2/4/02
5:44:31 PM
DAILY GRIST <http://www.gristmagazine.com>
"NO WAY," SAYS NORWAY
Long unhappy about pollution from Britain's Sellafield nuclear power plant, Norway announced yesterday that it would call for a binding international agreement to force polluting countries to pay for toxic cleanups beyond their own borders. The nation's foreign affairs committee voted unanimously to ask the government to impose economic sanctions on the U.K. until radioactive emissions from Sellafield cease. Traces of the radioactive compound technetium-99 originating from Sellafield have been found along the entire Norwegian coastline. Norway's environment minister, Boerge Brende, has been a force behind the effort to create a U.N. high commissioner for the environment and a unified system of environmental treaties.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Inger Sethov, 01 Feb 2002 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14316/story.htm>
RED ROSE
Working in the area of conservation means living with constant crisis, writes Tony Rose in this week's Grist -- and he should know. Rose works with the Bushmeat Project in equatorial Africa to educate people about the importance of protecting the environment and preventing wildlife from becoming dinner. That's a tall order, when forests are being cut down, animals are being slaughtered, and conservationists themselves face constant danger from disease and strife. Still, the rewards -- say, gazing into an ape-friend's eyes -- are ample. Read more about the Bushmeat Project, only on the Grist Magazine website.
only in Grist: Gorilla: It's what's for dinner -- Tony Rose and the Bushmeat Project <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/rose012802.asp?source=daily>
ASTHMA: WORLD TURNS
For the first time, researchers have concluded that smog can cause asthma, rather than just aggravate it. In the 10-year study, being published in the British journal Lancet, investigators followed children participating in athletics in 12 Southern California communities. Six of the communities had some of the nation's poorest air quality, while six enjoyed relatively clean air. The children in the smoggy areas were three to four times more likely to develop asthma than those in cleaner communities. The findings will bolster the case against the Bush administration's current attempts to weaken clean air standards. Asthma, the leading chronic illness among young people, afflicts about 9 million children in the U.S. and accounts for millions of hours of lost time at school and work.
straight to the source: San Jose Mercury News, Marilee Enge, 01 Feb 2002 <http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/smog01.htm>
straight to the source: Washington Post, William Booth, 01 Feb 2002 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6057-2002Jan31.html>
do good: Take action to preserve the Clean Air Act <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/air.asp?source=daily#grandfather>
IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE HEAT, GET OFF THE PLANET
If you can't stand the heat ... tough luck. Last year was the second-hottest year on record -- and that means that now, nine of the 10 hottest years since 1860 have occurred since 1990. With that clear trend in place, plus the likelihood of another El Nino, 2002 could be, well, miserable. Check out the details at "How's the Weather?", only on the Grist Magazine website.
only in Grist: How's the weather? -- taking the Earth's temperature -- by Leonie Haimson <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/heatbeat/weather020102.asp?source=daily>
SALT OF THE EARTH
Tim Salt, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, has been reassigned from his key post refereeing land-use disputes in the California desert, in a move environmentalists say is a capitulation to miners, ranchers, and off-road vehicle enthusiasts. As manager of the BLM's 11 million-acre California Desert District, Salt drew the ire of all of those constituents by dramatically restricting land use to protect Peirson's milk vetch (a desert plant), bighorn sheep, the desert tortoise, and other wildlife. Although environmentalists sometimes felt Salt didn't go far enough, most were unhappy with the shuffle: Karen Schambach, California coordinator for the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, called it consistent with "a definite pattern by this administration to reassign administrators who have an environmental ethic."
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Tony Perry, 01 Feb 2002 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000008054feb01.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dscience>
only in Grist: A week in the life of Jeff Ruch, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/ruch121100.stm?source=daily>
2/4/02
5:42:15 PM
Enjoy the late winter SUN! and check out the Greenpeace Clean Energy Now! Campaign's weekly good news update - "POSITIVE ENERGY!"
SAN FRANCISCO ROLLS ON WITH A STRATEGY TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE
"We need to act now if we're going to keep San Francisco and the Bay Area a viable place to live for future generations," said Mayor Willie Brown, who has has placed a resolution before the Board of Supervisors calling for San Francisco to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 1990 levels. This is far more aggressive than the Kyoto Protocol targets that President Bush has refused to participate in. This positive move by the Mayor follows right on the heels of two solar sond initiatives (props B & H) passed by San Francisco voters on November 6, 2002.
To read more about propositions B and H, just visit:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/features/sfsolarvictory.html
For more details about the Mayor's resolution, go to:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/29/MN151003.DTL
PLAN FOR REBUILDING AFGANISTAN IS SOLAR NOW!!!
Unlike many rebuilding strategies of the past that funnel money into big business to provide social services, the program for Afghanistan focuses on small installations of solar power to provide energy to the people. The World Bank, the UN Development Programme, the Asian Development Bank, and the interim Afghan government have outlined a $15 Billion program that supposedly starts from the ground up, taking a village approach to building locally controlled energy and sanitation services. Not only can this provide services to people that truly need it, it could also allow Afganistan to show the word how to create a sustainable, empowered society.
For more details,go to the New Scientist website and look for reports from January 26, 2002. at:
PARTIAL VICTORY: AUTO EMISSIONS BILL PASSES THE CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY! THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE NEEDS YOUR POSITIVE ENERGY TO SEE TO IT THAT AB1058 BECOMES LAW
For the last couple of weeks we have been keeping you posted about AB1058 - a bill in the California legislature to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles in California. We have great news: it passed the house! Now the Senate and Governor have to also support the bill to turn into law, and both are under extreme pressure from the "oilies and autos" - lobbyists from the car and fossil fuel industry.
The bill is a pioneering attempt to require reductions in carbon dioxide emitted by cars and light trucks. Vehicles in California account for about 60% of those emissions, which are not a direct health threat but are a major contributor to climate change. About 10% of the nation's new car sales occur in California.
For more information about the vote on it this Wednesday check out:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000007808jan31.story
TAKE ACTION!
Pressure the Governor's office to pass AB1058.
Give Governor Davis a call and tell him you want make this bill (as it is currently written) to become law, at: 916-445-2841
Or you can send him an email at:
governor@governor.ca.gov
Tell Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante you appreciate his longstanding interest in the bill and expect him to ensure it sails through the Senate and is carried into law by Governor Davis.
The Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante can be reached by phone at: 916 445-8994
THE ROLLING SUNLIGHT HITS THE ROAD FOR THE WINTER OLYMPICS
That's right, Greenpeace is bringing clean energy to Salt Lake City, Utah! The Rolling Sunlight, Greenpeace's solar demonstration truck will be at the Olympics educating people from all over the world about one of our greatest energy sources: the sun!
Learn more about Greenpeace's clean energy on wheels by going to:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/california/rollingsunlight.html
2/4/02
5:34:47 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
KEEPERS OF THE FLAME
by Esther Kaplan, The Village Voice
-- With mainstream activist groups lying low, this weekend's World Economic Forum (WEF) in New York looks like a coming-out party for the new leaders of the global justice movement: the anarchists.
LEGALLY HIGH
by Chris Harris, Hartford Advocate
-- A powerfully hallucinogenic herb used by Mexican Indians for centuries is making a name for itself among recreational drug users -- and the DEA.
YES TO NUKES, NO TO WASTE AND TO HELL WITH THE SHOSHONES
by Heidi Walters, Las Vegas City Life
-- While local residents fight to keep Nevada's Yucca Mountain free from nuclear waste, senatorial support of increased nuclear testing may undermine efforts to keep the area clean.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
2/4/02
5:32:22 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
GAO Will Sue Bush Administration for Documents
WASHINGTON, DC, January 31, 2002 (ENS) - The General Accounting Office plans to file suit against the Bush administration within weeks, seeking the release of documents relating to closed door meetings between Vice President Richard Cheney and energy industry officials. The case is viewed as a crucial test of the president's power to protect records of private meetings with powerful and influential commercial interests.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-31-06.html
FISH FARMING MORATORIUM LIFTED IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
VICTORIA, British Columbia, Canada, January 31, 2002 (ENS) - New environmental standards and practices will allow for lifting of the five year ban on new salmon aquaculture operations in British Columbia as of April 30, the British Columbia government announced today. The David Suzuki Foundation, a Vancouver based environmental group, said the move means "business at any cost comes first" and warned that the environment is being sacrificed.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-31-01.html
FLAME RETARDANT CHEMICAL FOUND IN FISH, HUMANS
By Pat Hemminger
NEW YORK, New York, January 31, 2002 (ENS) - Freshwater fish in Virginia have been found to contain the highest reported levels in the world of a common but controversial flame retardant, penta bromo diphenyl ether. The chemical, which is showing up in animals and humans around the globe, has been linked in laboratory animal studies to behavioral problems, but little is known about its effects on humans.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-31-07.html
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM OFFSETS CLIMATE IMPACT OF ANNUAL MEETING
NEW YORK, New York, January 31, 2002 (ENS) - The World Economic Forum said today that it has purchased reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from a geothermal project in Indonesia to offset the global warming impact of its five day annual meeting. opening today in New York City. For the first time, representatives of the 1007 member corporations opened their meeting here today rather than at the forum's headquarters in Davos, Switzerland.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-31-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JANUARY 31, 2002
Green Scissors: Subsidies to Energy Industry Set to Double
U.S. Teams with Kazakhstan to Make Fuel from Uranium
232 Groups Urge Rejection of Nevada Nuclear Waste Dump
Auto Workers Favor Greater Fuel Efficiency
Texas on Alert for West Nile Virus
Fractal Patterns Help Earth Scientists Forecast Disasters
Young Folks Can Win by Writing About Bears, Otters
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-31-09.html
2/4/02
5:29:52 PM
AlterNet Headlines
WHEN THE BABES BEAT UP THE BOYS
Michelle Goldberg, AlterNet
A recent spate of pop culture man-beatings indicates that the War of the Sexes is far from over. Why has the image of a frenzied female attacking a callow guy become a media staple?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12319
RETRO CHOMSKY? A VISIT TO FAIR'S 15th BIRTHDAY PARTY
Don Hazen, AlterNet
Though their messages are important and hard-hitting, Noam Chomsky and his soulmates at FAIR may be falling behind the times in their unwillingness or inability to change.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12323
'AXIS OF EVIL' CRUMBLES UNDER SCRUTINY
Michael T. Klare, Pacific News Service
Any suggestion that Iraq, Iran and North Korea are allied against America is preposterous and the nuclear and biological arms threat they pose is better addressed without war rhetoric.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12321
GOVERNMENT GANGSTERISM AT WORK
Ted Rall, AlterNet
When it suits their immediate aims, the Bushies wield the law like a club. As soon as the law proves inconvenient, however, they chuck it out the window like a gum wrapper.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12318
BUSH'S STATE OF THE UNION ROUGH DRAFT
David Turnley, AlterNet
This transcript reveals an audiotape of President Bush practicing an early version of the State of the Union address that appears to be written by the president himself.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12315
SCREAMING ME ME'S
Christina Waters, Metro Santa Cruz
How can parents, without the slightest twinge of guilt, bring rambunctious children to nice restaurants? These are public places, not exercise yards for feral youngsters!
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12316
LETTERS: JAMAICA IMF FILM HITS HARD; SOLOMON GOT LEE, ROMMEL WRONG AlterNet readers respond to recent articles by Tamara Straus and Norman Solomon in our new Letters to the Editor section.
http://www.alternet.org/letters_ed.html?BulletinID=7
WHY WE'RE SUING ASHCROFT
Jeremy Voas, Detroit Metro Times
The editor of the Detroit Metro Times explains his paper's decision to file lawsuit that would force Ashcroft to open up the secret trial of a Sept. 11 detainee.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12314
HUTCHINSON: TYSON IS OUR MONSTER
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet
Many of those who now shout loudest for Mike Tyson's blood will be clamoring for tickets to see him in his next megabucks fight. Are they to blame for his thug behavior?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12324
ENRON AND OUR PUTRID CAMPAIGN FINANCE SYSTEM
Adam Lioz, TomPaine.com
The biggest scandal here is not personal corruption -- it's systemic corruption. It's how the very wealthy decide who gets to run for office in the first place -- and then who wins.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12311
NUCLEAR REACTION
Nancy Guerin, Metroland
A proposal to allow for the recycling of radioactive scrap metal has advocates up in arms.
* In EnviroHealth: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=18
2/4/02
5:26:47 PM
t r u t h o u t | 02.01
Senator Says Enron Not Cooperating With Investigation
http://www.truthout.com/02.01A.Sen.Enron.No.htm
Boxer Calls On FERC To Provide List Of All Meetings And Phone Calls With Enron Executives
http://www.truthout.com/02.01B.Boxer.FERC.htm
Daschle, Conrad, And Levin on National Missile Defense
http://www.truthout.com/02.01C.3.Sens.NMD.htm
Russ Feingold | No. 1 Reason for Campaign-Finance Reform? Enron
http://www.truthout.com/02.01D.Feingold.Enron.htm
Cheney Made Millions Off Oil Deals with Saddam Hussein
http://www.truthout.com/02.01E.Cheney.Hussein.htm
Wellstone Vows to Fight Bush Cuts to Job Training
http://www.truthout.com/02.01F.Wellstone.Jobs.htm
2/4/02
5:24:52 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
IAEA seeking nuclear devices in Georgia - report - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14318/story.htm
Weapons of mass destruction threat up - CIA - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14324/story.htm
Britons more worried about waste than climate - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14310/story.htm
UPDATE - Environment groups warn UK govt on gene crop sites - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14311/story.htm
UK should raise renewable targets, says leaked report - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14317/story.htm
Largest straw-fuelled power station opens - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14319/story.htm
Air pollution linked to asthma in young athletes - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14321/story.htm
UPDATE - Singapore 2001 chemicals investments, output hit - SINGAPORE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14320/story.htm
Norway wants sanctions for cross-border polluters - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14316/story.htm
Court finds Greece late to protect sea turtle habitat - LUXEMBOURG http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14313/story.htm
Thousands of dead fish wash up on Kenya coastline - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14312/story.htm
Jakarta rains ease, but flood problems remain - INDONESIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14323/story.htm
German nukes reach record output in 2001-Atomforum - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14314/story.htm
UPDATE - Renewable energy to drive French power investment - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14315/story.htm
Canadian to donate lions to Kabul, concerns raised - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14322/story.htm
2/4/02
5:22:47 PM
`Evil Axis' Remark Provokes N. Korea Thu Jan 31, 3:49 PM ET By SANG-HUN CHOE, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - In its first public reaction to being called part of an "axis of evil," North Korea on Friday said President Bush's pronouncement was little short of a declaration or war.
"The option to 'strike' impudently advocated by the U.S. is not its monopoly," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said. North Korea, it said, "will never tolerate the U.S. reckless attempt to stifle the (North) by force of arms but mercilessly wipe out the aggressors."
The statement, carried by the North's official KCNA news agency and monitored in Seoul, was the regime's first since Bush's State of the Union speech Tuesday.
In the speech, Bush said North Korea, Iran and Iraq formed an "axis of evil," and that "the United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."
"This is, in fact, little short of declaring a war against the DPRK," or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the communist state's official name, said the North Korean spokesman, who was not identified by name.
"We are sharply watching moves of the United States that has pushed the situation to the brink of war after throwing away even the mask of dialogue and negotiations," he said.
Since Bush's inauguration, North Korea has regularly churned out similar hard-line rhetoric against Washington.
In South Korea and Japan, North Korea's uneasy neighbors, warned that Bush's comments had raised tensions.
"It cast an ominous dark cloud over Northeast Asia, the Korean peace process in particular," said Baek Hak-soon, a security expert in Seoul's independent Sejong Institute.
To observers in Seoul, Bush's speech reaffirmed what they saw as a widening gap between the United States and its closest Asian ally, South Korea, in their ways of dealing with North Korea, a totalitarian regime that U.S. officials say is armed with long-range missiles and up to 5,000 tons of biochemical weapons — and possibly a few crude nuclear devices.
"I had an impression that Bush has become overconfident after receiving so much international support for the U.S. war against terror," said Hiroshi Kimura, a political science professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies. "It may not be so wise for Japan to go too far in following the United States."
Bush is expected to visit Tokyo and then Seoul Feb. 17-21 to discuss security concerns about North Korea.
After meeting U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in Washington, South Korean Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo said Washington's policy of seeking dialogue with North Korea remained unchanged.
"North Korea must understand that the Clinton administration has been replaced by the Bush administration, and must come to the table of dialogue as soon as possible," Han was quoted as saying by South Korea's national news agency Yonhap.
After months of policy review, Bush in June offered to reopen dialogue with North Korea on the North's missile and nuclear programs and its heavy deployment of conventional weapons near the border with South Korea.
North Korea, through its news media, has rejected the offer as having too many conditions.
Relations between the two Koreas that improved vastly following their historic summit in 2000 stalled amid the U.S.-North Korea tension.
On Friday, the North Korean spokesman said Bush's "reckless strong-arm policy" made the United States a target of terrorism and urged Washington not to "groundlessly" accuse North Korea of developing weapons of mass destruction and sponsoring terrorism.
Experts say North Korea has developed missiles that can deliver its biochemical weapons to South Korea and Japan. About 47,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan and 37,000 in South Korea.
