I525&set_id=1>
straight to the source: Portland Oregonian, Richard L. Hill, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/01/01/cu_61a mazo19.frame>
2. NORTON, YOUR LIFE In a Senate hearing yesterday that had Democrats lining up on one side, Republicans on the other, President-elect Bush's choice for Interior secretary, Gale Norton, described herself as a both a "compassionate conservative and a passionate conservationist" and sought to soften some of her most controversial stands in the past. Norton disavowed a 1991 speech in which she said property owners in some cases had the "right to pollute," telling members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that "the idea of a right to pollute is not something I support." She said she no longer believes that the Endangered Species Act and Surface Mining Act are unconstitutional. She also seemed to recant on past statements of hers that there was no scientific consensus on the threat of global warming. Environmentalists were not impressed with Norton's testimony and are campaigning vigorously to derail her nomination.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 19 Jan 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15864-2001Jan18.html>
straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/19/politics/19NORT.html>
straight to the source: Excerpts from the hearing <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/19/politics/19NTEX.html>
do good: Take action to keep Norton out of the Cabinet <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/politics.stm>
3. GETTING THEIR JUST DESERTS The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and enviros reached an agreement this week to reduce road access and add protections for species in 11.5 million acres of desert in Southern California. The deal, which settles a lawsuit filed last year by the Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, bans grazing on 1.3 million acres of desert tortoise habitat and generally requires the BLM to boost protections for more than 20 other species in the California Desert Conservation Area. In other species news, the center said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did an adequate job yesterday in designating critical habitat for Mexican spotted owls in Utah, but threatened to sue over inadequate designations in New Mexico and Arizona.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Deborah Sullivan Brennan, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010119/t000005449.html>
straight to the source: Salt Lake Tribune, Judy Fahys, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.sltrib.com/01192001/utah/63861.htm>
straight to the source: Albuquerque Journal, Tania Soussan, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.abqjournal.com/news/228853news01-19-01.htm>
straight to the source: Phoenix Arizona Republic, Judd Slivka, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0119OWL19.html>
4. NOPEC, NO WAY, NO HOW Queensland state leaders in Australia have delighted enviros by pressing the federal government to reject a plan to explore for oil near the Great Barrier Reef. The federal environment minister, Robert Hill, says he will respond within a week to a proposal by the company TGS NOPEC to carry out a seismic survey about 35 miles from the reef. The company says testing for oil will not impact the reef, but enviro groups like the Australian Conservation Foundation vehemently disagree. Queensland Tourism Minister Merri Rose said the reef is worth more than $800 million a year to the state's tourism industry.
straight to the source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/environment/2001/01/item2001011906 3940_1.htm>
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9548>
5. REALITY TV BITES It's eat or be eaten in Hollywood for Zed, last of his species. Eavesdrop on Zed's power lunch with Mike Ovitz as he learns the art of the deal in "Reality TV Bites."
catch it only in Grist Magazine: Zed, the comic adventures of the last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed011901.stm>
catch it only in Grist magazine: Check out the Zed music video <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed-fun.stm>
6. HEAVY SIGH-ANIDE A cyanide spill in northeastern Romania has killed thousands of fish and now poses a health hazard to humans, government officials said yesterday. The spill occurred when the contents of a storage container at a recently closed chemical plant spread from a rain gutter into a tributary of the Siret River, raising cyanide levels in some places to 130 times accepted levels. Locals have been warned not to drink water from wells, and some environmental officials fear that poisoned fish may already have found their way to market.
straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, 18 Jan 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/01/ 18/international1505EST0665.DTL>
straight to the source: Central Europe Online, Reuters, 19 Jan 2001 <http://www.centraleurope.com/romaniatoday/news.php3?id=261066>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
Tell a pal to sign up for Daily Grist <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/signup/tell_pal.asp>
Nary a drop to drink -- a review of "Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource" in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books010901.stm>
Bottoms up or tops down? -- should locals be more involved in public lands decisions? -- by Rocky Barker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho011701.stm>
1/19/01
5:49:03 PM
EcoNet Headlines: January 19, 2001
FDA Genetic Food Policy Denies Americans the Right to Know What They Are Eating
The rights of American consumers to know what they are eating and feeding their families was today denied them by the Food and Drug Administration. The new FDA policy proposal, posted on the web today, does not require labeling or any pre-market safety testing of genetically engineered foods. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979862845/index_html
Monsanto Undaunted in Bioengineered Wheat Quest
Monsanto is pressing ahead with plans to commercialize genetically modified wheat despite heightened concerns about scientific tinkering with food grains in the wake of the StarLink corn controversy. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979862966/index_html
Gene-Altered Cotton Produces Substandard Fibers
US textile manufacturers are suspicious that the widespread use of genetically modified plants (GMO) in cotton farms may have contributed to the fall in cotton quality, a senior US textile official said Wednesday. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979863089/index_html
Turkish Court Bans Cyanide Gold Process Near Ancient Town
Despite an order from the country's Supreme Court backing up environmentalists, the pressure is mounting this week for the reopening of a controversial mine in one of Turkey's most visited tourist areas. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979863219/index_html
Widespread and Accelerating Loss of Amazonian Rainforest Predicted
Major new scientific studies published in the journals Nature and Science predict that between a third and 42 percent of Brazil's Amazon Basin will be lost or seriously damaged in the next two to three decades as a result of planned infrastructural development. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979863448/index_html
Javan Rhinoceros Remain at High Risk
Efforts to boost the numbers of threatened Javan rhinoceros are being held back by poor habitats that do little for their already small population, say environmentalists here. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979863573/index_html
Public to Learn More about NATO Air Raids on Yugoslavia
The public should learn more about the health hazards caused by the depleted uranium (DU) capped weapons used in the bombing of serbia by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1999, experts say. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979863684/index_html
Tapping Traditional Systems of Resource Management
Not even the best policies and technologies can help solve the world's problem of diminishing and deteriorating resources, unless people's attitudes and habits change. It is time to re-adopt the ancient value of regarding nature and natural resources as sacred, and to tap the successful, traditional systems of resource management to suit our present-day needs. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979863834/index_html
RACHEL: A Textbook for Whistle-Blowers
As corporate power grows without limit, governments at all levels are abandoning their responsibility to enforce laws. Instead, they are relying on "voluntary compliance" by corporations. Under these circumstances, the role of whistle-blowers assumes increased importance.
Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979864090/index_html
Posted by ecott on Thursday January 18, @04:30PM
President Clinton further embellished his conservation legacy by declaring "more than 1 million acres of federal land in the West" as national monuments. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/979864248/index_html
1/19/01
4:29:34 PM
On Saturday there will be an inaugural day demonstration with Jesse Jackson and others in Tallahassee. This will focus on the theft of the minority vote in Florida, a potent and heartfelt issue for most of us. If any of you are interested in joining a bus caravan to Tallahassee, here's the info you need:
the Bus will leave at 2:30 AM (that's AM) Saturday morning from 1680 18th Street in Sarasota. Last I heard there were still a dozen seats left. You can call dogfish for more info @ 355-2661.
Please consider making this trip, it will be a wonderful opportunity to show support and solidarity with oppressed floridians.
We wish you all the best.
Sarasota Green Party
1/19/01
4:26:35 PM
Happy 2001!
This message is to inform you that January letters have been posted on Earth Action Network's web site, http://www.eanetwork.org
Earth Action Network has been sending letters since 1989, and some of you have been with us since then! Whether you've been participating for over a decade or just since last month, we appreciate you for your support and for your determination to help make our world a better place. And thanks for continuing to tell family and friends about Earth Action Network.
Sincerely,
Earth Action Network Project. http://www.eanetwork.org
1/19/01
4:20:44 PM
The Nation
There's lots of new material from the pages of The Nation's special Counter-Inaugural issue currently at http:www.thenation.com
GREGORY PALAST: Florida's "Disappeared Voters" "On November 7 tens of thousands of eligible Florida voters were wrongly prevented from casting their ballots. Nearly all were Democrats, nearly half of them African-American." http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010205&s=palast
VINCENT BUGLIOSI: None Dare Call It Treason "That an election for an American President can be stolen by the highest court in the land under the delibrate pretext of an inapplicable constitutional provision has got to be one of the most frightening events ever to have occurred in this country." http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010205&s=bugliosi
KATHA POLLITT: Subject to Debate "If Ashcroft is not too far out to be confirmed, who is? http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010205&s=pollitt
You can also find exclusive material available only at The Nation's website, including:
JOHN NICHOLS: The Online Beat http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/
DAVID CORN & DAN MOLDEA: Ashcroft's Low Road http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=corn20010115
JOHN LANTIGUA: Passing The Buck In Florida http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=lantigua0115
Finally, with tomorrow heralding the start of the Bush Administration's reign, don't miss your last chance to check out The Nation's Counter-Inauguration Calendar, which details many of the numerous protests, rallies, marches, vigils and other actions taking place tomorrow in Washington, DC and around the country. Available only at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/counterinauguration.mhtml
1/19/01
4:14:16 PM
The Guardian (London, UK)
19 January 2001
Patten urges nuclear cleanup
Russia's 300 dumped reactors linked to Kursk aid
Special report: Russia
Ian Traynor in Moscow Friday January 19, 2001
Around 300 nuclear reactors and thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods dumped in the Russian Arctic are an immediate danger to Russians and Europeans alike, and require urgent action, Chris Patten, the European Union's external relations commissioner, warned yesterday.
Speaking to Russian officials and diplomats in Moscow, Mr Patten called on the western European nuclear engineering industry to start cleaning up the world's biggest nuclear graveyard in Russia's far north. But he also feared that Brussels' bid to persuade Moscow to allow in outside remedial teams had run into opposition, not least because of Russian military secrecy.
Russian admirals, in particular, are against external assistance with problems that involve military resources.
The risk of wide-scale radioactive contamination from the reactors in dozens of abandoned submarines, formerly part of Russia's northern and Baltic fleets, were highlighted by Moscow's laboured response to the Kursk tragedy last summer. But Mr Patten, the EU's foreign policy supremo, pointed to a problem that could dwarf the Kursk disaster in its scale.
"In the seas and the shores surrounding the Kola peninsula, there are some 300 nuclear reactors - about 20% of the world's total - and thousands of spent nuclear fuel elements," he said. "The lack of adequate storage or disposal facilities for spent fuel and radioactive waste from the reactors of nuclear vessels is a sword of Damocles hanging over all our futures."
The fjords of the peninsula are littered with scores of inoperable nuclear submarines, abandoned like beached whales. Their hulks lie as testimony to the disastrous decline of the once mighty Soviet navy. The navy dockyards are crumbling, the sailors go hungry and unpaid.
Mr Patten said the problem of nuclear safety in the far north was the most "dramatic" of all the issues on which Brussels and Moscow should seek enhanced cooperation during Sweden's term in the EU presidency.
EU countries are being asked to make a hefty contribution towards the estimated 47m needed to raise the stricken Kursk and its two nuclear reactors next summer. Mr Patten was expected to discuss the Kursk with Russian officials during his two-day trip.
It appeared that Sweden, in particular, was pushing for more ambitious nuclear safety programmes and cleanup operations in the Arctic in return for agreeing to fund the Kursk salvage operation.
Mr Patten's speech, Sweden's emphasis on nuclear safety in the Arctic, and the incoming Bush administration's declaration that American aid to Russia will be sharply cut back and focused on stabilising Russia's nuclear arsenal, all suggest that areas such as the Kola peninsula are moving up in priority on the international agenda.
1/19/01
4:06:35 PM
STATE LEGISLATIVE ACTION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HEMP INDUSTRY IN THE U.S.
Prepared for Representative Cynthia Thielen State of Hawaii
UPDATED: 1/11/01
(AR) Arkansas
SR13 (adopted 1999): Requires the University of Arkansas to conduct studies to determine the feasibility of growing hemp as an alternative and profitable crop. Report due by December 31, 2000.
(CA) California
HR32 (adopted 1999): Finds that industrial hemp has many uses in many products; that it will contribute to the state economy; that the legislature should revise the legal status of industrial hemp; and that the University of California and other agencies should prepare studies in conjunction with private industry on the cultivation, processing, and marketing of industrial hemp.
(HI) Hawaii
HB32 (Act 305 SLH 1999): Authorizes the State to allow privately-funded industrial hemp research in Hawaii when state and federal agencies (DEA) issue controlled substance registrations; authorizes state and federal agencies to monitor all phases of the research; requires status reports.
NOTE: First plot sown in December 1999. It's America's first legal hemp patch in nearly 50 years.
HR109 (adopted 1999): Requests the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to recommend the use of hemp fiber soil erosion control blankets whenever feasible.
HR110 (adopted 1999): Requests the Hawaii Dept. of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to examine the feasibility of growing industrial hemp in Hawaii for biomass energy production.
(IL) Illinois
SB1397 (Passed Both Houses 1/9/01): Requires the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University to study the feasibility and desirability of industrial hemp production; requires report of findings/recommendations by January 1, 2002; excludes industrial hemp from the definition of "cannabis" under the Cannabis Control Act.
SR49 (adopted 1999): Creates the Industrial Hemp Investigative and Advisory Task Force; requires the task force to report on the economic viability of industrial hemp production; requests the University of Illinois to work with the task force.
HR168 (adopted 1999): Companion measure to SR49.
HR553 (adopted 2000): Urges the U.S. Congress to acknowledge the difference between marijuana and industrial hemp, and to clearly authorize the commercial production of industrial hemp.
(MD) Maryland
HB1250 (2000 Maryland Laws Ch. 681): Establishes a pilot program to study the growth and marketing of industrial hemp; requires the Secretary of Agriculture to administer the pilot program in consultation with State and federal agencies; provides for monitoring and access rights; requires an individual to be licensed by the Dept. of Agriculture prior to participation in the pilot program.
(MN) Minnesota
HF1238 (1999 Minnesota Session Laws): Authorizes the commissioner of agriculture to permit experimental and demonstration plots to investigate the potential for industrial hemp as a commercial agricultural crop; requires material from industrial hemp plants grown on the plots to be used only for commercial uses; requires registration of applicants for participation; requires reporting.
(MT) Montana
HR2 (adopted 1999): Requests that the federal government repeal restrictions on the production of industrial hemp as an agricultural and industrial product.
(NCSL) National Conference of State Legislatures
(NCSL adopted Dec 2000): A Resolution strongly urging USDA, DEA and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to collaboratively develop and adopt an official definition of industrial hemp. Requests Congress to direct the DEA to revise its policies to allow states to establish regulatory programs. Requests DEA to review the procedures under which their Canadian counterparts are authorized to sanction the commercial development of industrial hemp. Urges Congress to amend US Codes to distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana.
(NE) Nebraska
LB273: Provides for cultivation of industrial hemp.
(NH) New Hampshire
HB239 (Interim Study Subcommittee Work Session Status 2000): Permits the production of industrial hemp; requires licensing for a person or business entity wishing to grow and produce industrial hemp.
(NM) New Mexico
HB104 (Appropriation incorporated into General Budget Bill 1999): Appropriates $50,000 to New Mexico State University for the purpose of conducting a study of the feasibility of growing industrial hemp as a commercial crop; requires reporting.
(ND) North Dakota
HB1428 (Ch. 4-41-01, 02 NDCC; 4-09-01 NDCC 1999): Authorizes the production of industrial hemp; recognizes industrial hemp as an oilseed; requires any person desiring to grow industrial hemp to apply for a license; allows for the supervision of the industrial hemp during its growth and harvest.
SB2328 (Ch. 4-05.1-05 NDCC 1999): Authorizes the North Dakota State University main research center to conduct baseline research, including production and processing, regarding industrial hemp and other alternative industrial use crops.
HCR3038 (adopted 1999): Urges the U.S. Congress to acknowledge the difference between marijuana and industrial hemp, and to clearly authorize the commercial production of industrial hemp.
(OR) Oregon
SB89 (Introduced 01-08-2001) Authorizes production and processing of industrial hemp.
(VT) Vermont
JRS98 (adopted 2000): Urges the U.S. DEA, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, and the U.S. Congress to reconsider federal policies that restrict the cultivation and marketing of industrial hemp and related products.
(VA) Virginia
HJR94 (adopted 1999): Urges the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, the Director of the DEA, and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to permit the controlled, experimental cultivation of industrial hemp in Virginia.
Sources:
1.Westlaw Database Search; October 31, 2000
2.North American Industrial Hemp Council, Inc.; http://www.naihc.org
3.Hemp Industries Association; http://www.thehia.org
4.Legislative Reference Bureau State Legislatures Gateway; http://www.state.hi.us/lrb/card
5.Legislative Websites in all 50 states; various URLs
6. <http://www.gametec.com/hemp/CT.hemp.html>
1/19/01
3:38:41 PM
YOUR CARE2.COM NEWSLETTER - Care2 make the world Greener! http://www.care2.com/ Vol. 24: January 19, 2001
Thank You! By reading this gnusletter, you help Care2 continue to provide fantastic, free services AND help wildlife!
1. CARE2 CUDDLIES ARE IN STOCK NOW! 2. GEAR UP FOR SOME LOVIN' 3. FEATURED SPONSOR: DOT ORG JOBS 4. WELCOME NEW RACE FOR THE RAIN FOREST SPONSOR! 5. THANK YOU CHARTER MEMBERS 6. IN THE SPOTLIGHT
1. CARE2 CUDDLIES ARE IN STOCK NOW!
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3. GEAR UP FOR SOME LOVIN' Care2 Valentine Gift Packages are just in! Buy a cuddly Care2 Beau-Bear today for all your loved ones. Beau-Bear wears a mini-Care2 T-shirt and also comes with a box of sweetheart candies. In addition, you save 250 sq. ft. of rain forest with every purchase. Show you care about your beau and the environment by giving a Care2 Beau-Bear! Just $24.99.
