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

7/29/01
1:28:40 PM

Dear All,

July/August letters were posted on Earth Action Network's web site,

http://www.eanetwork.org

We really appreciate your efforts to promote healing and justice in our world. Also, please keep helping us grow by telling your friends about EAN.

For Better World,

Earth Action Network

7/29/01
12:47:00 PM

Pentagon Considers 'Space Bomber'

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Pentagon (news – web sites) is looking into the development of a futuristic bomber that would take off like a long-range missile and drop precision bombs from heights of 60 miles (96 km) or more, the Los Angeles Times reported in its Saturday edition.

The Times, citing a government planning document, said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered the Pentagon last month to consider the sub-orbital space craft for rapid global strikes.

It said the bomber, possibly manned, was expected to travel 15 times the speed and 10 times the altitude of existing bombers and hit targets on the other side of the world in a half-hour.

The craft would allow U.S. military planners to address the threat of distant targets at a time when the number of U.S. military bases abroad is declining, the Times said.

But it also was likely to intensify the debate over the militarization of space, it said.

President Bush (news - web sites) is backing a national missile defense system that is strongly opposed by Russia and China as well as some European leaders who have expressed doubts about setting aside the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010728/pl/plane_space_dc_1.html

USA Space Command, "Vision 2020":

http://www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace

7/29/01
12:41:50 PM

Manley Critical Of U.S. Plan For Space Weapons

From: CBCNEWS <nwonline@toronto.cbc.ca>

HANOI--Canada's foreign minister says U.S. plans to develop space-based weapons are dangerous.

John Manley said, "I've made the point as strongly as could possibly be made that Canada is unalterably opposed to the weaponization of space.''

Manley made his comments Wednesday in a telephone conference call from Hanoi, where he was attending an Asia-Pacific economic meeting.

Manley said the U.S. plan encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other responses that are unlikely to be good for global security.

He said Canada is pushing for a treaty to ban weapons from orbit and has support from other countries.

The Pentagon has said the planned missile defence system should include a mix of land, sea and space-based weapons.

Manley also criticized the U.S. for rejecting a protocol which would have enforced the 1972 convention on germ warfare.

7/29/01
12:37:34 PM

Kucinich to Introduce Legislation to Ban Weaponization of Space

NEWS RELEASE

July 26, 2001

CONTACT: Kathie Scarrah

202.226.8139, 703.845.2874

Kucinich to Introduce Legislation to Ban Weaponization of Space

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland) today announced his intention to introduce legislation to ban the weaponization of space. "The time has come to ban the further weaponization of space," Congressman Kucinich said. "We must work toward the elimination of all nuclear weapons, and an end to policies which cause this country to move toward the weaponization of space. I was pleased with the recent news from our neighbor to the north that Canada is ready to join an international effort to prohibit weapons in space. It is time for the United States to take the lead and end the weaponization of space."

Kucinich said the argument that supporters of weaponization use claiming our national security and commercial interests would be put at risk are fear tactics backed by greed. "We signed the ABM treaty nearly 30 years ago; which requires a reduction in strategic arms, nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. Weaponization of space clearly violates that treaty. My bill will call for an immediate and permanent termination of research, testing, manufacturing, production and deployment of all space-based weapons systems and components by any person, agency or contractor of the U.S. government." Kucinich will introduce the Space Preservation Act of 2001 this autumn.

Please support Congressman Kucinich's Space Preservation Act that he plans to introduce this autumn, network this information and find addtional endorsers for October 13 to unite with the world and stop weapons in space and the expansion of the arms race; also, contact U.S. congressional representatives in support of such proposed legislation to transform from the direction of war to the direction of peace and disarmament of weapons of mass destruction.

The Congressional switchboard telephone number: 202-224-3121.

Web Site: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html

For Senators' telephone, fax, web, and E-mail addresses see:

http://prop1.org/prop1/senate.htm

7/29/01
12:35:25 PM

Star Wars

Things are shaping up in regards to the plan of action to ban space-based weapons. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland) last Thursday announced his intention to introduce legislation to ban the weaponization of space. He declared, "We must work toward the elimination of all nuclear weapons, and an end to policies which cause this country to move toward the weaponization of space." Following a press release on these statements is an article that Canada's foreign minister stated that the U.S. plans to develop space-based weapons are dangerous. John Manley said, "I've made the point as strongly as could possibly be made that Canada is unalterably opposed to the weaponization of space.'' Manley said the U.S. plan encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other responses that are unlikely good for global security. He said Canada is pushing for a treaty to ban weapons from orbit and has support from other countries.

The Global Network's support for international actions on October 13 to ban weapons in space is extremely timely. Right now 198 Organizations are endorsing this campaign, with 72 sites planned for demonstrations. Also, percolating on the side of peace, is the unlikely common interests of peace organizations and many military leaders, concerned that the Bush missile defense plan would lessen their abilities to preserve national (and international) security interests.

The UN's Outer Space Treaty was ratified by 95 States, (including the US), and signed by at least 27 additional states. You can review the "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies" at the UN's Office of Outer Space Affairs website:

http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/treat/ost/ost.html

For a scarier and more dangerous perspective, check out US Space Command's "Vision 20/20"

http://www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace

To learn more on actions planned for October 13, visit the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.

http://www.space4peace.org

7/28/01
1:16:05 PM

Poison Control

By Charles Sisk

The Washington Post and the New York Times lead with the House's decision to support a tough standard for arsenic in drinking water that was implemented in the Clinton administration's last few days. Bush ordered a review of the new standard soon after he took office in January. The Los Angeles Times leads with a local story on the firing of five state energy advisors for conflicts of interest. (A sixth resigned.) The advisors own stock in utilities that have recently done business with the California government. The LAT also goes high with the arsenic vote.

Clinton's new standard would reduce the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 10 ppb by the year 2006. Republican argue this standard will make it too expensive for rural water systems to continue operating, forcing people to turn to untreated water supplies. Friday's 218-189 vote, which includes 19 Republicans, would force Bush to accept a standard at least as tough as Clinton's. The WP focuses on the political: Bush's decision has reinforced the notion that he is unfriendly to the environment, the paper says, and it goes on to recount his various environmental missteps. The NYT and the LAT focus on the scientific, saying that the National Academy of Sciences opposes the old arsenic standard and that World Health Organization and most European countries use the 10-ppb rule.

Everyone goes above-the-fold with news that the U.S. economy grew by a slight 0.7% in the spring 2001 quarter. This is actually good news to some economists, who feared that the economy might have slipped into a recession. Many economists believe growth will pick up in the summer and fall quarters. Everyone agrees that consumer spending, which increased 2.1%, was a major reason the economy remained as strong as it did. This offset a steep decline in business investment. The NYT points out that the economy was also aided by a rise in government spending initiated when the economy was strong.

The WP fronts the Department of Justice's decision to kill the $12.3 billion, United Airlines-US Airways deal. The decision is expected to put to rest merger talk in the airline industry. If United had been able to complete the deal, it and American Airlines would have controlled about half of the nation's air traffic. Other airlines would have needed to merge to stay close. But Justice's opposition is probably good news for United, which has been criticized for overpaying. US Airways, however, faces an uncertain future, as it is being squeezed by both the major airlines and the smaller, low-fare carriers.

The NYT goes high with the Israeli Foreign Ministry's warning that Israeli officials should avoid traveling to countries that claim global jurisdiction over human rights cases. Israel fears that foreign governments--mainly European ones--are biased toward the Palestinians and could attempt to try high-ranking Israeli officials for human rights abuses. This is not idle paranoia, the Israelis insist. Twenty-three Palestinians are urging a Belgian court to bring charges against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for a 1982 attack on two Lebanese refuge camps, and the Danish are upset that the new Israeli ambassador is a former merger of the Israeli secret police. The irony, the NYT concludes, is Israel itself has been a leading advocate of international human rights law, as it sought to bring former Nazis to justice.

The NYT fronts a feature on Florida's two major league baseball teams: the Florida Marlins, which play in Miami, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Both were added in the 1990s, and both are failing miserably. There is now talk of eliminating them. The Times gives a number of reasons for their failure--poor marketing, lifeless stadiums, Florida's frequent summer thunderstorms--but both cases ultimately boil down to one thing: winning. The NYT says the Marlins' fan base was destroyed when the team unloaded most of its top players soon after it won the 1997 World Series. The Devil Rays, meanwhile, have been pathetic since starting play in 1998.

Finally, the LAT fronts a piece on the high number of celebrities running for seats in Japanese parliament this year. The article--cleverly slugged "jesse" on the Web--notes that Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, President Reagan and former Philippine President Joseph Estrada have all won high office, so these guys are hardly trailblazers. But Japan does seem to have an abnormally large number of stars running--30 celebrity-candidates seeking 121 seats. Many of them have incredibly inane platforms. A professional wrestler promises to return Japan to "a samurai age without hara-kiri" (ritual suicide), and a comedian says he will build a combination hospital-spa-comedy club in downtown Osaka. This is the first time Japanese have been allowed to vote for individual candidates, rather than parties. If many of these celebrities win, one wonders if they'll ever be allowed to vote for individuals again.

