12/1/00
4:51:54 PM
Dear Mark Elsis: You can take action on this alert either by email or preferably on the web at: http://actionnetwork.org/take-action.tcl?key=1137877A13549B1130053858C239
Alert expires on December 30, 2000
Here's what this alert is about:
Final Push For Forest Protection
----------------------
Your Forest Protection Vote Counted!
While your vote in the presidential elections may still be in dispute, your vote to protect America's Heritage Forests is not!
According to Secretary of Agriculture: "Never before have the American people so actively participated in helping to decide how their public lands should be managed. The fact that more than 1.5 million comments were received from Americans show that these truly are all of the people's lands, not just a few, and they care deeply about how they are cared for."
Please Email Your Forest Protection "Vote" to the President Today! (Simply follow the easy directions below.)
Your Comments Brought Results!
In response to an overwhelming number of comments sent by forest supporters like you, the Forest Service recently announced that it is moving to protect nearly 60 million acres of forests.
How You Can Help Close the Final Loopholes
Despite the great strides made by the Forest Service, its protection plan still allows for "stewardship" logging operations to proceed, and delays protection for the priceless Tongass Rainforest in Alaska for four years.
The timber industry has used "stewardship" logging and as an excuse to conduct business as usual - including clearcutting old-growth. Additionally, waiting four years to include the Tongass would result in thousands of acres of clearcuts in Alaska's Ancient Rainforest as the timber industry races to log as much as possible within the 4 year gap.
Thanks To Your Voice, The Forest Service Has Come A Long Way. Now It's Up To President Clinton To Finish The Job!
In just a few days, President Clinton will finalize the Roadless Area Protection Plan.
Please follow the simple directions below to email President Clinton urging him to close the plan's stewardship loophole and to protect the Tongass Rainforest immediately.
You can also get the message to him by calling the White House at 1-866-366-3655 (press 0 to bypass the recorded message).
Even if you've already called or emailed the President, please send him a message again today!
Thank you again for your efforts to save our remaining wild forests. Together we are making a difference.
Sincerely,
Amy Luckey Internet Campaign Director http://www.OurForests.org
-------------------------------- You are receiving this alert because you sent an email to the Clinton Administration from www.ourforests.org or by responding to our message through the Juno Online Services.
----------------------
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB: If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this alert by going to the following URL:
http://actionnetwork.org/take-action.tcl?key=1137877A13549B1130053858C239
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA EMAIL: Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your email program, and edit the letter below as you wish. You must include the whole letter in your response including "-YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW-" and "-END OF LETTER-". Please do not add your name and address to your letter. Action Network automatically does this for you.
We STRONGLY encourage you to make edits directly to our sample letter below, and put the alert talking points into your own words. An individualized letter is worth ten computer generated letters. Of course, hundreds of unedited letters will still create a large impact, so please reply even if you don't have time to personalize the letter.
Your letter will be addressed and sent to: President Bill Clinton
-------YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW---------
I applaud the dramatic improvements the Forest Service has made to the Roadless Area Protection Plan in response to the overwhelming public support for the protection of our Heritage Forests.
By strengthening the Forest Service proposal in the following two areas, you will ensure an enduring and historic legacy for future generations:
1. Prevent destructive logging under the guise of "stewardship;" and 2. Immediately protect the Roadless Areas of the priceless Tongass Rainforest in Alaska from all logging and road construction.
12/1/00
4:19:01 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We Cover the Earth For You"
MISSISSIPPI RIVER SOILED BY MASSIVE OIL SPILL
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, November 30, 2000 (ENS) - Oil spill response crews are working on the lower Mississippi River to contain the largest spill in U.S. waters in more than a decade. About half a million gallons of crude oil spilled into the river about 60 miles southeast of New Orleans after the 800 foot Bahamian flagged tanker Westchester ran aground on the east bank Tuesday night.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-30-07.html
GENERAL ELECTRIC CHALLENGES FEDERAL SUPERFUND LAW
By Brian Hansen
WASHINGTON, DC, November 30, 2000 (ENS) - The General Electric Company took legal action this week to have portions of the Superfund law governing cleanup of America's most contaminated sites declared unconstitutional.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-30-15.html
SKI AREAS GRADED ON ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES
DURANGO, Colorado, November 30, 2000 (ENS) - Skiers have a choice this winter between truly environmentally friendly resorts and those whose "green" practices are more of a snow job. A coalition of grassroots conservation groups on Wednesday released a "scorecard" report that grades commercial ski areas throughout the west on a host of environmental criteria.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-30-06.html
EUROPEAN ECOMAFIA TRAFFICKING IN RADIOACTIVE SCRAP
ROME, Italy, November 30, 2000 (ENS) - Illicit trafficking in radioactive and other dangerous materials is one of the "ecomafia's" booming business sectors and is "almost of as much interest" to national and international criminal organisations as the arms and drugs trades, Italian environmental group Legambiente has claimed.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-30-03.html
UNIQUE MEXICAN VALLEY PROTECTED FOREVER
MONTERREY, Mexico, November 30, 2000 (ENS) - A Mexican valley home to the best remaining examples of desert springs in North America and 77 species found nowhere else on Earth has been purchased for protection.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-30-10.html
PROTESTS GROW AT AUSTRALIA'S SHALE OIL PROJECT
BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia, November 30, 2000 (ENS) - To Canadian company Suncor, the shale oil deposits 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Brisbane represent an important resource in meeting the growing need for energy. To Greenpeace activists arrested for breaking into Suncor's demonstration plant this week, oil shale is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-30-11.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: NOVEMBER 30, 2000
Fast Flux Test Facility Will Remain Idle
Greenpeace Activists Arrested at Chemical Plant Protest
Plum Creek, Federal Agencies Sign Fish Protection Plan
New Jersey Park is 750th Superfund Cleanup
Pew Grant Funds Study of Longline Fishing
Coke, Pepsi Urged to Support Recycling
Bad Nutrition May Contribute to Right Whale Declines
Three Bears Killed in Wisconsin by Poachers
$25 Million in Grants Fund Wetlands Habitat Projects
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-30-09.html
12/1/00
4:15:36 PM
EcoNet Headlines: December 1, 2000
Tree-Sitter Julia Butterfly Hill's Former Home Chain-Sawed
An environmental saga that transfixed the world took an ugly turn yesterday when it was revealed that Luna, a 1,000-year-old redwood that was home for two years to tree-sitter Julia Butterfly Hill, has suffered a deep chain-saw cut that could prove fatal. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975642226/index_html
Crews Trying to Contain Mississippi River Oil Spill
Cleanup crews worked Thursday to clean up a half- million gallons of crude oil that spilled from a tanker into shellfish beds and bird sanctuaries along the lower Mississippi River. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975641980/index_html
Green Groups Bare Teeth at ESA Moratorium
Conservation groups are roaring mad over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to put a moratorium on all endangered species listings until September 2001. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975642494/index_html
Fisher Proposed as Endangered
A petition to list a large, weasel-like animal under the U.S. Endangered Species Act could severely curtail logging, development, and road construction in California forests if approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975642679/index_html
Indonesia Steps Up Efforts to Save Orangutans from Extinction
Animal rights activists are lauding a current crackdown on the illegal trade of orangutans in Indonesia, but they say authorities must now start putting offenders in jail to show that the government is really serious about protecting the endangered primates. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975642831/index_html
USDA Tries to Coopt Consumer Demand for Mandatory Labels on GE Food
Regardless of how the StarLink bio-corn safety debate plays out, more U.S. foodmakers will likely begin voluntarily labeling products with gene-spliced ingredients to give consumers more information, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said Monday. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975643007/index_html
Seattle--One Year Later a New Green Movement Emerges
Exactly this time a year ago a truly prescient person monitoring bus, car and plane traffic into the city of Seattle could have predicted that Al Gore's presidential bid faced serious trouble on its left. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975643147/index_html
A Mega-National Park in Southern Africa
One of the boldest and most exciting cross- border initiatives, currently unfolding in Southern Africa, is the development of a mega national park by three countries to boost tourism arrivals. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975643306/index_html
UNESCO Listing of Brazil's Pantanal Fuels Resistance to Waterway
The listing of the Mato Grosso Pantanal in western Brazil, one of the world's biggest wetlands, as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve has strengthened the position of environmentalists opposed to the expansion of the Paraguay-Parana Waterway. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975643454/index_html
Anti-WTO Campaign to Center on Services
The protests announced for next week in Nice, France, during the European Union (EU) summit, may serve as a preview of future campaigns against globalization and trade liberalization. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975643614/index_html
GREEN: Logging Set for ESA "Sacrifice Zone"
Battle lines are being drawn as Pacific Lumber prepares to log the "second largest intact stand of lowland old-growth Douglas fir in California" says ENS 11/22. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/975643915/index_html
12/1/00
4:14:22 PM
EcoNet Headlines: December 1, 2000
An International Call to Mexico to Release Tortured Mexican Environmentalists and to End Old Growth Logging
Mexico was urged today in an international declaration* released in Wellington, New Zealand, immediately to release tortured farmer environmentalists, Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia who have been imprisoned after conviction on trumped up charges following their peaceful opposition to logging in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/975645817/index_html
Celebrate a Year of Radical Protest in NYC This Weekend
One year ago the world got a wake-up call when activists in Seattle served notice that there is indeed a vibrant international movement for global justice; a movement that challenges corporate and state power by asserting its OWN power--in the streets, and with its voices, bodies, and imagination! Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/975644660/index_html
Ultimatum to Ecuador: Defend Galapagos Park or Lose It
Following last week's violent rampage by Ecuadorian fishermen in the Galapagos Islands and the capitulation of the government of Ecuador in granting their demand for a fishing quota 60% in excess of the previously agreed maximum allowable catch, the Association of Park Wardens of Galápagos National Park has given Ecuador President Gustavo Bejarano an ultimatum: Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/975645028/index_html
Skiers Urged to Boycott Resorts
A coalition of environmental groups on Wednesday urged skiers to boycott many of the West's top ski resorts, saying the resorts were not environmentally friendly. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/975645158/index_html
12/1/00
4:13:13 PM
Dec. 1, 2000
The American Red Cross Is Jeopardizing the Safety of the U.S. Blood Supply, Should Be Held in Contempt of Court
The FDA Should Ask Court to Rule That the ARC Violated 1993 Consent Decree
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should request that the American Red Cross (ARC) be held in contempt of court because of longstanding and dangerous practices that are jeopardizing the safety of the U.S. blood supply, Public Citizen said today.