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4. WELCOME NEW RACE FOR THE RAIN FOREST SPONSOR! Since this newsletter was written, over 100 rain forest species have become extinct due to destruction of the world's rain forest. With your help, Care2 is fighting every day to slow this habitat devastation. Today, we are excited to welcome Horizon Organic as our newest Race for the Rain Forest sponsor. Thanks to Horizon Organic, Sportula.com, and Novica.com, you can save 14.9 square feet of rain forest every day you click at the Race for the Rain Forest. Click today to join over 360,000 Care2 racers and stop the destruction!
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5. THANK YOU CHARTER MEMBERS Thanks to all of our Charter Members for helping Care2 and The Nature Conservancy save rain forest land - 410,000 square feet and growing! In addition, Care2 Charter Members support many great new programs on Care2 to save wildlife and protect precious habitat around the world.
On Earth Day 2001, you can win the opportunity to donate $1,000 to your favorite environmental non-profit. For those of you who have not yet signed up, there's still time before a winner is selected! Become a Charter Member today and join the growing Care2 Family!
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6. IN THE SPOTLIGHT
* Send your own photos as e-cards! When you create your own photo album, you can upload your photos and even send them to friends as e-cards!
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* HUGGING DAY! It's coming this Sunday on January 21! Don't forget your friends! They need hugs--lots of hugs. Send your cards FAST!
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THANK YOU BECAUSE YOU CARE2!
-- The Care2 Team
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with your friends, family, and colleagues!
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1/19/01
3:34:30 PM
Scientists Bring Light to Full Stop, Hold It, Then Send It on Its Way
By JAMES GLANZ The New York Times
Researchers say they have slowed light to a dead stop, stored it and then released it as if it were an ordinary material particle.
The achievement is a landmark feat that, by reining in nature's swiftest and most ethereal form of energy for the first time, could help realize what are now theoretical concepts for vastly increasing the speed of computers and the security of communications.
Two independent teams of physicists have achieved the result, one led by Dr. Lene Vestergaard Hau of Harvard University and the Rowland Institute for Science in Cambridge, Mass., and the other by Dr. Ronald L. Walsworth and Dr. Mikhail D. Lukin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, also in Cambridge.
Light normally moves through space at 186,000 miles a second. Ordinary transparent media like water, glass and crystal slow light slightly, an effect that causes the bending of light rays that allows lenses to focus images and prisms to produce spectra.
Using a distantly related but much more powerful effect, the Walsworth-Lukin team first slowed and then stopped the light in a medium that consisted of specially prepared containers of gas. In this medium, the light became fainter and fainter as it slowed and then stopped. By flashing a second light through the gas, the team could essentially revive the original beam.
The beam then left the chamber carrying nearly the same shape, intensity and other properties it had when it entered. The experiments led by Dr. Hau achieved similar results with closely related techniques.
"Essentially, the light becomes stuck in the medium, and it can't get out until the experimenters say so," said Dr. Seth Lloyd, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is familiar with the work.
Dr. Lloyd added, "Who ever thought that you could make light stand still?"
He said the work's biggest impact could come in futuristic technologies called quantum computing and quantum communication. Both concepts rely heavily on the ability of light to carry so-called quantum information, involving particles that can exist in many places or states at once.
Quantum computers could crank through certain operations vastly faster than existing machines; quantum commmunications could never be eavesdropped upon. For both these systems, light is needed to form large networks of computers. But those connections are difficult without temporary storage of light, a problem that the new work could help solve.
A paper by Dr. Walsworth, Dr. Lukin and three collaborators - Dr. David Phillips, Annet Fleischhauer and Dr. Alois Mair, all at Harvard- Smithsonian - is scheduled to appear in the Jan. 29 issue of Physical Review Letters.
Citing restrictions imposed by the journal Nature, where her report is to appear, Dr. Hau refused to discuss her work in detail.
Two years ago, however, Nature published Dr. Hau's description of work in which she slowed light to about 38 miles an hour in a system involving beams of light shone through a chilled sodium gas.
Dr. Walsworth and Dr. Lukin mentioned Dr. Hau's new work in their paper, saying she achieved her latest results using a similarly chilled gas. Dr. Lukin cited her earlier work, which Dr. Hau produced in collaboration with Dr. Stephen Harris of Stanford University, as the inspiration for the new experiments.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/18/science/18LIGH.html
1/19/01
3:05:32 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE <http://www.gristmagazine.com>
1. ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, BLUBBER Defying an international trade ban, Norway said this week that it would permit whale blubber and meat to be exported from the country. Norway resumed whaling in 1993, despite an international moratorium on the practice, but until now it has refused to allow exports. Currently, some 600 tons of whale blubber and other whale parts are on ice, awaiting export from Norwegian warehouses. Norway and the countries it will be marketing to -- Japan, Iceland, and Peru -- have never ratified the export ban. The World Wildlife Fund said Norway's decision would damage the country's reputation as an environmentally friendly nation and could provoke the collapse of international efforts to protect whales.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Alister Doyle, 17 Jan 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9545>
straight to the source: London Independent, Michael McCarthy, 18 Jan 2001 <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Europe/2001-01/whale180101.shtml>
catch it only in Grist Magazine: To know a whale -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha011601.stm>
2. AS REGULATION TIME EXPIRES ... The U.S. EPA yesterday reduced the amount of arsenic allowable in drinking water by 80 percent, a shift that the agency said would boost health protections for about 13 million Americans. The new rule would reduce the allowed arsenic level to 10 parts per billion, down from the 1942 standard of 50 parts per billion. Last year, the agency proposed a standard of five parts per billion, which won the support of many environmentalists. But water supply companies, as well as the mining and chemical industries, lobbied instead for the 10 parts per billion standard, complaining about the high costs associated with anything tougher. Still, enviros are moderately happy with the outcome. In other regulatory news, the EPA earlier this week said it would develop rules targeting air pollution from oil tankers for the first time, settling a lawsuit filed by enviros.
straight to the source: Concord Monitor, Associated Press, 18 Jan 2001 <http://www.concordmonitor.com/stories/news/newengla/nh__arsenic_water _19y28y37.shtml>
straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Jane Kay, 17 Jan 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/200 1/01/17/MN90446.DTL>
read it only in Grist Magazine: Another campaign by the group that filed the oil tanker lawsuit -- a week in the life of Kira Schmidt, Bluewater Network <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/schmidt072400.stm>
3. WATER WORLD "Millions have lived without love. No one has lived without water," says a sage Turkish businessman. Yet all the world 'round -- from Africa to Australia, from Europe to the Middle East -- too many people depend on too little water. We've watered deserts and disrupted other ecosystems to store and deliver water where it would not otherwise be available. But demand for water continues to outstrip supply. What's to be done? Read more upbeat coverage about the water problem on the Grist Magazine website.
read it only in Grist Magazine: Nary a drop to drink -- a review in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books010901.stm>
4. LABEL'S LOVE LOST The U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday proposed rules for companies to voluntarily label foods that aren't genetically engineered -- but it refused requests from environmental and consumer groups to require mandatory labels on all foods that are genetically engineered. The proposed rules, now open for public comment, would also require companies to notify the government before marketing new genetically engineered foods. But critics said the rules would not require that the foods be thoroughly tested to show that they were safe for human consumption and wouldn't harm the environment. Needless to say, big-business food companies are mighty happy with the proposals. Meanwhile, Japan has asked the U.S. to explain why American corn imports have been found to contain the genetically engineered corn StarLink, which is banned in Japan.
straight to the source: New York Times, Andrew Pollack, 18 Jan 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/18/health/18REGS.html>
straight to the source: MSNBC, 18 Jan 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/517585.asp>
straight to the source: Las Vegas Sun, Associated Press, 18 Jan 2001 <http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-asia/2001/jan/18/011800713.html>
do good: Take action and tell the feds to require mandatory labeling <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/food.stm>
5. 50,000,000 MAINE-IACS The Nature Conservancy said yesterday that it had raised $50 million to conserve land in Maine, the group's most expensive conservation project yet. Thirty million dollars will buy 185,000 acres along the Upper St. John River, the largest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi, with the remaining millions funding some 35 other conservation projects. The conservancy's fundraising effort ended two years ahead of schedule, with big donations coming from the president of L.L. Bean, Rockefeller family members, and Tom's of Maine, among others. Maine Gov. Angus King (I) said the fundraising success showed that citizens do not need to turn to government to solve their problems.
straight to the source: Portland Press Herald, Peter Pochna, 18 Jan 2001 <http://www.portland.com/news/state/010118land.shtml>
read it only in Grist Magazine: Maine is emerging as ground zero in another land conservation experiment -- in our Main Dish section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/curtis010801.stm>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE
Pipe dreams -- a day in the life of Marta Echavarria, EcoDecision <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/echavarria011701.stm>
This just in -- the latest climate change news -- in our Heat Beat section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/heatbeat/thisjustin011101.stm>
The man conservatives are afraid of on the Bush enviro team -- in our Muckraker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck011601.stm#hen>
1/19/01
3:02:13 PM
The GW Bush Gang: IG Farben 2001 by Robert Lederman
"What my cabinet shows is that I am not afraid to surround myself with strong and competent people...a good executive is one that understands how to recruit people and how to delegate authority and responsibility."
-GW Bush 1/2/2001
As promised GW Bush has recruited competent and experienced advisors. Despite their seeming diversity however they have a common denominator. The America they reflect is the oil, pharmaceutical, armament, Wall Street and eugenics interests long associated with the Bush family.
Seventy years ago a similar configuration of oil, pharmaceutical, chemical, military supply and eugenics interests were organized by Wall Street into IG Farben/Standard Oil-Hitler's industrial powerhouse. To grasp the real significance of what GW Bush's cabinet has been brought together to accomplish it is essential to understand the history of IG Farben, its relationship with American corporations and how together they applied modern technology to the task of eugenics or scientific racism.
According to former US Justice Dept. Nazi War Crimes prosecutor John Loftus -who is today the director of the Florida Holocaust Museum- "The Bush family fortune came from the Third Reich," -Sarasota Herald-Tribune 11/11/2000 http://www.newscoast.com/headlinesstory2.cfm?ID=35115
Along with the Rockefellers (Standard Oil, Chase Manhattan Bank), Mellons (Gulf Oil, Alcoa Aluminum), DuPonts (DuPont Chemicals), General Motors and Henry Ford, banks and shipping companies operated by the Bush family were crucial players in setting up the industrial power behind the Third Reich. These companies poured hundreds of millions of dollars into IG Farben and provided it with technology for tactically-essential synthetic materials-***while withholding the same materials and patents from the US government.***
The Rockefeller family, long aligned with the Bushes, owned Standard Oil. Through a stock transfer they became half owners of Germany's IG Farben with Farben likewise owning almost half of Standard Oil. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, IG Farben built and operated more than 40 concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Europe, including Auschwitz.
At their slave labor/factory/death camps chemicals, weapons, drugs, synthetic fuels and other materials vital to the Nazi war effort were manufactured. In addition, eugenicists like Dr. Josef Mengele used the human subjects in the camps for experiments the data from which are today the basis for many drugs marketed by the pharmaceutical industry-not too surprising in light of the fact that more Americans die from prescription drugs than from any other single cause.
At the end of WWII the allies split up IG Farben into companies that are now the top pharmaceutical concerns on earth among them Bayer, Hoescht, BASF, the Agfa-Gevaert Group and Cassella AG. Many of Wall Streets favorite pharmaceutical/chemical companies behind the proliferation of genetically-altered foods, transgenic animals, human cloning, dangerous psychiatric drugs, deadly vaccines and pesticides-such as Aventis-are subsidiaries of these same companies.
War provides the necessary medium in which this witches brew of oil, eugenics, pharmaceuticals, munitions and Wall Street investing can reach maximum growth. Likewise, war is also the essential frame of reference for the newly formed GW Bush administration.
The high-profile minorities who are working as Bush advisors have been hand-picked, funded and carefully cultivated by right wing think tanks and conservative foundations with a white supremacist philosophy in order to provide cover for their anti-poor, anti-minority eugenics agenda.
For those who scoff at the validity of comparing the Bush administration to the Nazis and IG Farben please note the following. I'm not suggesting that GW Bush is a literal Nazi nor am I implying that everyone who is an oil or pharmaceutical company executive automatically deserves to be linked to IG Farben. That the Bush wealth and prominence in American politics is derived from Prescott Bush and George Herbert Walker's support of Hitler is a historical fact. If the connection ended in 1945 with the destruction of Nazi Germany that might have been the end of it-it didn't end there however.
Not only has the eugenics agenda continued but many of the top Nazis who were advancing it during WWII were brought to the US after the war and installed in academia, the media, government research institutions and the CIA-by the same American officials who worked with the Bush family to build up Nazi Germany in the first place. Their ideas formed the basis for much of the agenda promoted by this nation's most influential right-wing think tanks-the same think tanks that are the sponsors of GW Bush and virtually every one of his appointees.
Why is it significant that many of Bush's staff and cabinet appointees are former pharmaceutical company executives as was GW's father, former President George Bush? These corporations are voraciously patenting the earth's life forms-its plants, bacteria, viruses, animals and even human genetic lineages. Reproduction of plants, animals and humans may eventually be totally controlled by these corporations, genetically-altered, recombined into chimeric life forms and exploited for profit.
The Human Genome Project, as it admits on the very first page of its website - http://vector.cshl.org/eugenics.html - , is derived from the eugenics movement in the US and Nazi Germany during the first half of the 20th century. The Eugenics Records Office at Cold Springs Harbor NY-where American eugenics started-was built by the Harriman family-the Bushes' Wall Street business partners in funding Hitler. This is the new frontier of colonialism in the 21st century-the total domination and exploitation of the earth and everything on it-the New World Order both former President Bush and Adolf Hitler so frequently called for.
While my writings focus on the Republican aspect of this agenda there is no question that many Democrats are participants and that none of these things could be accomplished without the full "bipartisan support" we hear about each and every day.
Some of the men and women who do the thinking for GW Bush:
- Vice President, Dick Cheney, arguably the real President-elect, was one of papa Bush's top advisors. His company, Haliburton, is one of the nation's largest recipients of government contracts, supplying military equipment, oil services and infrastructure. Cheney epitomizes corporate-welfare and like most of Bush's appointees is a multi-millionaire who will receive huge financial benefits from the administrations' policies and any wars it manages to get the US into.
- Secretary of Labor Linda Chavez (NOTE: she was forced a couple days ago to withdraw her nomination) -who is outspokenly anti-union-was a research fellow at the CIA's Manhattan Institute during 1993 and 1994 and has received almost $200,000 in grants from the John M. Olin Foundation, a notorious right-wing fund derived from a family business in munitions and chemicals with roots in white supremacy. Despite her Hispanic surname she is an outspoken advocate for the English First Movement. Chavez is president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, based in Washington, D.C. an organization dedicated to eliminating affirmative action. On their website Chavez quotes Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve, a classic of modern racial eugenics which has become the "bible" for the anti-welfare anti-affirmative action movement.
- Secretary of Health and Human Services, Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, is known for his controversial welfare reforms-based in large part on two books by Charles Murray, Losing Ground and The Bell Curve. Murray was a consultant for the Wisconsin welfare reform program. Thompson's protege, Jason Turner, was later brought to NYC where he has run Mayor Giuliani's characteristically brutal welfare elimination program. Turner became notorious for quoting the motto on the gates over Auschwitz- "Arbeit Macht Frei-work shall make you free". He is frequently a guest with Charles Murray in panel discussions at the CIA's Manhattan Institute and other Bush-connected think tanks. Murray wrote the Bell Curve while a fellow at the Manhattan Institute where his pseudo-scientific research on the genetic inferiority of African Americans was primarily financed by the Pioneer Fund. Since 1937 the Pioneer Fund has promoted eugenics and the ideology of white racial superiority.
- Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, who served as Vice President Dan Quale's chief of staff, spent years trying to abolish the very agency he will now head. His legislative positions include being against higher fuel efficiency standards for cars, being against government regulations for industry and support for opening up national parklands to oil drilling. He is a recipient of oil company contributions totaling more than $221,000 according to the NY Times. The American Petroleum Institute has said it looks forward to working with Abraham. Abraham helped found the conservative law group the Federalist Society which specializes in eliminating social programs, affirmative action, welfare and bilingual education. The society is funded by the John M. Olin Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, and the Lilly Endowment-America's leading far right think tanks. Among its most prominent members are Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Thomas whose questionable election ruling gave Bush his illegitimate Presidency. Spokespersons for the Federalist Society include Bell Curve author Charles Murray, Manhattan Institute fellow Abigail Thernstrom, and Dinesh d'Souza of the American Enterprise Institute.
- Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, the latest African American Bush appointee, is a conservative public schools administrator in Texas and decades-long crony of the Bush family who supports vouchers, tying teacher pay directly to test scores and school privatization-all of which will negatively impact African American students by destroying public education.
- Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense under President Ford. Rumsfeld like Powell, Cheney, Rice and numerous other Bush administration officials is a salesman for the Star Wars Missile Defense Shield. He served four terms in the US Congress where he voted against Medicare, anti-poverty programs like Headstart, food stamps and various healthcare proposals. Rumsfeld, who formerly headed Searle Pharmaceuticals, is part of the drug company axis within the Bush administration. Former President Bush was director of Eli Lilly, OMB head Mitchell E. Daniels was also senior executive of Eli Lilly and AG John Ashcroft is known as a lobbyist for pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Gail R. Wilensky-one of numerous John M. Olin grant recipients attached to Bush-is the principal author of GW's Medicare plan. Wilensky serves on the boards of eight health care companies in which she owns more than $12 million in stock.
- Secretary of State, Colin Powell is a lifelong operative of the CIA/military-industrial complex. While working for the Pentagon he earned his present stature by helping cover up the Mai Lai massacre, the contra/arms-cocaine deal and Gulf War Syndrome. Powell's reputation as a hero derives from presiding over a war in which US troops were used as guinea pigs for drug companies' experimental vaccines so that they could "safely" fight George Bush's friend Sadamn Hussein-who had been supplied with chemical and biological weapons by the Bush administration. Unlike most of GW's appointees of color, Powell proudly admits he owes his career to affirmative action yet willingly joins an administration that considers ending affirmative action a top priority.