Source: http://www.Slate.com

7/28/01
1:11:21 PM

http://www.thefarm.org/

7/28/01
12:39:15 PM

ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY

by Jay Hanson, www.dieoff.com

"There is an assumption in economics that the market system handles resource allocation in an efficient manner unless proven otherwise." -- ENERGY PLANNING AND POLICY, Thomas H. Tietenberg

"All this was inspired by the principle -- which is quite true in itself -- that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility." -- MEIN KAMPF, Adolf Hitler

ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY

When an engineer uses "efficiency", it means getting the most output for the least input -- a good thing because it tends to conserve finite natural resources. [1] But when an economist uses "efficiency", it means "efficient distribution" -- a bad thing because it tends to deplete natural resources (all economic activity wastes finite energy stocks). Economic efficiency means the "correct people" (those who can afford it) get the "correct goods and services" (whatever they want; technically known as "Pareto Optimality", which incidentally, doesn't exist). Economic efficiency rewards people who are the most successful at converting natural resources into industrial garbage ... so they can invest in even more conversion of natural resources into industrial garbage.

If one can think like an engineer (social scientists will have difficulty doing this), one can deduce from first principles, history, and observation that a society based on "economic efficiency" will crash and dieoff. Here's how:

1). Visit the astronomy department at your local university and verify that Earth is indeed spherical. All spheres are finite, thus Earth is finite. Therefore, you can deduce that Earth's energy resources are finite too -- finite "energy stocks" (e.g., oil) and finite "energy flows" (e.g., wind).

2). Visit the physics department and verify that: Energy is the capacity to do work (no energy = no work). Thus, the global economy is 100 percent dependent on energy -- it always has been, and it always will be. There are NO exceptions to the laws of thermodynamics.

The First Law of thermodynamics tells us that neither capital nor labor nor technology can "create" energy. Instead, available energy must be spent to transform existing energy stocks, or to divert an existing energy flow into more available energy.

The Second Law of thermodynamics tells us that energy is wasted at every step in the economic process. The engines that actually do the work in our economy (so-called "heat engines", such as diesel engines) waste more than 50 percent of the energy contained in their fuel.

Energy resources must produce more energy than they consume, otherwise they are called "sinks" (this is known as the "net energy" principle). About 735 joules of energy are required to lift 15 kg of oil 5 meters out of the ground just to overcome gravity -- and the higher the lift, the greater the energy requirements. The most concentrated and most accessible oil is produced first; thereafter, more and more energy is required to find and produce oil. At some point, more energy is spent finding and producing oil than the energy recovered -- and the "resource" has become a "sink".

3). Visit the ecology (or population biology) department and verify that "overshoot", "crash", and "dieoff" are common in nature. Dieoff occurs when animals run out of energy stocks (food). H. sapiens are running out of energy stocks (fossil fuel first, and then food).

Now that you have deduced the dieoff scenario from the science, turn on your TV set and observe that "dieoff" is already underway in Russia and Africa.

The only remaining question is when will "dieoff" come to a location near you? Many industry experts expect it in less than ten years. Some say it is here already.

See http://dieoff.com/synopsis.htm

THE POLITICS OF ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY

"Economic efficiency" also means "economic anarchy" (no government regulations). Another way of looking at it is that economists advocate "Social Darwinism" -- survival of the economically fittest -- the rest can suffer and die. In the words of Economic Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman: "Pinochet has supported a fully free-market economy as a matter of principle. Chile is an economic miracle." [2]

Although the first advocate of Friedman's Social Darwinism was the Dominican Friar St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274),[3] the British economist Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) was the first to really understand and record the real-world implications of Thomistic Philosophy:

"A man who is born into a world already possessed, if he cannot get subsistence from his parents on whom he has a just demand, and if the society do not want his labor, has no claim of right to the smallest portion of food, and, in fact, has no business to be where he is. At nature's mighty feast there is no vacant cover for him. She tells him to be gone, and will quickly execute her own orders, if he does not work upon the compassion of some of her guests. If these guests get up and make room for him, other intruders immediately appear demanding the same favor. The report of a provision for all that come fills the hall with numerous claimants. The order and harmony of the feast is disturbed, the plenty that before reigned is changed into scarcity; and the happiness of the guests is destroyed by the spectacle of misery and dependence in every part of the hall, and by the clamorous importunity of those, who are justly enraged at not finding the provision which they had been taught to expect. The guests learn too late their error, in counter-acting those strict orders to all intruders, issued by the great mistress of the feast, who, wishing that all guests should have plenty, and knowing she could not provide for unlimited numbers, humanely refused to admit fresh comers when her table was already full." [4]

Here is a recent example of Malthus' Thomistic Philosophy (Social Darwinism) by the notorious former World Bank Chief economist and US Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers:

"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable... because foregone earnings from increased morbidity" are low. He adds that "the underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted; their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles.... " [5]

By using everyday words in idiosyncratic ways, economists hijack normative "feel good" terms for their heinous "feel bad" political agenda: Social Darwinism. Economists are able to use both definitions simultaneously in order to "feel good" about their politics while deceiving others -- which is a splendid example of lying to oneself in order to tell more convincing lies to others. Economists provide the best examples of how the animal evolved as the apex "social predator" rather than the apex "engineer" (economists don't know anything about the real world -- and they don't care).

"POLITICAL EFFICIENCY"

The reality of the economist's political agenda is a curious mixture of politics and efficiency: "political efficiency". Economists are trained to believe that "money" has nothing to do with politics and is simply a medium of exchange. But even the casual observer can see that money is social power because it "empowers" people to buy and do the things they want -- including buying and doing other people: politics.

If employers have the freedom to pay workers less "political power", then they will retain more political power for themselves. Money is, in a word, "coercion", and "economic efficiency" is correctly seen as a political concept designed to conserve social power for those who have it -- to make the politically powerful, even more powerful, and the politically weak, even weaker.

Economists have adopted normative terms and idiosyncratic definitions to make them better liars. Indeed, to the economist, lying is effortless and automatic. It's a way of life.

"Economists have become a plague as dangerous as rabbits, prickly pear or cane toads. Economists have become the cultural cane toads of Canberra, oozing over the landscape and endangering myriad indigenous species. Not only the economy but also mental health would be greatly improved if we could lift the fog of obfuscation on things economic. The first step is to take economists from their pedestal and to see them as the curiosities they are. The first step to reducing their power is to reduce their legitimacy. How is this to be achieved? First, economists' outpourings should, as a matter of principle, be met with laughter, derision, benign paternalism. They should cease to be employed as media commentators. In the long term they should cease to be hired. Let them be pensioned off and die out. Extinction is a worthy end for a profession whose brief is rotten to the core."

-- Dr. Evan Jones, Economics Department, University of Sydney Jay -- www.dieoff.com

[1] Energy efficiency is the percentage of total energy input that does useful work in an energy conversion system.

[2] Cite in Newsweek, Jan, 1982.

SUMMARY: So what was the record for the entire Pinochet regime? Between 1972 and 1987, the GNP per capita fell 6.4 percent. In constant 1993 dollars, Chile's per capita GDP was over $3,600 in 1973. Even as late as 1993, however, this had recovered to only $3,170. Only five Latin American countries did worse in per capita GDP during the Pinochet era (1974-1989). And defenders of the Chicago plan call this an "economic miracle."

Read more about Milton Friedman's Social Darwinist utopia at http://www.lakota.clara.net/myths/economy.html

[3] "Particularly important was Aquinas' brief outline of the mutual benefit each person derives from exchange. As he put it in the Summa: 'buying and selling seems to have been instituted for the mutual advantage of both parties, since one needs something that belongs to the other, and conversely.'" [ p. 10, ECONOMIC THOUGHT BEFORE ADAM SMITH, by Murray N. Rothbard; Edward Elgar, 1995;

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1852789611/brainfood.a ]

St. Thomas Aquinas' free trade politics were finally perfected three hundred years later by the Jesuit Father Luis Molina (1535-1600): "If merchants paying and accepting market prices, made gains, this was all right, and if they suffered losses, this was bad luck or else a penalty for incompetence, so long as gain or loss resulted from the unhampered working of the market mechanism though not if it resulted, for example, from price fixing by public authority or monopolistic concerns." pp. 98-99, HISTORY OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, Joseph Schumpeter; George Allen, 1954;

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195105591/brainfood.a

Today, the religious disciples of St. Thomas are the Neoclassical economists: "Adam Smith's key insight was that both parties to an exchange can benefit and that, so long as cooperation is strictly voluntary, no exchange will take place unless both parties do benefit." -- Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman p. 2, FREE TO CHOOSE, Milton and Rose Friedman; Harvest, 1980;

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156334607/brainfood.a

Of course, Friedman is wrong here. Everything Smith wrote derives from the Scholastics and the Physiocrats. Specifically, the ideology of "free trade" comes from St. Thomas. The early industrialists could hardly have sold Catholic religious teaching to Protestants, so they used Smith as a "shill" for Catholic theology. As might be expected from a discipline founded entirely on lies, economic students aren't even taught the true history of their discipline! The entire religious program of the Neoclassical economists is presented well in REACHING FOR HEAVEN ON EARTH, by Robert Nelson; Rowman & Littlefield, 1993;

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0822630249/brainfood.a

[4] AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION, 2nd edition, Thomas Malthus

[5] The Memo DATE: December 12, 1991

TO: Distribution

FR: Lawrence H. Summers

Subject: GEP

'Dirty' Industries: Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less Developed Countries]? I can think of three reasons:

1) The measurements of the costs of health impairing pollution depends on the foregone earnings from increased morbidity and mortality. From this point of view a given amount of health impairing pollution should be done in the country with the lowest cost, which will be the country with the lowest wages. I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that.