2/4/02
5:17:57 PM
DAILY GRIST
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
LOW-CARBON RIDERS
In a move that could have radical implications for the automobile industry, the California Assembly passed a bill yesterday that would make it the first state to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles as a step toward curbing global warming. Because about 10 percent of the nation's new cars are sold in California, legislation affecting emissions in the state would force significant changes from automakers -- changes that neither industry nor the federal government have been inclined to initiate. The bill will now go to the Democrat-controlled Senate, which is likely to amend it significantly.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Gary Polakovic and Miguel Bustillo, 31 Jan 2002 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000007808jan31.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dscience>
only in Grist: All I really need to know about reducing greenhouse emissions I learned in kindergarten -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha021901.stm?source=daily>
DANUBE BLUES
The Danube River in Europe may be blue, but it's not very green -- and its environmental problems are slated to get even worse, the World Wildlife Fund warns in a report being released today. More than 80 percent of the river's wetlands and flood plains have already been destroyed in the name of flood protection, agriculture, power production, and shipping, the report says. Now, plans to deepen parts of the channel for new shipping routes and construct additional canals and dams could endanger what remains. WWF says the changes would alter or destroy almost a million acres of protected river sites in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria. The group says the governments should look instead to technological improvements in ships and navigation.
straight to the source: Boston Globe, Associated Press, Susanna Loof, 30 Jan 2002 <http://www.boston.com/dailynews/030/world/Group_says_plans_for_shipping_:.shtml>
A GOOD DEED
The U.S. took a significant step toward acquiring its 57th national park yesterday when the Nature Conservancy announced that it had signed an agreement to purchase historic Baca Ranch, which borders Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve. Conservationists have long lobbied for national park status for the area, which includes the tallest sand dunes in North America. In 2000, the Clinton administration authorized purchase of the 151-square-mile ranch and creation of the national park. The Nature Conservancy paid $31.3 million -- its most expensive acquisition ever in the Rocky Mountain West -- and will turn the deed over to the federal government. The area is expected to become a national park by 2005.
straight to the source: Denver Post, Mark H. Hunter, 31 Jan 2002 <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E370396,00.html>
do good: Take action to increase funding for National Parks <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/forests.asp?source=daily#natlparks>
GENERALLY STALLED MOTORS
General Motors Corp. is not doing nearly enough to improve the fuel economy of its vehicles, according to a report released yesterday. That might not seem like news, but the organization that released the report, the Boston-based Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, has been consulting with GM for almost 10 years and has been praised by the company in the past for being industry-savvy and reasonable in its expectations. The report notes that although GM has made some environmental progress by improving fuel efficiency in certain vehicles and reducing pollution at its factories, those gains have been offset by the rise in popularity of highly fuel-inefficient sport utility vehicles. The report comes at a time when the Bush administration and Congress are considering toughening the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.
straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Ball, 30 Jan 2002 (access ain't free) <http://online.wsj.com/article/0,4286,SB1012360811708836440,00.html>
only in Grist: A week in the life of Bob Massie, executive director of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/massie091800.stm?source=daily>
do good: Take action and demand fuel-efficient cars <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/autos.asp?source=daily#cafe>
NORTON HEARS A HOOT
The Bush administration will ask Congress for $100 million to fund a program to encourage joint conservation efforts between private and public landowners. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who is announcing the program today in Pennsylvania, called the "Cooperative Conservation Initiative" an effort to "empower a new generation of citizen-conservationists." Under the initiative, the government will dole out money for conservation projects when there are matching in-kind or financial contributions; the exact details of the budget will be revealed next week. Some environmentalists are skeptical: The executive director of the Sierra Club, Carl Pope, said the program sounded like it was "being funded at the expense of the basic legal obligations of the Department of the Interior."
straight to the source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Associated Press, 30 Jan 2002 <http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/ap/jan02/ap-budget-private-013002.asp>
WEEPING AND RAILING
Convinced that "potentially significant" environmental problems could be avoided, federal regulators yesterday approved the largest railroad construction project in recent history. The project, a $1.4 billion, 900-mile line linking Wyoming coal fields to the Mississippi River, was okayed after the Surface Transportation Board, a branch of the Department of Transportation, imposed 147 conditions to protect water, wildlife, and air quality. The impetus for the project comes from an anticipated boom in coal mining in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, which could produce more than 500 million tons of coal by 2010. If the project is completed, dozens of trains per day, each with at least 100 cars, would run through South Dakota's Buffalo Gap National Grassland and Wyoming's Thunder Basin National Grassland. Critics say they plan to sue to stop construction.
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Associated Press, 30 Jan 2002 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/696617.asp>
only in Grist: Methane to their madness -- coal bed methane extraction threatens other parts of Wyoming, too -- by Hal Clifford <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/clifford010902.asp?source=daily>
2/4/02
5:14:28 PM
The Nation
"Rolling into this seaside, heavily industrialized but quite elegant town, you know you are a long, long way from Seattle, Quebec, DC or Genoa. The Workers Party city and state governments have rolled out the red carpets, so to speak, for the expected 70,000 Forum attendees."
Read Nation contributing editor Marc Cooper's daily dispatches from the second annual meeting of the World Social Forum in Brazil. He'll be filing regular web reports from the streets, halls and restaurants of Porto Alegre, a city governed by a leftist administration, which has offered itself as gracious host, promoter and partial underwriter of this week's WSF.
Exclusively available at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=cooper20020130
And watch The Nation's special World Economic Forum/World Social Forum resource page for articles, links and activist resources. All available at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/2002wef.mhtml
You can also check out The Nation's site for new editorials, columns, articles and reports on a wide-range of other topics, including Enron, Afghanistan, the State of the Union Address, the Middle East, Huey Freeman, and much more. All available now at:
2/4/02
5:13:26 PM
MOJOURNAL
NEW ON MOTHERJONES.COM
* Call Waiting * - Enron may be the current icon for how far corporate braggadocio and political connections can take a company, but Global Crossing isn't far behind.
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/updates.html
* Restricted Access * - Why are journalists' requests for George W. Bush's gubernatorial documents being met with lengthy delays?
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/bush_documents.html
* Testing Protest in New York * - Anti-globalization activists will be back on the streets at the World Economic Forum meeting in New York -- but will militant tactics backfire in a city still reeling from Sept. 11?
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/wef.html
* No Assurances * - Are California authorities giving a free pass to a former Michael Milken crony who helped to gut an insurance company, leaving thousands of policyholders to pick up the pieces?
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/insurance.html
* News Beat * - WEF activists smeared?; Israeli dissidents; queer Kandahar; more ...
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/news_beat.html
* Capitol Beat * -Calling Bush's bluff; how the "Axis" played abroad; President Norton?; more ...
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/capitol_beat.html
* Discuss * - Stay off the streets?: Should anti-globalization activists abandon confrontational tactics during the World Economic Forum summit in New York?
http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/WebX?50@@.ee9a2dd
2/4/02
5:12:14 PM
Public Citizen issued the following two press releases this morning:
Jan. 31, 2002
Public Citizen Calls on Government to Seize 10 Products Containing Synthetic Ephedra
Synthetic Compounds in Dietary Supplements Violate Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Public Citizen is asking the government to seize 10 products being marketed on the Internet as dietary supplements because they contain synthetic ephedra. Including synthetic compounds in dietary supplements is expressly prohibited by the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
In a letter sent today to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, Public Citizen names nine dietary supplement manufacturers that are marketing the 10 products. Some even advertise their products as "pharmaceutical grade" compounds.
Ephedra is a dangerous substance associated with more reports of death, heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrhythmia, hypertension and seizure than all other food supplements combined, noted Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group.
"Despite your oft-professed concern for food safety, your Department has been grossly negligent in protecting Americans from what is clearly the most dangerous drug that masquerades as a food supplement, ephedra," Wolfe wrote.
Last June, Canada issued an advisory warning people not to use products containing any form of ephedra. The warning was based partially on adverse event reports received by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In September, Public Citizen and noted clinical pharmacologist Dr. Ray Woosley petitioned Thompson to ban all ephedra supplements. This month, Canada called for a recall of all ephedra products of certain dosages, that are combined with stimulants, or that are marketed for weight control or performance enhancement. This type of a recall would effectively cover all ephedra products currently marketed in the United States.
The 10 products are Adrenalin, Ephedrine 25, Hollywood Cuts, Lipodryl 90, Ephedrol, Phenylkinetics, Overdrive, Adipokinetix, Alphadrine and Meta-Burn Extreme. Public Citizen's letter is available on the Web at
http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7146.
Jan. 31, 2002
World Economic "Forum" Is High-Dollar, U.S.-Europe-Japan Corporate Trade Association, Not a "Dialogue"
WEF Excludes Developing World Attendees and Critics; WEF Founder's Own Foundation Has Ties to Companies That Have WEF Contacts and Contracts, Public Citizen Report Reveals
NEW YORK - Contrary to the image it touts as a being venue for dialogue on the vital issues of the day, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is a high-dollar corporate trade association composed of top brass from mega-corporations who are WEF's members and funders. WEF mainly provides private access for corporate titans to political leaders and shuts out voices of those who question its corporate globalization agenda, according to a Public Citizen analysis in a report released today.
Further, the Public Citizen analysis found that a foundation established by the WEF's founder hasholdings in companies whose businesses benefit from WEF contracts and contacts with key WEF members.
The WEF is meeting this week in New York, ostensibly to "engage top leaders from different segments of global society" on global issues, according to its Web site. But the meetings will go forward without representatives from key non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in both developing and developed countries. (They will be holding a counter-meeting at the World Social Forum, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to strategize on alternatives that can provide more equitable and democratic outcomes. For more information, see
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/eng/.)
Nor does the WEF represent the world. Despite the organization's claims, the analysis of WEF's board members and attendees shows that they come primarily from Europe, the United States and Japan. Members on both its guiding boards - the Forum Board of Directors and the sister Council Board of Directors - are overwhelmingly white European and American men, the analysis shows.
"The World Economic Forum is not what it purports to be," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "These corporate elites are hardly the people we want steering the global trade agenda. The WEF lacks the diversity of opinion necessary for an open and honest debate. It appears designed to reinforce preconceived notions and reach a predetermined conclusion -- that is, to further the interests of corporations in trade while shutting out the concerns of environmentalists, health advocates and public interest groups."
Founded in 1971 by Klaus M. Schwab, the organization limits its membership to just 1,000 of the world's top corporations. Member companies must have annual revenues of more than $1 billion.
The WEF's annual meetings provide intimate venues for corporate executives to hobnob with politicians, including presidents, prime ministers and members of royalty. Executives who attend the invitation-only meetings network can arrange face-to-face meetings in quick succession that otherwise would take months to arrange. A series of regionally focused meetings that occur between annual summits are designed to provide a more intimate opportunity for business leaders to meet local government leaders and regulators and challenge local laws and regulatory oversight. Credentialed members of the media seeking to cover the WEF are kept out of many events.
Yet what goes on behind those closed doors can have a profound effect on policy. For instance, the WEF takes credit for launching the Uruguay Round of negotiations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and helping create the World Trade Organization (WTO). This year it will feature discussions about the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement.
This year, summit participants are disproportionately from Europe, the United States and the Middle East. Most delegations from Africa are small, and just four Central American delegations are coming, even though the FTAA NAFTA expansion is prominent on the agenda.
Further, many NGOs are noticeably absent. NGO representatives who participated in the 2000 meeting and were critical of the WEF weren't invited back in 2001. And many 2001 NGO participants -- key civil society leaders such as Martin Khor of the Third World Network in Malaysia, Vandana Shiva of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in India and Jeremy Rifkin of the Foundation on Economic Trends -- weren't invited this year. (Public Citizen, which attended in 2001, was not invited.)
Others, such as Greenpeace, rejected WEF invitations in protest. The Public Citizen report exposes an exchange initiated by Amnesty International's then-Executive Director Pierre Sane and the WEF's Schwab protesting the WEF's treatment of NGOs and peaceful protesters at its last meeting.
"People who question the WEF's agenda and demanded civil liberties and basic democratic rights clearly are unwelcome," Wallach said.
Finally, the study shows how the holdings of the WEF president's own family foundation have benefitted from the cozy business contacts with WEF members, partners and the WEF itself. For example, WEF President Schwab sits on the board of Swiss bank holding company Vontobel, which underwrote the initial public offering of Swiss software company Think Tools, where Schwab also was on the board of directors. Virtually all of Think Tools clients were WEF members in 2000. Think Tools provided Internet banking software for Vontobel, whose contract was terminated for substantial losses in 2001.
A copy of Public Citizen's report is available at
http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7147
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org
2/4/02
5:10:32 PM
An Islamic woman is fighting a decision by the state of Florida to deny her a driver's license because she refused to remove her veil for the identification picture.
Sultaana Freeman says her religion forbids her from revealing her face to strangers.
Freeman had a Florida driver's license until Dec. 17 when the state revoked it because she refused to allow examiners to take her photograph without a veil that shows only her eyes and forehead.
"It was not a problem until after Sept. 11," said civil liberties attorney Howard Marks, referring to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington. He filed a petition in circuit court in Orlando on Jan. 17 seeking to overturn the decision. He said similar regulations have been overturned in Indiana, Colorado and Nebraska.
Marks is centering his approach on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1998, which was passed to shore up provisions of the Florida Constitution regarding free exercise of religion.
But state officials are not backing down. "Florida law requires a full facial view of a person on their driver's license photo," said Robert Sanchez of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. "We have no choice but to enforce it."
Freeman said when she lived in Illinois, she had no problem with her driver's license. She said she was photographed with her veil.
2/4/02
5:06:14 PM
THE OLD COLLEGE TRY
A nationwide poll by the University of California at Los Angeles indicates more college freshmen describe themselves as politically liberal than at any time since the Vietnam War.
The researchers measured liberalism by asking students to describe their political views and take positions on certain benchmark issues. More than one-third -- the highest rate since 1980 -- say marijuana should be legalized, although 75 percent also say employers should be allowed to require drug tests of workers and applicants. A record 57.9 percent think it should be legal for gay couples to marry. And 32.2 percent say the death penalty should be abolished, which is the strongest showing for that position in 20 years.
Still, about half of the class's members, in line with their recent predecessors, view themselves as "middle of the road" politically. And 20.7 percent consider themselves conservative or "far right," while 29.9 percent -- the highest figure since 1975 -- say they are liberal or "far left."
2/4/02
5:02:48 PM
Nuclear Plants Targeted
By Bill Gertz
U.S. intelligence agencies have issued an internal alert that Islamic terrorists are planning another spectacular attack to rival those carried out on September 11. The detailed warning was issued within the past two weeks in a classified report that said one target was a U.S. nuclear power plant or one of the Energy Department's nuclear facilities. The alert was based on sensitive intelligence gathered overseas that revealed discussions among terrorism suspects. The latest warning was similar to other terrorist threats that prompted public alerts in October and December.
Officials familiar with the report said it contained six potential methods and targets of attack, among them:
•A bombing or airline attack on a nuclear power plant or other U.S. nuclear facility, such as a weapons storage depot, designed to cause mass casualties and spread deadly radiological debris.
•A bombing against a U.S. warship in Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, where some 20 ships are based. The attack would be similar to the October 2000 suicide bombing attack on the USS Cole.
•Another airliner attack on a building using a hijacked commercial jet as a suicide bomber.
•A vehicle bombing in Yemen. Authorities in Yemen, acting on intelligence gathered by the United States in Afghanistan, recently averted a car bombing of the U.S. Embassy in San'a by finding the explosives-laden vehicle.
A public alert had been issued Jan. 14 that said al Qaeda terrorists were planning an attack in Yemen. President Bush said in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night that U.S. intelligence agencies had uncovered plans of U.S. nuclear power plants at terrorist bases in Afghanistan, an indication attacks on the facilities were planned.
"We have found diagrams of American nuclear power plants and public water facilities, detailed instructions for making chemical weapons, surveillance maps of American cities, and thorough descriptions of landmarks in America and throughout the world," Mr. Bush said.
"What we have found in Afghanistan confirms that — far from ending there — our war against terror is only beginning," he said.
A defense official said yesterday that intelligence gained from Afghanistan had led to the thwarting of three terrorist attacks, including the arrests of terrorists in Singapore and Yemen. A third operation is still "being rolled up," the official said.
"We have been getting a lot of indications [of an attack] but no specific threat information," the official said. Yemen's foreign minister, Abubaker al-Qirbi, told The Washington Post on Wednesday that authorities in Yemen have tracked down two key al Qaeda suspects in that country. Mr. al-Qirbi said Yemen was working to capture a group of suspects wanted by the United States for questioning about their links to Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11 attacks.
A U.S. intelligence official said the intelligence community is constantly receiving new threat data.
"It's a heightened threat environment, and we get threat information on a regular basis," this official said. No public announcement has been made of an impending terrorist attack based on recent assessments. But the information related to a potential new attack first came to the attention of intelligence agencies last week, officials said. The last time the Bush administration issued a public warning of a potential terrorist attack was Dec. 3, when Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge announced that Americans should be alert to the danger of an attack. It was the second such warning.
"We remain on alert," Ridge spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday, adding that the FBI also has issued a warning to law enforcement around the country to remain on high alert through March 11.
"Subsequent warnings for heightened vigilance around utilities, nuclear power plants, water treatment plants were issued a couple of weeks ago," Mr. Johndroe said in an interview. "The threat remains, and therefore we remain on alert."
Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday, in releasing a photograph of a suspected suicide terrorist, that "I want to advise the public to exercise vigilance and common sense in the face of the terrorism threat."
On Jan. 17, Mr. Ashcroft released photographs of five al Qaeda terrorists whose statement made on videotapes found in Afghanistan "suggest future terrorist acts, specifically suicide attacks."
Energy Department spokeswoman Lisa Cutler said security has been stepped up at nuclear-weapons facilities throughout the United States since September 11.
In San Francisco yesterday, security guards detected bomb residue on the shoes of a passenger seeking to pass through a security checkpoint. The man disappeared before he could be questioned.
On Dec. 22, Richard C. Reid, a British national linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network, was arrested after he tried to light the fuse of an explosives-laden shoe on a Paris-to-Miami flight, authorities said.
Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020131-617330.htm
2/4/02
4:52:52 PM
MIKE RUPPERT GIVEN A STANDING OVATION
TORONTO - [FTW, January 20, 2002 - Posted to the Web, January 25, 2002]
Near capacity crowds turned out in the 500 seat auditorium of the University of Toronto's medical school for two lectures by FTW publisher Michael Ruppert as he continues to use government documents, insider books and reports, congressional records, and mainstream press reports to expose US government complicity in and foreknowledge of the attacks of last September 11th.
"We didn't know how Canadians would react," said the co-organizer of the event Susan Bulger-Bullen of Sumari seminars. "But their interest was high and Mike's detailed and documented evidence was so compelling that I think he's changed Toronto forever, maybe Canada too." The attendance the first day was only around 250-300 because of confusion about the advertised location. However, the second lecture was filled to near capacity in the double-decked auditorium.
"Once the lecture began, the Canadian audience sucked up every bit of evidence Ruppert presented as though they had just discovered water, Bulger-Bullen added. "Nobody moved for five hours."
Using the same basic format as his November 28th lecture at Portland State University, Ruppert presented newer material, including charts from a two-part FTW series by geologist Dale Allen Pfeiffer (December/January) on the coming end of the age of oil and the massive dislocations it is destined to produce. "It is imperative," Ruppert said, "that people know that world oil production will peak within the next five years, never to be exceeded again," said Ruppert. "This, at a time when world population is rapidly increasing and demand, especially in China, the Far East and the developing world, is soaring. This is the reason for the wars that will not end in our lifetimes."
In his two plus hour lecture Ruppert detailed the meshing necessities for the CIA, acting as an agent of globalization, to control both the drug cash and the oil of Central Asia. "People got it when I pointed out that even if we started on a crash program to convert to other energy sources, the civilization could not change away from oil quickly enough to avert the crisis. And when I described the economic dislocations involved, the millions of people who work in the plastics, power, auto and oil industries who would be thrown out of work in such an effort, people understood that this crisis is not going away with wishful thinking. That doesn't even begin to consider all of the money that would be taken out of the economy if those people lost their jobs."