- Secretary of the Treasury, Paul H. O'Neill is the chairman of Alcoa Aluminum, one of the world's worst polluters and a leading corporate supporter of Nazi Germany and eugenics. O'Neill owns 1.6 million shares of Alcoa, worth more than $50 million. During WWII Alcoa negotiated a deal with the Nazis and IG Farben to supply Germany's war machine rather than the US military with aluminum. "If America loses this war," said then Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes on June 26, 1941, "it can thank the Aluminum Corporation of America [ALCOA]." Alcoa produces hundreds of millions of tons of fluoride. This highly toxic waste byproduct of aluminum has been linked in thousands of medical studies to cancer and other degenerative diseases. In the 1950's Alcoa arranged to have it added to our nation's drinking water rather than disposed of as toxic waste. During WWII in IG Farben's slave labor camps Nazis scientists discovered that by adding fluoride to the drinking water they could make prisoners more submissive to authority. O'Neill is a fellow at the RAND Corporation and American Enterprise Institute, two more extreme right-wing think tanks.
- Attorney General John Ashcroft (NOTE: His nomination is strongly opposed - see the Confirmation Hearings process at http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/Bush_Administration/ ) is a self-styled moral crusader as strongly anti-abortion as he is enthusiastic about the death penalty. Last year, Ashcroft received an honorary degree from Bob Jones University. He is closely aligned with the Christian Coalition, Pat Robertson and Southern heritage groups which admire the Confederacy and defend the institution of slavery as practiced in the South. He is known among lobbyists as an advocate for drug companies and the automotive industry and for preventing consumers from suing HMO's. The furor over Ashcroft's anti-abortion views is being played out exactly as planned by Team Bush. Not only will the Bush administration never make abortions illegal, if anything the eugenics agenda that underlies the Bush family history guarantees that abortion, sterilization and other technologies intended to limit population-including war, chemical exposure, pesticide use in urban areas, genetically-altered foods and vaccines-will proceed at an unprecedented level. The Bush gang are delighted to see Democrats, women's rights advocates and the left focusing on Ashcroft while virtually ignoring the other Bush appointees.
- Secretary of Commerce Donald L. Evans is an insider in the Texas "oil mafia" and is GW's closest friend and confidant. He's also friend, confidant and contributor to one of America's biggest recipients of government contacts, Halliburton's Dick Cheney.
- Office of Management and Budget Director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., was senior executive of the Eli Lilly drug company and was previously the president of the arch-conservative Hudson Institute. Daniels, who advocates strict enforcement of laws against casual drug users, was busted for drugs in 1970.
Bush and Eugenics links http://www.padrak.com/alt/BUSHBOOK_INDEX.html http://www.geocities.com/alanjpakula/triplecrown.html http://www.shorejournal.com/elkhorn/ http://www.bartcop.com/nazigop.htm
Past articles by Robert Lederman about West Nile Virus, Bush, Giuliani, Manhattan Institute and Eugenics can be found at: http://Baltech.org/lederman/spray/
Please forward and post widely-Thanks! And don't forget-IMPEACH GW BUSH!
1/19/01
2:56:11 PM
From: http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/may99herman.htm
The Godfather's New World Order
By Edward S. Herman
Perhaps we should take heart in the rationality of the process whereby power affects global moral judgments and policies, even if this results in the institutionalization of truly laughable double standards. Examples abound. The Godfather can get away with supporting tyrants of the most monstrous sort for decades (e.g., the Duvaliers of Haiti, Mobutu of Zaire, Gen. Alfred Stroessner of Paraguay, and Indonesia's Gen. Suharto) while proclaiming a devotion to democracy. He can destroy or support the destruction of entire regions of the world (e.g., Indochina, southern Africa) in order to "save" them. He can run the banners of international law and the UN up his flagpole (e.g., in Iraq, in Somalia, and in Bosnia in this decade), and he can pull the same banners down again when they cease to be useful and the "national interest" is at stake (e.g., in rejecting the World Court's 1986 condemnation of his acts of aggression against Nicaragua, the General Assembly vote castigating his invasion of Panama, last year's cruise missile strikes against the Sudan and Afghanistan, and this year's bombings of Iraq and Yugoslavia).
The Godfather can even pick and choose his bombing targets, all the while relying on the support of the "international community," one of the many angels in the Godfather's pantheon and one that in the end always seems to get in line just long enough to affirm the justness of his actions as self-appointed global judge and enforcer.
The bombables are those who cross the Godfather and his friends (Iraqis, Lebanese), who interfere with their plans to dominate (Serbs; earlier, Vietnamese), or who may be guilty of aiding the established villains (Afghans, Sudanese). Those engaging in similar or worse behavior, but allies or clients of the Godfather and serving his interests, are exempt from bombing and are even given aid and protection (Israelis, Turks, Colombians). It is possible to move quickly from one class to another, as Saddam Hussein did on August 2, 1990-previously given aid and diplomatic protection by the U.S. and its British toady, thereafter "another Hitler" and bombable.
Acceptable & Unacceptable Impunity
For those designated villains, like Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (KR), war crimes tribunals are "the only way to reconciliation," as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright explained to Thai officials in Bangkok on March 5. Otherwise, the reasoning goes, the Cambodian people will be unable to summon up the courage to face the future and bury the past. Power having spoken, the "international community" agrees, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also gets on board, urging that the KR leaders be brought before an international tribunal because "impunity is unacceptable in the face of either genocide or crimes against humanity." Nor is there likely to be any impunity either for Slobodan Milosevic, the current Bad Fellow Number One on the international community's short list of designated criminals. With the Western media focusing intently on the details of his army's ethnic cleansing, and with a Finnish forensic group reportedly declaring the Serb killings at Racak a "crime against humanity," and recommending that the atrocity be referred to the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, it would clearly be unacceptable for this latest "Hitler" to escape accountability.
But it turns out that "impunity" is acceptable for the allies, clients, and friends of the Godfather as well as the Godfather himself. The Godfather having supported Suharto for 33 years, and declaring him "our kind of guy" in 1995, his triple genocide (Indonesia, 1965-1969, East Timor, West Papua) does not cause the international community, Kofi Annan, or Western media and moralists to call for forensic investigations of his killing fields, much less a trial for crimes against humanity. Even with the extensive publicity given Suharto during his downfall in the spring of 1998, nowhere in the mainstream U.S. media was it suggested that he was a war criminal deserving the same treatment as Pol Pot. Madeleine Albright even discussed the need for a war crimes trial of the KR leaders in Jakarta on March 4 without anybody in the western media raising an eyebrow about double standards. Suharto is a "good genocidist" who killed unworthy victims (i.e., he served western interests), and western reporters and editorialists internalize his special impunity status.
Similarly, prior to last October's surprise request by the Spanish Magistrate Balthasar Garzon for Great Britain's arrest and extradition of Chilean Senator for Life Augusto Pinochet, his impunity and continuing anti-democratic power in Chile had hardly aroused the international community. On the contrary, Chile had been treated as a success story. The wee bit of class cleansing that occurred there had a happy ending, with a constrained neoliberal democracy, a battered working class reduced to a political non-factor, and the Chilean economy a model of free market "reform." The Spanish extradition request took the West by surprise, and while some media commentators now say that Pinochet deserves extradition and trial, none of them had previously declared him a war criminal and urged that he be cuffed, packaged, and shipped to The Hague. Like Suharto, he was a good geno- cidist, his impunity unchallenged.
With the KR leaders, national reconciliation requires "accountability for the past" and therefore the convening of an internationally sponsored war crimes tribunal. In the case of good genocidists, however, it is amusing to see how frequently reconciliation and accountability allegedly clash, ruling out
Official apologies for gross misdeeds play a varied role in the Godfather's world. They can serve as a means of exonerating his associates and himself, and this can be contrasted with the outrageous refusal of enemies to do the same. During the long Israeli-Palestinian conflict the Palestinian leadership frequently refused to apologize for violent acts (some of which they denied being responsible for), whereas in a number of gross cases the Israelis would say they were sorry. This was regularly put forward as demonstrating a higher Israeli moral standard. After Sabra-Shatila, where the Christian Phalange in a refugee camp under Israeli control butchered more than 1,000 Palestinian civilians, an Israeli commission investigated the incident, found several Israeli officers guilty of negligence, subjected them to minor penalties, and expressed regrets at the incident. The high morality of this process greatly impressed the U.S. media, and from their curious perspective it more than offset any negative assessments of Israeli virtue stemming from its role in a massacre of Palestinian civilians vastly greater than any inflicted on Israel by the "terrorists."
Similarly, the Soviet Union's failure to apologize for the September 1993 destruction of the Korean Air Lines Flight 007, which they had mistaken to be an encroaching spy plane, helped reinforce the furious media denunciations of Soviet barbarism and cold-blooded murder. On the other hand, when the Missile Cruiser U.S. Vincennes shot down an Iranian civilian airliner in 1988, killing 290 Iranians, the act was defended here as an understandable if regrettable error, and the U.S. graciously expressed regrets and offered reparations. However, Captain William C. Rogers, III, the officer in charge of the Vincennes when this shoot down occurred, was given a hero's welcome on his return to the ship's port of call in San Diego, and was subsequently awarded the Navy's Legion of Merit medal for "exceptionally meritorious conduct" and "outstanding service" in a ceremony presided over by President George Bush, somewhat weakening the force of the apology. At the time (1990), this award for distinguished service was given near-zero publicity by the mainstream media.
Another function of apologies is to confirm the lesser moral standing of rival states, helping keep them in their place, and demonstrating the appropriateness of the U.S. role as leader. The U.S. media regularly and with relish feature demands on the French, Germans, and Japanese for apologies (and reparations) for past crimes -the French and Germans for their mistreatment of the Jews; the Japanese for their crimes in China and Korea. Reporting these demands and apologies subtly elevates the moral status of the U.S., even if based on a chauvinistic ignoring of our own crimes and failure to mention the postwar U.S. protection and use of Nazi and Japanese war criminals.
The Godfather rarely apologizes for his own numerous and very large crimes. This is because of the self-righteous arrogance of power, reinforced by a deeply rooted racism, recorded in the numerous racist-supremacist statements made by a string of U.S. presidents and secretaries of state. In imperial ideology, the leadership of the imperial power always means well, so that any deaths inflicted on distant peoples are a regrettable side-effect of the leader/ policeperson's benevolent intent. As we suffer casualties in these noble endeavors, the people we are trying to save should be thanking us for our generous service rather than expecting apologies.
So the U.S. has felt no obligation to apologize very often-not for slavery, lynching, segregation, the genocidal treatment of Native Americans, the dropping of two atomic bombs on cities of the defeated Japan, the devastation of Indochina, the underwriting of the National Security States, death squads and disappearances of the years 1950-1990, or the putting into place Mobutu, Marcos, Pinochet, and Suharto, among many other crimes.
Clinton has therefore broken new ground on the apologies front. Suddenly, the president is terribly sorry for his Administration's foot dragging on the Rwandan atrocities in 1994. He is sorry for what the government of his country helped do in Guatemala for almost a half-century. In the Guatemala case, of course, Clinton tells us that the exigencies of the Cold War and anti- communism explained but did not justify our behavior. The media response to Clinton's apology on Guatemala has been generally positive. The prevailing view is that the apology is morally cleansing, and as in the case of Israeli apologies displays our high moral quality. The right wing has been less pleased, some cynically noting how "cheap" it is to apologize, others questioning our making any apologies whatsoever, given the evil of communism and the desirable long run effects of its defeat. Clinton, of course, did not explain why we supported the murderous Guatemalan tyrant Jorge Ubico (1931-1944) long before the Cold War. None of the media analysts suggest that maybe the Cold War was a cover for policies desired on other grounds- like protecting United Fruit's investments and meeting the general corporate objective of assuring a favorable climate of investment.
Not a single mainstream media commentator has suggested that Clinton is doing today exactly what he is apologizing for our having done in the past, and that some apology-minded leader a decade or two down the line may well be apologizing for Clinton's "sanctions murder" of over a million Iraqis, his support of very serious state and paramilitary terror in Colombia, and his major role in the dismantlement and destruction of Yugoslavia. Z
Edward S. Herman is professor of finance at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous books and articles, and has been a contributor to Z since 1988.
1/19/01
2:54:52 PM
RED CHINA and THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Hi, Jean
Your recent compilation again mentions the dreadful corruption evidenced by the recent 5-week dog-and-pony show in Florida.
-That- picture of how the world is being run is so awfully small, we really need to come beyond it as soon as possible.
It's been rumored for years and years that all presidential elections were 'fixed' from the outset, and that "vote fraud" is a major part of how the outcomes were produced. The most important element of the 'fix', of course, is the "two-party system" itself, which allows the possibility -both- candidates will be in service to a same agenda that is never revealed to the people's awareness.
In other words, Florida didn't represent "anything new" -- which means, we were -allowed- to see the process on this occasion, for shadowed reasons we don't yet understand, but, to be sure, those reasons are being served by our continuing to remark on "how terrible it all is!" and the idea, "-Now- we must do something about it!"
One writer in your compilation mentioned that "democracy" is broken. Technically he's wrong about that, and doesn't understand what "democracy" is.
In a Republic, sovereignty is vested in -each- natural person. In a Democracy, sovereignty is vested in -the lump of all- natural persons.
This means that in a Republic, the government is -under- the sovereign people; whereas in a Democracy, each person -owes- his/her participation in, and compliance to, the System. In a Democracy, nothing can be done until the "will of the Lump" is determined, by voting in which everyone participates -- and then, the "will of the lump" is imposed without exception upon all persons who comprise the lump.
There is no provision in Democracy for "rights of minorities"; rather, it's "we'll all be doing what the majority wants" and whatever they happen to feel is preferable on any given day.
Socrates was sentenced to death, -by- a Democracy, in which at least 51% of the persons found it intolerable that Socrates should continue to live -- without regard to the remaining 49% and whatever they may have wanted.
HOWEVER -- It's mistaken to believe that the dog-and-pony show in Florida revealed anything, one way or the other, about the current status of either "our democracy" or "our republic" -- because it was -not- an example of either form of government in action, but "an incredible simulation" provided for our (the world's) attention at this point in the unfoldment of world events.
We need to ask this question:
How -much- do we know a thing to be true?
For example, do we really -know- that "the will of the people" was for Gore to be president? All we do know is that there was some commotion over ballot-counting, ONLY in Florida, offered to us with interpretations by media. Were there no chads or dimples anywhere in California or elsewhere? Could it be our attention was invited to center on Florida solely because it would seem more plausible to us that there could be something amiss there, since Bush's brother is governor there?
AND STILL we don't get it. It isn't about "the process went wrong". It's about "the process was -arrogated- years and years ago, not by Democrats or Republicans, not by Conservatives or Liberals, but by...well, read Sherman Skolnick's recent piece below, to get an enlarged sense of how long this has been going on; then supply your own creative term for what to call the ones who have arrogated the system. :-)
From: American Patriot Friends Network <apfn@apfn.org>
RED CHINA and THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS Part One by Sherman H. Skolnick 1/15/01 skolnick@ameritech.net
CLIP - There is no room left to include this article. To review it please go at: http://www.skolnicksreport.com/rchintape.html
IT UNCOVERS LOTS OF CORRUPTION!
And make sure to visit http://www.skolnicksreport.com
1/19/01
2:28:47 PM
Shun Bush
On Saturday January 20, George W. Bush will be sworn in as President. It's time to move on.
But first we should take a moment to mourn the damage done to our constitutional system. This coming Friday will be memorialized around the nation as "Black Friday." Wear black, or a black armband.
On Saturday, many groups are organizing peaceful democracy rallies across the nation. A great list of local events is available at:
http://www.geocities.com/countercoup/alerts.htm
The most prominent rally will take place in Washington D.C., organized by VoterMarch.org. Here is the VoterMarch.org event info for D.C.:
Thousands of us from all over the country will be meeting at Dupont Circle in Wash. DC at 10:00 am on Saturday, January 20th. We will have a professional stage and sound system set up for our demonstration at Dupont Circle where we will have various nationally acclaimed speakers and entertainers performing. We will then have an organized protest march from Dupont Circle to the western side of the Ellipse which will be our second permitted demonstration site.
Go to http://www.votermarch.org for more info. I've also included a text version of the VoterMarch.org local events below.
There's a lot of work to do. Keep the faith, and stay tuned.
Remember -- you are not alone.
Sincerely,
Wes Boyd MoveOn.org
Phoenix State Capitol, Jan. 20th, 10:00am For info, contact iluvut429@aol.com
Chicago Saturday, January 20, 2001 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. DePaul University Schmidt Academic Center Auditorium Room 154 2345 N. Kenmore Paid parking is available at 2350 N. Clifton
Houston Inauguration Day Protest Saturday January 20th at 11am Federal Courthouse Building 515 Rusk @ Smith across from Tranquility Park, Downtown Houston
Honolulu, HI January 20, 2001. 10am. Counter Inaugural demonstration on Ala Moana Blvd in front of the Federal Building. For more information, or to offer to help, please email dameb001@hawaii.rr.com.
Los Angeles January 20, 2001 Pershing Square Rally at 11:00 am March to Downtown Federal Building at 1:30 pm -For more information, please see http://www.actionla.org/J20/
Oregon Anti-Inaugural Rallies All Oregon rallies are Jan. 20th, at 10:00 AM. For more information, contact rill2@efn.org or see http://www.angelfire.com/zine/gopstopper/greensagainstbush.html
Eugene- Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza Corvallis- Benton County Courthouse Portland- Multnomah Courthouse
Philadelphia Saturday , Januray 20 starting at 10:30 AM. There will be a "Death of Liberty" march and rally starting at the Liberty Bell on Market St., between 5th and 6th Streets. Contact Kathy Black (215-893-3770) or Michael Morrill (610-478-7888) for more information.