"It appears that a strong case can be made by the FDA for requesting that the ARC be held in contempt of court," Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group wrote in a letter sent today to FDA Commissioner Jane Henney. "Unless the FDA exercises this legal responsibility, there is little evidence that the ARC will come into compliance with the terms of the 1993 Consent Decree or with U.S. laws and regulations concerning blood and blood products."
The 1993 consent decree, which a federal court imposed because of repeated instances of dangerous blood-handling practices by ARC regional blood banks, required the ARC to better manage blood service operations and establish better quality control. However, according to court documents filed this week, the ARC has not complied. In Atlanta, FDA inspectors last year found blood products that tested positive for evidence of infection mingled with acceptable blood products. They also found inadequate management of blood products, including those that tested positive for infectious diseases. At the ARC's Arlington, Va., headquarters this year, FDA inspectors learned that the ARC had improperly released blood products containing cytomegalovirus, a virus that can cause blindness in newborns. Inspectors also found that blood donors had incorrect histories and that staff failed to follow test kit instructions for HIV.
Even the ARC's president, Dr. Bernadine Healy, said in an Aug. 14, 2000, meeting that she found the FDA's findings "alarming" and that the severity of the situation held the potential for "grave impact" to patients, court records show.
The ARC has "a legal obligation to ensure that ... blood products are safe," Wolfe wrote. "It is time for the FDA to stop playing dangerous, cooperative, polite games with the ARC."
A copy of Public Citizen's letter to the FDA is available at http://www.citizen.org/hrg/PUBLICATIONS/redcrosscontempt.htm
12/1/00
4:11:45 PM
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
Protesters arrested for blocking Louisiana tracks - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9171
Active Power gets flywheel order from Emerson - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9188
'More of the same' urged for costly US farm plan - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9179
Winds aid Mississippi River oil spill clean-up - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9182
Activist in tears at sight of vandalized Redwood - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9181
NYC City Council approves garbage plan - papers - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9189
Leaked report says Chernobyl replacements a hazard - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9176
Emissions trade seen booming despite Hague failure - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9174
Swiss firm wins Senegal deal to recycle rubbish - SENEGAL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9169
Malaysian firm set ablaze over pollution claims - MALAYSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9170
Kenya suspends trawler fishing along its coast - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9183
Indian cyclone toll rises to seven, fishermen safe - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9177
Coal-fired plants could burn mad cow feed - RWE - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9187
German scientists test soil for possible BSE link - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9186
Germany seeks nuke waste transport deal with France - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9175
French cancer sufferer starts Chernobyl legal suit - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9172
EU's Prodi warns Nice summit could end in failure - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9184
EU makes peace overture in Chile swordfish dispute - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9180
Windmill firm Nordex eyes H1 2001 Neuer Markt entry - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9173
Australian humpback whales adopt new love song - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9185
Argentina hikes transgenic seed use in 2000/2001 crop - ARGENTINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9178
12/1/00
4:04:52 PM
The U.S. government is preparing to decide its position on funding for the proposed K2/R4 reactors in Ukraine, which are supposed to replace the last Chernobyl reactor (scheduled to close December 15, but it shut down earlier this week and may never be restarted). The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), of which the U.S. is the largest member, is meeting to vote on this loan to Ukraine on December A new safety study done for the Austrian government confirms that these reactors can never meet western safety standards. Moreover, while Ukraine does need help meeting its energy needs, its nuclear infrastructure is basically in collapse--the last thing they need are two more reactors to try to operate and maintain.
Please take one minute when you receive this to call the White House, 202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414, with a simple message: urge the U.S. to vote AGAINST the K2/R4 project next week; no new reactors in Ukraine! If you have time, please call your Congressmembers as well (202-224-3121) and alert them that the U.S. may be preparing to vote for this unnecessary and unsafe project--throwing away taxpayer (i.e. YOUR) dollars in the process; Ukraine is unlikely to be able to repay this loan.
There is a lot of new background information on K2/R4 available on NIRS' website, www.nirs.org. For those with just a little more time, it would be helpful to try to get some of this material to the media, which so far has been ignoring this issue.
THANK YOU!
From environmental groups across Ukraine and Eastern Europe and Michael Mariotte NIRS NIRS Phone:202-328-0002 http://www.nirs.org
11/30/00
12:06:02 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We Cover the Earth For You"
UNESCO ADDS THREE VULNERABLE SITES TO DANGER LIST
CAIRNS, Australia, November 29, 2000 (ENS) - A national bird sanctuary in Senegal, a fort and terraced gardens in Pakistan, and an ancient town in Yemen have been added to the List of World Heritage in Danger.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-29-03.html
SCIENTISTS, MILITARY JOIN FORCES TO COMBAT PERCHLORATE
By Brian Hansen
ARLINGTON, Virginia, November 29, 2000 (ENS) - Military brass shared environmental concerns with business, university and government representatives gathered in the shadow of the Pentagon today to discuss the problem of perchlorate contamination in the nation's groundwater.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-29-15.html
RUSSIA DENIES REFERENDUM ON NUCLEAR WASTE IMPORT
MOSCOW, Russia, November 29, 2000 (ENS) - A proposal by Russian environmentalists for a nationwide referendum on the issue of importing nuclear waste has been turned down by the Central Election Committee (Tsentrizbirkom) in Moscow.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-29-04.html
EUROPE PREPARES TO TACKLE ALARMING ENERGY NEEDS
BRUSSELS, Belgium, November 29, 2000 (ENS) - A discussion document adopted by the European Commission today warns against complacency in the fight against climate change and predicts the continent will continue to rely on fossil fuels 30 years from now if nothing is done.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-29-11.html
CHINA FUNDED FOR WIND POWER DEVELOPMENT
WASHINGTON, DC, November 29, 2000 (ENS) - The Global Environment Facility has agreed to help the world's third largest energy consumer to harness wind power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-29-01.html
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS FROM UK COUNTRYSIDE SURVEY
LONDON, United Kingdom, November 29, 2000 (ENS) - The most comprehensive assessment of the United Kingdom's plant and wildlife habitats has good news and bad.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-29-12.html
EUROPEAN COMMISSION TAKES DRASTIC ACTION ON BSE
BRUSSELS, Belgium, November 29, 2000 (ENS) - Saying exceptional events call for an exceptional response, the European Commission today announced new measures to deal with the BSE crisis.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-29-10.html
COMMUNICATIONS TOWERS GUIDELINES COULD PROTECT BIRDS
WASHINGTON, DC, November 29, 2000 (ENS) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking action to reduce the number of birds killed in collisions with communications towers. Millions of birds are killed each year after colliding with television, radio and cellular phone towers in the United States alone.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-29-06.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: NOVEMBER 29, 2000
Researchers Warn About Hazardous Ingredient In Nail Polish
U.S. Energy Outlook Shows Slow Growth in Renewables
Washington State Buys Water to Help Salmon
Lawsuit Seeks Federal Protection for Fisher, Forests
Mercury Marine Lauded for Cleaner Boat Engines
Public Comments Needed on Biotech Controversy
San Jose Sued Over Proposed Research Park
Maryland Explores Non-Lethal Wildlife Controls
White House Honors 37 Teachers for Environmental Education
Fur Donation Program Aids Wildlife, Lowers Tax Bills
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-29-09.html
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE TO NATIONAL, HEALTH/MEDICAL AND FOREIGN EDITORS:
'Sign On, Save Children's Lives from Malaria!' Urges New Global Health Coalition
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 -/E-Wire/-- Save Children from Malaria Campaign has launched a worldwide Internet petition drive (http://www.fightingmalaria.org ) to help save children and pregnant women from the ravages of malaria through the limited use of DDT. According to the World Health Organization, malaria affects some 500 million people each year and kills up to 2.5 million annually, amounting to one child every 30 seconds. "Malaria is surging worldwide, killing children and their mothers in Africa, Asia and Latin America in skyrocketing numbers," said Dr. Roger Bate, chairman of the Save Children from Malaria Coalition. "We are asking that DDT continue to be used in homes to drive out mosquitoes and protect innocent lives."
