Earths.net

7/22/01
9:28:58 PM

In reference to the post dated and titled below: 7/22/01 8:37:44 PM

Study Sees Earth's Temperature Soaring By 2100

by Will Dunham

I have one comment....are you out of you freaking mind?? 9 degrees F.. IS NOT soaring....An increase of only 9 degrees is nothing...now before you start telling me all about the polar ice melting and flooding coastlines...an increase of 9 degrees STILL puts the temperature of the ice caps BELOW freezing...where's your melting??? An increase of this minute amount will not only go unnoticed..but have no effect on the environment. Just my opinion,Steve

7/22/01
8:37:44 PM

Study Sees Earth's Temperature Soaring By 2100

by Will Dunham

WASHINGTON - The Earth will become a much hotter place over the next century, according to researchers who predict in a study published last week there is a 90 percent chance the planet's average temperatures will rise 3 to 9 F (1.7 to 4.9 C) by 2100.

Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, used a computer model to predict probable long-term increases in the Earth's temperature if no actions are taken to curb the emissions of gases and pollutants that many scientists blame for global warming.

The researchers said the planet has warmed up by about 1 F (0.6 C) over the last century. But they say it is likely to heat up by about 1 or 2 F (0.5 to 1.2 C) as early as 2030.

By 2100, the most likely increase would be in the range of 4 to 7 F (2.4 to 3.8 C), while there is a 90 percent chance global average temperatures will rise 3 to 9 F (1.7 to 4.9 C), they said.

Tom Wigley, the lead researcher, said a broad range of possible long-term temperature changes does little to assist policy makers. For example, an estimated global warming range of 2.5 to 10.4 F (1.4 to 5.8 C) was announced this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988 by the U.N. World Meteorological Organization and U.N. Environment Program.

Wigley said the new study aimed to tell policy makers what level of global warming is most likely.

World leaders have been at loggerheads over what steps governments need to take to reduce emissions - especially after the United States withdrew in March from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a global deal to cut pollution.

UNCERTAINTIES WEIGHED

He said the computer model sought to account for various uncertainties that could impact warming.

"There are two that absolutely dominate," Wigley, whose study appears in the journal Science, said in an interview.

"One is human beings, and uncertainties in things like population and economic growth and technological development and awareness of environmental issues. Those human and socioeconomic uncertainties essentially produce a very wide range of possible emissions for the gases that might cause changes in climate in the future," he added.

The other primary uncertainty factor, Wigley added, is just how sensitive the Earth's climate system is to man-made influences.

Some critics say there is scant evidence of a man-made cause of global warming.

New estimates of sulfur dioxide and other emissions, along with updated information on carbon storage, ocean circulation, radiation, and other components of the Earth system have improved computer climate models, the researchers said.

Even aggressive action to curb so-called greenhouse emissions and other factors that may contribute to global warming may be too late prevent continued temperature rises, Wigley said.

"The climate system is like a giant flywheel. Even if we do a lot of things in the near future to try to reduce emissions or reduce the growth of emissions, then the system has a lot of inertia and it is going to keep warming for a long, long time," Wigley said.

"So already in place are a lot of unavoidable climate change consequences no matter what we do. But that doesn't mean we should give up. And there are a lot of things we can do. And what we have to do is balance the economic cost against the environmental cost."

In a commentary in Science, experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina note the difficulty in making such temperature predictions.

"Future emissions of greenhouse gases, their climatic effects and the resulting environmental and economic consequences are subject to large uncertainties," said the experts, led by MIT's John Reilly.

Many scientists believe emissions of certain pollutants from industry, power plants, vehicles and other sources threaten to disrupt global climate and ecosystems by causing the Earth's atmosphere to trap more of the sun's energy, triggering global warming.

Source: http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11702

7/22/01
8:27:55 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Study sees Earth's temperature soaring by 2100 - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11702

US energy secretary says conservation not enough - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11713

UPDATE - NY Gov proposes energy conservation building code - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11695

UPDATE - US unveils 5-year oil, natgas drilling plan - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11696

Japan, Canada, Australia stall Kyoto talks - US greens - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11697

UK research says scrapie agent may be behind BSE - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11711

Stinking slick coats Welsh beaches - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11709

Greenpeace protester "buzzes" Blair and Bush - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11707

Inside Track - Bewildering choices for investors with consciences - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11714

UK government issues new hydro power measures - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11703

Eva Air flys rescued orangutans, gibbons to UK - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11700

UK energy minister calls for fuel poor initiatives - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11704

Divers return to sunken submarine Kursk - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11693

UPDATE - Bush pushes trade, defends Kyoto stance - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11708

Germany, Japan both press US on Kyoto in Genoa - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11698

US sees G8 agreement on need to cut greenhouse gases - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11710

UPDATE - Late-night battle on to save Kyoto climate pact - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11692

FACTBOX - Kyoto pact talks hinge on crunch issues - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11701

Cash not conscience is often energy bottom line - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11705

Study estimates environmental costs of energy output - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11699

Cambodia moves to axe illegal logging - CAMBODIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11706

Brazil will label GM food, if sales ever legalized - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11694

Brazil soy winning higher premiums as GM-free - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11712

7/22/01
8:25:54 PM

MOTHERSALERT URLs NEWS Page

U.S. Invites Europe to Dump Radioactive Waste Here Uncle Sam's Nuclear Welcome

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0125/ridgeway1.shtml

Poll: Nuclear Power Too Dangerous

http://www.mothersalert.org/nuclearpoll.html

Toxic Power What the Toxics Release Inventory Tells Us about Power Plant Pollution

http://cta.policy.net/proactive/newsroom/release.vtml?id=18980

Uranium Workers Will Get paid

http://www.mothersalert.org/uraniumworkers.html

Safety Fears at Scotland's Nuke Plants

http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=91721

Efficiency, Renewables Research Proves Wise Investment

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-18-06.html

House Defeats Motion to Help Downwinders

http://www.mothersalert.org/downwinders2.html

New Jersey renews nuclear plant's water permit despite fish kills

http://enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/07/07192001/nuclearfish_44356.asp

Theft Exposes Nuclear Security Lapse

http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/Plutonium-Theft-Germany.htm

Greenpeace Missile Defense Protesters Receive Harsh Charges

http://www.mothersalert.org/greenpeace.html

Not In Our Backyard: Nevadans, battling a nuclear-waste dump in their state, now have a powerful ally in Senator Harry Reid

http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010716/hazardous.html

Cold War's Human Costs Linger

http://www.mothersalert.org/coldwar.html

U.S. Opposes Plan for Financing Clean Energy Over Fossil Fuel

http://www.njpcgreens.org/cleanenergy.html

Soybean oil may soon fuel jet planes

http://enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/07/07162001/soybeanjets_44315.asp

Germany studies possible nuclear theft

http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/07/07162001/ap_Germany_44323.asp

Thyroid Toxin Taints Water Supplies for Millions in Calif. & Nationwide

http://www.ems.org/endocrine_disruptors/zz.ems.01.07.16.html

MORE INFORMATION Page The Criminality of Nuclear deterrence

http://www.mothersalert.org/boyle2.html

Nuclear Waste Shipment Routes

http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/Maps/USAmap.htm

7/22/01
3:44:29 PM

The Nation

One dead, 80 injured in Genoa: The violent defense of indefensible policies July 20 @ 11:20pm The slaying by Italian police of a demonstrator outside the Group of Eight summit in Genoa was not the first killing of a protester against corporate globalization. Dozens of activists have been killed in India, Nigeria, Bolivia and other countries where anti-globalization movements are, for reasons of necessity, more advanced and impassioned than those now taking shape in Europe and the United States.

The difference is that the killing of one protester and the wounding of more than 80 others in Genoa -- like the shootings at Ohio's Kent State University campus in 1970 -- took place in front of the cameras of western news organizations and independent reporters who transmitted the story to the world.

That is a big difference indeed -- especially when the images raise profound questions about why Italian police thought it necessary to escalate the violence to a level that resulted in a death and in so many injuries.

As a result, the clashes between civil society and the mandarins of corporate capital that for some had come to seem routine have now taken on a new character. Issues of development and democracy that demonstrators have long identified as deadly serious are now more obviously so. And the dismissals of religious, labor, farm and student campaigners for economic and environmental justice by powerful political and business elites sound all the more crude and desperate.

No action by this G8 summit, no matter how noble in rhetoric or intent, will erase the fact that the economic policies promoted by the leaders of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia are now so unpopular that their gatherings must be "protected" with deadly police violence.

In Seattle in 1999, when tens of thousands of anti-globalization demonstrators prevented the launch of a new round of World Trade Organization negotiations, Global Trade Watch organizer Mike Dolan noted the irony of WTO officials hailing free trade’s benefits from behind legions of armed riot troops. "If what the WTO is doing inside those closed meetings is so great, how come they need all this muscle to protect them?" asked Dolan.

Now, his question must be updated. If the croupiers of corporate capital really believe that restructuring the global economy to limit protections for workers, the environment and human rights represents a positive development, why must they employ deadly force to defend the meetings at which they plot their warped vision of "progress"?

The answer, of course, is that the politicians gathered in Genoa are not "leading." They are being lead by corporate interests that are, by their very nature, at odds with enlightened and pragmatic public interest. And the public is rapidly awakening to this fact. Despite the police violence, the demonstrations in Genoa are already some of the largest protests in history against the neo-liberal, corporatist model of development.

An estimated 100,000 activists from around the world have made their way to Italy to echo the sentiments of former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, who announced prior to the summit that the place for those who seek a just world is in the streets of Genoa. A former G8 participant, D'Alema would have been welcome on the "European Vision" cruise ship where most visiting dignitaries will be resident, or at the "Jolly Hotel" to which the U.S. president has been moved "for security reasons." But D'Alema has taken the side of the future, as dangerous as that can be -- politically and physically.

George W. Bush may say -- as he did Wednesday -- that the activists pouring into Genoa from around the world are "no friends of the poor." He may claim that global poverty can only be addressed by freeing corporations to exploit workers, pollute the environment and reject regulation.

But the numbers of those who disagree with Bush's simplistic and wrong-minded calculations are growing. Peaceful protests against corporate globalization may now be the routine. But they are routinely larger. And the intimidation, the arrests and the violence ordered by those who cling to free-trade fantasies will never be sufficient to silence the cry that has gone up from the streets of Genoa: "Our world is not for sale."

http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/

7/22/01
3:38:32 PM

The Battle Of Genoa

by Walden Bello, The Nation

Friday, July 20

The police van came careening down the Via Giovanni Tomaso Invrea, moving crazily from one side of the narrow street to the other in pursuit of protesters. I flattened myself against the wall, and it missed me by two feet. Another six inches and it would have mowed down the man in front of me. " Asesino, asesino," people screamed as the vehicle stopped a few yards away. A bald carabineri opened the door and glared at us.

Everything happened so quickly. Just twenty-five minutes before, at around 2:15 pm, a column of around 8,000-10,000 people, led by the famed specialists in civil disobedience the Tute Bianche, were marching down the Via Tolemaide, with marshalls using megaphones announcing, "This is a nonviolent march. We believe in nonviolence." The goal of the marchers was to reach the twenty-foot wall of iron that the authorities had erected around the Group of Eight meeting site at the Piazza Ducale about two kilometers away.

They never reached the wall. At the foot of the hill, at the intersection with Via Corsino, carabineri hidden in a small side street started firing tear gas in an unprovoked attack that scattered the advance ranks of the march where there were many reporters and television crews.

The Battle of Genoa had begun.

Throughout the next four hours, the battle unfolded in the narrow sidestreets and the small piazzas of the Corso Torino area, with the battle lines shifting constantly. The police would attack with teargas, vans and armored personnel carriers. The protesters would retreat, then come back with stones and bricks ripped from the pavement. Huge trash bins were turned over to serve as barricades. "Genova Libera! Genova Libera!" would erupt from the crowd everytime the police were forced back.

At 4:20 pm, I had my first glimpse of an injured man being carried away by the first aid personnel of the Tute Bianche. It was at around the same time that one person was shot dead by carabineri in the same vicinity. Ambulance sirens blared constantly. Later I would find out that about 150 people had been injured during the day--about fifty of them being members of the media.

I also learned later that there were acts of civil disobedience throughout the day, the most dramatic apparently being that of a woman from the so-called "Pink Bloc" of marchers who tried to scale the steel wall to place grappling hooks on it, only to be hosed down brutally by the police when she had got nearly to the top.

Unfortunately, the anarchists--the so-called "Black Bloc"--were also around. Despite efforts by mainstream demonstrators to dissuade them with dramatic pleas for nonviolence, they went about burning a couple of cars, including an Alfa Romeo. They also moved down Genoa's beautiful seafront drive, the Corso Italia, selectively breaking windows--breaking those of banks and car companies while leaving those of restaurants untouched. "Capitalism kills" with an anarchist logo alongside was painted on walls.

Many protesters were very upset about the antics of the few hundred anarchists in a global assembly of about 100,000 people. Fabio Bellini, a 25-year-old Genoan, told me: "It is right to demonstrate against the G-8. It's right to fight for a better world, and that's why I'm here. But I don't understand the window breaking. I'm sad for Genoa." Pam Foster, the coordinator of the Halifax Initiative in Canada, asked: "Why did the police go after peaceful demonstrators but take their time dealing with the anarchists?"

The antics of the Black Bloc were the subject of many passionate debates when the protesters streamed back to the convergence center at Piazza Kennedy at dusk. Observing one of these spontaneous arguments, Han Soeti of Indymedia-Belgium commented, "There are reports that instead of arresting anarchists, the police were escorting some of them to critical areas. I heard the same thing in Prague and Barcelona."

It is, however, for the new Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, that the protesters, both Italian and non-Italian, reserve their greatest anger. During the struggle at the Corso Torino, Gino Pierantoni, another Genoese, told me, "I don't know where you will find truth in this mess. But I am sure that a great part of the blame rests with this man, who really is incapable of leading this country." Berlusconi is regarded as having militarized the situation, going against the moves of the local government, which tried to accommodate the protest movement. A retired Italian general who headed the United Nations peacekeeping force in Beirut in the seventies summed up the feelings of many Italians when he commented that he did not know why Berlusconi assigned 20,000 carabineri to Genoa when he only needed 2500 troops to keep the peace in the whole of Beirut.

As in Seattle, Washington, DC, and Prague, organizers of what has been the biggest anti-globalization protest so far are worried that the street battles and the antics of the anarchists might overshadow the message that they wanted to deliver to the G-8. Over several months, the Genoa Social Forum was able to line up about 600 groups behind a pledge of non-violence. It also sponsored a week-long teach-in, involving international speakers, with topics ranging from "Who Needs Trade Liberalization?" to "Mechanisms for Global Democracy" to "Alternatives to Globalization." Among those who delivered talks were anti-globalization gurus Susan George, a critic of neoliberalism, and Jose Bove, better known as the man who dismantled a McDonalds restaurant.

The G-8, however, was deaf to the protests on the streets. While Berlusconi delivered a carefully crafted statement saying he was "saddened" by the death of the demonstrator, he also said it was not connected to the G-8. To add insult to injury, the G-8, on the evening on July 20, issued a statement in which it encouraged the launching of a new round of trade negotiations in Quatar. Opposition to a new round and the World Trade Organization was what had brought thousands of people from all over Europe and the world to Genoa.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=bello20010721

7/22/01
3:32:12 PM

The Nation

Check out two new up-to-the minute reports on the continuing protests in Genoa, Italy. Both exclusively available currently:

Eyewitness to the Battle

by Walden Bello

"The police van came careening down the Via Giovanni Tomaso Invrea, moving crazily from one side of the narrow street to the other in pursuit of protesters. I flattened myself against the wall, and it missed me by two feet. Another six inches and it would have mowed down the man in front of me. "

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=bello20010721

Violence in Genoa

by John Nichols

The slaying of a demonstrator in Genoa was not the first killing of an activist protesting corporate globalization, as much of the media is reporting.

http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/

7/22/01
3:24:24 PM

The Nation

The slaying Friday by Italian police of a demonstrator outside the Group of Eight summit in Genoa was not the first killing of an activist protesting corporate globalization, as much of the press is reporting. Dozens of demonstrators have been killed in India, Nigeria, Bolivia and other countries where anti-globalization movements are, for reasons of necessity, more advanced, impassioned and militant than those now taking shape in Western Europe and the United States.

Read more currently from John Nichols in The Online Beat. Exclusively available at:

http://www.thenation.com/thebeat

And watch this space for info on two upcoming Nation web only reports from Genoa - by Robert Borosage and Walden Bello.

Best Regards, Peter Rothberg Associate Publisher

P.S. Want to protest Dubya's tax plan? Become a Rebate Rebel, donate your tax rebate to The Nation, and help us continue to oppose the Bush Administration's increasingly right-wing agenda. It's easy, using our convenient online form. We'll even enroll you as an honorary Nation Associate with associated perks but with absolutely no future obligation whatsoever. For information go to:

https://ssl.thenation.com/support/rebels/

7/22/01
3:19:46 PM

Genoa Genocide

By Bill O'Brien

Everybody leads with reports from the G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy, where a protester was killed by riot police. The New York Times reefers its coverage of summit business, devoting its entire lead to the protests, in which about a hundred of people were injured and seventy arrested. The shooting occurred after several protesters with rocks, metal rods and other weapons attacked a police Land Rover, according to a Reuters photographer who's quoted in both the NYT and the Washington Post, and whose photos of the incident make all the papers. A man brandishing a fire extinguisher was shot by police and then run over. "It is not clear why the riot police were armed with live ammunition," observes the NYT, noting that police in Seattle and Quebec, battling similar protests, were equipped with powerful but non-lethal rubber pellets.

The protesters were a varied lot, mostly non-violent, united in their "opposition to the increasingly worldwide reach of major corporations," according to the WP. The NYT says the protesters expressed their "appetite for confrontation" by the color of their clothing: pink for gays, white for the "civil disobedience" types and black for "anarchists and other fringe rebel groups that have no patience for organized marching." The shooting victim was a member of the latter group. All of the papers expressed the fear that today's protests would be larger and more violent in the wake of the shooting.

7/22/01
3:13:08 PM

New York Times Documents Military Role In Theft Of 2000 Election

By Barry Grey

In an extensive report published July 15, the New York Times shed new light on the methods employed by the Bush campaign to hijack the 2000 presidential election. The report, entitled "How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote," was the product of a six-month investigation by the Times into Florida officials' handling of ballots mailed from outside the US. These overseas votes became a focal point in the struggle between Bush and Democratic candidate Al Gore over the disputed Florida election.

The Times described how the Bush campaign waged a combined legal and propaganda offensive to pressure canvassing boards in Republican strongholds to accept overseas ballots that, under Florida election laws, were illegal and should have been rejected. At the same time, Bush lawyers pressed canvassing boards in Democratic counties to reject overseas ballots with identical flaws.

This effort to illegally increase Bush's vote centered on hundreds of ballots from military personnel stationed overseas. The Republicans enlisted the aid of the military brass to increase the number of military ballots. They also pressed local election boards to validate military ballots that lacked postmarks, bore postmarks later than the November 7 Election Day, or failed to meet other legal requirements.

As a result, 680 of the 2,490 overseas ballots that were counted as legal votes after Election Day-more than one out of every four such ballots-were defective. Of these, 288 were ballots that canvassing boards initially rejected on November 17, the deadline for receiving overseas ballots, but subsequently accepted under pressure from the Bush campaign, the military and the media.

Bush's official margin of victory in Florida was 537 votes. Citing the Florida Department of State's web site, the Times reports that without the overseas ballots counted after election day, Gore would have won Florida, and thus the White House, by 202 votes.

The Bush campaign and Florida officials, headed by Governor Jeb Bush, the brother of the Republican candidate, engineered this systematic violation of Florida election laws at the same time that they were declaring any delay in the statutory date for certifying the Florida vote to be impermissible, on the grounds that election laws had to be strictly enforced.

The flagrantly unequal treatment of overseas ballots flew in the face of the other major contention of the Republicans, namely, that the lack of specific and uniform criteria for judging disputed ballots in different counties violated the equal protection clause of the US Constitution. This novel idea, if consistently applied, would invalidate elections at every level in the United States, where election laws differ from state to state and rules and procedures vary from county to county across the country. Nevertheless, it was ultimately seized on by the right-wing Republican majority on the US Supreme Court, which based its 5-4 ruling halting manual recounts and handing the presidency to Bush on this supposed violation of the equal protection principle.

Even as the Times presented its account of fraud and criminality on a massive scale, it sought to lend a veneer of legitimacy to the election. The article stated, without explanation, that the Times found "no evidence of vote fraud by either party." It went on to say that its investigation "found no support for the suspicions of Democrats that the Bush campaign had organized an effort to solicit late votes." At a later point the article declared, "There is no evidence that the Pentagon knowingly delivered ballots cast illegally after Election Day."

The authors further cited an authority on voting patterns who estimated that Bush would have retained a margin of 245 votes even if the flawed overseas ballots had been discarded.

But the facts presented by the Times' account contradict these conclusions. For example, the article noted that 17 percent of military overseas ballots from Florida voters arrived without postmarks, despite military regulations that require all mail to be postmarked. This extraordinary rate of unmarked mail stood in sharp contrast to the rest of the country, where less than 1 percent of all overseas military mail arrived without a postmark during the election period.

The Times reported that Pentagon officials it interviewed "could not fully explain why so many ballots were arriving without postmarks." One obvious explanation, however, is that there was a concerted effort to solicit late votes from military personnel and ship them without postmarks so as to conceal the fact that they were illegal.

