Earths.net

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-18-02.html

"We Cover the Earth For You"

BACKLASH HITS BUSH ENERGY POLICY

WASHINGTON, DC, May 18, 2001 (ENS) - Criticisms of the Bush administration's National Energy Policy unveiled Thursday are being expressed by a wide range of citizens groups from across the political spectrum and around the world. Objections to its reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power rather than renewables and conservation dominate the comments.

For full text and graphics visit:

UK ADMITS MILITARY PERSONNEL DELIBERATELY EXPOSED TO NUCLEAR TESTS

By Jim Green, Ph.D.

SYDNEY, Australia, May 18, 2001 (ENS) - The British government has admitted that military personnel were used in radiation experiments during the nuclear weapons tests at Maralinga in South Australia in the 1950s, but claims that clothing was being tested, not humans.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-18-04.html

MARSHLANDS OF THE TIGRIS-EUPHRATES DELTA 90 PERCENT GONE

WASHINGTON, DC, May 18, 2001 (ENS) - The once fertile crescent created by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is rapidly drying up. Drainage and damming has destroyed close to 90 percent of these Mesopotamian marshlands, according to thousands of previously unpublished satellite images donated today by the United States government to the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-18-01.html

FISH vs ELECTRICITY: A PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALANCING ACT

PORTLAND, Oregon, May 18, 2001 (ENS) - Endangered salmon and steelhead will get some additional help this month despite continuing drought in the Pacific Northwest. The Bonneville Power Administration said Wednesday that it is releasing a limited amount of water from behind two of its hydropower dams to help juvenile endangered salmon and steelhead travel downstream to the ocean.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-18-03.html

HOW CLEAN IS YOUR BEACH?

WASHINGTON, DC, May 18, 2001 (ENS) - As the country prepares to kick off beach season this coming Memorial Day weekend, the Clean Beaches Council today released its official list of beaches which have been certified for public safety and environmental quality. As in past years, the list includes both resort beaches and rural or undeveloped beaches, and highlights the benefits of protecting coastlines as public lands.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-18-06-html

GERMAN COURT ALLOWS AIRBUS FACTORY TO FILL IN WETLAND

HAMBURG, Germany, May 18, 2001 (ENS) - The German Federal Constitutional Court has declined to grant an injunction to stop the filling of Muehlenberger Loch, Europe's largest freshwater tidal mudflat, for the construction of an Airbus Industrie A380 production factory. Environmentalists worldwide mourned the loss.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-18-05.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 18, 2001

Sneak Attack Possible on Endangered Species Act

Callaway Fined $55,000 for Worker Retaliation

Mining Company Joins Fight Against Climate Change

National Biotechnology Week Enacted

EPA Approves State Plans To Reduce Smog

Sierra Club Reproaches Congress for Supporting Gag Rule

Disaster Declared in Puerto Rico

Interim Guidelines Issued for Field Trials

New York Grants Promote Alternatives to Pesticides

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-18-09.html

5/18/01
5:44:38 PM

http://www.Lovearth.net

5/18/01
5:39:06 PM

MOX nuclear waste reprocessing and the Roy Process

Dear Concerned Citizens,

Reprocessing nuclear waste with plutonium (MOX) for reuse as fuel for nuclear power plants, does not eliminate the generation of more high level nuclear waste.

Instead of the typical fuel rod pile design, nuclear power plants could be retooled to use the transmutation of nuclear waste as a heat source to make steam and generate electric power. The Roy Process can transmute plutonium into non-radioactive lead and render all other nuclear waste isotopes stable by the same method. At the end of the cycle...there IS NO nuclear waste to worry about. What more could you ask for!

There should be a cost analysis done comparing technologies. Burying nuclear waste for 486,000 years, 20 half-lives of Pu239 and transmutation via the Roy Process. Dr. Roy told me before he died, "they will see someday....the Roy Process is the best way".

Regards,

Dennis F. Nester

theroyprocess@home.com

http://members.home.net/theroyprocess

5/18/01
5:23:55 PM

The Nation

The debacle of Election 2000 underscored for many the urgency of fundamental electoral reform in the United States.

One of the most powerful voices making the case against the Supreme Court decision that put George W. Bush in the White House was a legendary prosecutor previously known more for putting people behind bars than for progressive activism. But with his brilliant and courageous account of a crime committed by the highest court in the land, Vincent Bugliosi took his place in a special pantheon of patriots who refuse to remain silent. "None Dare Call It Treason," published in the February 5, 2001 issue of The Nation, drew the largest outpouring of letters and e-mail in the magazine's 136-year history, tapping a deep reservoir of outrage.

The original essay has now been turned into a paperback book, backed by updates and amplifications and supplemented with introductory essays by famed attorney Gerry Spence and columnist Molly Ivins. Published by Nation Books, "The Betrayal of America" has already made it into the Barnes & Noble top 100, a remarkable achievement for a heavy-hitting political polemic. It's very reasonably priced at $9.95! So buy a copy (or two or ten) today. They make great gifts. You can order online via The Nation Books site at:

http://www.nationbooks.org/index.shtml

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: FROM VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT TO A VOTERS' BILL OF RIGHTS

Also of interest is an upcoming "Pro-Democracy Convention" taking place from June 29 - July 1 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Organized by the New York based-Center for Constitutional Rights and co-sponsored by The Nation Institute and the Institute for Policy Studies, among many other groups, the event is being convened in response to the disenfranchisement of thousands, if not millions, of voters, in the recent Presidential election.

With the Voter's Bill of Rights as a primary focus, the National Pro-Democracy Convention will be a vehicle to galvanize the disparate constituencies and movements outraged by the flawed election into a permanent and sustained force for true democracy. The convention features speeches by Lani Guinier, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Ron Daniels, Margaret Fung, Cheri Honkala and John Anderson, among many others, and includes a training institute for activists, informational sessions on a range of relevant issues and workshops for brainstorming and networking.

To register or for more information go to:

http://www.pro-democracy.com

MAKING EVERY VOTE COUNT:

Don't forget to check out The Nation/Institute for Policy Studies's special site devoted to electoral reform to see how you can help prevent future travesties like Election 2000. It features the Voter's Bill of Rights, investigative articles and reports, media and activist resources, legislative updates, an events calendar, a speaker's bureau and more. And it's constantly updated. At:

http://www.ips-dc.org/electoral/

NO RUSH TO JUDGES:

With the Bush Administration's conservative court-packing scheme now clearly on the table, The Nation is urging people to launch a missive attack on Senate minority leader Tom Daschle and the nine judiciary committee Democrats, demanding that they stand firm and block Bush's attempts to impose an overwhelming right-wing agenda on the nation's appellate bench for years to come.

Read "No Rush To Judges" for the full story on Bush's new US Circuit Court nominees at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010604&s=editors2

And please take a moment to blast off an informed letter imploring the appropriate Democrats to stiffen their resolve against Bush's appointments. You can choose a pre-written note that we've assembled to save you time that will automatically be sent to each of the nine relevant Dems and minority leader Daschle. Or personalize your own note to any or all of the committee members. You can find the letter and contact info at:

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

5/18/01
5:20:38 PM

The Inducements: Hybrid Cars Should Merit a Tax Credit, Report Says

by Matthew L. Wald

WASHINGTON, May 17 — People shopping for appliances could find that the canary-yellow energy-consumption stickers now on the front of every new refrigerator and air-conditioner will begin appearing on microwave ovens and clothes dryers as well.

Auto dealers could lure buyers with signs on some of the cars in their showrooms advising of thousands of dollars in tax credits. And people considering buying a house that uses solar energy, or adding that capability to their existing houses, might qualify for a tax credit, too.

Most of the report from the task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney is trickle-down energy policy, proposing inducements for corporations and even changes in foreign policy to try to lower prices, but there are a few proposals for direct impact. Not a one is completely new in character, but experts say one in particular might be more effective than previous efforts: tax help on cars that use less fuel.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 1992, signed by the president's father, the government offered tax inducements to buyers of vehicles that ran on natural gas, methanol and other "alternative fuels."

But that tax break did not help much because few of those vehicles were attractive to consumers, said Douglas I. Greenhaus, the director of environment, health and safety at the National Automobile Dealers Association. A tax credit on hybrid vehicles, as proposed in the Cheney report, might have more impact, Mr. Greenhaus said.

"The public is going to be much quicker to adopt these vehicles than those that required a totally different fueling system," he said. "I don't know exactly what proposal will work out in the end, but I see these things flourishing in the middle of this decade."

Hybrid vehicles now marketed by Toyota and Honda, and planned by many other manufacturers, are fueled only with gasoline. But they also carry electric motors and a small battery pack. The batteries are charged when the driver decelerates the car, and the wheels turn the motors, creating current that flows back into the batteries; when it is time to accelerate, the motors draw current from the batteries and help take the load off the gasoline engine.

The report recommends helping the industry get started by offering a credit from 2002 to 2007, but it does not say how big the credit should be; bills already introduced in Congress would offer $2,000 to $4,000. The Clinton administration had proposed credits for cars that got high mileage, but Congress did not go along.

At the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents major domestic carmakers and foreign companies alike, Gloria J. Bergquist, a spokeswoman, said, "What we're looking for is folks who are predisposed to buy one of these vehicles, the early adopters, and this is the added inducement for someone on the cusp."

A complication for the hybrids is that while the Japanese models are both small sedans, some companies plan hybrid sport utility vehicles. The result could be to help buyers of large vehicles cut their gasoline bills to levels similar to a sedan's, using tax dollars, a subsidy that environmentalists would not favor.

The Cheney report also calls for tax credits for buyers of fuel cell cars, which convert hydrogen to electricity through a chemical process, although the prospects for these vehicles are less certain.

For home appliances, the report suggests expanding product labeling to more products and increasing minimum efficiency standards "where technologically feasible and economically justified."

The Energy Department already has the authority to do that, under laws dating from the late 1980's, but the Bush administration has so far not been aggressive in using the strategy. It recently rolled back a last-minute standard from the Clinton administration to raise the efficiency of central air-conditioners by 30 percent; the new administration picked 20 percent instead.

Existing rules cover clothes washers, window air-conditioners, refrigerators, water heaters and a variety of other appliances. Dan W. Reicher, an assistant secretary of energy under President Bill Clinton, said that the appliances were chosen according that to their potential for improvement and that the ones listed in the Cheney report had such potential.

The report also recommends adding $300 million to help the poor pay their energy bills, and linking financing of the program to the price of oil and natural gas. It would also double money for improving insulation in the homes of poor people.

5/18/01
5:12:34 PM

The Standards: Fuel Economy for New Cars Is at Lowest Level Since '80

by KEITH BRADSHER

DETROIT, May 17 — The overall fuel economy of new cars and trucks sold in America, after improving slightly a year ago, has dropped back to the lowest levels since 1980, a new government report indicates.

President Bush's energy plan called today for improving fuel efficiency, so the report, from the Transportation Department, served to underscore that the auto industry is moving in the opposite direction.

The report estimates that the average fuel economy of all cars and light trucks sold in the 2001 model year will be 24.5 miles a gallon, the same as in 1999 and slightly below the 24.7 miles a gallon in the 2000 model year. The peak was 26.2 miles a gallon in 1987, before automakers began selling large numbers of gas- guzzling sport utility vehicles.

And those numbers exaggerate fuel economy, because automakers get extra credit for manufacturing vehicles that can run on either gasoline or nearly pure ethanol, even though few of those vehicles are thought to be fueled with ethanol by drivers.

Ford Motor and General Motors have increased their output of the so- called duel-fuel vehicles since 1999, though fewer than one service station in 1,000 sells the ethanol fuel.

Excluding the ethanol credit, the average gas mileage is now lower than in 1999 and at its lowest level since 1980.

Federal regulations require each automaker to produce cars with an average fuel economy of 27.5 miles a gallon. Light trucks — a category that includes sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans — must achieve an average of 20.7 miles a gallon. The lower standard for light trucks dates to the 1970's, when it mainly applied to pickups used by farmers and merchants.

According to the Transportation Department report, light trucks from G.M. and DaimlerChrysler were unable to meet even the more lenient standard. The average fuel economy of G.M.'s 2001 light trucks is 20.6 miles a gallon; DaimlerChrysler's average is 20.5 miles agallon.

Both companies planned to use credits from exceeding the standards in past years to avoid paying millions of dollars in fines for falling short in 2001.

Ford matched the government standard for light trucks, with an overall fuel economy of 20.7 miles a gallon. Most foreign automakers met the regulatory standards by comfortable margins. A few fairly low-volume foreign automakers, like BMW and Ferrari, missed the standards, as they do consistently, and will pay fines as part of the cost of doing business in the United States.

All the automakers' fuel economy figures are calculated using a special methodology that the government allows for regulatory purposes. This methodology produces results that are 18 percent higher than the gas mileage estimates posted on the window stickers of new automobiles. Many drivers complain that they have trouble matching even the window-sticker estimates.

G.M., Ford and DaimlerChrysler are producing close to a million dual- fuel minivans, pickup trucks and cars this year, at an extra cost of up to $200 a vehicle for the fuel sensors and stainless-steel fuel lines needed for ethanol.

The government counts these vehicles as getting roughly triple the fuel economy that they achieve when burning gasoline. The automakers have used the extra mileage credits to sell more full-size sport utilities and pickups while meeting the federal standards for average fuel economy.

David Barthmuss, a General Motors spokesman, said the automaker wanted oil companies to sell more ethanol at service stations. Oil companies have resisted doing so, contending that ethanol can cause problems in their pipelines and is expensive to distribute by tanker truck.

Ford pledged last July to improve the average gas mileage of its sport utilities by 25 percent by 2005, without relying on extra ethanol credits. G.M. responded a week later by vowing to exceed Ford in the average fuel economy of sport utilities and of light trucks over all, also without ethanol credits. DaimlerChrysler said last month that it would keep pace with its main rivals in overall light truck fuel economy, but it had not taken a position on the use of ethanol credits to do so.

In the energy report he released today, President Bush called for improving fuel efficiency through the pursuit of new technologies and subsidies for the sale of hybrid vehicles that use a combination of gasoline and electric propulsion.

The report acknowledged that few dual-fuel vehicles were actually using ethanol, a type of alcohol produced from corn. The report praised the production of these vehicles, and said without elaboration that further study on ways to increase the actual use of ethanol was needed.

"Reforms to the federal alternative fuels program could promote alternative fuels use instead of mandating purchase of vehicles that ultimately run on petroleum fuels," the report said.

The administration report said the president would review fuel-economy standards in light of a report by the National Academy of Sciences that is due on July 1. Environmentalists have dismissed that report as unlikely to recommend significantly stiffer standards, because its authors include several people who have worked for the auto and oil industries but no environmentalists.

Told of the contents of today's Transportation Department report, Dan Becker, the energy and global warming director of the Sierra Club, said, "It's bad news for the environment that fuel economy has dropped, and it's now up to the president to raise fuel-economy standards that have languished for 12 years."

Mr. Becker also expressed skepticism whether subsidies for hybrid vehicles would do any good, pointing out that automakers could just use hybrid sales to offset the sale of other gas-guzzlers while still meeting federal standards.

The auto industry has been lobbying heavily in recent months for an extension of the ethanol credits, which are currently scheduled to expire in 2004. The legislation that authorized the credits a decade ago, which was strongly backed by farm- state lawmakers, called for the Transportation Department to send a report to Congress on the program by September 2000. The Clinton administration did not finish work on the report before leaving office, however, and the Bush administration has not yet named a new administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Transportation Department agency that must produce the report.

A department official who insisted on anonymity said the report would not be completed until after an administrator had been chosen and confirmed by the Senate.

5/18/01
5:08:31 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/actionframe.pl?action_id=48

1. QUITOS NEVER PROSPER Major environmental groups in Ecuador, led by Fundacion Natura, banded together yesterday to announce their official opposition to a billion-dollar pipeline project that would double the country's crude oil output. Ecuador's Energy Ministry is expected to decide whether to grant the project an environmental permit early in June. The pipeline would go straight through the Mindo ecological reserve, an area 16 miles northwest of Quito that provides important bird habitat. International groups Greenpeace and Amazon Watch sent a letter this week to financiers J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup objecting to their involvement in the project.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 18 May 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10867>

do good: Take action to stop big oil in Ecuador <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/mining.stm#ecuador>

read it only in Grist Magazine: A week in the life of a pipeline opponent in Ecuador, Marta Echavarria, EcoDecision <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/echavarria011601.stm>

2. TINA TURNAROUND In what appears to be a big victory for environmentalists, the White House says it will retain the air-quality standards for ozone and particulate pollution that were set by the Clinton administration several years ago. In February, the U.S. Supreme rejected arguments by industry groups and affirmed the U.S. EPA's right to establish the standards. EPA spokesperson Tina Kreisher said the agency would defend the standards against another round of industry lawsuits.

straight to the source: USA Today, Traci Watson, 17 May 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/2001-05-18-bush-air.htm>

3. PUTTING IT IN REVERSE The average fuel economy of new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. last year dropped to the lowest levels since 1980, according to a new report by the U.S. Transportation Department. President Bush's energy plan released yesterday calls for a review of fuel-economy standards once the National Academy of Sciences completes a study of the topic in July. But greenies aren't hopeful about the study because its authors include several people who worked for the auto and oil industries but no environmentalists. The energy plan also recommends a tax credit for consumers who buy gas-electric hybrid cars, but it doesn't specify how large the credit should be.

straight to the source: New York Times, Keith Bradsher, 18 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/18/politics/18FUEL.html>

straight to the source: New York Times, Matthew L. Wald, 18 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/18/politics/18CONS.html>

4. ROLL OUT THE BARRELS Did anyone expect such early international criticism of President Bush's energy plan? Yesterday, Jan Pronk, the head of U.N. talks on climate change and the Dutch environment minister, described the plan as a "disastrous development" that would "undoubtedly" lead to more greenhouse gas emissions. A press release issued by Friends of the Earth in the U.K. was titled "Bush to Planet Earth: Drop Dead." In the U.S., no surprise, Greenpeace dumped several tons of coal outside Vice President Dick Cheney's residence and blocked an entrance with empty oil barrels. Former President Carter wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post accusing the Bush administration of using "misinformation and scare tactics" to justify attacks on the environment.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Paul Casciato, 18 May 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10852>

straight to the source: Washington Post, Jimmy Carter, 17 May 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37159-2001May16.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: Leaked memo says GOPers must "Carterize" the Dems to win support for their energy policy -- in our Muckraker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck051601.stm>

5. REDUCE, REUSE, CYCLE To commemorate Bike Commute Week in California, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown biked to City Hall yesterday, then took a limo ride back home for a shower. Eight members of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors also biked to work (no word on where they showered). Nationwide, less than 2 percent of Americans commute by bike, says the California Bike Coalition. But biking enthusiasts hope to change that. They are asking commuters around the country today to pollute less, put on their bike shorts, and head out to their jobs in recognition of National Bike to Work Day.

straight to the source: Knoxville News-Sentinel, Hayes Hickman, 17 May 2001 <http://www.knoxnews.com/news/traffic/29457.shtml>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

Romancing Michael Douglas -- a day in the life of Laura Kriv, TechRocks <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/kriv051701.stm>

Barton finks -- Austin is losing the battle to protect the Barton Springs salamander -- in our Main Dish section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/oko042401.stm>

As the worm turns -- or: how I learned to start vermicomposting and love the worm -- in our Main Dish column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/ness101100.stm>

5/18/01
4:54:03 PM

Misinformation and Scare Tactics

by Jimmy Carter

Thursday, May 17, 2001

It has been more than 20 years since our country developed a comprehensive energy policy. It is important for President Bush and Congress to take another look at this important issue, but not based on misleading statements made lately by high administration officials. These comments have distorted history and future needs.

I was governor of Georgia during the administration of Richard Nixon, when a combination of oil shortages and an OPEC boycott produced a real energy crisis in the United States. Five years later, the Iran-Iraq war shut off 4 million barrels of the world's daily oil supplies almost overnight, and the price of energy more than doubled in just 12 months. This caused a wave of inflation in all industrialized countries and created energy shortages. As before, there were long lines of vehicles at service stations, with drivers eager to pay even astronomical prices for available fuel.

No energy crisis exists now that equates in any way with those we faced in 1973 and 1979. World supplies are adequate and reasonably stable, price fluctuations are cyclical, reserves are plentiful, and automobiles aren't waiting in line at service stations. Exaggerated claims seem designed to promote some long-frustrated ambitions of the oil industry at the expense of environmental quality.

Also contrary to recent statements by top officials, a bipartisan Congress worked closely with me for four years to create a well-balanced approach to the problem. No influential person ever spoke "exclusively of conservation," and my administration never believed that "we could simply conserve or ration our way out of" any energy crisis. On the contrary, we emphasized both energy conservation and the increased production of oil, gas, coal and solar energy. Permanent laws were laboriously hammered out that brought an unprecedented commitment to efficient use of energy supplies. We mandated improved home insulation, energy savings in the design of industrial equipment and home appliances and a step-by-step increase in gas mileage of all automobiles manufactured in our country.

When I was inaugurated, American vehicles were averaging only 12 miles per gallon. Today, new cars reach more than twice this gas mileage, which would be much higher except for the failure to maintain the efficiency standards, beginning in the Reagan years. (Gas mileage has actually gone down during the past five years.)

Official statistics published by the departments of energy and labor reveal the facts: Since I signed the final energy bills in 1980, America's gross national product has increased by 90 percent, while total energy consumption went up only 26 percent. Our emphasis on coal and other sources of energy and improved efficiency has limited petroleum consumption to an increase of only 12 percent. During this time, non-energy prices have risen 2 1/2 times as much as energy prices, and gasoline prices have actually declined by 41 percent, in real terms and even including the temporary surge in the past two years.

Although these energy conservation decisions have been criticized as "a sign of [my] personal virtue," it is clear that the benefits have resulted from a commitment to improved technology, with extremely beneficial results for American consumers, business and commerce. Top executives in the oil industry should acknowledge their tremendous freedom to explore, extract and market oil and gas products that resulted from the decisions made by Congress during my term in Washington.

In fact, our most difficult legislative battle was over the deregulation of oil and gas prices, designed so that competitive prices would both discourage the waste of energy and promote exploration for new sources of petroleum products. At the end of 1980, every available drilling rig in the United States was being utilized at full capacity, and dependence on foreign imports was falling rapidly.

Despite these facts, some officials are using misinformation and scare tactics to justify such environmental atrocities as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which I signed in December 1980, approved 100 percent of the offshore areas and 95 percent of the potentially productive oil and mineral areas for exploration or for drilling. We excluded the wildlife refuge, confirming a decision first made by President Dwight Eisenhower, when Alaska became a state in 1959, to set aside this area as a precious natural heritage.

Those who advocate drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to meet current needs are careful to conceal the facts that almost none of the electricity in energy-troubled California is generated from oil.

It is important for private citizens and organizations to know the facts and to join in the coming debates -- so we can continue the policies of the late 1970s: a careful balance between production and conservation.

Former president Carter is chairman of the Carter Center in Atlanta.

5/18/01
4:34:10 PM

Stop Japanese Whaling Tell the Japanese Government to Stop Whaling Yes, whales are STILL being killed. In fact, right now, there are Japanese whalers on their way to the North Pacific to kill 160 of these great creatures. Against the policies of the International Whaling Commission, the Japanese government has allowed the commercial killing of whales to continue. How? By misrepresenting commercial whaling as "scientific" research. Please help us to finally put an end to this senseless killing. We treasure the seas, and sea life, and know that you do too!

Send a letter by fax to Shunji Yanai, Ambassador of Japan and ask that he stop the whale hunt! Just go to:

You can also ask President Bush to support the protection of these great whales by visiting:

http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/save/alerts/japanwhales.htm

5/18/01
4:31:38 PM

Collateral Damage

by William Saletan

One week from today—assuming that the government doesn't unearth documents that were never shown to his lawyers—Juan Raul Garza will become the first federal inmate executed in the United States since 1963. Garza's death was scheduled for last December, but President Clinton postponed it because of concerns about ethnic bias in the application of the death penalty. That reprieve moved a more attractive target to the front of the line: Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh was supposed to be the poster boy for resuming federal executions. None of the usual complaints about capital punishment applied to him. As George Will put it, "He's guilty. He's not remorseful about having killed 20 more people than were killed in the Gulf War. He's white. He's well-represented. He's sane. And it was premeditated."

But an unfunny thing happened on the way to the needle. A week before McVeigh's execution date, the government coughed up 3,000 pages of newly discovered FBI documents that should have been shown to his lawyers before his trial. Suddenly, the privileges that were supposed to make McVeigh a poster boy for capital punishment made him a poster boy for its perils. If the nation's top law enforcement agency, in the biggest investigation in U.S. history, can fail to turn over evidence to a white defendant with a $15 million legal team, critics argued, imagine what evidence local cops and prosecutors are failing to turn over to poor black and Latino defendants every day.

Reporters and editorial writers, who overwhelmingly oppose capital punishment, are helping anti-death-penalty groups connect the McVeigh case to other developments that cast doubt on the reliability of the criminal justice system. In Oklahoma, investigators are reviewing 23 cases in which defendants were sent to death row based in part on evidence submitted by a police chemist whose testimony in one case has since been discredited by DNA analysis. Eleven of those 23 defendants have already been executed. Altogether, 87 condemned prisoners have been freed in the last two decades. One of the protesters at McVeigh's execution site this week was an Alabama man whose murder conviction was overturned because missing evidence turned up seven years after his arrest. The buried documents in the McVeigh case play right into this story. "Delay Re-Energizes Death Penalty Debate," crows the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Death-Penalty Opponents Say Mix-Ups Are Nothing New," says the Orlando Sentinel. "McVeigh Errors Raise Doubts About Other Capital Cases," warns a USA Today editorial, echoing the New York Times and Washington Post.

Ordinarily, anti-death-penalty activists and their allies in the media can't win, since the public supports capital punishment by a 2-to-1 margin. Until last week, the debate over the McVeigh execution was even more lopsided: In a USA Today poll taken in late April, more than half of those who claimed to oppose capital punishment in principle nevertheless said McVeigh should be killed. But when the debate turns to the reliability of the criminal justice system and the possibility that innocent people might be executed, the death penalty is vulnerable to losing its majority support. Two-thirds of respondents in a recent Washington Post survey said that innocent people are sometimes put to death. In a Newsweek poll taken last Thursday and Friday, 39 percent of respondents said that reports of wrongful capital murder convictions based on errors in crime labs have had a "major effect" on their attitudes toward the death penalty. And while only 8 percent said the discovery of buried documents in the McVeigh case raised doubts about his guilt, 16 percent said it made them less supportive of capital punishment in general.

How have President George W. Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and FBI Director Louis Freeh reacted to this threat? By changing the subject back to McVeigh's guilt. "Career attorneys at the Department of Justice are confident that these documents do not create any reasonable doubt about McVeigh's guilt, nor do they contradict his admission of guilt for the crime," Ashcroft declared last Friday. Bush made the same point in a press conference later that afternoon, and Freeh delivered similar assurances to a House committee yesterday. In McVeigh's case, the assurances are well-founded. The evidence against him, including multiple confessions, is overwhelming. And the newly disclosed documents, by all accounts, pertain not to his guilt but to fruitless leads involving others who might have helped him.

But what about the possibility that similar errors in other cases have concealed more crucial evidence from defendants who were less clearly guilty? To this, Bush, Ashcroft, and Freeh reply that the McVeigh case demonstrates the system's ability to correct itself.