CONTACT: Christopher Klose, 202-737-8400, or email: cklose@johnadams.com, or Angela Logomasini, 202-331-1010, or email: alogomasini@cei.org; both for the Save Children from Malaria Campaign
Web site: http://www.fightingmalaria.org/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Nov00/29Nov0003.html
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
CET Environmental Services, Inc. Expands Board of Directors
ENGLEWOOD, CO., Nov. 29 -/E-Wire/-- CET Environmental Services, Inc. (Amex: ENV) announces the election of John D. Hendrick, Ph.D., P.E., to its Board of Directors.
/CONTACT: Steven H. Davis, President and CEO of CET Environmental Services, Inc., 720-875-9115; or Jim Drewitz, Investor Relations, 972-355-6070, for CET Environmental Services, Inc./ (ENV)
/Web site: http://www.cetenvironmental.com /
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Nov00/29Nov0002.html
11/30/00
11:58:10 AM
LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER Lexington, Kentucky November 29, 2000
Tribe gets hemp gift
by Peter Baniak Herald-Leader Frankfort Bureau
Frankfort - The scene at the state Capitol was a bit strange even by Frankfort standards.
Former Gov. Louie Nunn, a republican, stood at a lectern yesterday with four members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, who'd spent the previous 24 hours driving to Kentucky from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
But that wasn't the strange part.
Just outside the Capitol rotunda sat a truckload of hemp, which Nunn and a group of Kentucky farmers gave to the Oglala representatives to help replace a hemp crop that was raided and destroyed in August by federal drug-enforcement agents.
But that wasn't the strange part.
The donated hemp fiber will be used to help build and insulate environmentally friendly houses for Indian families on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
That, too, wasn't the strange part. What was?
Well, the hemp being donated by Nunn and the farmers to the Oglala Tribe wasn't even grown in Kentucky. It was grown in Canada and imported to Kentucky. Now it's on its way to South Dakota.
"It's a detour around bureaucratic wrangling," said Milo Yellow Hair, land director for the Oglala Sioux. "We have to point out how ludicrous this all is. Industrial hemp is a multimillion-dollar industry.
"But neither American Indians nor Kentucky farmers can tap into it."
The cause of industrial hemp production - a cause that has already drawn attention in Kentucky from folks like actor Woody Harrelson - again brought together some unusual allies.
On the surface, the donation by the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative of 25 bales or raw hemp fiber and 60 bags of hemp that had been processed for horse stall bedding will help the Oglala continue building houses in an experimental land development.
The hemp fiber will be used both as insulation and (after being mixed with water and lime) to form strong, lightweight building blocks.
On the more symbolic side, the event was intended by pro-hemp forces to again make a case for growing industrial hemp, which can be used for making a range of other products, such as clothes and paper.
"Not only will hemp be a great alternative crop, but with its many uses, it could bring an industrial revolution to this state 20 years from now," said Nunn, who has become an outspoken advocate for industrial hemp.
Nunn planned to travel with the Kentucky hemp shipment to educate people about the crop and its uses.
Law enforcement groups typically object to growing hemp because it is a relative of marijuana. But Nunn said hemp contains only an insignificant amount of the psychoactive ingredient found in marijuana.
It's illegal to grow hemp in Kentucky although the legislature considered a bill last year that would have allowed for a study of hemp as an alternative crop. That bill died in the Senate.
However, it is legal to import hemp-based products from places where it is legally grown, such as Canada, said Andy Graves, president of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative.
"It doesn't make much sense that this product can be shipped in from Canada, we can ship it to South Dakota, we can stand here and talk about it but we can't grow it," Graves said.
Yellow Hair and other members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe welcomed the contribution.
The intend to use it to replace part of a hemp crop that was being grown on 4 acres inside the Pine Ridge reservation, one of the poorest areas of the nation. In August, federal DEA agents raided the fields and destroyed the crop.
Joe American Horse, a traditional Oglala chief who attended the news conference, said the tribe intends to grow hemp again next year.
"When we needed hemp, Kentuckians stood up and helped us," Yellow Hair Said. "It's a very symbolic move, and we want to build on it."
11/30/00
11:51:53 AM
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
UPDATE - US sues Colonial Pipeline for 20 years of spills - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9151
US environmentalists - climate talks must restart - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9152
Calif. power plants run out of pollution credits - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9167
Engineered potatoes said to fight off fungus - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9155
US to consider if rule needed to separate bio-crops - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9166
Aventis will provide test kits to seed dealers - USDA - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9165
Oil spill shuts Mississippi River south of New Orleans - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9162
UN's Annan disappointed at stalled climate treaty - UNITED NATIONS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9153
Europe's fight with BSE may lead to new food scare - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9158
Zinc industry frets over EU environment study - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9150
Russian environmental referendum bid fails - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9159
Norway approves new gas-fired power plant - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9163
Enron, Graninge in Swedish in offshore wind deal - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9154
UPDATE - Japan seeks details on US StarLink illness cases - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9160
UPDATE - 43 fishermen missing after cyclone lashes India - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9157
EU says it must lessen reliance on oil - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9161
WRAPUP - EU battles new mad cow crisis - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9156
Falconbridge faces Ontario pollution charges - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9164
Rio sees robust thermal coal market - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9168
11/29/00
10:57:36 PM
New rules considered to track biotech crops
By PHILIP BRASHER The Associated Press 11/29/00 4:19 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is looking to improve the tracking and detection of biotech crops to protect markets for both gene-altered and conventional foods, and avoid further disruptions in grain trading and processing.
"In order to protect our domestic and foreign markets and ensure public confidence, it's essential that we improve our ability to identify and track genetically modified products," Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said Wednesday.
He said the department will take public comment on steps his department could take, including setting definitions for biotech and conventional crops as part of the government's system of quality grades and standards.
The Agriculture Department also could start certifying grain-handling systems to ensure they keep biotech crops separate from conventionally bred varieties.
Since the spring, the agency has worked on the ideas, which took on a new urgency when a variety of biotech corn not approved for human consumption was discovered in taco shells this fall. Some food processors had to suspend operations to clean out the grain, and U.S. corn exports have dropped sharply.
Glickman blamed the crop's developer, Aventis CropScience, which was supposed to ensure that its StarLink corn was only used for animal feed or industrial uses, such as production of ethanol, a gasoline additive.
Agriculture experts and food industry officials say the problem exposed flaws in farm practices and the nation's grain-handling system. Some farmers did not keep track of where they planted the corn, while others apparently were not told of government-imposed restrictions on how the crop was to be grown and used.
"The StarLink problem illustrates how difficult the segregation problem will be. I don't think this is something that processors and industry can work out themselves. Having a USDA role will be helpful," said Jane Rissler, a biotech specialist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group.
She and other biotech critics believe the government should go further and require the labeling of foods containing biotech ingredients, an idea the Clinton administration has rejected.
But both consumers and the biotech industry could benefit if the Agriculture Department improves the tracking of biotech crops, said Kelly Johnston, executive vice president of government affairs for the National Food Processors Association.
For example, consumers would know for sure whether food that claims to be free of biotech ingredients really is, he said. "Those who want that kind of choice ought to be willing to bear the cost of doing that," he added.
Any decision on new regulations would be up to the next administration because Glickman will leave office in January.
The Agriculture Department also is weighing how to regulate trees and ornamental plants being developed through genetic engineering, Glickman said. Agency officials are concerned about the new plants cross-pollinating with weedy relatives and causing environmental damage.
Dozens of field trials are being conducted on various trees, flowers and grasses that have been engineered to have special traits.
They include varieties of Kentucky bluegrass that would be resistant to drought or weedkillers; petunias whose flowers would stay on longer; and poplar trees that could resist insects or fungus.
On the Net:
USDA's biotechnology site: http://www.usda.gov/agencies/biotech/index.html
Union of Concerned Scientists: http://www.ucsusa.org
National Food Processors Association: http://www.nfpa-food.org
11/29/00
10:52:52 PM
13,200-barrel oil spill shuts down Mississippi River in Louisiana
November 29, 2000 Web posted at: 7:59 PM EST (0059 GMT)
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- A tanker spilled a half-million gallons of crude oil into the Mississippi River on Wednesday, closing a busy shipping route for 26 miles and threatening wildlife.
No injuries were reported, but some pelicans and other animals were found covered with oil, said Roland Guidry, a state oil spill coordinator.
The 800-foot tanker Westchester lost power Tuesday evening and apparently ran aground about 60 miles southeast of New Orleans.