Two political issues emerge most starkly from the Times' report. The first is the role played by the military in fixing the election.

The involvement of the military brass in the Florida impasse assumed a public form after Friday, November 17. On that day two critical events occurred. County canvassing boards in Florida rejected nearly a third of the overseas ballots received after Election Day, including hundreds of ballots from military personnel. Even though the certified total of overseas ballots increased Bush's official margin by hundreds of votes, it failed to give the Bush campaign the cushion it deemed necessary to overcome the additional votes expected to go to the Gore camp if Republican attempts to halt hand recounts in south Florida failed.

Even more ominous for the Republicans, the Florida Supreme Court enjoined Secretary of State Harris from carrying out her plan to preempt the manual recounts and certify Bush the winner in Florida on Saturday, November 18.

The response of the Bush campaign was to launch a witch-hunting attack on Gore, portraying the efforts of the Democrats to weed out illegal military ballots as an anti-American attack on the armed forces. Montana Governor Marc Racicot, a leading spokesman for the Republican campaign, called a press conference on November 18 and declared, "...the vice president's lawyers have gone to war, in my judgment, against the men and women who serve in the armed forces."

Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of US forces in the Persian Gulf War and a public supporter of Bush, was brought forward to denounce Gore for denying servicemen their right to vote. Schwarzkopf made a point of reminding military personnel that if Gore won in Florida, he would be their new commander in chief-a statement that could only be read as a thinly veiled incitement to insubordination.

In the ensuing days the Bush campaign conducted a two-pronged drive to force local election officials to validate military ballots they had rejected on November 17. On the legal front, they filed suit against 14 canvassing boards in Republican counties, charging individual canvassing board members with violating federal law by rejecting military ballots without postmarks or other legal requirements. These suits had no merit, and were all eventually dismissed. But they had the desired effect of intimidating recalcitrant canvassing boards.

On the propaganda front, Republicans at both the national and state level obtained, through the good graces of the military brass, the names and e-mail addresses of military personnel stationed abroad whose ballots had been rejected. They solicited statements from sailors and Navy pilots denouncing Gore and the Democrats, which were then fed to a compliant media. At the height of the furor, to cite one example, Katie Couric of the NBC "Today" program interviewed the wife of a Navy pilot who protested the disqualification of her husband's ballot.

The second critical issue highlighted by the Times articles is the impotence and cowardice of the Democratic Party, and, above all, its prostration before the military. Even with the presidency on the line, both the presidential and vice presidential candidates of the Democratic Party collapsed in the face of opposition from the military brass.

The Times provides an account of the appearance of the vice presidential candidate, Senator Joseph Lieberman, on NBC's "Meet the Press" program on Sunday, November 19, one day after the Republicans launched their witch-hunt over the military ballots. Even Democratic officials in Florida were shocked by Lieberman's capitulation before the Republicans and the Pentagon.

Lieberman refused to defend Democratic officials who were opposing the inclusion of illegal ballots. Instead he said he would give "the benefit of the doubt" to military ballots, and called on Florida election officials to "go back and take another look" at ballots that had been rejected two days before.

Presidential candidate Gore was no less prostrate before the military. He rejected the advice of campaign strategists who urged him to challenge the illegal ballots. The Times quotes Joe Sandler, who was the Democratic National Committee's general counsel, recalling how Gore explained his position:

"I can give you his exact words. 'If I won this thing by a handful of military ballots, I would be hounded by Republicans and the press every day of my presidency and it wouldn't be worth having.'"

Another Gore aide is quoting as saying, "Gore got very stuck on the notion that if he became president it was not in the national interest that he have a relationship characterized by his mistrust of the military."

These are extraordinary statements. They amount to the acceptance of a military veto over the outcome of a national election and the occupant of the White House.

The subordination of the military to civilian rule is a cardinal principle of the US Constitution. The fact that this cornerstone of democracy has become so eroded is a stark indication of the decay of bourgeois democratic institutions in the US.

The Times report confirms the analysis of the 2000 election made by the World Socialist Web Site: it was a watershed event, marking a decisive break with the traditional forms of rule of American capitalism. The details revealed in the Times exposé underscore the enormous dangers facing the working class. Its basic rights are threatened by a political system moving inexorably in the direction of authoritarian rule.

The absence of any serious opposition within the political establishment to the right-wing attack on democratic rights is reflected in the media response to the Times' report. Consistent with their complicity in both the impeachment conspiracy and the theft of the 2000 election, the major networks have given virtually no coverage to the Times articles and the issues they raise.

The Democrats have remained similarly silent. The last thing they want is a public airing of the criminality that underlies the Bush administration.

Nevertheless, the very fact that this story has appeared in a leading publication of the establishment has far-reaching objective significance. The Times report is only one example of a growing genre of political post mortems on the stolen election of 2000. In recent weeks numerous reports have appeared documenting the widespread disenfranchisement of working class and minority voters in Florida. Books have begun to appear indicting the Supreme Court for its role in flouting democratic rights and handing the election to Bush.

These publications reflect a deep-going crisis of political rule in the US, a crisis that has been exacerbated by the installation of a government by anti-democratic means. Seven months after Bush's inauguration, the political establishment is unable to put to rest questions about the legitimacy of his administration. Within the ruling elite there is a gnawing fear that the breach with democratic methods is discrediting the entire political system and paving the way for the radicalization of broad layers of the working population.

See Also:

Florida ballot review shows voters preferred Gore Media slants results to favor Bush [28 May 2001]

Media-sponsored recount in Florida slants results to legitimize Bush election [20 April 2001]

US networks, Congress whitewash media role in 2000 election [14 March 2001]

US Commission on Civil Rights charges "voter disenfranchisement ... at heart" of Bush victory in Florida [10 March 2001]

7/22/01
2:36:24 PM

Carlo Giuliani

The Italian-language Reuters news service identifies the young man who was murdered in Genoa today as 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani, who is from Rome but had been living in Genoa. (Earlier rumors had identified him, wrongly, as Spanish.)

Many photos have now been posted from before, during, and after the killing. They show clearly that he was shot in the head with a pistol from point-blank range while attempting to hurl a fire extinguisher into a police jeep -- hardly an act that threatened the life of the police, despite the officer's claim that he shot the young man in self-defense.

After Carlo Giuliani fell to the ground from two gunshots to the head, the jeep backed up and ran over him.

I'm posting links to these photos below, but be forewarned that they are very graphic and very disturbing.

For ongoing news from Genoa, see the following sources:

Indymedia Italy (most stories translated into English

http://italia.indymedia.org

http://www.phillyimc.org/italy.indymedia.org/ (mirror site)

MidAtlantic Infoshop Genoa Newswire

includes both independent and corporate sources

http://www.infoshop.org/news6/genoa.html

Yahoo News Full Coverage Genoa Summit

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/Business/Global_Economy/

Photo Sequence of the Murder of Carlo Giuliani in Genoa ***NOTE: THESE PHOTOS ARE VERY GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING***

Protesters begin attacking police jeep

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20010720/wl/imdf20072001155102a.html

Paramilitary points gun at Carlo Giuliani as he begins to throw fire extinguisher at jeep

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20010720/wl/imdf20072001155046a.html

Carlo Giuliani lies bleeding on the ground after being shot twice in the head

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20010720/wl/imdf20072001155244a.html

Jeep backing up over body of Carlo Giuliani

http://italia.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4007&group=webcast

http://italia.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4006&group=webcast

http://italia.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4005&group=webcast

Jeep runs over body of Carlo Giuliani

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20010720/wl/imdf20072001155351a.html

Carlo Giuliani lies dead after jeep speeds away

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/nm/20010720/wl/imdf20072001162143a.html

Photo of corpse of Carlo Giuliani shows bullet wound: he was shot between the eyes

http://italia.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4040&group=webcast

7/20/01
9:33:08 PM

WILD ALERT

The House Resources Committee has approved energy legislation that would mandate oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; give Big Oil companies billions of dollars in relief from royalties they would otherwise owe American taxpayers; and threaten energy development on most other federal public lands, like Wildlife Refuges and National Forests. Next stop is the full House. Take action today

at http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=529

or tell your Representative that ripping up the Arctic Refuge while ripping off taxpayers will do nothing to solve our energy problems.

WHAT A RIP-OFF

Demonstrating that it is radically out of step with the majority of the American people, the House Resources Committee approved H.R. 2436, the Energy Security Act, introduced by the committee's chairman, Rep. Jim Hansen (R-1/UT). The vote paves the way for the full House to consider the bill, which is expected as soon as next week.

"This bill will rip up some of America's most outstanding wildlands while ripping off American taxpayers," said Jim Waltman, Wilderness Society Director of Refuges and Wildlife.

Among others, Rep. Hansen's legislation would:

- *Mandate* oil and gas drilling in the biological heart of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- the 1.5 million-acres coastal plain. It's hard to imagine a more inappropriate place to drill for oil.

- Require the Interior Secretary to inventory "all federal lands," except national parks and wilderness areas, for coal, geothermal, wind, and solar energy. That means all National Monuments, National Wildlife Refuges, Wild & Scenic Rivers, National Forest Roadless Areas, BLM Wilderness Study Areas and Areas Of Critical Environmental Concern, National Conservation Areas, and units of the National Trail System would be open to energy production.

- Require suspension of royalties for certain offshore oil and gas leases, handing Big Oil companies a way out of billions of dollars of royalties they would normally have to pay American taxpayers.

- Requires the Departments of Interior and Agriculture to determine what regulations stand in the way of energy development on public lands.

- Limits the ability of the BLM and Forest Service to require environmental safeguards for oil and gas drilling on public lands.

- Disallows the Forest Service from restricting certain areas of National Forests from oil and gas development.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Much of the discussion of energy production from federal lands appears to be driven by the perception that abundant resources have been "locked-up" or put off limits, to the detriment of the country's energy future. "This is a myth that should not drive the energy policy debate," stated Waltman. In fact, the vast majority of federal lands already are open to energy production. Significant efforts were made in the last few years to enhance, where appropriate, oil and gas production on these lands even in the face of falling prices. Important new areas were opened and are being leased.

SECRET ENERGY TASK FORCE

Meanwhile, Vice-President Cheney continues to refuse divulging who his secret energy task force met while preparing the Administration's energy policy. Even the General Accounting Office (GAO), Congress's auditing arm, is demanding that he disclose details, something the GAO has never had to ask a Vice-President before. Cheney has admitted meeting with energy executives but won't reveal who. If Cheney refuses to do so, the GAO could go to court.

TAKE ACTION

Please contact your Representative as soon as possible -- the full House is expected to vote on Rep. Hansen's energy bill as soon as next week. Send a message from

http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=529

7/20/01
7:28:15 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

I COULD HAVE HAD A G8!

One demonstrator has been killed and at least 46 demonstrators and 31 police officers have been hurt today in Genoa, Italy, where leaders of the Group of Eight nations have gathered for their annual summit. Barricades set up earlier this week have kept protesters far from the medieval palace in which the G8 leaders are meeting. Before today's protests turned violent, U.S. President Bush said of the tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Genoa: "I reject the isolationism and protectionism that dominates those who would try to disrupt the meetings."

straight to the source: Washington Post, Mike Allen, 20 Jul 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25321-2001Jul20.html>

GLOBAL HEARTWARMING

After four days of slogging through dense text, clearing away underbrush, and settling some of the simpler issues before them, climate negotiators today got down to the real business at hand, writes Elliot Diringer from Bonn, Germany. And while no one with any sense would predict the outcome, it was possible for the first time in a long while to detect a few glimmers of hope. Read more from Diringer, a veteran environmental reporter now with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, on the Grist Magazine website.

read it only in Grist Magazine: Live from the Bonn negotiations -- an update by Elliot Diringer, Pew Center on Global Climate Change <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/diringer072001.stm?source=daily>

THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT

A single spotted owl roosting in an old-growth tree in British Columbia won a reprieve yesterday when a British Columbia Supreme Court judge overturned permits given to the Cattermole Timber company to log the area where the tree stands. Enviros believe the province's forestry ministry gave short shrift to a warning from the environment ministry that the area is owl habitat. Their court victory may be short-lived, however -- the judge sent the matter back to the forestry ministry for it to be reconsidered before the summer is out.

straight to the source: Vancouver Sun, Neal Hall, 20 Jul 2001 <http://www.vancouversun.com/newsite/news/010720/5026584.html>

FUND FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

To help fund its operations, the Sierra Club may start a mutual fund to invest in companies that pass a strict green test. The group's executive director, Carl Pope, said the fund would use a tougher investment screen than most other mutual funds marketed as being environmentally responsible. The fund would be managed by an outside firm and pay royalties to the club for the use of its name and investment screen. The club hopes to earn as much as $1 million from the fund within five years. But some board members haven't yet bought into the idea. "Selling the club's name cheapens it," said Phillip Berry, a former president, at a board meeting in May.

straight to the source: New York Times, John H. Cushman, 20 Jul 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/20/national/20SIER.html>

ASS GETTING WHIPPED

The wild Persian ass is struggling to avoid extinction in Iran. The animals were once common across central Asia and the Middle East, but no more than 400 of them remain today. Since the Iranian revolution in 1978, uncontrolled hunting and habitat destruction have wiped out 90 percent of the population. Ass fans are pinning their hopes on a project begun four years ago to breed the wild animals in captivity; six of the captive animals are now reproducing successfully.

straight to the source: CNN.com, Gary Strieker, 19 Jul 2001 <http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/07/19/iran.asses/index.html>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

A White House fuel-economy strategy -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha052201.stm?source=daily>

It drives them crazy -- Grist readers debate SUV protest -- and other letters to the editor <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/letters/letters062901.stm?source=daily>

Species on the brink of a nervous breakdown -- a record pace of extinction threatens American flora and fauna -- in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books091900.stm?source=daily>

7/20/01
7:22:23 PM

Courage

A National Park Service report recounting how an 8-year-old shark bite victim was rescued by his uncle confirms the man as a hero.

The report -- obtained by the Pensacola News Journal -- said Jessie Arbogast's uncle, Vance Flosenzier of Mobile, Ala., ran into the water and saw a large pool of blood where Jessie and his brother were playing. Flosenzier grabbed the tail of the shark and pulled twice, yanking the shark away from Jessie with the boy's arm still in his gullet.

A bystander caught the boy and carried him ashore. Flosenzier, 39, a veteran of triathlon competition, kept his hold on the shark's tail and dragged it to the beach, where a ranger shot the shark and a fireman pulled Jessie's arm out of its mouth. The arm was wrapped in towels and ice and rushed to Baptist Hospital.

After 11 hours of surgery, the arm was reattached, but Jessie remains in critical-but-stable condition nearly two weeks later. He remains in a light coma but is showing small indications of neurological improvement -- coughing, yawning and opening his eyes.

"The key from my standpoint is that the uncle got to the shark while it still had ahold of Jessie. That would have been ... it," said George Burgess of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. "(The tail) is their propulsion. Without the tail, they're basically -- it's like spinning its wheels.

"And above all, it certainly underscores to me the courage of the uncle and the wherewithal he had to go out and do what he did," Burgess said. "This wasn't just a salvage effort or a vindictive attack. He went out to get the shark away from his nephew, to save him."

7/20/01
7:16:54 PM

Public Citizen

Senate Puts Graham on Notice to Protect Public Health, Safety and the Environment

Statement of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook

While the outcome of yesterday's Senate vote to confirm John Graham as the country's next regulatory overseer is disappointing, the significant number of senators who voted against Graham -- 37 -- comes as a promising sign that more lawmakers are paying close attention to the Bush anti-safety agenda. While the president already has rolled back sensible health, safety and environmental regulations that protect countless Americans, Congress and the public are awakening to the fact that Bush's anti-regulatory agenda gives corporations a blank check to delay, block and gut health and safety standards.

However, the opposition on the Senate floor to Graham's nomination is only the beginning of the fight against the Bush agenda. Yesterday's vote puts Graham on notice that the voices of public health experts must be heard over those who expect to use the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) as a back door for special interests. As OIRA administrator, Graham will be scrutinized closely, not only because of his ties to industry, but also because his past use of bean-counting methods in his industry-funded research illustrates his aversion to health, safety and environmental regulations. To this end, Public Citizen will launch "Graham Watch" to monitor his decisions and see how they help his former corporate benefactors.

Public Citizen commends the leadership of Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), whose efforts were crucial in the opposition of Graham's appointment. They are true champions of consumers, workers and the environment.

The position of OIRA administrator is critical in reviewing regulations that are often the last line of defense for the health and safety of Americans. Given the opposition of over one-third of the Senate to his appointment, John Graham would be wise to use his clout to protect ordinary Americans rather than serve as a tool of industry.

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

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

7/20/01
7:14:21 PM

The Nation

Tens of thousands of activists marched through the streets of Genoa, Italy yesterday protesting corporate-driven globalization on the eve of a summit meeting of the leaders of the world's industrialized nations.

As the meeting got underway this morning protests continued with the marchers increasingly clashing with the massive police force employed to keep the activists out of range of the Renaissance Palace, the site where the summit is being held. Demonstrators and police have been having at each other for much of the day.

The battles have been pitched at times with police trying to quell the crowds with water cannons, clubs and tear gas. Reports have just surfaced that a demonstrator has been killed by a police gun-shot to the head in a frightening escalation of violence. Officials say 31 police officers have so far been hurt. There are reports that even more demonstrators have been injured and dozens of people have been arrested on a host of charges.

Watch this space for info on two exclusive upcoming Nation reports from Genoa by Robert Borosage and Walden Bello.

And read the latest installment of John Nichols' web only feature The Online Beat for a look at what George W. Bush could learn this week from the protesters in Genoa. Currently available at:

http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/

BROADENING PLAN COLOMBIA

A disconcerting bit of text in the new House Foreign Operations Appropriations bill has left a number of legislators and staffers wondering if the Bush Administration is quietly trying to broaden Plan Colombia without Congressional approval?

Read the full story by investigative reporter Jason Vest exclusively at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=vest20010717

JOIN THE REBATE REBELS

Want to protest Bush's tax plan? Donate a portion of your tax rebate to The Nation, and help us continue to oppose the Bush Administration's increasingly right-wing agenda. It's easy, using our convenient online form. You'll enhance what we do, earn our heartfelt thanks and we'll even enroll you as an honorary member of The Nation Associates, with associated perks, with absolutely no further obligation whatsoever.

https://ssl.thenation.com/support/rebels

THIS WEEK IN THE NATION ARCHIVES

Read Joseph Wood Krutch's report from Tennessee, where John Scopes was on trial for teaching evolution in public schools. This piece, originally published in the July 22, 1925 issue of The Nation, was part of a series that the magazine published at the time on this landmark legal case.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=archive&s=19250722krutch

RECENT NATION ARTICLES

And don't miss the host of recent articles of interest still available including Robert Dreyfuss on the rejuvenated NAACP; Diana Gordon on the Ashcroft Justice Department; Jason Vest on DynCorp's Drug Problem; Katrina vanden Heuvel's look at a blueprint for a progressive future; Katha Pollitt on new Bush appointees; Patricia Williams on the execution of Timothy McVeigh; Christopher Hitchens on Henry Kissinger and Victor Navasky on Cold War Ghosts. All accessible at:

http://www.thenation.com

7/20/01
7:11:37 PM

Premature births in the 1960s linked to DDT

By Environmental News Network

The use of the pesticide DDT across the United States has been linked to premature births in the 1960s in a study conducted by three federal health agencies and the University of North Carolina. DDT is no longer produced in the United States, and current levels are not a likely cause for concern in the country today, the researchers said. But they are still worried about the effects of the pesticide in those 25 countries where it is still used, largely to control the mosquitoes that carry malaria.

The study, which appears in the current issue of the international medical journal Lancet, was carried out by scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The scientists studied stored blood serum from the mothers of thousands of children born between 1959 and 1966. The blood serum has been kept by the U.S. Collaborative Perinatal Project, a program of the National Institutes of Health and 12 universities. A sample group of 2,380 mothers was studied.

The scientists found elevated levels of DDT's breakdown product, DDE, in the stored blood of mothers recorded as giving birth to premature or low-birth-weight infants. Preterm births are a major contributor to infant mortality, the researchers said.

Of these women's births, 361 babies were born preterm, and 221 weighed less than most infants their age. Mothers of the affected infants had higher levels of DDE in their blood, indicating higher exposure to DDT in the environment.

Average levels were about five times higher than at present. "DDT levels in the U.S. are now low and likely not causing any harm," said Matthew Longnecker, M.D., Sc.D., of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, who is lead author on the study. "But we have to be concerned about what might be happening in those 25 countries where DDT is still used. Also, looking back on earlier decades in the U.S., we may have had an epidemic of preterm births that we are just now discovering."

Dr. Longnecker's research program is focused on the health effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). His main project is a study of intrauterine exposure to organochlorine residues, such as the DDT metabolite DDE and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), in relation to intrauterine growth, preterm birth, birth defects, neurologic findings at birth, growth, neurodevelopment, intelligence, and hearing.

DDT was identified as a toxic in 1962 by Rachel Carson in her pioneering environmental book Silent Spring. The book forecast a time when DDT and other persistent pesticides used at that time could produce a spring where there were no birds left to sing. The bald eagle and the brown pelican were nearly driven to extinction before DDT was banned in the United States in 1972. These birds have since recovered somewhat.

"The findings of our study strongly suggest that DDT use increases preterm births, which is a major contributor to infant mortality," Dr. Longnecker said. "If this association is causal, it should be included in any assessment of the costs and benefits of insect control using DDT."