"Today proved why [the system] is healthy," Bush argued Friday. "When [we] found that documents hadn't been given to the defense attorney … we delayed until Mr. McVeigh's attorneys have a chance to look at the documents." In his testimony yesterday, Freeh insisted, "We did get it right. … FBI personnel discovered [the records] on their own initiative [and] came forward to stop the execution at the 11th hour. … The process worked by correcting a flaw."

Notice how Bush and Freeh shift the discussion from the error to the correction. It's true that in the McVeigh case the error was followed by a correction. But that sequence is hardly logically necessary. In fact, according to Freeh, the documents that came out six days before McVeigh's execution didn't turn up until the FBI issued its 16th directive ordering field offices to cough up everything related to the case. Why should the public believe that in other capital cases, when the system loses documents, it recovers them in time? Bush, Freeh, and Ashcroft don't answer that question. They simply confine the death penalty discussion to the McVeigh case—while confining the discussion of the McVeigh case, in turn, to what went right in the end.

Likewise, their observation that the documents don't exonerate McVeigh is a shell game. Freeh didn't know what was in the documents until a week before McVeigh's execution date. Ashcroft still didn't know what was in them when he asserted last Friday that they wouldn't clear McVeigh. "The trial attorneys and those attorneys that have handled the matter on appeal in the Justice Department have reviewed the documents, and that is the basis for my representation," he told reporters. Saying that the documents turned out not to be relevant is like saying that the chamber that was in firing position when you put the pistol to your head turned out to be empty.

When asked to consider the obvious implication—that the next chamber might turn out to be loaded—Bush and Freeh refuse to be pulled off-message. At his press conference Friday, Bush was asked about the possibility that some of the men sent to death row by the Oklahoma City police chemist might have been innocent. "Well, in this case …" Bush began, steering the conversation back to McVeigh. As for a reporter's observation that the lost documents "could have been discovered days after" McVeigh's execution rather than before it, Bush shrugged, "You bring up a hypothetical, but that's not the way it happened." Yesterday, when Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., asked Freeh about the risk of executing an innocent person, Freeh replied, "There is no danger that an innocent Timothy McVeigh is going to be punished." In exasperation, Kennedy shot back, "I'm not asking about Timothy McVeigh. I'm talking about the process, sir." Freeh responded by discussing how well "the process" worked in what were supposed to be the last two weeks of McVeigh's life.

There's no proof that the United States has executed an innocent person. While it's possible that the lax handling of investigative records in the McVeigh case illustrates a systemic problem that has led to fatal injustice in other cases, that inference remains, for the time being, just a question. "Are we going to learn next week that there are yet more documents?" McVeigh's co-counsel, Nathan Chambers, asked Sunday. "Are we going to learn after an execution that there's more documents?" For that matter, added Phil Donahue, "We have 3,700 people on death row—3,700. How many of their boxes have been lost?" Those are good questions. It would be nice if the president and his law enforcement officials tried to answer them.

http://www.Slate.com

5/18/01
4:03:21 PM

UTNE WEB WATCH

The Best of the Alternative Web

MAN AGAINST NATURE

by Kandace Power Graves, Gambit Weekly

Gambit Weekly presents a well-balanced piece about the changing role of holistic and alternative medicine in the detecting and treating of allergies.

PROGRAM LINKS VOLUNTEERS TO WORLD NETWORK

International Volunteer Programs Association

--The nonprofit International Volunteer Programs Association offers this resource/archival starting point for potential overseas volunteers, interns, and workers--complete with information, advice, and rationalization for the full spectrum of world travelers.

EX-CONS HELP EX-CONS EASE INTO LIFE ON THE OUTSIDE

by Alexandra Marks, Christian Science Monitor

-- In Harlem, New York, a new group embraces the out-of-fashion notion of criminal rehabilitation. Exodus Transitional Community helps ex-offenders acclimate to life off the streets.

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

5/18/01
3:56:32 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-17-02.html

"We Cover the Earth For You"

BUSH ENERGY POLICY EXPANDS NUCLEAR, OIL DRILLING, RENEWABLES

WASHINGTON, DC, May 17, 2001 (ENS) - The Bush administration's National Energy Policy Development Group headed by Vice President Richard Cheney issued a policy today that puts environmental issues front and center.

The proposed policy would expand the role of nuclear power, open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration, limit toxic emissions from power plants and offer new tax incentives for the development of renewable energy.

For full text and graphics visit:

INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS COMMIT TO ECO-FRIENDLY FINANCIAL PRACTICES

PARIS, France, May 17, 2001 (ENS) - Environmentally damaging subsidies and tax exemptions to agriculture and energy are on their way out in the world's most developed nations.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-17-01.html

SHARK TO SATELLITE, I'M IN THE TASMAN SEA

MELBOURNE, Australia, May 17, 2001 (ENS) - Australian marine biologists are using satellites to monitor a young white shark in Australia's southeast in a project that they hope will shed more light on the behavior of sharks as a species.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-17-03.html

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: VOTE KENYAN GOVERNMENT OUT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SINS

By Tom Osanjo

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 17, 2001 (ENS) - The Presbyterian Church wants Kenyans to vote out the current government in the coming general election for its failure to take stronger action against pollution and the destruction of water catchment areas.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-17-04.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 17, 2001

Greenpeace Dumps Coal on Cheney's Lawn

Dalai Lama Honors Three Environmentalists as Heroes of Compassion

Florida Gets Federal Funds to Fight Wildfires

New Volcano Observatory Memorializes Mount St. Helen's Geologist

Tour de Sol: The Great American Green Transportat Festival

Coal Mining Equipment Emissions Regulated

Indiana Citizens Clean Brine from Old Oil Production Sites

Sun's Intensity Cycles Tied to Maya's Demise

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-17-09.html

5/18/01
3:36:11 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

UN environment official says sanctions poor tool - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10864

EPA to issue final report on dioxin study - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10868

Bush's credits for hybrids hailed, details wanted - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10874

GM gives $10 million for endangered Brazil forest - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10863

W.House says nuclear reactors in US could double - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10861

FACTBOX - Bush plan has oil, coal, nuclear options - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10860

UPDATE - Greenpeace dumps coal outside Cheney home - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10859

UPDATE - Keep ethanol tax credit, encourage biomass - W.House - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10857

BPA to spill some water to help Northwest salmon - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10853

WRAPUP - Environmentalists say US energy plans disastrous - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10852

Liver cancer deaths in England, Wales double - study - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10873

UK bungling gene crop trials - animal welfare group - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10872

Sweden's energy agency advocates more windpower - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10871

South African coelacanth search halted by authorities - SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10870

Bush plan 'disastrous' for climate - UN climate chief - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10858

China's Zhu backs Maldives on global warming - MALDIVES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10866

Japan village prepares for nuclear referendum - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10856

Japan consumed tonnes of whale in 2000 - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10855

Germany's MVV to invest in more biomass plants - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10865

UPDATE - US "no" to Kyoto clouds OECD ecology meet - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10869

Finnish lawmakers seen approving nuclear waste dump - FINLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10862

Environmental opposition to Ecuador pipeline intensifies - ECUADOR http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10867

HK won't rule out more bird slaughter to curb flu - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10854

5/18/01
3:34:16 PM

NUCLEAR TERRORISM

http://www.tmia.com/sabter.html

5/18/01
3:25:51 PM

Chemical Warfare In Your Body And The Boardroom Even with increasing activism, a recent ban on some of the more dangerous persistent organic pollutants, and the airing of Trade Secrets, Bill Moyers' chemical industry exposé, there are still too many chemicals in the environment and the companies responsible are still trying to thwart efforts to do anything about it. Our latest evidence comes in the form of a CDC report outlining chemical contamination of our bodies and a look at industry attempts to block dioxin regulations.

A new government study has "officially" confirmed the presence of chemical contaminants in the bodies of average Americans. The National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, examined the blood and urine of 3,800 subjects and found a wide variety of industrial, agricultural and consumer chemicals in most of the tested samples. The 27 identified chemicals included mercury, cadmium, organophosphate pesticides, and phthalates, a compound used to soften plastics, emulsify soaps and carry fragrances among many other things. Among the list are substances linked to a variety of human diseases including cancer, birth defects, and developmental and reproductive disorders.

The report is the first to academically ascertain that average citizens now carry a burden of unhealthy toxic substances in their body tissues. Previously, in the absence of concrete contrary evidence, many experts had believed that such chronic contamination was largely limited to workers in industries that manufactured or used toxic materials.

The report, however, also contained some good news. Thanks to government regulations, blood levels of lead and nicotine (from second-hand smoke) were shown to have declined dramatically when compared to previous data providing proof that strong regulations can easily reduce environmental health risks.

Behind Closed Doors, a new report from the Center for Health and Environmental Justice, is something else entirely. This new document, a defacto companion to Trade Secrets, examines how the chemical industry has "methodically and strategically attempted to influence policy makers and... mislead the public about the health impacts of dioxin."

According to the report, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Chlorine Chemistry Council (CCC) have been engaged in a full scale, behind-the-scenes campaign to hide the links between dioxin and cancer and other health problems, and stop any and all efforts to regulate this dangerous chemical. This organized assault on public health and proposals intended to protect it has included efforts to gut regulations involving restrictions or elimination of dioxins; manipulate EPA peer reviews of dioxin data; stall the official EPA assessment of dioxin; influence the language of the recent POP treaty; and oppose local anti-dioxin community initiatives.

The CHEJ report outlines such a blatant and blatantly immoral conspiracy to withhold the truth and protect profits at the expense of ourselves and our children that even we were taken aback. It's a crucial bit of reading that shows just how far the newly self-professed 'kinder and gentler' chemical industry will go to protect its toxic interests.

For more information about the new CDC report visit

http://www.toxicexposure.org

For more information about Behind Closed Doors visit

http://www.chej.org/BCDReport.html

And in the event you missed it the first time around, be sure to read our list of tips to protect yourself and your family from dioxins and other organochlorine pollutants. You'll find it in one of our first issues of the Non-Toxic Times archived for your continued good health at

http://www.seventhgen.com/html/no3.html#breast

5/18/01
3:18:50 PM

Global Warming / Kyoto Protocol News

News on the Global Warming Front

GLOBAL WARMING FORECAST TO HIT AUSTRALIA HARD

Australia will be hotter and drier in coming decades according to the latest climate change estimates of the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the government's research branch. Read More...

EUROPEAN COMPLIANCE WITH KYOTO PROTOCOL DEEMED AFFORDABLE

The European Union could cut its greenhouse gas emissions in line with Kyoto Protocol commitments at an annual cost of under 0.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product, says a study released by the European Commission. The estimated cost is considerably lower than previous figures and will strengthen the European Union's hand in the global argument over the "affordability" of responding aggressively to climate change. Read More...

GLOBAL WARMING TRIGGERS PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING

Climate change could have a far-reaching impact on health patterns in the United States, according to a recent assessment by a broad coalition of scientists from academia, government and private industry. Read More...

UN CLIMATE BOSS SEEKS EARLY DRAFT ON POLLUTION PACT

The head of the U.N. forum on climate change said Wednesday he would consult with several countries to help draft an outline pact on cutting global warming gases in the run-up to a July U.N. conference in Bonn. Read More...

5/18/01
3:12:43 PM

Nader Blasts Cheney On Energy Policy WASHINGTON, DC, "Vice President Dick Cheney is a dinosaur living in the age of mammals," says one of the candidates for U.S. president last fall.

Ralph Nader was responding to Cheney's comments to media in Toronto, at which he said that "conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy" and then called for safeguards to the environment by making greater use of nuclear power.

Nader, who ran for the Green Party and is an environmentalist, also criticized Cheney for his support of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, and called on the American people to "wean themselves from the economically and environmentally costly energy policies that keep taxpayers, consumers and environmentalists hooked on oil coal and nuclear power."

"Federal policy over the past century has largely failed to promote an energy system based on safe, secure, economically affordable, and environmentally benign energy sources," he says. The tax code, budget appropriations and regulatory processes have been used to subsidize dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear power, with the result of "increased sickness and premature deaths, depleted family budgets, acid rain destruction of lakes, forests, and crops, oil spill contamination, polluted rivers and loss of aquatic species and the long-term peril of climate change and radioactive waste dumps."

"There is an alternative," he concludes. "Three decades of detailed assessments, on-the-ground results, and research and development innovations in the energy-consuming devices used in our buildings, vehicles and industries undeniably show that energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies are superior energy options for society. They offer a present and future path that is economically attractive, safe and secure from large-scale or long-term risks or threats to public health, future generations, and the environment."

"But embarking on that path requires overcoming the power of the oil, nuclear and other conventional fuel industries to which both the Republicans and Democrats are indentured," he concludes. "President Bush could establish the United States as the model for other countries by adopting a sustainable energy policy that includes ... a robust federal research and development program in sustainable renewable energy sources, so that the energy-independence promises of wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy are finally realized."

His proposal includes an increase in automobile fuel efficiency standards, stronger efficiency standards for appliances and mandatory energy performance building codes. electricity policies that promote efficient use of electricity through net metering and other requirements, and an employee transition assistance fund and job-retraining program for displaced coal miners.

"Our country has more problems than it deserves and more solutions than it uses," he says. "It is time for the United States to stop letting Exxon-Mobil, Peabody Coal and Westinghouse shape our energy policy and for our misguided elected officials to adopt an energy strategy based on clean renewable energy and conservation."

5/18/01
3:06:02 PM

WILD ALERT

The Bush Administration's new energy plan, released today, won't help consumers, but will open up some of America's best wilderness areas to oil and gas drilling. It will do *nothing* to reduce high energy prices, won't provide more electricity anytime soon, and will devastate our public wildlands.

Go to http://www.wilderness.org/energy/ to tell Pres. Bush that we need an energy policy that protects our environment and promotes conservation and renewable energy.

A LOSE-LOSE PROPOSITION Even the Bush Administration admits their energy plan will provide no price breaks at the gas station this summer, nor will it reduce the cost of cooling or heating our homes. But what it will do is increase air pollution and threaten our most wild places with oil and gas drilling, like our newest National Monuments, roadless areas within our National Forests, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Opening up our wilderness areas to drilling won't satisfy our energy demands. Analysis of data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows that there's only a *15-day* supply of oil for our nation in our newest national monuments managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The same analysis shows a mere 7-day supply of natural gas from those same monuments. National Forest roadless areas contain less than half of one percent of the total oil and gas resources in the U.S. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has less than a 6-month supply of oil, according to the USGS.

MEANWHILE, OIL COMPANY PROFITS SKYROCKET Last year ExxonMobil reaped a record 18 *billion* dollars in profits, up more than 120 percent. There is absolutely no good reason to drill the last of America's pristine wild lands, except to keep handing the oil industry record profits.

Increasing investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources would be the quickest, cleanest, and cheapest way to meet our energy needs. But that won't benefit the oil companies, and so the Bush Administration's energy plan puts corporate interests ahead of sound environmental policy.

TAKE ACTION Take action and urge the White House to start over with its failed energy plan. We can do better: we can meet America's energy needs without opening up some of our best wilderness areas to oil and gas drilling.

Go to http://www.wilderness.org/energy/ to send Pres. Bush a message now. Or contact him directly with this message:

- Tell Pres. Bush that you do NOT support energy production at the expense of our clean air and pristine lands.

- We can meet the nation's energy needs without destroying America's special wilderness areas.

- Rather than giving in to pressure from the oil, coal, and nuclear lobbies, Pres. Bush should lead us toward a cleaner, healthier, more secure energy future with a balanced energy policy that protects our environment and promotes conservation and renewable sources of energy.

Send your message to:

Pres. George W. Bush, The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20500 FAX: (202) 456-2461 EMAIL: president@whitehouse.gov

For a full list of Action Items, visit

http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm

”It is our task in our time and in our generation, to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours.” John F. Kennedy

5/18/01
2:58:44 PM

http://www.mediawhoresonline.com has a wonderful joie de vivre and some great punchlines. They view the mainstream media as being the captive of the right wing, whether for reasons of ideology or, as the site would put it, "whorishness." Most of the site's material and commentary is designed to insure that the media's "credibility in the public mind be brought in line with its genuine lack of credibility." To do this, they're willing to "mimic the tactics of the wingnuts," referring to all with whom they disagree as "whores" or occasionally "fascists" and refusing, on principle, to criticize any writer whose work they deem to be that of a "non-whore." Hypocritical, you say? "We don't believe it is hypocrisy at all to follow their standard, but fairness," responds Jennifer Kelly, the site's guiding spirit. "And what's more, it's really easy and doesn't require anything in the way of conscience or diligence." I don't follow this philosophy myself, but take my word for it: These people are as funny as they are fearless. Unfortunately, they are a bit unfair to actual whores...

http://www.bartcop.com began as a critique of Rush run by a fellow who wishes to remain anonymous but describes himself as "your average Okie liberal with too much time on my hands." It's developed into a very smart, funny critique of the right and is financed to the tune of $600 a month by Marc Perkel of San Francisco, who simply liked it and offered to pay the freight.

http://www.buzzflash.com run by Mark Karlin, provides a liberal antidote to Matt Drudge, offering a bit less in the obnoxious self-promotion department and a bit more in the way of accuracy. Turn to it for up-to-the-second reports on, and links to, the Bush Administration's outrage du jour, frequently with smile-inducing headlines ("Yes We Have to Post It Twice: Doobie Brothers Guitarist Is Helping Design Bush's Missile Defense Shield").

Despite its unpromising name, http://www.democrats.com has no relationship to the somnolent party it seeks to revive. Its sponsors tell me, "We think the progressive Democratic message is the winning message, but the party needs to live up to its message by fighting for its principles." Bob Fertik, Dave Lytel and some 200 local chapters do this by highlighting news of interest to progressives, connecting a community of progressive Democrats, publicizing demonstrations to "Irk the Smirk," as Mediawhoresonline puts it, to protest the "stolen election of 2000." They try to fill "an enormous void left by the Democratic Party, which keeps Democratic activists at arm's length."

http://www.americanpolitics.com is a terrific place for links, satires and cartoons. It's also a great place to find incriminating quotes by the bad guys. Oh, and check out the shapely "answergirl@american-politics.com" before someone makes them take her down. Similarly comprehensive, www.onlinejournal.com contains original reporting from a sensibly leftish perspective.

http://www.bear-left.com offers first-rate in-depth analysis of whatever topic strikes the fancy of its authors, Paul Corrigan and Tim Francis-Wright, including an insanely detailed recent analysis of Skull and Bones's tax filings. See also its fantastic links page at www.bear-left.com/links.html.

http://www.mediatransparency.org does not really belong on this list, since it's more of an intellectual and political resource for journalists and scholars doing research on the connections between right-wing foundations and public policy. But it does deserve recognition for its public service and the widest possible audience for the tireless research on this neglected topic undertaken by its founder, Rob Levine.

And if you need cheering up, try http://www.bushorchimp.com but remember it's a joke. The left got rolled for years by Ronald Reagan's dumb act, and I fear "W" is no dummy either--appearances, quite obviously, to the contrary.

5/18/01
12:54:35 PM

David Cole FREEHOLDER'S SANCTUARY, INC 643 Cedar Rock Road Arlington, VT 05250 email: dcofvt7@starpower.net

Aloha Brothers and Sisters,

I have two solutions for the mess we are in:

1) Help get the Military Industrial Complex under control. Read about this at www.disclosureproject.org

2)Declare your home free from property taxation. >>RESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY<< See: http://www.topica.com/lists/RI

If we don't start acting locally and stop traveling great distances to earn a few coins, we soon won't have any safe place to live.

As it is now, we are penalized for acting locally. If you think about it, EVERY constructive activity we engage in is taxed. Taxation is theft and taxation is burden.

Time to stop being beasts of burden. Time to stop asking others to be OUR beasts of burden.

ALOHA, Dave

5/18/01
11:51:45 AM

MoveOn.org

Electricity and gasoline price are skyrocketing and energy companies are taking record profits. What's the Cheney response? More goodies for energy tycoons.

Instead of challenging monopolies run amok, Cheney has come up with an innovative three point plan: rape, burn and pillage. Rape the environment. Burn fossil fuels 'til we choke. Pillage the consumer's pocket book.

Speak out against this gift to the administration's oil buddies. Go to:

http://www.moveon.org/stopcheney/

The keys to a sensible long-term policy are conservation, efficiency, and aggressive development of renewable energy sources. We don't have to wreck the environment to live well.

It's time to speak up. Go to:

http://www.moveon.org/stopcheney/

Thank you. We can't remain quiet while big oil adds insult to injury.

Sincerely,

Wes Boyd

http://www.MoveOn.org

5/18/01
11:48:27 AM

FAIR

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

Media analysis, critiques and news reports

"CLIMATE CHANGE COVER-UP:

Corporate media echo corporate line on global warming"

a talk by Ross Gelbspan, former Boston Globe editor

Thursday, May 24, 6:30 PM Housing Works Used Book Café 126 Crosby St (between Prince and Houston), New York + Free and Open to the Public +

Over the years, the energy industry has spent millions of dollars in PR campaigns to cast doubt on the scientific certainty of global climate change. Hoping to keep the public in the dark about the true environmental costs of our dependence on big oil and coal, industry has marshaled all the PR weapons at its disposal, including bogus science, astroturf front groups and the might of the massive energy lobby in Washington. And all too often, mainstream media have uncritically relayed industry spin and obfuscation, confusing rather than clarifying public debate on climate change. Join FAIR for an exposition of how industry has manipulated the media, public and politicians on global warming, and for a look at what's getting left out of crucial stories like UN's Kyoto climate treaty and the "energy crisis" in California.

Award-winning journalist Ross Gelbspan is a former Boston Globe editor and author of the book "The Heat Is On: the Climate Crisis, the Cover-up, the Prescription." He has presented his recommendations on climate change before the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, and members of Congress. His work has appeared in many publications, including the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, The Nation and the Washington Post.

For more background, please see:

--"Fronting for Big Coal," Extra! (9/00)

http://www.fair.org/extra/0009/coal.html

--FAIR Action Alert: "U.S. Coverage of Global Warming Talks: Rare, Not Well-Done" (11/22/00)

http://www.fair.org/activism/global-warming.html

5/18/01
11:29:24 AM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

http://www.citizen.org/congress/regulations/graham/Claybrook.htm

1. INFERTILE CRESCENT The largest wetland in the Middle East has shrunk by 90 percent since 1970, a change that has had a "devastating" impact on humans and wildlife, says the U.N. Environnment Programme in a report to be released later this year. The UNEP says that dams and drainage projects have been the two main causes of the loss of the marshes, which used to cover 5,800 to 7,700 square miles where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet in southern Iraq. By May of last year, most of the wetland was barren, except for a small area on the Iran-Iraq border. Mammals and fish that lived exclusively in the marshlands are now considered extinct.

straight to the source: BBC News, Alex Kirby, 16 May 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1332000/1332128.stm>

2. COOL AIR, JUST DON'T BREATHE IT Environmental officials in Utah yesterday eased air-quality rules temporarily to allow communities in the state to rev up diesel generators so that residents can blast their air-conditioning this summer. Some cities fear they will experience blackouts this summer, as a lack of rain, inadequate conservation, and ties to the energy crunch in California have led to power supply problems in Utah.

straight to the source: Salt Lake Deseret News, Donna Kemp Spangler, 16 May 2001 <http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,270019352,00.html?>

3. ARMY OF DARKNESS Saying that the U.S. faces a "darker future" if it doesn't boost its domestic energy supply, President Bush unveiled his long-awaited proposal today to open more federal lands to oil and gas drilling, build many more power plants, and increase the production of nuclear power in the country. Under the plan, Bush will issue one executive order requiring federal agencies to consider the impact on energy supplies whenever issuing a regulation and another requiring agencies to expedite permits for all energy-related projects, effectively setting aside some clean-air rules in order to increase energy production. The White House peppered the plan with provisions about alternative and renewable energy sources, in the apparent hope of building support for the plan. One provision would give a significant tax credit to consumers who buy gas-electric hybrid cars.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 17 May 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/571669.asp>

straight to the source: New York Times, David E, Sanger, 17 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/17/politics/17POWE.html>

straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, John J. Fialka, 17 May 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB990049337419411968.htm>

catch it only in Grist Magazine: Another alternative energy source in California -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha051401.stm>

4. THE FINNISH LINE The Finnish parliament began debating a controversial plan yesterday to bury waste from Finland's nuclear power plants at a site some 1,600 feet underground. If the plan is approved, Finland will become the first country in the world to store nuclear waste deep underground. Environmentalists are protesting the proposal. Meanwhile, the Japanese government is poised to give final approval to the first nuclear power plant built in Japan since two workers were killed in 1999 in the country's worst nuclear accident. A Lithuanian power plant said yesterday it had spilled a container of nuclear waste, though it said no changes in radiation levels occurred.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Heli Suominen, 17 May 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10850>

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 17 May 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10844>

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 17 May 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10842>

catch it only in Grist Magazine: Insane in the Ukraine -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha030501.stm>

5. CARR CRASH? Voters in British Columbia, Canada, yesterday got rid of the country's most left-leaning provincial government, headed by the New Democratic Party, and overwhelmingly voted for the conservative Liberal Party instead. In the final days of the campaign, NDP leader Ujjal Dosanjh pleaded with environmentalists to "come home" to his party and vented against Green Party leader Adriane Carr for driving votes away from his government. The Greens yesterday won 12 percent of the popular vote, up from 2 percent in 1996, but the party failed to win a single seat in the legislature. Still, Carr, a political novice, said she was pleased with the results.

straight to the source: Vancouver Province, Steve Berry, 17 May 2001 <http://www.vancouverprovince.com/newsite/news/010517/5006750.html>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

That '70s show -- leaked memo says GOPers must "Carterize" the Dems to win support for their energy policy -- in our Muckraker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck051601.stm>

Stand up and rock the boat -- a day in the life of Laura Kriv, TechRocks <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/kriv051601.stm>

There goes the neighborhood -- the latest in the comic adventures of Zed, last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed051101.stm>

5/17/01
12:57:07 PM

Public Citizen

Bush-Cheney Energy Plan: Plunder, Pollute, Price-Gouge and Profiteer

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bush/Cheney energy plan released today rewards Big Oil and other large energy concerns for their campaign support of President Bush but short-changes consumers and the environment. If approved, the Bush plan would ensure an energy future marked by continued price-gouging, pollution, wasted taxpayer dollars and the continuing threat of a nuclear catastrophe.

. While the plan features window-dressing that purports to promote renewable technologies and energy efficiency, the bulk of the report provides justifications for continuing and in most cases expanding reliance on dirty coal technology, unsafe nuclear power, risky oil drilling on public lands and increased federal powers over traditionally local energy infrastructure planning decisions.

The Bush/Cheney solution to the alleged energy crisis is to provide incentives for expanded fossil and nuclear fuel development and related infrastructure additions as a solution to the high prices and short supplies facing consumers in domestic energy markets - and to employ an array of corporate welfare schemes to aid private business. By focusing most heavily on the supply side, the administration is missing an opportunity to build a future based on efficiency and clean technologies.

"Rather than protecting consumers and promoting clean energy, the Bush administration is blatantly pandering to the coal, oil and nuclear industries by lavishing them with billions in taxpayer subsidies and proposing new federal transmission and power plant siting rules that squelch local control," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook.

"Bush and Cheney want their buddies to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and anywhere else they can fit a drill rig, but it is the consumers who are getting drilled every time they go to the pumps and every time they get their electric bills," Claybrook said. "This plan does nothing to address that."