Seattle Protest Thousands are expected at Seattle's Inauguration Day Protest. Lots of activities will be taking place throughout the day. See http://www.j20seattle.org to learn more
Hartford, CT Rally January 20, 2001 12:00 to 2:00 Capitol Building, Hartford http://www.iUpTown.com/CTRally/
San Francisco Rally/March 12 PM @ Civic Center Plaza, Grove & Larkin (Civic Center BART station ). Sponsor (with permits, etc.) International Action Center iac@actionsf.org 415-821-6545 Crowd will march to Jefferson Park at 1 PM for speakers, music, etc.
1/19/01
2:25:50 PM
Russians in 20 Cities Protest Nuke Waste Import Plan
MOSCOW, Russia, January 16, 2001 (ENS) - Russian environmental groups organized their first day of actions Monday against a proposal of the Ministry of Atomic Power (Minatom) import nuclear waste on a commercial basis.
Actions took place in 20 cities across western and central Russia, the Ural district and Siberia.
The environmentalists are protesting approval given by the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, for a first reading of three laws that would allow Minatom to store and reprocess foreign spent nuclear fuel in Russia. Current Russian law does not permit the import of nuclear waste.
The laws must now be approved now in second and third readings. Then they will need approval from President Vladimir Putin and the Federation Council. The Duma has scheduled second reading of the waste import bills next Monday, January 22.
Anti-nuclear protest action near the Minatom building in Moscow (Photo courtesy Socio-Ecological Union) On Monday, Yabloko, the only political party which strongly opposed the nuclear waste import in the Duma, called for nationwide resistance to the Minatom plan. In most of Monday's actions, members of the local branches of different political parties from Democrats to Communists joined the protests.
On January 22, environmental activists plan a fax blitz of all political factions in the Duma to demonstrate their opposition to the nuclear waste import bills.
Anti-Nuclear campaign and Press-Service, which both belong to the environmental coalition known as the Socio-Ecological Union, intend to publish action updates on resistance to the waste imports in Moscow every day until January 22.
A new report on the transportion of radioactive materials across Russia will be released next week at the National Press Institute in Moscow. The report, by analysts that the environmental groups refer to as "independent," says nuclear transport is extremely dangerous in Russia with dozens of serious accidents happening every year.
The Socio-Ecological Union and EcoDefense! have been working since 1994 to stop the development and spread of nuclear technology, and replace it with renewable sources of energy and efficiency technologies.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-16-03.html
1/19/01
2:18:02 PM
U. Chicago scientists search for what keeps us together
(U-WIRE) CHICAGO -- "Everything should just fall apart," said University of Chicago physicist Henry Frisch. The forces that hold things together should get weaker and weaker, matter should collapse, and the world should end. But it doesn't. That's bothering Frisch and his colleagues. A lot.
Frisch is one of the many University of Chicago and Fermilab scientists working to fix and expand physics' Standard Model, the current basic theory of the universe.
The model, which generally explains how everything in the universe is made out a few basic building blocks called quarks and leptons, has done a good job of explaining almost everything. However, there are inconsistencies deep within it that have many physicists convinced something is wrong.
The first of these is what is called the hierarchy problem, which deals with the fact that, of the four fundamental forces (electromagnetism, gravity, and the strong and weak nuclear forces), gravity is dramatically weaker -- by 38 orders of magnitude. This inconsistency, said Frisch, when fed into the equations of the Standard Model, makes it seem as if the universe should have fallen apart. Because it hasn't, something may be wrong.
The second problem concerns mass. Many of the basic particles are differentiated solely by mass. There's no obvious reason why that should be or, for that matter, why anything should have mass at all. The answer would help scientists understand a phenomenon called symmetry breaking -- essentially why all the particles aren't identical. The Standard Model is of no help here: mass values, and quite a few others, just have to be plugged in -- they aren't predicted. This sort of inelegance suggests to physicists that something is wrong.
The resolution to these basic problems with our understanding of the universe may begin to come at Fermilab, in Batavia, starting this March 1. That's when, after years of improvements, the accelerator will be turned on again. The accelerator has been modified to have a greater luminosity, a quantity that measures the number of particles in the accelerator's beam. More particles mean more collisions at higher energies, and it is at those higher energies that scientists suspect the answer lies. Its name may be Higgs.
"The fundamental masses of everything we see is controlled by the Higgs," said Chris Hill, a scientist at Fermilab.
The Higgs boson, named after Scottish theorist Peter Higgs, is thought to be the particle carrying a mass-creating field that permeates all of space. As other matter moves through it, Higgs may "pull" at them, causing the phenomenon we know as mass. Its presence, physicists believe, would resolve the mass problem, and begin to explain the problems surrounding gravity.
The trick to seeing it has been increasing the energy. The Higgs boson is so massive that it requires a great deal of energy to generate (Einstein's relativity relates mass to energy).
"You give the vacuum a solid kick of energy," said Hill. If it is enough, Higgs may be created. But it has to be spotted.
Frisch and his colleague Mel Shochet, both of the Chicago physics department, have been working on the Collider Detector Fermilab (CDF) project since its inception 24 years ago. Now leaders of the team, they have been rebuilding the detector to look for Higgs. "The focus of the up-coming five years of running is searching for new phenomenon," said Shochet.
The detector, newly modified by adding a device called the Silicon Vertex Trigger (SVT), a ring of very thin lines of silicon that can track pa rticles given off by collisions very precisely, works in two parts.
The first part, of which the SVT is a section, is a series of layers of ionizable materials. As the high-energy particles from collisions pass through the layers, they leave their tracks, from which qualities like mass and charge may be deduced.
Then comes a section called the calorimeter, made of thick layers of iron or lead and plastic, which absorbs the particles and measures their energy. With all that data, Frisch and Shochet's team can figure out what was created at the heart of the detector.
"When we first started out nobody knew what might be seen at the high energies that might be accessible to us," said Shochet. Now, he said, armed with millions of lines of computer programming to aid in identification, they are ready to hunt for Higgs and other strange phenomenon.
They will watch especially for the very few things that the Standard Model doesn't account for. "We are both blessed and cursed with a theory that explains everything -- almost," said Frisch. The way forward to new physics is in the gaps.
Higgs isn't the only thing lurking out there in the high-energy realm. There are other, even odder theories, including that of superstrings, two-dimensional filaments that, by vibrating in many dimensions, create all matter and forces on their own.
Other theories call for extra dimensions that curl around themselves, among other things. That's not to say that Higgs wouldn't matter if it were found, though. "Looking for it is the most important thing at the moment," said Frisch. "But it isn't the God particle; they're all God's particles."
Or, of course, it could not be there at all. Higgs might just be a creation of human theorists. "We are prone to irrational exuberance sometimes. We have to remember that nature is the ultimate arbiter," said Hill.
Either way, when Fermilab swings back into action in March, armed with a refitted accelerator and Shochet and Frisch's team's detector, it will be ready to start looking. Eventually, we may be able to understand why we don't all fall apart and, for that matter, why we exist at all.
"I'd like to understand something very basic," Frisch said. Whether he will is up in the air. "I tend to believe that nature is complex," Hill said.
http://news.excite.com/news/uw/010112/tech-15
1/19/01
1:58:22 PM
Dr. Michio Kaku is on most Wednesday nights with his radio show Explorations http://www.wbai.org 7 - 8 PM Eastern Time via Real Audio.
Dr. Michio Kaku is: http://www.mkaku.org
1/19/01
1:01:02 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We Cover the Earth For You"
BIOTECH FOODS RULE FAILS TO PROTECT AMERICAN PUBLIC
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - Consumers concerned about the potential health and environmental effects of genetically engineered foods will not find much to like in new federal regulations released this week. The regulations, which provide guidance for the release and marketing of food developed through biotechnology, do not require labeling or premarket testing of engineered foods.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-07.html
NATURAL GAS ESCAPING SALT WELLS BLOWS KANSAS TOWN APART
HUTCHISON, Kansas, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - Natural gas and salt both lie beneath the town of Hutchison, a combination that proved explosive Wednesday and again today.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-03.html
NATURAL GAS ESCAPING SALT WELLS BLOWS KANSAS TOWN APART
HUTCHISON, Kansas, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - Natural gas and salt both lie beneath the town of Hutchison, a combination that proved explosive Wednesday and again today.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-03.html
NEVADA NUCLEAR TEST SITE TO HOST HUGE WIND FARM
WASHINGTON, DC, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - Part of a former nuclear weapons testing site in Nevada is being transformed into the nation's second largest wind power facility.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-02.html
U.S. MOVES TO LIMIT ARSENIC IN DRINKING WATER
WASHINGTON, DC, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved Wednesday to reduce public health risks from arsenic in the nation's drinking water. The agency is establishing a new arsenic standard for drinking water that is five terms more stringent than current regulations.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-06.html
BUSH ENERGY PICK ROCKS AS CALIFORNIA BLACKOUTS ROLL
By Brian Hansen
WASHINGTON, DC, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - President-elect George W. Bush's nominee for Energy Secretary sailed smoothly through his Senate confirmation hearing today, despite the fact that he once advocated abolishing the very department that he is now poised to lead.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-15.html
CANADIAN JUDGE GRANTS WATER BUFFALO REPRIEVE
DUNCAN, British Columbia, Canada, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - A Canadian farming family ordered to get rid of their water buffalo herd for fears of mad cow disease have been granted a reprieve.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-11.html
UK MPs VOTE TO BAN HUNTING WITH DOGS
LONDON, United Kingdom, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - UK members of parliament have voted overwhelmingly to ban hunting with dogs. In the five hour debate prior to last night's free vote, one opposition MP said shooting and fishing could be next.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-10.html
NORWAY UNDER FIRE FOR RESUMING WHALE TRADE
LONDON, United Kingdom, January 18, 2001 (ENS) - Norway says its decision to allow the export of minke whale products is based on the principle of the sustainable use of natural resources.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-12.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JANUARY 18, 2001
Plan Would Reduce Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
Babbitt Bars Gold Mine in California
Greenpeace Activists Arrested In Anti-Norton Protest
Coal Use Will Reach Record Levels in 2001
Northwest Forest Plan Amendments Promote Logging
Magnesium Mining Company Charges with Polluting
PCB Contamination Still a Problem at Fort Wainwright
Police Chiefs Say Refuge Law Enforcement Needs Expanding
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-18-09.html
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
TO ENERGY ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Got the Utility Bill Blues? Workshop to Provide Energy Saving Tips for Businesses
CLEVELAND, OH, Jan. 18 -/E-Wire/-- Ohio businesses are opening their wallets wide this winter to pay for natural gas bills that are nearly triple last year's costs.
/CONTACT: CEC Consultants Inc., Amy Roskilly, 216/749-2992, Fax: 216/398-8403/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/18Jan0104.html
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Cyclopss Adds Safe Water to Healthy Home Product Lineup
SALT LAKE CITY, UT, Jan. 18 -/E-Wire/-- CYCLOPSS Corp. (OTCBB:OZON) Thursday announced a new consumer appliance addition to its ``Healthy Home, Kitchen Companion'' product lineup.
/CONTACT: Cyclopss Corp., Salt Lake City, William Stoddard, 801/972-9090, Fax: 801/972-9092/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/18Jan0103.html
TO SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Nearly Half the Amazon Could Be Lost in the Next 20 Years Pristine Forests May Be Reduced to Less Than 5 Percent
WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 18 -/E-Wire/-- A study by Smithsonian Institution researchers and their colleagues to be published Friday in Science magazine predicts that up to 42 percent of the Amazon forest in Brazil could be lost or heavily damaged by 2020 if current land-use trends continue. In addition, unspoiled forests in the region could be reduced to less than 5 percent.
/CONTACT: Felipe Albertani, EMS, 202-463-6670, felipe@ems.org/
/Web site: http://www.ems.org/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/18Jan0102.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GTS Duratek Announces $8.25 Million Contract
COLUMBIA, MD, Jan. 18 -/E-Wire/-- GTS Duratek, Inc. (Nasdaq:DRTK - news) today announced that it was awarded a $8.25 million contract by NAC International (NAC) to provide decommissioning support for the Yankee Nuclear Power Station (Yankee Rowe) in Rowe, Massachusetts over the next 15 months.
/Contact: GTS Duratek, Inc. Diane R. Brown, 410/312-5100 or Robert F. Shawver, 410/312-5100/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/18Jan0101.html
SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS
1/19/01
12:56:06 PM
World Environment News - January 19th, 2001 from Planet Ark
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
US wind power project to aid California electricity woes - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9555
EPA plan aims to clean up "dead zone" in Mexican Gulf - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9564
US govt, builders urge energy efficiency for new homes - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9561
Green rules must weigh economic impact - EPA nominee - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9571
DOJ says BP to spend $650 mln on pollution control - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9568
FEATURE - Florida beaches product of men, machines, bureaucracy - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9565
UPDATE - Bush to fight "energy crisis," may help California - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9556
Building roads could destroy Amazon, report says - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9558
US EPA nominee says would review Clinton diesel rules - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9549
UPDATE - Bush Interior nominee defends environment record - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9557
BP says govts put fuel revenues over environment - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9569
Polish shopping centre plans put on hold by frogs - POLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9552
Greenpeace defies Norway eviction order for boat - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9553
UPDATE - Greenpeace to leave Norway after dioxin dispute - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9551
UPDATE - Nuclear train moves despite Greenpeace protest - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9550
French court fines shipowner for polluting Channel - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9562
UPDATE - EU says OPEC cut risks price hikes, hitting growth - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9554
EU deceiving public over environment - Euro MP - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9567
FEATURE - China's sinking city highlights water crisis - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9560
Greenpeace demands cleanup of Rio de Janeiro bay - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9563
Brazil oil giant to invest in Rio beaches cleanup - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9559
EU issues hazardous chemicals hit list - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9570
Foul cane toads threaten Australian park - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9566
Enviromentalists seek to ban oil hunt near Great Barrier Reef - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9548
1/19/01
12:54:20 PM
Public Citizen Press Release
Court Ruling on New Meat Inspection Program Is Huge Setback for Meat Safety
Court Rules That Token Government Inspector Legitimizes Meat and Poultry Industry Self-Inspection Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Setting back meat inspection by nearly a century, a federal judge has ruled that slaughterhouses can inspect their own meat products, which likely will result in consumers eating dirtier meat, Public Citizen and the Government Accountability Project said today.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday found that the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) newly revised pilot meat inspection program complies with applicable laws. The self-inspection program, which originally used only company "inspectors" to examine carcasses, was recently revised to require a token government inspector at the end of the slaughter line to observe tens of thousands of carcasses rapidly moving by each day. However, the inspector may not look inside carcasses, where much contamination resides.
"Americans would be horrified to know that their family must depend on only one government meat inspector who must view thousands of carcasses whizzing by," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Energy and Environment Program. "The court's decision makes a mockery of the government 's meat inspection program."
Under the prior inspection system, in place since 1906, beef, pork and poultry was inspected continuously during slaughter and processing by government inspectors who relied on sight, touch and smell to check for animal disease or fecal matter. There were two to four inspectors per plant, and slaughter lines were much slower. The USDA's new USDA's Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Inspection Model Pilot (HIMP) gives the meat industry primary responsibility for ensuring safety and restricts the authority of federal inspectors.
In 1996, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) argued in federal court that the USDA exceeded its authority by introducing HIMP. The district court ruled against AFGE, so the union appealed the decision.
Last year, an appellate court ruled that HIMP was illegal because it used company employees to inspect meat, while the government inspectors merely oversaw company processes. The appellate court sent the case back to the district court for an order consistent with its ruling. After the USDA added the government inspector to its program, the District Court found that placing a single inspector at the end of each slaughter line satisfied the statutory mandate that government inspectors examine every carcass.
"Under the court-accepted modification, inspectors are completely blocked from even glimpsing most fecal contamination on poultry carcasses because inspectors are limited to observing only the back of the birds as they move through the slaughter lines." said Felicia Nestor, director of the Government Accountability Project's Food Safety Program. "Our preliminary analysis shows that fecal contamination, which is a primary source of deadly pathogens, occurs most often inside the bird. Therefore, contamination is invisible to the inspectors, making it impossible for them to determine whether carcasses are adulterated."
1/19/01
12:52:33 PM
Public Citizen Press Release
Irate Airline Passenger Has First Amendment Right to Tell Story on the Web
Airline Lost Bag and Man Lost His Patience; Web Site Name ¯ www.alitaliasucks.com ¯ Isn't Trademark Infringement, Public Citizen Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. ¯ An airline passenger irate about his lost luggage not only has a First Amendment right to set up a Web site critical of the airline, but his Web site's name ¯ www.alitaliasucks.com ¯ does not violate a 1999 anti-cybersquatting law, Public Citizen has told a federal court.
William Porta, who runs a gift delivery business, set up the site in December after Alitalia lost a bag containing clothing for a friend's wedding in India. Porta was to be best man. But he attended one black tie event in the two-day old casual clothes he traveled in, and his hosts had to scramble right before their wedding to find suitable attire, he said in an Oct. 26 letter to the airline outlining his complaint. Further, the airline failed to live up to its initial promises for compensation, he said.
So in December, Porta established "www.alitaliasucks.com," on which he posted a copy of his letter. The airline then sued Porta in U.S. District Court, the Southern District of New York, alleging that he was violating trademark law and the 1999 Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, passed in response to a rash of people snapping up Internet domain names using trademarked names of companies and organizations.
The airline has asked the court to order Porta to dismantle his site and prohibit him from using the Alitalia name in any Internet domain name or registering such a domain name with any search engines. Because of its long interest in defending people's First Amendment rights, Public Citizen has intervened in the case and today filed a memorandum on Porta's behalf.
"The law is quite clear about consumers' speech rights," said Paul Alan Levy of Public Citizen Litigation Group. "Consumer commentary is protected. That means that anyone can take out a full-page ad about the company or post criticism on the Web. In fact, the law specifically protects the information Mr. Porta posted."