2) The costs of pollution are likely to be non-linear as the initial increments of pollution probably have very low cost. I've always though that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted, their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City. Only the lamentable facts that so much pollution is generated by non-tradable industries (transport, electrical generation) and that the unit transport costs of solid waste are so high prevent world welfare enhancing trade in air pollution and waste.

3) The demand for a clean environment for aesthetic and health reasons is likely to have very high income elasticity. The concern over an agent that causes a one in a million change in the odds of prostate cancer is obviously going to be much higher in a country where people survive to get prostate cancer than in a country where under 5 mortality is 200 per thousand. Also, much of the concern over industrial atmosphere discharge is about visibility impairing particulates. These discharges may have very little direct health impact. Clearly trade in goods that embody aesthetic pollution concerns could be welfare enhancing. While production is mobile the consumption of pretty air is a non-tradable.

7/28/01
12:19:49 PM

Why is your world so totally screwed up?

read REACHING FOR HEAVEN ON EARTH,

by Robert H. Nelson

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0822630249/brainfood.a

The members of the American economics profession, as Arnold contended, performed a vital practical role in maintaining this unique system of corporate socialism American style. It was their role to prevent the American public from achieving a correct understanding of the actual workings of the American economic system. Economists instead were assigned the task to dispense priestly blessings that would allow business to operate independent of damaging political manipulation. They accomplished this task by means of their message of "laissez faire religion, based on a conception of a society composed of competing individuals." However false as a description of the actual U.S. economy, this vision in the mind of the American public was in practice "transferred automatically to industrial organizations with nation-wide power and dictatorial forms of government." Even though the arguments of economists were misleading and largely fictional, the practical -- and beneficial -- result of their deception was to throw a "mantle of protection ... over corporate government" from various forms of outside interference. Admittedly, as the economic "symbolism got farther and farther from reality, it required more and more ceremony to keep it up." But as long as this arrangement worked and there could be maintained "the little pictures in the back of the head of the ordinary man," the effect was salutary -- "the great [corporate] organization was secure in its freedom and independence." It was this very freedom and independence of business professionals to pursue the correct scientific answer -- the efficient answer -- on which the economic progress of the United States depended.

http://dieoff.com/page235.htm

7/28/01
12:16:30 PM

This following paper by Hall et al. will appear in the August issue of BioScience.

It is archived at http://dieoff.com/page228.pdf

The need to reintegrate the natural sciences into economics,

by Charles Hall 1 , Dietmar Lindenberger 2 , Reiner Kümmel 3 , Timm Kroeger 1 , and Wolfgang Eichhorn 4

1 Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, and Program of Environmental Studies, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse NY 13210, USA

2 Institute for Energy Economics, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, D-50923 Cologne, Germany

3 Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Würzburg,D-97074 Würzburg, Germany

4 Institute for Economic Theory and Operations Research,University of Karlsruhe, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany

"How long will researchers working in adjoining fields... abstain from expressing serious concern about the splendid isolation in which academic economics now finds itself?" the Nobel Laureate in Economics, Wassily Leontief, asked in 1982.

This question is extremely important because economics is the foundation on which most decisions effecting agriculture, fisheries, the environment, and indeed most aspects of our daily lives, are based. Natural scientists, including biological scientists, may have particular views on this or that economic policy, but few question the legitimacy of economics as a tool. We believe that, paraphrasing the great Prussian military historian Karl von Clausewitz, economics is too important to leave to the economists, and that natural scientists should not leave the procedures by which we undertake economics up to economists alone. Instead, natural scientists must contribute to a new discourse about the means, methods and ends of economics.

This paper is a response to Leontief’s question. It is critical that economics be based on sound principles, and that the policies that are generated from it have a solid foundation. Neoclassical economics, that form of economics derived in the mid 19th century that prevails today, focuses on problems related to value decisions, the behavior of economic actors, and the working of markets. These problems belong to the sphere of the social sciences (many of which, incidentally, have their own problems with neoclassical economic theory, see for example Marris 1992). But the wealth that is distributed in the markets must be produced in the "hard sphere" of the material world where all operations must obey the laws and principles of physics, chemistry and biology. Our concern is that most production models of economics are not based upon these biophysical laws and principles, and indeed tend to ignore them (Georgescu-Roegen 1971, Daly 1973, 1977, Kümmel et al. 1985, Leontief 1982, Cleveland et al. 1984, Hall et al. 1986, Hall 1992, 2000).

The rest is at http://dieoff.com/page228.pdf

7/27/01
6:57:36 PM

Photo Contest

Grab your camera and head for your favorite body of water. The nation’s preeminent river conservation organization has joined forces with the leading outdoor recreation and adventure travel Web site in sponsoring a national photography contest that celebrates America’s rivers and waterways.

Through Sept. 1, American Rivers and GORP.com is inviting photographers to submit images that capture the beauty of the nation’s rivers. Visitors to GORP.com will vote images off the site, ultimately determining the winning image. The grand prizewinner will receive a kayak package that includes an inflatable Tahiti Classic kayak by Sevylor. Additionally, American Rivers and GORP.com will award 20 finalists a case of Poland Springs water and a pair of Slot Canyon Whitewater shoes by Timberland from Mountain Athletics.

7/27/01
6:03:20 PM

G8 nations must do more for AIDS-ravaged countries

By David Suzuki

An agreement made last week at the G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy, to increase spending for the global AIDS fund is an important step towards fighting this pandemic in the developing world, but a much greater effort is needed to slow its insidious spread. While not often discussed in North American media, AIDS has become a killer of unprecedented proportions in many parts of the developing world, especially Africa. According to a recent analysis in the journal Nature, HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) ranks as a 9 on the Richter scale of viral diseases. High-profile diseases such as ebola or the West Nile virus that caused a recent scare in North America rank merely 2.8 and 0.5 respectively.

HIV ranks so high because AIDS has killed so many and because HIV continues to spread at an alarming rate in many areas. Three million people will die from AIDS this year alone, adding to a death toll of more than 23 million. The analysis in Nature reaches the frightening conclusion that, "There is nothing to suggest that HIV will plateau or that it will not reach 1 billion cases before 2050."

AIDS is one of the most urgent global public health issues we face today. And while the fight against it is well funded in wealthy places like North America, the hardest hit areas have the least resources to combat the disease. According to most recent OECD statistics, in 1999 developed nations collectively contributed just US$100 million to fight AIDS in developing countries. Harvard director of International Health Amir Attaran points out that this is the cost of building about 20 kilometres of paved highway, or $5 per infected person — the price of a sandwich.

The lack of funds means that AIDS treatment and prevention measures in developing countries are actually getting worse, not better. The number of condoms available, for example, has dropped, as has training and education expenditures. Priorities in wealthy nations are elsewhere. The United States, for example, has just announced plans to buy 60 new B2 bombers at a cost of $120 billion.

The Global AIDS fund developed by the United Nations is supposed to help secure money to fight AIDS in the nations that need it the most. Last week, the G8 committed US$1 billion in initial pledges, but this must be just the beginning if the fund is to be successful. To function adequately, the fight against AIDS will require $8 billion to $10 billion every year, with half of that dedicated to sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest rates of infection. Some countries in this region have seen life expectancies drop by as much as 20 years since the onset of the epidemic. In South Africa, 200 babies with HIV are born every day.

Most AIDS experts say that the most humanitarian — as well as the most effective — way to fight the disease is to split funding, with half going to prevention and half to treatment. Although some have argued that treatment is not very effective in Africa because a lack of basic health care and education means that complicated drug treatment regimes will not be followed, studies have found that, with training, treatment compliance in Africa is just as good as in New York City. Access to treatment is essential from both an ethical standpoint and from a public health perspective. If no treatments are available to fight AIDS, then there is little incentive for people to be tested, and the disease will continue to spread.

African governments have increased their commitment to health care, but the AIDS epidemic is well beyond their control and it's killing their youngest and most productive members of society. Initial pledges of help from the world's richest nations offer a starting point, but much more is needed. Hopefully, the recent appointment of Canada's Stephen Lewis as the U.N.'s Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa will help bring badly needed attention and resources to this desperate situation.

http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/07/07272001/aids_44429.asp

7/27/01
6:01:32 PM

NewsBytes: California's impending gasoline crisis and other environmental news

By Stacey L. Fowler

Union of Concerned Scientists and Surface Transportation Policy Project report titled "Over a Barrel: How to Avoid California’s Second Energy Crisis"

Gas Crisis

California’s energy woes are far from over, according to a new report released this week by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Surface Transportation Policy Project. The report, titled "Over a Barrel: How to Avoid California’s Second Energy Crisis," predicts that unless action is taken, Californians’ demand for gasoline will soon outstrip supply.

“Because gasoline consumption is increasing so rapidly in California and we’re very near the limits of our supply, we’re likely to see price hikes, supply disruptions, and shortages by the end of next year,” said Julia Levin, an author of the report and California policy coordinator for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

In addition to increased demand, the report attributes the impending crisis to several other factors. These include California’s forthcoming phase out of the additive MTBE from its gasoline and subsequent changeover to ethanol, a proliferation of energy-inefficient vehicles such as SUVs and light trucks, and increased driving due to urban sprawl and lack of reliable public transportation.