Dr. Longnecker points out that other agents that are less toxic and less persistent, but more expensive, can be used to control malaria. He is now working with epidemiologists in Mexico to see if women from malaria areas, highly exposed to DDT, are affected like the U.S. women were.

In May, officials from 120 countries gathered in Stockholm, Sweden, to sign a treaty that controls the production, import, export, disposal, and use of DDT and 11 other toxic chemicals. Most are subject to an immediate ban, but the use of DDT will still be allowed in some countries for malaria control. Once 50 nations ratify the treaty, it will enter into force.

The controlled chemicals are aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex, toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene, dioxins, and furans.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, in Bethesda, Md., are institutes of the federal National Institutes of Health. The University of North Carolina provided biostatistical support for the study.

http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/07/07202001/ddt_44372.asp

7/20/01
12:03:41 PM

Report Finds Anti-Environmental Activism By Federal Judges

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, July 19, 2001 (ENS) - As the U.S. Senate and the legal community debate whether ideology should be a consideration in judicial confirmations, a new analysis finds a decade long pattern of judicial activism by judges ideologically opposed to environmental protections. In response, leaders of the nation's top environmental groups have announced a coordinated effort to begin monitoring President George W. Bush's nominees for the federal bench.

An analysis of federal rulings from the last 10 years found that a group of highly ideological judges - most appointed by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush - has disregarded norms of judicial conduct to shape a new judicial philosophy that threatens core environmental protections. The analysis, conducted by the Alliance for Justice, Community Rights Counsel and the Natural Resources Defense Council, was released today at a press conference on Capitol Hill.

A dozen national environmental organizations, led by Earthjustice, called on members of the U.S. Senate to consider the views of nominees on issues related to environmental protection, including citizens' access to the courts. This is the first time environmental organizations have mounted a national effort to scrutinize the records of those named to the federal bench.

"In pursuit of anti-environmental activism, judges have repeatedly ignored basic principles of judicial fairness to shut citizens out of the courthouse and create new rights for polluters," said Greg Wetstone of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We will be urging our senators to look for judges who won't ignore the rule of law and substitute their personal views for democratically adopted environmental laws."

"This pattern of anti-environmental rulings is disturbing to anyone concerned about protecting our environment," added Nan Aron of Alliance for Justice. "These judges are striking down long standing safeguards for our air, water and land, even though these laws enjoy overwhelming support from the American people."

The findings are detailed in the report, "Hostile Environment: How Anti-Environmental Federal Judges Threaten Our Air, Water and Land."

According to Community Rights Counsel's Doug Kendall, one of the report's authors, "Our analysis found that activist federal judges are developing a broad array of questionable legal theories to try to justify the results they want at the expense of environmental protection."

There are now 112 vacancies on the federal bench, giving President George W. Bush an immediate opportunity to significantly shape the federal judiciary. Bush has named as "model" judges Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas - both cited in the report for promoting anti-environmental activism.

Environmentalists expressed concern that if Bush's appointees follow in the footsteps of his father's and President Reagan's, they will dismantle federal statutes passed by Congress and further limit the ability of citizens to file suit against polluters.

"The judicial appointment process is rarely thought of as an environmental issue, but it should be," said Buck Parker of Earthjustice. "Federal judges play a critical role in the implementation and enforcement of the laws that protect our nation's clean water, clean air, communities and special natural places. Environmental groups and concerned citizens expect that the judges appointed to the federal bench will uphold rather than undermine the important environmental laws passed by Congress."

Environmental areas now under legal assault by judges include:

The Commerce Clause. Anti-environmental activists are undermining the Constitution's Commerce Clause as a source of Congress's authority to enact safeguards to protect the air, water and land. Under the Commerce Clause, resources with interstate value, such as moving waters and migratory birds, can be protected in order to protect their economic values, such as recreation dollars.

The Supreme Court recently invalidated protections for millions of acres of isolated wetlands and suggested that Congress may lack authority to enact new safeguards. In another case, an Alabama judge declared that a toxic waste cleanup was a local matter, not subject to federal control.

"Standing." Activists are inventing novel theories limiting the rights, or "standing," of citizens to go to court to prevent environmental damage.

Under this view of standing, advanced most notably by Justice Antonin Scalia, timber companies, mining conglomerates and manufacturers have open access to the courts to challenge regulations they dislike. Citizen groups, on the other hand, are excluded, leaving widespread environmental harms unaddressed.

Takings Clause. Anti-environmental activists are rewriting the Constitution's takings clause in a way that requires taxpayers to pay corporations and individuals for complying with environmental protections.

In recent cases, courts have required compensation for laws restricting mining in the Everglades and the use of powerful motorboats in wilderness areas. In May, a federal court ruled that water diversions to benefit endangered species constitutes a taking of property, and that water customers must be compensated.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that landowners can sue the federal government for compensation when environmental regulations reduce their ability to profit from their properties - even if the restrictions were in place before they bought the property.

The 11th Amendment. Activists have interpreted the Constitution's 11th Amendment, which protects the sovereign powers of the states, as excusing states from complying with federal environmental laws.

In one recent case, an appeals court used the 11th Amendment to allow mining companies in West Virginia to continue the practice of mountaintop removal mining, in which the rock shielding seams of coal is blasted off using explosives. The resulting debris is deposited in nearby valleys and streams.

Statutory Construction and Administrative Law. Anti-environmental activists have applied a double standard to rule against the environment on questions of statutory interpretation and administrative law, such as determining the intent of Congress or whether an agency action has been adequately explained and corroborated.

Over the past decade, judges have used this double standard to undermine environmental protections under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and other laws.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee vowed today to push for greater scrutiny of judicial nominees. Speaking at today's press conference, Senator Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, called the new report a "valuable tool" for members of the committee.

"As a senator with a deep commitment to environmental protection, I strongly believe that the environmental views of public servants must be fully vetted and evaluated," Feingold said. "I also believe that the Senate, in fulfilling its constitutional role of providing advice and consent on nominees, should apply the highest standards and the strictest scrutiny to judges, and certainly to Supreme Court justices, who will serve for life."

Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, responded to the report with a statement.

"In recent years, the Supreme Court has issued decisions that undermine some of our country's most important laws, including … environmental legislation enacted by Congress," wrote Kennedy. "Whether provisions of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the tendency to undermine federal statutes is clear and worrisome."

In the first coordinated effort by environmental groups to monitor judicial nominees, 12 national organizations also called on the U.S. Senate to consider the views of nominees on issues related to environmental protection. The letter, and the full report on judicial prejudice, are available at:

http://www.ems.org

7/20/01
11:59:31 AM

Fisheries Bill Would Put Conservation First

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, July 19, 2001 (ENS) - At least 31 species of fish managed in U.S. waters for commercial fishing are now at risk of extinction, the Marine Fish Conservation Network announced today. The report was released to accompany the introduction of the Fisheries Recovery Act of 2001, a bill to make the primary goal of fishing regulation conserving ocean resources.

The number of federally managed ocean fish stocks that are overfished, experiencing overfishing, or both, reached a record high of 107 last year - a nearly 10 percent jump over the year before, notes the Marine Fish Conservation Network (MFCN). Despite legal mandates to protect marine species, government managers last year continued to allow overfishing of 57 of the 92 U.S. stocks (62 percent), which were already known to be overfished.

Among the fish found to be at risk are more than a dozen species of salmon, grouper and rockfish, all valuable commercial species. Three sharks - the dusky, night and sand tiger sharks - are also in trouble, and are currently listed as candidates for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The fish populations know to be at risk may be "just the tip of the iceberg," according to the MFCN report. Adequate information simply does not exist to evaluate the condition of about 78 percent of U.S. managed stocks, the group warns.

But steep declines in fish populations are already having a devastating effect on the ocean environment, fishers and fishing communities. Years of heavy fishing now threaten wildlife dependent on fish, including several sea turtle species and the endangered Steller sea lion.

"It's time to stop managing our ocean resources primarily for extraction, and put conservation first," said Lee Crockett, executive director of the MFCN. The Network is a coalition of 110 environmental organizations, commercial and recreational fishing associations, aquariums and scientific groups. "For too long, we have 'managed' our ocean resources from crisis to crisis. Fish managers must consider the needs of the ocean food web when developing new regulations."

Today, Representative Sam Farr, a California Democrat, introduced legislation to fundamentally change the way the United States manages fish in U.S. waters. The Fisheries Recovery Act of 2001 is intended to help develop fishing regulations with the goal of conserving ocean resources, rather than narrowly managing individual species of fish.

"We need more effective, forward thinking measures to conserve America's ocean resources for fishermen, fishing communities, and future generations," Farr said. "The Fisheries Recovery Act will launch a new era of science based management, and chart a consistent, commonsense course to conserve our ocean wildlife."

Specifically, the Act would strengthen federal laws in order to:

Stop overfishing, in part by prohibiting the overfishing of all fish stocks living in mixed species fisheries. When fishers are barred from catching a particular fish species, but permitted to continue fishing in the same waters for other species, the result is often the unintended netting of protected fish. These fish are then tossed back into the sea - often dead or dying.

Avoid bycatch - the killing of non-target fish and other species such as turtles and birds. Each year, 2.7 billion pounds of nontargeted ocean wildlife are killed in U.S. waters, the MFCN report notes. For every pound of shrimp caught in the Gulf of Mexico, for example, four pounds of fish and other marine life are killed and discarded.

Protect essential ocean habitats, such as coral reefs, wetlands and other habitats where fish feed, breed and find protection, from damaging fishing practices such as bottom trawling and dredging. An area about twice the size of the lower 48 United States is dredged or dragged by bottom trawling vessels annually, often destroying critical fish habitat.

Fund the development and introduction of less damaging fishing practices. Under the bill, the Commerce Secretary would work cooperatively with the fishing industry and others to establish a program to design and introduce less damaging fishing gear.

Fund improved research and reporting, including fisheries observers that can ensure compliance with fishing laws and collect data on fisheries status. Fisheries observers would be required in each fishery, where needed, to provide information on all ocean life caught during fishing operations.

"We now know that far more fish are caught and killed every year than our oceans are able to produce," said Dr. Jack Musick, head of the Vertebrate Ecology and Systematics programs at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and lead author for an American Fisheries Society study on ocean species at risk of extinction. "Contrary to prevailing scientific opinion ten years ago, it now appears that fishing may well drive marine fish species to extinction."

Barbara Stickel, a California hook and line fisherman, spoke today about how fishing communities are being hurt by dwindling fish stocks.

"Fishermen and their families are suffering, unable to exist on the meager quotas now allowed following years of government mismanagement," said Stickel, who represents the Institute for Fisheries Resources, a MFCN member. "We can't do our jobs unless fish managers do theirs. The future of fishing and fishing communities is on the line."

Source: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-19-07.html

7/20/01
11:51:09 AM

UTNE WEB WATCH

The Best of the Alternative Web

VAST CHILEAN WILDERNESS SAVED

by Glen Martin, San Francisco Chronicle

-- On July 2, after a decade of battling Chilean developers and right-wing nationalists, Bay Area tycoon Douglas Tompkins reached an agreement with the Chilean government to preserve his 750,000-acre private park.

THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY ON DRUGS - DRUG JOURNALS

by various authors, LA Weekly

-- From destitution to euphoria, fatality to fantasy, people's experiences with drugs vary wildly. The L.A. Weekly chronicles the experiences of 15 different writers.

THE BIG CHILL

by Dan Kennedy, LEO, originally from the Boston Phoenix

-- In June, the FCC fined a Colorado radio station $7,000 for playing Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady," a tune in heavy rotation across the rest of the country. Why did KKMG get fined? A listener complained.

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

7/20/01
11:49:14 AM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

Climate Optimistic at Climate Treaty Talks

BONN, Germany, July 19, 2001 (ENS) - World environment ministers gathered in Bonn, Germany, this evening for crucial talks to agree the implementation of the Kyoto climate protocol.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-19-02.html

BRITISH COLUMBIA LIFTS BAN ON GRIZZLY BEAR HUNTING

VICTORIA, British Columbia, July 19, 2001 (ENS) - The newly elected Liberal government in British Columbia has lifted the three year ban on the hunting of grizzly bears imposed by the previous government earlier this year. The move has infuriated the province's conservation groups, and one prominent bear scientist says the decision turns the bears into a political football.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-19-01.html

REPORT FINDS ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST BY FEDERAL JUDGES

By Cat Lazaroff

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-19-06.html

SPOTTED OWL VICTORY A WAKE UP CALL

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, July 19, 2001 (ENS) - Western Canada Wilderness Committee staff and volunteers are celebrating today after a B.C. Supreme Court ruling that overturned several logging permits in the habitat of an endangered Northern spotted owl near Yale, in the Fraser Valley.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-19-04.html

WORLD BANK INCORPORATES ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS INTO LENDING PROGRAMS

WASHINGTON, DC, July 19, 2001 (ENS) - A new strategy that aims to integrate environmental concerns into the World Bank's lending programs was approved by the bank's Board of Directors Wednesday. The bank has developed a broad environment portfolio worth some $18 billion.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-19-05.html

FISHERIES BILL WOULD PUT CONSERVATION FIRST

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-19-07.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JULY 19, 2001

Cheney Ordered to Produce Energy Planning Documents

Derailed Train Burns, Leaks Acid in Baltimore

U.S. Could Save Whales by Increasing Aid to Caribbean

Three Environmental Posts Filled at Interior

Environmental Management Secretary Named at Energy Department

Idaho Agrees to Provide More Water for Endangered Fish

American Shad Making a Comeback

New Fire Website Offers Information on Prevention

Shredded Wood Removes Contaminants from Storm Runoff

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-19-09.html

7/20/01
11:41:11 AM

Planet Ark World Environment News

UPDATE - Republican energy bills poised for US House debate - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11667

AEP, TXU to expand West Texas wind project - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11691

US House panel calls for small SUV mileage rise - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11674

UPDATE - New bill kicks off US fisheries reform effort - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11670

US EPA seeks public comment for new arsenic standard - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11668

FEATURE - Kyoto or not, US group to trade greenhouse gases - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11676

US foodmakers say farm law rewrite on wrong track - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11666

US House panel approves energy tax breaks - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11687

UPDATE - Lawmakers push disaster relief, defense funds - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11663

Republican energy bills poised for US House debate - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11669

Bush follows in the footsteps of Marx, Churchill - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11678

US expert warns Middle East of water crisis - SYRIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11681

UPDATE - Japan denies remarks on whaling 'vote-buying' - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11684

Japan keeps door open on Kyoto pact without US - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11675

Japan PM seeks to defuse Kyoto pact "misunderstanding" - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11689

Japan PM says wants quick progress on Kyoto pact - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11672

UPDATE - G8 protests in Genoa start peacefully - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11662

Bush to promote biotechnology at Genoa G8 - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11677

UPDATE - US negotiator in Bonn says won't ratify Kyoto - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11673

UPDATE - Race on to save Kyoto climate pact without US - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11682

UPDATE - Berlin teen fails to stop flying cow spectacle - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11665

Kyoto climate pact flounders after US rejection - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11664

Ecuador asks Colombia to halt aerial coca fumigation - ECUADOR http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11671

Czech PM says has no doubts about Temelin safety - CZECH REPUBLIC http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11690

UPDATE - Cyprus fire under control,"ecological disaster" - CYPRUS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11679

Canadian judge give spotted owl temporary reprieve - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11661

Forest fire rages in Brazil's oldest national park - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11688

Australia probes costs, risks of growing GM crops - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11680

Greenpeace wraps "Statue of Liberty" in chains - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11683

Pacific's Tuvalu looks for help as it slowly sinks - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11686

7/19/01
6:50:22 PM

Students Partner With Non-Profits In World Web Project

USA - CA. - In the USA, California is known as a "bellwether state." This means that what happens in California is a good prediction of what the rest of the nation will be experiencing five or ten years later. Futurist, Barbara Marx Huber, says that when the creative energies of the European immigrants rolled across North America in the 18th and 19th centuries, they came to an abrupt stop at the Pacific ocean, and turned inward. Hence, California's reputation for creativity and the avant guard. Now California can claim yet another innovation - the birth of "Nonprofit Prophets," an exciting new project that offers students an opportunity to address community and world problems from their classroom.

Teachers in public school generally agree that one of the biggest problems they face is student apathy - particularly from middle school on. They are often given curriculum to teach that is totally unrelated to the day to day life and concerns of the students. Then politicians and the public wonder why the system isn't working. The following story from a ten year teaching veteran is not uncommon:

"Two years ago, I was working with a ninth grade student who ended-up getting 5 of 5 "F's" for the semester. In attempting to get him engaged in any kind of learning, I ran the gamut from humor & camaraderie to tough love & consequences. No matter what I tried the student's repeated response was a lethargic and disinterested, "whatever." One year ago I was working with another, similar, student. When I asked him a question, he emitted the phoneme "ev," an abbreviation that he informed me stood for "whatever." Absolute apathy had now been reduced further into a carelessness about even being apathetic!"

"Nonprofit Prophets" is challenging just such apathy by engaging students before, during, or after the on-set of apathy with a sense of caring, commitment and the real life experience that they can successfully address, rather than run from, the problems that confront them.

The project is designed to where teams of students work together to select a local or global problem that they want to understand, serve, and solve. Once the problem is identified, students select one aspect of the problem to become an expert on. They work with actual nonprofit organizations to develop a World Wide Web site in partnership with the organization. The Web site combines student learning, key features of the nonprofit organization, and a variety of multimedia/interactive enhancements. The technology tasks may be completed by the students conducting the research or they may be "contracted out" to students in other classes or at other schools. Various levels of participation are available to interested classes.

In order to encourage students to become prophets for causes important to them, Nonprofit Prophets attempts to boost achievement by having students develop a solution to something they truly view as a "problem." Investing effort, investigating evidence and inventing solutions challenge students to research, hypothesize, legitimately interact with professionals, and to create learning resources and solutions that will impact the real world.

And what are the results? Aside from the service being provided to the many non-profit organizations, the project is achieving legitimate academic goals. Once apathetic students are now actively engaged in investigating the problems and needs of their community and the world. They are creating articles, art, music, video, etc. for professional style web pages using sophisticated technology. But most importantly, they are developing a sense of caring and community; a positive commitment to positive change and the self-esteem of knowing that they are doing something positive about local and world wide problems.

Organizers of the project hope to see it expand rapidly throughout the education system. Their own website shows how teachers and administrators can involve their own class or school. For more information go to

http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/prophets/

7/19/01
6:48:34 PM

In The News

Ohio Congressman Proposes US Department Of Peace USA -Washington, DC - On July 11th, US Congressman Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio, introduced legislation to create a cabinet level agency dedicated to peacemaking and the study of conditions that are conducive to peace. "The time for peace is now," Congressman Kucinich said. "At the dawn of a new millennium, there is no better time to review age old challenges with new thinking that peace is not only the absence of violence, but the presence of a higher evolution of human awareness with respect, trust and integrity toward humankind. Our founding fathers recognized that peace was one of the highest duties of the newly organized free and independent states. But too often, we have overlooked the long-term solution of peace for instant gratification of war. This continued downward spiral of violence must stop to ensure that future generations will live in peace and harmony."

Kucinich's legislation to create a Department of Peace focuses on individual, group and national responsibilities of holding peace as an organizing principle. The Department of Peace will focus on nonmilitary peaceful conflict resolutions, prevent violence and promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights. A Peace Academy, similar to the five military service academies, would be created; its graduates dispatched to troubled areas around the globe to promote nonviolent dispute resolutions.

"The challenges inherent in creating a Department of Peace are massive," said Congressman Kucinich. "But the alternatives are worse. Violence at home, in the schools, in the media, and between nations has dragged down humanity. It's time to recognize that traditional, militant objectives for peace are not working, and the only solution is to make peace the goal of a cabinet level agency."

The Department of Peace would be responsible for a wide range of activities which involve promoting and facilitating peaceful, nonviolent conflict resolution. Domestically, the Department of Peace would be charged with developing policies which address issues such as domestic violence, spousal abuse, child abuse and mistreatment of the elderly. The Department would also have an international mandate by analyzing foreign policy and making recommendations to the President on pertaining to national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict.

The Department will create and establish a Peace Academy, modeled after the military service academies, which will provide a 4-year concentration in peace education. Graduates will be required to serve 5 years in public service in programs dedicated to domestic or international nonviolent conflict resolution.

The principal officers of the Department, in addition to the Secretary of Peace will include; the Under Secretary of Peace; the Assistant Secretary for Peace Education and Training; the Assistant Secretary for Domestic Peace Activities, the Assistant Secretary for International Peace Activities; the Assistant Secretary for Technology for Peace; the Assistant Secretary for Arms Control and Disarmament; the Assistant Secretary for Peaceful Coexistence and Nonviolent Conflict Resolution; the Assistant Secretary for Human and Economic Rights; and a General Counsel.

The first day of each year, January 1st will be designated as Peace Day in the United States and all citizens should be encouraged to observe and celebrate the blessings of peace and endeavor to create peace in the coming year.