Trademark infringements occur when a company's name is used for profit, which clearly doesn't apply in this case, Public Citizen's memo to the court explains. Porta's site carries no advertising, sells no goods and doesn't link to any commercial sites. Indeed, Porta's criticisms would be pointless if he had to omit the name of the company he was criticizing, the memo points out. The action Alitalia is seeking ¯ essentially barring Porta from speaking, printing or broadcasting statements of public concern ¯ can only be justified in extraordinary circumstances, such as a grave threat to the government, Public Citizen argues.
Alitalia's claim that Porta broke the anti-cybersquatting law is also misguided, Levy said. When they wrote the law, congressional lawmakers specifically noted that they did not intend to enable companies to sue people who establish Web sites for the purpose of commenting on companies.
Alitalia's lawsuit also claims that Porta's site could confuse Web surfers seeking Alitalia's site ¯ an allegation that is absurd, Levy said.
"No consumer looks for a company on the Internet by typing in 'www.companysucks.com,' " Levy said. "Any consumer visiting Porta's site would know it wasn't sponsored by the airline."
Porta is also being represented by Nina Morrison and John Cuti of Emery Cuti Brinckerhoff & Abady PC in New York City.
To read Public Citizen's brief in this case, please visit http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/portapiopp.htm.
1/19/01
11:59:39 AM
World Environment News - January 18th, 2001 from Planet Ark
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
Whitman faces questions on EPA post, confirmation likely - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9544
Environmental red tape threatens UK jobs-farm union - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9539
Rapeseed emissions more polluting than diesel - study - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9546
Greenpeace defies Norway eviction order for boat - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9543
UPDATE - Norway to export whale products despite world ban - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9545
Dutch police arrest Greenpeace nuclear protesters - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9542
Nuke fuel shipment to leave France for Japan Friday - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9540
Hungary, Romania seek EU funds to stop toxic spills - HUNGARY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9538
FEATURE - German radioactive spa says 'Hail, Radonia!' - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9541
Rio summer sunbathers find surf, sand and penguins - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9547
1/19/01
11:57:37 AM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We Cover the Earth For You"
CLINTON SEEKS LEGACY IN NEW NATIONAL MONUMENTS
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, January 17, 2001 (ENS) - Six new national monuments were set aside today in the western United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands. President Bill Clinton used his nearly expired executive authority to protect the half dozen natural and historic treasures, and to expand the boundaries of two additional monuments.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-17-07.html
U.S. MOVES TO CLEAR THE AIR OVER NATION'S PARKS
WASHINGTON, DC, January 17, 2001 (ENS) - In an effort to restore pristine views in the nation's national parks and wilderness areas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed amending its regional haze rule to help states determine how to set air pollution limits for a number of older, large utilities and other industrial plants.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-17-06.html
SENATE GIVES CORDIAL RECEPTION TO EPA NOMINEE WHITMAN
By Brian Hansen
WASHINGTON, DC, January 17, 2001 (ENS) - New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman today fended off concerns that she would cave in to corporate polluters and other special interests if she is confirmed as President-elect George W. Bush's nominee to head up the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-17-15.html
AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHERS STUMBLE ON DEADLY GENE
CANBERRA, Australia, January 17, 2001 (ENS) - Australian scientists developing a biological contraceptive to halt mouse and rat plagues have unearthed a deadly new gene with profound implications for biological warfare.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-17-10.html
EU's ENLARGEMENT BEGINS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, January 17, 2001 (ENS) - The European Union's environmental agency is about to get a much broader view of the continent's ecological health as 13 new countries prepare to join.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-17-11.html
BILLBOARDS TARGET BRITISH COLUMBIA GRIZZLY BEAR HUNT
LONDON, United Kingdom, January 17, 2001 (ENS) - With the unveiling of a 40 foot long billboard at the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Grafton Way in London, the Environmental Investigation Agency today launched a campaign that asks UK tourists to play a role in ending the grizzly bear hunt in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-17-01.html
UK FARMERS BEMOAN GREEN RED TAPE
TELFORD, Shropshire, United Kingdom, January 17, 2001 (ENS) - UK farmers say an unprecedented increase in environmental regulation threatens to bring the agricultural industry to its knees. Environmental group Friends of the Earth says farmers should quit whining.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-17-12.html
OVERRUN WITH ELEPHANTS, ZIMBABWE DEMANDS LEGAL IVORY SALES
By Naftali Mungai
HARARE, Zimbabwe, January 17, 2001 (ENS) - The Zimbabwean government has renewed its demand for legal ivory sales following what authorities say is the swelling of its elephant population. After a single permit under international law issued in 1999, further legal sales are prohibited to deter poaching of the endangered species.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-17-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JANUARY 17, 2001
Wildlife Refuges Get New Management Rules
Florida Budget Pledges Millions for Environment
Warm Summers Trigger Collapsing Ice Shelves
More El Niño's/La Niña's May Lead to Rainfall Extremes
Makah Whale Hunt Gets New Environmental Assessment
Agriculture Secretary Reviews Accomplishments
Wetland Sites Receive Educational Grants
New Registry Could Boost Indoor Air Quality
Faux Fur: Compassion in Fashion
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-17-09.html
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Eco-terrorists Nuke Alaska?
YONKERS, NY, Jan. 17 -/E-Wire/-- Real reports of illegal traffic in nuclear materials inspired Countdown in Alaska, a new EnviroCrime novel. In it, agents pursue polluters that have been dumping radioactive waste into the ocean for profit, later to find that the waste came from their own processing plants, where they were manufacturing high grade material for weapons. Fantastic? Not really, according to the authors, Charles and Lidia LoPinto, both with chemical engineering degrees.
/CONTACT: Lidia LoPinto, In California:(310) 746-1540 x8665 - NY/NJ: (201) 308-1000 x1895/
/Web site: http://www.envirocrime.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/17Jan0106.html
TO NATIONAL, FOREIGN AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
IFAW Condemns Renewed Norwegian Whale Blubber Exports
BOSTON, MA, Jan. 17 -/E-Wire/-- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW -- www.ifaw.org) today condemned the Norwegian government's decision to lift the ban on exports of whale products in defiance of international agreements to stop commercial whaling. Most, if not all of the whale blubber will be exported to Japan, the only other nation which continues to engage in commercial whaling. Norway claims its current stock of whale blubber will sell for up to one million dollars.
/CONTACT: A.J. Cady, 508-744-2073, or Christopher Bailey, 508-744-2069, both of IFAW/
/Web site: http://www.StopWhalingNow.com/ /Web site: http://www.ifaw.org/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/17Jan0105.html
TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND STATE EDITORS:
100% Recycled Paper New Standard for EPA Office
PHILADELPHIA, PA, Jan. 17 -/E-Wire/-- The mid-Atlantic regional office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is practicing what it preaches -- recycling. It announced a new policy today that all of the printing and copy paper that it uses will be 100 percent recycled with 100 percent post-consumer fiber and process chlorine-free. Currently, the federal government standard for paper is that it only has 30 percent recycled post-consumer content.
/CONTACT: Rene A. Henry of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region III, 215-814-5560/
/Web site: http://www.epa.gov/region03/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/17Jan0104.html
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Environmental Solutions Worldwide Seeks ISO 9001 Accreditation
Company To Establish Recognized Standards For Operating In Global Marketplace
MARKHAM, Ontario, Jan. 17 -/E-Wire/-- Environmental Solutions Worldwide Inc. (ESW) (OTCBB:ESWW - news), a company that develops, manufactures and markets environmental technologies, today announced it is well into its second month toward becoming accredited through the ISO 9001 certification program. Perry Johnson, Inc. (PJI) has been commissioned to take ESW through the complete process, which will conclude with full compliance by March 28, 2001.
/CONTACT: Madison Wall Worldwide, Inc., Longwood Jill Stephenson, 407/682-2001 jill@insidewallstreet.com
/Web site: http://www.cleanerfuture.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/17Jan0103.html
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Cargill Dow Technology to Make Plastic & Fiber from Corn Wins Top Industry Honors
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Jan. 17 -/E-Wire/-- Cargill Dow LLC's breakthrough technology has recently earned the company two of industry's most coveted science and technology awards. NatureWorksT PLA has been recognized by both Popular Mechanics and Industry Week as one of the most influential developments of the past year.
/CONTACT: Michael O'Brien, michael_o'brien@cdpoly.com, Cargill Dow LLC, Phone: (952) 742-0523 or Steve Halsey, shalsey@gibbs-soell.com or, Jennifer Gray, jgray@gibbs-soell.com, Gibbs & Soell Public Relations, Phone: (847) 519-9150/
/Web site: http://www.industryweek.com, http://www.popularmechanics.com, http://www.cargilldow.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/17Jan0102.html
TO ENERGY TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
ThermoEnergy Announces Clean Energy Technology Patented
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 17 -/E-Wire/-- ThermoEnergy Corporation (OTCBB:TMEN - news) announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has allowed all 27 broad claims for the Company's new clean energy process called ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System, or TIPS. TIPS represents a new approach to the production of electricity that eliminates the emissions of acid gases, atmospheric particulates and Mercury. TIPS changes the combustion process and tweaks the Rankine cycle to enable the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a liquid for sequestration or beneficial reuse. TIPS utilizes a diverse mix of energy resources for power including coal, gas, oil, biomass and ``opportunity resource fuels.'' TIPS provides the potential for a low-cost, stable energy supply since it would allow energy producers to continue to use cheap and plentiful fuel sources, such as coal, and still meet all current or proposed Federal and State clean air regulations.
/CONTACT: ThermoEnergy, Little Rock Dennis C. Cossey, 501/376-647 dcossey@thermoenergy.com or Alex Fassbender, 509/375-0847 afassbender@thermoenergy.com/
/Web site: http://www.thermoenergy.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/17Jan0101.html
SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS
1/19/01
11:51:26 AM
Public Citizen Press Release
The Facts Are In: Electricity Demand in California Was Lower in Four of Past Six Months Than in 1999
Data Casts Doubt on Power Producers' Claims That Demand Has Fueled Higher Prices
WASHINGTON, DC -- Power demand during four of the past six months in California was lower than during the same period in 1999, indicating that California's power producers are misrepresenting the facts about energy demand to justify gouging the state's utilities, Public Citizen has concluded.
Public Citizen analyzed system hourly load data compiled by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). CAISO uses this data to find out how much energy must come from various plants to meet California demand and records the highest amounts of demand by hour within the state of California. The data shows that while demand did soar in May, in four out of the past six months -- July, August, October and December -- California saw a lower peak demand than during the same months in 1999.
"The facts are in, and they prove that power producers have been misrepresenting the energy crisis as caused by increased consumer demand," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "Power producers want Californians to believe that consumers need to pay higher rates to encourage the construction of new power plants to meet the alleged higher demand. Our analysis reveals their ploy to soak consumers."
With no increase in energy demand, a major contributor to the current crisis is that plants servicing California with 11,000 megawatts of capacity have been taken out of service for a variety of reasons, most undisclosed.
Now, power producers are inappropriately citing increased demand to justify building new plants, and they are hoping to speed the process by suspending California's environment-friendly standards and blocking the ability of communities to oppose new plants.
"The fact that demand in California is on par with previous years highlights power producers' attempts to circumvent environmental rules and local input on energy policy," Hauter said.
While power producers acknowledge that many other factors are affecting prices, including demand in the entire western U.S., they have focused on California energy demand when justifying their high prices.
1/17/01
6:05:31 PM
PENTAGON PICKS SBL TEST SITE IN MISSISSIPPI
The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) has just announced the following:
"The environmental assessment (EA) for the Space-Based Laser (SBL) is complete. The final EA analyzes the environmental impacts from construction and operation of an SBL system test facility complex. There was a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) at any of the sites under consideration. (Sites under consideration were Cape Canaveral, Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama and the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.)
The selection of Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, as the site of the SBL performance test facility was made on December 21, 2000. This was just one more step (completed) in a multi-step process that will culminate with an Integrated Flight Experiment (IFX) in the 2012 timeframe.
The current SBL program consists of an 18-month, $127 million award to a joint-venture comprised of Lockheed Martin, TRW, and Boeing. It is focused on maturing the technologies and reducing the technical risks required to build and deploy a space-based demonstration of an SBL concept called the SBL IFX. The estimated value of the SBL IFX program is about $3 billion over the life of the program."
This announcement of Mississippi indicates that the Pentagon has picked the most remote facility, of the three that were considered, for the SBL testing program. Located in a swamp in southwest Mississippi, the Stennis Space Center is one more indication of the power Trent Lott wields as the Senate majority leader.
The SBL program is the real Reagan Star Wars. A constellation of 20-30 SBL satellites would orbit the Earth knocking out other countries "space assets" and their ground stations on Earth. The SBL is one of George W. Bush's preferred technologies.
The Pentagon maintains that the SBL program will cost $3 billion for the test phase and over $30 billion for the total project.
The Global Network will be organizing protests at the Stennis Space Center in coming months.
Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 90083 Gainesville, Fl. 32607 (352) 337-9274 http://www.space4peace.org globalnet@mindspring.com
1/17/01
4:59:58 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
1. HABITAT'S WHERE BABBITT'S AT President Clinton created seven new national monuments this morning, protecting about 1 million more acres of federal land. The new monuments, all recommended by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, include 377,000 acres along the Upper Missouri Breaks in Montana; 204,000 acres of grassland in Central California; and 486,000 acres of the Sonoran Desert; as well as other lands in Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In one blow to environmentalists, Babbitt has chosen not to recommend monument status for nearly 1 million acres in southwestern Oregon. He said the area probably merited the protection, but the idea of a Siskiyou Wild Rivers monument hadn't yet received enough of a public outing. Babbitt asked Clinton instead to approve a two-year moratorium on mining claims on about 700,000 acres of the land. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for President-elect Bush warned that he would review all of Clinton's "eleventh-hour orders" upon taking office this weekend.
straight to the source: Minneapolis Star Tribune, Associated Press, Deb Riechmann, 17 Jan 2001 <http://www2.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=83360568>
straight to the source: Portland Oregonian, Michelle Cole, 15 Jan 2001 <http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/01/01/lc_21b abb15.frame>
read it only in Grist Magazine: Why the Siskiyou lands should have been named a monument -- a week in the life of Kelpie Wilson, Siskiyou Project <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/wilson090500.stm>
2. HABITAT'S WHERE UJJAL DOSANJH'S AT British Columbia tomorrow will announce a new provincial park, helping to complete the largest contiguous body of protected land on the Canada-U.S. border. One of 49 new protected areas that will be introduced by B.C. Premier Ujjal Dosanjh, Snowy Provincial Park will encompass 65,000 acres just north of the Pasayten Wilderness Area and Loomis State Forest in Washington state's Cascade Mountains. Dosanjh's move, which will preserve habitat that is important to moose, bighorn sheep, and lynx, will enable B.C. to meet its decades-long goal of placing 12 percent of the province into protected status.
straight to the source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Joel Connelly, 17 Jan 2001 <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/park172.shtml>
3. EVERGLADES AIRPORT: JUST PLANE WRONG In a big victory for environmentalists, the Clinton administration rejected a proposal yesterday to convert a former U.S. Air Force base near the Florida Everglades into a commercial airport. Enviros argued that an airport at the Homestead base would create significant pollution and threaten the ecosystems of two nearby parks, the Everglades, 10 miles away, and Biscayne National Park, two miles away. After years of study, the administration agreed and suggested that Miami-Dade County officials pursue a more limited development plan. Homestead Air Base Developers, the group proposing to develop the airport, said it would fight the decision in federal court. During the presidential race, Vice President Al Gore refused to come out against the airport plan, causing some enviros in Florida to support Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.
straight to the source: Miami Herald, Curtis Morgan, 17 Jan 2001 <http://www.miamiherald.com/content/today/news/dade/digdocs/084012.htm>
straight to the source: New York Times, Dana Canedy, 17 Jan 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/17/national/17HOME.html>
catch it only in Grist Magazine: Why Republicans support Everglades funding -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha111000.stm>
4. SLIM-BUDGET WHITMAN New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R), President-elect Bush's choice to head the U.S. EPA, was warmly received by both Democrats and Republicans during a Senate hearing on her nomination today. Sen. Bob Torricelli (D-NJ), who introduced Whitman before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called her nomination "a very wise selection." National environmental leaders have been moderately supportive of the nomination, in part because Whitman is more green than the rest of the horrific slate Bush has chosen for his Cabinet. New Jersey enviros, however, have little positive to say about Whitman, who cut the state's environmental protection budget by 30 percent and promoted voluntary compliance with environmental regulations. Jeff Tittel of the New Jersey Sierra Club said, "She'll sound good and do the opposite."
straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, H. Josef Hebert, 17 Jan 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/01/ 17/national1019EST0567.DTL>
straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 16 Jan 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63205-2001Jan15.html>
5. EARTH, WIND, LESS FIRE Germany increased its wind power production by 1,668 megawatts last year, maintaining its big lead as the top wind power powerhouse in the world. Germany now has the capacity to put out 6,113 MW of wind power, compared to about 2,500 MW by the U.S., the world's second largest wind producer. Germany's wind units now cover 2.5 percent of domestic demand for electricity. The European Wind Energy Association hopes that Germany will have a 22,000 MW capacity by 2010. Peter Ahmels of Germany's Federal Wind Energy Association attributes the rapid growth of wind power to last year's Renewable Energy Law, which has stimulated investment in the industry.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Claire-Louise Isted, 16 Jan 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9530>
Feeling bushed -- let's hope campaign finance reform saves the day -- by Donella Meadows <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/citizen/citizen011601.stm>
OIl's not well -- a day in the life of Marta Echavarria, EcoDecision <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/echavarria011601.stm>
To know a whale -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha011601.stm>
To subscribe to DAILY GRIST, click here <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/signup/subgist.asp> or send a blank email message to <daily-grist-subscribe@egroups.com>
1/17/01
4:34:21 PM
Time.com
Ashcroft in the Sights Virtually every liberal interest group opposes Bush's nominee for Attorney General. Get ready for the next battle in America's Forty Years' War over race and culture and politics http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,95234,00.html
Also this week . . .