A cargo tank holding more than 2.2 million gallons of Nigerian crude oil lost about 567,400 gallons, or 13,500 barrels, said Virginia Miller, spokeswoman for the ship's owner and operator. The spilled oil would fill about two-thirds of an Olympic-size swimming pool.
The river bottom apparently plugged most of the hole and kept the rest from escaping, Miller said. She said divers were trying to assess the damage while five skimmers and a vacuum unit pulled up the spilled oil.
Modern American tankers are built with two hulls to prevent such spills even if the outer hull ruptures, but the Westchester, registered in the Bahamas and owned by a Liberian company, was a single-hull tanker. Federal law calls for all tankers operating in U.S. waters to be double-hulled by 2015, and the Westchester was scheduled to become double-hulled in 2006, Miller said.
Coast Guard officials said it wasn't clear when or how the tank ruptured. It could have hit something already on the river bottom or its own anchor could have punctured the hull if it became pinned between the hull and river bottom, said Jim O'Brien said an oil spill specialist under contract with the Greek company the operates the tanker, Ermis Maritime Corp. In 15 years of operation, the vessel has had a couple minor spills, never more than one barrel of oil, he said.
By Wednesday evening, patches of oil from the spill floated from just south of Buras, which is 15 miles southeast of the accident site, to Boothville, about eight miles downriver, Miller said. The worst was along a three-mile river stretch from Fort Jackson to Boothville.
The Coast Guard's halting of traffic on the river stalled more than a dozen vessels and forced others to change their routes, Coast Guard Petty Officer Fa'iq El-Amin said. The Coast Guard planned to open the river to upstream traffic Wednesday evening and to downstream traffic Thursday.
Containment booms were set out to prevent oil from flowing into cuts made earlier this year to divert river water into the drought-depleted wetlands of the Delta National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service workers said.
The area is home to pelicans, shorebirds, seabirds, crabs, shrimp and sport fish, as well as more than 100,000 wintering waterfowl.
11/29/00
9:02:11 PM
Bush Thanked Rioters
From: consortiumnews.com <consortnew@aol.com>
The Wall Street Journal has dug up more details about how Gov. George W. Bush's campaign and the national Republican Party helped organize the violent protests in Miami last week.
The Journal discovered that Bush even called the protestors a day later -- on the night of Thanksgiving Day -- as they were celebrating their victory in shutting down the Dade County recount, which saw 10,750 votes discarded.
"The night's highlight was a conference call from Mr. Bush and running mate Dick Cheney, which included joking reference by both running mates to the incident in Miami, two [Republican] staffers in attendance say," according to the Journal. [Nov. 27, 2000]
The Journal also reported that the assault on the canvassing board was led by national Republican operatives "on all expense-paid trips, courtesy of the Bush campaign." After their success in Dade, the rioters moved on to Broward, where the protests remained unruly but failed to stop that count.
CLIP - Read the rest at http://www.consortiumnews.com
See also "Florida Democratic Congressman Received Death Threats" at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20001127/aponline172504_001.htm
"Best democracy money can buy" at http://www.observer.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,402957,00.html (Really "juicy" and brimming with unreported facts - George W. Bush raised $447 million in cash from corporate America for his campaign -- "The key to Dubya's money empire is Daddy Bush's post-White House work.")
"Mistakes Cleaning Voter Databases Might Have Influenced" at http://www.observer.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,402957,00.html
"13 MYTHS ABOUT THE RESULTS OF THE 2000 ELECTION" at http://home1.gte.net/rad/13myths/13myths6.html#1
11/29/00
9:00:30 PM
From: http://www.msnbc.com/news/494375.asp?cp1=1
Winning by intimidation
A Republican riot squad in Miami shows GOP will try to win at all cost
GOP protests, under the direction of a mobile strategy team, shifted from Miami to Broward County Friday. A sheriff's deputy holds back a crowd of Bush supporters as Democratic congressman Peter Deutsch tries to speak to reporters.
Nov. 24 - It's getting harder and harder to believe one's eyes and ears as George Bush, James Baker and the Republicans grow ever more brazen in their effort to seize the presidency with or without a lawful mandate. As amazing as this sounds, it is distinctly possible that the 2000 election will be decided by a bunch of riotous thugs, operating under the direct control of the Republican Party.
What was an uninspired campaign for the presidency has become an absolutely critical fight for democracy. Gore and Lieberman must ignore pundits and party hack who say they must surrender.
THE MOST SIGNIFICANT OUTRAGE occurred Wednesday, when ABC News correspondent Bill Redeker discovered that Republican operatives, working out of a Florida-based mobile home, had sent in busloads of hooligans to shut down by force the court-ordered Miami-Dade recount at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center. Republican operatives also set up telephone banks to urge their footsoldiers to join in the riot. Miami's most important Spanish-language radio station, Radio Mambi, issued a summons to all pro-Republican Cuban-Americans to come stir the pot further, with charges of anti-Latino racism against the canvassing board.
INTIMIDATION AND FORCE
The mob chased down Joe Geller, chairman of the local Democratic Party, because they falsely believed he had tried to steal a ballot. He required a police escort to escape. Louis Rosero, a Democratic aide, says he was punched and kicked by the Republican goons. Others were trampled to the floor as the mob tried to break down the doors of the room outside the office of the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections where the votes were being counted.
MOBILE TERROR
Do you approve of the GOP's tactics in pursuit of a victory for George W. Bush?
* 28980 responses
Yes. They should use any means necessary to win the White House. 38%
No. They should drop the hostilities and let the courts decide how to resolve voting disputes. 62%
When it was over, the rule of the mob was triumphant. The three canvassers voted to walk away from the recount whose tally would likely have led to Al Gore's victory over George Bush in Florida and in the presidential election. One of its members, David Leahy, acknowledged the protests were a factor in his decision. The other two, perhaps fearful of their safety, declined all interviews. As the mob celebrated its victory, its Republican Party masterminds transferred their mobile home/base of operations to Broward County, where they employed the same tactics against that county's canvassers on Friday. Some conservative pundits have gone so far as to celebrate the triumph of mob rule over democracy and rule of law. Paul Gigot, a commentator for PBS's "NewsHour" and the Wall Street Journal editorial page, praised what he termed the "bourgeois riot." Gigot reporting from the scene, witnessed John Sweeney, a visiting GOP monitor, telling an aide, "Shut it down," and thereby inspiring what he called the "semi-spontaneous combustion" that forced the counters to "cave in." A loyal conservative, Gigot was either unwilling to mention or unaware of the fact that the riot had been pre-arranged by Republican operatives nearby. Nevertheless, he got the sequence he observed right. "The Republicans marched on the counting room en masse, chanting 'Three Blind Mice,' and 'Fraud, Fraud, Fraud' Š let it be known that 1,000 local Cuban-American Republicans - [a group to whom violence as an instrument of political intimidation is not exactly unknown]- were on the way."
WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE?
November 24, 2000 Sen. Joe Lieberman calls on what he calls GOP-led protesters in Florida to back down.
What's amazing in the few reporters other that ABC's Redeker, that have covered this explosive story is the lack of outrage at these tactics? Not until Joe Lieberman came out on Friday afternoon and denounced this dangerous development did the networks and most newspapers even notice the story. Most of the press reports seemed to believe that the Miami-Dade counters had simply changed their minds for no reason at all. In fact, Wednesday's Republican-sanctioned riot is merely one facet of a campaign that has been remarkably unabashed in its willingness overturn democratic practices and ignore the rule of law in pursuit of victory.
CLIP
NBC's Kerry Sander reports.
While Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide and would easily have won the Florida vote were it not for the vagaries of the "butterfly ballot," he is clearly fighting from a disadvantage in this odd electoral aftermath. His party and many of his supporters are of two minds as to whether they even want him to win the presidency. He is being portrayed by the Republican-leaning punditocracy as a sore loser who does not know when to quit. This despite the fact that Gore has abjured many of the avenues open to him through which he might fight the Republicans' fire with fire, and has called on his opponent to make a joint public appearance and to tone down the rhetoric on both sides. But Bush and Republicans want none of this. They can win, they have decided, because they alone are willing to do what's necessary: This includes mob intimidation, public attacks on the judiciary, and, if it comes to this, a willingness to discard the people's vote should it eventually be counted in their opponent's favor. What was an uninspired campaign for the presidency has become an absolutely critical fight for democracy. And it is for that reason rather than his own political prospects that Al Gore must ignore the calls from the pundits and the party hacks that he and Joe Lieberman surrender. History has finally given the hyper-cautious Gore a chance to become an authentic American hero. All he has to do to become one is take his own advice: Stay and Fight.
11/29/00
8:58:48 PM
From: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001128/sc/aids_world_dc_1.html
HIV/AIDS Infections Rise to 36 Million in 2000 (Reuters)
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has tightened its grip on the planet, surprising experts with the speed at which it has infected 36 million people and outstripped even the worst predictions, the U.N. said Tuesday. More than five million new cases were reported this year alone, according to new figures released by UNAIDS, the United Nations agency that spearheads the global battle against AIDS.