Levin said that control of refineries and ethanol suppliers by a small number of companies further complicates matters. “We’re looking at a situation very similar to the electricity crisis, where we have growing demand, finite supply, a small number of market players, and a situation that is very ripe for market manipulation,” she said.

MTBE must be replaced by ethanol in California gasoline by the close of 2002. According to Levin, MTBE has contaminated more than 1,000 sources of drinking water throughout the state. Ethanol, which is made primarily from corn in the Midwest, will have to be shipped to California via trucks or ships, as pipelines are not an option. This method of shipping makes the transition highly complex and expensive.

Californians have already been paying exorbitant rates for gasoline. But recently consumers have seen drops in prices at the pump. “It’s a short-term trend — probably the quiet before the storm,” said Levin. “The long-term trend for gasoline prices has been on the increase, and we expect it to continue to increase as does the California Energy Commission.”

Levin cited the California Energy Commission’s prediction that if Californians continue driving extended distances in fuel-inefficient vehicles, California gasoline consumption could rise by as much as 43 percent over the next 20 years. “That’s just a mind-boggling amount,” said Levin. “That means that we will go from 14 billion gallons a year to more than 20 billion gallons a year of gasoline consumption in California, and the extra cost to drivers will be more than $8 billion a year.” Levin warned that California must address its consumption issues sooner rather than later. She said the state is predicting that gas prices could inflate by anywhere from 6 to 50 cents a gallon by the end of next year, while other energy experts warned that prices could rise by as much as a dollar per gallon.

Levin emphasized that the big difference between the electricity crisis and the looming gasoline crisis is that the state has an opportunity prevent the gas crisis. “The two most important steps are increasing the fuel-efficiency of our motor vehicles and reducing the need for driving in California,” she said. There are several steps that California drivers can take now to increase the fuel efficiency of their vehicles by 10 percent or more and help thwart the crisis. Levin said these include putting more fuel-efficient tires on their cars, keeping tires properly inflated, servicing their vehicles regularly, and driving within the speed limit.

In terms of reducing driving overall, the report recommends that the state develop tax incentives that encourage businesses and residents to increase use of public transportation, car-pooling and car-sharing programs, and telecommuting. “Simply by increasing the frequency and availability of public transportation, more Californians would take it,” said Levin. “In fact, as a whole, Californians use public transportation more than Americans as a whole, so I don’t think that Californians are averse to doing it. It’s just not a viable alternative yet, but it could be.”

As was evident with the electricity crisis, California’s problems can quickly become the nation’s problems. “California is now the fifth-largest economy in the world, and it’s the engine that drives the whole U.S. economy in many ways,” said Levin. “If Californians face a second energy crisis that could potentially take billions of dollars out of California pocketbooks, that will certainly spill over into the rest of the U.S. economy and affect consumers around the country.” Levin added that increased demand in California is likely to directly affect prices of gas and ethanol for the rest of the country.

“This is a crisis that we can prevent, but the state needs to take steps now. The state needs to let consumers know that they need to begin conserving so that prices don’t ever reach those phenomenal levels,” Levin said. The report outlines a series of feasible steps the state can take that “would save consumers money in the long-run and would improve our quality of life and protect our public health.”

7/27/01
5:58:14 PM

NewsBytes: California's impending gasoline crisis and other environmental news

By Stacey L. Fowler

Union of Concerned Scientists and Surface Transportation Policy Project report titled "Over a Barrel: How to Avoid California’s Second Energy Crisis"

Gas Crisis

7/27/01
5:55:12 PM

E-culture: GM food sparks controversy, books

By Erica Gies, Environmental News Network

Many writers, including Marc Lappé and Britt Bailey, are turning their attention to genetically modified food.

After years of protest in Europe and Asia, Americans are finally realizing that they are part of a not-so-grand experiment: Genetically modified food has silently invaded our food supply as giant biotechnology companies liberally line the pockets of our politicians and the FDA. Little is known about this unlabeled, untested "Frankenfood," and much media coverage parrots the biotech companies' PR machines that promise to feed the world risk-free. To learn more about this controversy that is driving some of your fellow citizens to become crop-pulling activists, try one or more of these accessible, fascinating books that turn this technical subject into a real page-turner.

Against the Grain: Biotechnology and the Corporate Takeover of Your Food By Marc Lappé, Ph.D. and Britt Bailey

Against the Grain reveals how Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and their ilk are jeopardizing the health of humans, other critters, and the Earth. Concerns include loss of biodiversity and topsoil, higher human pesticide consumption, cross-contamination of organic crops, less nutritional value in food, corporate ownership of food, and unforeseen repercussions in nature catalyzed by the hit-or-miss methods of gene transplantation employed by geneticists.

And why are biotech companies committing such dastardly deeds against nature? It turns out they also sell pesticides, which just happen to be well-tolerated by their new special hybrids. And next year they can sell farmers more of the same, because their seeds just happen to be sterile. Lappé and Bailey plough under the hyperbole the biotech industry sprouts to reveal its true crop: cash.

Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers By Ronnie Cummins, Ben Lilliston, Andrew Kimbrell

This book gives a general background on the issues that surround the GM food industry. But most important, it reminds readers to vote with the tool megacorporations really listen to: their food dollars. Genetically Engineered Food delivers straight, savvy advice to consumers on how to avoid GM food at markets and at restaurants and where to seek out organic alternatives. The authors also remind readers to write letters to corporations that produce bioengineered food, and they provide copious resources for shopping and protesting.

Genetic Engineering Dream or Nightmare?: The Brave New World of Science and Business By Mae-Wan Ho

Genetic scientist Mae-Wan Ho plays tour guide for lay people in the land of biotechnology. She explains its pitfalls and points out the corporate business quagmires that have ensnared the ethics of genetic science. She warns that the industry is solely profit driven and that the public is not informed about potential health and environmental risks. Get the real skinny on the hard science here.

7/27/01
5:51:21 PM

Here are two press releases Public Citizen put out on July 26, 2001

Senate Vote Places Safety Above Free Trade At All Costs

Statement Of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook

Today's Senate cloture vote to stop the filibuster of the Murray-Shelby agreement in the Department of Transportation (DOT) appropriations bill is a significant victory for the safety of motorists in the United States. The Murray-Shelby provisions are designed to protect Americans from the potential hazards of Mexican trucks, which currently are not subjected to the same safety standards as American carriers. If the current DOT bill is passed, the Murray-Shelby provisions will help ensure that non-discriminatory inspections of Mexican trucks will be carried out both at the border and on site at the companies' center of operations, thus holding them to the same regulatory standards as U.S. and Canadian vehicles entering our country. Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) are to be commended for their leadership roles in defeating the filibuster and getting these safety standards written into the bill.

Furthermore, the significant number of senators who voted for cloture - 70 - undermines President Bush's threat of vetoing a bill that will act in the health and safety interests of all Americans. It's refreshing that, in the face of an administration that is pushing for more free trade at all costs, the Senate is doing the wise thing by protecting its citizens first. We must not permit the expanded trade allowed by NAFTA to be accomplished at the expense of the safety of those on our country's roads.

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

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

White House Touts Trade Gains But Refuses Freedom of Information Act Request for Substantiation

White House Effort to Push Fast Track has Smoke and Mirrors Galore, But No Facts as Trade Fight Heats Up in House

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has declined to provide information documenting the administration's repeated assertion that the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization have increased U.S. household income by $1,300 to $2,000 annually.

The USTR has repeatedly offered the dollar figure during its campaign to promote Fast Track but has failed to provide documentation pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request for "substantiation of the USTR figure." The failure of the USTR to offer the underlying documentation for the alleged economic benefits of trade to American families - requested by Public Citizen under FOIA on June 13 - comes as the administration continues to press for Congress to consider its Fast Track proposal (now dubbed Trade Promotion Authority) before the August congressional recess.

"In the height of the Fast Track fight, the administration's unwillingness to substantiate its implausible claim leads to only one conclusion: They're using fuzzy math to promote their trade agenda," said Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch Director Lori Wallach. "There's nothing like a campaign to push an unpopular trade policy to make trade officials get creative with numbers."