GENETICS Monkey with a Difference -- An extra gene raises scientists' hopes--and ethical concerns http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,95216,00.html
THE SEXES I Surrender All -- Is a submissive wife the key to a happy marriage? http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,95210,00.html
TELEVISION A new Survivor and a host of imitators hit the airwaves. Will they create a new reality for prime time? http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,95228,00.html
Pop Stars Inside the Britney factory http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,95230,00.html
1/17/01
4:32:40 PM
If you'd like to discover a beautiful site created by Carol Sanders, check out http://www.thedarkqueen.com
Check her Link page too and see an excerpt below from her site http://www.thedarkqueen.com/wisdom.htm
Pearls of Wisdom
"Life is a mirror, it reflects back whatever image we present to it."
"Observation is the key to transformation."
"There is nothing kept from you that you have not kept from yourself."
"The only thing you have no choice about is making choices."
"There are no barriers, no doors that are not open, you need only walk through. So open the door to your heart and you open your world within and without."
"You see that we are all the same in our expansiveness. It is only our perception that changes. It is only our perception that prevents our progression. Change your perception and you know your purpose. Know your purpose and you change your perception."
An Old Chicago saying, "Looking down the street don't make the bus come faster".
Until you make peace with who you are, you will never be content with what you have.
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all it's pupils.
Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it.
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson after.
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.
God gave us memories so that we might have roses in December.
The greatest quality on earth is the willingness to become.
If you were arrested for kindness would they find enough evidence to convict you?
The pearl is the oyster's autobiography.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
A turtle makes progress when it sticks it's neck out.
Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
If the eyes had no tears, the soul would have no rainbow.
We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Find something worth living for instead of something worth dying for.
The only truth in war is that people die
The future isn't what it used to be.
When you become obsessed with the enemy, you become the enemy.
All beings are defined by their capacity and need for love.
Sometimes the act of searching is more important than what you're searching for.
What we hold sacred gives our lives meaning.
We create the future with our words, with our thoughts, with our deeds, and with our beliefs.
If you don't understand the song, then listen to the music.
Whatever you choose to focus on, intensifies.
If you always give...You will always have.
It takes only one person to change your life...you.
Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen. Some people wonder what happened.
Between falling and flying lies hesitation. Leap with confidence, and you will find your wings.
Life only gives us time and space, it is up to us to fill it with joy and meaning.
A friend is one who dances with you in the sunshine and walks with you in the shadows
If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance
The best way to predict your future is to create it
Noone worth posessing can be quite posessed
Your tongue is to speak with when you know what to say and how to say it.
Your teeth are to keep your tongue in your mouth until you figure it out.
Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart
To handle yourself, use your head. To handle others, use your heart.
Anger is only one letter short of danger.
If someone betrays once, it is his fault. If he betrays you twice, it is your fault
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.
He, who loses money, loses much. He, who loses a friend, loses much more. He, who loses faith, loses all.
Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.
Learn from the mistakes of others You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
Friends, you and me...You brought another friend.... and we started our group.... our circle of friends... and like a circle..... there is no beginning or end......
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift.
1/17/01
4:31:13 PM
Doctors Without Borders website http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
When there check the Special Report by Doctors Without Borders
"Angola: Behind the Facade of 'Normalization'. Manipulation, Violence, and Abandoned Populations" posted on 11/09/2000 at http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/reports/angola/11-09-2000.htm
1/17/01
4:30:01 PM
AMENDED WBAI ACTIONS AND EVENTS
Two changes in the WBAI schedule below:
1) The 1/17 press conference has been postponed. New date not known yet.
2) The 1/19 rally in DC has been moved to 1 pm.
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY Stay tuned to WBAI and the hotline, 718/707-7189, for updates.
UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE FIGHT TO SAVE WBAI
EVERY WEDS. 10-11 a.m.: tune into the "Free WBAI" cable TV program, hosted by Bernard White, on Manhattan Neighborhood Network., channel 34, or on the web at: www.mnn.org, for updates on the crisis.
WED, JAN 17th: Noon, Press Conference outside WBAI studios at 120 Wall St.
WED, JAN 17th: 4-6 p.m., demonstration outside WBAI studios at 120 Wall St. just east of Water St. in lower Manhattan
ACTIONS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:
FRI, JAN 19th: Noon rally outside the offices of Epstein, Becker & Green, 1227, 25th St. NW., Washington. Pacifica national board member John Murdock is a partner at Epstein, Becker.
SUN, JAN 21st: 1 pm, Rally at Pacifica National HQ, 2390 Champlain St., N.W., Washington, D.C.
ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP:
Join the Concerned Friends of WBAI: check our hotline for details and meeting times. There are many energetic working groups to plug into.
Voice your outrage during WBAI programs: (212) 209-2900.
Three critical law suits are now pending against Pacifica national. Many believe a court victory is one of our best chances to preserve our progressive voice. You can make a contribution to an umbrella fund: (checks to) Free Pacifica Legal Action/Vanguard Foundation, c/o The Vanguard Public Foundation, 383 Rhode Island Street, Suite 301, San Francisco, CA 94103.
Support the strike against Pacifica Network News by donating to Free Speech Radio News. Hear the cast on-line at www.savepacifca.net/strike
Call or email WBAI's Interim General Manager Utrice Leid at 212 209.2800 x 2820, uleid@escape.com. Ask her to support a democratic process for the station's leadership, and to step down.
Call, fax, or email Bessie Wash, Executive Director of Pacifica, 888 770.4944 x 348 and 349; fax:(202) 884-0860; bmwpacifica@aol.com. Tell her that we will not let Pacifica management censor or silence our community station.
Join our email list to keep up with the latest developments. To subscribe, send an email to: savewbai@hotmail.com. Tell a friend!
Support the fired workers with donations by calling Concerned Friends of WBAI, 800-825-0055.
Stay informed with crucial background on the local and national struggle: www.savepacifica.net, www.radio4all.org.
Bob Lederer Freelance journalist ledererbob@usa.net
1/17/01
4:29:22 PM
THE BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS Bowling Green, Kentucky January 12, 2001
Hemp help is tilled in Illinois
Supporters of the crop say new law may help Kentucky growers
By Mitchell Plumlee
A bill passed by the Illinois General Assembly could help open the door for industrial hemp to be grown in this state, some lawmakers believe.
The Illinois Hemp Act - which would require the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University to study the feasibility and desirability of industrial hemp production - was approved 67-47 Tuesday by the Illinois legislature.
"That will help our cause. That's a shot in the arm." said Rep. Roger Thomas, D-Smiths Grove.
Thomas and Joe Barrows, D-Versailles, introduced hemp legislation House Bill 100 in Kentucky's General Assembly last week.
Unlike the Illinois bill, House Bill 100 stipulates the Council of Postsecondary Education can select any Kentucky university with an agriculture program to research the use of industrial hemp.
The bill also sets up a commission composed of members of the General Assembly, law enforcement community, the president of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Association and industrial hemp retailers to study information and monitor development of industrial hemp production in other states. If passed, the commission is to report its findings to the General Assembly on Dec. 15.
"We currently have folks marketing industrial hemp products in Kentucky," Thomas said. "We're basically doing everything except processing and growing industrial hemp."
North Dakota and Hawaii are already growing hemp for research, Thomas said.
House Bill 100 should be voted on five to 10 days after the General Assembly reconvenes Feb. 6, according to Barrows.
"Any time another state passes legislation that has anything to do with the industrial hemp issue, in a positive way, helps us say, 'Look, we're not out here by ourselves,' " he said. "This is not something wild and crazy. This is getting legitimate debate and consideration in other areas of the country."
Kentucky farmers should have the option to grow industrial hemp, Barrows said.
"At the time people started growing soybeans there was only one or two uses for soybeans," he said. "Once people got in really good research about all the available use for soybeans, they found thousands of uses for soybeans. I don't think we've scratched the surface for the use of hemp fiber and hemp oils.
"No one thing is going to be a magic cure for Kentucky farmers, but given the status of tobacco, this is another option."
Barrows said it is encouraging the Illinois legislation passed with a Republican majority.
"This is important because it shows this is not a liberal or conservative issue," he said. "This is a farm issue and an agriculture issue."
Even if House Bill 100 passes, Kentucky will still have several hurdles to jump before Kentucky farmers will have the option to grow industrial hemp, Thomas said.
"The Drug Enforcement Agency will have to soften (its) stance on it before we can allow our farmers to grow it," he said. (END)
Contact: Mitchell Plumlee E-mail: mplumlee@bgdailynews.com (270) 783-3240
1/17/01
4:28:47 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE <http://www.gristmagazine.com>
1. WAIL TO THE CHIEF Even dour environmentalists found themselves grinning last week when U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck ordered that no more old growth be logged on national forest land. Surprisingly, the policy shift (not to be confused with the Clinton administration's plan to ban road-building on 58.5 million acres of forest land) was also news to the White House, and staffers there weren't exactly smiling upon hearing it. It wasn't so much what Dombeck said that raised flags as who got credit for the shift. Dombeck received above-the-fold coverage in the New York Times, and it seems that the top dog, President Clinton, doesn't like to be upstaged. Read more on the Grist Magazine website.
read it only in Grist Magazine: Forest fire -- in our Muckraker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck011601.stm>
2. OF COURSE IT'S TIRELESS. IT'S A SUB. Greenpeace activists from Spain, Germany, Austria, and Italy boarded a nuclear-powered submarine from Britain today to protest its presence in Gibraltar, a British colony on Spain's southern tip. The activists evaded Spanish police and British troops to reach the submarine, the Tireless, which has been docked in Gibraltar for nine months for repairs after a crack was found in its cooling system. Although officials say there is nothing to worry about, many of the 250,000 people living in the area fret that the sub may be releasing radiation. Elsewhere in Europe, Greenpeace activists are busy trying to prevent a second shipment of spent nuclear fuel from leaving France for Japan. The first shipment is headed around Cape Horn in South America, and Greenpeace, as well as the governments of Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile, worry that the shipping route is too hazardous.
straight to the source: Miami Herald, Associated Press, 16 Jan 2001 <http://www.miamiherald.com/content/today/news/brknews/docs/109437.htm>
straight to the source: BBC News, 16 Jan 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1120000/1120080.stm>
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 15 Jan 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9521>
3. L.A. LIKERS For the second year in a row, no first-stage ozone pollution alerts were reported in the greater Los Angles area last year. Many of the 16 million people who live in the four-county area are now breathing air that meets all of the U.S. EPA health standards. Unhealthful days have dropped 75 percent over the last 15 years, despite surges in the number of people and cars in the region. The improvements came about because tough air quality regulations led to the development of cleaner cars, consumer products, power plants, and factories. But even the newest gee-whiz technology may have a hard time keeping up with future population growth -- 6.7 million more people are expected to settle in the L.A. area over the next two decades.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Gary Polakovic, 14 Jan 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010114/t000003964.html>
4. DRILL TEAM President-elect Bush says he plans to review and possibly roll back President Clinton's regulation to ban road-building and logging on 58.5 million acres of national forest land. Bush, in a New York Times interview, said, "What I would seek to do is to make sure that our bureaucracies were not trampling the interest of the people -- and the president himself would work with local stakeholders before takings." Bush said that he will push to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and repeated his support for his nominee for Interior secretary, Gale Norton: "People shouldn't be shocked that I'm picking someone who agrees with me."
straight to the source: New York Times, David E. Sanger and Frank Bruni, 14 Jan 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/14/politics/14BTEX.html>
straight to the source: interview excerpts <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/14/politics/14BTEX.html>
5. TIME TO GET THE LEAD OUT Governments and the press have paid a lot of attention this year to the question of whether depleted uranium weapons used by NATO in the Balkans may be causing illnesses -- but the region is facing other environmental problems whose deadly consequences are more clear, even if less publicized. The situation is especially dire in Kosovo, where lead levels in the air and water are sometimes 200 times higher than international standards; untreated sewage spills into the streets; toxic metals leak from decaying factories; and raw waste flows into rivers, leaving them dead for stretches. Fourteen-year-old Nexhat Gashi hasn't heard of the depleted uranium scare, but wonders, "The whole environment of Kosovo is sick. Why isn't anyone trying to fix that first?"
straight to the source: MSNBC, Associated Press, Brian Murphy, 15 Jan 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/516646.asp>
On the road again -- a day in the life of Corinna Riginos, Fulbright scholar <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/riginos011201.stm>
Easement does it -- Maine woods emerge as ground zero for a grand land conservation experiment -- in our Main Dish section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/curtis010801.stm>
The sea lion king -- sea lions escape with protections for now -- by Donella Meadows <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/citizen/citizen010401.stm>
1/17/01
4:28:15 PM
The Nation
If the secret of politics is to "follow the money," then the House Appropriations Committee must surely be the place to begin any battle with the Bush Administration. Arguably the most powerful of all Congressional committees, the appropriations panel has historically defined how and where money is spent.
With a new president whose claim on the office is tenuous, and with a Congress that is almost equally divided, the battles on the Appropriations Committee promise to be pitched and passionate. And U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist who is the only independent member of the House, wants to be where the action is.
Read the latest installment of John Nichols' Online Beat for the full story, including an interview with Sanders. Available exclusively at: http://www.thenation.com/thebeat
And, keep in touch with the many protest events, marches, rallies and vigils planned in Washington, DC and other cities and towns around the US with The Nation's Counter-Inauguration Calendar only at: http://www.thenation.com/special/counterinauguration.mhtml
There's also lots of other new and recent material from the pages of The Nation looking at the quickly-assembling Bush Administration currently available at http://www.thenation.com
Finally, please use our ActNow feature to blast off an informed letter of protest against Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft's confirmation to the Senate Judiciary Committee at: http://www.thenation.com/alert/actnow/
1/17/01
4:27:46 PM
FAIR-L Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Media analysis, critiques and news reports
Dear FAIR supporters,
We've just learned that journalist Alexander Cockburn will be able to join us for our January 18 Housing Works event; FAIR's Peter Hart will also be speaking details below. If you're in the New York City area, we hope you can attend.
FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) presents
"HAIL TO THE CHIEF: The Media Crowns Its King,"
a talk by
Alexander Cockburn, Editor of CounterPunch & Peter Hart, FAIR Media Analyst and Co-host of CounterSpin.
Thursday, January 18, 6:30 PM, Housing Works Used Book Café, 126 Crosby St ( between Prince and Houston ), New York. Free and Open to the Public
According to many polls, more than 30 percent of the public does not believe that George W. Bush legitimately won the presidency. Nevertheless, big media are rolling out the red carpet to "heal" the nation and welcome Bush to the White House. Join FAIR for some frank discussion of the press's love affair with the presidency, plus a sneak preview of some of the plans afoot for alternative inaugural ceremonies in Washington.
Journalist and commentator Alexander Cockburn co-edits the muckraking newsletter CounterPunch with Jeffrey St. Clair; he also writes a column for The Nation magazine. Peter Hart is FAIR's Activism Coordinator and co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show, CounterSpin.
For more on FAIR's election coverage, see: http://www.fair.org/issues-news/election.html http://www.fair.org/issues-news/wbush.html
Check out CounterPunch at: http://www.counterpunch.org
Feel free to respond to FAIR ( fair@fair.org ). We can't reply to everything, but we will look at each message. We especially appreciate documented example of media bias or censorship. And please send copies of your email correspondence with media outlets, including any responses, to us at: fair@fair.org
FAIR ON THE AIR: FAIR's founder Jeff Cohen is a regular panelist on the Fox News Channel's "Fox News Watch," which airs which airs Saturdays at 7 pm and Sundays at 11 am (Eastern Standard Time). Check your local listings.
FAIR produces CounterSpin, a weekly radio show heard on over 120 stations in the U.S. and Canada. To find the CounterSpin station nearest you, visit http://www.fair.org/counterspin/stations.html .
Please support FAIR by subscribing to our bimonthly magazine, Extra! For more information, go to: http://www.fair.org/extra/subscribe.html . Or call 1-800-847-3993.
You can subscribe to FAIR-L at our web site: http://www.fair.org , or by sending a "subscribe FAIR-L enter your full name" command to LISTSERV@AMERICAN.EDU . Our subscriber list is kept confidential.
FAIR (212) 633-6700 http://www.fair.org/ E-mail: fair@fair.org
1/17/01
4:27:05 PM
FREE FAX FOR LEONARD PELTIER
Time is running out, if you've sent a fax already, do it again.
Free fax for Leonard Peltier
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/usa/peltier/getInvolved.html
1/17/01
4:26:38 PM
FREE FAX FOR LEONARD PELTIER
Time is running out, if you've sent a fax already, do it again.
Free fax for Leonard Peltier
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/usa/peltier/getInvolved.html
1/17/01
4:25:25 PM
Sarasota Green Party
Hi everyone,
First things first, our next meeting is tomorrow, wednesday, Jan 17th, at 7:00pm, at Pam and Wayne's house, 629 Payne parkway directly behind Sarasota Ford at the corner of 301 and 41, just north of Sarasota high school. The agenda will be the adoption of a set of bylaws for us, again :) This time we plan to finish the job. If you have any input you would like considered, please email or come to the meeting.
And now some notes that have come in to me:
Anyone going to tallahasee for a demonstration on inauguration day call Suzanne @ 755-8711. There will be buses going up there from Sarasota and Bradenton, I'll post details after the next meeting.
If you are going to DC for demonstrations at the inaugural ceremony, Tim at the Bradenton Herald would like to talk to you: 748-0411 x2620.
an online petition to stop the Ichetucknee Cement Kiln: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?sick&1
And a note from Linda in Gainesville: Also, coming up on Wed. Jan. 24th I will be driving up to Tallahassee to watch the trial in which our state attorney Bob Butterworth is suing Anderson/Columbia for improper land use in the Ichetucknee case. I probably should leave the night before to be there in the morning. In any case, I am looking for other persons to come along also.We need to show our support for Bob Butterworth to take this unprecedented stand against his own boss, Jeb Bush!!