"Mike did an absolutely amazing job and was superbly eloquent," said Dr. Terry Burrows, a Toronto psychiatrist who attended both lectures. "No one in their right mind can see the evidence that he has gathered and not understand that this is a war against all peoples of the world and that the official position is so absurd as to be laughable."
Canada has seen a flurry of legislation stripping the civil rights of its citizens since September 11th. Bills C-36 and C-42 have stripped away many of the rights held sacred in Canada and Canadians are becoming increasingly alarmed since their combat troops have been sent to fight in Afghanistan. Canada is widely known as a quiet nation, more peacekeeper than war maker.
"What helped tremendously here was getting Mike on local talk radio before the event. Canadians tend to be skeptical, but Mike's performance was amazing and the buzz is still continuing. One guy who is writing his doctoral thesis called and said that he would be using Mike's material for research," said co-organizer Loretta Stirbys. "If we had him back here today we could bring out a thousand people with no effort. I mean they gave him a standing ovation and kept him going for almost three hours with questions after the lecture. There were as many people there at the end as when he began. Emails are still flying all over Canada."
Mike lectures next at Schreiner University in Kerrville west Texas on January 30th. Additional lectures are pending or confirmed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Detroit, New York City, Great Britain and Australia. Information will be posted on the FTW web site.
Photos of the Toronto event are available with this story at http://www.copvcia.com.
2/4/02
4:51:49 PM
Smallpox vaccine never tested in clinical trials
From: http://www.909shot.com
NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER RELEASES SMALLPOX REPORT OPPOSING BIOTERRORISM FORCED VACCINATION PLAN
Washington, D.C. - The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) today released a comprehensive report on smallpox and smallpox vaccine critical of model state legislation initiated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) militarizing the public health infrastructure during state-declared "public health"emergencies. In the report, which is published in the organization's newsletter, THE VACCINE REACTION and is available at http://www.909shot.com,NVIC calls for full testing of both old and new smallpox vaccines before release because the old smallpox vaccine was never tested in clinical trials and the CDC admits it is so dangerous that it cannot be used on a mass basis today.
In an editorial, NVIC co-founder and president Barbara Loe Fisher criticizes a federal plan urging state health officials to use the state "militia"to arrest, imprison and force vaccination and medication on Americans and be exempt from liability for any injury or death that results. The plan "treats American citizens like runaway slaves in need of subjugation"said NVIC's Fisher. "America should have a sound, workable emergency plan in place in the event of a bioterrorism attack, but not one that places the life and liberty of the majority in the hands of an elite few, who will have the power to take both from citizens without their consent."
GESTAPO ACTIONS
The proposed legislation would also give health officials control of all roads and the power to seize homes, cars, telephones, fuel, food, firearms, prescription drugs and alcohol. It has already been introduced in Massachusetts. A non-profit, educational organization founded in 1982 by parents of vaccine injured children, NVIC serves as a consumer watchdog on vaccine development and policymaking. NVIC advocates the institution of safety and informed consent protections in the mass vaccination system and basic science research into genetic and other biological factors which place some individuals at high risk for vaccine injury and death.
"In addition, today there are many more adults suffering with immune deficiency syndrome, lupus, herpes and other diseases affecting the immune system. Without appropriate safety studies evaluating the risks of a new vaccine in the real world of today, there is no reliable way to predict the potential negative impact on the health of children and adults, especially on the tens of millions of Americans already suffering with chronic autoimmune and neurological disorders. "Health Secretary Orders 300 Million Doses of Vaccine: One month after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson called on industry and government to produce and stockpile 300 million doses of vaccinia virus vaccine by the end of 2002. He said that all Americans should know they "have their name on a vaccine shot in our inventory." Cost estimates range from $500 million to nearly $2 billion. In order to be able to accomplish this goal, some in industry are calling for cutting the number of participants in vaccine trials and bypassing standard safety and efficacy requirements to quickly create a stockpile of vaccine.
"Industry Asks for Immunity From Lawsuits: Drug companies competing for the multi-million dollar contract to produce enough vaccinia virus vaccine to vaccinate every American are asking Congress to pass legislation shifting all liability for vaccine injuries and deaths to the American taxpayer.
Already, there are bills being drafted in Congress to create a federal fund to compensate victims of bioterrorism vaccines, such as vaccinia virus vaccine.
2/4/02
4:50:34 PM
Smoking Gun in Enrongate - Let the impeachment begin
01/24/02
Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Curtis Hebert, Jr. is going public with explosive allegations. Hebert says Enron CEO Ken Lay--the largest contributor to George Walker Bush--made improper demands.
When Lay threatened that his close friend Bush, would fire Hebert unless he obeyed, Hebert refused. Lay ordered Bush to fire Hebert, and Bush complied in August 2001. Hebert has been on record about all of this for months, but he recently made a new, even more explosive charge. Hebert says Bush also let Lay INTERVIEW him and other candidates for FERC Chairman in the first place!
In a nutshell: Enron gave Bush $millions to sponsor his rise from a losing Candidate for the US House to the "leader of the free world." In return, Bush gave Enron "hireand fire" authority over the FERC, and performed other favors in return for money. This directly and personally ties Bush to the Enrongate scandal in all its illegality.
Bush betrayed his oath to the American people when he let Ken Lay hand pick regulatory watchdogs we entrusted to prevent the massive meltdown that cost Americans $billions. This makes letting the fox guard the hen house look like tender loving fiduciary care.
This is nothing new for Bush, who fired Texas Funeral Service Commission (TFSC) director Eliza May in retaliation for her investigations of Service Corporation International and its CEO Robert Waltrip. Waltrip--like Enron's Lay--is a longtime Bush patron.
Bush lied under oath regarding this political quid-pro-quo, then he and SCI settled a lawsuit to keep May quiet. Texas taxpayers picked up $155,000 of the hush money tab, while SCI paid May the other $55,000, according to a Dallas Morning News story published 11/09/2001. Texans know this scandal as "Funeralgate."
The Rule of Law requires that Bush testify under oath about Funeralgate, his and his Brother John Ellis Bush's Votergate activities during the 2000 election in Florida, and Enrongate. We already know George Walker Bush has an established pattern of helping his friends and backers evade regulation and possibly even criminal charges!
We must demand action now, because Enron and its accountants at Anderson have been destroying evidence by the box-load. We must know what Bush did, and why he did it.
Enrongate is not just a Bush scandal: this is a Republican scandal. Other top GOP officials like VP Dick Cheney, White House advisor Karl Rove, House Leader Dick Armey and Sen. Phil Gramm also helped Enron plunder and evade regulation. They helped Enron rip off consumers, investors and employees.
Ignore Republican and media efforts to spin this as a business scandal or a bipartisan scandal. This is not about the generous, but legal contributions Enron made: 73% to Republicans, 27% to Democrats. This is a GOP political scandal because Republicans helped Enron pay no taxes in four out of five years, while hiding profits in offshore accounts. Despite the hype, no Democrat did anything of the sort.
Even with all these special favors, golden boy Ken Lay ran Enron into the ground. Adding insult to injury, if not perfidy to perjury, the Republican "stimulus porkage" aims to give Enron and Lay even MORE of your tax money.
This Republican scandal exposes GOP corruption at the highest levels, but more profoundly, it reveals the bankruptcy of the GOP "government is the problem" ideology. It blows the lid off Bush's Enronomics, and his plan to Enronitize Social Security, energy and other policies.
I am currently working on another article concerning these fundamental failures in Republican philosophy. For now, back to the immediate scandal. Already, Armey and Gramm are quitting politics to escape Enrongate, but ending their careers to enjoy tax-paid pensions may not be enough to satisfy justice and the Rule of Law.
These top Republicans--all outspoken critics of President Clinton's conduct in office--should welcome full-scale investigations into their own apparent influence pedling. As should House Whip Tom DeLay, VP Cheney, George Walker Bush, and other GOP leaders. As should Ken Lay, Sen. Gramm's wife Wendy--a former regulator turned Enron board member.
If they broke the law, they should pay the penalty. That's been the Republican mantra for nearly a decade. Let them prove they meant it by volunteering to testify before the US Senate--under oath, on national television. If they're innocent, what do they have to fear? They should welcome the opportunity to come clean or set the record straight.
Despite their nonstop pontificating about others' lacking accountability, I'm not confident these Republicans will step up and do the right thing. We must take it upon ourselves to demand justice and uphold the Rule of Law. Call the media and your elected officials NOW to make sure they understand the real issues in Enrongate, Funeralgate, and Votergate.
Let the investigations, perhaps even impeachment begin!
Mike Hersh is a contributing writer for Liberal Slant: http://fp.enter.net/~haney/
ENRON-BUSH-WTC-OIL-CONNECTION - Part I of III
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/enron_bush.htm
Bush: No 'Fishing' For Info Allowed in Enron Debacle
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=16585
MURDER + ENRON-BUSH-WTC-OIL-CONNECTION
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=17067
The Enron Web - Arthur Andersen Consultant Shot Dead In Dec.
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=17075
Harris County medical examiner fined for illegal autopsier
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=17068
Complaint against Defendants: ENRON
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=17073
`In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.'
http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html
SEE ALSO:
Cheney Says Won't Turn Over List of Energy Meetings
http://www.truthout.com/01.28A.Cheney.No.htm
Why Did an Exec Who'd Sounded the Alarm Kill Himself?
http://www.truthout.com/01.28B.Climbing.Walls.htm
Friends in High Places
http://www.truthout.com/01.28C.WP.High.Places.htm
Despite His Qualms, Scandal Engulfed Executive
http://www.truthout.com/01.28D.Baxter.Qualms.htm
Sierra Club Files Suit Against Cheney's Energy Task Force
http://www.truthout.com/01.28F.Sierra.Cheney.htm
GAO Vows to Sue For Cheney Files | Hill Probes Enron Influence on Task Force
http://www.truthout.com/01.27C.GAO.Vows.htm
The Woman Who Saw Red | Enron Whistle-Blower Sherron Watkins Warned of the Trouble to Come
http://www.truthout.com/01.27F.Saw.Red.htm
2/4/02
4:46:39 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)
97,000 ACRES PROTECTED FOR NEW NATIONAL PARK
By Cat Lazaroff
DENVER, Colorado, January 30, 2002 (ENS) - The nation's newest national park drew closer to reality today, as the Nature Conservancy signed an agreement to buy the Baca Ranch, an unbroken stretch of 97,000 acres in Colorado. The announcement culminates years of efforts to protect the San Luis Valley and its unique wildlife as the Great Sand Dunes National Park.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-30-06.html
VARIETY OF SPECIES BEST FOR ECOSYSTEMS
COLLEGE PARK, Maryland, January 30, 2002 (ENS) - The health of an ecosystem depends on the variety of species that inhabit it, suggests new research from the University of Maryland. The researchers say the discovery could revolutionize how scientists look at the effects of species extinction.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-30-07.html
INVEST NOW IN ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC HEALTH, CLINTON WARNS
BERKELEY, California, January 30, 2002 (ENS) - Globalization has created a "world without walls," an "explosion of democracy and diversity within democracy," former President Bill Clinton told an enthusiastic audience at the University of California- Berkeley on Tuesday.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-30-01.html
DENMARK TO SLASH ENVIRONMENTAL SPENDING
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, January 30, 2002 (ENS) - Large cuts in Danish spending on environmental policy making and aid to developing countries were confirmed yesterday in a draft 2002 budget unveiled by the government. The supplementary proposal follows the victory of center-right parties in elections last November.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-30-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JANUARY 30, 2002
Bush May Designate National Monument in Utah
USFWS Administrator Confirmed by Senate
Mercury Phaseouts Challenged in New Report
Lawsuit Will Challenge EPA Over Pesticide Use
Point Reyes Management Gets Middling Review
USFWS Revisits Decision on Rock Creek Mine
Earthquake Monitors Installed at Winter Olympics Site
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-30-09.html
2/4/02
4:37:16 PM
"We understand why children are afraid of darkness,
but why are men afraid of light?"
Plato
2/4/02
4:36:26 PM
t r u t h o u t
COPY GAO's Decision to Sue White House
http://www.truthout.com/01.31A.GAO.2.Sue.htm
Waxman-Dingell in a 10 Page Letter Press Again for Full Disclosure
http://www.truthout.com/01.31B.Wax.Dingell.htm
Congressman Bob Filner Calls for a Special Prosecutor
http://www.truthout.com/01.31C.Filner.SP.htm
Don't Go There: Bush Asks Daschle to Limit Sept. 11 Probes
http://www.truthout.com/01.31D.Dont.go.There.htm
William Rivers Pitt | A Running Diary of the State of the Union Address
http://www.truthout.com/01.31E.WP.STOU.htm
Enron Says Shredding of Records Was Not Stopped Until Recently
http://www.truthout.com/01.31F.Enron.Shreading.htm
Republicans Divide Over Disclosing Information
http://www.truthout.com/01.31G.GOP.no.GAO.htm
2/4/02
4:35:11 PM
E-WIRE ENVIRONMENTAL PRESS RELEASES
Environmental Solutions Worldwide Inc. Announce the addition of Key Staff at its Wholly Owned Subsidiary, ESW America Inc.
TELFORD, PENNSYLVANIA, Jan. 30-/E-Wire/-- Environmental Solutions Worldwide, Inc. (ESW) (OTCBB: ESWW), a company that develops, ,manufactures, and sells environmental technologies, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary ESW America has hired Mr. Robert Simkovic as President and Dr. K.M. Vijayakumar as the head of ESW America's research and development department.
http://www.ewire-news.com/wires/0CD56408-B701-4913-94201AB11E791D94.htm
New Steels Can Help Vehicles Achieve Five-Star Crash Rating, Double Fuel Economy at No Additional Cost
DETROIT, MI, Jan. 30-/E-Wire/-- Greater use by automakers of new grades of Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS) will provide an unprecedented, high level of crash safety performance at no cost increase, according to a new study from the global steel industry.
http://www.ewire-news.com/wires/BCD15E2B-86FF-48A1-8FBCCA97F0370249.htm
George Bush's Former Oil Firm Threatens Important Nesting Sites for Endangered Atlantic Green and Leatherback Sea Turtles in Costa Rica
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA, Jan. 30-/E-Wire/-- Texas oil company Harken Energy Corporation is vigorously seeking the approval of the Government of Costa Rica to exploit petroleum and natural gas off the Costa Rican Caribbean port of Moin, Limón.
http://www.ewire-news.com/wires/C3F2E048-894C-4176-BD8FAFC7B40FCA3C.htm
Nuclear Solutions, Inc. Appoints Don Hunsaker to Executive Advisory Board
MERIDIAN, IDAHO, Jan. 30-/E-Wire/-- Nuclear Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB:NSOL) announces the appointment of Don Hunsaker II, PhD, to the Executive Advisory Board.
http://www.ewire-news.com/wires/DB256807-430F-44C0-98D78F82FCAD1051.htm
2/4/02
4:32:33 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
US to press China on biotech food rules next week - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14293/story.htm
UPDATE - US storm spreads ice, snow across 14 states - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14294/story.htm
GAO filing suit against White House - sources - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14295/story.htm
Bush makes scant mention of energy plan in speech - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14300/story.htm
NYC Council seeks cut in power plant CO2 emissions - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14303/story.htm
Europe set for years of wet winters - scientists - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14301/story.htm
EU recycling rules freeze UK's fridge mountain - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14302/story.htm
Russia says no compromise in EU air traffic talks - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14304/story.htm
Greenpeace mulls action against Romanian imposter - ROMANIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14296/story.htm
Kuwait to seek Iranian gas after Qatari deal - KUWAIT http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14299/story.htm
INTERVIEW - German MVV eyes more local firms, renewables - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14291/story.htm
More tests needed on gene crops-French food agency - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14298/story.htm
Olympics-Beijing forms body to fight graft ahead of 2008 Games - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14297/story.htm
Pacific Hydro targets Chile power project - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14292/story.htm
2/4/02
4:30:14 PM
Men carrying pollutant have more boys - US study
by Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent, January 30, 2002
WASHINGTON - Men who have higher levels of polluting chemicals known as PCBs in their bodies are slightly more likely to father boys, researchers said.
The researchers at Michigan State University said their study showed that human beings can be affected sexually by the chemicals, which cause sex-related defects in animals. "We do not wish to say that having a baby boy is bad. It's just that there were more of them," Wilfried Karmaus, a epidemiologist who led the study, said in a statement.
"A change in the proportion of boys to girls, however, indicates that environmental contaminants may play a role in human reproduction."
PCBs are endocrine disruptors - chemicals that act like hormones. They and related chemicals known as dioxins are reported to have caused deformities of sexual organs in fish and alligators.
In humans both dioxins and PCBs can cause cancer, infertility and perhaps other sexual changes. Vietnam veterans exposed to dioxin in Agent Orange, used to strip foliage in the jungle, claim it has caused a variety of ills including cancer and birth defects in their children.
Karmaus used information from studies of men and women who liked to fish in the Great Lakes, which are polluted with a range of chemicals.
"They were recruited by the Michigan Department of Community Health,' Karmaus said in a telephone interview. Their blood levels of PCBs and other chemicals were measured.
The 101 families they studied had children born after 1963, and both mother and father had detectable PCBs in their blood. There was a total of 208 children.
Of these, 57 percent were boys, which is a slight increase of the normal trend of about 51 percent. Usually, 105 boys are born for every 100 girls.
"However, we did not detect that the PCB levels of mothers affected the number of boys or girls," Karmaus said.
Writing in the January issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Karmaus stressed that his sample was small, meaning he worked with too few people to have a good idea of what the numbers meant.
He noted that other studies had showed conflicting findings. One after a dioxin accident in Italy in 1976 found people who were exposed had more girls than boys. "Then there are the Army servicemen who were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam war. They found fewer girls and more boys," Karmaus said.
PCBs can come from many different industrial sources including hydraulic fluids and oils, electrical capacitors and transformers.
Source: http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14287/story.htm
1/30/02
8:15:30 PM
To see direct giving to politicians broken down into the top 25 industries, go to:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/index.asp
1/30/02
8:14:43 PM
Parable of the rushed Samaritan
Nearly 30 years a study was conducted at Princeton designed to figure out the conditions under which good people would act for good, or at least be helpful.