``It has killed more people this year than any other year before,'' said Dr Peter Piot, the executive director of UNAIDS.``Now it is clear the world has to wake up,'' he said in an interview.
HIV/AIDS has claimed three million lives in the past two decades, UNAIDS said in its latest report. The agency said cases of the HIV virus and AIDS were 50 percent higher than medical experts a decade ago had predicted they would be by now, despite advances in both treatments and prevention.
``The world clearly underestimated how rampant this epidemic would become,'' Piot told Reuters. ``We've got far more cases than the worst case scenario than thought out 10 years ago. It is the number one cause of deaths in many, many parts of the world,'' he said.
In Africa, the worst-hit area, infection rates have fallen slightly but only because so many people have already been struck down by it. One million more people in sub-Saharan Africa were infected this year, a decrease from the previous year, bringing the total in the region to 25.3 million. In some African nations one in three adults has the virus.
There has been an explosion of new cases in Russia and Eastern Europe, with the number of infections nearly doubling in just one year from 420,000 to a conservative estimate of 700,000. New infections are on the rise in North Africa and the Middle East, the disease is gaining ground in Latin America and prevention efforts have stalled in Western Europe and North America.
Catastrophe In Sub-Saharan Africa
Africa is by far the worst hit by AIDS. It is home to 70 percent of the adults and 80 percent of the children living with HIV. It has also buried three-quarters of the more than 20 million people worldwide who have died since the AIDS epidemic began.
``The AIDS situation in Africa is catastrophic,'' said Piot. ''One of the greatest causes for concern is that over the next few years, the epidemic is bound to get worse before it gets better.'' In addition to the devastating toll of lives, the epidemic looks set to devastate African economies.
UNAIDS predicts the economy of South Africa, which has the highest absolute number of infected people in the world, could be 17 percent smaller in 2010 than it would have been without AIDS scything through its workforce. The country's population will also shrink by 2015 and close to a third of all semi-skilled and unskilled workers will be HIV-positive by 2005. HIV/AIDS has gained such a strong foothold on the continent for a variety of reasons including poverty, poor sanitation, crumbling health systems and sex.
``You certainly won't find it in any U.N. material, but the scientific community is rapidly accepting the reality that there is more sex in Africa. There is no other affordable leisure activity,'' a U.N. AIDS official told Reuters. But UNAIDS estimates that $3 billion, which is only a fraction of the $52 billion spent annually in the US on obesity, could turn the situation around. ``This seems like a small price to pay to help a whole continent to avoid a future dominated by the social disruption that defines the AIDS era,'' the report said.
Disease With Many Faces
In Eastern Europe, Russia, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia the disease is fuelled by a combination of injecting drug users and through homosexual and heterosexual sex, the report says. Despite improvements in antiretroviral therapy that stop the virus from replicating and intense efforts to develop a vaccine, education and prevention remain at the forefront of efforts to control the epidemic.
The head of the UN children's agency UNICEF (news - web sites) Carol Bellamy, called for better efforts to prevent mothers from transmitting the virus to their children at birth or through breastfeeding.
Of the five million people infected with HIV/AIDS in the past year, 600,000 were transmitted from mothers to their children. UNICEF is pushing for better screening, education and drugs to prevent babies from getting the virus from their mothers.
Read also "U.N. Warns of AIDS Complacency" at: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001128/wl/un_aids_1.html
In-depth coverage about AIDS - HIV at http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/Health/AIDS___HIV/
11/29/00
8:58:07 PM
From: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001128/wl/un_appeals_dc_2.html
Tuesday November 28
Annan Asks for $2.26 Billion Emergency Relief Aid
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to rich nations on Tuesday to contribute $2.26 billion in 2001 to aid 35 million victims of floods, drought, disease and wars around the world from Angola to Afghanistan.
The total request, Annan said, amounted to ``less than the world spends on military purposes in a single day.'' Under the rubric of ``Women and War,'' the agencies dealing with refugees, children, food, population, health, education and development want governments to pay special attention to women and children, who represent about 80 percent of the world's 40 million uprooted people.
``These women, children and men are the disenfranchised, the displaced, the targets of conflicts and the victims of natural disasters,'' Annan said in his appeal to potential donors. ``They look to us, here and now, not only for protection and life-sustaining support today, but also for assurances that they -- and their children -- can live their tomorrows in dignity and security,'' he added.
This year's annual inter-agency appeal to governments is for 19 hardship areas -- most of them in Africa, including Angola, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Democratic Congo, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Tajikistan, North Korea, refugees from Chechnya and Indonesia's troubled Maluku island are also on the list.
The new appeal total of $2.26 billion is lower than the $2.3 billion sought for the year 2000, which so far has resulted in a 55.6 percent response, U.N. officials said. The United States, Japan and Europe Union were the biggest donors in terms of dollar value.
Carolyn McAskie, the deputy director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told Reuters she expects the final tally for 2000 to reach approximately 65 percent of projected funding needs. Annan said the donor community has expressed satisfaction with the U.N.'s improved ``synergy'' between its various emergency agencies, ``but still has not given us the material support we need.''
Last year at this time, the U.N. had received 67 percent of the total needed to run its emergency aid efforts, with the drop-off for its coordinated appeal matching a broader reduction in international humanitarian support.
He warned that direct bilateral support between donor and recipient, while welcomed, should not come at the expense of multilateralism because it runs the risk of marginalizing the U.N. and its partners.
Without coordinated efforts between the different U.N. led aid agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Annan said there is a ``risk of returning to the days of uncoordinated efforts ... without common standards and practices.''
Several Balkan nations, ravaged in recent years by wars that have caused floods of refugees, are earmarked to receive $429 million. Another large appeal, $386 million, is for North Korea, which faces its seventh consecutive year of food shortages, following floods and then drought. Most of the supplies for Pyongyang are funneled through the Rome-based U.N. World Food program.
The U.N. has slated $229 million for Afghanistan where two decades of warfare and a recent drought have devastated the country, swamping neighboring nations with 2.6 million distraught refugees.
Mine clearing, particularly in Afghanistan and Angola, were top priorities in those countries, while HIV/AIDS awareness, particularly in African nations and the repatriation of refugees from wars was a widespread goal across all areas.
11/29/00
8:56:54 PM
THE LONGEST WAR The short, sad story of the long war against drugs by Keith Evans
From: http://www.isleofavalon.co.uk/longestwar.html
The book outlines the story of the 'war against drugs', which Keith Evans contends to be the longest war in recent history - still going on. The Longest War is rich in information and history, going back to the Opium and Spanish-American Wars, painting a very clear overview up to this day.
Keith has been a barrister and attorney working in borderline legal areas including drugs cases, from the 1960s to the 1990s. He left UK during the Thatcher period because his work in the English High Court was becoming fruitless and a little personally risky. He spent ten years in USA teaching and advising on advocacy, where he had earlier trained as a California attorney. He has written several books on law and advocacy.
If you met Keith, you'd think him a full-scale 'Cambridge man'. Or, at least, he was like that, but nowadays he's a changed man. He's Welsh by origin, and his mother was a psychic - and Keith often took advice from her inner source. He has now returned to Wales.
He and I have been close friends for 15 years. "I'll cover the public law aspect for you, and you cover the cosmic law aspect for me!", he once said in the 80s. It's not just because of our friendship that I have published this online book - free, by the way. It's because it's an exceptional book, in readability and content, on an important subject - about one of the most shameful shadows of modern civilisation. Publishers rarely explain why they reject books, but I suspect it was because Keith relates the continuing 'drug wars' to American geopolitical hegemony.
He shows how USA created the 'drug wars' and the modern drugs trade - including the creation of heroin, crack and other very destructive drugs. He favours legalisation of cannabis. He has reservations over further drug legalisation, for reasons he states in the book, but he advocates a radical change of approach, ratcheting down the war. Keith has met and legally defended some of the 'big guys' in the 'drug wars' - he knows his stuff from the inside, including things not said in court. He has also (unusually) listened to his kids and their friends.
Permission is given to print off single copies for personal use, study and review, in fair play. The book is copyright.
It's free. It's not very long. Go get it! And please recommend it to friends you believe might appreciate it. It's a timely contribution.
With lots of love
Palden Jenkins publisher, the Glastonbury Archive http://www.isleofavalon.co.uk/archive.html
11/29/00
8:55:46 PM
CITIZENS QUIETLY REBEL AGAINST DRUG WAR
Public Tries New Options As Prosecution Appears To Harm, Not Help, Users California voters approved a radically different approach this November to dealing with the drug problem. By a difference of 61 to 39 percent, or by roughly 2 million votes, people backed probation and treatment instead of jail for non-violent crimes of drug possession or drug use.
Contrast that generous margin with the closeness of the presidential election. Some day, I believe, the passage of Proposition 36 may be compared to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
Those two stunning political reversals seemed to occur overnight, to the bewilderment of most experts. In retrospect, the collapse of the Soviet bloc was not that sudden.
We simply missed many of the early signs of deterioration within the Soviet Union. Proposition 36 and other drug-ballot initiatives passed by American voters during recent years are signals of a similar erosion, signs that the public commitment to the "war on drugs" is deteriorating.