Love and Peace
Linda 352-495-8031
1/17/01
4:24:15 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We Cover the Earth For You"
COMMERCIAL AIRPORT NEAR EVERGLADES WILL NOT FLY
WASHINGTON, DC, January 16, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. Air Force has rejected a proposed commercial airport on the former Homestead Air Force Base located 30 miles south of Miami and less than 10 miles from Biscayne and Everglades National Parks.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-16-04.html
KOSOVO MUNITIONS CONTAIN RECYCLED URANIUM
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 16, 2001 (ENS) Scientists studying ammunition fired by NATO at Serb troops in Kosovo during the Balkans conflict have confirmed that some of it contains recycled uranium.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-16-11.html
TO BAN OR NOT TO BAN? MPs VOTE ON UK FOX HUNT
LONDON, United Kingdom, January 15, 2001 (ENS) - UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has been reminded of a promise he made to a school girl three years ago, when he said he would vote to ban hunting. Tomorrow, he gets his chance.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-16-10.html
MALAYSIA BUYS SOLAR SYSTEM FOR MULU NATIONAL PARK
PERTH, Western Australia, January 16, 2001 (ENS) - Western Australia's sustainable energy industry has won a A$500,000 contract to deliver a stand alone hybrid solar energy power system in Malaysia.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-16-01.html
RUSSIANS IN 20 CITIES PROTEST NUKE WASTE IMPORT PLAN
MOSCOW, Russia, January 16, 2001 (ENS) - Russian environmental groups organized their first day of actions Monday against a proposal of the Ministry of Atomic Power (Minatom) import nuclear waste on commercial basis.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-16-03.html
TURKISH COURT BANS CYANIDE GOLD PROCESS NEAR ANCIENT TOWN
By Jon Gorvett
ISTANBUL, Turkey, January 16, 2001 (ENS) - Despite an order from the country's Supreme Court backing up environmentalists, the pressure is mounting this week for the reopening of a controversial mine in one of Turkey's most visited tourist areas.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-16-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JANUARY 16, 2001
EPA to Regulate Air Pollution From Ocean Ships
Pregnant Women Warned About Mercury in Fish
$30 Million Invested in Energy Efficient Research
Sea Ducks Gain Critical Habitat Designations
Truck Partnership Releases Clean Vehicle Roadmap
Babbitt Family Protects 34,480 Acres of Ranchland
U.S. Geological Survey Takes Over Landsat 7
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Finds Safe Harbor in Georgia
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-16-09.html
SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Helping the Environment Through Email:
AndEarth.com raises money to help preserve more than twenty rare and endangered species on the San Bruno Mountain with an innovative email service.
BRISBANE, CA, Jan. 16 -/E-Wire/-- If you have never seen it, the San Bruno Mountain is one of the Bay Area's hidden treasures. The wild grass and scrub on the mountain provide a habitat to more than twenty rare and endangered species, and it survives as one of the last wild areas on the north peninsula. Subscribers to AndEarth.com helped to preserve this rare unspoiled area by receiving the free AndEarthToday email newsletter. Each email arrived with pictures from the mountain ranging from wildflowers to the elusive grey fox which prowls the mountain. Every email comes with a 'support button' button, which helps to generate advertising dollars to fund necessary conservation work for the native plants which provide a habitat for the endangered species on the mountain. AndEarth.com donates more than 80% of its revenues to completing this type of environmental project. The initiative continues as the [VGC1] company is currently working with Save Our Shores to arrange a full year of cleanups along the California coast throughout the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
/CONTACT: Richard Gill, AndEarth.com, 650-473-0443, richgill@andearth.com or David Schooley, San Bruno Mountain Watch, 510-843-3661/
/Web site: http://www.andearth.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0111.html
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Problems and Opportunities in the ESA Market Continued Topic for Workshop Series
SOUTHPORT, Conn., Jan. 16 -/E-Wire/-- "The ESA Market: Problems and Opportunities" will remain the topic for EDR's continuing seventh annual "Due Diligence at Dawn" workshop series. The program will resume this February in 12 major U.S. cities from February 6 to May 18. Over 750 attendees participated in the fall series. One participant described the workshop as a "very comprehensive and practical discussion of today's Phase I and business risk issues."
/CONTACT: Brett Donahue of EDR Public Relations, 800-352-0050, bdonahue@edrnet.com/
/Web site: http://www.edrnet.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0110.html
TO NATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
FNAWS Expects to Raise Millions for Wildlife
CODY, Wyo., Jan. 16 -/E-Wire/-- The Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS) celebrates "Young Sheep and Young Hunters, Our Future and Theirs" at their 24th Annual Convention which is expected to raise millions of dollars for wildlife. Plan to be at the Reno Hilton, Reno, Nevada February 14-17, 2001 to meet with outfitters from around the world or shop for the finest wildlife art and merchandise. Bid on a variety of hunts, including twenty-seven special North American big game permits, international and exotic hunting opportunities, custom-made firearms and original wildlife artwork at the live auctions, February 16 and 17. Bring the kids too! A special area just for them will feature a Daisy Air-Gun Range, interactive shooting and fishing, a sensory safari and fun hands-on educational projects and wildlife information. You may be eligible for a free chance to win a Bighorn sheep hunt just for attending.
/CONTACT: Paula Karres of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, 307-527-6261/
/Web site: http://www.fnaws.org/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0109.html
TO BUSINESS & ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Dole Food Co. Inc. Announces Environmental Certification of Its Flower Operations
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, Jan. 16 -/E-Wire/-- Americaflor LTDA, a subsidiary of Dole Food Co. Inc. (NYSE:DOL - news), today announced its certification to the management system requirements of the International Organization for Standardization's environmental standard, ISO 14001.
/CONTACT: Dole Food Co. Inc., Westlake Village, Sharon Hayes, 818-879-6725/
/Web site: http://www.dole.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0108.html
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Solpower Acquires E*COR Enzyme Products
SCOTTSDALE, AZ, Jan. 16, -/E-Wire/-- Solpower Corp. (OTC BB: SLPW) Tuesday announced that it has acquired certain assets of the E*COR enzyme division of Perix Industries of California.
/CONTACT: Solpower Corp., Scottsdale, Jim Hirst, 480-947-6366/
/Web site: http://www.solpower.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0107.html
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
IBR Appoints New Senior Executive Vice President
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 16, -/E-Wire/-- International Bio-Recovery Corp. announces the appointment of Frank Dixon as Senior Executive Vice President.
/CONTACT: Ross MacLachlan, ross@ibrcorp.com, Director of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations, International Bio Recovery Corporation, Tel: 604.924.1023; Daniela Louie, dlouie@ibrcorp.com, Corporate Communications International Bio RecoveryTel: 604.924.1023/
/Web site: http://www.ibrcorp.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0106.html
TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Environmental Solutions Worldwide Successfully Completes 100% Acquisition Of Applied Diesel Technology
MARKHAM, Ontario, Jan. 16, -/E-Wire/-- Environmental Solutions Worldwide, Inc. (ESW) (OTCBB:ESWW - news), a company that develops, manufactures and markets environmental technologies, today announced it has successfully acquired 100% of the assets and proprietary technologies from the Telford, Pennsylvania-based Applied Diesel Technology, Inc. (ADT) and includes all the assets from its Air Testing Services division.
/CONTACT: Madison Wall Worldwide, Inc., Longwood, Fla., Jill Stephenson, 407/682-2001, jill@insidewallstreet.com/
/Web site: http://www.cleanerfuture.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0105.html
TO BUSINESS AND MUSIC EDITORS:
Medialine Puts SDMI Chief on the Spot
NEW YORK, Jan. 16 -/E-Wire/-- Leonardo Chiariglione, executive director for the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), responds to criticisms of the group's slow progress and philosophy in an exclusive interview with Medialine magazine, available today at http://www.medialinenews.com.
/CONTACT: Larry Jaffee, editor of Medialine, 212-378-0417, ljaffee@uemedia.com/
/Web site: http://www.medialinenews.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0104.html
TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
EcologyFund.com Joins Effort to Reforest Winter Home of the Monarch Butterfly
ANN ARBOR, MI, Jan. 16, -/E-Wire/-- EcologyFund.com (http://www.EcologyFund.com), the leading wilderness click-to-donate Web site, has joined the Michoacan Reforestation Fund in an effort to plant 200,000 seedlings next summer to help reforest the winter home of the majestic North American Monarch Butterfly. The Monarch butterflies migrate to spend the winter in the oyamel fir forests of Michoacan, Mexico. Because of extensive logging, these forests are imperiled.
/CONTACT: Contact: Jessica Frost, 734-213-7777, jfrost@ecologyfund.com/
/Web site: http://www.ecologyfund.com
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0103.html
TO BUSINESS, TRANSPORTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
TransTeq's Energy Efficient 70 HP Motor Powers 116 Passenger Buses On the Streets of Denver
Nation's Largest Fleet of Environmentally Friendly Buses Could Revolutionize Urban Transportation
DENVER, CO, Jan. 16 -/E-Wire/-- In the year 2000, the automotive industry saw the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight enter the market with a hybrid electric (HEV) propulsion system that delivered twice the fuel economy while reducing pollution.
/CONTACT: Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications, 734-667-2090, cell, 248-705-2214, scottlorenz@mediaone.net , for TransTeq/
/Web site: http://www.transteq.com/index.asp/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0102.html
WITH PHOTO -- TO BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENCE EDITORS:
America's Leading Environmental Test Chamber Causes Corporate America to Turn Green
ATLANTA, GA, Jan. 16 -/E-Wire/-- Air Quality Sciences, a leading global authority on indoor air quality and home to the most technologically advanced environmental chamber labs in the world, is calling for Corporate America to turn a green cheek when it comes to providing toxic-free air and safe office environments.
/CONTACT: Ms. Lesley Gamwell of Air Quality Sciences, 770-552-5915/
/Web site: http://www.greenguard.org/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/16Jan0101.html
1/17/01
4:16:31 PM
The following is a priority action alert.
Dear Friends of the Brink Campaign.
There are only 4 weeks left before the NATIONAL CALL-IN DAYS TO THE WHITE HOUSE, February 5-6, 2001 to urge President-elect George W. Bush to reduce the danger of accidental nuclear war by working with the Russians to TAKE ALL NUCLEAR WEAPONS OFF HAIR-TRIGGER ALERT.
The campaign is building rapidly with over 100 national, regional and local organizations participating. If there was ever a time to let a president know we want action on nuclear weapons, it is now and February 5 and 6 are the days to do it.
The Campaign has several resources available to promote the Call-In Days among your friends, contacts, members and e-groups. Contact us at the e-mail address above for printed flyers available FREE in bulk, a downloadable flyer in .pdf format; a text announcement available via e-mail, and, after January 21st ,a pop-up e-mail announcement.
If everyone contacts just 5 more friends, we can flood the switchboard and make the White House take notice.
Thanks for being part of this fast growing movement to take nuclearweapons off hair-trigger alert. Let me know how things are going and how I can be of help.
Esther Pank Back from the Brink Campaign 6856 Eastern Avenue, NW, # 322 Washington DC 20012 202.545.1001 ph 202.545.1004 fax brinkprogram@backfromthebrink.net www.backfromthebrink.org
James C. Bridgman Research & Resource Coordinator Peace Action Education Fund mailto:jbridgman@peace-action.org http://www.peace-action.org 202.862.9740x3041 fax: 202.862.9762 1819 H St., NW, #425 Washington, DC 20006
John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd
1/17/01
4:15:39 PM
INTERNATIONAL STAR WARS POSTCARD CAMPAIGN
The Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has initiated a postcard campaign throughout the United Kingdom urging George W. Bush to back away from Star Wars. One side of their card has a photo of a Star Wars protest at Fylingdales ( U.S. radar facility in their country. ) Groups all over the world are urged to create similar postcards to Bush for distribution in your nation.
Not only would this effort help to flood the White House with messages from all over the world, but it would also help to focus attention on the issue in your country as the cards are distributed. ( Please let us know if you decide to join this effort from overseas. )
The Global Network has produced such a postcard for distribution throughout the U.S. The cards contain a "Ban War in Space" photo message on one side and a written message to Bush on the other.
Bulk postcard orders can be made as follows ( prices include postage ): 25 cards $3.00 60 cards $7.00 120 cards $12.50 240 cards $25.00 more Negotiable
Send your order, along with check made out to GN, to address below:
Global Network Against Weapons And Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 90083 Gainesville, Fl. 32607 (352) 337-9274 http://www.space4peace.org globalnet@mindspring.com
1/17/01
4:14:54 PM
Letter to Governments other than the US Government
TO: PRESIDENTS, FOREIGN MINISTERS, DEFENCE MINISTERS AND PRIME MINISTERS OF US ALLIES
RE: PLEASE ASK US GOVT TO CANCEL MISSILE DEFENCE SCHEME
Dear President, Prime minister or Foreign minister ( use whichever appropriate ) I am writing to you to convey my dismay that the Bush administration may proceed with an enlarged version of the ill-concieved 'National Missile Defence' ('Star Wars') scheme.
I urge you to use all the diplomatic influence at your disposal to persuade the Bush administration not to proceed with this scheme, and urge the government of this country to refuse to cooperate in any way with the NMD scheme and thank you for the steps you have already taken in this direction. ( If they are already doing this you need to thank them for doing it )
The deployment of NMD will make it much harder, if not impossible, to achieve vital arms control objectives. Russia and China have made it clear that they will increase their own nuclear offensive capabilities in order to counter NMD. This will set back attempts to reduce nuclear weapons severely and may lead to another nuclear arms race.
National Missile Defence in its current form, has failed two out of its three operational tests and has been critiqued by the US scientific establishment as fundamentally flawed.
More importantly, Russia and China as well as the US's own allies ( including this country ( if appropriate )) have made it clear that they regard the preservation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty as paramount. The ABM treaty cannot be modified in a way that would allow the deployment of NMD, and the US should not be permitted to walk away from it.
NMD has been opposed by groups ranging from 354 major NGOs representing millions of people worldwide, to 50 of the US's Nobel prizewinners in physics, to generals and church people. It has also been opposed by every major international grouping represented in the UN General Assembly.
NMD is a scheme that is unlikely ever to work, against a threat that may never materialize and that is in any case better dealt with in other ways. It will cost billions better spent elsewhere, and will make further progress toward the total and unequivocal elimination of nuclear weapons - an objective to which the US as well as all other governments are committed - much more difficult if not impossible.
I therefore urge you to drop the NMD proposal and to focus your efforts on the vital objectives of deep reductions in warhead numbers, and reductions in the alert status of weapons, to which you committed yourself during your campaign. Signed Your Name
IMMEDIATE USE 17/1/2001 FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TARGETS BUSH OVER MISSILE DEFENCE
Antinuclear groups worldwide have targeted President Bush over the National Missile Defence/Star Wars scheme, with a global fax campaign starting on January 20. According to campaign coordinator John Hallam of Friends of the Earth Sydney, "National Missile defence, otherwise known as 'Star Wars', will create a storm of opposition from the US's own allies, from the United Nations as a whole, and from citizens groups worldwide. Star Wars will cause irreparable damage to US relations with Russia and China.
NMD/Star Wars will set back attempts to decrease the number and lower the alert status of the roughly 5-6,000 land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles on hairtrigger alert in the US and Russia, whose use can still end civilization, if not most life. It will replace hopeful possibilities of eliminating nuclear weapons with a new nuclear arms race, making the world much more dangerous.
Accordingly, antinuclear groups around the planet have decided to mount a global fax campaign to ram home a simple message to president Bush as soon as he is inaugurated:
The World Says No To Missile Defense / Star Wars.
We urge the Australian government to reject NMD / Star Wars, and not to permit the use of Australian facilities for it. We urge US allies to tell the US not to proceed with NMD/Star Wars. We urge President Bush and Don Rumsfeld to drop their enthusiasm for this dangerous scheme, and instead to opt for deep cuts in warhead numbers and to take missiles off hairtrigger alert as pledged by Bush in his campaign."
Contact: John Hallam 61-2-9517-3903 Bruce Thompson 61-3-9419-8700 0417-318-368
John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd
1/17/01
4:13:32 PM
Global 'Star Wars' Fax Campaign
SAY NO TO NMD / STAR WARS, FAX BUSH AFTER 20 JAN
John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd
Dear Everyone,
National Missile Defence / Star Wars is the single largest obstacle to continued progress toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, and threatens to re-ignite a global nuclear arms race.
Vital initiatives such as de-alerting ( see alert for US National Call - In Days Feb 5-6 at the end of this email ), and deep cuts in warhead numbers under START-II and III will be destroyed by NMD.
Yet Bush, in spite of initial hopes that he might proceed in a bipartisan fashion, is proceeding rapidly down a path that will be set by cold- war hawks such as Rumsfeld, and NMD enthusiasts such as Condoleeza Rice.
President Bush needs to hear from you urgently that you don't want National Missile Defence / Star Wars.
Two sample letters are below.
The first is for US citizens to send direct to Bush.
If you are in a country outside the US, especially if you live in the UK, France, Germany, Japan or Australia, your country's governments views will be vital.
Urge your government to reject Missile Defence / Star Wars.
The second letter is for that. If you are from outside the US, especially if you are in a US-Allied country, Please ask your government to tell the US government that your country does not support NMD/Star Wars.
If you are in France or Germany, you need to ask your government to keep on with telling the US not to proceed with NMD/Star Wars, and not to back down.
Then if you still have energy, you can fax President Bush - But write to your own government first.
Yorkshire CND has initiated a postcard campaign against National Missile Defence. CND's postcard comes after the two sample letters, and then comes an appeal from the US 'Back from the Brink' campaign to call the white house to take nuclear weapons off alert.
Letter to Bush, Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld.