Two psychologists asked seminarians to walk over to another building on campus to give a short speech, either about their motives for studying theology or about the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. The psychologists had planted an actor along the way, stumped over, coughing and obviously in bad shape. The two experimenters had led half of the students to believe that they were late for their speaking appointment, and half that they had ample time. So, taking into account what they were thinking about on the way (theology versus the Good Samaritan) as well as how much time they had, what do you think determined whether students would help the man in need?
Contrary to expectations, the content of the speech made no difference. People asked to give either speech, including the Good Samaritan, were no different in how many stopped to help. What mattered a great deal, by contrast, was whether students were in a hurry. Of those who were told that they were in a hurry, only 10 percent stopped to help. Of those told that they had plenty of time, 60 percent stopped to help.
Are you always in a rush? What might be the message for you?
1/30/02
8:14:11 PM
"Science may have found a cure for most evils;
but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all
the apathy of human beings."
Helen Keller
1/30/02
8:13:33 PM
Chechnya: More Blood for Oil - by Karen Talbot
http://www.covertaction.org/full_text_69_03.htm
1/30/02
8:12:56 PM
TomPaine.com
OUR LATEST OP AD:
THE CHEATING OF AMERICA
Think Enron and Andersen Are Exceptions? Think Again.
The Enron-Arthur Andersen scandal exposes, among other things, the shady world of tax evasion. Enron paid no income tax in four of the past five years -- it was able to transfer its assets among 881 subsidiaries that were set up abroad in tax-sheltered countries.
Enron is not alone. Every year, thousands of the biggest corporations and the wealthiest individuals pay no income tax, thanks to help from accounting companies, law firms and Wall Street brokerages -- and often with a wink and nod from Washington. The result: the rest of us must cover for the tax dodgers: $195 billion annually, or $1,600 per taxpayer.
THE CHEATING OF AMERICA, a book by Charles Lewis, Bill Allison, and the Center for Public Integrity (Harperperennial Library), takes a hard look at this tax-shirking epidemic and reports that the IRS is decreasing enforcement and prosecution.
READ OUR OP AD:
http://www.tompaine.com/op_ads/opad.cfm?ID=5060
AND READ THESE RELATED ARTICLES:
EQUAL UNDER THE LAW?
What About Enforcement?
by Charles Lewis, Center for Public Integrity A look at the people and companies who have benefited and profited handsomely from the American economy and quality of life, but who have chosen to opt out of the system.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=4197
PERFECTLY LEGAL
Taking Advantage Of Holes In The Revenue Net
by Bill Allison, Center for Public Integrity
How the super rich avoid paying taxes and you don't.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=4196
CHRYSLER OPTED OUT OF TAXES
Adapted From "The Cheating Of America"
by Bill Allison
How one of America's largest car dealers accepted help from the American people then stabbed them in the back.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=4190
THE BILLIONAIRE WHO BOUGHT A BANK -- AND PAID NO TAXES
Adapted From "The Cheating Of America"
by Bill Allison
A case study in how to legally avoid paying taxes. If you're a millionaire, that is.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=4189
TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH
A Question of Morality
by Robert Apfel
If the United States was a perfect place to live, giving tax breaks to the rich wouldn't be such a bad idea. But since it's not, not only are tax breaks for the rich a bad idea, it borders on immoral.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=4191
STATE OF THE UNION: CORRUPT
by Publicus
Our roving observer muses: Then As Now... God Bless Sherron Watkins... Tommy, Teddy And Tepid Opposition... Here Comes 2004.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5063
BREAKING WITH HISTORY
An Interview With Joseph Thorndike
by Steven Rosenfeld
President Bush's State of the Union speech called for major new defense spending and for a tax-cut based economic stimulus plan -- making Bush the first wartime president in generations to seek a tax cut.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5065
PESTICIDE WARS, CONTINUED
When Agriculture and Public Health Collide
by Karen Charman
Floridians say the state's medfly erradication program made people sick, and that it didn't have to be that way.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5064
A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS IN MASSACHUSETTS?
An Interview With Rick Klein of The Boston Globe
by Steven Rosenfeld
A Massachusetts Supreme Court decision last week has brought the state to the brink of a constitutional crisis. In forceful terms, the Court ordered intransigent legislators to fund a campaign finance reform law passed by voters in 1999, but that the lawmakers don't like and have tried to squash.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5056
A NEW, NEW WORLD ORDER?
An Interview With Dennis Brutus
by Jennifer Bauduy
What is the future of the global justice movement? "This really is a global struggle. It is happening in Bolivia, in Kenya, in Argentina, all over the world. It's coming from the grassroots."
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5062
1/30/02
8:11:54 PM
NASA just issued an alert for falling space debris. The space agency warned residents of a vast swath of Earth from South Florida to Australia that heavy chunks of a dying, 3 1/2-ton satellite could strike the region tonight or Thursday.
Engineers said that as many as nine pieces of debris weighing up to 100 pounds each could survive as NASA's Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer plunges through the atmosphere. The space junk could hit an area bordered by Orlando on the north and Brisbane, Australia, on the south.
That includes all of South Florida, as well as Mexico City, Caracas and Bogotá. The debris field could stretch over 625 miles, but NASA said the odds favored impact in unpopulated areas.
``The probability of the few EUVE surviving pieces falling into a populated area and hurting someone is very small,'' said Ronald Mahmot, a NASA project manager. ``It is more likely that the small pieces will fall into the ocean or fall harmlessly to the ground.''
1/30/02
8:11:16 PM
DAILY GRIST <http://www.gristmagazine.com>
ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO THROW A FIT ABOUT. Make sure your family and friends are as anxious about the environment as you are. Send a warm, cheery message asking them to sign up to get Grist by Email at <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/signup/tell_pal.asp?source=daily>
GIRLS WILL BE BOYS
Environmental toxins are disrupting human biology at the most basic level: reproduction. That was the conclusion of researchers at Michigan State University, who found that men with higher levels of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were more like to father boys than girls. PCBs are known to cause sex-related defects in animals (although the researchers were quick to explain that boys are not, technically speaking, sex-related defects) and are also linked to cancer and infertility. The study examined men who had high levels of PCBs in their blood due to eating fish caught in the heavily contaminated Great Lakes. Interestingly, PCB levels in mothers did not seem to affect the gender of the child.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Maggie Fox, 30 Jan 2002 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14287/story.htm>
straight to the source: Toronto National Post, Joseph Brean, 29 Jan 2002 <http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020129/1270309.html>
AT LEAST THEIR BREASTS WON'T CATCH FIRE
But mothers have something else to worry about. Scientists and environmentalists are calling for a ban on a chemical flame retardant that has been shown to accumulate in breast milk. The chemical, polybrominated diphenyl ether, or PBDE, is commonly used in foam furniture and plastics to reduce risk of fire by up to 45 percent, according to manufacturers. But PBDE, like PCBs and DDT, is a persistent organic pollutant (POP) that bioaccumulates in the environment and in body fat. In 1998, Swedish scientists found that levels of PBDE in Swedish woman's breast milk had increased 40-fold since 1972; in December, a study found that North American mothers had levels of PBDE 40 times that of the Swedes -- an amount researchers called "humongously high." The exact health effects are unknown. The most dangerous variety of the chemical will be banned in Europe beginning next year; whether the U.S. will follow suit is uncertain.
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Associated Press, 29 Jan 2002 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/695907.asp>
only in Grist: Swede dreams are made of these -- Sweden takes big steps to ban chemicals -- by Donella Meadows <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/citizen/citizen121500.stm?source=daily>
do good: Take action to ratify a treaty to phase out POPs <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/toxic.asp?source=daily#pops>
YOU GOTTA HAVE FAITH
And speaking of environmentally sensitive moms and pops: How does being an environmentalist affect the decision to have a baby, and how does the environment at large affect the prenatal environment? Those questions are central to Sandra Steingraber's "Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood." Reviewer and prospective mother Jonna Higgins-Freese looks at Steingraber's contribution to the small but growing genre of environmental parenting books, only on the Grist Magazine website.
only in Grist: Oh, baby! -- a review of "Having Faith" -- in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books013002.asp?source=daily>
SHARK SKIN SUIT
Last summer, they were are our worst enemy; now they need a best friend. We're talking about sharks, of course. The much-maligned beach marauders are now the subject of a lawsuit filed earlier this week against the U.S. government by environmental organizations. The National Audubon Society, Earthjustice, and the Ocean Conservancy claim the National Marine Fisheries Service has failed to prevent overfishing and rebuild coastal shark populations. The lawsuit also accuses the NMFS of caving to commercial pressure by suspending limits on catching sharks. The animals are becoming increasingly popular menu items, with the result that their numbers are falling fast. One species, the commercially popular sandbar shark, has declined by 80 percent since the 1970s.
straight to the source: CNN.com, Reuters, 29 Jan 2002 <http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/01/29/sharks.reut/index.html>
I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT ENGLAND HAD FOOD
England's food production and farming needs to take a radical turn for the greener, according to a new report by the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food. The commission, which was convened following devastating outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in the U.K., calls for some farm subsidies to be based on conserving the land rather than tilling it. Other recommendations include increasing organic farming, encouraging farmers to sell their goods at cooperatives and farmers markets, and persuading supermarkets to sell locally grown products. Many welcomed the report, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said, "The current situation benefits no one: farmers, taxpayers, consumers, or the environment." The already demoralized farming sector, however, is wary of the proposals, and some consumers fear that implementing them would drive up food prices.
straight to the source: BBC News, 29 Jan 2002 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_1787000/1787329.stm>
1/30/02
8:10:26 PM
DAILY MEDIA NEWS
Breaking news stories about the international media, from mainstream and alternative sources.
http://www.mediachannel.org/news/today/
EXCLUSIVE: Global conflict coverage from Globalvision News Network's 150 international news providers
EXCLUSIVE: News Dissector's Daily Weblog Danny Schechter critiques what's reported - and what's not featuring reader input.
http://www.mediachannel.org/weblog
COVERING THE PLANET: ENVIRONMENTALISM IN A MEDIA WORLD
Environmental issues directly affect our communities, food, health and economic development. But do they get the media treatment they deserve? A special MediaChannel Issue Guide.
http://www.mediachannel.org/atissue/environment
AFGHANISTAN'S RADIO PEACE
A BBC team in Afghanistan finds a hunger for radio as a means toward education and even peace. (From Guardian Unlimited)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#afghanistan
WHERE IS AIDS AMONG A-LIST TOPICS?
The news alphabet features many stories starting with A, but one - AIDS - is often missing. News Dissector Danny Schechter reports on the problem and a project out to fill the gap.
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/missing.shtml
MEDIA VS. DISSENT
As the World Economic Forum descends on New York City, newspapers are portraying activists as trouble-makers and security threats while Indymedia covers the demonstrations from the inside. Plus: On-screen Protesting (From FAIR, Rtmark)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#wef
MEET THE FUTURE: THE PARTICIPATORY INTERNET
Participation sites empower people to do something with the material they find, often collaboratively. Also: A scheme for adding value to computers. (From AllAfrica, NewsTrolls)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#participation
SEPTEMBER 11 BY THE NUMBERS
A study finds U.S. coverage of the war on terrorism heavily favored official views and increasingly presented punditry rather than facts. Plus: How "America" was portrayed in Sept. 11 photos; Editor as critic: a video remix of war coverage (From Project for Excellence in Journalism, Newswatch, GNN)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#911
GRASSROOTS SYNERGY: INTRODUCING MC-NET The MediaChannel Networking and Collaboration E-List: Connect to advice, resources and colleagues across the global network.
http://www.mediachannel.org/mc-net
1/30/02
8:09:53 PM
The Nation
"He sure didn't leave the Democrats much room to maneuver. When George W. Bush delivered his first State of the Union address--a two-ply speech divided between a so-called war on terrorism and a supposed war on the recession--he depicted himself as a Rooseveltian president, as in both (Republican) Teddy and (Democrat) Franklin Delano."
Read the rest of David Corn's debut article for his new Nation web feature, "Capital Games," currently at:
http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3
"Capital Games" will take on the day-by-day political and policy battles in official Washington in regular online reports. With an informed, unconventional perspective, these dispatches will hold the politicians, policymakers and pundits accountable and report the important facts and views that go uncovered elsewhere.
And, for more on last night's State of the Union Address, don't miss the latest installment of John Nichols' exclusive "Online Beat."
JOHN NICHOLS: What's This About "Accountability?" George W. Bush could not bring himself to mention the name Enron in his State of the Union address.
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/index.mhtml?bid=1
THE NATION ON ENRON
George W. Bush didn't mention Enron last night but The Nation certainly has been examining the company's scandal of late. Read The Nation's special online collection of Enron-related reporting by Robert Scheer, David Corn, William Greider, Robert Borosage, Matt Bivens and Chris Floyd. Exclusively available now at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/2002enron.mhtml
THE NATION ON THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
The Nation and the Nation website will be featuring special reports from the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil; from the expected protests in the streets of New York City; and from the suites of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, where the World Economic Forum will be meeting. Watch this space for further info.
You can also find information, including event calendars, regarding expected WEF-related activities in New York City this week at The Nation's new WEF resource page. Currently available at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/2002wef.mhtml
And check out The Nation's site for new editorials, columns, articles and reports on a wide-range of other topics, including the Middle East, Afghanistan, welfare politics, Huey Freeman, the new Congressional session, and much more. All available now at:
1/30/02
8:09:11 PM
Public Citizen
232 Groups Urge Congress to Reject Nuclear Dump
Letter Highlights Conflict of Interest
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A broad coalition of environmental and public interest organizations delivered a letter to Congress today drawing attention to the flawed process that has characterized the Department of Energy's (DOE) Yucca Mountain Project and urging lawmakers to reject the proposal for a high-level nuclear waste dump in Nevada.
The groups also distributed a November report by the DOE Inspector General, which uncovered conflicts of interest involving contractors on the Yucca Mountain Project. According to the report, the law firm Winston & Strawn was simultaneously employed as counsel to the DOE, working on the Yucca Mountain Project, and was registered as a member of and lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the pro-repository nuclear industry trade group.
"Clearly, the DOE has failed to exercise necessary oversight of its contractors, resulting in an apparent pro-industry bias in the agency's site characterization and site recommendation activities," the groups wrote in the letter. "It would be irresponsible for Congress to allow the Yucca Mountain Project to continue without a thorough review of the causes and consequences of contractor conflict of interest that have recently been brought to light."
The letter was endorsed by 22 national organizations, including the Sierra Club, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Indigenous Environmental Network. In addition, 210 regional, local and Native American groups from 50 states and the District of Columbia endorsed the letter. The letter and list of endorsing groups can be viewed online at
http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/nuclear_waste/hi-level/yucca/articles.cfm?ID=7086.
"Advocates for public health, safety and the environment agree that the Yucca Mountain Project is a disaster," said Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist with the Washington-based Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a signatory to the letter. "Far from solving the nuclear waste problem, this irresponsible project would introduce new risks to the state of Nevada and the 44 other states through which nuclear waste would be transported."
Lisa Gue, policy analyst with the national consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, agreed. "An honest process would have shelved this dangerous proposal long ago," she said. "In defense of responsible, accountable government, as well as public health and safety, we are joining with concerned citizens across the country in urging members of Congress to oppose the Yucca Mountain Project."
For more information about Public Citizen and NIRS, please visit http://www.citizen.org and http://www.nirs.org
1/30/02
8:08:24 PM
FIRST AFGHANISTAN, THEN THE WORLD?
Read online, subscribe, or unsubscribe at:
http://www.9-11peace.org/bulletin.php3
1/30/02
8:07:53 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU, FOR ONE YEAR
by Erica Cordova, Ka Le O
-- The House Armed Services Committee is considering a bill that would require everyone registered for the draft to serve up to one year in basic military training and education. The proposed Universal Military Training and Service Act of 2001 demands much and answers little.
THE PRIME-TIME SMEARING OF SAMI AL-ARIAN
by Eric Boehlert, Salon.com
-- Salon.com takes NBC, Fox News, Media General and Clear Channel radio to task for pandering to anti-Arab hysteria and ruining the life of an innocent professor.
REBUILDING NYC
Web Site Review by Kate Garsombke -- A collection of articles from the Gotham Gazette focuses on New York's future and looks at the process of rebuilding.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
1/30/02
8:07:08 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
ATTORNEYS ALLEGE BUSH HAS FAILED TO DEFEND THE ENVIRONMENT
SAN FRANCISCO, California, January 8, 2002 (ENS) - In the first year of George W. Bush's presidency, environmental protections have taken a backseat to industry concerns, according to attorneys who represent environmental groups in court. "Under this administration the courts have become the forum of choice for rolling back environmental protections," Earthjustice Executive Director Buck Parker said today.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-08-01.html
BLOOMING FUTURE PLANNED FOR EU'S FLOWER ECOLABEL
BRUSSELS, Belgium, January 8, 2002 (ENS) - The profile of the European Union's flower ecolabel could rise dramatically under a three year promotional initiative to be published shortly by the European Commission. The plan - formally a commission decision - was adopted by commissioners at the end of December after being endorsed by the EU's 15 member states.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-08-03.html
NEW PARTNERSHIP TO WARD OFF POTENTIAL WATER WARS
PARIS, France, January 8, 2002 (ENS) - To help to avert potential conflicts between nations over the orld's scarce freshwater resources, a former Soviet president who is now an environmental leader has pledged to cooperate with with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-08-02.html
CANADA BETS ON NATURAL GAS FOR CLEAN STATIONARY POWER
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, January 8, 2002 (ENS) - The Canadian government is betting a million dollars that a low emissions natural gas engine can generate the fuel economy and performance of a diesel engine for stationary electric power generation.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-08-04.html
1/30/02
8:06:38 PM
Driven by the force of love the fragments of the world seek each other that the world may come into being".