State's Rights be Damned: Bush/Cheney Plan Runs Roughshod Over Traditional Local Authority

Claiming that price spikes across America's electricity system were caused by inadequate generation and transmission construction, the administration seeks to suspend air quality standards for new power plants and give the federal government the authority to condemn property through eminent domain for the siting of transmission lines. Never mind that state and local authorities have, for the past 100 years, done a successful job of thoughtfully planning the construction of adequate generation and transmission capacity.

In reality, electric utility deregulation has forced many states to cede regulatory control over power plants. The lack of government oversight has been replaced with uncompetitive markets controlled by a handful of energy companies. State and federal investigators have found these energy companies have deliberately price-gouged consumers by billions of dollars, and refunds have been ordered. Meanwhile, the largest energy corporations controlling electricity in California saw their after-tax profits soar 54 percent in 2000 to $7.75 billion. But the Bush plan does nothing to stop this profiteering.

"Deregulation provides incentives for energy companies to inefficiently sell power to those customers willing to pay the most for electricity - wherever they may be located - rather than the way it used to be when utilities were required by law to charge reasonable rates and serve local customers first because energy is an essential commodity," said Tyson Slocum, an energy policy analyst for Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The failed concept of deregulation has placed the strain on our nation's generation and transmission system. Therefore, deregulation should be dismantled, not local siting laws or public health and environment standards."

Nuclear - We Can't Afford the Risk

Contrary to sustainable energy goals, the Bush energy task force advocates increased nuclear generation and grants generous concessions to the nuclear industry, including recommendations for less stringent regulations, increased tax subsidies and promotion of new nuclear plants.

Indeed, the report's assertion that nuclear power is a cost-effective source of electric generation is inaccurate. Factoring in capital costs, a 1998 OECD report cited the cost of nuclear power in the U.S. at $2,079 per kilowatt hour (kWe), compared to $1,200/kWe for coal-fired plants and $500/kWe for gas-fired plants. The high costs of decommissioning and waste management add to the economic inefficiencies of nuclear power. In addition, the last nuclear power plant commissioned in America took 23 years to build.

"Nuclear power has never been economically viable without taxpayer subsidies," Claybrook said. "The administration should not be wasting money on a technology that is not sustainable in either economic or environmental terms. And even if it were, it would take half a generation to build a plant which still wouldn't be safe."

In addition, the unconvincing efforts to mask the persistent problem of nuclear power's most dangerous byproduct - high-level radioactive waste - represent an irresponsible waste of taxpayer dollars. "Reprocessing" waste to separate its constituent parts for partial reuse is expensive and poses serious environmental and proliferation concerns, and the process itself generates substantial quantities of radioactive waste.

President Jimmy Carter issued an executive order banning the reprocessing of commercial high-level waste in 1979, and the Department of Energy in 1992 committed to phase out its reprocessing activities. "At this juncture, America needs forward-thinking policies for a sustainable energy future, not a regression to these dangerous and discredited technologies of the Cold War," Claybrook said.

Accelerator transmutation - another nuclear waste technology favored in the report - is unproven technology involving similar risks and would be expensive to implement. A DOE report on transmutation estimates the costs of such a program at $280 billion.

Clean Coal? Still the Dirtiest of Them All

The administration also calls for taxpayer subsidies to encourage so-called "clean coal" technology. In addition to billions in tax breaks to private owners of coal-fired plants, Bush's 2002 budget calls for an 813 percent increase in R&D funding (from $9 million to $82 million in 2002). But "clean coal" is still the dirtiest fuel around - far more polluting than natural gas.

"Providing subsidies to the coal industry while slashing funding for actual 'clean' technologies, such as renewables, will unnecessarily subject millions of Americans to unhealthy levels of smog and mercury in our air," Claybrook said.

Renewables and Energy Efficiency: Bush Ignores the Potential of Clean, Sustainable Power

The energy policy put forward by the White House is not a reasonable or legitimate solution to America's short- or long-term energy needs. After having prepared the nation for a wholesale push for more dirty and dangerous energy sources, the administration has now moderated its rhetoric slightly and is disingenuously packaging the final plan as "green" and innovative.

Perpetuating a self-fulfilling prophecy of continued fossil-fuel and nuclear reliance, the administration cynically says conservation and renewable energy sources can never become a substantial component of the country's energy mix and at the same time seeks to dramatically curtail funding for such technologies. Bush's 2002 DOE budget slashes funding for hydrogen technology by 48.3 percent. Funding for biomass was cut 6.7 percent; geothermal research cut by 48.3 percent; fuel cell research slashed by 14.3 percent; and solar research cut by 53.7 percent.

If the Bush administration were to make sustainable energy technologies a priority, existing technologies - such as wind, solar and some types of biomass - could become mainstream solutions to our long-term energy needs. Yet under the Bush/Cheney plan, these programs are cut, and technologies which have already proven to be dirty, dangerous and prohibitively expensive will get the lion's share of taxpayer subsidies.

Cheney says the U.S. will need to build 1,300 new power plants by the year 2020. But that figure, based on a DOE report, assumes no change in current energy demand trends. According to the 2000 Interlaboratory Working Group on Energy-Efficient and Clean-Energy Technologies - a separate more recent working group reporting to the DOE - implementing comprehensive energy efficiency strategies would result in a demand reduction of 24 percent from the "business-as-usual" consumption rates that would otherwise be reached by 2020. This would reduce Cheney's 1,300 number down to roughly 700.

"Fully using existing renewable energy technologies - hydrogen fuel cell technology, wind turbines, photovoltaic modules, solar thermal and biomass - could increase generation by these renewable sources 75 percent by 2030," Slocum said. "This combination of demand reduction and increased usage of renewables would be enough to replace nuclear power by 2030."

Stop the Price Gougers

In March 2001, the Federal Trade Commission released a report (Midwest Gasoline Price Investigation) which had been mandated by Congress in response to high gasoline prices. The FTC reached a curious conclusion: While it claimed that no collusion had taken place, it found that "conscious (but independent) choices by industry participants" to intentionally withhold supplies resulted in artificially high prices. The report, however, could not publicly name the names of the companies it alleged to have caused price spikes, since federal law considered the information proprietary.

If this nation were truly experiencing an energy crisis, then the oil and gas industry should be suffering along with consumers. But a Public Citizen analysis of the industry's profits show it just had its most profitable year in history.

The top 10 oil companies, which control 70 percent of the domestic oil refinery capacity and 88 percent of the domestic retail market, posted after-tax 2000 profits of $56.57 billion, a 104 percent increase from their previous record of nearly $28 billion in 1999. In the first three months of 2001, these same companies posted $16.8 billion in profits, a 27 percent increase from a year earlier.

"The spate of mergers - Exxon-Mobil in November 1999, BP Amoco-Arco in April 2000, Chevron-Texaco in October 2000, Phillips-Tosco in February 2001, and Valero-Diamond Shamrock in May 2001 - has created uncompetitive markets," said Claybrook. "Rather than reward these companies by opening up sensitive public lands to drilling, consumers would be better served with stronger anti-trust laws and policies to promote competition, not consolidation."

Public Citizen is a national consumer advocacy group with 150,000 members.

Read more about energy at http://www.Citizen.org

5/17/01
12:53:30 PM

Public Citizen

Industry Ally John Graham Is Wrong Choice to Be Nation's Regulatory Gatekeeper

Health, Safety, Environmental and Labor Groups Oppose Nomination

WASHINGTON, D.C. - John Graham, an industry ally who has a long record of crusading against health, safety and environmental standards, should not be approved by the Senate to the country's top regulatory oversight position, Public Citizen told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee today in written testimony.

Public Citizen submitted written testimony because the committee refused to let any witnesses other than Graham testify - a violation of its obligation to air opposing points of view, Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook said. Others who requested to testify and were denied the opportunity include Frank Mirer of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW); Dr. Eric Chivian of Harvard Medical School, who shared the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize; Dr. Philip Landrigan of Mount Sinai School of Medicine; and Dr. Herbert Needleman of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The committee also refused to let Public Citizen view information submitted to the committee by Graham, although the committee allowed reporters to view it.

Graham, who runs the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, has been nominated by President Bush to be Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The post requires Senate confirmation. The office reviews federal safeguards on industrial chemicals, fuel economy standards, air and water pollution levels, tobacco regulation and virtually every other issue that is critical to human and environmental health. The administrator can serve as the ultimate chokepoint and can slow, stall, weaken or stop regulatory proposals.

Graham's Center receives funding from 100 major industrial corporations and trade associations, including oil, energy, chemical, agribusiness, mining and auto interests. Industry funders have seen their positions reflected in the Center's research, in Graham's work and in his statements to the media and testimony to Congress. At Harvard, Graham has lent academic legitimacy to regulated industries' opposition to environmental, health and safety standards. One of his first moves at OIRA likely would be to draft a new executive order that could place national safeguards at risk by limiting the issuance of new health, safety and environmental safeguards, Claybrook said.

"John Graham is unfit to serve as the Administrator of OIRA because of the many conflicts of interest that would plague his service," Claybrook said. "An unaccountable OIRA will be able to overturn years of investment in protective health, safety and environmental safeguards by the public, stakeholders, scientific experts and the agencies. His appointment would give regulated industries a wide-open back door to the White House."

The groups have three key objections to Graham's appointment. First, he has deep ties to the regulated industries his decisions would affect. For instance, high-ranking industry executives serve on the Center's executive board and advisory council.

Second, Graham's research and advocacy have serviced his industry funders. In letters sent earlier this month to the committee, 79 academics including department chairs and medical doctors raised concerns that Graham's research has downplayed hazards faced by the public and triggered conflict-of-interest concerns.

Third, Graham has made extensive use of faulty methodologies. If confirmed, Graham is expected to rely heavily on highly disputed and easily manipulable cost-benefit calculations used to determine when particular regulations are warranted. But there are numerous problems with those methods in the regulatory context. The costs are highly exaggerated by industry and are rarely scrutinized by government agencies. Further, benefit data are hard to document, and the practice of quantifying the value of a life is questionable.

"It already takes decades to set a new OSHA standard," said Alan Reuther, UAW legislative director. "We are concerned that, with Mr. Graham as head of OIRA, public health and safety regulations will be further delayed, protections on the books now will be jeopardized, and the interests of workers and consumers will not be given adequate weight."

Others in the labor, environmental and public health fields are also concerned about Graham's nomination.

"Dr. Graham's track record does not demonstrate the sort of objectivity and dispassionate analysis that we should expect from the next OIRA administrator," said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch. "He has demonstrated a consistent hostility to health, safety, and environmental protection."

Said Wesley Warren, senior fellow of environmental economics at the Natural Resources Defense Council, "Our analysis of his record leads us to the unmistakable conclusion that John Graham's appointment as the nation's regulatory gatekeeper poses too high a risk for public health and the environment."

Added Peg Seminario, AFL-CIO safety and health director, "John Graham is the wrong choice to serve as the nation's chief reviewer and gatekeeper of safety, health and environmental regulations. He cares more about the cost of regulations than the need to protect workers and the public from serious hazards. If his views were the nation's policy, there would be no real protections from workplace hazards like cotton dust, benzene and arsenic, where the cost of controls is immediate but the benefits are long term."

In a letter to committee chair Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), 30 top medical and public health academics including seven from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, which houses Graham's Center, wrote, "It is a cardinal rule of scientific research to avoid at all costs any conflict of interest that could influence the objectivity of one's findings. . . . For more than a decade, John Graham . . . has violated this rule."

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

A copy of Joan Claybrook's testimony is available on the Web at

5/17/01
12:47:53 PM

Leonard Peltier's Statement Regarding FBI Abuses

Greetings Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Supporters,

I am writing this statement in the midst of controversy surrounding the FBI's withholding of 3000 documents pertaining to the case of Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. This incident is only one of many revelations of grave FBI misconduct in recent weeks, all of which expose very serious violations of the Constitution and severe abuse of power by the FBI.

In Boston, what started with suspicions that FBI Agent, John Connolly was involved in money laundering and racketeering led to the exposure of much more. As it turned out, almost the entire Boston office was involved in a heavy scheme, which protected notorious gangsters, who were allowed to murder with impunity in exchange for information. That office even put two innocent men, men they knew were innocent and who they very purposefully framed, in prison in order to keep their informants free from prosecution. These innocent men served thirty years in prison and were only released after previously hidden FBI documentation was uncovered. What is worse is, it all could have been prevented. FBI agent Robert Fitzpatrick says he reported the misconduct early on, and was ignored. How much time will the agents responsible serve in prison? What will be done to prevent this type of official criminal behavior from reoccurring? If history is any clue, not too much at all unless we take a firm stand against these types of FBI abuses.

Meanwhile, media coverage of Thomas Blanton's conviction for the racist murder of four young girls, which occurred some 38 years ago, is widespread. Since 1965 the FBI knew exactly who the murderers were, and they hid the information. They protected KKK members who murdered children. What will happen to these former agents? How will the FBI be held accountable for their complicit role in such heinous activities? These violations are most serious. There can be no due process, there can be no such thing as an open government, there can be no real justice or democracy when an agency as powerful as the FBI can, decade after decade, break the laws it vows to uphold with no repercussions. The cases covered in the media lately are only the tip of the iceberg.

There are many, many more well documented incidences of FBI abuses. It is up to the public to hold the FBI accountable. Clearly, no system of checks and balances is in place and the media rarely reports FBI misconduct unless politicians and judges condemn it first, in which case it is usually too little too late. Don't let these latest disclosures deteriorate into "flash in the pan" news stories. An effort must be forged to stop FBI abuses, and to gain recognition that these are continuations of an all too common pattern.

The FBI unfairly targeted Wen Ho Lee, withheld evidence about Waco, and botched its handling of the Ruby Ridge incident. In 1998 the Los Angeles FBI crime lab was exposed for it's routine tampering of evidence, especially in high profile cases. In 1997 Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt was released after 27 long years of unjust imprisonment - yet another FBI frame-up. In 1990 Judi Bari's car was bombed, and again, the FBI hid evidence proving the bomb had been planted. Instead of finding the perpetrators, they criminally charged the Earth First! activist, who was left crippled for life

Of course, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation the FBI allowed, and further supported, the murderous GOON squads. Year after year I sit through meaningless parole hearings where I am told that I must take responsibility for a crime I did not commit. All the while, the faces of my brothers and sisters who were killed during that era, loom in my head, as I suppress my bitterness over such blatant discrimination and injustice. One day I know, this too will be recognized and exposed as a result of the efforts of the people. Officials will likely act surprised and outraged, even though we have been telling them all along about what we have experienced and witnessed.

Friends, I am not writing this statement out of bitterness, but out of alarm. When will these kinds of abuses be stopped? When will we overcome our fear of the FBI and say, never again. Not one more innocent person in prison, not one more political prisoner, not one more unnecessary death? If the FBI thought that Martin Luther King was a threat to the "American way of life" then we must ask, what way of life do they defend, and do the American people want the FBI to act on their behalf?

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Leonard Peltier

For more information contact:

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

PO Box 583

Lawrence, KS 66044

785-842-5774

http://www.freepeltier.org

5/17/01
12:21:12 PM

"There can be no due process, there can be no such thing as an open government, there can be no real justice or democracy when an agency as powerful as the FBI can, decade after decade, break the laws it vows to uphold with no repercussions. The cases covered in the media lately are only the tip of the iceberg."

Leonard Peltier

Demand Investigations of the FBI, including the case of Leonard Peltier

Recent revelations of FBI misconduct have prompted Senator Charles Schumer of New York and Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa to call for "top to bottom" investigations of the FBI. The :Leonard Peltier Defense Committee is appealing for your support for investigations and push for the inclusion of the Peltier case.

Write and call your local Representative and your two Senators, and send copy of your letters to Senator Schumer and Senator Grassley.

Following is a sample letter.

(If either Schumer or Grassley is one of your Senators, please adapt the letter by thanking them, encouraging them, and urging them to include Peltier in any push for investigations.)

Dear Senator/Congressman _____________,

I am writing to express my firm support for "top to bottom" investigations of the FBI as called for by both Senator Schumer and Senator Grassley. There is an obvious pattern of FBI misconduct involving the withholding of evidence and obstruction of justice which must be examined and halted. Such conduct puts in jeopardy our nation's concepts of democracy, open government, and equal justice.

I am especially concerned with the FBI's treatment of Leonard Peltier, the Native American human rights activist, who Amnesty International calls a "political prisoner" who should be "immediately and unconditionally released." Mr. Peltier has been imprisoned for over twenty-five years, following his highly controversial conviction of the 1975 murders of two FBI agents. During Mr. Peltier's trial, the FBI and U.S. Prosecutors emphatically swore that every FBI document had been handed over to the defense. Yet, years later a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit would force the release of over 12,000 FBI documents which had been withheld. Had the jury been able to consider much of this evidence at trial, I have no doubt that Mr. Peltier would be free today.

Critical to his case among those documents withheld from his defense and jury, was a formerly concealed ballistic test, which proved that the fatal bullets could not have come from the gun tied to Mr. Peltier at trial. The exposure of the test prompted the U.S. Prosecutor to admit during subsequent oral arguments, "we can't prove who shot those agents". Yet, a new trial was denied on technical grounds, even though the court found that, "There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him in order to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government's case." The judge who authored the denial now supports Mr. Peltier's release.

To make matters worse, the FBI continues to withhold over 6000 documents pertaining to the Peltier case today. We are convinced that these files contain even more critical information.

We also note that Mr. Peltier's conviction is deeply rooted in the Pine Ridge "Reign of Terror." During this period, the FBI cooperated with vigilantes who killed over 60 members and supporters of the American Indian Movement and terrorized, assaulted and battered scores of others.

Given all of the above, I am asking you to press for a thorough and bi-partisan investigation of the FBI, which will include a comprehensive examination of the Peltier case, including the subpoena of 6000 FBI documents still withheld today.

Thank you for your actions and consideration to this urgent matter.

Sincerely, Your Name

c.c. Senator Grassley; Senator Schumer

Senator Charles Schumer <senator@schumer.senate.gov> United States Senate Washington, DC 20510

Senator Charles Grassley <chuck_grassley@grassley.senate.gov> United States Senate Washington, DC 20510

For contact information to write to your Senators and Representative, visit:

http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

You can call via the Congressional Switch Board: 202-224-3121.

5/17/01
11:57:33 AM

Bush To Earth

By Scott Shuger

Everybody leads with a peek at the Bush administration energy plan, to be released today, which is also the top story in the WSJ front-page world-wide news box. The plan declares that the U.S. faces its most serious energy shortage since the 1970s. The Journal tops its front-page business news box with the Dow's close yesterday above 11,000 for the first time since last September.

The 163-page, 105-recommendation Bush energy plan is a policy Rorschach for the papers. USAT goes high not just with the plan's recommendation of eliminating barriers on gas and coal development, but also with its call to reconsider the viability of breeder nuclear reactors, devices, the paper points out almost immediately, the U.S. has long discouraged because they produce weapons-grade plutonium. The NYT lead also mentions the reactors high but doesn't detail the worry about them until much lower, but it does flag high the plan's proposed loosening of regulations on resource development, as does the WSJ and WP. The Times and the Journal both go high with the Bush suggestion that auto fuel standards be, not strengthened, but reviewed. USAT and the NYT go high with the administration's advocacy of tax credits to encourage higher efficiency hybrid cars. Everybody goes at least fairly high with the Bush plan's advocacy of opening up the Alaskan Artic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Most stories give only medium play to its suggestion of looking into reducing the Clean Air Act's application to energy plants.

The WP says the plan "carefully matches" supply-enhancing measures like drilling on federal land with enviro-friendly ones like funding for alternative energy sources. USAT efficiently sums up critics' view of the plan: its prescriptions for energy supply increases are specific and strong, while its ideas for conservation are vague and weak.

The WP usefully reminds that most of the plan's details would require further congressional or regulatory actions.

The WP and LAT pay the most attention to a shift the Bush report contains, towards the idea that its policy proposals could provide relief for this summer's expected energy crunch, after the administration had maintained for weeks that there could be no quick energy fixes. The NYT notices, but too low, that the report mixes several existing initiatives in with new ones, "particularly in the area of conservation." Also too late in the game is the NYT's observation that the report provides energy companies "with effective subsidies totaling in the billions of dollars." Seems like the stuff of headlines, no?

The WP runs an energy op-ed by Jimmy Carter, who writes, "No energy crisis exists now that equates in any way with those we faced in 1973 and 1979. World supplies are adequate and reasonably stable, price fluctuations are cyclical, reserves are plentiful, and automobiles aren't waiting in line at service stations. Exaggerated claims seem designed to promote some long-frustrated ambitions of the oil industry at the expense of environmental quality." Carter adds that "no influential person" ever spoke of solving energy shortages exclusively by conservation.

The news buriers at the WP have their shovels out again today. The paper runs a fronter under the headline, "SUDDEN DEATH IN A TIN SHACK/Questions Surround Israeli Raid on Quiet Police Hut." True enough, but the story waits until the fourth paragraph to mention that the Israelis now admit their attack on that Palestinian police post was a "blunder" (the paper's word). The LAT fronter gets this right: it runs under the headline "ISRAEL ADMITS FATAL AMBUSH WAS A MISTAKE."

The LAT front reports that internal documents of an international commission created to resolve claims filed against five insurance companies on behalf of policy holders killed in the Holocaust show that the commission, headed by former secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger, has spent ten times more--$30 million--on administrative costs like salaries, hotel bills and newspaper ads than the insurers have paid out--$3 million--to death camp survivors.

The NYT fronts what it probably thinks is another clear example of a zero-tolerance-in-the-schools-goes-haywire story, about how kids are being suspended from New Jersey public schools for playground utterances like "I could kill her!" and "I oughtta murder his face!" But the policy seems a little less dopey when the reader raises his/her eyes two inches above the story--to the picture of the Florida boy convicted yesterday of second-degree murder for, at the age of 12, shooting his teacher right between the eyes. Today's Papers notices that, unlike the other majors, the NYT refers throughout its story to the boy by his first name only. And an op-ed on the conviction also does this and refers to another convicted young teen murderer only by his first name. Is this a near-subliminal attempt at special pleading for young killers? Or does the paper have some other policy explanation, and if so, what is it?

5/17/01
11:46:04 AM

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

http://www.Albert-Einstein.com

5/17/01
11:43:09 AM

anish Windmills

Officials in Copenhagen, Denmark, helped to inaugurate the world's largest offshore windmill park this month. The park has a capacity of 40 megawatts of electricity -- four times more than the second-largest offshore windmill park in Sweden -- and will supply about 3 percent of the city's energy, powering the equivalent of 32,000 homes. In total, more than 5,600 windmills produce about 10 percent of Denmark's electricity, selling at about 4 cents per kilowatt hour. Soeren Krohn of the windmill manufacturers association said wind power production in the country was expected to double by 2005.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/569228.asp

5/17/01
11:39:37 AM

Personal History Up For Sale

NewsMax.com readers know that we have reported on new federal rules and regulations that invade your privacy, specifically new rules that allow marketing companies to have access to your medical and financial data -- including your Social Security number.

Today, NewsMax.com's Wes Vernon reports that the banking industry is celebrating: few consumers are "opting out" of new federal rules that allow banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions to sell and share your private financial information, including your Social Security number.

The major media have ignored these important stories involving this invasion of your privacy. The banking industry and insurance companies want access to your medical and financial records -- and their lobbying efforts have paid off big time!

The media black out is why so few Americans know about the new rules that allow banks to share and sell your private financial data. Sen. Shelby has called the "opt out" program a "sham." It is. You may have recently gotten what looked like a piece of junk mail from your bank or credit card company. It may have been headlined something innocuous, like: "New Information Relating to Your Account." A lengthy legal treatise follows, typically with small print. Most people would have thrown this letter out with their junk mail. But by not reading this document and contacting your bank or credit card company, your financial institutions are now free to sell or share your Social Security number and your private financial data.

You can thank Bill Clinton and Congress for this new outrageous program and for the shoddy way consumers are informed. The law was created specifically to make it as difficult as possible to have you "opt out" to protect your financial records. If Congress was honest and represented you the people, they would have demanded that banks and credit card companies get your specific OK to sell and share your private financial information.

Please be sure to read more about this on NewsMax.com today:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/5/6/211216.shtml

Also, NewsMax.com has widened its "Protect Privacy" petition to include protecting your Social Security number and financial data.

If you haven't signed this important petition, please do so and let Congress and Pres. Bush know how you feel:

https://www.newsmaxstore.com/med_petition/index2.cfm

NewsMax.com has also launched an awareness campaign to alert millions of Americans about this invasion of privacy.

We have already run banner ads about this effort across the Web -- and sent out more than 100,000 direct mail letters to raise awareness. Only if more Americans are informed can the new, dangerous federal rules be stopped.

5/17/01
11:29:57 AM

Top Secret Electro Magnetic Weapons could be responsible for the destruction of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma, not Timothy McVeigh

Today, mind-control victim, Timothy McVeigh would have died by state execution for a crime he was in no way responsible for. Mind-control victim, Timothy McVeigh has been given a 30 day stay of execution. It is extremely likely that a Star Wars platform 'took out' the Murrah Building in Oklahoma, USA, in April 1995.

"It is my contention that the OKC event was the result of a double-pronged EM weapon strike that caused the Earth's dielectric field to erupt up through the building. I, for one, think it's high time we found out the truth. Our lives, and quite possibly the future of our race, could depend upon it."

Harry Mason

TOP-SECRET WEAPONS

By Harry Mason, B.Sc.,

M.Sc., Australia

Were Tesla-style EM weapons used in the Kobe earthquake, the Oklahoma City bombing and the downing of TWA Flight 800, in a secret war between unidentified factions?

An eyewitness located in a car a couple of hundred metres from ground zero observed a silver-white light flash or beam coming out of the top of the building, followed by a large blue-white electrical arcing flash or beam, followed by an orange-red light flash or beam that shot out from the top of the building. These electrical and light effects took some five seconds and preceded the actual explosion.

It is my contention that the OKC event was the result of a double -pronged EM weapon strike that caused the Earth's dielectric field to erupt up through the building.

The building shook first because of harmonic reaction to the first EM wave packet which also blew the building's electrical supply and created the various computer, digital compass and ionising hot-air effects.

Having rocked the building sufficiently, the EM weapon mode was advanced in a second strike to initiate atomic-bond rupture and literally blow the building material apart.

No conventional or nuclear explosive, including a so-called "A-Neutronic" bomb, can cause seismic shaking and electrical light-energy effects in a structure, seconds before the explosion blast-wave hits.

Oblique aerial photos of the Murrah Building show two nearly vertical, tubelike damage forms running through the building. These represent slightly displaced near-vertical but divergent beam-pulse orientations, suggesting an orbital platform was involved in the action.

Any bomb or militia-terrorist character to this event was set in train by those who hit the building, to ensure that the true nature of the weapon system and its technology was hidden from public and possibly other US Government personnel.

This implies that a faction from within the US Government was responsible.

Either that, or the US Government was warned well in advance that this particular building would be hit that day by an advanced weapon over which there was no defence-so it quickly found a patsy and built up a cover story.

"Need-to-know" secrecy policy suggests that there then entered a cock-up of horrific dimensions. Lower-level personnel had been searching for a bomb earlier that morning, having been told that the building was targeted for bombing by terrorists, but, in failing to find it, they then did not proceed to evacuate the building.

Higher government levels, having decided to hide the horrible truth from even their own operatives, had to have a plausible McVeigh militia-type event. The Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms personnel were better served, as were the Judges in the adjacent court house: they were all warned to stay away that day.

Secret Service personnel engaged in anti-drug operations were in their offices which lay in the centre of the damage and were wiped out by this OKC event. Interestingly, similar terrorist-bombing events in the past were apparently aimed at the same anti-drug Secret Service in both the downing of the Lockerbie Pan Am jumbo and the "bombing" of the New York World Trade Center. Indeed, it is possible that this entire series of events is being fought over a drug empire.