For more info on the Department of Peace, go to

http://www.house.gov/kucinich/action/peace.htm

7/19/01
6:45:31 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

A BEE IN THEIR BONNET

The chair of the current climate change conference, Dutch Environment Minister Jan Pronk, said yesterday that his "hopes are growing day by day" that an international agreement would be reached. But others at the conference in Bonn, Germany, were far more pessimistic about a positive outcome. It's not just environmental groups that are pulling for an agreement. One of the profound shifts in the climate debate, writes Elliot Diringer from Bonn, is that some leading corporations are now pushing for concrete steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Read more from Diringer, a veteran environmental reporter now with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, on the Grist Magazine website.

straight to the source: BBC News, 19 Jul 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1446000/1446313.stm>

THE GREAT BRAIN ROBBERY

Eating fish tainted with PCBs may cause memory loss and brain damage in adults, according to a study of Michigan residents. The study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the first to suggest that PCBs in fish may have health implications for all adults; state fish advisories until now have focused on protecting pregnant women, fetuses, and young children. Michigan ships Lake Michigan whitefish and lake trout to restaurants all over the country without health warnings for PCBs, mercury, or other pollutants.

straight to the source: Green Bay Press-Gazette, Peter Rebhahn, 18 Jul 2001 <http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_750801.shtml>

straight to the source: Detroit News, Jeremy Pearce, 12 Jul 2001 <http://detnews.com/2001/health/0107/16/a01-246597.htm>

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN ...

Teflon frying pans are great for eggs over easy, but their nonstick coating can release chemicals into the environment that may take centuries to break down, according to a study published today in the journal Nature. A University of Toronto research team found that Teflon emits trifluoracetate (TFA) when heated to extremely high temperatures. Once released, TFA seems to collect in wetlands. As levels of the pollutant build up over time, scientists speculate that TFA may pose a problem to plants. A spokesperson for DuPont, which makes Teflon, said Teflon wasn't normally heated to the temperatures the researchers studied, making the findings questionable.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Emily Green, 19 Jul 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000058967jul19.story>

straight to the source: Washington Post, Shankar Vedantam, 19 Jul 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17734-2001Jul18.html>

YOU CAN'T HIDE YOUR LION EYES

At least 35 sea lions were found dead and mutilated in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands on Sunday. Acting on an anonymous tip, officials of the Galapagos National Park discovered the bodies washed up on the beach, with their teeth and genitalia removed. Authorities suspect that the sea lions were killed to sell the body parts as aphrodisiacs in Asia. Sea lions have no natural predators and generally aren't afraid of humans.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 18 Jul 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/602045.asp>

EXTERMI-NATION

U.S. House Republicans are threatening to exterminate a proposal that would require school districts to notify parents of pesticide use on school grounds. Senate leaders added the measure to President Bush's education bill after consulting with educators, environmentalists, and representatives of the pesticide industry. Some pesticide manufacturers and school officials argue, however, that the measure would discourage pest control and increase costs and legal liability at schools. More than 30 states have similar pesticide-notification regulations on the books.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 19 Jul 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16197-2001Jul18.html>

7/19/01
2:06:11 PM

A Harvard University study finds segregation in America's schools increased in the past decade despite the nation's growing diversity.

The study -- by the school's Civil Rights Project -- found that much of the progress for black students since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 50 years ago that school segregation was unconstitutional was eliminated during the 1990s by subsequent Supreme Court decisions limiting desegregation remedies.

The study found that the nation's largest minority, Latinos, has become increasingly isolated over the past 30 years, surpassing that of blacks. It also found that the rapid growth of suburban minorities has not produced integrated schools.

Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Gary Orfield told the Boston Herald that it was ironic considering evidence that desegregated schools improve test scores and positively change the lives of students, and that Americans increasingly express support for integrated schools.

7/19/01
12:45:22 PM

Study Finds Flaws In "Mad Cow" Detection Program

Analysis Reveals a Wide Variation in State Testing Rates

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) program to detect mad cow disease is plagued with dramatic inconsistencies between states, an analysis by Public Citizen and the Government Accountability Project (GAP) has found. The report shows that for the largest cattle-producing states, there is a 400- to 2,000-fold difference in testing rates for mad cow disease between those with the highest and lowest rates.

"The USDA's claim that the U.S. is free from this disease would be more credible if the testing program was not in such disarray," said Felicia Nestor, food safety program director at GAP. "Such erratic testing practices in a program that is over a decade old are just unacceptable."

In theory, the USDA's mad cow disease surveillance program consists of testing the brains of all cattle diagnosed with central nervous system disorders at the time of slaughter and testing a sample of "downer" cows, animals that are unable to walk. In 2000, approximately 2,300 brains were tested of 35 million cattle slaughtered. Largely on the basis of this program, which has produced no positive results, the USDA claims that the United States is free from mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). BSE is a neurological disease in cattle that has been linked to a fatal condition in humans, known as "variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease." Approximately 100 people have died from the disease, primarily in Britain.

Public Citizen and GAP evaluated the surveillance program by using government data to determine the testing rate for each of the top 20 cattle-producing states from August 1997 through December 2000. There was a 400- to 2,000-fold difference between the states with the highest and lowest testing rates.

"A basic requirement for any BSE surveillance program is that testing rates across the country be approximately equal so that the disease is as likely to be detected wherever it might occur," said Dr. Peter Lurie, deputy director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group and a member of the Food and Drug Administration's Advisory Committee on BSE and related diseases. "The current program is a strikingly haphazard way to assess whether or not a fatal disease is present in this country. USDA does not even have a clear definition of a downer cow."

The results of the analysis are backed up by several USDA veterinarians.

"Even though the plant I worked in had high numbers of downer cows, no brains were ever taken for BSE testing," said Lester Friedlander, a former USDA veterinarian and federal whistleblower. "And I continue to hear from veterinarians across the country that they still haven't had any brains from their plants taken for BSE testing."

Recently retired USDA veterinarian Michael Schwochert's experience also supports the findings. "The difference in testing rates between states is easy to understand, considering the conditions in the field," he said. "Shortages of veterinarians to examine cattle coming into the plants and the involvement of different divisions of the USDA make performing a BSE test an extra burden for veterinarians. If the USDA were serious about setting up a thorough surveillance program for this disease, it would do a lot of things differently."

In a letter sent Thursday to USDA Secretary Ann Veneman, Public Citizen and GAP have made several recommendations for strengthening the USDA's surveillance program. These include establishing clear, consistent criteria for choosing which animals are tested for BSE and conducting unannounced inspections to monitor compliance with these criteria. While the USDA has proposed increases in BSE testing rates in 2001, these will not be as valuable as they might be if they are not spread more uniformly across the country.

"The potential consequences of mad cow disease occurring in the U.S. are too severe for USDA's testing program to rely on a haphazard testing scheme," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The USDA needs to design - and be able to explain - its surveillance program so that the public can have more confidence in claims that the U.S. is free from this disease."

Public Citizen and GAP are members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, a new coalition of consumer, religious, farm, animal welfare, labor and environmental groups that works on issues of meat production and food safety.

The report, data and letter are available at

http://www.citizen.org/hrg/publications/1581.htm

http://www.whistleblower.org/www/BSEREPORT.htm

An earlier letter about BSE to the FDA and USDA from the Global Safe Food Alliance can be seen at

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/rad-food/bse/lettertofdausda.htm

7/19/01
12:03:25 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

HOUSE SET TO REVIEW ARCTIC DRILLING PROPOSAL

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, July 18, 2001 (ENS) - The House Resources Committee has approved legislation that would open a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to energy exploration. The committee's action Tuesday sends the bill to the full House, marking the first time that Congress has voted on the Bush administration's controversial proposal to open the Refuge to drilling.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-18-07.html

TORTURED APPEAL OF MEXICAN ECOLOGISTS DENIED

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, July 18, 2001 (ENS) - Two jailed Mexican environmentalists have lost their last chance appeal of drug and weapons convictions. Their appeal claimed that the courts had excluded evidence that their statements to military officials were extracted by torture.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-18-04.html

RIFT VALLEY FEVER COULD SPREAD TO IRAQ

ROME, Italy, July 18, 2001 (ENS) - Rift Valley Fever is threatening livestock and people in Iraq, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a statement issued Tuesday.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-18-04.html

ENERGY RESEARCH PROVES WISE INVESTMENT FOR ENERGY DEPARTMENT

WASHINGTON, DC, July 18, 2001 (ENS) - In a comprehensive review of federal research and development efforts to advance energy efficient and fossil fuel technologies, a scientific committee found these programs have yielded significant economic, environmental and national security benefits. The report suggests that the Bush administration should rethink plans to cut funding for alternative fuels and efficiency research.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-18-06.html

GERMAN GOVERNMENT DEFEATED OVER DRINKS PACKAGING

BERLIN, Germany, July 18, 2001 (ENS) - German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has suffered a damaging defeat from his own forces in the federal states, which on Friday rejected plans for a new system of mandatory deposits on most one-way drinks packaging.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-18-03.html

FOUR ZAMBEZI RIVER NATIOINS MAKE JOINT CONSERVATION PLANS

By Singy Hanyona

LUSAKA, Zambia, July 18, 2001 (ENS) - The African Wildlife Foundation has launched a new regional conservation project known as the "four corners natural resource management project."

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-18-01.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JULY 18, 2001

Fire Explodes Acid Tank at Oil Refinery

Excess Sun Exposure Could Harm Children

Perchlorate Contamination Found in Groundwater Nationwide

DDT Exposure May Cause Pre-term Births

$5 Million Partnership Addresses Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Fran Mainella Confirmed as Park Service Director

Poll Finds Strong Support for Environmental Protections

eNature Launches Backyard Wildlife Website

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-18-09.html

7/19/01
11:43:55 AM

AlterNet.org

WHY WHITES THINK BLACKS HAVE NO PROBLEMS

Tim Wise, AlterNet

Seven out of ten whites think that blacks face no inequalities. Yet 50% of blacks say they have been discriminated against in the past month. How can whites be so blind?

http://www.alternet.org

BUSH IS NO REAGAN; HE'S A HARDING

David Helvarg, AlterNet

In the 1920s, President Harding was soaking in Big Oil money, appointing robber barons to his cabinet, cutting taxes for the rich and mangling his English. Sounds familiar ...

http://www.alternet.org

THE PRIVACY PARADOX: SURVEILLANCE VS. CELEBRITY

Tamara Straus, AlterNet

Americans are increasingly watched by law enforcement and private industry. But we also are increasingly in search of public fame. How will privacy evolve in the era of the unwanted and wanted gaze?

http://www.alternet.org

GARY CONDIT AND THE THRILL OF SEXUAL INFIDELITY

Lara Riscol, AlterNet

We take to infidelity more naturally than we admit. Otherwise we wouldn't so readily jump into bed with Gary Condit, Chandra Levy and accounts of their salacious sex.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11183

BUSH + JESUS = UNPROTECTED KIDS

Maia Szalavitz, The American Prospect

Over the last 10 years, more than two dozen teenagers have died in so-called "tough love" programs. It's a result of the kind of deregulation Bush would have in all social services.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11193

BORDER CROSSING -- A PHOTO ESSAY

In stunning photos and captions, 17-year-old Elizabeth Milne-Kahn explores maquiladoras, toxic waste sites and struggling -- but thriving -- communities south of Mexican-American border.

http://www.alternet.org/wiretapmag/elizabeths_photos_index.html

THE NEW AGE OF ZERO TOLERANCE

Dean Kuipers, LA Weekly

Zero tolerance drug laws punish ordinary people for ordinary mistakes with draconian consequences. They solve the problem of ambiguity while destroying countless lives along the way.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11202

SEARCH ENGINES CHARGED WITH FALSE ADVERTISING

Suzy Khimm, AlterNet

Eight Internet search engines have been accused of violating federal "truth in advertising" laws by Commercial Alert, a group started by Ralph Nader.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11188

THE SOUND AND THE FURIOUS

Corinne Asturias, YES! Magazine

Silence -- pure silence -- has become a rare and elusive thing. Our mechanized, fast moving society has destroyed it. And now constant noise is numbing down our souls.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11182

LEAKED MEMO REVEALS WTO PLAN TO "SELL" ITSELF TO AMERICAN YOUTH

Deanna Swift, AlterNet

Ever since the disastrous "Battle of Seattle" in 1999, the World Trade Organization has been trying to remake its image. "Positive Anarchy" might be just the solution.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11172

THE NETWORK BROWN-OUT

Alicia Rebensdorf, AlterNet When it comes to Latinos, our televisions might as well be broadcasting in black and white.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11197

-- and --

GARCIA: A LATINO NIELSEN FAMILY

James E. Garcia, AlterNet

My family has recently been selected as a Nielsen family. If they pay attention to our preferences, Thursday nights will feature Rodriguez and Cruz instead of Rather and Brokaw.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11186

BUILDING THE LEFT TO WIN

Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation

If progressives are to oppose Bush's right-wing agenda and take on America's powerful conservative forces, the left needs a new strategy. Here it is.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11195

EXXONMOBIL: FACING A BOYCOTT

Evan Woodward, AlterNet

ExxonMobil, one of the biggest corporations on the planet, is now facing a boycott spearheaded by activist groups protesting the company's policies at home and abroad.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11187

THE INCARCERATION INDEX -- PRISON NUMBERS IN AMERICA

A new report from Mother Jones takes a critical look at incarceration. With analysis, stats, and essays, MoJo brings you as close as you ever want to get to the prison-industiral complex.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11203

GOING CAPLESS: THE ANDEAN COUNTERDRUG INITIATIVE

Jason Vest, The Nation

When Congress pushed Plan Colombia, it took into account concerns that the U.S. might find itself mired in another Vietnam. So it placed caps on the number of military specialists that could operate in Colombia. No more.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11170

POPCORN JOURNALISM

David Corn, AlterNet

The Gary Condit-Chandra Levy scandal highlights the hierarchy of what the media considers newsworthy. In descending and simplistic order: people, politics and policy.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11184

CARS FROM COCONUTS

Jim Motavalli, E Magazine

DaimlerChrysler and Ford have launched sustainable, environmentally sound projects to turn agricultural waste in the developing world into car seats.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11194

RODNEY KING FOR MAYOR, ANYONE?

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet

Most laughed when New York subway shooter Bernhard Goetz announced that he would run for mayor. But Goetz remains a symbol of racial tension in New York, and some don't think its very funny at all.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11196

DRUG WAR BRIEFS: MOM FEEDS SON MARIJUANA MUFFINS

Kevin Nelson, AlterNet

This week in the Drug War: Mom feeds her son marijuana muffins for his behavior problems ... over 34,000 students may lose loans due to drug violations ... and much more.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11190

HIGHTOWER: THE "MIRACLE" OF SELF CLEANING GLASS

Jim Hightower, AlterNet

A British glassmaker has announced that it may start producing the holy grails of home-building products: Glass windows that clean themselves.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11176

DURST: HOW CHINA WON THE OLYMPICS

Will Durst, AlterNet

Now that China is hosting the 2008 Olympics, the nominations for mascot are rolling in. How about "Blim Blim: the Re-educated Panda" or "Buzzy: the Red Bullet of Righteousness?"

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11174

7/19/01
11:39:40 AM

The Incarceration Index: Prison's Rising Numbers in the Land of the Free

By Mother Jones

A new report by Mother Jones, "Debt to Society," has compiled extensive data on the United States' ever-expanding prison system. With state-by-state comparisons and a series of essays about the prison-industrial complex, Mother Jones has created a great reference center to combat our national obsession with incarceration.

Particularly useful is the Incarceration Atlas. Click on a state, and you can see its incarceration rate, prison spending, education spending, and its growth in such spending over the last 20 years. It also shows the state's prison percentage of drug offenders and its incarceration rate for whites compared to non-whites.

A smattering of statistics garnered from the report (unless otherwise stated, all statistics are for the year 2000):

Ranking of the U.S. in world's highest incarceration rates: 1

Percentage of U.S. prisoners incarcerated for drug offenses in 1980: 8 Percentage of U.S. prisoners incarcerated for drug offenses in 1998: 23

U.S. incarceration rates of Caucasians per 100,000 residents: 235 U.S. incarceration rates of African-Americans per 100,000 residents: 1815

Minnesota's ranking among U.S. highest incarceration rates: 51 Minnesota's ranking among U.S. highest education spending per capita: 1

District of Columbia's ranking among U.S. highest incarceration rates: 1 District of Columbia's ranking among U.S. highest education spending per capita: 51

Percent change from 1980 to 2000 in U.S.'s per capita spending on schools: + 32 Percent change from 1980 to 2000 in U.S.'s per capita spending on prisons: + 189 Percent change from 1980 to 2000 in Texas' per capita spending on prisons: + 401

Learn more by checking out the whole Mother Jones Prison Report at

www.motherjones.com/prisons

7/19/01
11:22:10 AM

The Battle For Genoa

Special report: Globalisation

By John Vidal, The Guardian

The banners are packed, the tickets booked. The glitter and white overalls have been bought, the gas masks just fit and the mobile phones are ready. All that remains is to get to the parties.

This week will see a feast of pan-European protest. It started on Bastille day, last Saturday, with the French unions and immigrants on the streets, the Welsh trampling their last GM crop and the first demonstrations in Britain and Germany about climate change. It will continue tomorrow and Thursday with environmental and peace rallies against President Bush, move on to the scandal of refugee holding-centres and build at Bonn for the climate talks. But the big one is in Genoa, on Friday and Saturday, where the G8 leaders will meet behind the lines of 18,000 heavily armed police.

Unlike Prague, Gothenburg, Cologne or Nice, Genoa is expected to be Europe's Seattle, the coming together of the disparate strands of resistance to corporate globalisation. Should the authorities allow all the protesters into the city (and that is doubtful) then some 120,000 people could take part in a range of debates, festivities and protest about everything from debt to demilitarisation.

If Seattle marked the emerging links between the disparate, frustrated movements, then Genoa will show the breadth of European concern. This stretches across trade unionists, fringe parties, greens, reds, social and religious movements, debt and genetic campaigners and a host of non-governmental groups. They will suspend their differences to object to what they regard as the injustice of power, growing poverty and the direction the world is going.

Neither the protesters nor the authorities know what will happen, but some things are predictable. Yes, there will be violence and yes, the mass media will focus on it. The world leaders will publicly condemn the head-bangers, but gratefully use them as an excuse to ignore the arguments of the rest.

What should seriously concern the G8 is not so much the violence, the numbers in the street or even that they themselves look like idiots hiding behind the barricades, but that the deep roots of a genuine new version of internationalism are growing. This is demonising the global institutions and there's not much governments can do.

They can't dismiss the protests as single issue affairs, nor can they buy them off as they might at home. The charge against them is now too deep. It questions the new role of the state, the distribution of capital and the trajectory of globalisation while at the same time appealing to the broad progressive social conscience.

For the first time in a generation, the international political and economic condition is in the dock. Moreover, the protesters are unlikely to go away, their confidence is growing rather than waning, their agendas are merging, the protests are spreading and drawing in all ages and concerns.

No single analysis has drawn all the stands of the debate together. The new era may yet throw up its Marx and Engels, a defining manifesto or political philosophy. In the meantime, the global protest "movement" is developing its own language, texts, reference points, agendas, myths, heroes and villains. Just as the G8 leaders, world bodies and businesses talk increasingly from the same script, so the protesters' once disparate political and social analyses are converging. The long-term project of governments and world bodies to globalise capital and development is being mirrored by the globalisation of protest.

But what happens next? Governments and world bodies are unsure which way to turn. However well they are policed, major protests reinforce the impression of indifferent elites, repression of debate, overreaction to dissent, injustice and unaccountable power.

Their options - apart from actually embracing the broad agenda being put to them - are to retreat behind even higher barricades, repress dissent further, abandon global meetings altogether or, more likely, meet only in places able to physically resist the masses. Brussels is considering building a super fortress for international meetings. Genoa may be the last of the European super-protests.

But the dilemma also extends to the protesters. The wiser activists acknowledge that there is a momentum to the protests which no one group can control. But, they are asking themselves, what is the point of expending so much energy risking lives, trying to get people out of prison and making short-lived links with groups they would barely acknowledge at home?

They know the real task is immense - to persuade the majority, create real change and unclog the arteries of states that can still dismiss their cause with such ease. They also know that time is not on their side.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,523388,00.html

7/19/01
11:20:15 AM

Tension Increasing In Genoa

by indyGenova

Genoa is rapidly becoming to fortress, increasing the barriers and restricting demonstrators' access to the red zones.

The police City workers have been busy since yesterday erecting street barricades under surveilance. Access to the red zones has not yet been denied, but police have been placed in the merging red-yellow areas to keep an eye on eventual leak-zones, and to have to clear overview of the situation.

The tension in the City is increasing, two also to the fabricated or real " unabomber"-style attacks, which have recently occured in random places around the town. On Monday morning, to package-bomb was sent to the local police station of Saint Fruttuoso, badly injuring the policeman on duty. The Genoa Social Forum has condemned this act, but has at the same Time also taken to stance against the terror strategy that the authorities (perhaps the secret services) to are using to criminalise and weaken the cohesion of the movement. Police policy is difficult to discern.

In the afternoon after the supposed bomb alarm, to lorry- door was blown up. During the same afternoon, that area around Carlini Stadium, to where 300 activists to are currently lodging, was searched two to to bomb threat. To small incendiary device was found inside to suitcase, laying in front of the stadium.

This same morning, several All White women members to were apprehended by policemen on their way out of to shop where they to were buying plexiglass as protection material. Police The intention of forces was to confiscated the materials. They did not succeeed, but they took one member to the police station.

The member was denied the right to to lawyer, and his comrades have contacted one for him. Unfortunately the lawyer didn' t manage to trace the member, as the police had taken him away through to secondary door.The police then invented to story of stolen plexiglass and of to denunciation of the Bianchis from the ownerì of the shop.

This story was used as to pretext for to raid of the Carlini stadium. The obvious lie was dismantled by simple receipts obtained from the owner of the shop.