Teilhard de Chardin
1/30/02
8:05:57 PM
t r u t h o u t
Gov. Jeb Bush's Daughter Charged With Fraud
http://www.truthout.com/01.30A.Noelle.Bush.htm
Bush, Adamant, Won't Disclose Enron Talks
http://www.truthout.com/01.30B.Bush.No.2.htm
Police : Baxter Death Not Necessarily Suicide
http://www.truthout.com/01.30C.Police.Suicide.htm
Accounting Uncertainties Lead to Big Losses on Wall Street
http://www.truthout.com/01.30D.WS.Losses.htm
One Anthrax Answer: Ames Strain Not From Iowa
http://www.truthout.com/01.30E.Anthrax.Ames.htm
Judicial Show and Tell | Senators Gramm and Hutchinson Dig Deep Into Applicants' Political Pasts
http://www.truthout.com/01.30F.Judicial.Show.htm
The Battle Back Home
http://www.truthout.com/01.30G.Back.Home.htm
Congressman Richard A. Gephardt
http://www.truthout.com/01.30AA.Gephardt.Responce.htm
Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.
http://www.truthout.com/01.30AC.Jackson.SOTU.htm
Senator Thomas Daschle
http://www.truthout.com/01.30AB.Daschle.SOTU.htm
1/30/02
8:05:26 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Boffins get choice picks at "rat boutique" - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14279/story.htm
UPDATE - Environmentalists sue US to save sharks - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14280/story.htm
Men carrying pollutant have more boys - US study - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14287/story.htm
US Senate panel to tighten power plant emissions - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14288/story.htm
Farmers find flaws in green vision - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14284/story.htm
Landmine kills two Turkish children - police - TURKEY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14278/story.htm
Elephant to get married - twice - THAILAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14289/story.htm
European tour operators warn Spain on going upmarket - SPAIN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14283/story.htm
Storms kill 10 northern Europe - POLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14286/story.htm
FEATURE - Mysterious 'alien' corn invades Mexico countryside - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14285/story.htm
INTERVIEW - Enel GreenPower to up production 30 pct by 2005 - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14277/story.htm
Israel's Agan invests $5 mln in new plant - ISRAEL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14276/story.htm
UPDATE - Belgian PCB contamination spreads to pigs - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14290/story.htm
Elephant aged 100 crushes keeper - CAMBODIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14275/story.htm
Critics of global capitalism to descend on Brazil - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14282/story.htm
UPDATE - Crew stops fuel leak from U.S. warship off Oman - BAHRAIN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14281/story.htm
1/30/02
8:03:59 PM
Public Citizen
Cadiz Looks to Saudi Prince for Bailout
Cadiz Use of Pending Water Deal to Remedy Shaky Financial Footing Is Further Proof Project is a Bad Idea; Cadiz Head Using Ties to Governor to Strong-Arm State Agency
OAKLAND, Calif. - Cadiz Inc., a California agricultural concern, is seeking a bailout from a foreign prince to maintain its operations. The investor is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud, a member of the Saudi royal family whose $10 million contribution for post-Sept. 11 reconstruction was rejected by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The Cadiz project is a massive enterprise to store Colorado River water in an underground aquifer during wet years and use this and native groundwater to supplement supplies during dry years. Cadiz has access to the aquifer, which also underlies federal land. Environmental groups, members of the scientific community and Public Citizen oppose the Cadiz project on grounds that the rates of water extraction that Cadiz has determined necessary for profitability are unsustainable and therefore not in the public's interest. The project must be approved by the 37-member Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) board of directors if it is to go forward.
But Cadiz is on shaky financial footing; documents show the company has significantly more debt than assets. Its assets are owned primarily by Sun World International Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cadiz, making Cadiz and Sun World virtually the same enterprise.
According to a Jan. 16 Cadiz press release, Cadiz and the Kingdom Agricultural Development Company (KADCO), a private Egyptian company controlled by Prince Alwaleed, reached an initial agreement on that date under which KADCO would buy 49.75 percent of Sun World. Cadiz and its chairman would retain Sun World's remaining 50.25 percent.
This slim percentage keeps Cadiz just nominally in control of its most important subsidiary.
"This demonstrates the inadequacy of this company as a reliable or stable partner for the MWD," said Jane Kelly, director of Public Citizen's California office. "The investment Cadiz is seeking should alarm the MWD board."
The deal between KADCO and Cadiz won't be sealed until April 30, according to the Cadiz press release.
The MWD board vote is subject to strong political pressure. Keith Brackpool, a large contributor to Gov. Gray Davis and currently serving as Davis' water advisor, is the chairman and founder of Cadiz, Inc. Brackpool's relationship with the governor is solid enough for Brackpool to substitute for Davis at public speaking events. In 1999, Brackpool accompanied Davis during his Middle Eastern tour. Together, they met privately with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the Tushka project, a massive farming project in the South Valley region of Egypt using Nile River water for irrigation. (Local environmental groups perceive the project as a dismal boondoggle.)
Through his attempted contribution to New York City after Sept. 11, Prince Alwaleed has demonstrated that he is interested in purchasing political capital in the United States, Kelly said.
"Brackpool is using the potential contract with the MWD to get a bailout from Prince Alwaleed," said Kelly. "At the same time, he is flashing the prospect of foreign investment to appear as a stronger business partner to the MWD board, when in reality his company has not seen black ink for a long time. The only reason the MWD would go ahead with such a shifty project is to make a major contributor to Governor Davis happy."
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization with offices in Oakland, Calif.
For more information, please visit http://www.Citizen.org
1/30/02
8:03:25 PM
DAILY GRIST
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
FRISCO AIN'T KIDDING
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown proposed yesterday that his city pledge to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Brown said the goal "is as much about protecting our national security as it is about protecting our environmental quality of life." If the city's Board of Supervisors passes Brown's resolution, San Francisco will become the 116th U.S. city to promise to cuts greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of federal leadership on the issue. The Kyoto treaty on climate change, from which the Bush administration has withdrawn, would have committed the U.S. to reducing its overall emissions by 7 percent from 1990 levels by 2012.
straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Jane Kay, 29 Jan 2002 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/29/MN151003.DTL>
ITALIAN NICE
The president of northern Italy's Lombardy region, Roberto Formigoni, proposed on Sunday that only eco-friendly vehicles be sold in the region by as early as 2005. He hopes gas-electric hybrid vehicles and, later, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles can help eliminate the region's pollution woes. Smog levels in Lombardy have recently surged to five times the legally permitted amounts; the region's capital, Milan, has been covered in haze for much of the winter. Vehicles have been banned across Lombardy on three Sundays since December, and last week, authorities ordered cars, motorcycles, and trucks off the roads on alternate days -- but pollution problems persist.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, William Schomberg, 29 Jan 2002 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14261/story.htm>
straight to the source: CNN.com, Reuters, 28 Jan 2002 <http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/01/28/italy.pollution.reut/index.html>
LEAVITT, EAGER BEAVER
After kvetching for years about the national monuments set aside by former President Clinton across the West, Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt (R) called yesterday for President Bush to designate a 620,000-acre national monument protecting a red canyons area in the central part of the state. Enviros have long fought to protect the San Rafael Swell region, but they were reluctant to embrace Leavitt's request because it would allow off-road vehicles in much of the national monument. Heidi McIntosh of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said, "It's going to be a litmus test for President Bush." Leavitt and his backers stressed that the plan would have local support, while they claimed that Clinton's national monuments were imposed by the feds with little local input.
straight to the source: Salt Lake Tribune, Brent Israelsen, 29 Jan 2002 <http://www.sltrib.com/01292002/utah/171641.htm>
straight to the source: New York Times, Timothy Egan, 29 Jan 2002 <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/29/national/29UTAH.html>
1/30/02
8:02:37 PM
TomPaine.com
THE PERFECT STORM
America's Growing Health Care Crisis
by Henry E. Simmons
America's health care system is plagued by rising costs, diminishing coverage and quality of care concerns. But so far, the remedies discussed by the nation's political leadership underestimate the scope and range of an unfolding national crisis.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5050
SIXTEEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR AN INNOCENT CITIZEN
Tightening The Reins On Prosecutors
by Steve Weinberg
While debate has (rightly) focused on the human rights questions posed by military tribunals for foreign terrorists, little is being done to fix our broken domestic judiciary.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5019
MISSING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES
Campaign Finance Should Be The Trunk Of Reports on Enron Debacle
by Adam Lioz
"The biggest scandal here is not personal corruption -- its systemic corruption. It's how the very wealthy decide who gets to run for office in the first place -- and then who wins."
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5048
DOWN ON THE FARM: MODERN DAY SHARECROPPERS
The Dismal Future Of Farming
by Karen Charman
How aggressive agri-giants are turning poultry farmers into bird babysitters and are shaping the future of agriculture in America.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5036
BOTH SIDES NOW
U.S. And Afghan Families Meet
by Laura Flanders
The stories of Afghani families who lost loved ones in the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign didn't show up in the U.S.'s 'paper of record' until Americans who also lost family members went to Afghanistan to meet them.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5049
Book Excerpt
RETHINKING ECONOMIC PROGRESS
The Dow may be up over the past decade, but cod, aquifers, topsoil, fisheries, forests and coral reefs are down by Lester Brown In their struggle to understand the world, economists have created a system that is out of sync with the ecosystem that markets depend on.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=5023
THE COVETED NEGATIVE TAX BRACKET
Enron's complete evasion of taxes in four of the last five years is the latest example of corrupt corporate behavior that -- while despicable -- doesn't break the loophole-ridden laws on the books. Enron actually made money on its income taxes in at least one of those years.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that Enron collected $12.5 million in rebates from the government in 1998, yielding a -6.6 percent tax rate on its $189 million profit that year. That's negative 6.6 percent!
http://www.tompaine.com/check_it_out/
1/30/02
8:02:05 PM
Some of the demands to be made by the protesters
DUMP THE DEBT-- Wipe out the debt that is strangling the world economy. Cancel international, municipal and personal debt. Human needs come first.
REBUILD NEW YORK, REBUILD THE WORLD -- Take the money that now goes to pay the debt, fuel the military and bloat the rich, and use it to fund democratically-controlled projects to build the housing, schools, hospitals and transportation needed in New York and in every nation of the world. This will create tens of millions of jobs and wipe out unemployment.
STOP DESTROYING THE EARTH -- Corporate greed is destroying species, deforesting whole nations and wasting resources at a pace unseen in human history. In their place we get growing deserts, pollution, new strains of disease, and Frankenfoods. Restore the environment!
STOP FUELING TERRORISM, STOP THE WAR MACHINE -- Terror networks like al-Qaeda were built by the US government and its allies. US terrorist training camps like the School of the Americas are in full operation and they continue to create new networks of terror. Stop all arms production and supplies, stop all military aid and action. Stop the cycle of terror.
Taken from a poster available at http://www.anotherworldispossible.com
1/30/02
8:01:27 PM
A Field Guide to Anti-WEF Protest in New York City
by Ariston-Lizabeth Anderson
After months of lying low, defenders of civil liberties, opponents of the war in Afghanistan, and anti-corporate-globalization activists are determined to come out and be heard by some of the WEF's most influential business leaders. Here's how you can join the demonstrations.
NEW YORK CITY SOCIAL FORUM
This conference has been organized in sync with the annual World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil (http://www.worldsocialforum.org), where hundreds of progressive groups gather to hammer out ideas for alternatives to neoliberal economic policy. Prior to the opening of the WEF meetings, this forum will discuss "social and economic projects that promote human rights, fight for social justice, and build sustainable and multi-racial networks and structures." January 27, Brecht Forum, 122 West 27th Street, 10th floor, http://www.anotherworldispossible.com.
STUDENT COUNTER-SUMMIT
Columbia University will host a national student mobilization and counter-summit with workshops about legal and medical training for those new to street protests, WEF history, and the corporate agenda behind globalization. Confirmed speakers include activist Starhawk and Canadian anarchist Jaggi Singh. Registration required. January 31 through February 3, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Barnard College, Women's Center, 117th Street and Broadway, http://www.studentsforglobaljustice.org.
THE PUBLIC EYE ON DAVOS
Friends of the Earth U.S. (http://www.foe.org) and the Berne Declaration (http://www.evb.ch) are coordinating this international coalition of watchdog organizations, which will monitor the WEF. Speakers (who include Yassine Fall of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, John Passacantando, director of Greenpeace U.S.; Bill Hartung, senior fellow of the World Policy Institute; and Adotei Akwei of Amnesty International) will offer their vision of a more humane and environmentally friendly planet. January 31 through February 3, second-floor auditorium, United Nations Church Center, 777 UN Plaza, 44th Street and First Avenue, 212-539-6747, http://www.publiceyeondavos.ch and http://www.davos2001.ch
WORKING FAMILIES ECONOMIC FORUM
Join AFL-CIO's president, John Sweeney, to look at how globalization and the search for cheap labor affects families. A panel of workers from around the world will discuss their experiences in the global economy. Limited seating. Call for reservations. January 31, 2:30 p.m., New York Central Labor Council, 55 East 59th Street, 212-604-9552, extension 220.
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE
Inuenced by the spirit of community and volunteerism seen directly after 9-11, this broad band of New York leftists wants to present a vision of a world in which crippling debt is canceled, the Bush administration stops fueling terrorism with its war machine, and civil rights and immigrant rights are protected. AWIP will host a rally with performers and speakers and then march to the Waldorf, meeting at the southeast corner of Central Park. February 2, noon, 59th Street and 5th Avenue,
http://www.anotherworldispossible.com.
RECLAIM THE STREETS
Last year the Esperanza Gardens were closed; then, after a long battle, the community center CHARAS/El Bohio was evicted. In protest of the continuing loss of public space, RTS/ NYC is calling for a street carnival, a satire of WEF cocktail-party-going called "Profits Before People! Rebuild NY for Big Business!" Expect "Billionaires for Bloomie," clowns, samba drums, and tango. February 2, 11:30 a.m., Columbus Circle, http://www.rtsnyc.org.
ANTI-CAPITALIST CONVERGENCE
This collective of anti-authoritarians, who formed after Quebec's "Carnival Against Capitalism" at last year's Free Trade Area of the Americas meetings, say they're seeking "a joyous, creative resistance to the WEF's stifling gray culture of corporate conformity." In place of "capitalist boredom," they plan to create colorful street charades and engage in civil disobedience. After joining the AWIP march on Saturday, ACCers will partake in spontaneous direct actions throughout the weekend.
INTERNATIONAL A.N.S.W.E.R.
The International Action Center formed International Act Now to Stop War and End Racism to protest the bombing of Afghanistan. Now their focus is on declaring a war on poverty, unemployment, and racism. They are holding a permitted demonstration in shouting distance of the Waldorf-Astoria. Gather at nine to welcome the delegates. Rally at 11 with speakers including IAC co-founder Ramsey Clark. February 2, 9 a.m., 50th Street and Park Avenue,
http://www.internationalANSWER.org.
WEF CHOREOGRAPHY
Public Citizen, one of the non-governmental organizations that helped win the battle of Seattle, is gathering environmental and human rights organizations, consumer activists, labor unions, and religious groups in the fight against corporate globalization. They're planning workshops, town hall meetings, and a public debate between WEF attendees and their opponents. Debate: February 4, 7 p.m. Check http://www.tradewatch.org for location.
Source: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0204/anderson.php
1/30/02
8:00:29 PM
2002 the Public Eye on Davos moves to New York
In 2002, the WEF annual meeting moves to New York, and the "Public Eye" will be there too. Open to the public, the "Public Eye" conference features discussions between representatives from both northern and southern countries on the negative impacts of a globalization that only represents economic interests, and the social and environmental development alternatives. "The Public Eye on Davos" is a joint initiative of NGOs from various countries worldwide. The project aims to provide informed criticism of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the neoliberal policies it promotes. At the same time, "Public Eye on Davos" is the name of an international conference that takes place during the same period as the WEF annual meeting. Until this year, both the WEF annual meeting and the "Public Eye on Davos" took place in Davos.
New York Cops Vow to Crush Violent Protest at World Economic Forum Law of the Fist Seen through the eyes of New York cops, the anti-globalization movement looks like one bloody line of terror and mayhem, stretching back to the Seattle riots of 1999 and heading right at them. If the protesters pouring into the city for the World Economic Forum at month's end have plans for creating more scenes of violence and destruction, the NYPD says they can just think again.
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0204/esposito.php
Capitalists converge: The new face of protest at the World Economic Forum in New York City. It's no surprise that after two years of escalating confrontations, the roaming road show of capitalist summits and global justice protesters would eventually land in New York City. But nobody thought it would look like this.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=12684
1/30/02
7:59:33 PM
Testing Protest In New York
by Sarah Ferguson
Anti-globalization activists will be back on the streets at the World Economic Forum meeting in New York -- but will militant tactics backfire in a city still reeling from Sept. 11?
Already derailed by the war in Afghanistan, the movement against corporate-led globalization faces another challenge late next week, when more than 2,000 corporate leaders, heads of state and other members of the world's financial elite gather in New York for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
Some activists see the meeting as a vital opportunity to revive the movement against corporate-led globalization, which has struggled for direction in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Still, the decision by WEF leadership to hold the 2002 meeting at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel presents those same activists with a quandary: How can a movement which has relied on militant street actions to sustain its momentum stage protests in a still-shaken city without alienating the public at large?
The movement seized the world's attention in 1999, virtual shutting down the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle with a high-profile campaign stressing non-violent direct action. Since then, similar tactics have been used to disrupt other global summits, such as the IMF/World Bank meetings in Prague and Washington and the 2000 WEF regional meeting in Melbourne, Australia. But the increasing trend toward violence and property destruction by militants -- which culminated in smashed storefronts and police shootings of young activists in Gothenburg, Sweden and Genoa, Italy last summer -- have put authorities in New York on edge. In fact, some activists say it is no accident the WEF chose to switch its annual meeting to New York from its regular haunt -- the Swiss resort town of Davos. While WEF officials are publicly promoting the move to New York as a show of solidarity with the stricken city, it is no secret they were looking to escape the wrath of European activists, who for the last two years have transformed Davos into a security-planner's nightmare. "It's a brilliant PR move, to essentially dare the globalization movement to do anything in confrontation with the NYPD," says Mike Dolan, deputy director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "And I think it's a potential PR disaster if we don't agree on rules of engagement that are explicitly non-violent. The minute a provocateur puts a brick through a window in Midtown Manhattan, the media will grab onto it and that'll be the story. In the post 9/11 climate, this is a trap."
While vowing to allow peaceful demonstrations to go forward during the WEF summit, which starts Jan. 31 and ends Feb. 4, New York officials have vowed to crack down quickly and decisively if any protests turn violent. Activists say their threat is being exaggerated--the militants in Europe have always been far more hardcore than their counterparts in the US, and no oneâs expecting vast numbers of protesters to saturate the streets of New York. Still, With the New York Daily News already describing protesters as "crazies" and even the Village Voice portraying the New York police as "blue-collared multi-ethnic centurians" set to do battle with "jet-setting troublemakers," activists concede they are swimming in hostile waters.
Nevertheless, many activists insist that it would be a mistake wrong to let the subdued mood in New York scare them off the streets.
"We want to highlight the hypocrisy of the WEF coming here to promote their agenda of corporate-led globalization, a system whose inequities help foster terrorism," says Eric Laursen of Another World Is Possible, an umbrella group of mostly local student, left, peace, and direct action groups which formed to mobilize for the WEF meeting. "It's amazing that they're coming to a city which has been a victim of that. At a time when the city is facing cutbacks and recession, I think people should be outraged."