The refusal to comply to the FOIA inquiry is particularly troubling because the requested information contains no proprietary, confidential or sensitive national security material. Without revealing the underlying economic assumptions, it is impossible for the American public to assess the legitimacy of the administration's claims of $1,300 to $2,000 income gains. For example, the USTR could have generated the number merely by dividing the increase in gross national product since 1994 by the number of American households and incorrectly assumed any benefits of free trade were shared equally by the entire population. Or, the USTR could be basing the number on the aggregate tariff reductions (which are not expected to go into full effect until 2008) divided by the number of American households.

http://www.Citizen.org

7/27/01
4:47:35 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

RISING STUN

The International Whaling Commission yesterday delayed for a year the touchy subject of whether to lift a ban on commercial whaling. A motion by pro-whaling countries asking the IWC to allow controlled hunts was withdrawn before an official vote. The pro-whaling faction is led by Japan, which ran into a P.R. nightmare last week when one of its whaling negotiators said his country used foreign aid to help persuade other countries to vote to lift the ban. He also complained about the high number of minke whales in the sea, describing the species as "the cockroach of the ocean." Pro-whaling countries at the IWC meeting did succeed in shooting down a campaign for a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific.

straight to the source: BBC News, Alex Kirby, 26 Jul 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1458000/1458923.stm>

straight to the source: Washington Post, Doug Struck, 27 Jul 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/print/world/A58519-2001Jul26.html>

straight to the source: Sydney Morning Herald, Simon Mann, 25 Jul 2001 <http://www.smh.com.au/news/0107/25/world/world5.html>

GULP OF MEXICO

The Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, where nutrient pollution from farms in the Midwest has chocked off fish life, is bigger this year than ever before, according to university researchers. Stretching from the Mississippi River delta to Texas waters, the 8,000-square-mile, low-oxygen area is forcing crabs and other bottom feeders to the surface. Environmental groups are struggling to get the Bush administration to act on the recommendations made by a Clinton-era task force to reduce fertilizer and animal-waste runoff into the Mississippi River.

straight to the source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, Mark Schleifstein, 27 Jul 2001 <http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/newsstory/dead27.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: Mississippi delta blues -- pollution is flushing marine life down the drain -- by David Helvarg <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books052401.asp?source=daily>

JESUS, CHRISTIE!

U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman yesterday proposed replacing five of the government's toughest air-pollution programs with a single approach favored by the electricity industry. Rules to limit mercury emissions, reduce emissions from Midwestern power plants, and restore visibility in national parks would be scrapped. As a replacement, Whitman sketched a plan to reduce nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and mercury emissions by expanding pollution-credit trading programs. Whitman also contradicted comments by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell last week and said the Bush administration would probably not have ready by this fall a substantive alternative to the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Environmental and Publics Works Committee, sparred with Whitman over the issue of climate change. He has introduced a bill requiring power plants to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 27 Jul 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57022-2001Jul26.html>

straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 27 Jul 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/27/politics/27ENVI.html>

CRASH TEST DUMMIES?

A panel appointed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences has eased up on the auto industry in a draft report on fuel-economy standards. An earlier draft, which was leaked to the New York Times, said big increases in fuel economy for cars and SUVs would be possible over the next six to 10 years; the revised version says 10 to 12 years would be necessary. The revised version also raises the estimated cost to consumers of the improvements in fuel economy, and cautions more strongly that the changes could lead to vehicle safety problems. Enviros accused the auto industry of pressuring the panel to weaken its conclusions. Industry reps denied the charge, though some admit to contacting panel members to make their cases.

straight to the source: New York Times, Keith Bradsher, 27 Jul 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/27/national/27AUTO.html>

straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Ball and Stephen Power, 27 Jul 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB996185300562972276.htm>

straight to the source: USA Today, James Healey, 27 Jul 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010727/3514830s.htm>

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

7/27/01
4:35:30 PM

The Nation

After Genoa: A funeral and a call from U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney for an investigation that "pursues justice"

"In the end, we all want the same thing: A better world, or, at least a less disgusting one." Giuliano Giuliani, father of slain Genoa protester Carlo Giuliani, speaking at his son's funeral.

Thousands of Italians attended the funeral Wednesday of Carlo Giuliani, the 23-year-old protester shot by police during last week’s Group of Eight summit in Genoa. Some of those who came to pay their respects wore t-shirts expressing their anger over the killing. One featured the words: "The killer’s car: CC AE 217" -- a reference to the license plate of the police vehicle that ran over Giuliani’s dead body after he was shot Friday. The victim’s father, Giuliano, appealed for the government to answer for the death of his son. "That clash, (Carlo) certainly didn't seek it," said the elder Giuliani. "And the state should answer for this murder. I want an explanation.

Calls for a more aggressive investigation of the killing have grown louder following a report in the mass-circulation Corriere della Sera newspaper, which quoted an unnamed senior police officer as saying that the officials managing the response to the Genoa protests had deployed inexperienced and inadequately trained officers. "There was no need to shoot to kill," the officer told the newspaper. "He could have fired in the air or at the boy’s legs."

Leaders of the coalition of center-left opposition parties in the Italian parliament have called for the resignation of Interior Minister Claudio Scajola, a major player in the conservative Forza Italia party led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Scajola has been the chief defender of police actions in Genoa. But the opposition is now charging that the police employed brutality protesters in Genoa.

International voices have joined the chorus of Italians questioning Scajola's quick defense of the police and demanding a thorough investigation of what happened in Genoa. "Why did other police vehicles, less than 30 meters from the besieged Land Rover, not intervene? Why were police armed with lead bullets rather than non-lethal rubber pellets?" asked London's Observer newspaper. "What strategic blunders allowed a young conscript to be so isolated and terrified? And what sort of training does this paramilitary police force give such conscripts?"

From the United States came a letter, addressed to Prime Minister Berlusconi, by U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga. An outspoken critic of police brutality in the U.S., McKinney expressed her concern that, if justice is not done in the Genoa case "doubts may arise about the existence of democracy within developed nations.

The text of McKinney's letter read:

Dear Prime Minister Berlusconi:

During the recent G-8 Summit your nation hosted in Genoa, Italy, activists and protesters from a myriad of backgrounds and with a multitude of interests gathered to share their concerns about globalization, trade and the perceived threats to the global environment, indigenous communities and developing nations' economies.

I share many of their concerns, and appreciate their efforts to increase the profile of the inequality and exploitation involved in globalization. Unfortunately, their protest was marred by the murder of one young activist, Carlo Giuliani, who was shot twice in the head and then apparently run over by a Carabinieri vehicle. I would like you to know that I support the investigation and prosecution of police officers who are found to be responsible for this atrocity. As this is the first death to occur at a recent, large protest accompanying an international summit, I believe that care must be taken to insure that justice is correctly administered in this case. Otherwise, doubts may arise about the existence of democracy within developed nations - a parallel theme often voiced at such protests.

Further, like many in your nation, I oppose the death penalty in practice and in theory, and feel that the events surrounding the death of Mr. Giuliani resemble too closely a death sentence meted out by over-zealous law enforcement agents.

As is too often the case in the United States, it is my hope that those responsible for this death will not be excused. Please see to it that a full investigation pursues justice in the name of Carlo Giuliani, and for the sake of freedom and democracy in our global community.

Sincerely,

Cynthia McKinney

Member of Congress

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

7/27/01
4:24:57 PM

The Nation

Thousands of Italians attended the funeral Wednesday of Carlo Giuliani, the 23-year-old protester shot by police during last week's Group of Eight summit in Genoa. Some of those who came to pay their respects wore t-shirts expressing their anger over the killing.

Calls for a more aggressive investigation of Giuliani's death have increased in the wake of a report in the mass-circulation Corriere della Sera newspaper, which quoted an unnamed senior police officer saying that the officials managing the response to the Genoa protests had deployed inexperienced and inadequately trained officers in high-pressure situations.

International voices have joined the chorus of Italians questioning Scajola's quick defense of the police and demanding a thorough investigation of what happened in Genoa.

Read more from The Nation's Washington, D.C. correspondent John Nichols in the latest installment of The Online Beat. Nichols includes the full-text of an eloquent letter sent by Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga) to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berluscioni. Exclusively at:

http://www.thenation/thebeat

And read "After Genoa," a related editorial from the most recent double-issue of The Nation at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010806&s=editors

You can also find many other new articles, columns and interviews from the August 6/13 issue of The Nation currently available:

BRUCE SHAPIRO: Dead Reckoning

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010806&s=shapiro

TIM ROBBINS: What I Voted For

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010806&s=robbins

ERIC BOEHLERT: Junk Journalism

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010806&s=boehlert

ERIC ALTERMAN: Hey Buddy, Wanna Buy A Bridge?

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010806&s=alterman

JOANN WYPIJEWSKI: Audacity On Trial

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010806&s=wypijewski

JOHN NICHOLS: Is This The New Face of the Democratic Party?

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010806&s=nichols2

THE NATION ONLINE INTERVIEW SERIES:

Read an exclusive interview with author, activist and educator Mark Crispin Miller currently on his new book "The Bush Dyslexicon." Miller warns that we "misunderestimate" George W. Bush at our own peril. Available exclusively at:

http://www.thenation.com/special/20010726miller.mhtml

THIS WEEK IN THE NATION ARCHIVES:

On the eve of the first lunar landing, a Nation editorial from July 28, 1969 ponders the future of the U.S. space program.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=archive&s=19690728moon

RECENT NATION ARTICLES

And don't miss the host of recent articles of interest still available including Walden Bello's eyewitness account of the battle of Genoa; Katrina vanden Heuvel's look at a blueprint for a progressive future; Katha Pollitt on new Bush appointees; Christopher Hitchens on Henry Kissinger and Victor Navasky on Cold War Ghosts. All accessible at:

http://www.thenation.com

7/27/01
4:19:58 PM

Dog Beats Alligator

An 84-year-old woman has her dog to thanks for fending off an alligator that may've been trying to attack her after she fell, helpless, near a Florida canal.

Ruth Gay told her family she couldn't see the battle between her 52-pound dog, Blue, and the gator because it was dark and she was still lying on the ground, but she's convinced he saved her, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

Albert Gibson, Gay's son-in-law, said the elderly woman was walking the dog, an Australian blue heeler, when she fell face first, breaking her nose and both shoulders. She rolled over onto her back, but said that's all she could do. "Blue sat by as she hollered for help," he said.