More at http://www.nexusmagazine.com/bskies5.htm

5/17/01
11:22:05 AM

Foot-and-mouth 'probable' in U.S.

WASHINGTON - Federal emergency officials are preparing for a U.S. outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, a prospect they see as highly likely. About 75 federal officials from agencies ranging from the Agriculture Department to the CIA met Wednesday to review plans for addressing an outbreak of the highly infectious animal virus. The group also included officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army's biological warfare office, the Coast Guard, the Interior Department and the Food and Drug Administration.

FEMA official Bruce Baughman said the plans call for treating an outbreak much the same as a natural disaster, in which states take primary responsibility and call on federal resources as needed. "We are certainly treating it like it's a probable likelihood," he said.

Others present at the meeting said the chances that the disease will spread to the United States were described as very high, fueling an intensive planning effort. Until now, the government has focused in its public statements on efforts to keep the disease from reaching the United States.

At last week's meeting, officials described arrangements for earth-moving equipment to bury thousands of animal carcasses, and the drafting of emergency orders that could suspend some environmental regulations to allow quick burial of afflicted livestock.

Inquiries about the government's assessment of the risk of a U.S. outbreak of the disease were referred to Cliff Oliver, who is heading emergency response plans for the Agriculture Department. Telephone calls to his home Monday night were unanswered.

Later, USDA spokesman Kevin Herglotz described the meeting as a standard planning session and said his department does not believe an outbreak is inevitable.

"I was in the military for 10 years. We did mock exercises every month. That didn't mean war was imminent," he said. Herglotz didn't attend the meeting but says he was briefed on it.

Foot-and-mouth disease affects pigs, cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals but is not generally harmful to humans.

The United States has not had a case of foot-and-mouth disease since 1929. In England, the current outbreak began in February and quickly spread.

Cases also have been confirmed in the Netherlands, France and Ireland. Recent outbreaks have occurred in Saudi Arabia, Argentina, South Korea and Taiwan.

The U.S. government has added hundreds of inspectors at airports and ports in an effort to keep the disease out, but the battle is made more difficult because of booming global travel and trade.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/2001-04-16-footandmouth.htm

5/17/01
11:17:35 AM

Fight back against the Bush / Cheney Energy Fiasco

With the Bush Administration about to announce its MORE, MORE, MORE energy policy, we urge you to WRITE LETTERS ABOUT THE DEADLY TOLL FROM COAL TO THE EDITOR OF YOUR LOCAL PAPER. The Audubon article ought to give you plenty of ideas for your letter.

If you need more background to really get a great letter to the editortogether:

Environmental Groups Await Bush-Cheney Energy Plan A coalition of national environmental groups yesterday released more than 20 fact sheets to debunk energy myths ahead of the release of the Bush-Cheney energy plan. All of the fact sheets are at

http://www.ems.org/energy_policy/fact_sheets.html

California Interfaith Power and Light, a statewide coalition of religious groups, launched a campaign this week to educate thousands of congregation members this summer about energy conservation and efficiency. Go to

http://www.ems.org

Carolyn Johnson, Staff Director

Citizens Coal Council

"Clean Water, Safe Homes & a Healthy Environment"

1705 S. Pearl Street, #5

Denver, CO 80210

303-722-9119, fax: 303-722-8338

http://www.citizenscoalcouncil.org

5/17/01
11:14:13 AM

Live webcast from the Prophets Conference

Dear WorldPuja Members

Please forward this email to your Peacemaker networks and join us on http://www.WorldPuja.org on Sunday, May 20, 2001 5:30pm (New York) LIVE WEBCAST FROM THE PROPHET'S CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK

Be part of an important experiment in global consciousness using the internet to make an atmospheric Peace Wave that transcends barriers of nationality, race and religion to unite humanity in a synchronized call for World Peace for all life on Earth. Global participants will join us live in New York via the internet in an audio webcast with CHAT - a true Global Interactive Forum.

You are invited to join the Prophet's Conference faculty and audience closing ceremony to participate in a LIVE WEBCAST LINK with a global audience for another worldwide Peace Wave on WorldPuja.org.

As a participant in this webcast YOU bring an important anchor to this Peace Wave - this webcast is part of a dataset measured by the Global Consciousness Project at Princeton University

http://www.noosphere.Princeton.edu

- an international effort involving researchers from several esteemed institutions and countries, designed to explore whether the construct of interconnected consciousness can be scientifically validated through objective measurement.

Please be there on http://www.WorldPuja.org

on May 20th. And forward this email to your Peacemaker friends and family. Let's break internet records, once again.

Shine on THE WORLDPUJA TEAM

5/17/01
11:11:51 AM

ASPARTAME /NUTRASWEET / EQUAL

INFORMANTS & WHISTLEBLOWERS NEEDED!

Little blue paks of rat poison sit on millions of dinner tables!

It's in children's vitamins and Kool Aid and it burns their brains out!

It triggers birth defects, abortions, infertility and sexual dysfunction.

It drops intelligence in children, occludes their ability to learn.

It damages DNA, cursing future generations.

It triggers brain tumors, Parkinson's, blindness, lupus and mimics MS.

It's the most complained about food additive in FDA history.

It's addictive! Its ASPARTAME/NUTRASWEET/EQUAL

This month a 1000 page medical text, ASPARTAME DISEASE, AN IGNORED EPIDEMIC, will be released by world famous H. J. Roberts, M.D.,FACP, FCCP once recognized as "the best doctor in the United States" by a national medical publication. F.R. Rifkin, Publisher of the National Health Review calls the text: "An enormous literary feat by a motivated doctor with impressive credentials. It constitutes a new text on medicine and pharmacology that should be required reading for every physician."

http://www.sunsentpress.com/

or 1 800 814-9800

Help Us:

Studies which sacrificed poor villagers in 6 South American countries saw brain tumors, seizures, damaged CNS and the hardening of synovial fluids. Some died. We have the translator's affidavit. We're trying to locate Dr. Art Chavarria who lives in Mexico City (from Belize) who claimed to have the studies, but when money was transferred he disappeared. He is said to work as a veterinarian for Agriculture, in feed and nutrition. Help us find actual victims or their families if they didn't survive, and the doctor who helped translate the studies who was from Mexico. This was in l983/84, studies by Searle.

Did you work for G. D. Searle Co, Monsanto/NutraSweet and have inside facts that can help us? We hear the National Soft Drink Association did a 10 year study on aspartame which showed it triggered Alzheimers, blindness and birth defects, but were not published. We need copies of this study and similar unpublished studies. We need to talk to employees who worked for Searle in the Ft. Lauderdale area before they closed the office in l984 after the studies were translated. We have also heard of teratogen studies that showed hearts on the outside of fetuses, not published.

The FDA once published a list of 92 reactions including death, as a summary of 10,000 consumer complaints. It triggers tumors, mental confusion, rage and imbalance, joint pain, drug interaction, vision and memory loss plus dozens of neurological reactions. The report is secret now and you can't get it without a congressman.

Actual report is on http://www.dorway.com

The FDA sends out NutraSweet propaganda, it's like reporting crime to the Mafia. Does FDA mean Fatal Drugs Allowed? Why is this vital list that can save lives and protect us concealed and denied? It's criminal betrayal of an entire population in behalf of venal bureaucrats!

Two Federal attorneys were assigned to prosecute the manufacturer for fraud, but their lawyers hired the prosecutors and watched the case expire with the statute of limitations. When the godfather hires the district attorney nobody gets convicted. As it ravages the health, happiness and lives of millions, victims are reassured by FDA and the purveyors, to whom your welfare is meaningless.

Recall the 7 Dwarfs? The presidents of seven tobacco companies swore to Congress tobacco is safe. These men are their brothers! FDA, CDC, FAA, etc. tell us the Nutratanic is the safest ship afloat, maybe hoping they can switch sides and hire with the producers as have eleven federal officials already. Producers claim it's the "most tested product in history" but they paid for the rigged tests and never mention the 52 week study on seven infant monkeys: 5 had grand mal seizures, one died. You're the monkey now and its time to stop this atrocity. In some studies tumors were excised from rats, and the rats put back in the study. When they died some were resurrected on paper!

Government records like the FDA audit, Bressler Report, and protest of National Soft Drink Assn, and even the Board of Inquiry summation telling the FDA not to approve aspartame are on http://www.dorway.com

Books by physicians who know the truth are listed such as Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by Russell Blaylock, M.D. and other books by H. J. Roberts, M.D.

People are suffering all over the world and there are already four support groups on line.

Aspartame Toxicity Center http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame

Insiders come forth, pro bono investigators, and investigative journalists. Remember when you damage DNA you can destroy a species. Please help us.

Betty Martini, Mission Possible International 770 242-2599.

5/17/01
10:57:32 AM

Prodi Articulates Sustainable Development Strategy for Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium, May 16, 2001 (ENS) - The European Commission has issued its long awaited road map towards sustainable development for the 15 nation European Union, to be submitted to heads of state at next month's Gothenburg summit. Introducing the plan Tuesday, Commission President Romano Prodi said the strategy would need "initial sacrifices" but would reap "major benefits in the longer run." The position statement has received a generally warm response.

The strategy targets six areas where the threat to European Union sustainability is the greatest. The final strategy swings strongly to the environmental pillar of sustainability by focusing on four areas: climate change, public health, resource management and transport congestion and pollution. In the other two areas, poverty, and an aging population, the Commission says recent EU summits have already adopted measures to deal with these issues.

To tackle the four environmental areas Prodi proposes a series of "cross-cutting" principles. Forthcoming major reviews of European Union transport, agriculture and fishery policies will adopt the principles, the strategy states.

All policies should have sustainable development as their "core concern," with the "spillovers" of sectoral measures into other policy areas identified and taken into account. Subsidies encouraging wasteful resource use should be abolished.

Turning to the specific problem areas, the strategy "builds on but goes beyond" the Sixth Environmental Action Programme by proposing a large number of concrete objectives and targets.

Officials admit that many of these targets have already been announced previously, but among the new ones are:

Cutting EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020;

Adopting by 2004 an ambitious EU energy tax regime with "full internalization of external costs" and indexing of minimum tax rates to inflation

Raising transport biofuel consumption to 20 percent by 2020

Introducing a system of "resource productivity measurement" by 2003

Decoupling transport growth from economic growth by introducing transport charges which "reflect costs to society" by 2005.

Prodi explained that the strategy would be reviewed by EU leaders annually and at broader stakeholder forums every two years, on the basis of "synthesis reports" containing a small number of "headline indicators." A round table of 10 independent sustainability experts would help the Commission draw up these reports.

"Sustainable development can only come about if people and firms make the right investment decisions," the Commission says. It is proposing more stakeholder consultation in policymaking and has "invited" all publicly quoted companies with at least 500 staff invited to publish "triple bottom line" sustainability reports.

For the Swedish Presidency, which has made sustainability a pivotal issue during its tenure, Environment Minister Kjell Larsson welcomed the document as "a good start," but said EU leaders would have to be "more ambitious when it comes to the key issues."

Environmentalists have been largely won over. Alexander de Roo, Dutch Green Member of the European Parliament, is vice chairman of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy. He views the strategy as a "good initiative" which would "send the EU down a sustainable path."

Speaking for the European Environmental Bureau which represents 134 member organizations in 25 countries, John Hontelez said the strategy is "a real attempt to describe a long term vision - much stronger than we expected."

"We do want to discuss specific elements that are not always ambitious enough," said Hontelez, "and we hope the strategy can be improved further by the European Council in Gothenburg."

A big omission, according to the European Environmental Bureau, is the absence of any deadline for abolishing those agricultural subsidies that lead to environmental degradation.

Daniel Cloquet of the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe was cautious, welcoming the document but reserving judgment until the "hows" of reaching the objectives have been worked out. A stronger process to improve innovation and business competitiveness would be needed to generate the resources to implement the objectives, he said.

5/17/01
10:46:20 AM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

ENERGY FIGHT HEATS UP IN WASHINGTON

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, May 15, 2001 (ENS) - Union leaders expressed cautious approval Monday for Bush administration plans to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying the proposal could generate thousands of new jobs. But Tuesday afternoon, House Democrats unveiled their own energy plan, focusing on energy efficiency instead of new production.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-16-06.html

54 COUNTRIES TO TAKE PART IN NUCLEAR EMERGENCY EXERCISE

VIENNA, Austria, May 16, 2001 (ENS) - As part of ongoing international collaboration to deal with possible nuclear emergencies, on May 22 and 23 an extensive international nuclear emergency exercise will be carried out in France.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-16-02.html

ACTIVISTS PROTESTING RUSSIAN WASTE IMPORTS DISRUPT NUCLEAR MEETING

DRESDEN, Germany, May 16, 2001 (ENS) - The opening day of the Annual Meeting on Nuclear Technology 2001 at the Kulturpalast in Dresden was disrupted Tuesday by several hundred German and Russian anti-nuclear activists protesting Russian plans to import nuclear waste. The protests of the three day meeting are continuing today.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-16-01.html

PRODI ARTICULATES SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR EUROPE

BRUSSELS, Belgium, May 16, 2001 (ENS) - The European Commission has published its long awaited sustainable development strategy for the 15 nation European Union, to be submitted to heads of state at next month's Gothenburg summit. Introducing the plan Tuesday, Commission President Romano Prodi said the strategy would need "initial sacrifices" but would reap "major benefits in the longer run." The position statement has received a generally warm response.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-16-03.html

EUROPEAN LAWMAKERS APPROVE TOUGHER ELECTROSCRAP RULES

STRASBOURG, France, May 16, 2001 (ENS) - The European Parliament has called for major changes to proposed European Union laws on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and restrictions on hazardous substances. The measures approved at the parliament's monthly plenary session Tuesday in Strasbourg will now be considered by European Union environment ministers.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-16-04.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 16, 2001

DDT, PCBs Not Linked to Breast Cancer

Energy Plans Threaten Yellowstone Region

Northwest Farmers Could Help Cut Fuel Imports

Brookhaven Manager To Lead Review of Fast Flux Reactor

Cormorant Egg Oiling Allowed on Lake Ontario

Ten Grants Awarded for Cook Inlet Conservation

Florida Trades State Lands for Mineral Rights

Diesel Additive Cuts Harmful Emissions

Umtanum Creek Valley Named Important Bird Area

Genetically Engineered Grapevines Could Resist Disease

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-16-09.html

5/17/01
10:42:50 AM

ALERT! Comments needed on MOX EIS scoping

Your Comments to NRC on production and use of weapons-grade plutonium fuel (MOX) are needed NOW

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is engaged in a licensing process for a new nuclear fuel factory at the Savannah River Site in SC that would make experimental nuclear fuel from plutonium recovered from nuclear weapons (and residues from the bomb-making process) for use in commercial nuclear power reactors. Since the plutonium would be mixed with uranium, it is a "mixed oxide" or "MOX" fuel. This proposal is mirrored by a similar program in Russia. Justified as "disposition" programs for surplus weapons-grade plutonium, these programs have far reaching consequences. MOX production & use in the US would reverse decades of policy against plutonium use, as well as "blend" civilian and military nuclear programs. MOX fuel could be in reactors near you, if current legislative proposals (S 472, S 388 and HR 1679) promoting the reprocessing of nuclear waste become law.

NRC must do an environmental impact statement to "inform" their MOX licensing decision. NRC is now collecting public comments on the "scope" of this EIS. Background information and points for comments are below. Please note: MOX is a cross-cutting issue spanning nuclear weapons/materials/waste concerns and nuclear power reactor operation/fuel/waste concerns. Though NIRS' focus is on the reactor side, we intend no diminishment of the full range of concerns. Links to allied organizations focused on the nuclear arms/non-proliferation aspects of this program are at the end of this message. We invite others to put out additional scoping comment information.

COMMENT DEADLINE: MAY 21, 2001--please include in your comments a request for comment extension, as this whole program is in rapid change.

HOW TO SEND COMMENTS: Via "snail mail:" Michael T. Lesar, Acting Chief, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rules & Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mail Stop T6D59, Washington, DC 20555.

Via e-mail: teh@nrc.gov -- they will be received by Tim Harris Via fax at: 301-415-5398, Attention: Tim Harris.

PLEASE ALSO SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO YOUR US SENATORS (hard copy please) and other elected officials of your choice. Mail to: US Senate Washington, DC 20510

5/17/01
10:37:53 AM

Planet Ark World Environment News

FPL to build Kansas wind farm to power 33,000 homes - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10843

Ecuador asks US food aid contain no biotech crops - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10848

Oman to only sell unleaded fuel from Aug - agency - OMAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10849

Lithuania nuclear plant reports minor waste mishap - LATVIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10842

Japan panel OKs 1st nuke plant since 1999 accident - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10844

Italy wants more say in EU farm policy, trade talks - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10847

OECD urges greater efforts to tackle global warming - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10845

French protesters block German nuclear train - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10846

Finland weighs underground nuclear waste disposal - FINLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10850

UPDATE - Hong Kong culls birds to limit new bird 'flu - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10851

5/16/01
6:19:02 PM

Florida school gets green light to build eco-development center

Florida developer Watermark Communities Inc. has contributed $350,000 to Florida Gulf Coast University's fundraising campaign for a green building project that will demonstrate and teach eco-friendly building methods.

To be named the WCI Green Building Demonstration and Learning Center, the new facility in Fort Myers, Florida, will be the first in the region to foster environmentally sustainable and healthy building, housing and landscape practices through demonstration projects and educational outreach programs.

William Merwin, president of Florida Gulf Coast University, said he is proud of the partnership and expects the center will teach students the appropriate balance between responsible development and environmental conservation.

Southwestern Florida has a natural infrastructure, a subtropical natural environment that provides clean air, clean water, water storage, sites for ecotourism, fisheries and biodiversity.

Current building and landscaping practices are placing unsustainable pressures on the natural infrastructure and reducing quality of life. Current building practices are using up limited resources at great ecological and economic costs.

The new building will be an example of environmentally sustainable building practices and resource-efficient materials. Water conservation systems, solar energy applications and energy efficiency will be built into the structure, which will use non-toxic construction materials.

Watermark Communities Inc. is a high-rise and golf course developer and homebuilder that is now adding realty and related real estate services to its portfolio.

When WCI president Jerry Starkey delivered the check to Merwin, the gesture marked the culmination of three years of work by University officials and groups associated with the home building industry to bring the plans to life.

The $500,000 raised from the community by the Florida Gulf Coast University Foundation Inc. is matched dollar for dollar by the Florida state legislature. The design phase for the building will begin December 2001.

5/16/01
6:00:15 PM

The Nation

One of the most valuable tools in the political arsenal of conservatives over the past 35 years has been the uncanny ability of Republican presidents to rip apart Democratic coalitions.

Now, following in the footsteps of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush is attempting to replicate this longstanding GOP strategy by trying to split the coalition of organized labor and the environmental movement with major outreach to the leadership of key blue-collar unions and, by extension, to their millions of members. It's a smart strategy, and one to which the Bush White House is devoting serious attention and energy, most recently evidenced by a remarkably cordial meeting at the White House where Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and White House chief-of-staff Karl Rove feted almost three dozen top union leaders.

John Nichols reports on Bush's overtures to organized labor in the latest installment of The Online Beat. Exclusively available at:

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

There are also numerous archival articles of interest currently available on The Nation's website, including Alexander Stille's 1999 profile of the newly-elected prime minister of Italy, the right-wing media baron Silvio Berlusconi, and John L. Allen's more recent and related "Letter From Italy"; John Friedman and Hersch Fischler's two exposes of publishing giant Bertelsmann's hidden Nazi past, and Albert Einstein's plea for global disarmament, published in the pages of the September 4, 1931 issue of The Nation. All available at:

http://www.thenation.com

5/16/01
5:55:09 PM

EPA Agrees Dioxin Poses Cancer Risk

WASHINGTON- A long-stalled government study that says dioxin causes cancer in laboratory animals and possibly in people finally will be sent to federal regulators - and put another far-reaching environmental issue in the Bush administration's lap.

The study's conclusion that chlorinated dioxin is an air pollutant that should be more tightly controlled could affect everything from milk, beef and fish to medical products and the chemical and paper industries.

A scientific advisory committee for the Environmental Protection Agency voted unanimously Tuesday to send its report, more than a decade in the making, to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. The findings could provide the basis for federal regulators to impose limits on dioxin that go beyond current voluntary controls and would be costly to the chemical, beef and poultry industries that have opposed them.

William Glaze, a University of North Carolina professor who chairs the advisory panel, called the report "a huge step forward" toward possibly stricter controls. He said its key finding is that "diet is the principal root of exposure" for people who consume even small amounts of dioxin in dairy products and fatty foods.

"We think that the agency should take action to continue to try to limit emissions of dioxin in the environment. How the agency chooses to do that is up to them," Glaze said in an interview. "This committee felt that regulating emissions is desirable."

He said his panel planned to send the report to Whitman by June 1. Whitman repeatedly has declined to comment on the report and how her agency intends to use it.

Industry groups question the science behind it. Marcie Francis of the Chlorine Chemistry Council told Glaze's panel that "great uncertainty remains in our understanding of the effects of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds."

Environmental groups were pleased the report is going forward since not having it done "has been a stumbling block for community groups and elected officials who have been working together to develop strong dioxin regulations," said Monica Rohde, the dioxin campaign coordinator for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice.

While agreeing that dioxin causes cancer in laboratory animals, the committee split over whether to classify the chemical as a known human carcinogen, as it did in a draft report a year ago.

Instead, the new version says: "It is important that EPA continue to try to limit emissions and human exposure to this class of chemicals in view of their very long biological and environmental persistence."

Chlorinated dioxin is an air pollutant that comes from burning plastic and medical waste with chlorine. It settles in grass and feed, which is then eaten and becomes fat in livestock and poultry.

Dioxin also is a generic term for a group of compounds, some of which are more toxic than others.

The contaminant used in Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed during the Vietnam War, includes the most toxic form of dioxin. Agent Orange exposure has been associated with cancer, birth defects and miscarriages, though a direct link to those health problems remain unproven.

But a new study released Tuesday by American researchers shows a high level of dioxin among residents of a South Vietnamese city and suggests that once it enters the environment, dioxin remains a persistent source of contamination for generations to come.

EPA site: http://www.epa.gov/sab

CHEJ: http://www.chej.org

Chlorine council: http://www.ccc.com

5/16/01
5:51:56 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/PinellasComp.htm

1. THE RETURN OF NOTHIN' BRAZIL The amount of logging in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has risen to the highest level since 1995, provoking the country's government to renew its pledges to reduce deforestation. Last year, 7,659 square miles of forest -- an area about the size of Belgium -- were lost to logging. Mary Allegretti, the government's official who coordinates environmental policy for the Amazon, said a growing economy typically requires more timber and more land and could be blamed for the boost in logging. "Economic activity implies deforestation," she explained. Still, she said the government would make it harder for landowners to cut down trees without prior authorization to do so. Meanwhile, some timber companies in the Amazon believe that land managed for longer-term, more sustainable logging may be the way to go.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 15 May 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/573927.asp>

straight to the source: Economist, 13 May 2001 <http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=616834>

2. THAT '70S SHOW As President Bush prepares to unveil his energy policy tomorrow, Grist has gotten wind of a high-level White House memo (for real, this time) that outlines how the administration intends to pitch the energy plan to the American public without getting burned. The key, the memo contends, will be to "Carterize the Democrats" -- to paint detractors of the plan as besweatered party-poopers stuck in the '70s. "Whoever captures the quality-of-life argument wins," the memo says. So look for the Republicans to say that the Bush plan is the only way to keep the lights burning and the DVD players humming in this great 21st-century land of boundless opportunity. Who wrote the memo? Read more on the Grist Magazine website.

3. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, REBOOT At long last, electronics recycling in the U.S. is beginning to take off. In May 1999, only about 15 percent of used computers, TVs, VCRs, and the like were being recycled, but the figure may now be as high as 25 percent, says Peter Muscanelli, president of the International Association of Electronics Recyclers. Unlike in other countries, such as Japan, where electronics manufactures and retailers are required by law to recycle their products, consumers in the U.S. bear the burden of figuring out how to recycle electronic items. But state and local governments, as well as some companies, are launching collection programs to make the process easier.

straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Laurent Belsie, 14 May 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/05/14/p18s1.htm>

do good: Take action to tell your computer manufacturer to recycle <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/waste.stm#computer>

4. ASSAULT AND PAPER In a move that could put U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman in the hot seat again, a scientific advisory committee to the EPA voted unanimously yesterday to send on a long-delayed report to the agency that concludes that dioxin should be more tightly regulated. The committee found that dioxin is an air pollutant that causes cancer in lab animals and possibly in humans, a shift from a draft of the study leaked a year ago that said more bluntly that dioxin be classified as a human carcinogen. Still, the chemical and paper industries, which account for a significant amount of dioxin emissions, were none too happy that the study has proceeded beyond the committee stage.

straight to the source: Las Vegas Sun, Associated Press, 16 May 2001 <http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-other/2001/may/16/051605382.html>

5. ALL WE ARE IS SOOT IN THE WIND A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., yesterday sided mostly with the U.S. EPA and backed an order forcing factories and power plants in the Midwest and the South to reduce their emissions. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania petitioned the EPA in 1997 to order hundreds of polluters in upwind states to cut their emissions, claiming that national standards for air quality in the Northeastern states couldn't otherwise be met. The EPA acted on the four states' concerns in 1999, and the court yesterday agreed with the agency that the upwind states "contribute significantly" to pollution problems in the Northeast. In an odd twist, though, the court included New York and Pennsylvania as among the states responsible for some downwind pollution.

straight to the source: New York Times, Matthew L. Wald, 16 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/16/science/16AIR.html>

do good: Take action to keep the Smokies from choking on power plant smoke <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/air.stm#smokies>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

A modest proposal -- a day in the life of Laura Kriv, TechRocks <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/kriv051501.stm>

Burning rubber -- fun with stats -- in our Counter Culture column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/counter/counter101300.stm>

The milky way -- are we losing touch with good, simple things? -- by Donella Meadows <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/citizen/citizen013001.stm>

5/16/01
4:07:37 PM

Public Citizen

Pinellas County, Fla., Solicitation Ordinance Violates Law, Nonprofit Organizations Say in Lawsuit

Public Citizen, Greenpeace and Others Sue County Contending Ordinance Covering Charitable Organizations Violates First Amendment

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Pinellas County, Fla., ordinance requiring charitable organizations to register with the county before soliciting donations from residents is unduly burdensome and violates the First Amendment and the Commerce Clause, according to a lawsuit filed today in federal court in Tampa.

Not only does the law require charitable organizations to provide highly detailed, burdensome and invasive information as a condition of obtaining and keeping a license to solicit contributions from Pinellas County residents, but it even gives the county discretion to deny groups the right to solicit donations based on a review of the wording of solicitation letters - a form of censorship, the suit says. The law also requires nonprofits to register with the county simply because they receive an unsolicited contribution via the Internet, thereby sweeping within its reach charitable groups worldwide that have no connection whatsoever with the county.