FAX TO: GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT, 1-202-456-2461, 1-202-456-6218, 1-202-456-6201,
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE, 1 202 647.6047,
CONDOLEEZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER, 1 202 456.2883,
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY FOR DEFENCE, 1 703 695.1149,
RE: PLEASE CANCEL MISSILE DEFENCE SCHEME
Dear President George Bush, Secretary for Defence Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, and Secretary of State Colin Powell,
I am writing to you to convey my dismay that your administration may proceed with an enlarged version of the ill-concieved 'National Missile Defence' ('Star Wars') scheme.
The deployment of NMD will make it much harder, if not impossible, to achieve vital arms control objectives. Russia and China have made it clear that they will increase their own nuclear offensive capabilities in order to counter NMD. This will set back attempts to reduce nuclear weapons severely and may lead to another nuclear arms race.
National Missile Defence in its current form, has failed two out of its three operational tests and has been critiqued by the US scientific establishment as fundamentally flawed.
More importantly, Russia and China as well as the US's own allies have made it clear that they regard the preservation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty as paramount. The ABM treaty cannot be modified in a way that would allow the deployment of NMD, and the US should not walk away from it.
NMD has been opposed by groups ranging from 354 major NGOs representing millions of people worldwide, to 50 of the US's Nobel prizewinners in physics, to generals and church people.
Non-US governments worldwide, including close US allies, have strongly opposed NMD.
NMD is a scheme that is unlikely ever to work, against a threat that may never materialize and that is in any case better dealt with in other ways. It will cost billions better spent elsewhere, and will make further progress toward the total and unequivocal elimination of nuclear weapons - an objective to which the US as well as all other governments are committed - much more difficult if not impossible.
I therefore urge you to drop the NMD proposal and to focus your efforts on the vital objectives of deep reductions in warhead numbers, and reductions in the alert status of weapons, to which you committed yourself during your campaign.
Signed Your Name
1/17/01
4:11:42 PM
The Nation
Though it's unlikely that George Bush's most controversial appointee John Ashcroft will be scuttled by a shady Missouri highway deal, David Corn and Dan Moldea's report of a deal brokered by Ashcroft while he was a senator cast doubt on the man's supposed number one selling point: his integrity.
Read this exclusive report only at The Nation's website along with other related commentary, reporting and analysis:
DAVID CORN AND DAN MOLDEA: Did Ashcroft Take the Low Road on the Highroad? Ashcroft's road to confirmation is paved with claims of his integrity. If other potholes appear on this street, the Ashcroft Express, already riding on weak axles, may not reach its destination. http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=corn20010115
LEON FRIEDMAN: Questions for Ashcroft Here are questions the senators should ask John Ashcroft to uncover how he will run the Justice Department if nominated. http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=friedman0129
JOHN LANTIGUA: Passing the Buck in Florida Joseph Heller would have had a field day with the hearings of the US Commission on Civil Rights in Tallahassee last week. http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=lantigua0115
Also check out special reports from the pages of The Nation on Bush cabinet-designates Christie Todd Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Colin Powell Donald Rumsfeld, Paul O'Neill, Spencer Abraham, Don Evans and more. All currently available at: http://www.thenation.com
P.S. You can keep up with all the many protests planned around the country with The Nation's The Counter-Inauguration Calendar available only at: http://www.thenation.com/special/counterinauguration.mhtml
1/17/01
4:07:52 PM
Public Citizen
Gov. Davis' Backroom Deal Leaves Taxpayers With All The Risk, Allows Utilities to Keep Recent Billion-Dollar Investments
While Utilities Talk of Bankruptcy, Parent Companies Have Plenty of Assets Acquired in Recent Spending Sprees
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- While California's two biggest utilities -- Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison (SCE) -- claim to have racked up such significant losses that they are facing bankruptcy, their parent companies have embarked upon a billion-dollar spending spree, spending nearly $20 billion on power plants and other purchases over the past few months. These purchases far exceed their stated $12 billion debt from California operations, a Public Citizen analysis shows.
The finding is particularly significant in light of a proposal by California Gov. Gray Davis that the state use its credit to buy electricity from power producers and sell it to the two utilities at cost. Proponents argue the deal is necessary because PG&E and SCE claim that their lack of credit may prohibit them from purchasing the power California needs. Rather than assume the utilities' financial risk, the state of California should purchase or seize electric generation plants from the owners currently manipulating prices.
The governor's deal will make matters worse for California consumers because it shifts risk from investor-owned utilities to the taxpaying public, Public Citizen has concluded. The arrangement does nothing to address the roots of California's energy crisis: deregulation, which has allowed price manipulation on the wholesale market, and poor financial planning by Pacific Gas & Electric and SCE.
Meanwhile, PG&E and Edison International, the parent companies of the two utilities, have spent billions in acquiring international and out-of-state investments over the past several months, according to Public Citizen's report, Claiming Poverty in a Sea of Riches: New Investments by Parent Companies Belie California Utilities' Claims of Bankruptcy. The parent companies should be forced to sell off these assets before having the state act as a surrogate debtor, Public Citizen says. In a double blow to California consumers, PG&E has successfully persuaded the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to allow it to shield these newly acquired assets if Pacific Gas & Electric were to file for bankruptcy.
"This back-room deal will place the state in dire risk, because it continues the failed policy of deregulation," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "Taxpayers should not shoulder the utilities' financial responsibilities until the utilities sell off billions in out-of-state assets they irresponsibly purchased just months ago."
The report details how Edison International, primarily through its Mission Energy subsidiary, has invested more than $10 billion outside the California market since December 1998. These $10 billion in recent purchases are double the $5 billion in debt SCE claims it has incurred this year under deregulation. Edison International also has spent $2.35 billion in stock buyback plans since deregulation began.
PG&E, mostly through its National Energy Group subsidiary, has made at least $9 billion in new purchases and construction since 1999. This exceeds the $6.6 billion debt Pacific Gas & Electric claims it has accumulated under deregulation. PG&E also has initiated more than $1 billion in stock buyback plans since deregulation began. The report describes how these investments were funded in large part by California consumers in the first few years of deregulation.
"PG&E's aggressive attempts to shield its assets should be a warning to California lawmakers that the utilities are not acting in good faith," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "California consumers helped pay for these billion-dollar investments under deregulation, so these assets -- not taxpayer-funded credit guarantees -- must be the first line of defense against deregulation's failure."
To view a copy of Public Citizen's report, please go to http://www.citizen.org/cmep/restructuring/AnalysisCAUtilityclaimsbankruptcy.htm
1/17/01
4:07:25 PM
World Environment News - January 16th, 2001 from Planet Ark
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
Clinton could decide on Fla. airport this week - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9524
Bush says he may cancel late Clinton moves - paper - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9526
ANALYSIS - Certificate trade may marry green energy with market - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9523
UPDATE - Philippine dump reopening sparks angry protests - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9522
Greenpeace blocks rail spur to stop nuclear fuel - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9521
UN grants China $25 million to help ozone layer - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9527
INTERVIEW - Canadian lumber firms unite for trade battle - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9525
FEATURE - Antarctic ice discovery warms climate change debate - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9528
1/17/01
4:07:00 PM
We want to thank you for being among 1,312 individuals and organizations from around the world who have in the past year signed the online Proposition One petition to abolish nuclear weapons and to convert the war machines, the "Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act" http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html We need lots more signatures to break through DC deadlock - please tell all your friends, relatives, co-workers, acquaintances to PLEASE SIGN! One nice thing about the online petition is that people can add their own comments.
We fully expect Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington DC's delegate to the House of Representatives, to re-introduce the legislation in 2001, and hope you will help speed this along with letters, phone calls, and e-mails to U.S. legislators, and to U.N. ambassadors for all nuclear powers. We have tried to make it easy for you to do this. See http://prop1.org/prop1/howhelp.htm.
If you aren't already, we encourage you to keep up to date with what's happening globally at NucNews Archives - http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm (posted every few days, collected by NucNews staff, an extensive compendium of articles about nuclear, plutonium, uranium, radioactivity, arms sales, military, alternative energy, and activism, no subscription required) -- and NucNews Online for Subscribers - http://www.egroups.com/archive/NucNews
(daily postings by subscribers - to subscribe, go to http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/NucNews)
The new administration will be a challenge for all of us who value peace and seek global nuclear disarmament. We at Proposition One Committee will continue to bear witness at the now 20-year vigil outside the White House see http://prop1.org Hopefully George W. Bush will follow his father's and his predecessor's example, and tolerate our presence. Perhaps and this is a really long shot) he will echo his father's words to us in March 1992, "We see you, we know you're here, we share your views on nuclear weapons." Time will tell. Please help us find out.
Best wishes for the new year
Ellen Thomas Executive Director
PROPOSITION ONE COMMITTEE P.O. Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA 202-462-0757 (phone) | 202-265-5389 (fax) http://prop1.org | prop1@prop1.org
1/17/01
4:06:25 PM
World Environment News - January 15th, 2001 from Planet Ark
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
Alaska sea ducks' habitat given federal protection - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9507
Silicon Valley not as threatened by energy crisis as some think - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9508
California likely to impose blackouts hitting 2 million people - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9510
UPDATE - Environmentalists, NAACP try to scuttle Bush nominee - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9511
StarLink contamination found in beer ingredient-FDA - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9515
UPDATE - US tells pregnant women don't eat shark, swordfish - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9516
AUTOS - Palladium prices push carmakers to alternatives - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9517
Philippines re-opens dump, eases city's trash woes - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9514
FEATURE - Garbage talk of town in Manila, rivals politics - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9519
India's Ganges, a holy river of pollution - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9513
Hong Kong cracks down on illicit fuel activities - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9512
Chile Navy monitors ship carrying nuclear waste - CHILE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9509
Foreign experts to tame Cameroon's killer lakes - CAMEROON http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9520
Melbourne shrouded by worst haze in 18 years - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9518
1/17/01
4:04:36 PM
KENTUCKY LEGISLATION 2001
HB 100 (BR 224) - Rep. J. Barrows, Rep. R. Thomas, Rep. P. Clark Jan 4-introduced in House Jan 5-to Agriculture and Small Business (H)
AN ACT relating to industrial hemp.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 260 to create an industrial hemp research program to conduct research on industrial hemp as an agricultural product in Kentucky; direct that the research program shall be administered by the Department of Agriculture working cooperatively with a selected Kentucky university or universities' agricultural research program; use the Council on Postsecondary Education to select the site of the program; allow all universities with agriculture departments to apply and be considered by the Council on Postsecondary Education for the location of the industrial hemp research program; create the Industrial Hemp Commission to monitor the industrial hemp research program, issue a report, and make recommendations to the Governor, the Interim Joint Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources and the LRC by December 15, 2001; direct the state of Kentucky to adopt the current federal rules and regulations regarding industrial hemp and any subsequent changes; establish an "industrial hemp program fund" to offset the costs of this marketing and research.
1/17/01
4:04:09 PM
Gary Null Web Site, Best Health Site/Show In World
Friends,
This is a great site & radio show to promote health, prevent disease & look at ways of mitigating or curing everything from cancer to heart disease to arthritis. It's great for showing people how to build the immune system to fortify it against radiation induced immune deficencies.It also puts the lie to AIDS. Please give it a listen & share with any interested parties. Null has worked with Gulf War Vets a lot & has some excellant protocols to follow that can produce amazing results that allopathiclly trained physicians know absolutely nothing about.
Best Health Site In World, Available Via Real Audio Monday through Friday Noon to 1 PM EasternTime at: http://www.vitalcast.com In the New York City area, it's available at WBAI, 99.5 FM Monday through Friday Noon to 1 PM with an occaisional pre-emption. Bill Smirnow
The Military Industrial Complex
On January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower used the occasion of his last televised address to the nation to warn of the dangers inherent in the development of "undue influence" by the "military-industrial complex." Forty years later, Eisenhower's speech still rings true.
On Wednesday January 17 from 6:00 - 8:30pm, at the Tishman Auditorium of the New School for Social Research at 66 West 12th Street in New York City, join a distinguished panel of experts, including Lawrence Korb, Blance Weisen Cook, Theodore Sorensen, Douglas Brinkley and frequent Nation contributor William Hartung, to discuss the continued threats posed by the militariziation of US foreign-policy.
Produced by The World Policy Institute, the Nation Institute and Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, this event will address many critical issues of the day including "Star Wars II," the ever-increasing defense budget and the role of arms industry lobbyists in shaping government policy. Tickets are $10. For reservations and further information call 212-229-5808, ext. 101.
Best Regards, Peter Rothberg Associate Publisher
P.S. And don't forget to check out http://www.thenation.com for the best in investigative reporting, critical analysis and insightful political commentary.
1/17/01
4:03:28 PM
http://www.illegitimatebush.com/cgi-bin/bush_dev.cgi
1/17/01
4:02:54 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We Cover the Earth For You"
WORLDWATCH: POLITICAL WILL TO SAVE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FALTERS
WASHINGTON, DC, January 15, 2001 (ENS) - Signs of "accelerated ecological decline" and a loss of political momentum on environmental issues are emerging simultaneously, according to State of the World 2001, issued by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington based research organization.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-15-01.html
PESTICIDES, NOT DEPLETED URANIUM, LINKED TO GULF WAR ILLNESS
WASHINGTON, DC, January 15, 2001 (ENS) - In his final report before the change of administration, the Defense Department's special assistant for Gulf War Illnesses, Dr. Bernard Rostker, told reporters that pesticides, but not exposure to depleted uranium (DU), may be "among the potential contributing agents" to illnesses among Gulf War veterans.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-15-03.html
COLORADO SKI PLAN BOGGED DOWN IN CUCUMBER GULCH
By Bob Berwyn
VAIL, Colorado, January 15, 2001 (ENS) - Federal regulators with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are engaged in a fierce tug of war over a patch of rare wetlands in the Colorado high country.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-15-13.html
NORWAY EYES WOLF CULL TO PROTECT SHEEP
OSLO, Norway, January 15, 2001 (ENS) - The Norwegian government's plans to endorse a wolf cull as well as grant export licenses boosting the country's whaling industry have international animal welfare groups angry.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-15-12.html
WATER BOARD DAMPENS IQUALUIT'S BURNING DESIRE
IQALUIT, Nunavut, Canada, January 15, 2001 (ENS) - A northern Canadian town already under assault from persistent organic pollutants has been told to drastically reduce burning at its overflowing dump.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-15-11.html
KILLER EARTHQUAKE, LANDSLIDES DEVASTATE EL SALVADOR
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, January 14, 2001 (ENS) - An earthquake, measured at 7.9 on the Richter scale, rocked Central America Saturday claiming more than 230 lives in El Salvador and six in Guatemala. Unconfirmed reports estimate about 1,200 people are missing.
For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-15-10.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JANUARY 15, 2001
North Carolina Researchers Develop Liquid Form of DNA
U.S. and Japan to Request Joint Whaling Workshop
Governor Davis Plans to Slash California Energy Use
EPA, Tennessee and OXY USA to Restore Copper Basin
Arizona's Newest Park Protects Apache Cultural Heritage
Colorado Rules Out Aerial Shooting of Coyotes
Elementary Students Shine at Energy Inventors Summit
Lichens: An Unexpected Source of New Herbicides
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-15-09.html
TO AVIATION & ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Euromoney Seminars Announces 2nd Annual Aviation and the Environment Conference
LONDON, UK, Jan. 15 -/E-Wire/-- Aircraft Economics magazine and Euromoney Seminars are delighted to announce their upcoming conference Aviation and the Environment, to be held at the Amsterdam Hilton on the 30th & 31st January 2001. The event will address issues including regulatory updates, intermodal transport developments and the findings of the recent CAEP 5 meeting in January 2001.
/CONTACT: Kerstin Munzberg, Marketing Manager - Euromoney Seminars, Tel: +44-20-7779-8534, Fax: +44-20-7779-8603, kmunzberg@euromoneyplc.com/
/Web site: http://www.euromoneyplc.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/15Jan0104.html
TO RECREATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Wachusett Mountain Ski Area to Launch "Science on the Slopes" Education Program
PRINCETON, MA, Jan. 13 -/E-Wire/-- Wachusett Mountain Ski Area today announced the creation of an innovative outreach program to help increase public awareness of the role that science and nature play in people's lives. The program, called "Science on the Slopes," features an ongoing series of public educational workshops and events at the Princeton, Massachusetts ski resort.
/CONTACT: Tom Meyers Wachusett Mountain Ski Area (978) 464-2300, x3700, tom@wachusett.com/
/Web site: http://www.wachusett.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/15Jan0103.html
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
CONVERTING WASTE INTO RESOURCES
Salcon Group To Invest $4,250,000 in IBR Plant
Major environmental engineering company partners with IBR in new plant.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan 15 -/E-Wire/-- International Bio-Recovery Corp. ("IBR") is pleased to announce that Salcon Bio-Technologies Pte. Ltd. ("Salcon Bio-Tech"), a subsidiary of Salcon Limited of Singapore has agreed to invest CAD$ 4,250,000 in an IBR plant which will be constructed on Vancouver Island.
/Contact: Ross MacLachlan, ross@ibrcorp.com Daniela Louie, dlouie@ibrcorp.com Director of Corporate Communications Communications & Investor Relations International Bio Recovery Corporation (604) 924-1023
/Web site: http://www.ibrcorp.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/15Jan0101.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Ceremony highlights January 29-30 Woodlands Conference Carpet Magnate Ray Anderson Wins $100,000 Environmental Prize
THE WOODLANDS, TX, Jan. 15, -/E-Wire/-- Ray C. Anderson, who declared war on waste in products and processes at the world's largest commercial carpet company, has been named recipient of the 2001 George and Cynthia Mitchell International Prize for Sustainable Development. Anderson, 66, is founder and chairman of Interface, Inc., an Atlanta-based, global manufacturer of carpet tiles, carpet, fabrics, and other commercial interior products and services.
/CONTACT: Barbara Peyton, 281-363-7908 bpeyton@harc.edu (HARC), Marilu Hastings, 281-364-4021 mhastings@harc.edu (Center for Global Studies/HARC), 4800 Research Forest Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77381/
/Web site: http://www.harc.edu/woodlandsconference/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Jan01/15Jan0102.html