A similar public disenchantment with the drug war could be seen in the 1996 presidential election. Proposition 15, which legalized the use of medicinal marijuana in California, received a half-million more votes than Bob Dole and 250,000 more than Bill Clinton got in this state, despite dire messages of opposition from the federal government, prominent politicians and law enforcement groups.
Since then, eight other states and the District of Columbia have passed medicinal-marijuana initiatives or laws. In the last election, Oregon and Utah passed initiatives that limited the ability of law enforcement agencies to seize property they suspected was used in a drug crime, sell it and keep the proceeds for their departments. At the same time, Nevada and Colorado passed medicinal-marijuana initiatives.
A few years ago, Arizona voters approved an initiative that is even stronger than Proposition 36, and also is meant to get drug users into treatment and keep them out of jail.
I endorsed Proposition 15 and Proposition 36 because, during my early years in policing, I arrested many drug users for petty drug crimes without seeing any indication that those arrests helped them or lessened the community's drug problem.
In fact, as my academic studies of drugs grew and my police career progressed, I became convinced that arrests for such minor offenses did more harm than good.
I served about 18 of my 35 years in policing as police chief of two of America's largest cities, San Jose and Kansas City, Mo. As chief, it became even more apparent to me that an overwhelming percentage of drug arrests disrupted school careers, caused defendants to lose their jobs, exposed them to brutal incarceration experiences and often led many to become career criminals and addicts.
On the other hand, a large number of people who used illegal drugs seem to have grown out of their youthful drug experiments and led productive lives. In fact, most of the police applicants I hired had admitted to some drug use in their youth. If we had automatically disqualified them, we would have severely damaged their lives and lost many fine police officers.
The California legislative analyst indicated that Proposition 36 would save the state between $100 million and $150 million annually in saved incarceration costs, plus about $450 million to $550 million in prison-construction costs and an additional $40 million annually for local governments. More important, the legislative analyst estimated that the new law would keep as many as 34,000 non-violent drug offenders out of state prison each year.
Measure Opposed By Many
Despite these enormous benefits, Gov. Gray Davis, Attorney General Bill Lockyer and almost every law enforcement organization in the state opposed the measure. Proposition 36 was also opposed by almost every newspaper editorial board in California.
There were many arguments for and against the measure. The principal argument advanced in opposition was that the measure would send the "wrong message" to children and result in more drug use and crime.
Yet, crime has been declining in California and the other states that have passed drug-reform initiatives. And, since the passage of Proposition 15, there has been no increase in marijuana use by teenagers in California, whose rate is 2 percent below the national average.
Quite frequently, opponents of the drug-reform measures, instead of sticking to the issues, launched personal attacks on three men who have contributed around $4 million to state campaigns for drug reform.
The naysayers imply that three secretive wealthy men duped the voters into believing that the various initiatives were beneficial. Actually, Peter Lewis, a car insurer, John Sperling, who founded Phoenix University, and financier George Soros were quite open about their contributions, which were a matter of record.
Answering attempts to attribute sinister motives to them, the three said their intent was similar to that of thousands of other volunteers, myself included, who feel that the drug war has failed and is eroding our civil liberties. (I am an unpaid board member of the non-profit Lindesmith-Drug Policy Foundation in New York, which distributes $3 million a year in grants, some of it from George Soros, to further drug research, education and hygiene programs.)
The federal government probably spends more than $1 billion a year in efforts to boost public support for its war against drugs; nevertheless, the much-smaller sums contributed to drug reform have energized many Americans.
Costs Of Drug War
Almost all of the opponents of these measures argued strongly that holding the threat of jail over the heads of drug users was essential to rehabilitation. But this contention has been advanced without any substantiation ever since President Richard Nixon first mentioned a "war against drugs" in 1972. Since then, the annual federal budget for the drug war has risen from roughly $100 million to more than $19 billion. When state and local costs are included, the drug war costs us over $40 billion a year.
Here's another way of looking at it: The average monthly Social Security check in 1972 was around $177. My research shows that, if Social Security benefits had increased at the same pace as drug-war spending, the average check today would be more than $60,000 a month, instead of around $800. Despite this hurling of money at drug enforcement, foreign production of heroin and cocaine has significantly increased.
Some 90 percent of illegal drugs entering the United States come in undetected.
The drug war has not sheltered our children from being exposed to drugs. In fact, the vast profits increase the marketing of drugs.
This is the result of a roughly 17,000 percent markup for illegal drugs as they move from raw products in Peru, Colombia, Brazil or Mexico to retail sales on American streets. The corruption and violence associated with prohibition is staggering. More than 400,000 Americans, disproportionately low-income minorities, have been jailed for non-violent drug crimes.
Change Of Public Mindset
Voters may not have all of these details at their fingertips, but they are well aware that the law of supply and demand is far more powerful than laws passed by Congress.
In 1990, a nationwide Gallup Poll indicated that 94 percent of those responding did not believe that the best way to handle the drug problem was to jail drug users. California's propositions 15 and 36 and other states' similar initiatives seem to be votes against the government holding jail sen tences over the heads of people ingesting certain chemicals, but not others that can be equally dangerous, such as alcohol and Valium.
It frightens drug-war hawks that voters may be beginning to think about drugs as social and medical problems, as we did before Congress introduced criminal prohibition of drugs in 1914.
11/29/00
8:49:05 PM
Nov. 29, 2000
NAFTA Truck Ruling Imperils U.S. Public Safety
NAFTA's Plummeting Image: Now Safe Highways Are a Trade Barrier
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, a NAFTA dispute tribunal issued an interim ruling that could jeopardize the safety of everyone who drives on America's highways. The panel ruled that the U.S. is violating NAFTA by prohibiting unsafe Mexican trucks from roaming freely throughout the U.S. Under NAFTA rules, if the U.S. does not agree to open the border to Mexican trucks, it faces trade sanctions.
Public Citizen urges the U.S. government to work to obtain a reversal of this interim ruling. However, if the final NAFTA panel ruling remains against the public interest, the U.S. must accept the trade sanctions and in the name of safety, keep the border closed.
"The safety of our highways must not be compromised, no matter the price," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "Keeping Mexican trucks within a limited border area is essential for the safety of U.S. highways. The serious safety problems with the Mexican truck fleet have not been addressed since President Clinton first refused to open the border. Granting unlimited U.S. highway access to deadly Mexican trucks was then -- and is now -- an astoundingly bad idea." Claybrook served as the top U.S. auto safety official in the Carter administration.
U.S. Department of Transportation data show that Mexican carriers licensed to operate in the U.S. are more than three times as likely to have safety deficiencies as U.S. carriers. Common safety problems include faulty brakes, tires, taillights and brake lights. The problems found with Mexican trucks are among the top causes of serious crashes. In Mexico, trucks are allowed to carry heavier loads. Mexican truck drivers have no hours-of-service limitations compared to the limits set on U.S. drivers of 10 hours of continuous driving. While operating in the U.S., Mexican trucks are supposed to comply with U.S. standards, but the U.S. does not have enough inspectors to ensure that trucks crossing the border follow U.S. regulations.
"This ruling is exhibit A in the case for why NAFTA is a backwards, damaging agreement that the public dislikes more each time it trounces public safety in the name of an extreme corporate-managed trade agenda," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.
Added Claybrook, "This ruling is particularly galling because it allows unelected bureaucrats essentially to overturn American laws and safety standards. It is also appalling that the ruling was based on trade alone; the panel refused to hear evidence about safety and the risks that the trucks pose to the American public."
11/29/00
8:00:48 PM
FAIR-L Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Media analysis, critiques and news reports
FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) presents:
"Palestine, Israel & the U.S. Media,"
a talk by Yifat Susskind, Associate Director of MADRE, & Seth Ackerman, Media Analyst at FAIR.
Thursday, December 7, 6:30 PM Housing Works Used Book Café 126 Crosby St (between Prince and Houston), New York *Free and Open to the Public.*
Anyone trying to learn about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict from mainstream media is bound to feel deeply confused. Palestinians bear most of the casualties from the current violence, yet, according to the U.S. media, they also bear most of the responsibility for it. Media create this impression by covering violent "clashes" while omitting the crucial historical context of Israel's 33-year occupation. These accounts tend to follow the Israeli and U.S. government line, portraying Palestinians as rejecting "peace" and threatening Israel. Left out is the Palestinian perspective that sees the Intifada as legitimate resistance to an illegal occupation. Join FAIR for a talk about the history the media are rewriting, and about how these distortions enable the U.S. government to continue its destructive policies in the Middle East.
Yifat Susskind is the Associate Director at MADRE, the international women's human rights organization. Seth Ackerman is a media analyst at FAIR. He writes regularly for FAIR's magazine, Extra!, and his work has also appeared in publications like In These Times, the Washington Times and Harper's Magazine.