The suit was filed against Pinellas County, Fla., by Public Citizen, Greenpeace, American Charities for Reasonable Fundraising Regulation, and the Nonprofit Federation, a division of the Direct Marketing Association that represents hundreds of nonprofit groups. The groups filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. A copy is available at

"These types of licensing and reporting requirements impose tremendous and unnecessary costs on groups like ours, both to collect the information and to put it into the specific place on the individual form for each jurisdiction where we are supposed to register and report," said Joseph A. Zillo, Public Citizen's chief operating officer. "We already fully report to the IRS in a very detailed Form 990, which is available on our Web site and will be sent to anyone who asks for one. The information on the 990 is more than any contributor could reasonably want to know, and we cannot fathom why states and localities would think they need anything more. Even so, we have registered with and supplied extensive information to dozens of states across the country, including Florida. To expect charities to register in and report to thousands of local governments nationwide on top of that is just too much. We cannot do it."

Although the Pinellas County ordinance went into effect in 1993, the county has grown increasingly aggressive in recent years in attempting to enforce it, sending letters to charities across the country threatening sanctions if they do not register and pay the requisite filing fee. Several aspects of the ordinance are particularly burdensome and invasive, far exceeding what other jurisdictions and the IRS require.

For example, the ordinance and permit application form require the charity to state whether any of its directors, officers or employees are related to any other director, officer, owner or employee of the organization or to that of any of the group's vendors or suppliers. Similarly, the law requires disclosure of whether any director, manager, or specified official have ever been employed by or a member of another organization registered in Pinellas County. Such requirements would force charities to take the unusual step of investigating not only the employment and professional histories of its various directors, officers and employees, but also the relationships among its employees, consultants, mail houses, office supply stores and other entities with whom the groups contract. Also troubling for many charities is the ordinance's requirement that charitable groups turn over for the county's review copies of written solicitations and phone scripts, opening the groups up to potential censorship by the county.

The law requires detailed information about each solicitation, including the contemplated receipts and expenses of the solicitation, the proportion of contributions that will go to the object of the solicitation, and the distribution plan for the contributions - information that can be difficult to compile and that changes frequently. The ordinance imposes detailed financial reporting requirements, demanding reporting of such information as expected gross revenue, contributions and fundraising expenses, anticipated management and general expenses. As Zillo said, "We do not even keep our books at the level of specificity or in the categories demanded by the Pinellas County ordinance. We would have to hire a new staff and overhaul our accounting system to be able to report the kind of financial information the ordinance requires - neither of which we are able or willing to do."

Moreover, changes in information on a registration form, as occasioned by the appointment of a new officer or director, the hiring of a relative by an entity with which the charity contracts or the development of new solicitation materials, must be updated for the county within 15 days.

The complaint sets forth several legal bases for the challenges. The plaintiffs rely on the First Amendment - which the Supreme Court has held protects charitable solicitations - in asking the court to strike down both the registration and reporting requirements. The groups also rely on the Commerce Clause in contending that the reporting requirements are unreasonably burdensome and therefore interfere with interstate commerce. With respect to the county's attempt to regulate the Internet, the groups cite not only the First Amendment and the Commerce Clause, but the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which governs whether the county has jurisdiction to regulate charities' use of the Internet.

Pinellas County and the state of Florida are not alone in seeking to regulate charitable solicitations. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia require charitable organizations to register if they intend to solicit. The nature of what must be reported varies widely, forcing charities to struggle to keep up with mounting registration fees and staggering piles of paperwork.

"One of the reasons that we are filing this lawsuit," Zillo said, "is that as cities and counties have begun to impose greater and more disparate reporting requirements on charities, the effort to comply with the numerous competing sets of registration and reporting requirements has become increasingly onerous, costly, time-consuming and difficult. We believe it is time to take steps to stop this trend before it truly overwhelms us."

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

For more information, please visit www.citizen.org

5/16/01
1:35:13 PM

The Case For Energy Efficiency Research And Development

Bush Wants to Cut It

by The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

The United States spent over $600 billion on energy last year, with U.S. oil imports climbing to approximately $120 billion, or nearly $440 of imported oil for every American. These amounts would have been even higher if not for past investments in energy efficiency research and development (R&D) and deployment programs, and continued progress is critical for sustaining and increasing these benefits.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) efficiency programs continue to make important contributions toward increasing the efficiency of buildings, appliances, vehicles and industries across the United States.

DOE recently documented that twenty of its most successful energy efficiency projects have, over the past twenty years, saved the nation about $30 billion in avoided energy costs. The cost to taxpayers for those activities over the past decade was $712 million, less than 3 percent of the savings, and the savings are increasing every year.

Last year, U.S. automakers participating in the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles unveiled three prototype full-size passenger cars that achieved 70 to 80 miles per gallon. The incremental cost of producing high-mileage alternatives has been dramatically reduced, prompting U.S. automakers to announce that fuel-efficient hybrid electric vehicles will soon be available in showrooms.

DOE's industry program actively tracks adoption and utilization of new technologies it has funded over the years, documenting its contribution to the development of over 45 commercially available technologies. These technologies, as well as some of their technical assistance activities, have reduced industrial energy use by over 1.6 quadrillion BTUs through 1999, representing production cost savings of $6.5 billion.

Federal energy efficiency R&D has consistently demonstrated high value by attracting strong, broadly based cooperation between the states and industry partners. The 120 Federal programs in industrial efficiency, for example, support approximately 500 R&D and deployment projects, involving over 2,000 partners. These projects involve substantial cost sharing with industry.

DOE building code development, adoption, and support activities saved about $3.5 billion in energy costs cumulatively through 2000.

DOE's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) has helped to reduce energy use in federal buildings by 19 percent per square foot of floor area, cutting federal energy expenditures by over $6 billion. Industry Cannot be Relied Upon for 100 Percent of These Energy Investments

Private industry investments do not directly address national energy security, system reliability, environmental and economic goals for a variety of reasons: Industry may be too fragmented in a particular sector to fund significant R&D (e.g., in the building sector); deployment time frames may be too long; or investment risk may be too great for any one business.

A critical mass of expertise may not exist in an industry for a particular technology.

The projected return for a particular application may be lower than for other non-energy investments.

Competitive and financial market pressures make it increasingly difficult for the private sector to take full responsibility for long-term R&D.

What Should be Done?

Unfortunately, the Bush administration has proposed to cut energy efficiency R&D and technology deployment programs (apart from grants to low-income households for home weatherization) by $180 million (or 29 percent) in FY2002. The budget request would cut buildings R&D, the Federal Energy Management Program, and industrial programs by about 50 percent.

If allowed to stand, these cuts will increase consumer's energy bills, hurt U.S. economic growth, increase the likelihood of power shortages, put upward pressure on energy prices, increase oil imports, and increase air pollution. Deep cuts in DOE's energy efficiency programs also would harm public-private partnerships that have been built up over many years and harm the energy efficiency R&D and deployment "infrastructure" that exists at the national labs, state energy offices, and elsewhere.

In 1997 the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), a panel that consisted mainly of distinguished academics and private sector executives, conducted a detailed review of DOE's energy efficiency R&D programs. Based on this review, PCAST concluded that, "R&D investments in energy efficiency are the most cost-effective way to simultaneously reduce the risks of climate change, oil import interruption, and local air pollution, and to improve the productivity of the economy."

PCAST recommended that the DOE energy efficiency budget should be doubled between FY1998 and FY2003, and estimated that this investment could produce a 40 to 1 return for the nation including reductions in fuel costs of $15 to $30 billion by 2005, and $30 to $45 billion by 2010. Based on the PCAST recommendation, ACEEE recommends a $170 million (20 percent) increase in DOE's FY2002 budget relative to FY2001, spread across DOE's energy efficiency R&D and deployment programs.

In light of the serious energy problems our nation is facing, we should expand, not cut, energy efficiency R&D and deployment programs.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is a nonprofit group dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting both economic prosperity and environmental protection.

http://www.ACEEE.org

5/16/01
12:37:06 PM

Public Citizen

Groups Call on FDA, International Officials to Halt Expanded Use of Food Irradiation

Officials Have Ignored Peer-Reviewed Research Indicating That Irradiated Food Could Pose Health Risks to Consumers

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Center for Food Safety and Public Citizen today filed formal comments with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and international officials opposing industry plans to significantly broaden the types of food that can be irradiated and increase irradiation doses. The groups charged the officials with overlooking substantial evidence that irradiated food is not safe for human consumption and urged further research before more irradiated food goes on sale.

The FDA is currently considering five industry proposals that would legalize the irradiation of "ready-to-eat" foods (which represent more than a third of the typical Americans' diet) ¾ such as prepared meals, baby food, deli meats and pre-cut salads ¾ and other major items in the U.S. food supply, such as shellfish.

"Food irradiation is a vast uncontrolled experiment which is using millions of Americans as guinea pigs," said Center for Food Safety Executive Director Andrew Kimbrell. "Given the growing scientific evidence of potential genetic damage to consumers and their future children from irradiated foods, expansion of this technology would be unconscionable."

The consumer groups told the FDA that more than one-third of the studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals that looked at the question of genetic damage caused by consuming irradiated food showed genetic damage in animals, humans or cell cultures. The groups claim that these findings raise serious questions about the safety of eating irradiated food.

Additionally, FDA officials have ignored recent revelations concerning a chemical ¾ which does not naturally occur in any food ¾ that is formed when certain meats, fruit, eggs and other foods are irradiated. This chemical, called 2-dodecylcyclobutanone (or 2-DCB), has been shown to cause genetic damage in rats fed the substance and in human cell cultures exposed to it. The researchers who made this discovery have urged caution and said that further experiments are needed.

"The FDA has virtually no scientific evidence to justify approving these proposals and should promptly reject them," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The agency should pursue a comprehensive research program using modern techniques to determine ¾ once and for all ¾ whether irradiated food is safe for people to eat."

The groups have filed formal comments opposing industry proposals that would:

· Legalize the irradiation of ready-to-eat foods;

· Legalize the irradiation of crustacean shellfish, such as crabs, lobsters and shrimp;

· Legalize the irradiation of molluscan shellfish, such as clams, oysters and scallops;

· Legalize the irradiation of a variety of processed meats and byproducts, such as beef tongues, hearts and other internal organs (though irradiation does not kill the pathogen that causes mad cow disease); and

· More than double the allowed radiation dose for poultry.

Separately, the international Codex Alimentarius Commission, which sets food standards on behalf of more than 160 nations, is considering a proposal to eliminate the current maximum limit for irradiation doses. The Center for Food Safety and Public Citizen today also sent formal comments to Codex Commission Chair Thomas Billy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture opposing this change. The groups also objected to Codex proposals that would substantially weaken food quality and nuclear safety standards by making them optional rather than mandatory.

The Center for Food Safety and Public Citizen are working to stop the proliferation of irradiated food and food irradiation technology through coordinated campaigns, featuring grassroots organizing, citizen petitions, legal action and efforts to ensure companies are honest with consumers about the benefits and harms associated with irradiated food.

Earlier this year, 26 prominent doctors and researchers, in addition to numerous consumer, health and environmental protection leaders, endorsed an urgent warning about the dangers of irradiated food published in the International Journal of Health Services.

"A wide range of independent studies have clearly identified mutagenic and carcinogenic products in irradiated food," the endorsement said. "Congress should focus on sanitation and not irradiation of the nation's food supply."

For more information about the Center for Food Safety, visit

www.centerforfoodsafety.org

For more information about Public Citizen and to view the comments, visit

www.citizen.org/cmep

5/16/01
12:23:54 PM

The MediaChannel newsletter sent today May 16, 2001, contained an incorrect URL. The proper link is below, sorry!

NEWS DISSECTOR: WHERE DO YA GO WHEN PBS SAYS NO?

PBS, America's public broadcaster, is being challenged once again by independent filmmakers — Danny Schechter among them.

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

http://www.mediachannel.org

5/16/01
12:17:46 PM

MediaChannel.org - news, reports, resources and opinion.

Featuring content from over 660 media-issues groups worldwide.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO A COLLEAGUE

MAY 16, 2001, NEW FEATURES:

DAILY NEWS, ETERNAL STORIES

Jack Lule uncovers seven myths that shape journalism. He uses the example of Haiti to explain the unconscious racism of the U.S. press

http://www.mediachannel.org/views/oped/lule.shtml

NEWS DISSECTOR: WHERE DO YA GO WHEN PBS SAYS NO?

PBS, America's public broadcaster, is being challenged once again by independent filmmakers — Danny Schechter among them.

http://nt.oneworld.org/views/dissector/pbs.shtml

MEDIA READER

The best media about the media. MediaChannel's international, biweekly, multimedia magazine * Advertising AIDS * Dan Rather On Kerrey And Journalism * Singapore's Global Culture And much, much more... Plus: Streaming audio and video

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

CITIZENS' MEDIA WATCH

Recent posts include: * An inside story of Nike censorship * War over Taiwan plays out in U.S. and Chinese press * Digital video disappointments at a journalism conference

http://www.mediachannel.org/originals/cmw.shtml

DAILY MEDIA NEWS

Breaking news stories about the media internationally, from mainstream and alternative sources.

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

**FROM OUR AFFILIATES**

ITALY'S PROPAGANDA MINISTER?

Journalist Paola Di Maio doubts the legitimacy of Italian media magnate Silvio Berlusconi's election win.

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

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING

The computer-animated kids film "Foodfight" shouldn't be called a movie, insist activists. Meanwhile, TV watchdogs file a complaint that the word "news" is used deceptively for infotainment shows.

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

FRAMING STORIES IN MACEDONIA

Journalists and experts discuss coverage of the Macedonian crisis, and explore how reporting can help amplify or pacify conflict.

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

GRRRL VIDEO POWER

Watch the teen-produced video collection "Smashing the Myth (or Not Just White, Rich and Dangerously Thin)," and read the young curators' comments, articles and news

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

NEW MEDIACHANNEL E-BOOK!

"MEDIAOCRACY 2000: HAIL TO THE THIEF"

How the Media Stole the US Presidential Election Edited by Danny Schechter, MediaChannel and Roland Schatz, MediaTenor.

http://www.electronpress.com/excerpts/hailexc.htm

Hard-hitting analysis of the role of the U.S. media during the 2000 presidential election. Featuring commentary and reporting by MediaChannel affiliates with an original introduction by Danny Schechter. Forward by Crocker Snow, editor of the World Paper.

Sales of this book will benefit MediaChannel.org

167 pages. German Edition published by Innovatio, January 2001 U.S. edition published by Electron Press, May 2001

http://www.electronpress.com/excerpts/hailexc.htm

THE MEDIACHANNEL POLICY CENTER

In a time of rapid and sweeping change, media policies matter. MediaChannel previews a new gateway to media policy information, discussion, resources and organizations worldwide.

http://www.mediachannel.org/policycenter

5/16/01
12:12:00 PM

Greetings from the Sarasota County Green Party

FOUR POLITICAL PARTIES TO HOLD SYMPOSIUM ON THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION

A unique political event will take place when three of the\"major\"-minor political parties will hold a public symposium on the topic of \" The First 116 Days of the Bush Administration: Some Alternative Perspectives\" Representing their respective parties will be: Cynthia Ihrig, Tampa, Natural Law; Michael Gilson, St. Petersburg, Libertarian; and Tony Stefan, Sarasota, Green.

They will analyze the image that has been created and actions taken during this 100-day period from the perspective of the philosophies of their respective parties.

Andrea Burnais, editor of the Weekly Planet will moderate the program.

The meeting will be held at the Sudakoff Center on the campus of New College in Sarasota. on May 16 from 7:30PM to 9:00PM. Admission is free. Following the comments of the speakers, the audience will have an opportunity to ask questions and make comments.

For further information contact:

Roy Ingham, Tel: (941) 925-8102, or David Nezelek at (941) 360-5442

http://www.SarasotaGreenParty.org

5/16/01
12:01:04 PM

UTNE WEB WATCH

The Best of the Alternative Web

http://www.utne.com/webwatch

TODAY'S PICKS:

http://www.utne.com/webwatch/archive.tpl?d=05/16/2001

HEPATITIS C: A SILENT EPIDEMIC STRIKES U.S. PRISONS

by Silja J.A. Taivi, LiP Magazine

-- Hepatitis C, a potentially fatal virus that infects four times the number of Americans as HIV, runs rampant in the nation's prison system. Yet very few inmates are either aware of their infection nor treated for it. Why? Cost seems to be a big part of the reason.

THE ZERO-YEAR CURSE

by Wendy Griffith, CBN.com

-- Many Christians believe an all-out prayer offensive is needed to protect President Bush from a nearly two-centuries-old Shawnee death curse. Was prayer the armor that protected Ronald Reagan from an assassin's bullet?

INVESTMENT INCENTIVES SPUR CHANGE

by Tracey Rembert, emagazine.com

-- Protesting and canvassing are not the only tools for activists. Increasingly, environmental groups like Greenpeace are investing in the companies they target and using their stockholder status to pressure companies for change.

5/16/01
11:53:39 AM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-15-03.html

"We Cover the Earth For You"

BRAZIL'S AMAZON RAINFOREST SHRINKING FAST

BRASILIA, Brazil, May 15, 2001 (ENS) - Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon was greater last year than at any time since 1995, according to new satellite data released by the government today.

For full text and graphics visit:

MEXICO TO SIGN POPs TREATY, COMPLETING NAFTA COMPLIANCE

By Susana Guzman

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, May 15, 2001 (ENS) - Mexico will sign the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS) to phase out 12 persistent organic pollutants that threaten human health and the environment, Victor Lichtinger, Mexico's Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), announced Monday.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-15-01.html

LOW DOSES OF CHEMICALS IN PACKAGING MAY AFFECT REPRODUCTION

WASHINGTON, DC, May 15, 2001 (ENS) - A panel of academic, government and industry scientists has determined that there is "credible evidence" that some hormone like chemicals can affect test animals at very low levels well below the "no effect" levels determined by traditional testing. However, other credible studies failed to observe such low dose effects, reported the panel, which found no obvious reason for the different outcomes.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-15-06.html

DEFIANT WHALERS TAKE TO THE HIGH SEAS

WASHINGTON, DC, May 15, 2001 (ENS) - The United States again is urging Japan not to take sperm and Bryde's whales for its expanded lethal scientific whaling program, the State Department said Monday.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-15-05.html

CHEAP DRINKING WATER UNDERMINES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS

WASHINGTON, DC, May 15, 2001 (ENS) - A new study by the World Resources Institute reveals that water policies in most of the world are failing to protect the world's freshwater systems, resulting in growing water scarcity and alarming declines in the numbers of aquatic plants and animals. The study recommends that water prices should reflect the cost of supplying water and protecting watersheds.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-15-07.html

BALTIC SEA CLEANUP THE FOCUS OF EUROPEAN, RUSSIAN EFFORTS

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, May 15, 2001 (ENS) - Swedish State Secretary Sven-Eric Söder is in Kaliningrad, Russia as the main speaker at a waste management conference today. His visit is part of work being done by the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, a six months rotating position occupied by Sweden from January 1 through June 30, 2001.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-15-04.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 15, 2001

Some Workers at Higher Risk for Brain Cancer

U.S., European Union to Collaborate on Fusion Research

Report Details National Water Resources Challenges

Cheney's Record Reflects Ties to Energy Industries

AQMD Adopts Pollution Reduction Plan for Power Plants

Conservation is Funding Priority for Virginia

Yellowstone Lodges to Offer Cleaner Snowmobiles

Energy Department Honors Community Air Quality Projects

Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Established

Tamarind Candy Recalled for High Lead Levels

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-15-09.html

5/16/01
11:42:59 AM

TomPaine.com

http://www.TomPaine.com

Is Dick in the Dark or Just Dishonest?

Practical experience and credible research show that conservation -- "mining" wasted energy -- is the fastest, cheapest and cleanest way to increase energy supply.

So how can we explain Vice President Dick Cheney's recent ridicule of energy conservation? One of two ways: Either Dick is completely in the dark about efficiency's economic and environmental advantages, or he is profoundly dishonest and willing to mislead Americans under the guise of serving them.

READ OUR NEW YORK TIMES OP AD...

http://www.TomPaine.com/opad

...AND READ THESE OP AD FEATURES...

ENERGY CZAR FOR A DAY

by Joseph Romm

If you were the nation's "energy czar" with $1 billion to spend, is there anything you could do quickly to improve energy efficiency and help ward off rolling blackouts? Energy expert Joseph Romm has five ideas that are simple and proven... and pay for themselves in less than two years.

http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/15/index.html

A RESPONSIBLE ENERGY POLICY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY from NRDC

www.NRDC.org

How can America meet its need for energy in a way that is economically reasonable, equitable and environmentally sound? Here's a plan that recognizes the need to extract resources while proposing a range of environmentally preferred ways to increase supply, including energy-efficiency improvements that could substantially reduce demand without forcing citizens or industry to make sacrifices.

http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/15/3.html

THE CASE FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY R&D

from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

www.ACEEE.org

The White House has proposed gutting the budget for research and development of energy efficiency technologies. But those investments pay handsome returns -- as much as $40 for every $1 invested.

http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/15/1.html

CLEAN COAL?

Million$ for Research into the Dirtiest Fuel

by Jeff Young

The President's budget calls for large investments in so-called "clean coal" technology. The proposal has broad support, but critics say "clean coal" is an oxymoron and a waste of money.

A TomPaine.commentary -- audio and text -- produced by Sharon Basco.

http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/15/4.html

TP.c's ENERGY INDEX

Vice President Cheney has led a secret task force in devising the White House energy plan. Energy is one of TomPaine.com's favorite issues, but we don't meet in secret. Here is a clickable list of all our recent energy stories.

http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/14/index.html

THE END OF FAMILY FARMS?

by Jennifer Bauduy, Associate Editor, TomPaine.com

Agribusiness groups are reaping record profits while family farmers are shutting the barn and packing up the truck. Congress has doled out billions to "save the family farm." Who's getting the money?

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/15/1.html

Economics Reporting Review

REPERCUSSIONS OF A STRONG DOLLAR

by Dean Baker

In the last four years, the dollar rose by almost 25 percent against other currencies. The rise derailed Argentina's economy and devastated the U.S. apple industry. What other economic news was missing from recent reporting?

http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/05/14/index.html

THE NEW CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE

by Bob Wing

The Civil Rights movement was supposed to destroy the white power monopoly. But it is still institutionalized in the Electoral College system, which negates the votes of half of all people of color.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/03/2.html

"It is only by tracing things to their origin, that we can gain rightful ideas of them, and it is by gaining such ideas that we discover the boundary that divides right from wrong."

Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice, 1797

5/16/01
11:37:08 AM

AlterNet Headlines

SCRAPING BY: AN INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA EHRENREICH

Tamara Straus, AlterNet

In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich went "undercover" as an unskilled worker. Besides low pay, what she found was the dark side of American prosperity.

SCORCHED EARTH POLICY

Jim Motavalli, E Magazine

The Bush administration's environmental team is an environmental nightmare: they are friendly to corporate polluters, lax on enforcement and antagonistic to international cooperation.

BUSH'S DRUG POLICY TROIKA

David Borden, DRCNet

With the nomination of Republican Congressman Asa Hutchinson to head the DEA, the Bush administration has a united front on drug policy.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10882

TEN REASONS THE SENATE SHOULD OPPOSE JOHN WALTERS

Don Hazen, AlterNet

Believe it or not, Bush's drug czar nominee is more extremist than Attorney General John Ashcroft.

THE CASE (ONCE AGAIN) FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE

Robert B. Reich, The American Prospect

The dirtiest little secret about the Roaring Nineties is that average working families gained almost no income, while their health care costs soared.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10869

BIGGER, HARDER, FASTER

Lara Riscol, AlterNet

Pornography -- America's closet sex educator -- has gotten more technologically sophisticated, explicit and accessible. What's happening to a nation bent on titillation?

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10859

CHINA'S EXECUTION, INC.

Erik Baard and Rebeccah Cooney, Village Voice

The People's Republic has long been suspected of selling organs from prisoners. Now one New York doctor knows the rumors are true.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10864

THE WONDERING WARRIOR

Kevin Smokler, AlterNet

Nicholson Baker isn't sure how he became a crusader for old newspapers. But given his fascination with toenail clippers and rubber spatulas, why not?

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10858

ROGUE NATION

Editorial Staff, The Nation

There is a growing consensus that the world's most destructive rogue nation is the most powerful country of them all.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10872

THE PRICE OF A BARREL OF OIL

Greg Campbell, Boulder Weekly

Foreign oil companies in the Niger Delta region are finding it cheaper to "flare off the gas" -- a technique of oil drilling that lights up the sky with wasted energy. Meanwhile, Nigerian villagers go without electricity.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10866

WRONG KIND OF BLACK

Cecelie S. Berry, Salon

Since high school, white liberals have told me that the authentic black experience is brutal and victimized. What does that make me?

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10873

WHITE HOUSE TO SERVE GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS!

Jennifer C. Berkshire, AlterNet

Pan-seared genetically altered super salmon and Texas-style pudding made with Star Link corn. It's chow time at the White House.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10855

JUAN HERNANDEZ: NEW AGE CONQUISTADOR

James E. Garcia, AlterNet

President Vincent Fox's chief emissary to Mexicans living abroad wants his people to come back home.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10878

THE DRUG WAR GOES PRIVATE

Arianna Huffington, OverthrowTheGov.com

To get around Plan Colombia provisions that limit the involvement of American troops, the CIA hired private security firms that employ U.S. civilians.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10861

EXTRA! EXTRA! NEW ECONOMY MAGAZINES DOOMED

Joab Jackson, Baltimore City Paper

Like revelers too drunk to suss the party is over and the booze has been returned to the cabinet, New Economy magazines are diligently ignoring what time it is now.

5/16/01
11:30:38 AM

Planet Ark World Environment News

UPDATE - Cheney says push needed to boost nuclear power - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10832

Court upholds EPA pollution rule, rejects utilities - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10827

US energy firms elated at Republican White House - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10831

STOCK PICKER - The latest in green investing - Short "dirties" - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10836

Colorado beetle poses new threat to farmers - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10840

Taiwan to finish clean-up of oil spill in June - TAIWAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10828

Court upholds 'me-too' applications for pesticides - LUXEMBOURG http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10841

Japan considers complaint in whaling row with US - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10838

Protestors briefly block German nuclear waste - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10834

EU assembly toughens up waste electronics law - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10837

US Energy Sec sees tax breaks for home solar use - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10833

Industry ministers balk at cost of EU chemicals plan - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10835

Great Lakes' water levels drop below average - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10830

Destruction of Amazon jungle hits 5-year high - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10826

Eco-terrorists may have planted FMD plague - farmers - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10839

Australia continues dingo cull after more attacks - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10829

5/15/01
3:58:11 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

http://www.DirectActions.net

1. DRIVING THAT TRAIN, HIGH ON INDUSTRIAL SOLVENTS More than 600 railroad workers, from Maryland to Kentucky to Montana, have been diagnosed with brain damage over the last 15 years from handling toxic degreasing solvents, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal after a 10-month investigation. Thousands more may be ill, but not know why. Railroad companies, particularly CSX Transportation, have paid tens of millions of dollars to settle workers' solvent lawsuits, while denying any link between exposure and brain damage. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are exposed regularly to the same solvents and related chemicals at work and at home.

straight to the source: Louisville Courier-Journal, James Bruggers and Sara Shipley, 13 May-16 May 2001 <http://www.courier-journal.com/cjextra/csx/index.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: How to make your home an eco-friendly, solvent-free haven <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books040700.stm>

do good: Take action and ask the chemical industry to come clean <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/toxic.stm#moyers>

2. AMERICA LAST? Although President Bush has proven to be a pushover on the issue, a bunch of multinational companies are working (albeit, slowly) to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Why? Japan and Europe have kept up the pressure on companies to act; energy costs are rising, so efficiency saves money; and some of the companies want to be able to tout their products as clean and green. Companies voluntarily taking some steps to curb emissions include American Electric Power, DuPont, Shell, BP Amoco, Alcoa, and Ford.

straight to the source: New York Times, Keith Bradsher and Andrew C. Revkin, 15 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/15/business/15ENER.html>

straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Ball, 15 May 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB989872483612052579.htm>

3. THE FOUNTAIN AIRHEADS Many customers of Southern California Edison are dutifully honoring the company's request to dim the lights and conserve electricity, but not the folks at the international headquarters of the Ayn Rand Institute. Yaron Brook, the executive director of the group, which is dedicated to promoting Rand's theories of individualism, said, "Expecting the American people to lower their standard of living is an immoral idea. ... Conservation is the un-American idea of resigning oneself to doing less ..." To which Tom Boyd, an Edison spokesperson, responded, "'Un-American?' I've never heard that before."