With the House's recent vote to grant the president fast-track trade authority and the effort to launch a new round of WTO talks following the trade summit in Qatar last fall, Laursen and other activists say they cannot allow the WEF to present its agenda unchallenged.
"If we back down now, we'll send the message that the antiglobalization movement has been scared quiet," says Brooke Lehman of Another World Is Possible. "I think it's more important to come together and put our message out, knowing full well the media may spin it in such a way that's unfavorable, but that's a chance I think we have to take. We owe it to the other billions of people around the world who are suffering the effects of global capitalism and dealing with far worse repression than we are."
Concerns about the potential for backlash have prompted many social justice and non-governmental groups to keep their distance this time. Groups such as Global Exchange and the Ruckus Society -- both key players in Seattle -- have opted instead to focus on participating at the World Social Forum, a grassroots-led counter-summit which is expected to draw tens of thousands to Porto Alegre, Brazil, next week.
Other groups, such as Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen, will host forums and debates in New York but have thus far steered clear of endorsing any street actions that do not explicitly denounce violence or property damage.
"The political climate has changed so dramatically, people are exercising caution," says Colleen Freeman of Friends of the Earth. "What we're trying to achieve hasn't changed, but you have to be sensitive to everything that New York has experienced."
Organized labor, a key component of the anti-globalization coalition in Seattle which has taken pains to show its support for the Bush administration since the Sept. 11 attacks, will be in New York to voice its dissent, too. On Thursday, January 31, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and other labor leaders will host a forum on the global economy followed by a rally in front of a midtown Manhattan Gap store. Their aim is to link job layoffs and corporate bailouts in the US with sweatshops and growing inequities abroad.
"We want to tell the WEF that the corporate-driven economy is not working for working people," says Simon Greer of Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor, student and religious groups. "But we're no endorsing any of the other rallies because of their anti-war language, and because we don't want to get caught tangled up in any civil disobedience actions."
Of course, relinquishing civil disobedience or establishing clear rules of behavior for all the protesters will be difficult if not impossible for a movement which largely prides itself on maintaining an open-ended "diversity of tactics."
"No one's planning on starting a fight with the cops, but we don't want to create a situation where people are out of solidarity with each other," says David Graeber of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence, a coalition of anarchist groups. "People overseas are expecting this, and we feel like we're under some obligation to do something, and to show that if you can do it now, in New York, you can do it anywhere. It's scary, they're going to kick our asses, but we've got to do it anyway."
Still, even the radicals are toning down their rhetoric and actions. Instead of attempting to disrupt the summit with street lockdowns or human blockades, organizers say the emphasis will be on pageantry and street theater. Organizers expect thousands to participate in a flurry of teach-ins, rallies, and marches. Students are hosting a two-day conference at Columbia University from January 31 to February 1.
One group, Reclaim the Streets, plans to counter and possible police hostility with humor, organizing a "Tango Bloc" of activists dressed in aristocratic attire to satirize the WEF.
The wild cards in all the planning, of course, are the much-hyped anarchists, who are reportedly planning "creative and spontaneous" direct actions throughout the weekend that target specific corporations. City officials and some in the press have already predicted violence, but organizers say even the most militant of the anarchists recognize smashing windows in New York isn't a good idea right now.
"Nobody's talking about taking two-by-fours to Starbucks," says Graeber, "though I wouldn't rule out paint bombs."
Mother Jones' series of older articles on Globalization
http://www.motherjones.com/wto/
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/wef.html
1/30/02
7:58:50 PM
Top 1% earn as much as the poorest 57%
Larry Elliott and Charlotte Denny Friday January 18, 2002 The Guardian
The world's richest 50m people earn as much as the poorest 2.7bn and may soon be forced to live in heavily protected gated communities to escape the resentment of the billions living below the poverty line, a senior World Bank economist warns today.
Research from Branko Milanovic, published today in the Economic Journal, shows a staggering increase in global inequality, which has been rising as rapidly internationally as in Britain under Mrs Thatcher.
In a wide ranging study covering 85% of the world's population from 91 countries, Mr Milanovic has found that the richest 1% of the world have income equivalent to the poorest 57%.
Four fifths of the world's population live below what countries in North America and Europe consider the poverty line. The poorest 10% of Americans are still better off than two-thirds of the world population.
"We can wonder how long such huge inequalities may persist in the face of ever closer contacts, not least through television and movies, where opulent lifestyles of the rich influence expectations and often breed resentment among the poor," said Mr Milanovic.
"Should it be of concern to the rich? Perhaps, if we believe that wide income gaps lead to immigration and resentment breeds terrorism. For ultimately, the rich may have to live in gated communities while the poor roam the world outside those few enclaves."
Mr Milanovic said there were three main reasons for the increase in global inequality. Firstly there has been a growing gulf between sluggish rural incomes in Africa and several populous Asian countries such as India and Bangladesh compared with the rich west.
Secondly the shock treatment administered to the former Soviet Union and its satellites in eastern Europe emptied out the global "middle class". Before the fall of the Berlin wall, most citizens in socialist countries had incomes between those in the rich west and the impoverished south.
Finally, China's embrace of the market economy has opened up a divide between more affluent urban dwellers and poor farmers in the world's most populous country.
Mr Milanovic's research compares inequality in 1988 with the position five years later. However, he has since used 1998 data to check his findings and said that the level of inequality globally has remained the same.
The study used a measure of inequality known as the Gini coefficient which uses a scale from zero to 100 where zero is a completely equal country and 100 is a country where one person has all the money.
Mr Milanovic said that the world's Gini coefficient was 66 -double that in Britain - and equivalent to 66% of people having zero income and the remaining 34% dividing the entire world among themselves equally.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,635292,00.html
1/30/02
7:57:59 PM
OTHER RECOMMENDED ARTICLES AND RESOURCES:
The official Website for World Social Forum 2002 800 workshops registered in the WSF2002
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/eng/index.asp
Headed for WSF 2002 - World Social Forum charter of principles
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/eng/2cartas.asp
Discussion of World Social Forum Themes
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/eng/temas.asp
Top 1% earn as much as the poorest 57%
The world's richest 50m people earn as much as the poorest 2.7bn and may soon be forced to live in heavily protected gated communities to escape the resentment of the billions living below the poverty line, a senior World Bank economist warns today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,635292,00.html
A cure worst than the disease
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020123/bs/switzerland_world_forum_1.html
FULL COVERAGE ON YAHOO (check the Related Web Sites)
http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/fc/Business/Global_Economy/
This Is What Democracy Looks Like (Report on the first Forum last year) Thousands gather in Porto Alegre, Brazil to look towards a future in which corporations no longer rule - "Another world is possible" That's the slogan of the World Social Forum.
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=403
World Social Forum Seeks a 'Possible World'
http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=189
"Anti-Davos" Forum In Brazil Vows Global Fight (January 27, 2001) "Corporations are transnational and we need to be transnational too if we're going to beat them,"
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/brazil/reuters012701.html
1/30/02
7:57:14 PM
What is the World Economic Forum...
Established in 1971, The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international summit in which thousands of the world's most powerful corporate, government, and intellectual élites come together to discuss their neoliberal agenda and develop future strategies to facilitate their dominance of global capital. Member companies include financial giants like American Airlines, Boeing, Cisco Systems, Coca Cola, Compaq, IBM, Merill Lynch, PepsiCo, and Microsoft. The WEF is essentially a multimillion dollar cocktail party in which the financiers and racketeers of global capitalism brainstorm and informally plan the imposition of "free market" imperatives upon the rest of the globe. These imperatives further aid in the destruction of the environment, the exploitation of workers internationally and locally, the erosion of human, animal, and worker rights, and the forceful replacement of native cultures with a monolithic corporate consumer culture. Finally, the WEF is a mechanism by which the cycles of classism, racism, and sexism are indirectly reproduced and spread.
Taken from http://www.anotherworldispossible.com
1/30/02
7:56:45 PM
AlterNet Headlines
CRIME IN THE SUITES
William Greider, The Nation
The collapse of Enron has swiftly morphed into a go-to-jail financial scandal, laden with the heavy breathing of political fixers, but Enron makes visible a more profound scandal -- the failure of market orthodoxy itself.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12297
"TWO TEENS, ONE BRAND, INFINITE POSSIBILITIES"
Michelle Chihara, AlterNet
After 15 years of building their multi-billion dollar empire by marketing schlock to young girls, can tween twins Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen survive in the ruthless adult market?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12255
U.S. TAKES ANTITERRORISM WAR TO THE PHILIPPINES
John Gershman, AlterNet
The Bush administration is sending troops to the Philippines as part of the war against terrorism. But the group the U.S. is helping to fight, the Abu Sayyaf, is more a criminal gang than a terrorist cell with links to the Al Qaeda.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12295
FEAR OF A LATIN PLANET
Marcus Reeves, TellSpin
An African American's humorous advice to our soon-to-be largest minority group.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12298
LAND OF THE OIL FREE? REDEFINING THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE
Keith Schneider, AlterNet
The debate on national security and energy use may reshape American politics and economics. And bever before has the environmental community had the opportunity to play such an influential role in deciding the outcome.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12190
OPENING THE BOOKS ON CANADIAN ARMS SALES
Patricia Elliott, Prairie Dog Magazine
The United States isn't the only developed nation turning a profit on third world carnage. Canada also rates high as a purveyor of arms.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12299
HUFFINGTON: NO IMPACT -- POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS ... AND OTHER BELTWAY LIES
Arianna Huffington, AlterNet
While Enron's collapse has renewed the call for campaign finance reform, it hasn't sent pols rushing to hand back checks from Enron.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12296
"ENRONITIS" RAVISHING THE GOP!
David Corn, AlterNet
A new ailment, "enronitis," is decimating Republican ranks, causing discombobulation and the tendency "to talk foolishness" when questioned about a particular energy company.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12290
GARCIA: I AM NOT A SPIC
James E. Garcia, AlterNet
A local run of the show Spic-A-Rama and the minor stir it's caused among Latino friends and colleagues, has me thinking about the words and phrases I've used over the year to describe myself.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12292
WEISBROT: "VIETNAM SYNDROME" IS ALIVE AND THRIVING
Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet
Since Vietnam, politicians and generals have been extremely reluctant to risk American casualties. In the war on terrorism, that reluctance is still strong.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12293
1/30/02
7:56:16 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
INDEPENDENT REVIEW QUESTIONS APPROVAL OF YUCCA MOUNTAIN
WASHINGTON, DC, January 28, 2002 (ENS) - Scientific uncertainties make it impossible to ensure that a proposed nuclear waste dump in Nevada would remain safe for the thousands of years necessary to protect the environment, suggests a review by the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-28-07.html
$21 MILLION PLEDGED FOR U.S. WATERSHED PROTECTION
WASHINGTON, DC, January 28, 2002 (ENS) - President George W. Bush plans to include $21 million in his 2003 budget for a new initiative to protect, preserve and restore waterways across the country. The program was announced by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman during a visit to the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-28-06.html
BLIND LION DIES IN KABUL ZOO
KABUL, Afghanistan, January 28, 2002 (ENS) - Marjan, the lion in the Kabul Zoo that came to symbolize Afghanistan's struggle for peace, died Saturday at the age of 25, probably of liver failure, said veterinarians from the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-28-03.html
CONGRESSIONAL BATTLE STALLS WIND POWER TAX CREDIT
WASHINGTON, DC, January 28, 2002 (ENS) - New wind farms installed across the United States in 2001 will produce as much electricity annually as 475,000 average American households use, according to a year end analysis by the American Wind Energy Association.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-28-06.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JANUARY 28, 2002
Cheney Vows to Withhold Energy Task Force Documents
Lawsuit Seeks Quotas on Shark Fishing
Climate Coalition Gathers Diverse Interests
North Carolina Buys Hog Farms to Protect Water
New York City Faces Coming Drought
Diverse Habitat Helps Species in Nearby Fragments
NASA Website Tracks Natural, Manmade Disasters
NFL Aims for Green Super Bowl
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2002/2002L-01-28-09.html
1/30/02
7:55:40 PM
"Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967
1/30/02
7:55:08 PM
t r u t h o u t
Bush Won't Identify Business Execs
http://www.truthout.com/01.29A.Bush.GAO.No.htm
4 Senators In Letter to GAO Urge White House Energy Investigation
http://www.truthout.com/01.29B.4.Sens.GAO.htm
Senator Durbin | A Rant of Indignation over Enron
http://www.truthout.com/01.29C.Durbin.Rant.htm
Daschle | A Recommendation to Bush for Appointee at SEC
http://www.truthout.com/01.29D.Daschle.SEC.htm
How Enron Used the Offshore System to Hide Millions
http://www.truthout.com/01.29E.Enron.Offshore.htm
Washington Post Editorial | A Deliberate Scandal
http://www.truthout.com/01.29F.Deliberate.htm
Burton Vows FBI Probe
http://www.truthout.com/01.29G.Burton.Probe.htm
1/30/02
7:54:26 PM
PCB Pollution Suits Have Day in Court in Alabama
By KEVIN SACK
ANNISTON, Ala., Jan. 25 < These days, Edgar C. Stroud grows his collard greens in five-gallon buckets filled with soil bought from Wal- Mart.
He has done so ever since the man from the Environmental Protection Agency tested the dirt in his garden two years ago.
" 'Do you eat stuff out of this garden?' " Mr. Stroud said the man asked, somewhat ominously.
"Yes," Mr. Stroud answered.
" 'Well, I wouldn't,' " Mr. Stroud said the man advised.
As is the case across west Anniston, Mr. Stroud's garden is laced with high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCB's, presumably from the plant three blocks away where the Monsanto Company produced the suspected carcinogen for nearly four decades.
During those years, St. Louis- based Monsanto flushed tens of thousands of pounds of PCB's and other toxic wastes into Snow Creek each year, sending the chemicals meandering through long-established neighborhoods and into Choccolocco Creek. More than 45 tons of PCB's, a highly efficient industrial insulator, were discharged in 1969 alone, according to company documents. Monsanto also deposited millions of pounds of PCB's in a hillside landfill just above the plant.
Thirty miles away, in Gadsden, Ala., a jury is hearing a lawsuit filed by Mr. Stroud and more than 3,500 other plaintiffs who contend that Monsanto and its chemical division, Solutia Inc., should compensate them for reduced property values, emotional distress and, in some cases, health problems related to the PCB contamination.
It is one of at least four major Anniston-related lawsuits against Monsanto and Solutia that have been filed by a total of 25,000 plaintiffs. Two of the cases have already been settled, for a combined $80 million.
Because of the difficulty of seating an unbiased jury in Anniston, Judge Joel Laird Jr. of state Circuit Court moved the trial to Gadsden.
In the first two weeks of testimony, the plaintiffs' lawyers have established through Monsanto memorandums that the company was aware of the level of its discharges and that it at least partly understood the risks as early as the mid-1960's, if not earlier. But it did not begin improving pollution controls until 1970, a year before it stopped making PCB's in Anniston. The company continued to produce PCB's elsewhere until 1977, two years before the federal government banned them.
A witness for the plaintiffs testified on Thursday that PCB levels in the blood of many plaintiffs was elevated. The 16 plaintiffs in the first phase of the trial had average PCB levels of 46 parts per billion, 27 times the national norm, said Dr. Ian Nisbet, a Massachusetts toxicologist and a consultant for the plaintiffs.
"This is by far the most contaminated community < as indicated by the levels in their blood < that I've ever encountered," Dr. Nisbet said.
Because science remains murky on the health effects of PCB's on humans, those plaintiffs who maintain they have been personally injured by Monsanto may have difficulty proving their cases. But Anniston is rife with anecdotes about high and persistent cancer rates, particularly about children who developed tumors after frolicking in and around Snow Creek.
David B. Baker, the president of Community Against Pollution, a local health and environmental group, said that his brother died at 17 of brain and lung cancer after growing up near the Monsanto plant.
"It seems like everybody in these neighborhoods has cancer," said Mr. Baker, while driving through streets where contaminated houses have been bought and leveled by Monsanto and replaced by chain-link fences bearing "Danger" signs.
The trial, he said, has given the community hope.
To illustrate the health risks of PCB's, lawyers for the plaintiffs have relied on Monsanto's own memorandums, many of them marked "Confidential < Read and Destroy."
A 1966 letter by a Mississippi State University scientist who was hired by the company to test creek water disclosed that 25 fish, when submerged in Snow Creek, "lost equilibrium and turned on their sides in 10 seconds and all were dead in three and a half minutes."
A 1970 report revealed that a blacktail shiner caught in Choccolocco Creek was found to have 37,000 parts per million of PCB's in its fat, making it "the most contaminated fish I've ever heard of in the wild," Dr. Nisbet said.
Lawyers for Monsanto and Solutia said they could not discuss the case because of an order imposed by Judge Laird. But in the past, they have maintained that the companies acted fairly in dealing with the city, that they spent more than $40 million on environmental testing and cleanup and that PCB contamination cannot be definitively linked to long- term health problems.
"We would all rather live in a pristine world," said Jere White, a lawyer for Monsanto and Solutia, in his opening argument two weeks ago. "We are all going to be exposed to things on a daily basis. Our bodies can deal with it."
For decades, many in Anniston had no idea that their neighborhoods were polluted or that their health could be at risk. But now, thanks to the lawsuits, the intervention of the federal government and the work of community groups, this city of almost 25,000 people seems to be defined by its environmental burdens.
In addition to the PCB problem, there are new concerns about mercury releases from the Monsanto plant and the Army's plans to incinerate toxic gases at its depot here.
"We're infamous," Mayor Hoyt W. Howell Jr. said. "The accumulation of the issues of the past have all come to a head at one time, and that's hard to handle."
Mr. Howell said it was hard to pinpoint the effect of Anniston's environmental problems on economic development efforts, but said it was clearly one factor that has stymied the city. "We're between Atlanta and Birmingham on I-20," he noted, "and the prosperity of the 1990's was barely felt here."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/27/national/27TOXI.html?todaysheadlines
1/30/02
7:53:52 PM
The Green Ribbon Pledge
Greenpeace is involved in a new initiative, the Green Ribbon Pledge to "conserve energy for a secure future." By encouraging energy efficiency, the campaign seeks to raise awareness about the need to end our dangerous dependence on fossil fuel consumption and work toward a sustainable future.
The emphasis of the Green Ribbon Pledge is on the power of individual action to create change- the pledge gives each American the opportunity to make an immediate and significant contribution.
The public symbol of the green ribbon acts as a visible reminder of the pledge and communicates that individuals are taking action for a more secure future. By taking the pledge online and wearing the ribbon, you can voice your commitment to energy conservation and help spread the word.
Take the Green Ribbon Pledge and find out what your annual energy savings will be.