But the home is isolated -- surrounded by a vacant lot and two vacant homes. There's also a canal nearby, where three alligators, ranging in length from 6-12 feet, have been seen.

No one answered her calls and Blue suddenly left her side.

"She heard some noises, and then the dog started to fight," Sylvia Gibson said. "It was very dark and she couldn't see what was going on.

The Gibsons -- who had been at the beach -- returned home and the dog ran up to them. They took Gay to Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Meyer and after she was settled, they took Blue to the vet who said the wounds, some 30 of them, looked like gator bites.

"The doctor was amazed that the dog could survive," Gibson said.

Gay underwent surgery on her shoulders Wednesday and is expected to recover.

The Gibsons have asked wildlife officers to remove the alligators from the canal.

7/27/01
12:28:49 PM

FAIR

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

Media analysis, critiques and news reports

ACTION ALERT:

Police Violence in Genoa-- Par for the Course?

Media complacency helps normalize assaults on demonstrators

July 26, 2001

The tens of thousands of people who gathered last weekend to protest the G8 summit in Genoa were greeted by a "ring of steel" manned by police, military and paramilitary forces; one protester, Carlo Giuliani, was shot in the head, run over and killed by police. U.S. media ran sensationalistic reports on the drama "in the streets of this gritty port city" (ABC World News Tonight, 7/20/01), but by and large showed little curiosity over about basic questions such as why Italian forces were armed with live ammunition.

This trend was particularly noticeable on the three major television networks' nightly newscasts, which all managed to focus on the violence without seriously investigating its causes; when questions of tactics arose, it was usually in the context of whether protesters were too violent, not police. In addition, only superficial attention was paid to the substantive policy issues behind the summit and the demonstrations.

"Genoa is ready for war," reported NBC Nightly News' Jim Maceda in the run-up to the protests (7/19/01). "Today over 20,000 Italian police on high alert, the port's shipping lanes closed, surface-to-air missiles deployed at the airport. The site of tomorrow's economic summit now a two-square-mile red no-go zone, shops closed, every resident's ID checked." Why such heavy militarization? Maceda gave the clear impression that Genoa's intense security measures were a necessary response to dangerous radicals. "Organized, sophisticated, tens of thousands strong. Their mission: to do battle with the world economic powers.... With this chaos of environmentalists, young communists and extreme anarchists, officials here expect this volatile mix could lead to perhaps deadly violence."

As in fact it did, though it was neither a wild-eyed tree-hugger nor a communist youth who pulled the trigger. All three networks reported Giuliani's killing, but none raised questions about the use of live ammunition for crowd control. NBC Nightly News (7/21/01), while careful to emphasize that "the large majority" of activists in Genoa were "all non-violent," sidestepped questions of police misconduct in Giuliani's death by focusing on Giuliani's links to the Black Bloc, whose members NBC tarred as "apolitical, often drugged, itching for a fight."

The NBC report made clear that many police actions had been "extremely violent," but also stated that Italian police were "learning" and had become "more careful" to target only "black-clad extremists" by helicopter, "then cutting them off before beating them." The report provided no further analysis of this practice, leaving viewers to wonder if police beatings were perhaps the right way to deal with "extremists."

ABC World News Tonight (7/21/01) also made an effort to explain that most protester violence was initiated by "small bands," and that "the vast majority of protesters... came here to make argument, not trouble." But like the other two networks, ABC failed to seriously address the question of police brutality.

CBS Evening News was perhaps the most careless with generalizations about "violent protests": "Violent demonstrators laid waste to the city's center" in a "frenzy of destruction," reported CBS's John Roberts (7/21/01); the day before (7/20/01), Roberts told viewers that "violent protests transformed parts of this tranquil Mediterranean port city into a war zone today" in an episode of "civil unrest and trouble-making."

The July 22 police raid on the headquarters of the Genoa Social Forum-- the umbrella group coordinating the protests-- and the neighboring Independent Media Center (IMC) received largely indifferent coverage. Reports indicate that some 200 police officers descended on the Forum, brutally beating the activists sleeping there in an attack that injured 61 people, with more than a dozen of the 93 people arrested carried out of the building on stretchers, some unconscious (London Guardian, 7/24/01).

During the attack, journalists at the IMC were detained and searched (and therefore unable to document the beatings occurring next door); several reported that police trashed the IMC offices and confiscated files. A source at the Italian Interior Ministry told the London Guardian (7/24/01) that "the raid had turned into a revenge attack by police venting their frustration"; there have been calls in the Italian parliament for a commission of inquiry into the policing, and for the resignation of the interior minister.

ABC World News Tonight did not report the raid at all. CBS Evening News (7/22/01) mentioned it in passing, with John Roberts noting almost approvingly that "the tactics were heavy-handed, but the streets were quiet today." Commendably, NBC Nightly News (7/22/01) devoted more significant attention to the attack, with Jim Maceda reporting that 66 activists had been "beaten mercilessly," and noting that while police claimed the crackdown had been on "violent extremists," protest leaders countered that all the victims had been non-violent and "the latest victims of police brutality."

And what about the issues that brought so many protesters into the streets? CBS Evening News (7/21/01) lamented that "rock-tossing, firebomb-throwing anarchism" was all many people would remember about Genoa, but seemed utterly unconscious that news coverage might have had anything to do with this problem. The report segued into uninformative soundbites about debt relief from Bono and Bob Geldof, which prompted reporter Bill Plante to opine: "Sometimes it takes a rock star to keep your issue from being drowned out by violence. Other non-violent groups find themselves ignored." CBS, of course, was one of the media outlets doing the ignoring.

ACTION:

Please contact the networks' nightly news shows and urge them to conduct serious investigations into the growing trend of police violence at anti-globalization protests. You might also urge them not to wait for massive civil unrest to report on globalization issues.

CONTACT:

NBC Nightly News

Phone: 212-664-4971 or 202-885-4259

Fax: 202-362-2009

mailto:Nightly@nbc.com

ABC's World News Tonight

47 W. 66 St., New York, NY 10023

Phone: 212-456-7777

Fax: 212-456-4297

mailto:peterjennings@worldnewstonight.abcnews.com

CBS Evening News

Phone: 212-975-3691, 202-457-4385

Fax: 212-975-1893

mailto:audsvcs@cbs.com

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

Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.

For alternative coverage of the G8 summit and protests, see:

The Independent Media Center, http://www.indymedia.org

7/27/01
12:11:24 PM

RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS #726

SCIENCE, PRECAUTION AND PESTICIDES

by Peter Montague. Rachel.org

Lymphoma is cancer of the white blood cells, and half the people who get it die within 5 years. Those 5 years are likely to be a hellish combination of fear, worry, pain, and sickness caused by standard medical therapies -- radiation treatment, surgery (including bone marrow transplants or stem cell transplants) and/or chemotherapy. Side effects from therapies can include pain, nausea, vomiting, persistent mouth sores, and secondary infections like colds and flu after cancer therapies damage the immune system. Worse, lymphoma can go into remission, then flare up without warning, requiring all the therapies to be repeated. This is a disease that gives its victims a terrifying roller coaster ride through the valley of death.

There are two main kinds of lymphoma -- Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or NHL. NHL accounts for about 88% of all lymphoma. Some 287,000 people in the U.S. are living with NHL at any given time. About 55,000 new cases of NHL will be diagnosed this year in the U.S. and even more will be diagnosed next year because lymphoma is the second-fastest-growing kind of cancer. Between 1975 and 1998, the incidence (occurrence) of lymphoma increased at about 2.2% per year, though the rate of increase has slowed during the past decade.[1]

No one knows what causes lymphoma, but we know that all cancers are caused by multiple gene mutations (requiring probably 5 to 10 separate injuries) and/or by damage to the parts of the immune system that normally destroy cancer cells. (See REHN #693.) In the past two decades medical researchers have come to suspect that various combinations of factors give rise to lymphoma -- a weakened immune system, exposure to certain kinds of chemicals, and perhaps exposure to one or more viruses. Studies seem to implicate one particular class of chemicals -- chlorophenols. Chlorophenols are chlorine-containing chemicals that include dioxins, PCBs, DDT, and the so-called "phenoxy herbicides," including the weed killers 2,4,5-T, and 2,4-D. This last one is the most popular crabgrass and dandelion killer in America, sold as Weed-B-Gone, Weedone, Miracle, Demise, Lawn-Keep, Raid Weed Killer, Plantgard, Hormotox, and Ded-Weed, among other trademarked names.

Now the Lymphoma Foundation of America has pulled together and summarized in a 49-page booklet all the available studies of the relationship between lymphoma and pesticides.[2] It is an impressive piece of work by Susan Osburn, who directed the project, and a scientific review panel of 12 physicians and lymphoma researchers. The booklet summarizes 99 studies of humans and one study of pet dogs (see REHN #250) in relation to pesticide exposures.

Of the 99 human studies, 75 indicate a connection between exposure to pesticides and lymphomas. Twenty-four show no relationship.[3] The one study of pet dogs indicates that the popular crabgrass killer, 2,4-D, doubles a pet dog's chances of getting cancer. (See REHN #250.)

Does all this "prove" that exposure to pesticides causes cancer? No, it doesn't.

In anything as complicated as pesticide exposures or even cigarette smoke, science can never prove beyond every possible doubt that X causes Y. There is always room for a researcher employed by Philip Morris or the Crop Protection Association (the pesticide trade group) to say, "Couldn't this disease be partly caused by some factor that you haven't taken into consideration? Maybe it's partly caused by some factor you haven't even thought of." And the honest answer must always be, "Yes, there's a slim chance that it could be." Where chemicals and humans and ecosystems are concerned, the complexity is enormous, the tools of science are crude, and what is not known is always much larger than what is known.

It's time we admitted to ourselves that science will never provide definitive answers to some of the most important questions that we face. Still, as individuals and, as a human society, we DO need answers. We can read the hundred studies of lymphomas and pesticides -- 75% of which tell us there's danger lurking here -- and then we must decide:

(a) do we personally want to reduce our exposure to pesticides?; and

(b) do we want to start asking, where did pesticide corporations get the right to spread their dangerous products into the soil, water, and air that we all depend upon?

The Lymphoma Foundation's booklet lists 12 ways that most of us are routinely exposed to pesticides in our daily lives even if we use no pesticides in our homes: routine spraying of apartments, condos, offices (and the associated lawns), public buildings and public spaces (parks, green spaces alongside highways, power line rights of way), and in motels, hotels, and restaurants. Pesticides can also be measured in most foods, much of the water we drink, in the air, and even in rain water. (See REHN #660.) We might well ask, where did these corporations get permission to violate our well-established human right to personal security? And why do we allow these toxic trespasses into our bodies to occur without our informed consent?[4]

In other words, we might begin to view pesticide exposures not as a scientific question, but mainly as a question of morals and ethics, a question of human rights. If we view the problem in this light, then we can review the scientific evidence without expecting it to provide "the answer" to our questions, because science cannot answer questions of morals and ethics and human rights. Science can provide food for thought -- sometimes very compelling food for thought -- but we must provide the thought. Whether to use pesticides -- and whether we want to allow others to expose us and our children to pesticides -- are ethical and political questions. The answers lie within each of us and not with some panel of scientific experts.

What does science give us for guidance? This is where the Lymphoma Foundation's booklet is so useful:

1) The available evidence strongly indicates that people exposed to pesticides in their work are more likely than non-exposed or less-exposed people to suffer an excess of lymphoma.

2) There are a few studies that tell us that parents who use pesticides are more likely (than non-users) to raise children with an excess of lymphoma. In other words, we need to consider the possibility that, by using pesticides, we are increasing not just our own but also our children's chances of getting this awful disease. (Just as pet dogs pick up pesticides from lawns and track them into homes, so do children.)

3) We learn from the Lymphoma Foundation's booklet that scientists employed by pesticide corporations are more likely than independent researchers to find no connection between pesticides and lymphoma. In other words, consciously or not, a scientist's source of funding often influences the outcome of the research. (See REHN #581.) Worse, there is evidence that some scientists employed by chemical corporations conduct studies which could not possibly reveal a relationship between pesticides and lymphoma because they lack the "statistical power" to do so; some of those scientists then falsely claim that their studies provide positive evidence that pesticides are not associated with lymphoma. Some corporations evidently require scientists to check their ethical principles at the door when they report for work.

4) We learn from the Lymphoma Foundation's study that not only chlorophenol pesticides, but also atrazine and glyphosate are statistically linked to lymphoma. Atrazine is used on 96% of the U.S. corn crop each year, is found in most drinking water supplies in the midwest during the growing season, and has been strongly linked to birth defects in the children of midwestern farmers. (See REHN #665, #660, and #553.)

Glyphosate is sold as Roundup, Rodeo, Touchdown, Rattler, Sting, and Pondmaster, among other trademarked names. (See REHN #660.) Roundup is the first reason Monsanto Corporation got into the business of genetically engineering food crops. Monsanto now sells "Roundup ready" seeds for corn, soybeans, and cotton; wheat will be next. These are seeds engineered to withstand a thorough dousing with Roundup, which kills weeds without killing the Roundup-ready crops. To make "Roundup ready" seeds legal, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had to triple the amount of glyphosate residues that it allows on crops. For years, Roundup has been Monsanto's most profitable product, and genetic engineering has allowed it to sell -- and to spread into soil and water -- gobs more of it. (See REHN #637, #639, #660, #686.)

As we weigh whether we want to take action against those who expose us and our children to pesticides, we are not limited to thinking about lymphoma.

Pesticide exposures seem to give rise to Parkinson's (REHN #635) -- a horrible degenerative disease of the nervous system. Pesticide exposures diminish children's memory, physical stamina, coordination, and ability to carry out simple tasks like drawing a stick figure of a human being. (See REHN #648.) Pesticide exposures seem to make children more aggressive. Pesticide exposures seem to contribute to the epidemic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that has swept through U.S. children in recent years. (See REHN #678.) And, as we saw above, pesticides are strongly linked to birth defects.

If we decide to take up the cudgel against pesticide exposures, we should consider carefully the basis of our strategy. For 30 years the environmental movement has fought science with science, dueling to a draw. Pesticide use has steadily climbed, despite all the scientific evidence of harm.

No, science will not solve this problem for us. Isn't it time to consider a human rights approach, an ethical challenge to the poisoners? And time to find new allies -- perhaps the chemical workers exposed to these poisons? They need good jobs, as we all do, but do they want to leave a skull and crossbones as their legacy? Do they want their children sick? Of course they don't. They need our help, we need theirs.

The old science-based strategy has failed us. Perhaps a new, precautionary path can get us where we need to go. The precautionary principle says, "When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically." (See REHN #586.) It is a broad ethical principle. It can guide us all -- workers and environmentalists -- in a righteous fight against corporate greed.

Peter Montague

Thanks to Rachel Massey for research assistance.

[1] http://www.cfl.org/resources_factsheet_non-hodgkins.cfm

[2] Susan Osburn, RESEARCH REPORT: DO PESTICIDES CAUSE LYMPHOMA? Available by U.S. mail from Lymphoma Foundation of America, P.O. Box 15335, Chevy Chase, MD 20825. Tel. (202) 223-6181. ISBN 0-9705127-0-8. Available at: http://www.lymphomahelp.org/docs/- research/researchreport/rr_2000.pdf.

[3] Not all the links revealed in these 75 studies are "statistically significant" though the vast majority are. If a study revealed a positive correlation between exposure to pesticides and increased lymphomas, I counted it as "showing a connection." Likewise, if a study revealed no connection between pesticides and lymphomas -- even if the study was so poorly designed that it could not possibly reveal a connection even if a connection existed -- I counted it as "showing no relationship." --P.M.

[4] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed by the U.S. in 1948, says (Article 3), "Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person." Article 4, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution obligates the federal government to protect the citizenry against "domestic violence" which arguably includes modern forms of domestic violence such as toxic assault. See

http://www.article4.com/.

Environmental Research Foundation

P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403

Fax (410) 263-8944; E-mail: erf@rachel.org

All back issues are available by E-mail: send E-mail to

info@rachel.org with the single word HELP in the message.

Back issues are also available from http://www.rachel.org.

7/27/01
12:06:05 PM

UTNE WEB WATCH

The Best of the Alternative Web

GROUND ZERO

by Debbie S. Miller, The Amicus Journal

-- With the Bush administration clamoring to start drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, it's important to examine the impact on wildlife as well as the effect on the region's native people.

WHAT'S YOUR STORY?

Web site review by Al Paulson

-- As a dot-com refugee, Liisa Ogburn collects stories from other folks who went through the manic "Internet Boom and Bust" of the late 1990s.

CARRYING CASH? YOU MUST BE A CROOK!

by Greg Land, Creative Loafing Atlanta

-- Civil libertarians are outraged over revelations that the DEA and other federal police agencies reward rail and air carriers who tip them off about cash-heavy customers.

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

7/27/01
12:01:47 PM

PRESS RELEASE

July 26, 2001

Oglala Lakota Nation Asserts Treaty Rights to S.D. US Attorney in Industrial Hemp Dispute

Pine Ridge, SD -- A July 18, 2001 letter (below) from John Yellow Bird Steele, President of the Oglala Lakota Nation (Pine Ridge), to Michelle Tapken, US Attorney for South Dakota, asserts the Indian nation's right to grow industrial hemp under provisions of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. This assertion is a direct challenge to the US government's implication that the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970 abrogates provisions of the 1868 treaty.

The DEA cut down the first industrial hemp crop at Pine Ridge in a widely publicized raid on August 24th, 2000, conducted under the auspices of the CSA. The treaty of 1868 gave the Lakota Indian nations the mandate to grow food and fiber crops, effectively switching their livelihood to an agricultural base, which is generally recognized as part of the treaty's original intent. Hemp was commonly grown in the United States at the time of the Fort Laramie Treaty.

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 is a federal statute that criminalized the production, manufacture, and distribution of controlled substances, including marijuana. The CSA defined marijuana without distinction from industrial hemp. Legislation in various states in recent years (including Nebraska, Kentucky, Dakotas', and Hawaii among others has sought to distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana by defining hemp in terms of its low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content. THC is the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.

On July 28th, 1998, the Lakota Nation passed an ordinance that defined industrial hemp as Cannabis sativa plants containing less than 1 percent THC by weight, the same definition used in legislation seeking to legalize industrial hemp in various states. The ordinance did not affect the existing illegal status of marijuana in the Oglala Lakota Nation.

Laws like the CSA are not applicable to Indians unless the act expressly states that it applies to Indians and that it is abrogating any treaty right the Indians may have. However, before ever getting to the treaty, the Lakota have a reserved right to grow industrial hemp by virtue of their sovereignty preexisting that of the U. S. Government. Therefore, the Lakota argue that the CSA is inapplicable to its citizens and does not preempt an Indian's right to engage in agriculture, including the growing of industrial hemp, under the Fort Laramie Treaty.

The Oglala Lakota Nation, in the July 18th letter to the US Attorney's office, argue that the "Controlled Substances Act of 1970 did not divest the Lakota People of our reserved right to plant and harvest whatever crop we deem beneficial to our reservation. Therefore, we regard the enforcement of our hemp ordinance and prosecution of our marijuana laws as tribal matters to be handled by our Oglala Sioux Tribal Public Safety Law Enforcement Services."

The harvest season for industrial hemp takes place during August. The US Attorney for South Dakota has recently asserted that any individual continuing to grow hemp on the Pine Ridge Reservation will be prosecuted with penalties of minimum ten years to life in prison. The hemp is used to build houses, which would replace current substandard housing on the reservation. The situation is causing great concern among the Native Americans.

For more information see http://www.nativesunite.org/hemp

Oglala Sioux Tribe

Box H

Pine Ridge, S.D. 57770

July 18th, 2001

Dear Ms. Tapken, U.S. Attorney for South Dakota:

I respectfully request that you direct the law enforcement agencies under your authority to refrain from further contact with our tribal members regarding the cultivation of industrial hemp, or encroachment upon our reservation for the purpose of enforcing your Controlled Substances Act. That Act does not apply to our reservation or our People.

The powers of local self-government enjoyed by the Lakota people existed prior to the United States Constitution. Our local governmental powers were not created by the Constitution. Our nation, our culture and laws, precedes your nation, your "culture," and your laws. Before non-Indians came to our country, the Lakota had a rich history, language, religion, culture, and civilization; we had our own customs and laws by which we lived. We were, and continue to be, a sovereign nation.

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 did not divest the Lakota People of our reserved right to plant and harvest whatever crops we deem beneficial to our reservation; nor did the Act abrogate Congress's ratification of the reserved to write in the 1868 treaty. Therefore we regard the enforcement of our hemp ordinance and prosecution of our marijuana laws as tribal matters to be handled by our Oglala Sioux Tribal Public Safety Law Enforcement Services. As such, I respectfully request that you direct the law enforcement agencies under your authority to refrain from further contact with our tribal members regarding the cultivation of industrial hemp, or encroachment upon our reservation for the purpose of enforcing your controlled substances act. That act does not apply to our reservation or our people.

We ask for your government's compassion as we try to ease the pain of our poverty through hemp manufacture. We asked that you take a look at all of the hemp legislation being introduced around your country and realize the growing support for hemp by your nation's people as well. I would add that during World War II your government signed contracts with members of the Pine Ridge Reservation to grow industrial hemp for your war effort. In other words, when your government needed the benefits of growing hemp to aid your war effort, and encouraged its growth on the reservation, we supported your government by doing so. Now my nation needs to grow industrial hemp to aid our efforts at becoming more self-sufficient. We would appreciate your support in our endeavors.

I must reiterate that hemp agriculture on reservation land is a tribal matter to be handled exclusively by tribal law. If you or your law enforcement agencies have questions or concerns relating to enforcement of our laws, I must insist that you direct them to the Oglala Sioux Tribal offices and not our individual tribal members. Again, the proper procedure is to contact the tribal offices with your questions and concerns, not our individual members.

Thank you in advance for what I anticipate will be your respectful consideration in this delicate matter. In addition, thank you for directing any further hemp related questions to my office. I remain,

Sincerely yours,

Oglala Sioux Tribe

John Yellow Bird Steele

President

cc: The World Natives Unite

7/27/01
11:58:34 AM

Planet Ark World Environment News

EPA nearing decision on Hudson River dredging - Whitman - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11785

Yellow-billed cuckoo in trouble in Western US - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11798

Bipartisan Senate plan seeks reduced carbon emissions - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11803

UPDATE - Deadly West Nile virus spreading in US - CDC - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11800

Alaska oil spills raise worries ahead of ANWR vote - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11787

Ohio Government signs bill for environmental bonds - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11784

Lieberman may subpoena Bush environmental records - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11783

EPA aims to simplify pollution rules for utilities - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11782

US ethanol group pledges to meet Calif. demand - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11781

California struggles with need for power vs. pollution - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11780

Old hunting, fishing blamed for today's coast woes - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11779

More than 300 firms sign up for UN Global Compact - UNITED NATIONS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11788

Study links pesticides to male infertility - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11789

Carrots and sticks to turn big business greener - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11795

Whale meeting censures Japan on porpoise cull - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11801

British police arrest 41 protesters at Esso depot - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11797

ANALYSIS - CO2 emissions trading long way off despite Kyoto deal - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11802

Whale meeting agrees urgent fish stock study - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11792

Anachronistic Whaling Commission stumbles on - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11791

Consumers ask Asia to adopt tough EU GMO rules - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11793

Etna's farmers - a love-hate bond with a volcano - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11790

UPDATE - Israeli divers trained in poisoned waters - inquiry - ISRAEL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11786

Thousands ill as Phnom Penh air pollution doubles - CAMBODIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11799

Brazil approves fuel alcohol export policy - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11778

Australia govt urged to lift wind - fired energy goal - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11794

Koala lovers call for action to save gum trees - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11796

7/27/01
11:57:01 AM

AlterNet.org This week AlterNet launches DrugReporter Headlines, a weekly newsletter that will bring you the best journalism covering the U.S.'s War on Drugs. The newsletter will follow prevailing hot topics such as racial profiling, medical marijuana, policy reform and Plan Colombia.

Many of these stories will be featured on our DrugReporter page, where you also can find background information, links and action alerts:

http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=17

The War on Drugs is one of the great policy catastrophes of the past decade. Yet it rolls on despite widespread evidence of violence and human rights violations, and despite its obvious failure to reduce drug trafficking or consumption.

If you would like to receive weekly DrugReporter Headlines, you may subscribe to through our website at:

http://lists.alternet.org/drugreporter_subscribe

or you can send a blank email to:

subscribe-drugreporter@lists.alternet.org.

July 25, 2001

Drug War Pulse: Ten Top Drug War Stories

1. PLAN COLOMBIA SET TO ESCALATE: An obscure clause removes the cap on the number of private mercenaries and weapons that can be dispatched to Colombia.

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

2. NARCOWATCH ON TRIAL FOR ALLEGING CITIGROUP AFFILIATE'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE DRUG TRADE: Reporter Al Giordano and his colleague found evidence suggesting that Banamex, a Mexican bank subsidiary of Citigroup, could be laundering drug money. Now he is on trial for slander.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11124

http://www.drcnet.org/wol/194.html#drugwarontrial

http://www.narconews.com/

3. DRUG REFORM, CALIFORNIA STYLE: A status report on the implementation of Prop 36 in California.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11225

4. RACIAL PROFILING CREATING TURMOIL IN TULIA, TEXAS: When authorities arrested 10 percent of the small town's black population for cocaine trafficking, civil rights organizations across the country cried foul. Now, two years later, activists are stepping up their protests, trying to get the victims out of jail

http://www.drcnet.org/wol/194.html#tulia

http://www.drugsense.org/foj/

5. ZERO TOLERANCE POLICIES: Zero tolerance laws punish ordinary people for ordinary mistakes with draconian consequences.

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

6. CRACKDOWN ON RAVES IS CRIMINALIZING DANCE PARTIES: In the government's craze to stem teen drug use it has declared war on dance parties and nightclubs -- even glowsticks.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11116

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/01/33/independence-cogan.shtml

7. CANADIAN POT INDUSTRY AND PROSPECTS FOR REFORM: As marijuana becomes an increasingly important part of the Canadian economy, the impetus for legalization grows stronger despite consternation from the DEA.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11223

8. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: SHOT DOWN BUT NOT ABANDONED: Despite the Supreme Court decision that the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative could not use medical necessity as cause to distribute marijuana, advocates vow to continue fighting.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11030

9.DRUG TREATMENT ABUSE: Boot camp-style drug treatment programs profess to help kids with addiction. Some describe their methods as torture.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11228

10. JOHN WALTERS NOMINATED AS NEW DRUG CZAR: The hearings on Bush's drug warrior John Walters are scheduled to begin in September.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10856

7/27/01
11:44:18 AM

NRDC's EARTH ACTION: The Bulletin for Environmental Activists

ENERGY LEGISLATION: *Urgent! House vote next week* Tell your representative to reject Arctic drilling and pollution subsidies and to instead pass a responsible energy bill.

Leaders in the House of Representatives plan to bring an energy bill to a vote next week that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other pristine wilderness to oil and gas drilling, provide tens of billions of dollars to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries, and increase air pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Instead of investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources in a serious way, the bill proposes huge new tax breaks for