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Bob Pool, 11 May 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010511/t000039764.html>

do good: Take action by doing a home energy audit <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/climate.stm#audit>

4. THAT'S ABOUT THE SEIZE OF IT President Bush's energy plan is expected to recommend that the federal government be allowed to use eminent-domain authority to seize private property for electric transmission lines. Guess who isn't very excited about this idea? It's your old anti-enviro buddies -- Mr. and Mrs. Western Republican Leader and their friends, the property-rights movement. The amount of land in dispute could be huge; Western governors have been notified by the Bush administration that the electric grid will have to be expanded by as much as 55,000 miles. Sarah Berk, spokesperson for Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), said, "Private property is sacred property. Sen. Craig definitely feels this issue is best left up to the states." Govs. Michael Leavitt (R-Utah) and Dirk Kempthorne (R-Idaho) agree.

straight to the source: New York Times, Timothy Egan, 15 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/15/politics/15DOMA.html>

Another alternative energy source in California -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha051401.stm>

Atomic fireball -- a day in the life of Laura Kriv, TechRocks <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/kriv051401.stm>

A rind is a terrible thing to waste -- an Alaskan finds a gold mine in trash -- in our Out on Limb column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/limb/limb061099.stm>

5/15/01
2:13:29 PM

U T N E B U Z Z

News from Utne Reader

"THESE ARE CONCENTRATION CAMPS for hogs. We had concentration camps in Poland before. We will not allow them again."

Andrzej Lepper, president of the Polish Farmer's Union, after visiting American hog farms, "The Animals' Agenda"

T H I S W E E K:

FEATURED ARTICLE OF THE WEEK: You May Be an Anarchist

Derrick Jensen interviews America's most famous anarchist, John Zerzan. The soft-spoken theorist from Eugene, Oregon, "explores the roots of domination, the subtle coercion of the clock, and his hope for a future without progress."

NEW ARTICLES NOW ONLINE

Playlist: Recommended recordings

by Karen Olson and Keith Goetzman

Ocean Told Me to Tell You This:

A ritual to celebrate the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal

by Alice Walker

The High Cost of Going

by Craig Cox

Read all these articles online at http://www.utne.com

5/15/01
2:07:25 PM

Let Them Eat Chemo

Will the Supreme Court's ostrich-like ruling shut down the medical marijuana movement?

by Daniel Forbes

May 15, 2001 | Monday's Supreme Court decision against medical marijuana made one thing crystal clear. At every level -- executive, legislative and judicial -- the U.S. government remains steadfast in its opposition to the demon weed.

Even if it's being smoked by bald old ladies in wheelchairs.

Law enforcement officials, advocates and analysts disagree about the possible impact of the court's 8-0 decision that a federal law classifying marijuana as an illegal drug makes no exception for ill patients. And even some of those opposed to the ruling call it a legally justified, if narrow, ruling on the interpretion of federal drug law. But coming on top of the Clinton administration's unyielding opposition to medical marijuana, the refusal of Congress to consider removing marijuana from the list of Schedule 1 substances (the most serious classification) and President Bush's appointment of anti-marijuana hardliner John P. Walters as drug czar, the effect of the court's ruling confirms that in the government's eyes, marijuana is still the front line of attack in the drug war. As the most widely used illegal drug, it remains central to the government's anti-drug strategy: Drug warriors clearly fear that any wide-scale medical use would point to its relative harmlessness and undercut decades of official pronouncements that it is a dangerous and addictive "gateway" drug.

At the same time, the ruling was sufficiently narrow that it's possible it will have little actual effect. Experts agreed that the most visible "buyers' clubs" -- collectives organized to provide marijuana to help patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, M.S. and other diseases -- may be forced to shut down, and new ones discouraged. But the majority of patients who use marijuana, say many experts, will remain unaffected -- making the ruling symbolic, but relatively toothless. Considering the tricky public-relations issues raised by medical marijuana -- it's one thing to demonize some ghetto kid, it's another to turn a cold shoulder to vomiting cancer patients -- and the public's expressed support for it (in a CNN poll, 79 percent of Americans supported legalizing medicinal marijuana),this may be exactly the outcome the court desired.

Any thoughts that the justices were going to deviate from official dogma on marijuana were dispelled when they chose to rely on the 30-year-old Controlled Substances Act for guidance on pot's medical utility. Disregarding the ever-growing evidence of pot's medicinal value, including a government-sponsored 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine and the pro-medical-marijuana position of the California Medical Association, the court held that Congress's well-weathered act was the last word.

The majority opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, was relatively narrow. The court did not indicate a willingness to strike down state laws such as California's Prop. 215, which legalized medical marijuana. It also left it unclear whether all medical marijuana use, including personal cultivation and use, is illegal, or only large-scale distribution efforts like buyers' clubs. A split on the court appeared over this issue, with three of the court's more liberal justices expressing concerns that their more conservative brethren had not left room for legitimate medical marijuana use. In a separate concurring opinion, which was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, "Most notably, whether the defense might be available to a seriously ill patient for whom there is no alternative means of avoiding starvation or extraordinary suffering is a difficult issue that is not presented here."

Some advocates shared the liberal justices' fears that the conservative majority, if given the opportunity, would rule against an individual medical marijuana user. Kevin Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy, said, "If a personal case of a medical necessity defense was before them, I think this court would get five votes against it."

Beyond that hypothetical outcome, observers agree that the main effect of the ruling will be to shut down buyers' clubs. Where they disagree is on how much impact that will have. Dave Fratello, who as campaign manager for the medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Medical Rights has helped push through eight state ballot initiatives, acknowledged that "you won't see new clubs above ground," but downplayed the effect of that: "It's hard to say there'll be any concrete effect on anyone's activities. There's word of mouth and an extensive underground. The only thing missing is a store front signifying an above-ground operation. And that's symbolic."

Daniel Abrahamson, director of legal affairs for the George Soros-backed Lindesmith-Drug Policy Foundation, a liberal advocacy group, also downplayed the ruling, saying, "I think the decision will have fairly little practical import. Most patients don't use buyers' clubs. Most grow their own or get it elsewhere." Pointing to the fact that use by individual patients was not considered by the court, Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, agreed, saying, "The legal use of medical marijuana by seriously ill patients in states that have legalized its use is neither threatened nor challenged by this decision."

But San Francisco District Attorney Terrence Hallinan, who is a firm supporter of Prop. 215, believes the ruling will have a significant impact. "I'm surprised at the breadth of the decision," he said. "The court seemed to go out of its way to knock out any medical necessity defense." As a result of the ruling, Hallinan expects above-ground buyers' clubs to close down or be closed. "I'm disappointed," he said. "The people of San Franciso, California and the nation feel medical marijuana should be available. It's a backward move." Few marijuana prosecutions are handled at the federal level, but on the infrequent occasions when the government does step in, he expects it to continue its politically safe policy of seeking only civil injunctions against buyers' clubs. However, he thinks the ruling could also result in criminal prosecutions -- and believes that if it comes to that, the feds will find juries to convict.

As these comments indicate, what the court's ruling immediately affects -- perhaps the only thing it affects -- is distribution. Afraid of going after sick people directly, the court concentrated on manufacturing and distribution -- the pushers, if you will. But if the court is also telling individual patients that medical marijuana is acceptable for them, as at least the concurring opinion seems to, then the ruling is not only vague, it's self-contradictory and ultimately morally untenable. What's the point of telling sick people it's OK to smoke pot to relieve the symptoms of AIDS or the agony of chemo, but denying them a legal means of acquiring it? The buyers' clubs came into existence to address this very problem -- but it's the buyers' clubs that will be driven out of business or underground by this ruling.

In the end, the impact may be largely symbolic. In California, ground zero in the medical marijuana fight, there is only one high-profile buyers' club still operating (in Los Angeles), and it has only 860 active members. Activists interviewed were not aware of any other club with, in effect, a shingle hanging over its door, anywhere else in the country. Even the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, whose successful distribution led to the case finally before the Supreme Court, only had between 6,000 and 7,000 "certified" members.

But symbolic or not, not surprisingly, many people close to the issue in the state were bitterly disappointed with the ruling. Beverly Hills attorney Alan Isaacman, who has defended medical marijuana defendants, said, "Patients are being treated like criminals, doing something outside the law. The government ought not put sick people in that position." Scott Imler, head of perhaps the highest-profile club in the country still distributing pot, said, "We're tired of the hiding, tired of the shame -- we wanted to move past that. We're not prepared to go back to hiding or to buying on the streets."

Jeff Jones, co-founder and executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative named in the case, said, "As the facts stand, we're banned." But he believes today's ruling opens new avenues of litigation involving the right of patients to remain free from harm.

The ruling's effects on states that have passed medical marijuana initiatives remained unclear. In a statement yesterday, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer expressed regret at the decision, saying it was "unfortunate that the court was unable to respect California's historic role as a ... leader in the effort to help sick and dying residents who have no hope for other relief than through medical marijuana." Lockyer promised to review the ruling "before any conclusions are reached or recommendations are made about California law."

Eight other states that have passed medical marijuana laws -- Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii -- could be affected as well, should the feds decide to act against them. In Oregon, Leland Berger, legal counsel to the political action committee Voter Power, says that his state's legislation was written so narrowly, with definite limits as to weight and the number of plants, that the ruling will have essentially "no effect on the Oregon medical marijuana act." Berger adds that the federal acting solicitor general arguing the government's case before the high court admitted that any ruling will not impact state statutes: "States can pass laws independent of the federal government and independent of the federal Controlled Substance Act," in Berger's words.

As to the specific legal fallout from the ruling, few expect the federal prisons to suddenly swell with buyers' club operators serving hard time. (Patients are even less likely to be prosecuted: As Dave Fratello says, the federal government is "terrified of the horrible PR" of a criminal prosecution of patients.) The federal government finds itself boxed in: If it opts to criminally prosecute the clubs, it can't expect many victories -- Hallinan's claims notwithstanding, it seems unlikely that many juries are prepared to send people to jail for distributing medical marijuana. And a civil injunction, once it moves to the contempt stage, involves a jury as well. Still, should some unlucky patient or buyers' club employee fall under federal jurisdiction, given federal mandatory minimums, the penalties are far harsher.

In the end, responsibility to break out of the current situation rests with Congress -- whose ancient classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug on a par with heroin allowed the court to maintain the dysfunctional status quo. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has introduced a bill in Congress that would reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, meaning doctors could prescribe it, with restrictions. But action on the part of Congress, now or in the foreseeable future, is unlikely. Unwilling to appear "soft on drugs," afraid to allow scientific studies or even hearings, Congress has simply buried its head in the sand. Medical marijuana advocate Fratello said, "There's been no electoral consequences for Congress's cruelty for supporting the ban on medical marijuana. They just refuse to take on the issue. They won't even hold hearings, because they don't want to be confronted by patients." Public pressure on Congress hasn't materialized. While three-quarters of the public supports medical use, said Fratello, it isn't a pocketbook issue. Only when a family member has cancer or AIDS does the issue hit home -- and then people of all political stripes, from the most liberal to the most conservative, support medical use, he says.

With no action expected on the part of Congress, the arena moves to the states. It will be interesting to see if state legislatures move to legalize medical use in the face of today's ruling. Fratello notes that two states that have legalized medical pot, Maine and Nevada, now have bills active in the legislature to provide for some form of state-authorized distribution -- which might be legal under the court's narrow ruling. Fratello feels the two bills have an "excellent chance" of passage.

There is also considerable wiggle room for ingenious distributors to get around the court's ruling. Advocate Kevin Zeese notes that advocates have been selling marijuana clones aggressively, and that it would also be hard to forestall cooperatives sending out "consulting gardners." Moreover, it's possible for marijuana-growing establishments to rent out space (and expertise) to individuals to grow a single plant or three, which might thwart a ruling based on distribution.

But all grow-it-yourself alternatives have a serious problem. As buyers' club operator Scott Imler points out, "Starting chemotherapy, you only get a few days notice. You can't wait the five months it takes to harvest a plant."

As for how patients will react to the ruling, most will probably keep their heads down and continue trying to obtain their medicine as best they can. San Francisco District Attorney Hallinan does not anticipate civil disobedience or people seeking arrest. Lindesmith lawyer Daniel Abrahamson said, "There'll be a few demonstrations. But most patients want to get on with their lives discreetly. They don't want to wave a flag to the feds. If you have too high a profile, that invites federal prosecution."

But advocate Fratello thinks a more confrontational road may lie ahead. "This case came out of open defiance of federal courts, and you may see more," he said. One activist, who asked not to be identified, noted there are already plans circulating on the Internet calling for "rash disobedience." Some activists may descend on the federal growing operation at the University of Mississippi to highlight the hypocrisy of the federal government's growing pot but forbidding others to do so.

The court's ruling, it's clear, is far from the last salvo in this struggle.

http://www.Salon.com

5/15/01
11:16:00 AM

Medical Marijuana By Scott Shuger

Everybody leads with the Supreme Court's ruling yesterday that enhanced the federal government's ability to act against medical marijuana clubs, which is also the top story in the WSJ front-page world-wide news box.

Most of the big print over the leads suggests that the Court's ruling means medical marijuana clubs are out of business. (USAT: "COURT BARS MEDICAL MARIJUANA", LAT: TOP COURT SAYS NO TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE") But as the stories explain to varying degrees, the situation is rather more nuanced. The justices ruled 8-0 that the U.S. government has the ability to target distributors of marijuana to those who use it on certified medical grounds and 5-3 that it could also go after people for medical marijuana possession. But as the papers note, neither opinion overturns state medical marijuana initiatives or addresses any other question of state law. That's why the NYT says the Court dealt a "setback, but not a definitive blow" to the medical marijuana movement.

The LAT says flat-out that the legacy of the decision is "confusion and litigation." And the coverage itself gives that prediction immediate credibility. The NYT says one remaining question is whether or not state governments could now legally go into the medical marijuana distribution business, while the WP opines that the ruling "is likely to doom large, public distribution centers--confining the use of "medical marijuana" to private, small-scale settings outside the usual scope of federal enforcement efforts." The LAT says another consequence is that now a Los Angeles police officer could not arrest a medical marijuana user or distributor (because the California referendum specifically forbids this) but a federal officer could. The paper adds that's what's "most striking" about the decision is that it never discusses states' rights, not only the heart of the issue, but ordinarily something that the court's conservative majority champions.

The NYT, WP, and LAT each front fresh census data showing that the traditional "married-with-children" household is becoming increasingly rare. The NYT headline says that for the first time, families fitting the profile have dropped below 25% of total U.S. households. The Times goes high emphasizing these explanations: more men and women delaying children, more couples living longer after their children leave home, and single-parent families growing at a faster rate than married couples. The WP goes high with a mention of the rise of live-in partners, including gay couples. The LAT says the increasing numbers of live-ins "reflects deepening divorce trauma" and that "formalized unions have lost much of their functional and economic necessity in the last three decades." The NYT goes highest with the poverty angle: that the much-faster-increasing families with children headed by women are typically poorer than traditional nuclear families.

The LAT fronts word, based on unidentified government sources, that a second batch of previously undisclosed FBI McVeigh documents turned up last week. The story has nothing about the contents of these new documents, but does elaborate a bit about last week's bombshell batch: They include not just reports about a never-further-identified suspect, John Doe No. 2, but also some about another mystery man who gave his name as Robert Jacques to a real estate broker in the course of inquiring about the possibility of buying secluded property including caves. According to the report, the broker thought the two men with Jacques fit the description of Timothy McVeigh and his convicted co-conspirator Terry Nichols.

The WSJ finds that in the first quarter of 2001, the largest U.S. corporations posted "one of their worst profit performances in at least ten years…" The paper attributes the downer to rising labor and fuel costs compounded by falling sales.

The NYT goes inside with new data showing that the biggest cuts under the Republican-led tax bill passed by the House will go to the "extraordinarily wealthy," rather than to the "merely wealthy and the affluent." Under the House plan, the 400 richest Americans would save more than a million bucks apiece. Under the current Senate proposal, they would have to make do with individual cuts of $622,900.

The NYT reports that a widely discussed 1997 academic study finding that female chimpanzees in the Ivory Coast frequently mated with males outside their community has now been completely contradicted. The earlier study indicated that male chimps' striving for alpha status seemed a waste because the females would dally with whomever at their peak moment of fertility. The new study reinstates the sex value of being an alpha or near-alpha male, although the technique of befriending females instead of batting them around was also found to have some utility. This "debacle" (the NYT's words) seems to have been rooted in the inaccuracy of the non-invasive DNA-collection methods relied upon by the original researchers.

http://www.Slate.com

5/15/01
11:07:04 AM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Cheney to meet with unions on energy plan - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10820

Texaco unit fined for Clean Water Act violations - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10821

FAO chief says gene crops needed, safeguards vital - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10815

Experts argue over UN report on rising sea level - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10824

UN official queries Pakistan glacier melting idea - PAKISTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10823

Bird smuggler foiled at Delhi airport - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10825

German industry says nuclear agreement not ready yet - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10819

Lamy sees EU as go-between in next WTO round - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10816

EU, US sign energy research cooperation pact - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10818

High-tech hardware makers try to blunt EU scrap law - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10822

Australia Green Energy Market seeks quick start - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10817

5/15/01
11:03:51 AM

LFAS

What is the proposed rule, and what exactly is at issue?

The proposed rule was born out of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the United States' premier law in this field. When it was passed back in 1972, this law set a moratorium on the harassing, hunting, capturing, and killing of marine mammals. It is agreed that the Navy cannot deploy this new technology without obtaining some sort of exemption. Two years ago, the Navy applied for an exemption known as a "small take permit," which is available under the law for activities that harass, hunt, capture, or kill--or, in other words, "take"--a small number of marine mammals, provided that they do so unintentionally.

Not all activities qualify. To grant a "small take permit," NMFS has to find that the activity won't "take" more than a small number of marine mammals within a specified area and won't have more than a negligible impact on any particular species or stock. Even if NMFS decides that the activity meets these standards, the agency must still ensure, using all available means and methods, that it has "the least practicable impact" on marine mammals. It is the Navy's responsibility in this process to ensure that the NMFS has information sufficient to make these judgments.

The proposed rule that has just been issued would, if adopted, grant the Navy a "small take permit" for LFA. NMFS' ability to issue such a permit under these terms-does it have sufficient information? can it say that the impact will be negligible? has it ensured that LFA will have the least practicable impact?-is what is at issue.

- Are emails accepted?

Unfortunately, the agency will NOT accept comments submitted by email or the Internet. Comments should be mailed to: Donna Wieting, Chief; Marine Mammal Conservation Division; Office of Protected Resources; National Marine Fisheries Service; 1315 East-West Highway; Silver Spring, MD 20910-3226.

Alternatively, you can send your comments to Ms. Wieting by fax. Her fax number is 301-713-0376. Please be aware that this fax number may be busy during work hours.

- What should comments include?

LFA, like any complex issue, raises more than a few questions for discussion and debate-but don't feel that you have to comment on every aspect of the program. The fact is that NMFS, in making its decision, will probably put greater weight on comments that are thoughtful and detailed about a specific topic than on comments that are comprehensive but sketchy. All comments are extremely valuable in demonstrating a strong public interest.

In general, comments should relate to the legal standards described above. But here, for example, are a few points to consider: whether there are any species or numbers of species in the areas of operations that NMFS has failed to consider (see the list of species under sec. 216.180 of the proposed rule); whether there are any regions (undersea canyons, seamounts, etc.) within the operations areas that have relatively high densities of marine mammals or of endangered and threatened species; whether there is any information about the impacts of noise--and not just on marine mammals, but on humans and other terrestrial mammals as well--that NMFS and the Navy haven't considered; whether calculations of "take" are accurate; whether the small take permit is even applicable to a global system.

The Proposed Rule is available in .pdf format at

http:www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/PR2/Acoustics_Program/LFAfr.pdf

Additional information and updates will be posted on NRDC's website at

http://www.nrdc.org

If you have any questions about the comment process, or if you have special expertise in an area you would like to discuss, please feel free to contact Joel Reynolds (at jreynolds@nrdc.org or (323) 934-1210 (fax)) or Michael Jasny (at mjasny@ucla.edu or 323-934-1210 (fax)). And, if you can, please copy us on any comments that you send.

5/15/01
11:01:00 AM

Deadline for comments on Navy sonar system to be extended to May 31

On March 19, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposed a rule allowing the U.S. Navy to deploy a controversial new sonar system, known as "Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active Sonar" (or LFA, for short). This opened a period of public comment that, due to extraordinary interest, was extended to May 18.

**We have just been told that NMFS is further extending its deadline for comments to May 31.** An official notice to this effect should appear in the Federal Register within the next several days.

These next few weeks represent the last, best opportunity for researchers, conservationists, and other members of the public to weigh in. We believe it is vital, if you have taken an interest in this issue, to present whatever information and analysis you can before the May 31 deadline.

5/15/01
10:58:18 AM

Canada's Capital Bucks Free Trade

OTTAWA Indymedia --10 May 2001

On Wednesday [9 May] the City of Ottawa became the twentieth municipality in Canada to pass a resolution against the FTAA, GATS, and similar trade and investment agreements. Ottawa is Canada's fourth largest city and the nation's Capital.

Shoehorned between a contentious bilingualism debate and consideration of the new megacity's first budget, the resolution passed easily, 17 to 2 votes, in spite of representation from Canada's Minister of International Trade, Pierre Pettigrew.

Dissenting Councilor Wendy Stewart quoted a letter from the Minister assuring Councilors that "municipalities will retain the right to legislate in areas where we have jurisdiction," and that "the Resolution cannot give us the right to abrogate our NAFTA obligations."

But the Councilors had been thoroughly briefed, "more thoroughly briefed than on any issue before," confessed Mayor Bob Chiarelli. Councilors each received a 100-page briefing book, which many "read cover-to-cover." They received personal delegations from constituents, petitions, countless phone calls, letters, faxes and e-mails from hundreds of citizens.

Such intense lobbying by the loosely formed "Ottawa Coalition to Protect Municipal Democracy Against International Trade Pacts" [OCPMDAITP!] persuaded the City's Health, Recreation and Social Services Committee to approve the Resolution unanimously, on April 19th. City Council then endorsed the resolution, with only a single friendly amendment, in less than five minutes.

The Council's approval "shows that people without prior experience in bringing a resolution to the City Council of a major and very political Canadian city were able to do an amazing piece of work," said OCPMDAITP spokesperson Armand Coté. "With a terrific show of grass roots democracy, we swung the City Council behind the resolution which is a clear challenge to the present vision, or bad dream, of how society and nature should be arranged in the 'new world order'."

"This resolution takes head-on one of the most contentious subjects in our society, corporate driven globalization," spokesperson Emily Watkins said. "We learned that organization, focus, and a valid cause which speaks to and involves ordinary people in their real life is an underestimated social and political force," she said.

The first city to pass a trade and investment agreement resolution was Vancouver, in July 2000. Since then many other municipalities, and organizations of municipalities, plus two USA cities, have started examining the implications of these deals on their ability to govern.

In particular, as analyst Matt Sanger quotes the "recently liberated" FTAA draft chapter on "investor / state" relations: "The intentions of this chapter, Scope of Application, 7.1, applies to the entire territory of the Parties and to any level or order of government regardless of any inconsistent measure that may exist in legislation at those levels of government."

The recent Metalclad toxic waste dump case, in which the NAFTA tribunal ruled that the city of Guadalcazar in San Luis Potosi, Mexico did not have the right to protect public health and other matters under its jurisdiction, "demonstrated that the explicit provisions in NAFTA exempting municipal governments from Chapter 11 are not sufficient to protect municipal governments from the application of the provisions of Chapter 11," Mr Sanger said.

The cities of Kingston, Halifax, Brantford and others are expected to consider similar resolutions in the near future, spokesperson Derek McKee revealed.

The full text of the Resolution is available at:

http://ontario.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=828&group=webcast

See also: Bush Asks Congress to Grant Him a 'Fast Track' in Trade Talks

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/11/world/11TRAD.html

5/15/01
10:55:06 AM

DINOSAURS JR.

Wildlife across the globe faces the greatest risk of extinction since dinosaurs kicked the bucket, according to a report published by the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Washington, D.C.-based Future Harvest. The report says conservation strategies ain't working, in part because 45 percent of the world's major nature reserves are being used to grow food. But don't give up hope (however far-fetched). The report goes on to review successful examples of places where nature is being preserved in tandem with food production.

BBC News, Alex Kirby, 08 May 2001

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1318000/1318157.stm

5/15/01
10:52:41 AM

Linking Driving Fees To Externalities

A California public policy group contends that drivers are failing to pay for the environmental harm they cause. With new forecasts of gas prices soaring to $3 to $5 per gallon in the United States this summer, consumers are once again talking about how expensive it is to operate a motor vehicle.

But a public policy group based in Oakland, California, claims that drivers actually pay less than half of the costs created by automobile use.

In a recently released paper, "Beyond Gas Taxes: Linking Driving Fees to Externalities," the group Redefining Progress claims that the costs of increased congestion, paving over land to create roads, accidents and pollution are never included in the costs of driving.

Redefining Progress defines itself as a group seeking to "ensure a more sustainable and socially equitable world." Its paper asserts that non-drivers, taxpayers and drivers alike pay every time another driver gets behind the wheel.

"A driver pays for gasoline, insurance and repairs in order to derive the benefits of driving but not for the traffic and pollution that affect nearby people," writes program director Mark Glickman, author of the paper. "There simply aren't financial incentives for drivers to take these costs into account when they drive, so as a society we all drive more than we would like."

The group suggests that drivers should be charged for the social costs created by automobile use through options other than gas taxes.

For example, charging for highway use during rush hour could be used to ease traffic problems by keeping people off the roads during those hours, and pay-as-you-drive insurance could reduce automobile crashes.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration, some 230,957,227 passenger autos, pickups and vans are estimated to have traveled about 2.5 trillion miles in the United States during the year 2000.

One report puts the social cost of driving vehicles at almost $1 trillion per year. According to the American Automobile Association, the total cost of owning, maintaining and operating a vehicle was 53 cents per mile in 1997. Even if the cost per mile remained at this level for 2000, cars cost drivers over $1.3 trillion.

The Federal Highway Administration says that when you add the costs imposed on society by crashes, pollution, noise and congestion, a mid-range estimate for the total social costs of driving in 2000 would be $446.3 billion, or 18 cents per mile.

The Beyond Progress report cites other studies that indicate this estimate of social costs may be conservative. Some figure social costs of driving vehicles at almost $1 trillion per year.

According to Redefining Progress data, drivers paid an estimated $80.6 billion in fuel and vehicle taxes and tolls in 2000, but much of these revenues are dedicated to highway expansion and maintenance.

Auto insurance companies paid $108.4 billion in loss claims in 1999, some of which covered losses other than accidents.