While on the site you can also send an email or fax urging your Representatives and Senators to support the Green Ribbon Pledge.
http://www.greenribbonpledge.org
1/30/02
7:53:12 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
WFP says starts feeding 1.3 million hungry Zambians - ZAMBIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14266/story.htm
Release at San Francisco Bay oil refinery contained - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14274/story.htm
Illinois tin, selenium recycling plant ramping up - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14265/story.htm
UPDATE - Bush digs in for court fight over energy plan - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14263/story.htm
Ukraine may lift ban on some US poultry imports - UKRAINE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14269/story.htm
Top firms launch European fuel cell investment fund - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14262/story.htm
Britain urged to tackle food retailer power - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14264/story.htm
UPDATE - Malaysia Petronas plans 162 natural gas stations - SINGAPORE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14273/story.htm
Lagos tragedy could have been far worse - residents - NIGERIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14270/story.htm
Arsonists to blame for most of Italy forest fires - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14259/story.htm
INTERVIEW - Northern Italy's smoggy Lombardy plans car phase-out - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14261/story.htm
German retail chain recalls antibiotic shrimps - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14272/story.htm
Syrian gas project reaches full rate-TotalFinaElf - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14268/story.htm
Belgium seeks cause of PCB contamination in feed - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14271/story.htm
China mulling ban on foreign funding in GMO seeds - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14267/story.htm
Bulgarian PM promises balanced solution on N-plant - BULGARIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14260/story.htm
1/30/02
7:52:42 PM
FAIR
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
MEDIA ADVISORY: NYC Newspapers Smear Activists Ahead of WEF Protests
In a few days, the World Economic Forum will hold its annual meeting, an elite gathering of what the WEF calls the world's "top decision-makers"-- in other words, big business leaders and government officials. The event usually takes place in Davos, Switzerland, but will be in New York City this year (January 31- February 4), ostensibly as a gesture of solidarity after the September 11 attacks.
Many globalization critics identify the WEF as a nerve center for neoliberal economics, and past WEF meetings have been the focus of significant protest. This year's meeting promises to be no exception, and local media are serving up some of the same distortions that have greeted past globalization protests.
Mainstream New York City newspapers have tended to frame discussion of the demonstrations in terms of their status as a security problem. A search of the Lexis-Nexis database (12/1/01 - 1/28/02) found that most articles in the New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Times and Newsday mentioning the WEF have focused on police preparations for the protests. As a result, the political debate over the WEF has been obscured, as have concerns about police brutality and civil liberties.
Though the New York Times and Newsday didn't manage to overcome this skew toward security questions, it should be noted that both papers provided more substantive coverage that did the Post and the News. Commendably, Newsday steered clear of the vitriol that has characterized some of its competitors. One recent Newsday article, "Activists: We Come in Peace" (1/25/02), focused on the protest organizers' endorsement of non-violence and concerns about potential police brutality; another (1/27/02) attempted a serious overview of recent political controversies over globalization.
Contrast this approach to one particularly vicious editorial from the New York Daily News (1/13/02), which referred to anti-WEF activists as "legions of agitators," "crazies," "parasites" and "kooks." The paper threatened activists, saying "You have a right to free speech, but try to disrupt this town, and you'll get your anti-globalization butts kicked. Capish?"
The Daily News compared critics of the WEF to the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center. "New York will not be terrorized," declared the paper. "We already know what that's like. Chant your slogans. Carry your banners. Wear your gas masks. Just don't test our patience. Because we no longer have any."
It's hard to read such rhetoric as anything other than an attempt to manipulate New Yorkers' legitimate anger and grief over September 11 in order to whip up a backlash against dissent. Unfortunately, the Daily News wasn't the only New York paper to attack activists in these terms. Much WEF coverage has been dominated not by serious reporting, but by unsubstantiated commentaries that portray activists as violent thugs.
New York Times columnist Clyde Haberman (1/19/02) described globalization activists as people "less known for their deep thinking than for their willingness to trash cities," saying "some would say that New York needs this [protest] about as much as it needs another airplane attack."
In an account of an extremely friendly interview "over a light beer at Lanagan's" with former New York City deputy police chief John Timoney, the New York Post's Steve Dunleavy (1/18/02) asserted that planned protests are "a potentially scary scene, promised by little nasty twits." The column was titled "Econ Summit Brings Own Terror Threat."
"There are some very serious bad guys out there," Timoney told the Post, "and I am not talking about Osama bin Laden. We are talking about pretty sophisticated bad guys." Though Timoney seemed to be making the outlandish suggestion that globalization activists are as dangerous as international terrorists, Dunleavy relayed the claim uncritically, following up with a tough-guy endorsement of Timoney's prowess: "Timoney, like most cops, has been beaten and shot at by punks all his life."
The ease with which commentators equate activists with terrorists has its roots in the mainstream media's rewriting of the history of U.S. globalization protests. Recent articles about the WEF have referred to previous, overwhelmingly peaceful globalization protests in Seattle, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Philadelphia as "window-smashing, flame-tossing spectacles" (Daily News, 1/24/02), "violent mayhem" (New York Post, 1/20/02), "radical protesters rampag[ing] through the streets... clashing with police" (Daily News, 1/18/02), "wild protest melees" (New York Times, 1/25/02), and, simply, "violent" (Newsday, 1/18/02).
It's true that violence has been a problem at globalization protests, but the majority of it has been initiated by police, not protesters. The November 1999 WTO protests in Seattle were characterized by unprovoked tear-gassing, beating and unlawful arrests of peaceful demonstrators (and even of bystanders), and a National Lawyers Guild investigation characterized the Seattle violence as a "police riot." The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed alarm over police abuses at globalization protests, and in more than one case filed suit against law enforcement authorities over the issue. Yet time and again, media have distorted events to suggest that police force was a necessary response to "violent" activists. (See Extra!, 1-2/00 and 7-8/00.)
When coverage is dominated by news and commentary that presents lawful political assembly as a terrorist threat-- a threat that the police "know what they have to do" to deal with (New York Post, 1/18/02)-- it has a chilling effect on dissent, raises tensions between police and the public, and risks creating a climate where law enforcement agencies feel able to exercise force against demonstrators with impunity.
For independent coverage of WEF issues and protests, visit the New York City Independent Media Center:
For links to protest organizers, visit the Mobilization for Global Justice:
1/30/02
7:51:24 PM
Three strikes And Your Out - Human Rights, US Style
As Americans shrug off criticism of Camp X-Ray, thousands of their countrymen suffer cruel but all-too-usual punishment
by Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles for the LONDON / UK GUARDIAN
The scene is a battered old green and white bungalow in the heart of South Central, Los Angeles, which serves as the local Quakers' meeting house. There are around 20 people here, heads bowed and holding hands as one of their number, Carmen Ewell, asks the Lord for his help in the mighty task facing them.
That task involves changing one of the most controversial statutes in the US, the three strikes law, so the people now serving prison sentences of 25 years to life for offences including stealing four cookies, and possession of $10 worth of drugs will be able to return to their lives.
In a week that has been dominated in Europe by debate about the way al-Qaida suspects are being treated in Guantanamo Bay, in the US itself the public mood is utterly unflustered by such human rights issues. For this is the country that has jailed a higher percentage of its citizens than any other in the world. And this is the country that has embraced the three strikes law.
The law was introduced after the horrific murder of a 12 year-old girl called Polly Klaas in 1993. Her abductor and murderer, Richard Allen Davis, was a three-time offender who was on parole. In the wake of the outrage over the crime, Californians voted for an initiative which called for three-time felons to be jailed for a minimum of 25 years. The initiative became law, and now more than 30 states in the US have adopted their own versions of it.
Under three strikes, violent criminals like Davis have been locked up for life. But it has also been used to sweep thousands of homeless people, drug addicts and petty offenders off the streets and into jail with sentences that bear little relationship to the crime. Critics of the law claim it has created a Siberia of forgotten prisoners, mainly black and Latino, who are the victims of cruel and unusual punishment.
Gregory Taylor, for instance, was a homeless man who used to hang around outside St Joseph's church in Los Angeles and would often ask the priest for food. The priest was usually able to find him something over the nine or so years he knew him. Shortly after 4am one morning in 1997, Taylor decided he could not wait for the friendly priest and pried open the church's kitchen door. security guard spotted him and the police were called. He is now serving 25 years to life because the break-in was his third felony. When he appealed unsuccessfully against his sentence last year, one of the dissenting judges said the case was "like something from Les Miserables".
Taylor's case is far from isolated. At this meeting of the South Central chapter of Families to Amend California's Three Strikes (Facts) there are mothers and fathers and girlfriends and wives of other prisoners who face dying in prison for offences which in other parts of the world might not even merit a fine. "This is an insane law," says Geri Silva, who is chairing the meeting. "It's like cutting off a hand for stealing a slice of bread."
"The United States is a very unforgiving country at the moment," says Gail Blackwell, who works at the Facts office in South Central. Her friend, Joey Buckhalter, was jailed for 75 years to life for stealing a wallet with $24 in it. "People are more interested in punishment and revenge than in rehabilitation. People don't even care about the 2mpeople in jail in their country in terrible conditions."
Fred Zullo, another Facts supporter, is the father of 24 year-old Philip Zullo, now facing 75 years to life for making threatening phone calls. He is mentally ill, suffering from a bipolar and obsessive compulsive disorder. Mr Zullo says his son's offence arose out of a desire to commit "suicide-by-cop", a not-uncommon scenario in which disturbed people threaten the police, often with dummy weapons, in the hope they will be shot.
Philip Zullo telephoned an ex-girlfriend and her family, another girlfriend and her mother and threatened them with horrific violence. He then told the police he was wearing a bulletproof vest and had an AK-47 and said they would have to shoot him in the head to kill him. He has never owned a gun. But because he made three threats, a maximum 25-year sentence for each offence is multiplied three times.
"He is mentally ill," Fred Zullo says. "Never in his life has he harmed anyone. He didn't even remember the calls. He just said, 'Dad, I screwed up again.'"
The prosecution has indicated that it will seek the maximum sentence. The local district attorney has a reputation as a hardliner; his ranch is called Hang 'em High. He has already turned down a plea not to pursue the three strikes option. Of the law, Fred Zullo says wryly: "I was in favour of it, unfortunately. A lot of people didn't realise what it meant."
He has met Joe Klaas, the grandfather of the murdered Polly who now says the family's intention was never that the law should be used to incarcerate inadequates, minor non-violent offenders or the mentally ill. Indeed Mr Klaas even signed a personal ad that ran in the New York Times in which he said: "My family regrets that the law cast in her name has cast too wide a net."
He pointed out that 50% of three-strikers are non-violent performers: "Does three strikes offer enough benefits to justify its huge fiscal and societal impact? It's too late to bring Polly back but it's not too late to make California a wiser, safer state."
Ricky Fontenot is serving 27 years to life for being in a car with a friend in which a gun was found. His last previous serious felony was in 1979 when he was 18. He had since become involved in community action, had a full-time job and was married with three children. The prosecution offered him a deal whereby he would serve only four years but he insisted he was innocent and was thus hit with the maximum.
"We have dedicated our lives to trying to get him out," says his stepfather, Roland McFarland, after the South Central meeting. "It's expensive - you've got to come up with that almighty dollar. There are some vicious crimes that should be addressed and I would support a three strikes law for that but not for people who have never even threatened anyone."
These are just a tiny sample of the cases. Probably the most famous is still that of Jerry Dewayne Williams, who at the age of 27 was sentenced to 25 years to life for stealing a slice of pepperoni pizza. He was eventually freed on appeal after six years. Kevin Weber stole four cookies from a Santa Ana restaurant in 1995 and was jailed for 25 years. Duane Silva, a 23-year-old with manic depression and an IQ of 70, received 30 years to life sentence for stealing a video recorder and a coin collection from his neighbours. His previous convictions were for setting fire to rubbish bins and to the glove compartment of a car. Then there is Doug Rosh, doing 25 years for possession of $10 worth of cocaine. Mary Thompson, doing 25 years for petty theft. Joyce Demeyers, doing 25 years for $20 worth of cocaine. Constantine Aguilar, doing 25 years for receiving stolen property. Chano Orozco, doing 25 years to life for possession of about $10 worth of heroin. Frederick Morgan, doing 25 years to life for simple possession of drugs and petty theft.
A total of 6,700 people are now serving 25 years to life under the law and Facts says more than 3,350 of them are non-violent offenders, with 350 serving 25 years for petty theft. Of those serving third strike sentences, 44% are black and 26% Latino.
One of the main arguments for the three strikes law is that it has cut crime in California. Certainly crime has dropped in the period during which it has been in place but it has fallen yet further in states with no three strikes law. The San Francisco area, where prosecutors rarely use the law for non-violent offenders, has also seen a sharp drop. New York state, with no three strikes law, and California showed the same crime reduction of 41% between 1993 and 1999, according to the Sentencing Project in Washington.
Those campaigning to change the law are now pinning their hopes on Jackie Goldberg, a Democratic state assemblywoman who is introducing a bill to limit the heaviest application of the law to criminals convicted of violent or serious crimes. The day she announced her bill, a survey carried out jointly by Facts and Citizens Against Violent Crime showed that 65% of Californians believe that the law should be used only against violent felons.
But this is election year in California. Governor Gray Davis, already accused of seriously mishandling the state's power crisis, is in no mood for reform as he runs for re-election. Bill Jones, a Republican eyeing his job, said this week that changing the law would give criminals a "get out of jail free card".
The Los Angeles district attorney, Steve Cooley, agrees that the law has been wrongly applied in the past, but says there is little chance of retrospective action to free those jailed for minor non-violent offences because few politicians want to be accused of being soft on crime.
There is also a powerful prison-industrial complex which has a very clear financial incentive in maintaining the three strikes law. California spends $5.7bn a year on its prisons and there would be fierce lobbying against any reduction in the budget. The prison officers' union is a powerful political player and fights any reform that might put members out of work. It has donated $2m to Governor Davis's campaign.
Back at the South Central meeting, Carmen Ewell, whose husband is in jail for passing a dud cheque, calls on the Lord for his help in persuading the law-makers that the three strikes law is indeed cruel if it is no longer unusual. But, for the time being at least, it would seem that Les Miserables is assured of a long run in California.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,639791,00.html
1/30/02
7:50:51 PM
DAILY GRIST
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
PEAK: A BOO
Heading to the mountains used to mean getting away from civilization and its discontents -- but increasingly, mountains are a showcase for global problems instead. That was the conclusion of a report released yesterday by the United Nations, which found that wars, pollution, and logging are threatening the world's mountain ranges. Mountains supply water to more than half of the world, and are home to 10 percent of the global population. But they are being despoiled by impoverished communities turning to logging, wealthy communities turning to skiing and other luxury recreational activities, pollution, and violent conflict. (Twenty-three of the world's 27 current conflicts are being fought in mountainous areas.) Among the most threatened ranges, according to the report: the Alps, the Rockies, and Afghanistan's Hindu Kush.
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Associated Press, 27 Jan 2002 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/695069.asp>
do good: Take action to keep development away from Banff, a threatened mountain area <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/forests.asp?source=daily#banff>
NEW CANAAN
By wedding commerce to conservation, a pending land deal in West Virginia's Canaan Valley could signal a radical shift in land preservation strategy. Allegheny Energy, Inc., plans to sell 12,000 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which will incorporate the land into the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The twist? Allegheny had the land appraised by GreenVest, an ecological resources management company, which assigned a dollar value to the land's natural assets, such as its capacity to mitigate global climate change and its potential to be restored as wetlands. Although the company will sell the land to USFW for its normal market value -- estimated at about $16 million -- it will report the land's value to the IRS as more than twice that. If the IRS okays the reporting, Allegheny will be able to claim a whopping charitable contribution and save itself millions in taxes. Many greens hail the new calculus as a boon to the environment, but others fear the tactic will drive land prices above what conservation organizations can afford to pay.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Katherine Ellison, 25 Jan 2002 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35274-2002Jan24.html>
do good: Take action to protect private forestlands <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/forests.asp?source=daily#private>
MESS TRANSIT
As perhaps the most famous national park in the United States, the Grand Canyon occupies an equally vast space in our national psyche as in our national landscape. Unfortunately, it is also our national bottleneck. Each year, 5 million people flock to the park, leaving 6,000 cars to battle for 2,400 parking spaces every day during the summer. Park officials have recognized the problem for decades, and for a while, a proposed solution -- a Grand Canyon light rail system -- was steaming ahead. But that was before the White House changed hands and a coterie of Republicans froze the $180-$200 million mass transit plan until all other transportation options could be studied. The result? A bureaucratic bottleneck as well, and the usual traffic snarl at the once-pristine canyon.
straight to the source: New York Times, Blaine Harden, 28 Jan 2002 <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/28/national/28GRAN.html>
FAMOUS-ER POTATOES
Organic foods, long associated with the crunchy West Coast and the yuppie East, have made dramatic inroads into more conservative places -- so dramatic, in fact, that Idaho, home to many rabid anti-enviros, has become one of the top five states in the nation for total organic acreage. Part of the new popularity of organics may be a growing awareness of the health virtues of eating chemical-free food, but from the farmers' perspectives, much of it also has to do with the bottom line. In 2000, organic food was a $7.8 billion market, and in Idaho, organic farming has grown 10-fold since 1990. Across the country, mainstream grocery stores like Safeway and Albertson's are beginning to stock their shelves with organic items.
straight to the source: Salt Lake Tribune, Associated Press, Ken Dey, 28 Jan 2002 <http://www.sltrib.com/01282002/business/171289.htm>
1/30/02
7:50:04 PM
CIA Complicit On September 11?
An interview with Michael Springman exposes the CIA's links with the terrorist attacks on September 11
Ken MacAllister of Vancouver writes:
Michael Springmann worked for the US government for 20 years with the foreign service and consulate. He just went public with the story of his involvement in a large scale CIA operation that brought hundreds of people from the middle east to the US, issued them passports and trained them to be terrorists. Springmann says that the CIA is working closely with Bin Laden and his operatives in Jeddah and has been since 1987. The most haunting implication from this interview is that all of the terrorist acts of late were planned and paid for by the CIA with US taxpayers money so that the US could legitimately bomb the hell out of Afghanistan -- not to "get the Taliban" as the official party line states, but to erase all of the evidence of the US's secret operations in Afghanistan left over from its 10 year war with the Soviet Union in that country.
Based on the new information from Mr. Springmann, it is likely that most of those 600+ people who were "rounded up" within days of the September 11 attacks were actually in the US because the CIA brought them there. It lends credence to the idea that the CIA was also behind the anthrax letters and that is why there was weapons -grade anthrax and why the perpetrator will never be caught.