For more about the media & the Middle East, go to: http://www.fair.org/international/middle-east.html
11/29/00
2:10:47 PM
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
Calif. tree-sit Redwood hit by chainsaw attack - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9145
FEATURE - Alaska lands bill still debated after 20 years - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9148
INTERVIEW - Russian nuclear head blasts Chernobyl shutdown - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9141
Norway to approve more CO2 from gas-fired power - reports - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9147
Indian officials rebuff US animal rights group - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9146
E. Europe should adapt EU power standards - VDEW - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9142
German E.ON rejects "dirty power" imports curb-paper - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9143
Metso to invest 11 mln euros into wind power, gears - FINLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9140
Nuclear industry slams EU Greens for climate failure - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9138
UPDATE - EU to rule Wednesday on French mad cow measures - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9144
HK Disney project killing fish, lawmaker says - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9139
INTERVIEW - Shanghai aims to be giant petchem base by 2005 - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9149
11/29/00
2:09:50 PM
Nov. 29, 2000
Court Protects Anonymous Internet Critics of New Jersey Company
Judge Upholds Public Citizen's First Amendment Arguments
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Adopting arguments made by attorneys for Public Citizen, a New Jersey Superior Court has rejected a company's attempt to discover the identities of anonymous Internet message posters by going to court.
The company, Dendrite International, failed to meet the stringent legal standards required for them to obtain subpoenas for the disclosure of the identities of people who post Web messages about those companies, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Kenneth MacKenzie ruled this week.
"Several other courts have articulated similar standards for deciding whether to compel the identification of anonymous Internet speakers, but MacKenzie's decision marks the first time that a judge has rejected a request for identification," said Paul Levy, who filed a brief for Public Citizen as a friend of the court. "By setting forth strict evidentiary standards for compelled identification, and then showing that these standards can produce real protection for anonymity, this decision is a tremendous victory for free speech."
Levy predicted that for this reason, as well as MacKenzie's thorough analysis of constitutional rights involved, the decision is likely to be especially influential in future cases.
The court issued the ruling in a case in which Dendrite International, a supplier of sales force software products and support services to the pharmaceutical industry, sued four people who posted messages anonymously about the company on a Yahoo! message board. Dendrite alleged that three of the message posters made false statements, that two of them who identified themselves as employees violated employment agreements, and that three of them published secret information. After Dendrite asked the court to authorize it to pursue discovery to identify the defendants, MacKenzie ordered Dendrite to post a notice of its request on the Yahoo! message board to alert the potential defendants that their anonymity was at issue. Two of the posters hired lawyers to defend their right to remain anonymous, and Public Citizen entered the case as a friend of the court to argue for a limited right to anonymity.
The court accepted Public Citizen's argument that the right of companies to sue for alleged wrongful behavior "must be balanced against the legitimate and valuable right to participate in online forums anonymously or pseudonymously." To achieve this balance, MacKenzie adopted a four-part test, borrowed from a decision by a federal trial judge in San Francisco, to ensure that the right to speak anonymously can be lost only if the plaintiff can show that it had a valid case against the speakers that could not be pursued without identifying the speakers.
In deciding whether to allow Dendrite to subpoena Yahoo! for the defendants' identities, the judge considered both the complaint filed by the company and affidavits and exhibits presented by both sides. The judge ruled that the company had presented enough proof to warrant the pursuit of discovery against two of the posters, who had identified themselves as employees of Dendrite and may have violated their employment agreements.
Two other defendants, however, were entitled to remain anonymous because the company had not presented sufficient evidence that their comments had harmed Dendrite or that their statements had revealed company trade secrets. More importantly, said MacKenzie, the company "failed to provide this Court with ample proof from which to conclude that John Does Nos. 3 and 4 have used their constitutional protections in order to conduct themselves in a manner which is unlawful or that would warrant this Court to revoke their constitutional protections." MacKenzie indicated that he would be willing to consider the rights of the first two John Does if they advanced sufficient arguments to warrant protecting them from disclosure, as well.
Public Citizen argued in its brief that because the main purpose of such suits is often to unmask the company's critics, the identification of those critics should be treated as a major form of relief that cannot be awarded without proof of wrongdoing. A company should not be able to deny members of the public the right to speak anonymously simply by filing a complaint and making vague allegations of wrongdoing.
The Internet, Levy argued, is "the modern equivalent of the Speakers' Corner at Hyde Park. That's where anybody can stand up and voice their opinions -- however silly, profane or brilliant they might seem -- to anyone who chooses to listen. By establishing tough standards that companies must meet before anonymous speakers may be identified, and then actually applying those standards to protect the only two defendants who came to court to defend themselves, while inviting the other two speakers to explain why they, too, should be protected, Judge MacKenzie has set an important precedent protecting the free speech rights of all Internet posters."
Public Citizen filed the brief because it champions free speech rights. The organization recently represented a person who posted anonymous messages on a Yahoo! message board about Thomas & Betts Corporation, a Tennessee manufacturer of electrical components. The company dismissed the case with a statement that it did not want to chill free speech on the Internet. Public Citizen is also representing an employee who anonymously posted a message on the Internet about an executive of Ohio-based AK Steel Company. The executive has sued to learn the identity of the employee for this allegedly defamatory posting.
J.C. Salyer of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey Foundation was local counsel. ### MacKenzie's opinion may be accessed at http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/dendrite.pdf . Public Citizen's brief is available at http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/dendrite.htm.
11/29/00
2:09:06 PM
Nov. 29, 2000
Public Citizen, SEIU Petition FDA to Immediately Ban Unsafe Medical Needles
Health Care Workers Infected by Unsafe Devices Call for Safer Alternatives
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should immediately ban a variety of unsafe devices used by health care workers so they can be protected from contracting deadly diseases from accidental needle sticks, Public Citizen and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) said in a petition filed today with the FDA.
U.S. health care workers sustain 590,000 needle sticks annually. Thousands have contracted HIV or hepatitis C after being accidentally stuck by infected needles while on the job, and many have died. Their deaths and suffering are unnecessary because safer alternatives exist.
"The FDA is the only entity that can completely remove these unsafe devices from all health care facilities," said Dr. Peter Lurie, deputy director of Public Citizen=s Health Research Group. "For the sake of medical workers throughout the country, the FDA's immediate action on this petition is imperative. Cutting off an epidemic of needle-borne infections at the source is the only effective public health strategy."
Said SEIU President Andrew L. Stern, "Without FDA action, thousands of nurses, doctors and other health care workers will lose their lives. Not one more health care worker should needlessly suffer from unsafe needles when proven, safer alternatives exist."
The petition calls for the FDA to remove from the market all unsafe intravenous catheters, blood collection devices, blood collection needle sets (also known as butterfly syringes), glass capillary tubes and intravenous infusion equipment. The petition also asks the FDA to issue performance standards to ensure that similar unsafe devices do not enter the market.
There have been 49 documented cases of U.S. health care workers contracting HIV from patients after being stuck by infected needles or similar sharp medical devices, although the actual number is likely much higher because there have been no needle stick reporting requirements. One hundred to 200 other workers die annually from hepatitis B, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes most of these cases are occupationally acquired. Hundreds of health care workers also contract hepatitis C every year.
Noreen Prill, a nurse who became infected with hepatitis C in 1978 and who appeared at today=s press conference, said the ban is long overdue. Her hand was pierced by a contaminated needle when a dialysis patient grabbed her arm while she was taking blood from him.
"It is sad and ironic that the same kind of needle that infected me more than 20 years ago is still on the market today," Prill said.
Ellen Dayton, a California nurse, became infected on the job in 1996. She was reaching to grab several blood-collection tubes that were rolling off a counter top when her finger was pricked by a contaminated butterfly syringe. She subsequently tested positive for HIV and hepatitis C. Although she was too sick to travel to today=s press conference, she provided a videotaped statement.
"It is time for the FDA to act to take needles like the one that I was stuck with off the market, so that no other nurses will have to suffer like I have," Dayton said.
Safer devices exist, including retractable needles, self-blunting needles and protective shields. Plastic capillary tubes used for measuring red blood cell counts can replace glass tubes. Intravenous catheters can be equipped with plastic shields that lock and cover the needle after it has been removed from a patient. Intravenous tubing that uses no needles has been developed and has been shown to reduce needle sticks.
Such devices can be more expensive, but their cost can be offset by the number of needle sticks prevented, the petition states. Such injuries typically cost between $500 and $1,000 for each worker who sustains a needle stick, including blood tests, counseling and appropriate medications. Treatment costs increase dramatically if workers become sick.
In 1991, the SEIU petitioned the FDA to issue performance standards for a variety of unsafe needles devices, but the FDA refused to do so. Since the petition was filed, millions of workers have been stuck by needles and thousands have contracted deadly diseases. Many hospitals and health care facilities have begun to use safer devices, but their use is not widespread.
Congress recently approved a law that strengthened the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Bloodborne Pathogens Standard to require most - but not all - health facilities to evaluate the needles they are using and use safer needles. During the evaluation process, unsafe needles will continue to be used. The evaluation process will be inconsistent and unnecessarily time-consuming unless the FDA leads the way by banning devices that have been proven unsafe and for which there are proven, safer alternatives.