The report notes: "Even if we consider all of these payments as compensation for social costs of driving, drivers cover less than half of the total bill created by cars. Other drivers, non-drivers and society at large cover the remaining $257 billion in costs that driving creates."

5/15/01
10:47:47 AM

WHY JFK WAS SHOT

"Citizens of this Earth, we are not alone."

With those dramatic words, President John F. Kennedy intended to inform the American public and the world at large that the U.S. government had made contact with aliens from deep space.

But before he could deliver the speech on November 22, 1963, the beloved leader was cut down by an assassin's bullets.

That is the astonishing claim of JFK researcher Professor Lawrence Merrick, author of an upcoming blockbuster book Killing the Messenger: The Death of JFK.

"We now know the real reason why President Kennedy was assassinated," declared Prof. Merrick of Cambridge, Mass.

"It appears that some individuals within our government were determined to maintain the secrecy surrounding captured UFOs -- and decided to silence the President before he could speak."

Prof. Merrick says he began a search for the undelivered speech after learning the President's original handwritten notes had fallen into the hands of Texas Governor John Connally -- who was riding in JFK's death car that fateful day in Dallas.

"I was surprised to find that Kennedy handed Connally the speech, which was on note cards, to look at, shortly before the motorcade set off at 12:55 p.m.," said Prof. Merrick.

The governor was badly wounded in the gun attack.

"Connally was terrified for his own life," said the historian.

"He placed the bloodstained index cards in a safety deposit box with orders to a trusted aide that the contents not be revealed until after his death."

When Gov. Connally died in 1993, the aide removed the cards and held on to them.

Last year, Prof. Merrick tracked down the aide, who passed the speech on with a guarantee of anonymity.

Prof. Merrick was flabbergasted when he read the cards. He took them to five handwriting analysts, who agreed the speech was "95 percent certain" to be Kennedy's.

Research reveals that just days before his trip to Dallas, JFK met with his predecessor President Dwight D. Eisenhower, notes Prof. Merrick.

"I believe he was seeking advice on whether to go public with the facts about UFOs," Prof. Merrick said. "But other government insiders apparently felt the truth about UFOs would cause widespread panic. And they were willing to kill to keep the information secret.

"I hope now President Clinton will give the speech that should have been delivered 36 years ago."

Here is what the President would have said:

My fellow Americans, people of the world, today we set forth on a journey into a new era. One age, the childhood of mankind, is ending and another age is about to begin.

The journey of which I speak is full of unknowable challenges, but I believe that all our yesterdays, all the struggles of the past, have uniquely prepared our generation to prevail.

Citizens of this Earth, we are not alone. God, in His infinite wisdom, has seen fit to populate His universe with other beings -- intelligent creatures such as ourselves.

How can I state this with such authority?

In the year 1947 our military forces recovered from the dry New Mexico desert the remains of an aircraft of unknown origin. Science soon determined that this vehicle came from the far reaches of outer space. Since that time our government has made contact with the creators of that spacecraft.

Though this news may sound fantastic -- and indeed, terrifying -- I ask that you not greet it with undue fear or pessimism. I assure you, as your President, that these beings mean us no harm.

Rather, they promise to help our nation overcome the common enemies of all mankind -- tyranny, poverty, disease, war.

We have determined that they are not foes, but friends. Together with them we can create a better world. I cannot tell you that there will be no stumbling or missteps on the road ahead.

But I believe that we have found the true destiny of the people of this great land: To lead the world into a glorious future.

In the coming days, weeks and months, you will learn more about these visitors, why they are here and why our leaders have kept their presence a secret from you for so long.

I ask you to look to the future not with timidity but with courage. Because we can achieve in our time the ancient vision of peace on Earth and prosperity for all humankind.

God bless you.

5/15/01
10:20:28 AM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-14-02.html

"We Cover the Earth For You"

ALIEN SPECIES: COMMON, COSTLY AND DESTRUCTIVE

GLAND, Switzerland, May 14, 2001 (IUCN) - Invading alien species are responsible for a worldwide biodiversity crisis, driving large numbers of native plant and animal species to extinction on every continent. The damage is documented by IUCN - the World Conservation Union in a new survey of the 100 worst alien species issued in time for Biodiversity Day, May 22.

For full text and graphics visit:

MAJORITY OF AMERICANS SAY ENERGY CRUNCH VERY SERIOUS

PRINCETON, New Jersey, May 14, 2001 (ENS) - An increasing number of Americans now believe the energy situation in the United States is "very serious," a new survey of public opinion has found.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-14-04.html

EUROPEAN AG MINISTERS SUPPORT ORGANIC FARMING

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 14, 2001 (ENS) - Agriculture ministers from 12 European countries have called for creation within two years of a European action plan for the development of organic farming and food. Agreed at a conference in the Danish capital on Friday, the Copenhagen Declaration marks a breakthrough for the European organic movement, according to Denmark's agriculture ministry.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-14-05.html

CARIBBEAN SEA TURTLES SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE

WASHINGTON, DC, May 14, 2001 (ENS) - Greater cooperation between the countries of the Caribbean is urgently needed to stem the tide of strong demand for marine turtle products in this region, according to a new report. Marine turtles in the Northern Caribbean have over the centuries been devastated by overexploitation, bringing some populations to the brink of extinction and severely threatening others.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-14-06.html

PAKISTAN SAFEGUARDS EIGHT NEW WETLANDS OF INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE

GLAND, Switzerland, May 14, 2001 (ENS) - The government of Pakistan has designated eight new Wetlands of International Importance for protection under the intergovernmental treaty known as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-14-03.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 14, 2001

Bush Energy Plan Will Include Some Conservation

Environmental Principles Included in Trade Toolbox

Camden Cement Plant Blocked Again

Timber Activists Arrested for Protecting Redwoods

Conservation Groups File Lawsuit Over Stiltsville

Temporary Whale Protection Zone Created

Cooling Loss Means Special Inspection for Nuke Plant

New York Pledges $1.79 Million for Environmental Protection

EPA Postpones Stricter Smog Rules in St. Louis

Connecticut Company to Pay Fine for TCE Emissions

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-14-09.html

5/14/01
4:33:33 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

http://past.thenation.com/issue/991129/1129stille.shtml

1. APPEAL OF THUNDER Two jailed environmental activists in Mexico, Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, have been granted an appeal, their lawyers said last week. The activists, who led peasant farmers to protest against rampant logging in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero, have been sentenced to seven and 10 years in prison, respectively, for drug and weapons charges. Supporters say the two were tortured into confessing to the charges, and the case has provoked an international outcry. Mexican President Vicente Fox earlier this year ordered a review of the case shortly after he took office.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Adriana Barrera, 14 May 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10797>

do good: Take action to free the Mexican activists <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/politics.stm#flores>

2. ALL THE ANTI-PRESIDENT'S MEN Robert Redford, in a letter made public on Friday, has royally dissed an invitation from U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton to attend a press event with her later this month to release a California condor into the wild. Norton invited Redford after learning that he was critical of her policies. She noted that he had starred in the 1975 thriller "Three Days of the Condor" and suggested that they could "discuss the best way to conserve America's unspoiled landscapes and the wild creatures who inhabit them." Redford told Norton that instead of meeting with her, he said he would use his time to draw attention to "the devastating environmental repercussions of the agenda you and President Bush embrace."

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 12 May 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/572388.asp>

3. THE STING-Y Faced with rising gasoline prices, some Americans are trading in their SUVs and gas-guzzling cars for gas-stingy vehicles. The trend, if it holds, would be good news for the environment. The U.S. could reduce its crude-oil imports by 170,000 barrels a day -- 62.05 million barrels a year -- if consumers switched from SUVs to higher-mileage vehicles, according to a study by the James A. Baker 3d Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Last Wednesday, meanwhile, the Bush administration canceled a 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototypes of cars that could get 80 miles per gallon.

straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Daniel B. Wood, 14 May 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/05/14/p1s4.htm>

straight to the source: Philadelphia Inquirer, Joseph A. Gambardello and Kristen A. Graham <http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/05/11/front_page/SUV11.htm>

4. NO MORE TERRA YUCKY Japan has just enacted the most comprehensive appliance recycling law in Asia. Three hundred million appliances are now in use in the country, and about 18 million appliances get tossed each year. Starting this month, consumers must pay to have, say, a refrigerator or a washing machine recycled. Previously, it cost nothing to send an appliance to the dump, and some consumers are frustrated that they are now being hit with the disposal fees, which range from $35 to $60 a pop. As a result, local governments are preparing for a wave of illegal dumping.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Mark Magnier, 13 May 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010513/t000040350.html>

do good: Take action and tell the American Congress to get its own recycling act together <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/waste.stm#congress>

5. HE'S ALL BUSINESS President Bush is expected to nominate James Connaughton, a lawyer who has represented General Electric and Atlantic Richfield in suits against the U.S. EPA over Superfund cleanups, to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He wants Linda Fisher, who leads Monsanto's government affairs office, to be second-in-command at the U.S. EPA. He has picked a ranching industry lobbyist, William Geary Myers 3d, to be the chief lawyer at the U.S. Interior Department. And, in case you've forgotten, Bush's choice for Interior deputy secretary, the No. 2 position in the department, is mining industry lobbyist J. Steven Griles. If the president gets his druthers, the top enviro official at the U.S. Justice Department will be Thomas Sansonetti, a Wyoming lawyer who specializes in minerals and energy and is a member of the libertarian Federalist Society.

straight to the source: Katharine Q. Seelye, 12 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/12/politics/12NOMI.html>

you read it first in Grist Magazine: Fear and loathing in D.C. -- the Bush administration is smoking out enviros left and right -- in our Muckraker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck032901.stm>

6. TO FORM AN IMPERFECT UNION President Bush is meeting today with labor leaders in hopes of getting them to endorse his energy plan, which will be released on Thursday. Environmental leaders say Bush is trying to use the plan to split two key Democratic constituencies, unions and environmental groups. Deb Callahan, president of the League of Conservation Voters, said, "If the building trades, machinists, and steelworkers look at the difference in the number of long-term jobs from building a few nuclear power plants and from retrofitting thousands of homes for solar panels, they will see there are a lot more long-term jobs in retrofitting." The president will be visiting strategic spots around the country this week to call attention to "21st-century conservation," but the heart of his energy plan will emphasize ways to increase energy production by making things easier for the coal industry, the nuclear industry, and the like.

straight to the source: New York Times, Steven Greenhouse, 14 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/14/politics/14LABO.html>

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Richard Simon, 13 May 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010513/t000040334.html>

straight to the source: Washington Post, Mike Allen and Eric Pianin, 13 May 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20601-2001May12.html>

Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:

Trading places -- a day in the life of Michelle Long, Transparency Center <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/long051101.stm>

There goes the neighborhood -- the latest in the comic adventures of Zed, last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed051101.stm>

Dear Christie ... 10 Reasons to stay the course -- in a confidential memo, President Bush tells EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman what's on his mind -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho040901.stm>

5/14/01
2:44:34 PM

The Nation

A few hours ago center-left leader Francesco Rutelli conceded defeat in Italy's federal elections, leaving the way clear for Silvio Berlusconi to become the country's 59th prime minister in an election in which more than 80 percent of the eligible 49.5 million Italians turned out to vote.

The election results were delayed - though not, of course, very significantly based on recent U.S. standards - by a combination of slow counting and a complex proportional representation system.

Berlusconi, a media baron to put Rupert Murdoch to shame, served previously as prime minister for seven months ending in 1994 when his shaky political coalition fell apart.

Last year Alexander Stille, an expert on Italian politics, published a profile of Berlusconi, "Emperor of the Air," in the January 24, 2000 issue of The Nation. For a early look at the new prime minister of Italy, read this piece, now currently available at:

There are also numerous other new featured articles, editorials and columns available at The Nation's website on a wide-range of subjects:

THE NATION EDITORS: Rogue Nation

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010528&s=editors

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: Leave No Child Behind?

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010528&s=hitchens

RICHARD POLLAK: Is GE Mightier Than The Hudson?

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010528&s=pollak

CAROLYN JOFFEE: Bush's Antichoice Assault

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010528&s=joffe

JAY T. HARRIS: News and Profits

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010528&s=harris

JOHN NICHOLS: The Beat

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010528&s=nichols

ALBERT EINSTEIN: The 1932 Disarmament Conference

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=archive&s=1932einstein

MAUDE BARLOW: The Fight For The Americas (WEB-ONLY)

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=barlow20010508

AMY SOHN: Indecent Proposals (FILM REVIEWS)

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010528&s=sohn

And also still available are numerous recent articles of interest, including The Nation editors on Bush's first 100 days; Jonathan Schell on Bob Kerrey's alleged war crimes; Barbara Kingsolver on the new administration's assault on the environment; Eileen Stillwaggon on AIDS and poverty in Africa; Amy Bach on some problems with legal aid; William Greider on global sweatshops and Eric Alterman, Alec Dubro and Peter Kornbluh on tainted Bush appointee Otto Reich. All accessible at:

http://www.thenation.com

5/14/01
2:22:28 PM

THE PROPHETS CONFERENCE ~ FLORIDA KEYS: HEALERS AND HEROES, taking place during the weekend of NOVEMBER 16-18, 2001, once again bringing together some of the true heroes and healers of this most significant time. These special people show us possibilities of understanding and action that we may utilize in each of our callings, and they do this with clarity, reaching deeply into our hearts, minds, and spirits. We are shown that indeed science and spirit are coming to the same place from which we may truly make our shift into configuring a new Reality, one based upon freedom, wholeness, care, and a fresh way of seeing and being. We no longer have the time to sit back and hope - now we must learn and create a greater hope and then we must realize it. Our rapidly growing tribe is gathering and our time is now.

Full information is at http://www.greatmystery.org/floridaconference.html.

Coming to together in the breathtaking tropical beauty of Hawk's Kay Resort are healers and heroes Barbara Ann Brennan, James Redfield, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Colin Wilson, Gregg Braden, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Brooke Medicine Eagle, Dr. John Mack, Dr. Michio Kaku, Ilona Selke, Howard Martin, Salle Merrill Redfield, James Twyman, and Laurie Monroe.

--The Prophets Conference ~ New York City, this next weekend, May 18-20, in addition to full weekend passes, has INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATION TICKETS available for $35 each. If interested, you will find the schedule to select from at:

http://www.greatmystery.org/nyschedule.html, and the registration information at http://www.greatmystery.org/nyregister.html. If you order on-line, tickets will be held under your name at will-call. Individual presentation tickets will also be available for purchase at the door beginning at 10 am on Friday. Full information is at http://www.greatmystery.org/nyconference.html.

--The Prophets Conference ~ Victoria, BC early registration discounted fee of $250 usd is available only through Monday May 21, 2001. For registration and other information, go to http://www.greatmystery.org/victoriaconference.html.

To request a brochure and / or receive additional information, call toll-free 888 777-5981 and leave a message.

Thank you for posting this message to your personal email list and to your member lists and groups. If you are not subscribed to this newsletter, please do so by contacting us at axiom@greatmystery.org.

5/14/01
2:22:02 PM

Disclosure Project Update http://www.disclosureproject.org

Dr. Steven Greer, director of the Disclosure Project, issued this statement:

"Over 250,000 people were lined up to go online as the National Press Club event began at 9am on May 9, 2001 - the largest webcast audience in the history of the National Press Club in Washnington, D.C.

To date, approximately 1 billion people world wide have heard of the event and support is growing for Hearings..

Team [Disclosure Project] has met with over 2 dozen Senate and House members and staff with witnesses present. [It is] Urgent that all concerned write their 2 Senators and their House Representative and ask for IMMEDIATE OPEN HEARINGS ON THE UFO MATTER. Inform them that we need Legislation to Ban Space Weapons and a Release of Advanced Energy and Propulsion Systems that will Solve the Energy Crisis and end Global Warming and Pollution.."

Steven M. Greer, MD

Director, The Disclosure Project

http://www.disclosureproject.org/congress/congress.htm

Navy Testing Whales' Hearing Level

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=051101&ID=s961837

Navy testing whales' hearing level

Many whales beached themselves during Navy sonar tests last year

Associated Press

TACOMA -- The Navy, criticized for the deaths of whales after sonar tests in the Bahamas, is testing the hearing of two beluga whales at Tacoma's Point Defiance Aquarium, hoping to determine what frequencies the marine mammals can hear Beethoven and his half brother Turner are being subjected to a variety of sounds at their aquarium pool, and are being trained to respond by vocalizing to the tones from an underwater machine, said trainer Traci Belting. The 1,300-pound whales swim to a "bite plate" they seize in their jaws to hold their heads in the proper position. For their trouble, the whales are rewarded with treats and praise, Belting said.

The long-term study will examine the hearing of the whales and the effects of noise in their environment, said Tom LaPuzza, spokesman for the Navy's Marine Mammals Program.The first phase, which begins as soon as Turner and Beethoven can reliably use the testing apparatus and sound off whenever they hear a tone, will determine the range of the mammals' hearing. The second phase will introduce background noise to see how it interferes with their hearing. In the third phase, the whales will be exposed to other sounds to see how their hearing is affected. LaPuzza likened it to a "rock concert effect" -- the experiment will involve sound levels that temporarily impair a whale's hearing similar to a loud concert that impairs a human's hearing for a short period.

The Navy had studied two beluga whales at a facility in the noisy environment of the San Diego Bay. Point Defiance was selected because it is quiet and controlled. Last year, animal rights advocates blamed Navy sonar transmissions for a mass beaching of whales in the Bahamas. Necropsies of the dead whales showed they all had severe trauma to their ears. LaPuzza said there was no scientific evidence linking Navy tests to whale beachings.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is currently considering the Navy's request for permission to operate an even more powerful sonar system for submarine detection that would be used in more than 80 percent of the world's oceans. Some experts compare the sound of the proposed new tests to a rocket taking off.

The project, especially the third phase, sounds questionable and possibly cruel to the sensitive ears of the whales, said Toni Frohoff, a marine biologist with the Humane Society of the United States. "I'm concerned that the welfare of these animals might be compromised for goals that have nothing to do with marine mammal conservation and protection," she said.Other animal rights advocates object to what they call an unnecessary test.

"There's enough scientific research that has been done on the hearing capability of these animals for (the Navy) to figure out the consequences of what's going on at sea from setting off those detonators," said Stephanie Boyles, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Please Note:

The National Marine Fisheries Service is now accepting public comments through May 18, 2001, on whether to grant the Navy's LFAS permit request. Send a free fax or write them a letter and stop the Navy from deploying LFAS There is now undeniable evidence that high-power "active" sonar systems can and do kill marine animals. Analysis of the inner ears of several dead whales enabled scientists to confirm, for the first time, the dangerous role of LFAS to a level of certainty that even the Navy could not ignore. All but one of the whales suffered hemorrhages in the inner ear, almost certainly the result of a sonic blast.

http://www.DirectActions.net/LFASproposal.htm

The Inquisition of Lori Berenson

From: Rhoda and Mark Berenson http://www.freelori.org

Thursday, May 10, 2001

To: All Friends and Supporters of Lori Berenson

THE INQUISITION

We would like to draw your attention to two articles that were just placed on the website.

The first is an English translation of an article by Peruvian novelist Eduardo Gonzalez Viana, "The Inquisition in Lima in 1736 and in April 2001: Lori Berenson." The Spanish original was published in the Peruvian newspaper Liberacion. This is the first newspaper account in Peru that has defended Lori and told the Peruvian people what this trial is really about

http://www.freelori.org/news/01apr26_liberacion.html

The second is a detailed account of nine courtroom sessions in Lori's current trial by human rights observer Marie J. Manrique from Rights Action. Reading this should give you some sense of the 'inquisition in Lima -- April 2001.'

http://www.freelori.org/statements/01apr_mariemanrique.html

Rhoda and Mark Berenson

Website: http://www.freelori.org

Call the White House and ask George W. Bush to put more effort in Lori's return home 202-456-1111.

5/14/01
2:21:25 PM

Beltway-Bashing Books

By Jacob Weisberg

In populist demonology, the term "Washington" is so self-evidently synonymous with badness that it hardly requires an explanation. Everyone is supposed to understand that our nation's capital is a hopelessly corrupt and corrupting place, a den of thieves, a colony of leeches with name tags that say "lobbyist," "talking head," "spin doctor," and "professional politician." These bloodsuckers live it up while squandering our hard-earned tax dollars. For sport, they engage in partisan bickering, reciprocal back-scratching, as well as in the more traditional forms of vice.

But don't worry about all that. According to two new books, one a personal essay, the other a satirical novel, the reality of our nation's capital is actually much more squalid. In the view of Meg Greenfield and Jeffrey Frank, a lot of people who live in Washington, D.C., resemble human beings only in outward appearance. Parasitism is the least of their deficiencies.

Greenfield, the widely admired editorial page editor of the Washington Post who died in 1999, makes this point explicitly in her posthumous memoir-critique, Washington. The book wasn't finished when Greenfield died, and in places it could have used another pass through the typewriter. Nonetheless, she gets across her central assertion clearly and pungently. The public may sometimes object to Washington for the wrong reason, but its attitude of contempt is eminently justified.

In Greenfield's view, Washingtonians dehumanize themselves in a number of ways: by leaving their individuality and natural human sympathies wherever they came from (and hope never to return to), by setting impossible standards for themselves and others, and by putting their careers ahead of their families and personal lives. Even adultery is pathetic in Washington. Politicians are too busy and emotionally guarded to carry on passionate extramarital affairs. Instead, they're more likely to seek out emotionally empty quickies with mentally inert bimbos. For male politicians, meaningful relationships with members of the opposite sex are reserved for chiefs of staff and administrative assistants. With a keen anthropological eye, Greenfield sketches a catalog of recognizable and unappealing Washington types--the "adult good child," the prodigy, the perpetual protégé. She is especially astute in her chapter of observations about the "wife culture" that lasted much longer in Washington than anywhere else in the country.

Why do Washingtonians lead lives of such superficiality and emotional impoverishment? Greenfield's explanation is that they become "dual selves" leading a "two-track" existence. As she writes, "The public, blah-blah-blah-I'm-glad-you-asked-that-question person lives in the same skin with the other one, who acknowledges in a hundred different ways to a multiplicity of large and small Washington audiences every day what a crock he knows the blah-blah-blah to be." Though she blames those who undergo this kind of personality schism, she views it as almost unavoidable. In Washington, politicians, aides, and journalists are expected to lead blameless, exemplary lives of absolute dedication to causes and constituents. But no one is perfect or blameless in reality. So Washingtonians bifurcate into a fraudulent "on-the-record" self and a more genuine "off-the-record" one.

Over time, the perfect self cannot be kept separate from the flawed one. Greenfield observes that it is the ideal personality that most often comes to subsume the genuine one. Washington types "begin to live lives of pantomime, in which gesture is all," she writes. "They spend more and more time attending social functions with 'friends' they don't much like, smiling when they want to frown or yell or tell someone off." Living the lie of a carefully cultivated public image, keeping up a false picture makes someone truly lifeless. Eventually, she writes, such a person will "address us over a casual drink or at the supermarket as if he were orating at the United Nations."

The moments Greenfield savors are those in which the reverse of this process occurs--when the real human being rises to reassert itself, cracking the carefully constructed carapace of a public image. When the claims of family, identity, and personal history reassert themselves, Washington's ego-monsters become far more sympathetic creatures. Greenfield writes of being moved listening to the rambling speech Nixon gave about his parents on the morning of his resignation in 1974. Colleagues in the Washington Post newsroom took this as another shameless gambit by a cynical manipulator. To Greenfield, however, "it seemed most natural that at a moment of such unendurable shame, one's thoughts would go back to one's parents, to one's anxieties about how they would view the spectacle, to indirect pleas for their forbearance and love."

She reserves her true admiration for those few who live in Washington and yet manage to resist the tendency to adopt a dual selfhood. Among the few she names are the late Phil Hart of Michigan, the retired Nancy Landon Kassebaum of Kansas, John McCain of Arizona, and many of the journalists she worked with at the Post. Though anyone who knew her would place Greenfield herself in the category of grounded, fakery-proof Washingtonians, it's a measure of her integrity that she does not exempt herself from her own analysis. In several brief but revealing autobiographical discursions, Greenfield describes herself, especially in her younger days, as one of those "adult good children" who flourish in Washington but are largely detested elsewhere. She exposes her own feelings of shame about instances when she wielded her power as a journalist with too little consideration for the feelings of others.

Jeffrey Frank, a former colleague of Greenfield's at the Washington Post and now an editor at The New Yorker describes Washington during roughly the same era that Greenfield covers in his slight, amusing satire The Columnist. The novel takes the form of a faux-memoir by the syndicated columnist Brandon Sladder. Sladder seems to be modeled in equal proportions on Joseph Kraft and George Will. He pompously misquotes great writers, wears a bow tie, and natters on about baseball, comparing Israel to the '69 Mets and describing Margaret Thatcher as "surefooted shortstop who seems to be fielding line drives." Sladder pens his tell-all confession in the orotund style of the world affairs columnist of yore, a tone Frank sends up splendidly. Looking back on his career, Sladder laments the "people I wish I'd seen more of, such as my children."

Sladder is a twit, a suck-up, a blackmailer, and a buffoon who makes his way as a journalist by betraying his parents, wives, children, friends, and colleagues. After destroying a liberal weekly modeled on the New Republic and making an enemy of its literary editor "Lionel Heftihed," he goes on to wreck havoc elsewhere. His ambition and superficiality leave a swath of destruction, which he largely ignores or blames on others. "If one took seriously all that is said about oneself," Sladder notes, "it would not be possible to function in this town."

Beneath the comedy, Frank--who, as Brandon Sladder would say, has the good fortune to call me a friend--takes an even dimmer view of Washington society than does Greenfield. Her inside-the-Beltway types sacrifice their real lives on the altar of political celebrity. His characters, by contrast, are such deeply terrible people that they never had a real life to sacrifice. Sladder's friends and family are but the props and tools of career advancement.

Despite her attention to comic detail, Meg Greenfield sees Washington as a largely tragic place because of the way it makes people less human. Jeffrey Frank sees Washington as ridiculous and funny for the same reason. Her book is a subtle, thoughtful, and ultimately compassionate depiction. His book is thinner, less generous, and more fun. Together they'll make you glad if you make your home somewhere else.

5/14/01
2:20:46 PM

In The News

UK Pushes Green Agenda While USA Gets "Bush-Whacked."

UK - London - While the new US president, George Bush is making a determined effort to undercut environmental measures on all fronts and ignore global efforts of cooperation, Europe is moving rapidly into the 21st Century.

Britain's new program to tackle climate change could cut greenhouse gas emissions to 23% less than 1990 levels by 2010 - almost double the legally binding target agreed at Kyoto.

Launching the new plans, Environmental Minister, Michael Meacher, acknowledge that, the long term, cuts of up to 60 to 70 percent globally may be necessary.

"The recent floods have shown how vulnerable we can be to extreme weather," he said. Announcing a new program to tackle climate change, which included a new target of 10% for renewable energy production by 2010, Mr. Meacher said:

"We want to make sure that the UK makes a strong contribution to the global fight against climate change, while improving the quality of life we have now and that of future generations."

All UK government departments now have Green Ministers who meet regularly to compare progress and exchange information on the "greening of government." The headquarters of the Pension Services and nine other departments have already switched to green electricity and others are to follow suit.

At a recent conference on "Sustainability In Public Services," organized by the Green Government Magazine, the chairman of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, John Horam, MP, paid tribute to Friends of the Earth and their Director and conference chairman, Charles Secrett. Friends of the Earth, said Horam, provided the inspiration that gave birth to the green government committees.

Contact Green Government Magazine.