The interview is riveting, and I urge you to give it a listen.
Hear the interview at
http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/dispatches/audio/020116_springman.rm
Springman also appears in a nine minute documentary for BBC's premier current affairs program, Newsnight: Greg Palast's "The CIA and Saudi Arabia: The Bushes and the Bin Ladens". Go to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/progs/newsnight/attack22.ram
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/events/newsnight/newsid_1645000/1645527.stm
to see the transcript.
Source: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewNote.cfm?REF=1267
1/30/02
7:49:15 PM
Arab world polarizing with west
The White House is holding back until next week the punitive actions against Yasser Arafat decided on at a top-level presidential forum convened by President George W. Bush yesterday, DEBKAfile's Washington sources report. (...) Bush called together his advisers to decide not only how to deal with Yasser Arafat, but also how to fit American punitive moves against him into the broader U.S. Middle East-Gulf policy revision currently underway. According to DEBKA, on Wednesday, Bush sent out diplomatic notes to Jordanian King Abdullah, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak containing the intelligence findings from the Karine-A arms boat Israel intercepted on the Red Sea on Jan. 3. They included proof of Arafat's operational, intelligence and terrorist links with the Iranian leadership, as well as evidence of his Tehran-assisted attempts to subvert both the Egyptian and Jordanian regimes. (...) The U.S. presidential forum's decisions, DEBKA reports, include severance of relations with Arafat or the Palestinian Authority, shutting down the PLO's office in Washington and adding Arafat's Fatah, its militant arms - the Tanzim and Aqsa Brigades - and his presidential guard, Force 17, to the State Department's list of terror organizations. Washington has also ended the Zinni cease-fire mediation mission. (...) Arafat's response was not long in coming. From Ramallah, a top adviser, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, threatened the United States that cutting ties with the Palestinian Authority would "cause an earthquake in the region that no one will be able to stop." The Palestinian threat raised the already spiraling war tension in the region another notch.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26207
What's the true historic role of staged-for-media events?
The Viet Nam War and Desert Storm were propelled by faked or non-existent events. What about that suspicious munitions ship found by the Israelis? Here are two important events, each reported - and accepted - as authentic fact at the time. Each was in reality an elaborate deception planned at the highest levels and executed to sway public opinion. (...) Now fast forward to a week ago Sunday. I'm watching the CBC television news. The Israelis have easily intercepted a ship for some reason crammed openly with munitions. I'm thinking: this is fishy. "It's almost impossible this ship would have escaped detection," said professor Janice Stein of The University of Toronto. Richard Gwyn of The Toronto Star called it "bizarre" and Eric Margolies of The Toronto Sun said "It's crazy and it looks like the whole thing was a setup of some sort." Another surprise. The Globe and Mail finds the event "particularly odd" and quotes "a widespread Palestinian view" that there's "something deeply suspicious about the hugely publicized interception," that "the Israeli government may have orchestrated."
http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature.cfm?REF=291
What really happened on Sept. 11th? - Part 1
Too many loose ends call for the toughest kind of media questions but they're not being asked... yet.
http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewMediaFile.cfm?REF=136
Online petition: deny military aid to Israel until that country makes a good faith effort to recognize the human rights of Palestinians, including their internationally recognized right of return:
http://www.petiononline.com/LVLKY325/petition.html
Saudi Warns Bush, Don't Weaken Arafat
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/27/international/middleeast/27SAUD.html
US War on Terror 'Curbing Human Rights' World Wide
http://www.truthout.com/01.22E.Curbing.Rights.htm
1/30/02
7:47:27 PM
Where Is The World's Greatest Biodiversity?
Smithsonian Scientists Find The Answer Is A Question Of Scale
Amazonia represents the quintessence of biodiversity – the richest ecosystem on earth. Yet a study by Smithsonian scientists, published this week in the journal Science, shows that differences in species composition of tropical forests are greater over distance in Panama than in Amazonia. The finding also challenges recent models proposed to explain forest species composition.
The research team, led by Richard Condit of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Center for Tropical Forest Science, compared data from single-hectare (2.47 acre) tropical forest plots near the Panama Canal with plots of the same size in the Yasuni National Park of Ecuador and in Peru’s Manu Biosphere Reserve. After identifying, tagging and measuring more than 50,000 individual trees with stems of ten centimeters or more in diameter in all three forests, they observed that a wide swath of the western Amazon has a forest in which the species change very little over distances of more than 1000 kilometers. The tree species counts in any one locale are high, but each locale turns out to be much like the others in terms of species composition.
In contrast, forests on the Isthmus of Panama change dramatically in tree species composition from one site to the next. Forests just 50 kilometers apart in Panama are less alike than forests 1,400 kilometers apart in the western Amazon. As a result of such high landscape variation, parts of Panama have as many or even more tree species than parts of Amazonia. “Ecologists have a technical term for landscape variation in forest types: beta-diversity,” Condit explained. “Beta-diversity is high when forests change a lot over short distances – as in Panama – but low when forests are similar over long distances – as in Ecuador and Peru.” The unique aspect of this research by the Smithsonian team, including colleagues from France, the United States and South America, was a precise mathematical prediction of beta-diversity that helped them pinpoint its cause. A theory for beta-diversity had heretofore eluded ecologists.
“The Smithsonian theory is based on a basic ecological premise called the ‘neutral theory,’” Condit said, “but adds to it the simple yet crucial observation that trees do not generally spread their seeds very far – a factor which tends to enhance beta-diversity.”
The Science report provides one of the most precise tests of the neutral theory yet published.
The team concludes that the neutral theory cannot account for beta-diversity in tropical forests, and they discount the importance of random events in establishing what grows there. Instead, Panama’s high beta-diversity must be due to the abrupt variation in rainfall across the Central American isthmus, from the ever-wet Caribbean shoreline to the dry Pacific slope.
Forests across western Amazonia, however, were more uniform in species composition than the theory allowed, a surprising result.
“Explanations for this uniformity will require deeper understanding of how different tropical trees are from one another,” said co-author and Smithsonian scientist Egbert G. Leigh, Jr., who devised the mathematical formula that led to the undermining of the neutral theory.
“More tedious field work, it seems, is in store,” Leigh concluded.
The Center for Tropical Forest Science, established within the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in 1990, is a consortium of forestry agencies, universities, research institutes and nongovernmental organizations around the world, each managing or involved in one or more of 17 forest dynamics plots in 14 different countries. In addition to monitoring the trees, the center sponsors training programs, scientific meetings, and communications between sites through a newsletter and Website at http://www.ctfs.si.edu.
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Republic of Panama, is one of the world's leading centers for basic research on the ecology, behavior and evolution of tropical organisms. More information is available at http://www.stri.org.
Source: http://www.si.edu
1/30/02
7:46:09 PM
PERCEPTION IS STORED IN SINGLE NEURONS, GERMAN RESEARCHERS FIND
Perception is something that must be learned. As we recognize things in our environment we gather experience and this experience in turn colours our perception. This is nothing new, of course. But brain researchers are going one step further to ask how different kinds of information are integrated in the brain and what principles govern how perceived objects are represented there. Scientists at Tuebingen's Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics have carried out experiments that prove for the first time that single nerve cells in the brain are responsible for controlling our perception by drawing on prior experience.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020121091000.htm
GONDWANA SPLIT SORTS OUT MAMMALIAN EVOLUTION
Placental mammals are a diverse group, with nearly 4000 described species (e.g., rodents, bats, elephants, humans) that bear live young and are nourished before birth in the mother's uterus through the placenta. In contrast, marsupials are commonly thought of as pouched mammals. While the latter also give live birth, they do not have long gestation times; the early development is completed instead in the pouch.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020121090546.htm
IN HARSHEST ENVIRONMENTS, SOME PROTEINS PROTECTED BY "ALTERNATE" FOLDING MODE
Beset by peers trying to tear them apart, proteins known as proteases constantly risk destruction. UCSF scientists have determined how a nearly impregnable design protects some of the most besieged proteases, a design that contradicts a basic assumption of chemistry.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020117073435.htm
TEA AND CHOCOLATE BENEFICIAL FOR HEART HEALTH, STUDIES SUGGEST
A Penn State-led review of the available evidence from 66 published studies, supports the view that consuming flavonoid-rich tea and/or chocolate, in moderation, can be associated with reduced risk for cardiovascular disease.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020118075002.htm
SCIENTISTS USE SEALS AS "UNDERWATER EYES"; TECHNOLOGY PROVIDES RARE GLIMPSE OF RARE FISH SPECIES
By employing one underwater species to "spy" on two others through novel use of technology, Antarctic researchers have gained new insights into two little-known fish species. The team expanded their knowledge base by equipping Weddell seals to follow the fish and record their behavior.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020117072746.htm
SANDIA STUDIES SECURITY AT NATION'S CHEMICAL PLANTS
Security experts at Sandia National Laboratories are helping shore up anti-terrorism defenses at the nations chemical plants.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020122072647.htm
SCIENTISTS DESCRIBE CENTURY OF HUMAN IMPACT ON GLOBAL SURFACE TEMPERATURE
Human activity has affected Earth's surface temperature during the last 130 years, according to a study published this month by the Journal of Geophysical Research. Dr. Robert K. Kaufmann of Boston University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies and Dr. David I. Stern of the Australian National University's Centre for Resource and Environmental Study analyzed historical data for greenhouse gas concentrations, human sulfur emissions, and variations in solar activity between 1865 and 1990.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020123080321.htm
FIRST ROBOT-ASSISTED CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS SURGERY IN THE U.S. PERFORMED AT NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL
A 71-year-old retired businessman from New Jersey is the first patient in the U.S. to receive robotically-assisted coronary artery bypass surgery without a chest incision of any kind.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020123075521.htm
COUNTERINTUITIVELY, AFTER EXTREME DROUGHTS, WADING BIRDS FLOURISH
When rain brought an end to an intense drought in the Everglades a decade ago, wildlife biologist Peter Frederick thought there would be few wading birds left. Instead, he was shocked to note a surge in breeding pairs of white ibis, wood storks, snowy egrets and tricolor herons.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020123075736.htm
NEW METHOD SPEEDS UP DISCOVERY OF MATERIALS
A new method promises to change how companies create materials using artificial intelligence and a technique that simultaneously tests thousands of formulations dramatically speeding up the discovery process.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020123075920.htm
MICROCHIP GIVES BLIND CHANCE OF SIGHT
A computer chip implanted near the eyes retina is well on its way to offering some restored vision to people blinded by eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related degeneration of the eye. The implant works for eye diseases where healthy retinal neurons remain intact after they lose use of the eyes photoreceptors that convert images into electric impulses.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020124174001.htm
NEUROSCIENTISTS SEARCHING FOR ROOTS OF EMPATHY FIND BRAIN REGIONS INVOLVED IN LEARNING BY IMITATION
In a pair of pioneering studies, a French and American team of social-cognitive neuroscientists have identified a network of brain regions that are involved in human imitation and specific brain areas that enable a person to distinguish the self from others.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020123080034.htm
NASA BALLOON MAKES RECORD-BREAKING FLIGHT
Larger than a football field and flying near the edge of space, a NASA scientific balloon has set a new flight record of almost 32 days after completing two orbits around the South Pole.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020123080722.htm
THE K-T IMPACT EXTINCTIONS: DUST DIDN'T DO IT
Scientists basically agree that an asteroid struck the Earth some 65 million years ago and its impact created the Chicxulub crater in Yucatan, Mexico. More controversial is the link between this impact and a major mass extinction of species that happened at the geological (K-T) boundary marked by the impact.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020124174127.htm
HOW VITAMIN C PREVENTS CANCER -- BUT APPLES ARE BETTER
Writing in the medical journal, The Lancet , scientists from Cornell University and Seoul National University offer a more precise explanation for vitamin C's anti-cancer activity. And they suggest that a natural chemical from apples works even better than vitamin C.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020123075403.htm
SILICON NANOPARTICLES NOW COME IN FAMILY OF SIZES AND FLUORESCENT COLORS
A process for creating silicon nanoparticles, developed at the University of Illinois, has now been shown to produce a family of discrete particle sizes useful for microelectronics, optoelectronics and biomedical applications.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020124174055.htm
BLACK HOLE MYSTERY MIMICKED BY SUPERCOMPUTER
Advanced supercomputers have simulated extremely powerful energy jets squirted out by black holes, the most exotic and powerful objects in the Universe.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020125074335.htm
CLIMATE CHANGE FOLLOWING COLLAPSE OF THE MAYA EMPIRE
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam have demonstrated that the climate in South Mexico changed following the collapse of the Maya empire. From preserved pollen grains the paleoecologists could deduce that the climate quickly became dryer.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020125074106.htm
U.S. ECOLOGY DRAMATICALLY ALTERED BY FERTILIZERS AND ACID RAIN
A NASA-funded study of ancient and unpolluted South American forests promises to upend longstanding beliefs about ecosystems and the effects of pollution in the Northern Hemisphere.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020125073740.htm
WHERE IS THE WORLD'S GREATEST BIODIVERSITY? SMITHSONIAN SCIENTISTS FIND THE ANSWER IS A QUESTION OF SCALE
Amazonia represents the quintessence of biodiversity the richest ecosystem on earth. Yet a study by Smithsonian scientists, published this week in the journal Science, shows that differences in species composition of tropical forests are greater over distance in Panama than in Amazonia. The finding also challenges recent models proposed to explain forest species composition.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/01/020124173859.htm
1/30/02
5:01:56 PM
x
1/28/02
11:32:15 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
CRIME IN THE SUITES
by William Greider, The Nation
-- Though Enron earned the limelight for its financial impropriety, William Greider shows how many other corporations deserve the same attention.
UTAH BREWERY CHOOSES 100 PERCENT WIND POWER
from Environmental News Network
-- A Salt Lake City brewery is using energy from a Wyoming wind farm, making it the first company in Utah to power their operations with 100 percent wind power.
FASTING FOR HEALTH AND SPIRITUALITY -- AND THE DREADED E-WORD
by D.B. Cooley, Street Miami
-- Fasting for spiritual or health purposes can be daunting, but the advantages ultimately outweigh the disadvantages, as one food-loving writer discovers.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
1/28/02
11:30:29 PM
World Environment News - January 28, 2002 from Planet Ark
US lawmakers urge EPA to keep air pollution rule - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14204/story.htm
U.S. proposes $5.5 million Murphy Oil fine - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14250/story.htm
PSEG to spend $300 million on clean air compliance - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14223/story.htm
Shell adds Texas wind farm to U.S. power portfolio - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14238/story.htm
Senate panel set to boost US vehicle fuel standard - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14249/story.htm
Phillips seeks help from Congress on Alaskan gas project - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14243/story.htm
California sues ski resort over environment - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14246/story.htm
Antarctic island called a unique climate-change lab - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14205/story.htm
EU's Lamy says sees GMO approvals stuck for months - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14245/story.htm
U.S. blue chips end up on asbestos talk - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14231/story.htm
U.S. lawmakers urged to avoid complete cloning ban - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14248/story.htm
New York City faces drought warning - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14209/story.htm
Valero says will fight Unocal's fuel patent lawsuit - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14252/story.htm
Key US winter wheat areas seen dry through April - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14228/story.htm
Cheney says won't turn over energy papers to GAO - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14206/story.htm
GAO brandishes lawsuit in energy task force probe - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14207/story.htm
New York City faces drought warning - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14209/story.htm
Alps, Hindu Kush world's most threatened mountains - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14202/story.htm
China Southern flies rare white Bengal tigers to U.S. - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14203/story.htm
Animal rights - Huntingdon quits LSE - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14253/story.htm
Chumbawumba takes on car giant - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14242/story.htm
Peeved president launches $550 mln Uganda dam - UGANDA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14221/story.htm
Thailand says coal power plants need to prove case - THAILAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14210/story.htm
World labour body to attend anti-globalisers' meet - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14216/story.htm
Korea's "Dr Dogmeat" defends custom - SOUTH KOREA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14220/story.htm
PSEG strikes deal to buy Polish power plant - POLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14222/story.htm
Pakistan says 43 encroaching Indian fishermen held - PAKISTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14224/story.htm
Malaysia to scrap quotas on rubberwood exports - MALAYSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14233/story.htm
Japanese scientists breed "green" pigs - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14234/story.htm
Northern Italy proposes green cars from 2005 - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14201/story.htm
Eco activists urge Italy to stop beach sell-off - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14217/story.htm
Italy says will not tolerate GM seed contamination - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14251/story.htm
BHP Billiton, Falconbridge drop Gag Island - INDONESIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14244/story.htm
Indonesia to issue rules to ease mining in forests - INDONESIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14218/story.htm
German parliament okays subsidies for CHP plants - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14227/story.htm
Finland's Olkiluoto 2 nuke to close for repairs - FINLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14208/story.htm
Vestas cuts 2001 outlook, share drops - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14239/story.htm
Wind power shares plunge on Vestas move - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14240/story.htm
El Nino, rebels may force Colombia to ration power - COLOMBIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14229/story.htm
Colombia's coffee research center braces for hard times - COLOMBIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14211/story.htm
China Grains - US soy cargoes race against GMO rules - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14235/story.htm
Canada energy minister vows caution on Kyoto treaty - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14215/story.htm
Brazil Cardoso wants Bush to fight for environment - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14230/story.htm
Belgium finds PCB traces in chicken feed - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14212/story.htm
Frequent spills plague Australian uranium mines - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14247/story.htm
Energy Developments slumps on project tests - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14214/story.htm
Australia brown coal targeted for power plant - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14225/story.htm
Marjan, the one-eyed Afghan lion, roars his last - AFGHANISTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14232/story.htm
1/28/02
11:24:36 PM
t r u t h o u t | 01.28
Cheney Says Won't Turn Over List of Energy Meetings
http://www.truthout.com/01.28A.Cheney.No.htm
Why Did an Exec Who'd Sounded the Alarm Kill Himself?
http://www.truthout.com/01.28B.Climbing.Walls.htm
William Rivers Pitt | Friends in High Places
http://www.truthout.com/01.28C.WP.High.Places.htm
Despite His Qualms, Scandal Engulfed Executive
http://www.truthout.com/01.28D.Baxter.Qualms.htm
Explosion Shakes Downtown Jerusalem
http://www.truthout.com/01.28E.Bomb.Jer.htm
Sierra Club Files Suit Against Cheney's Energy Task Force
http://www.truthout.com/01.28F.Sierra.Cheney.htm
The Taliban Getaway | Questions surround a secret Pakistani airlift
http://www.truthout.com/01.28G.NYer.Escape.htm