Altercations and controls to are taking place in different towns across Italy. In Turin 20 poilicemen have raided the squats Askatasuna and Ascova. In Bologna and in Rome, houses of various activists have been searched. In Milan, as well as in Rome, people have been arrested and searched under the pretext of their supposedly possessing drugs, among other reasons.

The situation is tense also at the swiss-italian border, to where to group of activist-cyclists on their way to Genoa to were denied entrance. After the cyclists' several repeated attempts to cross in an activist train, they to were violently kicked off the train. 4 people have been arrested. In response to these violations, the group has occupied an empty house by the police station and border demonstrators have also occupied the highway.

The situation is getting heavy. We need you all: join us in Genoa.

http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=53161&group=webcast

7/19/01
11:17:46 AM

Over 100,000 To Demonstrate Against G8

Over 100,000 are expected in the streets of Genoa, Italy, to express dissent against the closed meetings of the Group of 8. The "G8," composed of the leaders of the world's most economically powerful countries (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Italy, Russia and the United States), meets yearly to discuss general international policy direction. Demonstrators from all over Europe are converging on Genoa for the July 20 to 22 summit to present alternate visions of the way the world's population could organize to solve problems of poverty, inequality and environmental disintegration. Stay tuned to many European IMCs, especially IMC Italy, for up-to-the-minute updates.

http://www.indymedia.org

7/19/01
11:15:03 AM

George Jr. & the CIA Rogue Nation Sells Holocaust Weapons

By Lightparty@aol.com

"When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and we knew exactly who 'They' were. It was 'Us versus Them,' and it was clear who 'Them' was. Today, we're not so sure who the 'They' are, but we know 'They're' there." George W. Bush January, 2001

Children of the world, a warning from beneath the boot of America! Leaders of the world, hear this cry for justice, at this historic moment! We are staring down the barrel of the most deadly holocaust in history, absurdly embodied in George Bush, Jr. Although it may appear a joke, this is in fact the most earth-shaking challenge of our lives, from which the entire world may never recover. You may have noticed over the past decades that the "United States" is being run by a rogue pack of politicians and militarists, for the benefit of giant corporations out to "globalize" every corner of the world, for profit, power, and better golfing. What you may not fully realize is that a CIA-BACKED COUP has taken place in the U.S.A.! The New York Times has confirmed it in a recent recount: the military, represented by their corporate cohorts, jammed the polls in Florida at the last moment, seizing the Executive branch even though their party should have lost the election. This is defined in the dictionary as a "coup," an unelected military-takeover of a formerly democratic government.

Although you may want to dismiss this assessment as "radical rhetoric," please consider the evidence: The Bush brothers (sons of former CIA Chief & VP Bush) claim to have "won" Florida, thanks to fraudulent maneuvers by Bush's campaign manager in Florida (the Secretary of State!), and the elder Bush's appointee on the Supreme Court (violating the U.S. Constitution). A legal examination of this "election" reveals Bush to be at best an "appointee," and not an "elected official" at all! Now consider the math:

The Republicans claim to have "won" by less than one one-hundredth of one percent of the votes in Florida (~500!), the state run by Jeb Bush. Yet Al Gore won the COUNTRY by half a million votes! Now the NY and LA Times have shown the stacking of fraudulent military absentee ballots (the Republican margin of "victory") while the Florida Sec.of State and a Republican judge blocked a hand recount of ballots (that would have given Gore +~5000). These are the facts of the most dubious democratic process in the history of the West. But why would the U.S. military and CIA destroy a democracy?

Politicians of the world, consider the true motives of this "President," appointed by the Pentagon and a Republican judge! Rather than representing the American people, he is a salesman for the giant oil and weapons corporations, as is his robot-hearted Vice-President, who happens to be CEO of Halliburton Industries, one of the largest military contractors on the planet. The Bushes and Cheney have set themselves (and their cohorts in the oil and military corporations) up for a massive diversion of the U.S. economy, represented at the moment by Bush's "Strategic Missile Defense" program. So the cash-flow, being drained from social programs, now goes directly from the desk of the President into the accounts of the Bush family and their friends, growing rich arming themselves against the rest of the world. Current projections of Pentagon spending have been increased to over $300 billion per year, dwarfing all the other countries in the world combined. As a comparison, the U.S. spends less than $250 billion on all other government and social programs combined.

If this isn't an Orwell novel, it's surely the most expensive tyranny in history! One of these bogus "missile tests" could finance a University, a hospital, a solar power array for an entire city. And then bigger ones are built, and blown up. One Trident submarine or aircraft carrier consumes as much energy and resources, produces more pollution than an entire city! The U.S. has hundreds of these roving "Death Star" platforms, missiles polished, ready to launch unspeakable Hiroshimas of vengeance on "the enemy." This is the most deadly racket ever devised, and it may cost humanity the entire living surface of planet Earth! That's why these same industrialists have built for themselves massively-shielded underground cities beneath the U.S., more black-budget billions down the drain.

Consider for a moment what "Strategic Missile Defense" actually implies for the rest of the world. Quite simply, it is a "shield" for offensive weaponry, on a planet-wide scale, which can also be used offensively, in a first-strike capacity. In other words, this is a system designed for total GLOBAL DOMINATION! Every megalomaniac's dream! Combined with cruise missiles and first-strike nuclear submarines ddeployed throughout the world one can project that the warlords at the Pentagon are financing global GAS OVENS, to unleash Hell on Earth. Now, instead of hauling the victims to the ovens, the CIA can accomplish an entire genocide with the push of a few buttons. The merchants of death expect your cooperation, or at least your acquiescense. But at what price? Hear this warning well, children of the world, these CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY are only the tip of the iceberg of the fraud and genocide that the Bush family are charged with. Examine the evidence: "Gulf War Syndrome" caused by biowar-tainted vaccines sold by the Bush family, traffic in cocaine from Central America and the CIA, support of death squads in South America and Central America, financing of white-supremacist organizations from Germany to Argentina, involvement in ongoing oil and energy price gouging, the CIA-gestapo "Drug War" against their own citizens. Pull the lid off the assassination of John Kennedy, and you'll find an elder Bush right there in Dallas, in the CIA’Äôs anti-Castro operations. Pull the cover off Hitler's Third Reich, and you'll find another elder Bush helping finance the Nazis.

One of George Bush, Sr.'s own Generals even blew the whistle on him, in the book, "Immaculate Deception : The Bush Crime Family Exposed," yet the corporate media has ignored this evidence, a crime of complicity itself. You can forget all that "freedom of the press" crap that the politicians love to trumpet about the U.S. The mainstream U.S. media, especially television, is almost entirely censored and controlled by vast corporations, out to sell bigger war games and more expensive toy guns. Look at the blunt and bloated "Pearl Harbor" they're selling to the world right now: racist warmongering, brainwashing, serving up the Pentagon's story to glorify "good Americans," and sell more jets. If there were true ’Äúpress freedom’Äù in the U.S.A., the Bush family would be on trial, and not holding the nuclear buttons!

We are sending you this message from occupied Hawai'i, where Hawaiian sacred lands are routinely bombed and wasted by the U.S. military, while they refuse to stop bombing Vieques Island in Puerto Rico. This is a measure of the calculated genocide which the U.S. is responsible for: one monster nation, under martial law. When the SS was dissolved and the CIA created, they simply transferred their "Master" operations across the ocean. Over the past 20 years, the global gameboard has been set by Ronald Reagan and CIA Chief George Bush, Sr. (who the CIA Headquarters are named for!), preparing for "total domination." Final Solution, American Style, or Fourth Reich? Wake up, world, the holocausts are now on hair-trigger!

7/19/01
11:08:44 AM

Peace

by Caroline A. Browne

For all the people who have suffered the atrocities heaped on them by those who believe that they are superior based on their race, their belief in God and/or the pleasure they get from dehumanizing those that do not fit into their definition of what a human being is, peace be unto you.

For Earth Mother who has seen her children mature only to throw away all that nurtured them by upsetting the delicate balance of nature when they pollute the air they breathe, the water they drink, the food that is consumed and their disregard for the spirit that gave them life, we need peace. For the echoes of those who came before and without them we would not be here today, but in ignorance we block out their voices that urge us to seek a higher path of enlightenment that will lead humankind into the future, they whisper "peace".

For the acceptance of those we do not know, but judge to be different based on what we individually perceive to be and to realize that outside appearances and/or personal beliefs cannot be used as a summation of who a person is or we will never have peace.

For the common thread that has survived since the beginning of time which has been woven into what we call life and makes us realize that no matter the race, belief or culture we are one people and the things that make us different, make us special and lead to peace.

For the end of greed which signals the ending of the exploitation of our natural resources, the termination of divisions such as the haves and the have nots and the close on the age of self. Let there be peace.

In order for us to survive as a species, everything must be done for the betterment of the world in which we live or else we shall all perish and our achievements would be for naught. The starting point must begin with each one of us, peace.

CAlBrowne@aol.com

7/19/01
10:38:06 AM

SUCCOR FISH

The U.S. Interior Department has rejected a request to convene the cabinet-level Endangered Species Committee -- known as the "God Squad" -- to consider whether allocating water to farmers in the Klamath River Basin on the Oregon-California border should rank above saving several species of fish. Farmers in the region have protested a move by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to allot all of its water to protect endangered suckerfish and threatened coho salmon. But in a letter released on Friday, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said that the local irrigation districts that wanted the BuRec decision overturned did not have standing under federal law to request that the committee be convened. The God Squad, which has the power to overrule provisions of the Endangered Species Act to protect human economic interests, has been summoned only three times in the past.

straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 14 Jul 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/14/politics/14SPEC.html>

7/19/01
10:35:48 AM

KWEISI FOR YOU

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said last week that it would sue companies that manufactured lead paint. NAACP President Kweisi Mfume described exposure to lead paint as a "civil rights issue." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that low-income children are eight times more likely to live in homes and apartments where lead paint is a problem, and that black children are five times more likely than white children to suffer from lead poisoning. The U.S. banned lead-based paint in 1978, but activists believe paint manufacturers knew as early as the 1930s that the paint posed major health risks. The companies deny such charges.

straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Kris Axtman, 13 Jul 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/07/13/p2s1.htm>

7/19/01
10:34:42 AM

DENTAL DAMN

A coalition of health and environmental groups sued the American Dental Association last month for misleading consumers about the content and safety of dental fillings. The groups say the ADA is duping consumers into believing that amalgam fillings are made of silver, when the major component is actually mercury. A scientist from the University of Kentucky recently testified before Congress that most people with amalgam fillings get an unsafe of dose of mercury, which is continually leaking as a vapor into the mouth. Canada, Germany, Sweden, the U.K., and other countries have all restricted the number of amalgams that can be placed in children and pregnant women. For its part, the ADA says the mercury is tightly bound with other metals, rendering it safe.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Francesca Lyman, 11 Jul 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/599087.asp>

7/19/01
10:33:41 AM

TOP OF THE R&D CHARTS

Undercutting an argument made by the Bush administration, a study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences has found that federal research and development efforts to improve energy conservation and efficiency have produced big environmental and economic gains. The academy released a report yesterday detailing how a $13 billion federal investment since 1978 has returned $40 billion. About three-quarters of the economic benefits came from three programs that led to more efficient refrigerator and freezer compressors, fluorescent light ballasts, and heat-resistant window glass; the programs together cost only $11 million. The Bush administration has argued that such R&D doesn't get much bang for the buck, and its proposed fiscal year 2002 budget would cut spending in energy conservation and efficiency.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Miguel Llanos, 17 Jul 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/601468.asp>

7/19/01
10:30:56 AM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Solar-powered NASA aircraft flies over Hawaii - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11647

UPDATE - INA and AIG to argue asbestos policy case in court - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11658

US Senate bans Great Lakes energy drilling for 2 yrs - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11655

UPDATE - Corn, soy groups object to US farm law changes - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11641

UPDATE - Lieberman says Bush made US climate "renegade" - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11654

UPDATE - US House panel rejects California gasoline waiver - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11644

UPDATE - Senate panel weighs new climate change bill - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11645

World Bank adopts new, sounder environmental strategy - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11646

Bush admin might back stricter mileage standards - Cheney - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11637

US groups sue over missed clean air deadlines - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11653

UPDATE - US House panel OKs oil drilling in Arctic refuge - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11651

Ecologists slam Japan over whaling "vote-buying" - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11643

Britain's Premier gets nod for Pakistan gas search - PAKISTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11657

INTERVIEW - Danish Eltra aims to store windpower in batteries - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11660

Two jailed Mexican logging activists lose appeal - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11652

Canada insists can meet Kyoto targets - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11648

UPDATE - US in firing line at Bonn climate talks - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11650

Global warming summit leader expresses optimism - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11656

Ministers begin key Kyoto pact push without US - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11639

Pro-Bush Americans take to street against Kyoto - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11649

FEATURE - Egypt's sugar industry aims for self sufficiency - EGYPT http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11659

Codelco, BHP Billiton plan copper bioleach plant - CHILE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11642

Teflon frying pans release host of chemicals - study - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11640

Battle renewed over Canadian grizzly bear hunt - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11638

7/18/01
7:40:50 PM

Public Citizen

Bush Administration's Proposals for Mexican Trucks Inadequate, Would Allow Unsafe Vehicles on U.S. Roads, Public Citizen Tells Lawmakers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bush administration's proposed rules and policies outlined in testimony today concerning the admission of Mexican trucks into the United States are inadequate and would allow unsafe vehicles on the roads, Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook today told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Secretary Norman Mineta's testimony did little to assure members of Congress and the public that the safety improvements needed could be achieved by Jan. 1, 2002, the date set by the Bush administration to open the border.

Each year, more than 5,300 people are killed and 142,000 injured in crashes involving large trucks. Yet the Bush administration would allow an influx of dangerous trucks that could cause those numbers to spike. A copy of Claybrook's testimony is available at

http://www.citizen.org/Press/pr-truck15.htm.

"The Bush administration has adopted the course of action that is least likely to protect public safety," Claybrook said. "The government wants to make guinea pigs of U.S. motorists by testing the safety of Mexican carriers on them."

NAFTA required the United States to open its border to Mexican truck traffic within 20-miles of the border beginning in 1995 and nationwide on Jan. 1, 2000. NAFTA also required Mexico to draft and implement truck safety regulations equal to those of Canada and the United States, but the agreement failed to link the improvements to the timeline for opening the border. A Public Citizen analysis shows that Mexican truck safety rules are still deficient.

Because of concerns about the safety of Mexican trucks, the Clinton administration refused to open the border beyond a limited zone. In February 2001, a NAFTA arbitration panel ruled that the United States was violating NAFTA and would have to open the border, but it gave the United States the latitude to draft procedures to ensure Mexican carriers comply with U.S. regulations. However, the Bush administration's proposals are inadequate because:

* They would allow Mexican carriers to operate on U.S. roads for at least 18 months before any safety audit. Even then, the review of a Mexican carrier would not have to be performed on-site. Evaluation of the safety fitness for U.S. carriers in compliance reviews, however, must occur on- site.

* The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) intends to evaluate the safety fitness of Mexican carriers by relying heavily on a database that lacks the basic information necessary to perform a safety review. This clearly is inadequate. An on-site audit should be required.

* The U.S. government would give Mexican carriers an 18-month "safe harbor" for certain offenses that now lead to fines or criminal penalties for U.S. carriers that are repeat offenders. These offenses include operating without insurance and using drivers who have tested positive for drugs and alcohol.

Further, there aren't enough border inspectors to check trucks, and border crossings lack equipment, Claybrook said. During a recent study by the Department of Transportation Inspector General, investigators visited 27 border crossings and found that 20 crossings lacked dedicated phone lines to access databases, while at 19 crossings inspectors had space to inspect only one or two trucks at a time. There are no permanent inspection facilities in Texas, where most Mexican trucks cross into the United States.

Claybrook recommended a number of measures, including the following:

* The United States should conduct on-site safety reviews of Mexican carriers prior to granting them permission to operate on U.S. roads;

* Mexican carriers should be required to pass a proficiency test to demonstrate their knowledge of U.S. laws and safety regulations;

* Many more border inspectors should be hired and trained, and crossings should have weigh-in- motion devices, dedicated phone lines to access driver license databases and plenty of space for inspections;

* The border should remain closed until we can ensure that Mexican carriers comply with U.S. hours-of-service rules and until Mexico can assure the United States that Mexico's information infrastructure is accurate and functional.

* A substantial percentage of the trucks crossing the border should be inspected, including for such things as licenses, certificates of registration and proof of insurance.

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

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

7/18/01
4:12:30 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

WE'LL MOP THE FLOOR WITH THEM

The U.S. House Resources Committee voted 26-17 yesterday to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, but Democrats believe they will be able to win enough votes from Republican moderates to defeat the measure on the House floor. Meanwhile, the full U.S. Senate passed a bill yesterday to ban drilling under the Great Lakes for two years. Vermont Sen. James Jeffords (I), the new head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, pledged to try to cap the greenhouse gas emissions of power plants, and he repeated his criticism of President Bush's decision to withdraw from the Kyoto treaty on climate change.

straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Liz Ruskin, 18 Jul 2001 <http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/632051p-676232c.html>

straight to the source: Detroit News, Associated Press, 18 Jul 2001 <http://www.detnews.com/2001/metro/0107/18/a04-248852.htm>

THE PRICE OF WHALES

A week before the International Whaling Commission is due to meet in London, a Japanese official has admitted that his country is using cash to help persuade countries to vote to lift an international ban on whaling. Japan's fisheries minister, Maseyuku Komatsu, told Australian television today that Japan must use overseas aid as one way to influence countries that are members of the IWC. Six Caribbean nations voted with Japan last year on almost every motion before the IWC. In other whale news, 22 airlines organized by Greenpeace have joined together to refuse to transport whale products from Norway. Norway lifted a ban on exports of whale meat and blubber earlier this year.

catch it only in Grist Magazine: To know a whale -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha011601.stm?source=daily>

TOP OF THE R&D CHARTS

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Miguel Llanos, 17 Jul 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/601468.asp>

DENTAL DAMN

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Francesca Lyman, 11 Jul 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/599087.asp>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

The developer's creed -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha071601.stm?source=daily>

U sexy Mother Nature -- 10 ways to phatten up environmentalism -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho050401.stm?source=daily>

What a beauty! -- Navajo pageant winner is an enviro star -- in our Out on Limb column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/limb/limb012301.stm?source=daily>

7/18/01
2:31:24 PM

The Nation

These days, the loudest buzz on Capitol Hill seems to be about Gary Condit's sex scandals. But late last Thursday afternoon, phones started ringing after a congressional staffer discovered a disconcerting bit of text in the considerably less sexy, but eminently more important, House Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

The passage has left a number of legislators and staffers wondering: Is the Bush Administration quietly trying to broaden Plan Colombia?

Read the full story by investigative reporter Jason Vest, exclusively at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=vest20010717

JOIN THE REBATE REBELS

Starting next week, most Americans will begin receiving their tax "rebates" as part of George W. Bush's controversial tax cut: $300 for individuals who reported more than $6,000 in taxable income on their 2000 returns, $600 for married couples who reported more than $12,000. If you deplore the broader tax cut plan and would like to use your rebate as a form of protest, we suggest--at the risk of blatant self-promotion--that you consider donating some or all of your rebate to The Nation. Help us continue to oppose the Bush Administration's efforts by joining The Nation's new Rebate Rebels program.

Information on the program, easy online giving options, a schedule of when you can expect your rebate check, links to scores of other good organizations worthy of your contributions and a set of relevant Nation articles can all be currently found at:

https://ssl.thenation.com/support/rebels/

SUPPORT STEM-CELL RESEARCH

Stem cell research is among medicine's most promising fields of study. Because embryonic stem cells have the singular ability to evolve into any human organ or tissue, advances in this area may lead to bold new treatments--even cures--for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

But much of that progress lies in jeopardy as George W. Bush decides on whether to bar federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Bush is paying close attention to antiabortion groups who wish to eliminate federal funding for the experiments. He is expected to make a decision in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please help keep the pressure on him and his advisors by sending an informed letter in support of embryonic stem cell research. Our Act Now! page provides all the details and relevant tools, as well as further information. Available at:

http://www.thenation.com/alert/actnow/

CAMPAIGN FINANCE HALTED

The drive for campaign-finance reform collapsed late last week when House Republicans stalled the measure indefinitely. Read John Nichols' latest Online Beat dispatch from Washington for more details. Available at:

http://www.thenation.com/thebeat

RECENT NATION ARTICLES

And don't miss the host of recent articles of interest still available including Jason Vest on DynCorp's Drug Problem; Katrina vanden Heuvel's look at a possible blueprint for a progressive future; Katha Pollitt on new Bush appointees; Patricia Williams on the execution of Timothy McVeigh; David Corn on Elliott Abrams; Christopher Hitchens on Henry Kissinger; Molly Ivins on George W. Bush and Victor Navasky on Cold War Ghosts. All accessible at:

http://www.thenation.com

7/18/01
2:29:55 PM

I'm all for vastly more sums of money being poured into education (shall I note that I write educational software and such a policy might help my business, as a form of disclosure?). I'm for national health care, and I'm against Star Wars, and our Pentagon budget could surely be cut to 1/5th of what it is and yet, if it were properly spent, it could protect our troops and our citizens as well as the trillions we now spend is doing.

Those are things I believe.

I seriously doubt that any Pentagon test that appears to make Star Wars seem to work is valid. The Ruskies or whoever our supposed enemy is can just make ever-so-slightly smarter rockets to get around that. Patriot missiles hardly worked against SCUDs during the Gulf War -- despite what the media politely reported for the Pentagon during the heat of battle. And SCUDS aren't the least bit smart, and go much slower than an ICBM might travel.

Also, Star Wars technology would be virtually completely destroyed by a single nuclear EMP first-strike above the atmosphere, and that same blast would render our electronic equipment useless, much of it on fire, with no way to get to the fires because the fire trucks won't run, the pump stations won't have any power to create water pressure for the hoses, and the electricity generating stations will all be fried (this is all over the entire United States, Canada, and Mexico, in the first millionth of a second after the very first attack). Our nukes will probably be melting down as well. It would be chaos and horror everywhere.

And there are other ways to beat Star Wars. Our enemies might even resort to manned or unmanned airplanes which pretend to be drug smugglers, which seem to have little trouble getting through our supposedly impenetrable defense system. Who needs an expensive rocket when a private plane, boat, or even a suitcase will do?

So what, exactly, does Star Wars buy us anyway? Nothing! First of all, IT WON'T WORK. And even if it could miraculously be designed to defeat today's attacker, that's only a momentary gain. To make Star Wars work against a smarter weapon will cost vastly more than the smart weapon that could penetrate the current generation that is being contemplated for Star Wars. Got that? If the aggressor ups the ante just a little bit, it will cost an order of magnitude more to defend against it. Star Wars, if it works at all, will barely work against yesterday's and today's rockets, which have predictable trajectories and speeds, and which are not expected to be sent against us in overwhelming numbers, and which are not expected to be preceded by a nuclear EMP first strike. So all Star Wars could possibly buy us is a flimsy umbrella of protection, full of holes, easily defeated by smarter weapons, and fragile as well and susceptible to a wide variety of attacks against it. Effective laser weaponry is little more than smoke and mirrors (literally).

We can and should fight Star Wars on the grounds that it will not work as planned, would cost billions more to be hardened against nuclear EMP first strikes, will encourage an enemy to use a nuclear EMP first strike which would be devastating to the country, and lastly, the enemy who is capable of launching a rocket attack against us will in a few short years be capable (if they aren't already) of launching MIRVs, dummy rockets, jinking rockets, and maybe even stealth rockets.

We can and should also fight Star Wars on the grounds that much of it uses dangerous radioactive elements for its operation, which should be banned from space (and on earth too). The power for space-based lasers will have to come from somewhere. Do you think it will be solar, with big space-panels supplying the laser beam with the incredible amounts of juice it needs to sustain itself?

An International treaty to ban nuclear material in space would end much of the Star Wars threat, because the power for a lot of space-based Star Wars weaponry has to come from nuclear generators out in space, or even from nuclear explosions, as some Star Wars laser proposals are built around. They explode a nuke, and in the fractions of millionths of a second before the nuke destroys the Star Wars weapon itself, mirrors aim the incredible light which emits from the explosion at the incoming enemy. Yeah, right. This is going to work. This is going to be easy to test. This will make us sleep well at night, knowing military geniuses have made us safe.

This is preposterous, of course. But that's the sort of thing we are spending billions on right now.

The best way to stop Star Wars is by each of us acting as though our efforts alone will make the difference...The proposed Star Wars won't work. It would be an environmental disaster if it is ever built. It would be even more of one if it is ever used. These facts remain our best arguments against it, because all the principles (misguided or otherwise) in the world, all the money that can be had, all the perceived need, won't make something that doesn't work a practical reality. So if it won't work, why pour even one thin dime into it?..

Thanks,

Russell Hoffman

former editor, STOP CASSINI newsletter

Concerned Citizen

Carlsbad, CA

The Effects of Nuclear Weapons:

http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm

7/18/01
2:26:38 PM

So, what can we do to stop Missile Defense? Some suggestions are to keep communicating with your elected representatives. Besides opposing Missile Defense, please support the opposition to the re-authorization of the Price-Anderson Act, which limits nuclear utility liability in the event of a nuclear accident. Other amendments likely to be attempted to be pushed through Congress is an amendment to provide $30 million for a uranium mining project, and efforts to eliminate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's authority to conduct antitrust reviews for reactor licenses. [For more information on these issues see: http://nirs.org/ .] Let your so-called representatives know what you think. The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121 Also, please support world leaders standing up to all the deals proposed by the U.S. to support its initiatives to can the ABM and UN's Outer Space Treaties. You can fax President Vladamir Putin at 011-7-095-206-5173. However, if you plan to do only one thing, please concentrate efforts for world-wide actions against the militarization of space on October 13, 2001. Join with other individuals and peace-activist organizations in your area, and begin now to organize to show the world we cannot accept a U.S. missile defense policy that threatens to escalate the arms race and ignore the peace initiatives by reasons of greed, fear or psychosis. Write letters to editors on this issue, and mobilize as many as you can to make the world a safer place, while directing our valuable resources for environmental and human rights protection. The best defense are actions for peace.

7/18/01
2:24:36 PM

Last weekend President Bush was "pleased" by a successful missile test, but Russia criticized it, saying the test threatened a 1972 arms control agreement. This was the second successful missile intercept out of a total of four tests to date. This test only proves that the U.S. missile defense policy is making the world more dangerous.

Writing an article for an Australian publication, Dr Helen Caldicott, author of the upcoming book The New Nuclear Danger - George Bush's Military Industrial Psychosis and its Tragic Consequences, to be published by Scribe in Australia and New Press in the US., wrote:

"..Official US policy is still to fight and win a nuclear war, so it maintains extremely accurate, first-strike weapons whose purpose is to destroy enemy missiles in their silos in a surprise attack. NMD weapons would then be launched against the few enemy missiles that may survive an American first-strike. This scheme will thus destabilize the delicate nuclear balance among the superpowers, because Russia and China see it as a move to enhance America's first-strike capability.

The result will be a new arms race as China, India, Pakistan and even Russia attempt to overcome NMD by building even more nuclear weapons. What's more, NMD will also negate the 1972 Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty, the cornerstone of nuclear arms control, and all other subsequent treaties which provide a modicum of stability in a nuclear-armed world.

For the full story by Helen Caldicott:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0107/12/features/features2.html

For a CNN article: Bush ‘pleased' by successful missile test

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/07/15/missile.test/index.html

7/18/01
2:22:30 PM

MediaChannel.org

NEWS DISSECTOR: COVERING VIOLENCE

As "riots" erupted in the north of England, journalists in London, including Danny Schechter, took part in a seminar aimed at improving coverage of conflict.

http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/coveringviolence.shtml

ITALY: THE HUSH OF THE OPPOSITION

As Indy Media activists are preparing for the G8 summit in Genoa. But Why have alarms over Silvio Berlusconi's media domination stopped ringing now that he's in power? (From IMC Italy, World Press Review)

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

THE MEDIA'S INTERN AFFAIR

Critics and pundits debate the public importance of the Condit-Levy scandal coverage and discuss what cameras would catch with a wider lens (From FAIR, Tompaine.com, Guardian Unlimited, NPR)

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

THE POLITICS OF IT

Journalists from Bangladesh, Kenya and elsewhere around the world consider: "Are the New Media Good for Democracy?" and find they share doubts. (From International IDEA)

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

MEDIA READER

The best media about the media. MediaChannel's international, biweekly, multimedia magazine

* Are News Execs Faking A Crisis?

* Racism To Dance To

* Buried Bias At The CBC

And much, much more... Plus: Streaming audio and video

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

ELECTION FRAUD REDUX

The conservative media tilt has become a dominant reality in U.S. politics, says Robert Parry. Are recent New York Times revelations about the 2000 election debacle too little too late? Also: Did media ignore anti-Bush protesters? (From The Media Consortium, The Gully)

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

A SEAT AT THE NET-POLICY TABLE

When it comes to regulating the Internet, the public wants nonprofits to be involved, finds a new study. While most Americans they may not fully understand Internet policy, they want a chance to help shape it. (From Markle Foundation)

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

7/18/01
2:15:47 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

U.S. OFFERS LITTLE TO REPLACE KYOTO TREATY

BONN, Germany, July 17, 2001 (ENS) - As international climate negotiations resume this week in Bonn, the Bush administration is fighting a battle on both the domestic and international fronts to win support for President George W. Bush's controversial decision to abandon the Kyoto Protocol. The administration faces growing opposition from environmental groups and Congressional Democrats over his stance on global warming.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-17-06.html

G-8 LEADERS TO FOCUS ON POVERTY REDUCTION, TRADE

WASHINGTON, DC, July 17, 2001 (ENS) - The key issue at this year's annual meeting of the leaders of the Group of Eight (G-8) countries will be developing countries and poverty reduction, President George W. Bush told an audience at the World Bank today.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-17-05.html

ANTHRAX OUTBREAK CLOSES PART OF WOOD BISON NATIONAL PARK

FORT SMITH, Alberta, Canada, July 17, 2001 (ENS) - Parks Canada officials are struggling to contain an outbreak of anthrax among the bison in Alberta's Wood Buffalo National Park.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-17-03.html

EPA PROPOSES SUSPENSION OF WATER POLLUTION RULE

WASHINGTON, DC, July 17, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it will suspend a rule aimed at cleaning up contaminated waters, and launch an extensive review of the Clinton era regulation. The announcement prompted criticism from environmental groups, who called the action another in a long line of Bush administration attempts to weaken enforcement of environmental laws.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-17-02.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JULY 17, 2001

Cheney Touts Bush Administration Conservation Initiatives

Report Advises Bush to Boost Fuel Efficiency Standards

Army Training Center Expanding Into California Desert

NAACP Plans Lawsuit Over Lead Paint Poisoning

Earthjustice Suits Challenge Defects In Federal Toxics Program

San Joaquin Air Pollution Prompts Lawsuit

Roosevelt IV Opposes National Monument Fairness Act

Seafood Watch Heads Nationwide

Global Warming Sweeps Over Mars

Benefit Concert Raises Awareness of Arctic Refuge

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-17-09.html

7/18/01
1:35:29 PM

A Microcosm Of The Inherent Arrogance Of The United States Military

The following is an actual radio conversation which was recently released by the United States Chief of Naval Operations:

A. Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

B. Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to South to avoid a collision.

A. This is the Captain of a U.S. Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

B. No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.

A. THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ENTERPRISE. WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE U.S. NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!

B. This is a lighthouse. Your call.

7/18/01
1:05:17 PM

Dear Friend,

The three of us have never teamed up like this before. But we all share something in common: a deep love of the ocean and marine mammals. That's why we're very disturbed by a U.S. military program that, if approved, will soon be bombarding millions of whales and dolphins around the world with intense noise.

You may have read about the U.S. Navy's "Low-Frequency Active" (LFA) sonar program. The military has been testing this new, high-powered system in secret for years. Now, the Navy wants to deploy it across 80 percent of our planet's oceans. LFA sonar is designed to detect enemy submarines by flooding vast expanses of the oceans with sound. Leaving aside the military wisdom of this sonar -- which is still in dispute -- the environmental dangers are becoming increasingly clear.

Here's the problem: LFA noise is billions of times more intense than that known to disturb whale migration and communication. Whales and dolphins depend on their sensitive hearing for survival. To put it simply, a deaf whale is a dead whale. Deafening noise from the LFA system will interfere with the vital biological activities of marine mammals. Scientists fear that long-term exposure to LFA could push entire populations over the brink into extinction.

Inevitably, there will also be marine mammals unlucky enough to swim too close to LFA loudspeakers. Imagine an acoustic wave so powerful that, even at substantial distances, it can destroy your hearing, cause your lungs or ears to hemorrhage, or even kill you.

We've already seen a glimpse of the resulting carnage. Last year, whales from four different species stranded themselves and died on beaches across the northern Bahamas during a Navy military exercise. All but one of the dead animals examined by researchers had suffered hemorrhaging around the inner ear -- the telltale sign of acoustic trauma. The U.S. Navy's own report concluded that it is "highly likely" that the stranding was caused by the use of mid-frequency active sonar. But despite this tragic event, the Navy now wants to deploy LFA, the most extensive active sonar system ever devised.

We know that different frequencies will affect different marine mammals and that the lower the frequency, the farther it penetrates the ocean. We believe it is unconscionable to expose marine mammals around the world to more high intensity sonar. If you agree, then please join us in taking immediate action; it will take you only a few seconds.

Just go to http://www.nrdcaction.org/index.asp?step=2&item=518. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Ocean Futures Society (OFS) have set up this web page to make it easy for you to send electronic messages of protest to your U.S. senators and representative. Congress is now deciding the Navy's funding for next year -- tell them to "Turn Off LFA Sonar" by cutting off its funding.

And please forward this message to your family, friends and colleagues. NRDC used web activism to help generate a million messages of protest to Mitsubishi and, just last year, stopped the company from destroying the last unspoiled birthing ground of the Pacific gray whale.

Congress cannot ignore millions of us. Together, we can keep whales and dolphins safe from high-powered sonar.

Thank you for your time and your concern.

Sincerely yours,

James Taylor

Pierce Brosnan

Jean-Michel Cousteau

7/18/01
1:00:25 PM

Denying Dubya's Bribe: The Push to Reject the Tax Rebate

by Alicia Rebensdorf,

Thanks to the Bush/Cheney tax cut, many Americans will soon be discovering government gifts in their mailboxes. Within the next month or so, $300 rebate checks ($600 for married couples) will be mailed to three fourths of the tax-paying public.

You could do much with this money. Buy a month of healthcare for your family. Fill a couple SUVs with gas. Pay H&R Block to do your taxes. Or, for those of you who voted against George W. and his fiscal policies, you can put your money where your mouth is -- donate your $300 to an organization suffering from Dubya's budget cuts.

A growing movement is pledging to reject the $300 bribes, eh, rebates, as a symbol of political protest and a means towards social justice. The nonprofit group United for a Fair Economy (UFE) is spearheading one such mobilization. On their new RejectTheRebate.com,, UFE has developed a petition and pledge campaign to build a fairer tax system and promote economic justice. In the first five days after they launched, over four hundred people pledged their tax rebates to social justice causes, totalling more than $120,000.

"We see it as poetic justice," said UFE's Chuck Collins. "By giving their rebates to groups working against the repeal of the estate tax and the uneven tax cut, they help fund a tax fairness the rebates work against."

In a recent column, syndicated writer Ellen Goodman helped publicize these campaigns and urged people to refuse Bush's hush money. "So you were an opponent of the tax cut," Goodman wrote, "You called the president's 'tax relief' a four-letter word: s-c-a-m ... You didn't want it; give it away. You don't like the budget; make your own."

Since Goodman's column spread, donations to another pledge site have nearly doubled. Almost $200,000 has been pledged at TaxRebatePledge.org, and the bulletin boards are filled with feedback from those tired of merely complaining about the Bush administration and eager to act against it.

Alas, not all can make such pledges. About 26 percent of the population, mostly folks in the lowest income brackets, will receive no rebate at all. These also happen to be the people most often helped by the services suffering from Republican budgetary cuts.

"It is not a tax cut," said Collins, "its a tax shift. A shift off the wealthiest 1% who will be receiving 38% of the this tax cut and onto the lower classes. This tax rebate is but a bribe: a sweetner for a bitter pill."

The sites also provide extensive lists of donation options. A third rebate donation site, DonateRebate.org, links to a list of over 700 nonprofit services. On the UFE site, pledge options range from donating to "tax fairness" organizations to redirecting the money back to the U.S. Treasury.

Another option, of course, is to sign your check over to a local community organization. While the large, national nonprofits can always use more cash, the local groups -- homeless shelters, foster care programs, food banks --will not only suffer more directly under the Bush's social service cuts, but can stretch your $300 much further.

Regardless of the method of giving, the reject the rebate campaign could generate a much-needed cash influx for social justice groups. At the very least, rejecting the rebate will help many citizens send a clear message to the Bush administration. As easy as it is to take freebies, there is always a hidden cost. And this time, it comes at the expense of those that can least afford it.

To learn more and do your part in rejecting the tax rebate, visit:

http://www.rejecttherebate.com

http://www.taxrebatepledge.org

http://www.donaterebate.org

Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11122

7/18/01
12:54:39 PM

LFAS

Whales Found To Have 'Died From Brain Tissue Explosion'

Is there any doubt about who the REAL 'criminals' are? While the Air Force poisons our skies, the NAVY IS DESTROYING THE OCEAN LIFE! This is the HAARP technology, but it goes way beyond even that anymore... Found on the Elfrad Forum today (this isn't pretty...): "Tests on these whales proved that they had died from brain cavity, ear, and other tissue explosion."

PATTERN OF STRANDINGS LINKED TO SONAR ACTIVITY:

* The Bahamas - On March 14, 2000 mass dolphin and whale strandings coincided with US low frequency active sonobuoy testing. Tests on these whales proved that they had died from brain cavity, ear, and other tissue explosion.

* Europe - In February, 2000, 100s of dolphins began washing up on European shores.

* The Atlantic Coastline - On January 21, 2000, Katie Couric asked on "The Today Show why hundreds of dolphins are beaching along the Atlantic coastline (especially off of Florida). Although brain and other tissue lesions have been found in these cetaceans, one of the symptoms predicted by the Marine Mammal Commission in 1997 for LFAS exposure, ears are not being checked. In view of the far-reaching effect of sonar exposure predicted by independent researchers, some suspect apparent NATO sonar in the general area may be the cause.

* Florida - On January 3, 2000, Associated Press reported that scientists were trying to determine why dolphins have been washing up dead on northwest Florida shores over the last month. Although a previously severe outbreak of red tide did not kill dolphins, it appears that only red tide and other toxins are being examined as a possible cause, rather than also include an examination of their ear canals to prove or disprove the important variable of possible sonar exposure.

* The Virgin Islands - In early October scientists in the water heard sonar sounds, followed by multiple cetacean strandings in the area. Government-funded ear canal testing expert Dr. Darlene Ketten from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, was summoned by many groups to run ear canal tests, but results have not yet been revealed. If they are, citizens must determine if anyone other than government-funded scientists were present in order to neutralize any conflicts of interest.

* The Canary Islands - A total of 21 whale strandings in 1985, 1988, and 1989 were linked to visible US Navy maneuvers. These were the only times that whales were reported to strand in the Canary Islands. (Nature, 1991) Award-winning French biologist Dr. Michael Andre, free from our government's influence, learned from necropsies while studying the decline in sperm whales in this area that two of the whales (who were involved in the increasing whale collisions with boats in the area) were deaf as suspected.

* The Atlantic Coast - In 1987, dolphins exposed to 235 decibels of sonar stranded and were found to suffer from tissue and lung explosion. (This information was allegedly found by Dr. Joe Geraci and buried in reports on file.) Since this revelation, there has been a great deal of resistance to obtaining autopsies that check for these types of problems, also predicted by the Marine Mammal Commission in 1997 (possibly based on Dr. Geraci,s findings) to be a consequence of LFAS.

* The Haro Strait, San Juan Islands - In the Summer of 1996, 195 decibels were sent into this key waterway used by orcas, porpoises, seals, and other mammals, followed by an increase in strandings of these mammals. ABC News recently reported that the previously thriving orca population from this area is now in enough trouble to be considered eligible for the Endangered Species list.

* The Mediterranean Sea near Greece - In 1996, twelve Cuvier beaked whales documented to be exposed to NATO sonar at 150-160 decibels were found stranded. At the same time about 200 stranded dolphins were suspected of suffering from tissue explosion. (Nature, 1996) LFAS levels to be used by the U.S. are reported to be 180 decibels in areas near shore and could go considerably higher, once deployment is underway and this program is classified.

* The Hawaiian Islands - In 1998, three whale calves and one dolphin calf were found dead or abandoned during and immediately following sonar testing, even though in 15 years of research this phenomenon had never been observed. One of these was a distressed whale calf who breached 230 times and pectoral slapped 658 times in front of Dr. Marsha Green,s research team in a four-hour period before the sun set on his distress. In addition, a pod of dolphins was observed by naturalists familiar with normal dolphin behavior huddling unusually close to the shore near the surface and vocalizing excessively while the sound was on.

* California - Since the open testing in California began in 1997, sonar exposed whales immediately began to strand in increased numbers. In addition, there was a report of uncharacteristically aggressive behavior which is known to be a symptom of LFAS exposure. More recently, The Malibu Times reported in January, 1999, that more than 150 gray whales were found dead due to starvation along their migratory route where testing took place in 1998. Starvation can be a result of deafness, but ears were not checked in these cetaceans, even though the cause of death has remained a mystery.

* Australia - Rumor has it that the Australian government has questioned a connection between observed US Navy and NATO maneuvering and strandings off their shores.

* Unknown - In view of indications that brain and body tissue explodes and body cavities (bladders, lungs, and ear canals) rupture when exposed to sonar blasts, it is plausible to assume that most affected marine mammals will sink to the ocean floor, rather than make their way to a beach in order for us to view their plight. And who knows what the effect this risky technology has on the thousands of other, smaller forms of marine life, less able to withstand such a powerful force.

- For more information like this, be sure to receive the Stop LFAS Worldwide Interactive Newsletter at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stoplfas

Send this information to Congress & have your friends send it to Congress!

Find this information at the following URL:

http://members.theglobe.com/stoplfas/worldwide.html

Cheryl A. Magill

Insist that people be told the truth about LFAS and other high intensity sonars.

For additional updates go to this URL: http://listen.to/lfas

Stop LFAS Worldwide Network

1556 Halford Avenue

Box 322

Santa Clara, CA

408 516.9716

7/18/01
12:48:58 PM

Digital Angel is no longer pursuing implant technology for humans

Digital AngelÆ is no longer pursuing implant technology for humans, a spokesman for the company said yesterday.

Dr. Lawrence Webber of Digital Angel Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions, told WorldNetDaily the company has "no plan at this time for implant technology." Rather, the company's patented sensor technology is being used in externally worn devices only, such as watches and pagers.

The company had been developing implants for humans that would monitor a wearer's location, pulse, blood-oxygen level and other vital bodily functions, but has instead put the tiny sensors in externally wearable devices. The company's earlier projections of Digital AngelÆ also described it as an identifier for e-commerce by sending a signal from the person wearing the device to either his computer or the e-merchant with whom he is doing business to verify his identity.

Webber's comments were prompted by WND's Thursday story that implied Digital AngelÆ implants were about to be tested on humans. The story also claimed such testing was to begin yesterday. In fact, the company will begin testing its first generation of products - watches for children and adults and a pager - on selected volunteers beginning July 15. The devices contain sensors that perform monitoring tasks of the original prototype, including alerting subscribers to medical emergencies.

Digital AngelÆ technology requires a monitoring system and an end-user. Subscribers to the monitoring system can include medical groups and hospitals hoping to keep an eye on patients, and parents who can use the system to locate their kids. End users are those people wearing the sensor - from people to animals to inanimate objects. The various applications of the tracking and monitoring system are virtually endless, according to Applied Digital Solutions, which believes the device will tap into a $70 billion dollar market in North America alone.

Testing of the watches and pager will be conducted using individual participants selected from all pre-registered subscribers expressing interest in the technology. Testing participants will be chosen by June 30 and will be notified of their selection by July 6. The testing is expected to extend for a period of 90 days.

"While this is just the first production run, we have incorporated many of the suggestions of those who have pre-registered, resulting in the delivery of Digital Angels that are very close to final design specifications," said Mercedes Walton, president and chief operations officer of Applied Digital Solutions.

Critics of the monitoring technology fear the development of Digital AngelÆ as an implant for humans, claiming the device could be a fulfillment of biblical prophecy regarding the "mark of the beast." Others believe the device could lead to the erosion of personal liberty, particularly if government chooses to adopt the technology for various uses, such as the monitoring of military personnel and civilian identification.

Digital AngelÆ will be available to the general public in October.

7/18/01
12:47:01 PM

Nevada Test Site Contaminated, Experts Say

Nuclear weapons tests polluted groundwater

Widespread contamination from 35 years of underground nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site poses a more imminent threat to state water supplies than radioactive waste planned for burial in Yucca Mountain, scientists studying the problem said Wednesday.

"The releases from nuclear tests in an uncontained environment, this is a problem that exists today," said state Environmental Protection Division federal facilities chief Paul Liebendorfer.

"This is real. We have to worry about it. It's in the groundwater," he said during a break in a meeting of a peer-review panel. The panel is to evaluate a strategy by federal scientists for predicting how far the test site's contamination will spread in 1,000 years.

In the meeting, Liebendorfer described the test site's problem as "probably the most contaminated groundwater conditions that exist anywhere, at least in the U.S."

In 1994, scientists estimated that 300 million curies, units of radioactivity, remained in the subsurface environment at the test site from 908 nuclear devices that were detonated between 1957 and 1992. Of that amount, roughly 130 million curies were in groundwater layers, mostly as tritium, an isotope that will decay to insignificant levels after 1,000 years.

Yucca Mountain, the ridge where the Energy Department wants to entomb 77,000 tons of radioactive waste -- primarily spent fuel from commercial power reactors -- sits on the test site's southwestern boundary, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

If a repository is built and the waste is put in a maze of tunnels with engineered barriers, the mountain will contain 120 million curies after 1,000 years, but the bulk of the materials will persist longer than those released from nuclear tests.

Earle Dixon, a hydrogeologist who is the technical adviser to the Nevada Test Site Community Advisory Board, said that because the radioactive remnants from weapons tests are not contained, the contamination problem is more imminent than what would be expected from nuclear waste stored in Yucca Mountain after 1,000 years, if the repository's design works.

"I think it poses possibly a more near-term risk to Nevada communities than Yucca Mountain," Dixon said.

"We released these (curies) into the environment years ago with no engineered barriers. We should be addressing the Nevada Test Site's problem first or simultaneously with Yucca Mountain," he said after the panel's morning session.

At the end of the meeting, Dennis Weber, a member of a 1999 panel that found flaws with computer models for forecasting where contamination would migrate at the test site, offered a solution.

"You need to characterize at least one of the plumes. You'll know a heck of a lot more than you know right now," said Weber, a physicist at Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Weber suggested the National Nuclear Security Administration, which runs the test site, invest in drilling monitoring wells near the test site's northwestern boundary in the direction that groundwater moves from Pahute Mesa. That is where the largest bombs were detonated closest to water-supply wells off the test site.

The half-dozen monitoring wells would be placed according to where computer models show contamination most likely would escape from the test site.

To be effective, he said, the models must be continually refined. Exploratory wells would have to be drilled for at least one contamination plume from a detonation cavity. The wells would allow the study of the plume's width and depth, direction, radioactive materials and their amounts, and the transportation of the materials.

As the models were refined based on the new data, monitoring wells could be placed to serve as an early-warning system.

"If you have an early-warning system, then you have time to do remediation," he said.

Kathleen Peterson, who leads the Community Advisory Board's Environmental Management Committee, said such a warning system is essential for communities near the test site.

"One of the things that is paramount and compelling is that we get enough data in the right areas to support our models," she said.

Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2001

7/18/01
12:33:52 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

US Senate bans Great Lakes energy drilling for 2 yrs - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11622

Ex-Republican senator aims at power plant emissions - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11634

FEATURE - US ethanol giant ADM sees bright prospects - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11632

US could raise fuel standards by 2004 model year - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11631

One-third of Californians meet power savings goal - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11630

FEATURE - Ford turning recalled Firestone tires into dust - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11629

Energy point man Cheney seeks help with power bill - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11627

DOE energy efficiency research returns big savings - report - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11625

US science panel mulls if StarLink bio-corn safe for humans - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11624

US House panel oks oil drilling in Arctic refuge - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11623

UPDATE - Lieberman says Bush made US climate "renegade" - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11620

Delay calls for unrestricted US oil drilling - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11615

Bush administration seeks to delay water cleanup - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11614

Cheney spearheads push on Bush energy plan - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11616

FEATURE - Economy, not wildfires, slowing Idaho tourism - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11617

Bush stands firm on missile defence and Kyoto - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11621

German, UK agmins urge eco-friendly reform of CAP - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11635

SAS joins other airlines in whale blubber ban - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11611

INTERVIEW - Chevron Nigeria gas-to-liquids project done in '05 - NIGERIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11633

Mexican police find Siberian tiger in car trunk - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11636

Japan PM's G8 summit debut seen as baptism of fire - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11609

Japan P&G recalls Pringles over barred GM potato - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11610

Send in the clowns? Bonn climate talks under cloud - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11612

US in firing line at Bonn climate talks - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11628

British Columbia eyes end to offshore drilling ban - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11626

FEATURE - South Pacific whale sanctuary bid looks beached - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11618

Australia faces warmer winter, spring - Bureau - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11619

Vanishing Pacific island group appeals to be saved - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11613

7/17/01
8:48:54 PM

RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS #726

HEADLINES: SCIENCE, PRECAUTION, AND PESTICIDES

http://www.Rachel.org

7/17/01
8:46:26 PM

American Solar Challenge Runs Route 66

Twenty-eight solar powered cars that raced away from Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry Sunday heading 2,300 miles across the country have reached the University of Missouri.

They are contestants in the American Solar Challenge, the first ever attempt to travel America's historic Route 66 to Los Angeles without spending a penny on gasoline. American Solar Challenge participant teams from universities, colleges and high schools build and race cars whose only source of fuel is the sun.

The University of Missouri-Rolla moved into first place on Day One after a day of racing under sunny skies. Today, Day Two, the University of Missouri-Rolla car retained its lead, reaching the checkpoint at its home university in first place.

"It will be fascinating to see the solar cars pass by some of the old Route 66 icons," said Mike Turrentine a member of the University of Rolla, Missouri race team, which won the 1999 SunRayce solar car race. "We'll see first hand how transportation technologies have changed in the last 50 years."

Rain or shine, the cars will race to Claremont, California, through 14 checkpoints in cities and towns along Route 66. The car with the fastest cumulative time will win the race. They will roll through Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California and are expected to cross the finish line on July 25.

"The race challenges young engineers and scientists to find new ways to solve energy and transportation problems. Participants get excellent practical education through building their own cars and completing the race," said Race Director Dan Eberle.

Solar racing as a sport has been around for more than 10 years with race events conducted regularly in the United States, Australia and Japan. Previous solar car races in the United States have been along routes from Florida to Michigan; from Washington, D.C. to Florida; from Indiana to Colorado; and from Dallas to Minneapolis.

"The American Solar Challenge demonstrates the potential of renewable energy," said Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. "In the future, with the Department of Energy's research efforts into promising technologies, renewable energy can contribute to our nation's energy supplies."

Official daily results will be posted at: http://www.formulasun.org/asc

as early as possible each day. Final cumulative times are based on actual race time, plus time penalties for race rules infractions.

The American Solar Challenge is the longest solar car race in the world.

7/17/01
8:41:38 PM

FAIR

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

Media analysis, critiques and news reports

ACTION ALERT: Stossel Tampers with the Facts

John Stossel plays by a different set of rules than other journalists, as demonstrated most recently by "Tampering with Nature," a one-hour special that aired on ABC on June 29.

Taking advantage of the unusual leeway the network gives him, ABC's favorite free-market zealot used the special to attack environmentalists, who are caricatured as "preachers of doom and gloom" whose extreme anti-technology views would have us all "running around naked, hungry for food, maybe killing a rabbit with a rock, then dying young, probably before age 40." As is often the case, Stossel's reporting relied on biased sources, twisted facts and the exclusion of information that might conflict with his thesis.

Central to Stossel's argument is that schools are overrun with green propaganda, leaving him to wonder: "Is this education or environmental boot camp?" To hear Stossel and his carefully chosen guests tell it, kids are being brainwashed when in fact there's little reason to worry about the environment.

Deforestation, for example, is a non-issue, according to one of Stossel's main sources, Patrick Moore, a former director of Greenpeace who now works for the timber industry. Moore explains that "the forest cover in the United States today is about the same as it was in 1920." Stossel chimes in, "I don't read that in the Greenpeace fundraiser," suggesting that groups like Greenpeace are part of a "huge industry" that profits by manufacturing a crisis.

It's true that total U.S. forest cover has been roughly stable over the last century. But taking total acreage as the sole indicator of environmental well-being is a simplistic approach. It discounts, for example, that the U.S. has logged most of its old-growth forests, which are crucial to biodiversity. Deforestation is a global crisis with global impact-- most of the forestry work done by Greenpeace, for instance, focuses not on the relatively well-protected U.S., but on Brazil, Canada and other areas where forest loss threatens the climate, endangered species and indigenous peoples. The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization finds that deforestation is running about 22 million acres per year, an estimate many environmental groups say is too low, since it counts new tree plantations the same way as older forests (Environmental News Service, 3/12/01).

And are you worried about pollution? Then you're no better than those brainwashed schoolchildren: "Why don't they know the facts? The EPA says over the past 30 years, the air has been getting cleaner.... Every major pollutant the government measures is decreasing."

Stossel's implication that EPA data shows environmental improvement across the board is clearly incorrect. In fact, the EPA's website states that "total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions"-- which include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride-- have risen significantly over the last several years, to 11.2 percent above 1990 baseline (as of 1998), and that emissions per person in the U.S. "have increased about 3.4 percent between 1990 and 1997." These emissions certainly qualify as "major pollutants" in terms of their environmental impact.

Stossel's discussion of global warming was highly selective in the information it presented. Instead of reporting the increasingly strong scientific consensus on global warming, Stossel chose to highlight the views of so-called "skeptics," giving center stage to three dissenters from among the 2,000 scientists of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which recently released a report stating that global temperatures are rising almost twice as fast as previously thought.

To back up the skeptics' claims, Stossel presents some deceptive evidence: "You may have heard that 1,600 scientists signed a letter warning of 'devastating consequences.' But I bet you hadn't heard that 17,000 scientists signed a petition saying there's 'no convincing evidence' that greenhouse gases will disrupt the Earth's climate."

The implication is that 10 times as many scientists question global warming. What Stossel doesn't note is that while the first petition was circulated by a group well-respected in the scientific community, the second petition has been famously discredited.

The first, smaller petition came from the Union of Concerned Scientists and its signatories included 110 Nobel laureates, including 104 of the 178 living Nobel Prize winners in the sciences, along with 60 U.S. National Medal of Science winners. The latter petition was a project of the George C. Marshall Institute, whose chair, Frederick Seitz, is also affiliated with the Global Climate Coalition (an industry group calling itself the "voice for business in the global warming debate"), in conjunction with the Oregon Institute for Science and Medicine, a lesser-known group whose leader, wrote columnist Molly Ivins, is a biochemist who "specializes in home schooling and building nuclear shelters" (Los Angeles Times, 8/17/98).

Though OISM's signatories did include reputable scientists, it also included dentists, nutritionists and others with no expertise in climatalogy; the only requirement for signing on was a bachelors degree in science. In fact, OISM's screening process was so lax that for a time the list also included a number of gag names added by environmentalists, including Ginger Spice and Michael J. Fox. The OISM petition also came under fire for being deceptively packaged: The petition was accompanied by an article purporting to debunk global warming that was formatted to look as though it had been published in the journal of the respected National Academy of Sciences. The resemblance was so close that the NAS issued a public statement that the OISM petition "does not reflect the conclusions of expert reports of the Academy."

None of this controversy was mentioned in Stossel's report.

Stossel also cites an Energy Department study that "says if we try to reduce global warming by restricting emissions, gas prices will go up 50 percent. Electricity 80 percent." Stossel doesn't say exactly what study he's citing, but the numbers are most likely from the Energy Information Administration, which supplies data for the Energy Department.

In October of 1998 , the EIA predicted that if the Kyoto Protocol were implemented, electricity prices might rise anywhere from 20 percent to 86 percent by 2010, while gasoline prices might rise 11 percent to 53 percent. But the report also predicted that prices would decline "as energy markets adjust and more efficient, new technologies become available and gradually penetrate the market." The report also cautioned: "The amount prices must rise is uncertain.... Forecasting technological change and public response to it under various pricing scenarios is an inexact science." It becomes even more inexact when Stossel picks the numbers he likes best out of a broad range.

During the program, absurd contentions from the guests Stossel favors pass without comment: "The average person hears the temperature has changed a half degree," says Richard Lindzen of MIT. "So what? Changes more than that while they wait for the street light to change." It's obvious that local temperatures have a wide range, yet even small changes in average global temperatures can have profound effects (Los Angeles Times, 7/13/01). Stossel lets this sophistry pass, but activists he doesn't agree with are not treated so kindly. "You're a scaremonger," he scolded genetic engineering critic Jeremy Rifkin, "Why should we listen to you?"

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the piece was Stossel's use of children. ABC had filmed interviews with schoolchildren from Santa Monica, California. The childrens' parents originally signed consent forms, but later withdrew them, citing concerns over Stossel's leading questions, and the fact that Stossel's participation had not been mentioned until the last minute.

Stossel's strategy was to get the students to make inaccurate statements about the environment, then blame the environmentalist propaganda that is taught in the schools. The tactic is demeaning and absurd; one could imagine Stossel quizzing students on spelling or math, and explaining incorrect answers as the result of a propaganda campaign. Stossel doesn't mention the fact that actual propaganda-- paid for by industries bent on improving their environmental image -- is increasingly used in place of materials designed by educators in America's classrooms (USA Today, 6/23/98).

In the end, Stossel took a fair amount of criticism for his manipulative tactics, and ABC forced him to pull the original interviews from the broadcast. One can't say he learned from the incident, though: He merely interviewed a different set of children to achieve the same results.

It's hard to imagine another journalist getting away with what Stossel does. It's ironic that a report on the evils of "propaganda" relied so heavily on misinformation and selective omissions-- tried and true propaganda techniques-- to prove its points.

ACTION: Let ABC News know that Stossel's manipulative interviews with children for the "Tampering with Nature" special were not the only things that should have concerned them. Ask them to provide airtime to advocates for the points of view Stossel attacks in his reporting.

CONTACT:

ABC News

Phone: 212-456-7777 Fax: 212-456-4292

mailto:netaudr@abc.com

John Stossel

mailto:stossel@abc.com

As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone.

Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.

For more of FAIR's work on John Stossel, see:

http://www.fair.org/media-outlets/stossel.html

7/17/01
8:38:29 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

A BONN IN THE OVEN

It's a fair bet that many in the diplomatic horde converging on Bonn, Germany, for the latest round of global warming talks would rather be somewhere else. In the past when they've gathered, negotiators charged with forging an international strategy against climate change could usually expect to produce enough forward movement, however incremental, to go home declaring success. This time around, writes Elliot Diringer from Bonn, the outlook is not so bright. Read more from Diringer, a veteran environmental reporter now with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, on the Grist Magazine website.

straight to the source: London Guardian, Paul Brown, 17 Jul 2001 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalwarming/story/0,7369,522791,00.html>

. GALLONS OF GASP

A panel appointed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences has drafted a report recommending that the U.S. require automakers to improve the fuel economy of new vehicles. The 13-member panel, made up mostly of engineers and consultants who have worked for auto and oil companies, contends that fuel economy for cars and SUVs could be raised by as much as eight to 11 miles per gallon over the next six to 10 years without hurting consumers financially, if savings on gasoline were counted. In the past, President Bush has said his decision about whether to raise fuel-economy standards will be guided by the panel's findings.

straight to the source: New York Times, Keith Bradsher, 17 Jul 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/17/business/17AUTO.html>

catch it only in Grist Magazine: Drive the friendly skies -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha120800.stm?source=daily>

FUEL ON THE HILL

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, five cabinet secretaries, and 25 congressional Republicans fanned out across the country yesterday to try to bolster public support for the Bush administration's drill-based energy plan. Now that fuel costs are falling and fuel supplies are rising, the administration has taken to describing the current energy situation in the country as a "challenge," rather than a "crisis" -- and it is attempting to wrap itself in a green flag. "Conservation is a must," Lynne Cheney told an audience in Philadelphia, speaking for her husband, who was suffering from laryngitis. (Recall that last April, the veep belittled conservation as nothing more than "a sign of personal virtue.) Meanwhile, Cheney is asking that the U.S. Navy, rather than the vice president's office, pay the $186,000 annual bill to heat and light his official home in Washington, D.C.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Megan Garvey, 17 Jul 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-000058444jul17.story>

straight to the source: New York Times, Philip Shenon, 17 Jul 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/17/politics/17MANS.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: Confessions of an Energy Task Force Member -- diary of Dick Cheney's secretive group discovered! -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho062901.stm?source=daily>

BEARLY LEGAL

Grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park could suffer from inbreeding if a plan to reintroduce grizzlies to neighboring areas north of the park is dropped, say federal biologists. U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton has indicated that she will scrap the plan, which was developed by a local partnership of environmentalists, timber officials, and mill workers. In other grizzly news, the new government in British Colombia lifted a ban yesterday on hunting the bears, even though the ban had widespread public support. Some government scientists say as many as 13,000 grizzlies remain in B.C., while other government scientists and enviros put the number as low as 4,000.

straight to the source: Vancouver Sun, Nicholas Read, 17 Jul 2001 <http://www.vancouversun.com/newsite/news/010717/5008617.html>

THE YEAR AND A HALF OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

The Bush administration took steps yesterday to delay moving forward with a Clinton-era rule to improve water quality in more than 20,000 lakes, ponds, streams, and rivers across the country. The rule, issued in June 2000, requires states to determine the total maximum daily loads of pollution that bodies of water can handle and make plans to decrease pollution accordingly. Critics like the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Cattleman's Beef Association say the rule could cost businesses billions of dollars annually, and they have sued to prevent it from being implemented. The U.S. EPA asked a federal court to postpone action on the legal challenge for 18 months, while it attempted to make the rule more acceptable to critics.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 17 Jul 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5248-2001Jul16.html>

straight to the source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 17 Jul 2001 <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/national/31529_water17.shtml>

CZECH YOUR NUKES AT THE DOOR

Germany has asked the Czech Republic to shut down the Temelin nuclear power plant near the borders of Germany and Austria. Austria became nuke-free in 1978, and German utilities agreed last month to close their 19 nuclear plants within 20 years. The Temelin plant, which began operating last fall, has provoked major protests from local enviros, as well as from Austrians who have blocked border crossing to protest its operation. Germany says it will not use the issue to interfere with the Czech Republic's entry into the European Union, but Austrian officials have threatened to try to derail the Czech membership over concerns about the plant.

straight to the source: New York Times, Peter S. Green, 17 Jul 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/17/business/worldbusiness/17NUKE.html>

7/17/01
8:32:19 PM

Four million to 6 million votes were lost in the 2000 presidential election because of a "deeply flawed" electoral process.

That's according to a report released Monday by two of the nation's most prestigious universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology. Their analysis blamed the loss on problems with ballots, equipment, registration or difficulties at the polling place.

"For many years, we have 'made do' with this deeply flawed system, but we now know how poorly these systems function," Caltech President David Baltimore and MIT President Charles M. Vest said in their introduction to the report.

"Until every effort has been made to ensure that each vote will be counted, we will have legitimate concerns about embarking on another presidential election," they said in the report sponsored by the Carnegie Corp.

The nonpartisan report was based on a comprehensive study of voting technology in the wake of the 2000 presidential election, which was marred by voting problems in Florida that kept the nation waiting for weeks to learn that George W. Bush had narrowly defeated Al Gore in electoral-college votes. But Gore won the popular vote.

7/17/01
8:28:30 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

POWER LINES, WIRING POSE HEALTH RISKS

SACRAMENTO, California, July 16, 2001 (ENS) - Added risk of miscarriage, childhood leukemia, brain cancer and greater incidence of suicide are some of the health risks associated with exposure to electric and magnetic fields such as those that radiate from power lines, according to a California health department review.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-16-02.html

NORTON DENIES PETITION CHALLENGING KLAMATH WATER DIVERSIONS

WASHINGTON, DC, July 16, 2001 (ENS) - Interior Secretary Gale Norton has turned down a request by drought stricken farmers in the Klamath Basin to reexamine a decision to withhold their irrigation water to aid endangered fish.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-16-06.html

FORECASTING WILDFIRES

SAN DIEGO, California, July 16, 2001 (ENS) - For the first time this fire season, instead of just reacting to the fire alarms and second guessing the weather, wildland firefighters will have a look ahead on where future fires may start.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-16-01.html

AMERICAN SOLAR CHALLENGE RUNS ROUTE 66

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, July 15, 2001 (ENS) - Twenty-eight solar powered cars that raced away from Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry Sunday heading 2,300 miles across the country have reached the University of Missouri.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-16-05.html

KENYA'S PINK FLAMINGOS WEIGHED DOWN BY HEAVY METALS

By Jennifer Wanjiru

NAKURU, Kenya, July 16, 2001 (ENS) - Veterinary pathologists in Kenya have identified heavy metals as the leading cause of massive deaths of flamingos in two Rift Valley Lakes of Kenya, and warned that the scenic pink birds of Lakes Nakuru and Bogoria remain threatened unless the lakes are cleared of pollutants.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-16-04.html

19 EUROPEAN CITIES CLEAN UP URBAN TRANSPORT

BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 16, 2001 (ENS) - The European Commission has today revealed the names of the 14 EU pilot cities which will benefit from 50 million euros in funding to implement radical improvements of their urban transport systems.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-16-03.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JULY 16, 2001

Radioactive Scrap Recycling Reexamined

BP Joins Alliance to Save Energy

Shark Finning Ban Regulations Introduced

Protesters Trail Bush Officials on Energy Tour

Texaco Agrees to Install Pollution Control Equipment

Environmental Groups Can Intervene in Monument Lawsuit

Two Pennsylvania Nuclear Plants to Increase Power Output

Honda Opens Hydrogen Production, Fueling Station

Caterpillar Awards $625,000 Grant to The Nature Conservancy

Planes Could Take Efficiency Lessons from Geese

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-16-09.html

7/17/01
8:25:52 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Japanese beetles attack Indiana trees, crops - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11594

Ethanol - California needs it, but can it get it? - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11596

UPDATE - Bush cabinet members to tout energy plan benefits - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11597

Solar-powered NASA aircraft flies over Hawaii - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11605

Bush rejects 'methodology' of Kyoto treaty - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11608

EU urged to focus farm reform on environment - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11599

Air defence concerns a threat to UK wind power - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11606

Manila says approves Lafayette mines project - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11601

G8 task force urges expansion of renewable energy - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11598

FEATURE - Sssh! Don't scare the butterflies - GREECE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11607

Climate talks battle on amid Transatlantic feud - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11593

Talks opened in Germany on Monday to try to salvage the international Kyoto agreement - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11595

French prosecutor orders Chernobyl sickness probe - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11604

Hong Kong frets about jobs, not pollution - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11603

Greenpeace scales Toronto tower in Kyoto protest - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11600

Australia far exceeding Kyoto emission targets - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11602

7/17/01
8:24:10 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

KWEISI FOR YOU

straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Kris Axtman, 13 Jul 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/07/13/p2s1.htm>

NON BONN JOVIAL

Delegates from about 180 countries began talks today in Bonn, Germany, to try to salvage the Kyoto treaty on climate change, even though the U.S. has withdrawn from it. The European Union is lobbying Japan not to follow U.S. President Bush's lead by rejecting Kyoto. But Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi yesterday downplayed the talks in Bonn, suggesting that negotiations scheduled for October in Morocco would be a bigger deal. Some European leaders are accusing Bush of breaking a pledge he made last month not to pressure other countries to withdraw from Kyoto. Bush on Friday unveiled a scattered set of climate change initiatives, including more funding for climate studies, but he has yet to propose a comprehensive alternative to Kyoto.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 16 Jul 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/600606.asp>

straight to the source: Washington Post, William Drozdiak, 16 Jul 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A66-2001Jul15.html>

straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, John J. Fialka and Geoff Winestock, 16 Jul 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB995226012456981757.htm>

THE TIES THAT BLIND

The scientists who advise the U.S. EPA on regulatory decisions often have ties to the very industries that would be affected by the regulations being assessed, according to a study scheduled to be released today by the General Accounting Office, a congressional watchdog agency. In one case, seven of 17 members of a Science Advisory Board panel studying the cancer risks of a toxic chemical worked for chemical companies or for industry-affiliated research organizations; five of the other members had received consulting or other fees from chemical manufacturers.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 16 Jul 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59494-2001Jul13.html>

VISIBLY UPSET

The 1,900 new power plants called for in U.S. President Bush's energy plan pose a big threat to air quality in places where smog is already bad, experts say. They are also concerned about moves by the Bush administration to end efforts by former President Clinton to force dozens of dirty, old coal-powered plants to install modern pollution-control equipment. Last week, the administration began a series of public hearings on its proposal to ditch the "new source review" rules that require the older plants to make the changes. Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney is hitting the road this week to try to rally support for the energy plan he helped to produce, even as drops in fuel prices across the country are undercutting the administration's claim that the country is in the midst of an energy crisis.

read it only in Grist Magazine: Who in the administration is calling the shots about the new source review rules? -- in our Muckraker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck062901.stm#reliable>

straight to the source: New York Times, Joseph Kahn, 16 Jul 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/politics/16ENER.html>

SUCCOR FISH

straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 14 Jul 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/14/politics/14SPEC.html>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

Confessions of an Energy Task Force Member -- diary of Dick Cheney's secretive group discovered! -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho062901.stm?source=daily>

Fairway to heaven -- a gardening guru gives new meaning to a putting green -- in our Out on a Limb column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/limb/limb120799.stm?source=daily>

7/17/01
8:21:58 PM

Public Citizen

Government Must Tell Medicare Patients Results of Investigations Into Doctor Complaints, Court Says

HHS Policy of Withholding Information Violates Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal policy of withholding investigation results from Medicare patients who have filed complaints about doctors is illegal and must change, a judge has ruled.

Public Citizen filed the case last year against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The complaint stemmed from the agency's refusal to disclose investigation results to Kentucky resident David Shipp, who filed a complaint related to his wife's care in 1998 and 1999 at Baptist East Hospital in Louisville. HHS's Peer Review Organization (PRO) launched an investigation into three doctors, but refused to tell Shipp the results of the investigations into two of the doctors because the physicians did not consent to the disclosure.

The government argued that maintaining this confidentiality was consistent with the law and necessary for the PRO to perform its duties. Public Citizen contended that the policy violated the Peer Review Improvement Act of 1982, as amended in 1986, which states that PROs "shall inform the individual (or representative) of the organization's final disposition of the complaint."

In a July 10 ruling issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle found that the policy violated the statute and the intent of Congress. The judge found that an examination of the history, structure and underlying purpose of the statute supported the finding that a PRO must inform complainants of the substantive dispositions of their complaints. She ordered HHS to amend the policy within 20 days. A copy of the opinion will be posted at

http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/PROopinion.pdf

"The decision is a victory for Medicare patients who are the victims of substandard medical care," said Amanda Frost, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group. "This decision means that the government can no longer hide doctors' errors from Medicare patients."

"I think it's a wonderful decision," said Shipp, now retired and living in Louisville. "When you want the truth and you seek it, it should be given to you. That's why you pay taxes."

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

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

7/17/01
8:18:02 PM

Public Citizen

Pediatric Monopoly Extension for Drug Companies Badly Flawed, Gives Windfall Profits to Drugmakers and Drives Up Prices

Key Senate Committee to Take Up Monopoly Extension Bill in July That Could Yield Industry $29 Billion

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The practice of extending marketing monopolies for prescription drugs if their manufacturers agree to test the drugs for use in children is seriously flawed, according to an analysis released today by Public Citizen. Instead, Congress should require companies to test all new drugs for use in children as a condition of their original approval for marketing by the federal government.

Under so-called "pediatric exclusivity," drug companies are granted an additional six months of monopoly protection if they voluntarily test their drugs in children. This was Congress' solution to the drug industry's refusal to test its products for use in children and was intended to encourage more tests to assure the safety and effectiveness of drugs prescribed for children.

But this exclusivity gives a windfall to the prescription drug industry. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has estimated that pediatric exclusivity will increase brand-name drug company sales by $29 billion and cost consumers an additional $14 billion over the next 20 years. Further, the profits enjoyed by the drug companies from the patent extensions greatly exceed the cost of conducting the studies, which are estimated at between $1 million and $7.5 million.

The law permitting pediatric exclusivity expires on Jan. 1, 2002, and Congress is currently debating a bill that would extend it. However, that bill (S. 838), which is scheduled to be marked up in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee as early as July 25, would continue to leave many key drugs untested, increase the cost of drugs for consumers - particularly the elderly - and give a huge windfall to drug companies, Public Citizen has determined. A copy of the analysis is available at

http://www.citizen.org/congress/drugs/pedexclusivity.html

"This is Senate Democrats' first test on the issue of prescription drug costs, and it appears as though they are poised for failure," said Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch. "If senators want to assure that drugs are tested before they are given to children, they should support legislation that requires this testing to be done as a condition of FDA's approval of drugs. This would be the courageous approach, but it requires the Senate to stand up to the drug industry. It is also the only solution that puts the burden for the safety of drugs where it should be, squarely on the shoulders of the drug industry, the most profitable industry in the nation, rather than on the backs of consumers."

Among the key problems of the policy of pediatric exclusivity:

* It fails to ensure that drugs likely to be used in children will be tested in children before they are prescribed for their use. The FDA has said that the current law will leave more than 100 drugs important for children untested.

* It doesn't guarantee that companies will make the results of their studies known through the labeling changes necessary for drugs to be used safely and effectively in children.

S. 838, sponsored by Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), reauthorizes pediatric exclusivity with minor changes, so it preserves most of the program's flaws. The bill fails to assure that drugs likely to be prescribed for children will be tested for safety, and it does nothing to address the industry's enormous profits.

A better alternative would be to end pediatric exclusivity for new drugs and require drug companies to test new drugs for use in children as a condition of the drugs' approval by the FDA. For drugs already on the market, Congress should give the FDA authority to require testing and end the six months of additional patent protection, Clemente said.

"It's bad enough giving drug companies a huge windfall for something that should be required as part of the FDA drug approval process," Clemente said. "What's worse is that after consumers pay out an extra $14 billion for pediatric exclusivity, many of the drugs most needed by children will remain untested.

"Some advocates for children support the pediatric exclusivity incentive out of frustration and desperation, fearing that drug companies would conduct no pediatric tests without a hefty financial reward. This attitude makes it easy for members of Congress to support S. 838. Senators may see a vote for the Dodd-DeWine bill, which would continue the handout to the industry, as a safe vote for children. But Senate Democrats need to use their newfound clout to stop corporate welfare for the drug industry."

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

For more information, please go to http://www.Citizen.org

7/17/01
8:16:16 PM

Public Citizen

Bush-Cheney Energy Plan Fails to Protect Pennsylvania Consumers National and State Groups Fault Special Interest Policies

PITTSBURGH -- Contrary to what Vice President Dick Cheney and Pennsylvania Republican politicians will tell people at an invitation-only "town hall" meeting in Pittsburgh today, the administration's energy plan will harm the environment and consumers, two consumer advocacy organizations said today.

The Bush-Cheney energy agenda benefits energy producers at the expense of consumers, according to Pittsburgh-based Citizen Power and Washington, D.C.-based Public Citizen. The administration's energy plan relies on old ideas and failed policies of the past. It has no price or blackout protections for electricity consumers. It suspends public health laws so power plants can increase emissions, subsidizes nuclear power and dirty coal, gives money for more oil drilling on public land, and reduces federal spending for renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.

"Dick Cheney and Gov. Tom Ridge are abandoning consumers by promoting Bush's energy plan," said David Hughes, executive director of Citizen Power. "Bush's idea to suspend public health laws and replace local controls by expanding the federal government's authority to build new coal and nuclear power plants will do nothing to alleviate the energy crisis. Real solutions require energy producers to sell electricity and other commodities to consumers at affordable rates, and investing in proven renewable energy and energy efficiency programs."

Some elements of Bush's energy plan already have proven to be faulty. In a May 29 speech to business executives, President Bush said, "We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse. And that's why I oppose price caps." But prices have plummeted and no rolling blackouts have occurred in California since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) enacted price controls.

"President Bush was wrong to oppose price controls in California's electricity market," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "Consumers have benefited from lower prices brought on by the increased government protection. The only negative impact of FERC's price controls is that the three major California power producers, which contributed $1.5 million to the Bush-Cheney campaign and inauguration and the Republican National Committee in the last election cycle, can no longer pad their profits by price-gouging utilities and consumers."

Dismissing price controls, Bush and Ridge insist that markets alone will solve states' deregulation problems and point to Pennsylvania's alleged deregulation success. But between April 1 and July 1, the number of Pennsylvania consumers using an alternative supplier dropped from 787,845 to 591,596. It was the sharpest quarterly drop since Pennsylvania deregulated its market in 1996 and indicates that rising prices on the uncompetitive wholesale market are resulting in little to no competition in the retail market.

"There is not much to boast about in Pennsylvania's electricity deregulation," Hughes said. "Customers have few choices, and the only rate reductions were instituted through regulation. The market has done nothing to produce electricity more affordably for Pennsylvanians."

Citizen Power and Public Citizen also fault the Bush administration for its lack of commitment to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Bush claims that, in order to satisfy demand, we need to build 1,300 power plants over the next 20 years. But this claim is disputed by the president's own Department of Energy, which states that if existing energy efficiency technologies were implemented, 690 new power plants would be needed over the next 20 years. Unfortunately, Bush has proposed to slash federal spending on energy efficiency measures and has proposed scaling back Clinton-era efficiency standards for certain appliances.

"While administration officials use events like today's in Pittsburgh to talk about energy efficiency, they are slashing federal budgets for these same programs," Hughes said. "We should be increasing investments in energy efficient technologies, not sinking billions more in taxpayer subsidies for dirty coal and dangerous nuclear power."

While Bush speaks about the value of "state's rights," his energy plan runs roughshod over state and local rights. Bush would limit the traditional purview of states and local governments to lay transmission lines by transferring this authority to the FERC.

"Expanding the power of this obscure agency, FERC, to seize property for massive transmission lines goes against the last century of electricity planning in America," Haughter said. "Consumers and property owners are better served by having more, not less, control over energy planning decisions."

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

7/17/01
8:08:31 PM

SCIENTISTS SEEKING SECRETS OF "LOST CITY"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010712080308.htm

The remarkable hydrothermal vent structures serendipitously discovered last December in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, including a massive 18-story vent taller than any seen before, are formed in a very different way than ocean-floor vents studied since the 1970s, according to findings published July 12 in the journal Nature.

7/17/01
8:05:40 PM

STELLAR APOCALYPSE YIELDS FIRST EVIDENCE OF WATER-BEARING WORLDS BEYOND OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010712075944.htm

As an alien sun blazes through its death throes, it is apparently vaporizing a surrounding swarm of comets, releasing a huge cloud of water vapor. The discovery, reported in an article to be published tomorrow in the journal Nature, is the result of observations with the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS), a small radio observatory NASA launched into space in December 1998.

7/17/01
8:04:38 PM

EARLIEST HUMAN ANCESTORS DISCOVERED IN ETHIOPIA; DISCOVERY OF BONES AND TEETH DATE FOSSILS BACK MORE THAN 5.2 MILLION YEARS

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010712080134.htm

Anthropologists have discovered the remains of the earliest known human ancestor in Ethiopia, dating to between 5.2 and 5.8 million years ago and which predate the previously oldest-known fossils by almost a million years. The previous discovery of the 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus was up to this point the oldest known hominid, the primate zoological family that includes all species on the human side of the evolutionary split with chimpanzees.

7/17/01
8:03:38 PM

WORLD LAND DATABASE CHARTS A TROUBLING COURSE

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010711060342.htm

Over the past 300 years, in an ever-accelerating process, humans have reshaped the terrestrial surface of the Earth. In doing so, humanity has scripted a scenario of global environmental change with impacts that promise to be at least as severe as global climate change, scientists report.

7/17/01
8:03:08 PM

BRAIN-DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE FOR MAMMALIAN SPECIES

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010711060444.htm

A team of Cornell University neurobiologists has modeled key milestones in brain development across nine mammalian species, from hamsters to humans. They have, for example, pinpointed the date after conception when the cells that make up the retina of the eye are formed.

7/17/01
8:02:19 PM

GLOBAL WARMING LINKED TO INCREASE OF TICK-BORNE ENCEPHALITIS IN SWEDEN

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010711061024.htm

The increase in incidence of tick-borne encephalitis in Sweden reported over the past two decades is directly related to the country's increasingly mild climate over the same period, conclude authors of a study in THE LANCET.

7/17/01
8:01:42 PM

SCIENTISTS REPORT THE FIRST LIVE BIRTHS IN LARGE MAMMALS AFTER USING FROZEN OVARIAN TISSUE

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010711061236.htm

French scientists have succeeded in using previously frozen ovarian tissue to produce live offspring in large mammals for the first time.

7/17/01
8:00:36 PM

MEDITATION MAY CUT STRESS, IMPROVING MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010710074320.htm

An intensive program that teaches meditation skills may help people reduce the psychological and physical effects of high stress, according to a new study.

7/17/01
7:59:25 PM

VEGETABLE "IMMUNE SYSTEMS" PROTECT BETTER AGAINST FOOD SPOILAGE

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010710074021.htm

When Cornell University biologists claimed, in 1998, that the traditional use of spices has a function other than making food taste good -- namely to help protect against more and more dangerous forms of foodborne microbes -- one thing was missing from their antimicrobial hypothesis. Now, the Cornell researchers have stirred in that missing ingredient, showing why vegetable-based recipes in 36 countries around the world are less spicy than meat-based dishes in the same societies.

7/17/01
7:56:45 PM

NANO-TRANSISTOR SWITCHES WITH JUST ONE ELECTRON, MAY BE IDEAL FOR MOLECULAR COMPUTERS

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010709073509.htm

A single electron makes the difference between "on" and "off" for a new transistor made from a single carbon nanotube, whose minute size and low-energy requirements should make it an ideal device for molecular computers. Dutch researchers introduce this nanotube single electron transistor, the first to operate efficiently at room temperature, in the 29 June issue of the international journal, Science.

7/17/01
7:55:00 PM

NEW STUDY SHOWS NORMAL-LOOKING CLONES MAY BE ABNORMAL

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010709073545.htm

Scientists have found the first evidence to show that even seemingly normal-looking clones may harbor serious abnormalities affecting gene expression that may not manifest themselves as outward characteristics. The findings, reported in the July 6 issue of Science by researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and University of Hawaii, confirm the previous suspicion that reproductive cloning is not only inefficient, but may actually be unsafe.

7/17/01
7:52:25 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

UPDATE - US has no Kyoto alternative for Bonn meeting - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11576

US business looks beyond the Kyoto "quagmire" - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11579

UPDATE - Bush details studies on global warming - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11577

US grain system said incompatible with EU rules - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11575

INTERVIEW - Cutting Gulf lease a mistake - Global Marine chief - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11574

Calif. power spending shrinks as prices tumble - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11563

Energy savings help Calif. avoid summer blackouts - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11566

Environmental impact of ethanol fuels debate - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11564

Niagara Mohawk seeks court ruling on coal plants - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11578

British group to battle Australian kangaroo cull - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11589

Turkey to try barring nuclear waste from straits - TURKEY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11586

ANALYSIS - Summit protesters - rebels with or without a cause? - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11587

UPDATE - Russia's Duma approves crucial land code - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11572

FEATURE - Norway's fish farmers hope to hook more consumers - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11588

Kyoto treaty becomes a numbers game without the US - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11591

FACTBOX - Science on global warming behind Kyoto pact - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11583

Resort nation of Maldives looks to eco-tourism - MALDIVES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11573

Japan sees no Kyoto deal in Bonn, aims for Morocco - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11570

Thousands of protesters await G8 leaders in Genoa - ITALY: http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11568

Germany's Hesse state supports Wingas pipeline - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11585

FEATURE - German sea winds may be answer to energy woes - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11592

Hopes fade for climate deal as Bonn talks start - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11562

UPDATE - Japan pessimism clouds Bonn climate talks - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11565

Green campaigners shun Genoa amid violence fears - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11582

EU takes soft line on violent summit protesters - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11580

FEATURE - Congo Okapi park battles miners, poachers and war - CONGO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11571

China to be keen observer at Bonn climate talks - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11584

Canada gloomy about prospects for environment talks - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11567

G8 report sees renewables as key energy for poor - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11581

Australia's Loy Yang Power plans generation boost - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11590

Greenpeace says US poses new Pacific risk - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11569