Email: info@greeninggovernment.com

On the web at www.greeninggovernment.com

www.positivenews.org.uk

Volunteers Spur Digital Revolution In Developing World

United Nations - In an effort to close the technological gap between the informational have & have-nots, the United Nations Information Technology Services (UNITeS) is sending IT experts to developing countries from Benin to Tanzania.

One volunteer, Sean Osner, recently set up a community center in a Bedouin village with 15 new computers. While some may wonder why people with a tradition as nomadic shepherds would need the internet, Osner is quick to point out that - among other things - it is an especially effective way for isolated people to get a better education and medical care. And not only this, he continues, but "One of the things we designed the community center for was to help the local women find markets in other parts of the world for their products. Finding this will help keep those traditions alive in their community."

The goal of the UNITeS program is three-fold: to put computer systems in place, to teach people how to use them, and to help businesses in developing countries to utilize the international people-to-people marketing opportunities afforded by the internet. The program is also addressing the acute shortage of IT-skilled people in developing countries, a problem that has been a major block to digital development

There is no question that the demand is present. In a recent visit to Zagazig in Egypt, Osner was faced with 4000 people, all waiting for a chance to use one of four computer terminals. Those who did get the chance learned how to do word processing, to e-mail, to search the internet, and to set up their own e-commerce sites. But, as Osner says, "There is an overwhelming demand that we can't possibly fill."

As of October 2000, 23 volunteers had gone on assignments in countries including Burundi, Ecuador and India. More are planned, and funding from computer companies eager to exploit an untapped market will help the scheme to widen its reach.

For more information, see the UNITeS website:

http://www.UNITeS.org

Global Ideas Bank: http://www.globalideasbank.org/

Summarized from an article by Maria Trombly in Computerworld, October 16, 2000).

Student Courts Curb School Bullies

UK - Too often, adults are unaware of the terror that some children face in the public school system. Aside from educational pressures related to homework, exams, etc., there are often peer group challenges that make school a fear filled experience for children. School bullies are an example.

In 1984, educational psychologist and teacher, Michele Elliott, founded an organization called Kidscape. In a survey of 4,000 children she found that more than two thirds had been bullied at school and that a whopping 38% were being bullied on a regular basis.

In response to this data, Elliott worked with the school system to devised a "bully court" composed of students themselves. The court serves as a forum in which bullies are tried and sentenced by their peers.

Classmates elect two of the court's four members and the other two are appointed by teachers. A teacher sits as chairperson to ensure fair play. Punishments have included exclusion from school trips, reduced playground time and tasks such as tidying classrooms.

Kidscape also works at educating students by suggesting ways to break up bully gangs both in and outside of school. In the latter case, they advise taking photographs, having found that gang members tend to run away when they see a camera.

Working on similar principles, a project in Birmingham, England, trains nine and ten years olds and fifteen & sixteen years olds children in mediation techniques. Sheila Hendley, project manager, has found that it easier for children and youth to talk to each other than to teachers. The project has significantly reduced bullying and increased school attendance.

In 1991, four participating schools recorded an average attendance of just over 81 per cent. In the 1993-94 school year the same schools' average attendance had risen to more than 88 per cent after introducing the project. Parents have also reported that their children are much better behaved at home.

For More information, contact Kidscape, 82 Brook St, London W1Y 1YG (tel. 020 7 493 9845).

Global Ideas Bank: http://www.globalideasbank.org/

Summarized from a story by Adam Fresco, entitled 'Child mediators make playground peace', in the Times (Nov 13th '95).

Global Resources Websites devoted to Positive Planetary Transformation

Business & Finance Win Win World Network Click Here: WinWinWorld Network, Information Age, New Age S. Network is an organization of empowered individuals ~ cultural creatives ~ aligning themselves in Information Age organizations.

Conferences October 7-13 - New Zealand International Grandmothers' Circle of Wisdom and Peace Keepers

www.essentialsforasoul.com

Nov. 6-10, 2001 - Jerusalem International Light Summit 2001 (Jerusalem)

http://www.n2012.com/lightsummits/2001.htm

Earth Mysteries Mysteries of the Pyramids

http://gizapyramid.com/DrV-article.htm

Click Here: THE MYSTERIOUS POWER. The Great Pyramid of Giza, as the first miracle of antiquity, continues to excite our curiosity. Although a number of secrets have already been disclosed, the idea that the great miracle still hides its mystery involuntary occurs to someone when he or she looks at the gigantic monument. The Great Pyramid raises many questions - why, what, how, etc. - which still wait for answers.

Health & Healing Reiki

http://www.ReikiMasters.Com

Click Here: Reiki, Reiki Masters Find a Reiki Master or Post Your Reiki Services

Spiritual Healing

http://www.SpiritualHealers.Net

Click Here: Spiritual Healers, Spiritual Healing Find a Spiritual Healer or Post Your Healing Service

Native Peoples Manataka American Indian Council

http://www.manataka.org

Click Here: Manataka American Indian Council Many interesting articles related to Native America, New Shamanism A calendar with over 200 powwow dates and over 350 links to other Native American Indian websites.

Spirituality International Institute For Transformation

http://www.iitransform.com/SelfTest.html

Click Here: International Institute for Transformation The IIT was founded in the fall of 1999 by Tanis Helliwell and a group of like-minded people who believe individuals and organizations can live and work with more meaning and purpose. Among other services, they offer a Spiritual Intelligence test which can be found at this site.

Web Rings

http://www.AccessNewAge.com/Links/index.htm

Click Here: Esoteric Web Link Index Over 875 esoteric links in 45 indexed and cross-indexed categories with an additional 118 links to other esoteric sites.

5/14/01
2:19:52 PM

Redford spurns 'abysmal' Bush's day of the condor

FROM LAURA PEEK AND MARTIN FLETCHER IN WASHINGTON

ROBERT REDFORD has rejected an invitation to release a rare condor with Gale Norton, the US Interior Secretary, because of the Bush Administration’s “abysmal” record on the environment.

The actor and environmentalist, whose films include Three Days of the Condor, said that instead of helping Ms Norton he would spend time trying to counter “the devastating environmental repercussions of the agenda you and President Bush embrace”.

Redford’s snub came days before Mr Bush is expected to announce an energy policy that will further infuriate environmentalists.

The California condor, the largest bird in North America, is a bald vulture with glossy black feathers and white markings on its wings. The species was facing extinction, but more than 160 birds have been bred in captivity, of which 50 have been released since 1992.

In her invitation to Redford, Ms Norton said: “You and I have never met, but we do have a common interest.” She noted that the actor had narrated a film about saving the condor, and said that she had enjoyed Three Days of the Condor. “Perhaps we can also discuss the best way to conserve America’s unspoilt landscapes and the wild creatures who inhabit them,” she said.

Redford replied that he was “mystified” that she would think they had anything in common. “Sadly, since assuming the Interior Secretary post, you have compiled an abysmal record of capitulating to big businesses at the expense of the nation’s public health, public lands and wildlife,” he wrote.

A spokesman for Ms Norton said: “Mr Redford’s scurrilous attacks make it hard to improve the tone in which we talk about important issues such as conserving and protecting our cherished environment.”

Mr Bush has made clear that he will prioritise production over conservation to counter an energy shortage that has already caused blackouts in California and pushed petrol prices towards record levels. His energy policy will set a target of building between 1,300 and 1,900 power plants during the next 20 years — more than one a week. Conservation measures will be limited to giving tax breaks to those using energy-saving technology.

Mr Bush was a Texas oilman. Asked last week if Americans, the world’s biggest energy consumers, should change their lifestyles to counter shortages, Ari Fleischer, his spokesman, said: “That’s a big ‘no’. The President believes it’s an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy-makers to protect the American way of life. The American way of life is a blessed one, and we have a bounty of resources in this country.”

Referring to Redford’s films, Mr Fleischer said of the actor’s snub to Ms Norton: “It was hardly an Indecent Proposal for Mr Redford to spend an afternoon with Ordinary People releasing an endangered bird. Unfortunately, Mr Three Days of the Condor flew the coop.”

Redford has said that the appointment of Ms Norton was like “putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop”.

5/14/01
2:19:28 PM

UTNE WEB WATCH

The Best of the Alternative Web

JESSE'S DANGEROUS GAME

by Bill Salisbury, Cursor.org

-- Salisbury destroys Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura's claim that he "hunted man" in Nam as a Navy SEAL.

U SEXY MOTHER NATURE: 10 WAYS TO PHATTEN UP ENVIRONMENTALISM

by Chris Colin, Grist Magazine

-- Let's face it, environmentalism isn't cool. Or down. Er, ah, the bomb? Gnarly? Hell, you might as well say environmentalism isn't the Cat's Pajamas if you're so stuck in old school. But Chris Colin has some ideas for "phattening" up the "E" word.

LANGUAGEBOX.COM: A VIRTUAL TOWER OF BABEL

Web site review by Leif Utne, Utne Reader Online

-- Whether you want to brush up on your Cantonese, listen to a radio station in Stockholm, watch the evening news from New Delhi, or just look up a word in Swahili, LanguageBox.com is the place to start.

Links to the above articles:

http://www.utne.com/webwatch

5/14/01
2:19:06 PM

TomPaine.com

SEEING THE LIGHT

Regaining Control of Our Electricity System

by David Morris

Now is the time for a debate over the future shape and scale of our electricity system... An excerpt from the important new book from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/11/index.html

KIDS VS. BOMBS

The Choices We Make

by Ben Cohen

Without touching the surplus or raising taxes, America can provide for our kids' basic needs. What's required is a change in our budget priorities.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/09/1.html

JUSTICE FOR SALE IN TEXAS?

Big Money Buys Access to Texas Supreme Court

by Craig McDonald

The American system of government promises an independent judiciary that will treat everyone alike, be they rich or poor. According to a new report, Texas courts fall woefully short of this ideal.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/04/1.html

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Reaction From Our Readers:

CATO for the Birds?!?!... If It Ain't Breaux, Don't Fix It... Slaves to the Dollar... Seeing Red... and More!

http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/05/10/index.html

5/14/01
2:18:48 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Land reform programme hits Zimbabwean national park - ZIMBABWE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10796

US green group calls for better fuel economy - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10788

UPDATE - Marathon Ashland in deal to cut refinery pollution - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10789

Cruise ship cited for sewage violations in Alaska - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10791

FACTBOX - Oil, gas, coal top items in W.House report - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10792

UPDATE - Bush says conservation key part of energy strategy - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10794

Robert Redford blasts White House green policies - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10799

Norway eyes whale blubber exports, prices soar - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10795

Jailed Mexican logging activists granted appeal - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10797

FEATURE - Kenyans clash over threatened forests - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10793

Broad CHP deal agreed in Germany, consumers differ - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10790

FAO to seek EU aid to remove pesticide waste - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10801

EU proposes ban on sulphur in petrol by 2011 - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10798

US stance key to global warming talks - Canada - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10800

Neale the shark gets a souped-up fin - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10802

5/14/01
2:18:23 PM

Bad American

by George Carlin

I Am Your Worst Nightmare.

I am a BAD American.

I am George Carlin.

I believe the money I make belongs to me and my family, not some midlevel governmental functionary with a bad comb-over who wants to give it away to crack addicts squirting out babies.

I'm not in touch with my feelings and I like it that way, damn it! I believe no one ever died because of something Ozzy Osbourne, Ice-T or Marilyn Manson Sang.

I think owning a gun doesn't make you a killer.

I believe it's called the Boy Scouts for a reason.

I don't think being a minority makes you noble or victimized.

I believe that if you are selling me a Big Mac, you'd better do it in English.

I don't use the excuse "it's for the children" as a shield for unpopular opinions or actions.

I think fireworks should be legal on the 4th of July.

I think that being a student doesn't give you any more enlightenment than working at Blockbuster. In fact, if your parents are footing the bill to put your pansy ass through 4-7 years of college, you haven't begun to be enlightened.

I believe everyone has a right to pray to his or her God or gods, just leave the rest of us out of it. This also applies to sexuality.

My heroes are John Wayne, the Simpsons, and whoever canceled Dr.Quinn, Medicine Woman.

I don't hate the rich.

I don't pity the poor.

I know wrestling is fake and I don't waste my time arguing about it.

I've never owned a slave, or was a slave, I didn't wander forty years in the desert after getting chased out of Egypt, I haven't burned any witches or been persecuted by the Turks and neither have you, so shut-the-#$%!-up already.

I want to know which church is it exactly where the Reverend Jesse Jackson preaches. And where does he get his money. And why is he always part of the problem and not the solution.

I think the cops have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you're running from them.

I also think they have the right to pull your ass over if you are breaking the law, regardless of what color you are.

I think if you are too stupid to know how a ballot works, I don't want you deciding who should be running the most powerful nation in the world for the next four years.

I hate those bastards standing in the intersections trying to sell me crap or trying to guilt me into making 'donations' to their cause. These people should be targets.

I think if you are in the passing lane, and not passing, your license should be revoked, and you should be forced to ride the bus until you promise to never delay the rest of us again.

I think beef jerky could quite possibly be the perfect food.

I believe that it doesn't take a village to raise a child, it takes two parents.

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement.

I think Dr. Seuss was a genius.

I'm neither angry nor disenfranchised, no matter how desperately the mainstream media would like the world to believe otherwise.

I believe if she has her lips on your willie, it is sex, and it is sex for both of you. This even applies when you are President of the United States.

If that makes me a BAD American, then yes, I'm a BAD American.

If you too are a BAD American please forward this to everyone you know.

5/14/01
2:17:49 PM

TAKE A MINUTE AND HELP SAVE CANADA'S ENDANGERED WILDLIFE

BC Endangered Species Coalition

Protecting Wildlife at Risk

A great way you can help protect Canada's endangered wildlife is to spread the word about the quick and easy "Send a Fax, Save Species" option on our website. Please distribute the following email alert to your friends, family and co-workers.

Canada has over 350 plants and animals recognized as endangered or "at risk". Animals like the Grizzly Bear, Peregrine Falcon, Killer Whale, Polar Bear and Burrowing Owl.

After years of hard work from concerned Canadians and Americans, the Canadian government is now finalizing its endangered species legislation - the Species at Risk Act. The bad news - as scientists like Dr. David Suzuki have indicated - is that the draft law is too weak in current form to protect Canada's endangered plants and animals. The good news - we can still change the law and the time to do so is now. With your help - just a minute of your time - we can get a decent law for Canada's endangered species. One with teeth.

The draft law is now before Canada's parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. The Committee is holding hearings in April and May to consider changes to the draft law. THIS REPRESENTS A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY TO STRENGTHEN THE LAW. At the last hearings on Canadian endangered species legislation, the Committee recommended some key improvements to the legislation. The Committee can strengthen the Species at Risk Act - with your help.

Take a moment to send your free online fax to the Committee. It's especially important to add your OWN comments to the fax. Say why you want a strong law for Canada's endangered wildlife. One that protects habitat - the areas that animals need to breed, feed and raise their young - the areas they need to survive. One that has scientists not politicians deciding which endangered plants and animals should be protected.

http://www.extinctionsucks.org/fax-now.htm

5/14/01
2:07:54 PM

National Landmarks To Showcase Champion Trees

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - George Washington built his plantation on the Potomac River amid soaring trees, many centuries old.

Now, plans are in the works to replenish the woods of Mount Vernon with genetic copies of trees that were alive when he was president.

It's part of a campaign by the Michigan-based Champion Tree Project International and partner groups to grow clones of the biggest, hardiest trees around the country.

"What better place to have champion trees than at the home of our founding father and the final resting place for America's veterans," said George Cates, executive director of the National Tree Trust.

Project partners also are arranging to plant clones in Arlington National Cemetery and in Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Champion trees are the biggest - and often among the oldest - known members of their species in the United States. American Forests, based in Washington, D.C., has kept a register for 60 years, using a formula based on height, circumference and crown width to designate champions.

The latest count, announced last year, had 867 trees representing 826 species. Florida led the way with 170; Michigan ranked sixth with 51.

Five years ago, nurseryman David Milarch and his son, Jared, established the Champion Tree Project. They say the nation's forests are suffering from pollution, overharvesting and disease, and that ancient giants may be their salvation.

"In the botanical world, they're the heroes and the survivors," Milarch said. "They have withstood everything man and nature could throw at them for centuries."

The Milarchs and their associates have taken twigs or buds from 52 national champions. With funding help from the National Tree Trust, thousands of clones are being grown in nurseries. Dozens have been planted at universities, parks and gardens, which project leaders hope will become "living libraries" for research.

Like other trees, the champions do reproduce naturally. But for most species, two parents are needed to produce a seedling.

The project, David Milarch said, attempts to produce large numbers of exact, 100 percent copies of the champions on the theory that they would be likelier to grow bigger, live longer and resist disease better than trees with 50 percent champion genes.

Opinions are mixed about whether the gold medalists' size and longevity result from superior genes or good luck.

"In my experience, the biggest trees are growing in favorable sites, with plentiful moisture and protection from high winds, hurricanes and the like," said plant ecologist Peter Del Tredici of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum. "The assumption that there's some genetic propensity that makes them the biggest could be true, but we don't know that."

Dean Norton, director of horticulture for the Mount Vernon Estate, accepts the good-genes theory.

"Why do they take Secretariat and other great horses and breed them? It's the same with plants - survival of the fittest," Norton said. "When you're trying to propagate a plant, you always look for the healthiest, fastest-growing specimen to take your cuttings."

Mount Vernon's remaining old-growth woodlands are a crucial buffer between the 500-acre estate and urban sprawl extending southward from the nation's capital, 16 miles away.

While not in imminent danger, the trees are aging. Norton says it's time to get a new generation in the ground.

A national champion red ash from Dowagiac, one of the species whose clones have matured, may be planted at Mount Vernon this fall. Large-scale planting will take longer, pending development of clones native to the area, such as the white oak, sycamore and American beech.

Champion Tree Project International:

http://www.championtrees.org

5/14/01
2:05:07 PM

Presidential Election 2000 Florida

By USA Today's Dennis Cauchon and Jim Drinkard

''You get a pretty clear pattern from these ballots. Most of these people went to the polls to vote for Gore.''

-- Anthony Salvanto, University of California-Irvine

George W. Bush would have won a hand recount of all disputed ballots in Florida's presidential election if the most widely accepted standard for judging votes had been applied, the first comprehensive examination of the ballots shows.

However, the review of 171,908 ballots also reveals that voting mistakes by thousands of Democratic voters -- errors that legally disqualified their ballots -- probably cost Al Gore 15,000 to 25,000 votes. That's enough to have decisively won Florida and the White House.

Gore's best chance to win was lost before the ballots were counted, the study shows. Voters' confusion with ballot instruction and design and voting machines appears to have changed the course of U.S. history.

USA TODAY, The Miami Herald, Knight Ridder newspapers, the Tampa Tribune and five other Florida newspapers spent the past five months examining all disputed ballots in Florida. The study attempted to discover who might have won if all the disputed votes in Florida had been reviewed by hand, and to learn what went wrong to cause so many voters' ballots to be thrown out.

The study found that the former vice president might have won a narrow victory if lenient standards that counted every mark on a ballot had been used. But Gore could not have won without a hand count of overvote ballots, something that he did not request.

The news organizations analyzed 60,647 undervotes -- ballots that registered no presidential vote when run through vote-counting machines --and 111,261 overvotes --, ballots that were disqualified by the machines because they registered votes for more than one presidential candidate.

In a manual recount of ballots disqualified by machines, election officials often can determine which candidate a voter intended to select. For example, a voter might have selected one candidate and also marked the write-in oval and written the candidate's name on the write-in line of the ballot. The voting machine would read that as a vote for two candidates, but a manual review would show clearly voter intent.

USA TODAY found that up to 18% of the 171,908 disputed ballots could be counted as clear legal votes in a manual recount because the voter's intent could be determined. The rest were irretrievable because the intent could not be determined or the ballot marks violated Florida law.

That means at least 141,000 voters, a number about the size of the voting-age population of Orlando, lost their voice in selecting the president.

The study reveals that Democratic voters made far more mistakes, especially when it came to overvotes, than Republican voters. Gore was marked on 84,197 of the 111,261 overvote ballots, compared with 37,731 for Bush.

BALLOT STANDARDS

The core of the problem lies with the types of voting machines used in Florida and ballot designs that confused voters. Of Florida's 67 counties, 25 voted in November using punch cards, 41 used optical-scan ballots and one used old-fashioned paper ballots.

Optical-scan ballots are much like standardized tests used in schools. Voters are told to fill in a small oval next to their candidate's name. When voters make mistakes on such ballots, it is fairly easy to determine whom they intended to vote for because the voters often scratch out the mistaken vote or write that they intended to vote for a different candidate.

Punch cards, on the other hand, require a voter to punch a hole in the ballot next to their candidate's name to indicate their choice. Sometimes the hole isn't punched cleanly. A bit of paper known as a chad remains partially attached. That can make it difficult to judge voter intent. For that reason, the results of the newspapers' recount hinge on what standard is used in judging the undervotes in the punch-card counties.

Among four possible standards for judging whether punch-card votes are valid, the study shows that Bush would have won under the two that are in widest use across the country:

* The most widely used rule -- that at least two corners of a chad must be detached to count as votes -- is used in many states, including California, Oregon, Washington and Michigan.

Recounting by that standard, Bush would have won by 407 votes, narrower than his 537-vote official margin.

* By the strictest standard -- one that requires a completely clean punch for the vote to count -- Bush would have won by 152 votes. Some cleanly punched ballots were disqualified by counting-machines because of glitches, such as two ballots sticking together.

Gore would have been the winner under two standards that are not widely used in recounts:

* One uses the most permissive definition of a vote. It counts chads that are merely dimpled or bear slight impressions. Under the ''dimple standard,'' Gore would have won by 332 votes.

* The other standard counts dimples as votes only if dimples are found in other races on the same ballot. This is known as the ''Palm Beach Standard'' because that is the rule that county's elections board adopted to determine voter intent in the early hand recounts of the Florida vote. The board's theory was that if dimples appeared in other races, that most likely meant that the voter just didn't press hard enough. Under this standard Gore would have won by 242 votes.

USA TODAY's examination highlights an ugly reality of elections that had been largely unknown to the public before November. The American system of elections routinely fails to count hundreds of thousands of ballots because of errors by voters, confusing ballot instructions, poorly designed ballots, flawed voting and counting machines and the failure of election workers to adequately help voters.

In most elections, the flaws merely change the margins by which candidates win or lose. But in the race between Gore and Bush, and in other very close elections, the errors may speak louder than the voters.

Florida is one of a handful of states that have sought to prevent a repeat of the 2000 debacle. Its Legislature has approved a bill to address the most glaring problems.

Punch-card voting systems will be replaced with optical-scan ones, In addition, counties that use optical-scan equipment will get more machines. That will let counties put vote counting machines in every precinct. When placed at every polling places, the machines can tell voters immediately whether they have an error on the ballot. That provides voters with an opportunity to correct the problem.

OVERVOTE MISTAKES

The overvotes -- ballots with too many candidates marked -- tell a fascinating story of how voters err, how election officials unwittingly abet those mistakes and how the consequences were fatal for Gore's presidential hopes.

Only 3% of the 111,261 overvote ballots had markings that could convert a ballot into a legal vote. But the other 97% of the overvote ballots revealed much about the voter intentions, too.

Anthony Salvanto, a political scientist at University at California-Irvine, specializes in computer analysis of voting patterns and served as an unpaid consultant to USA TODAY and its newspaper partners on the project.

Salvanto examined the voting patterns on 56,225 overvote ballots for which he had complete data on all races. He also analyzed ballot design in other counties to statistically measure voter intent.

Salvanto estimated that Gore would have gained at least 15,000 votes if Gore supporters had not made overvote errors. To make this estimate, he counted only ballots that included votes for Bush or Gore (but not for both) and chose the same party in the three statewide races for U.S. Senate, state treasurer and education commissioner.

In a less restrictive statistical measure of voter intent, Gore would have gained 25,000 votes if a Democratic vote in the Senate race is an accurate indication of voter intent.

''You get a pretty clear pattern from these ballots. Most of these people went to the polls to vote for Gore,'' says Salvanto, who helped USA TODAY build the overvote database and analyze it.

The computer data show that voters who marked Bush or Gore on overvote ballots tended to vote for the same party's candidates in other races, an indication of their intent in the presidential race:

* 83% of overvoters who marked a combination of candidates that included Gore, but not Bush, voted Democratic in the U.S. Senate race.

* 69% of overvoters whose vote combination for president included Bush, but not Gore, voted Republican in the Senate race.

* 45% of voters who marked both Bush and Gore voted Republican in the Senate race, and 42% voted Democratic -- a nearly even split.

Salvanto says people who overvoted had few problems elsewhere on the ballot. Only 6% of those who overvoted in the presidential race made the same mistake on the Senate race, which was next on the ballot.

It was the presidential race, with its 10 presidential candidates and 10 vice presidential candidates, that confused people. Voters were confused by the long list of minority party presidential candidates on the ballot -- the result of the state's recent easing of requirements to get on the ballot.

Salvanto says the leading causes of overvotes in Florida were ballot design, ballot wording and efforts by voters to choose a vice president as well as a president.

He used the newspapers' database of presidential overvotes in Florida to uncover these key problems:

* Duval County's two-page ballot. Voters were shown the first five presidential candidates on one page and another five candidates on a second page. After the first page was an instruction that read ''turn page to continue voting.''

In addition, a sample ballot distributed by election officials contained the instruction, ''vote every page.'' And that's what many people did.

Duval County, which includes Jacksonville, had 21,188 overvotes. That's one-fifth of the state total. Fifty-five percent of the overvotes were for just two candidates, one from the first ballot page and one from the second. That suggests that more than half the errors could have been due to the misleading instructions.

Gore had 7,162 of these two-candidate/two-page overvotes vs. 4,555 for Bush. In other words, that probably cost the former vice president about 2,600 votes.

''This Duval County ballot alone likely cost Gore the election,'' Salvanto says.

* Palm Beach County's butterfly ballot. To help elderly voters, Democratic election officials put candidates' names in large type. That forced the names of presidential candidates to appear on two facing pages.

Voters were instructed to punch beside their candidate's name in a narrow strip between the two pages. That confused some voters because Gore was the second candidate listed but the third hole to punch.

Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan, on the opposite page, was assigned the second hole. This confusion alone cost Gore the presidency, Salvanto says. Gore was punched on 80% of the 18,748 overvote ballots vs. 20% for Bush.

The most common overvote combination: 5,237 votes for Gore and Buchanan. Nearly 75% of Gore-Buchanan ballots had a Democratic vote in the Senate race.

* Trying to vote for vice president. This may be the most common cause of overvotes, Salvanto says.

Florida law required that each presidential ballot instruct voters to ''Vote for Group,'' an ambiguous phrase intended to tell voters that when they vote for a presidential candidate they also are selecting that party's vice presidential candidate.

But many voters interpreted this as an instruction to punch the ballot two times, frequently for their candidate and the one listed just below on the ballot.

Excluding the Gore-Buchanan combination in Palm Beach, the most common overvote was for Gore and Libertarian Party candidate Harry Browne, who appeared immediately below Gore on the ballot.

Salvanto attributes some of the confusion to the similarity between the word ''Libertarian'' and the name of Gore's vice presidential running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Eighty percent of those who voted for both Gore and Browne voted Democratic in the Senate race.

''It seems reasonable that these voters were Democratic and intended to vote for Gore,'' Salvanto says.

But Florida election law is clear: These votes do not count.

http://www.truthout.com/0207.USA.Gore.htm

5/14/01
2:03:48 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE