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 hi