"It is time for the FDA to live up to its responsibility to regulate unsafe medical devices and take them off the market," said Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. "The FDA needs to act now. Otherwise, hundreds of workers will continue to become infected each year."
11/29/00
2:05:48 PM
FOR THOSE WHO TAKE LIFE TOO SERIOUSLY
1. Save the whales. Collect the whole set. 2. A day without sunshine is like, night. 3. On the other hand, you have different fingers. 4. I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory. 5. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot. 6. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name. 7. I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe. 8. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you. 9. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges. 10. Honk if you love peace and quiet. 11. Remember half the people you know are below average. 12. Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains? 13. Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool. 14. Atheism is a non-prophet organization. 15. He who laughs last thinks slowest. 16. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm. 17. Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. 18. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. 19. I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol. 20. I intend to live forever - so far so good. 21. Borrow money from a pessimist - they don't expect it back. 22. If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends? 23. Mind like a steel trap - rusty and illegal in most states. 24. Quantum mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of. 25. The only substitute for good manners is fast reflexes. 26. Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have. 27. When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane and going the wrong way. 28. If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. 29. A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking. 30. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it. 31. For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism. 32. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks. 33. Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with. 34. No one is listening until you make a mistake. 35. Success always occurs in private and failure in full view. 36. The colder the x-ray table the more of your body is required on it. 37. The hardness of butter is directly proportional to the softness of the bread. 38. The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the ability to reach it. 39. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. 40. To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles. 41. Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life. 42. You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. 43. Two wrongs are only the beginning. 44. The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard. 45. The sooner you fall behind the more time you'll have to catch up. 46. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory. 47. Change is inevitable except from vending machines. 48. Get a new car for your spouse - it'll be a great trade! 49. Plan to be spontaneous - tomorrow. 50. Always try to be modest and be proud of it! 51. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments. 52. How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hand... 53. Love may be blind but marriage is a real eye-opener. 54. If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving isn't for you. 55. If you have lost something, it will be in the last place you look for it. 56. If you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, why do some people have more than one child. 57. If you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, why do some people get married more than once. 58. If your feet smell and your nose runs, you've been made upside-down. 59. Everything you like is bad for you in some way. 60. If a job is worth doing, then get someone in to do it properly. 61. Don't drink and drive, you might spill it.
11/29/00
1:55:19 PM
Can Life Survive Earth's Depleted Ozone Layer?
Hello all,
On the Earth's surface, ozone is a dangerous air pollutant, yet in the stratosphere, it makes life possible by blocking 99% of the harmful UV from the Sun. Without the Ozone Layer, life as we know it would not be possible anywhere on the surface of the Earth.
And we influence the atmosphere on a grand scale every day. Each day on Earth, over 1,800 tons of chloroflorocarbons (CFC) are released to the atmosphere. These ozone destroying chemicals come from leaking car and home air conditioners, leaking refrigerators, and many industries that use them as a blowing agent such as the styrofoam products industry.
Learn about our Ozone Layer and what you can do to help in this week's Healing Our World commentary on the Environment News Service, hosted on the LYCOS Network. You can see the article entitlted "Can Life Survive Earth's Depleted Ozone Layer?" at http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-24g.html
Regulatory action is slow, but unless we want our children to fear the Sun, something better be done now.
I wish you peace during this time of giving thanks for the richness of our lives.
Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. http://www.ens.lycos.com http://www.healingourworld.com
11/29/00
1:53:52 PM
New chemtrails theory just might make you sick By Jim Marrs Date: 11/23/2000 URL: http://www.alienzoo.com/features/m/200011230001.cfm
A report from a Canadian research foundation concluded that the much discussed, but little publicized Chemtrails, may be an attempt to hide a sickening military secret.
Professor Donald Scott, president of the Common Cause Medical Research Foundation, claimed that Chemtrails are a belated attempt by U.S. military and intelligence chieftains to stop the spread of a debilitating disease first concocted in the early 1980s.
According to Scott's account, the military began developing diseases in the 1970s which were infectious but not contagious. In other words, an ailment which could be spread to enemy troops but would not pass into other populations.
One such disease was based on a zoonosis, a disease which can be transmitted to humans by animals, in this case brucellosis. Brucellosis is a bacterial disease usually found in cattle, which can cause undulant fever in humans.
By manipulating this disease, researchers were able to design a disabling bacteria which disappeared following infection. Troops could be infected yet exhibit no signs of the bacteria when examined by a doctor.
In the early 1980s, secret government labs worked to produce a brucellosis pathogen which could disable enemy troops without the risk of infecting friendly forces. This pathogen reportedly was based on brucellosis bacteria in a crystalline form first developed by researchers in 1945.
According to Scott's report, such a bacteria was tested during the summer of 1984 at Tahoe-Truckee High School in California, where individual rooms were fitted with an independent recycling air supply. A teacher's lounge was designated as the infection target. Seven of eight teachers assigned to this room became very ill within months.
The high school was only one of several locations where the specially designed pathogens were tested, some distributed by aerosol sprays and others by the use contaminated mosquitoes.
Scott reported that one hundred million mosquitoes a month were bred at the Dominion Parasite Laboratory in Belleville, Ontario, during the 1980s, then tested by both Canadian and U.S. military authorities after being infected with brucellosis.
Some observers believe the viral epidemic reported around New York City in recent years may have been the result of these infected mosquitoes.
The testing of unsuspecting victims was conducted by both the military and CIA, according to Scott, and monitored by the National Institutes of Health as well as the Center for Disease Control.
Encouraged by what they felt was a successful test, military leaders reportedly passed the brucellosis bio agent to none other than Saddam Hussein, who in the mid-1980s was fighting a protracted war against Iran at the behest of the CIA.
George Bush
In 1986, with the approval of Vice-President George Bush, Saddam received shipments of both brucella abortus, biotypes 3 and 9, and brucella melitensis, biotypes 1 and 3.
After Saddam obtained a stockpile of the brucellosis, a terrible discovery was made - these designer bacteria mutated and became contagious.
Saddam Hussein
According to Scott's report, Saddam used this pathogen on American troops during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, resulting in the illness referred to as Gulf War Syndrome. More than 100,000 Gulf War vets now suffer from this syndrome, which causes chronic fatigue, loss of appetite, profuse sweating even at rest, joint and muscle pain, insomnia, nausea, and damage to major organs.
Much of this information may be found in a 1994 report by Senator Donald W. Riegle, Jr., titled, "U.S. Chemical and Biological Warfare-related Dual Use Exports to Iraq and Their Possible Impact on the Health Consequences of the Persian Gulf War."
Troops initially were told that no such infection existed and that the problem was mostly in their mind. Slowly, over the years, authorities were forced to admit that something had triggered severe illness in many Gulf War veterans.
By then, a variant of the brucellosis had spread to the civilian population. Many people began suffering from general debilitation and tiredness.
When it became know that the contagion was spreading into the general population, top officials with the National Institutes of Health and Center for Disease Control, as well as the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Resources began a program of misrepresentation of the disease to mask their role in its origin. The illness was claimed to be connected to the Epstein-Barr virus and was labeled "Chronic Mononucleosis."
This has now become known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Like the veterans before them, victims of this ailment were told it was merely a psychological condition.
One victim, Dr. Martin Lerner of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI, told his peers in the American Society of Microbiology that his bout with this mysterious disease left his heart damaged. Dr. Lerner and others suspected that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is caused by viral infection.
Top-level officials, concerned both with the spread of the contagion and with the risk that their role in its origin would become publicly known, moved to counteract the pathogen. This program may explain the mysterious Chemtrails which have been noted over major population centers during the past couple of years.
As explained by Scott, "We have learned . . . that a patent was issued in 1996 for an aerosol vaccination process which would permit the vaccination of wildlife and domestic herds by spraying them or their disease vectors (birds) from the air. . . .
"We have noted that many of the sightings of Chemtrails are over migratory bird flight paths. We are currently preparing a report on this subject for release in January 2001.
"The Chemtrails program may well be a belated effort by the U.S. and Canadian governments to get the brucellosis genie back in its bottle."
To learn more about who may be behind nefarious activities such as Chemtrails, read Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects The Trilateral Commission, The Freemasons and The Great Pyramid by Jim Marrs, now available from finer bookstores everywhere and from http://www.JimMarrs.com - Read Alien Agenda by Jim Marrs, for an in-depth look at UFOs, available at this Web site. Also Jim Marrs' book on the U. S. Army's remote viewing program, Psi Spies, which was suppressed in 1995, is now available online right here at AlienZoo. Order yours today.
NOTE FROM JEAN: If you are hearing for the first time about the Chemtrails issue and would like to find out more about this. I suggest you go check what is already archived on this topic on the Earth Rainbow Network website at http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000 by simply using the search engine that is available (near the top of the page) specifically for the 340+ documents posted there. You need to type in "Chemtrails" and "Contrails" to find what you look for. And anytime you want to find what is relevant to a subject of interest to you in these extensive archives (nearly 4000 pages on all kinds of subjects), remember that this very efficient search engine is there just for that purpose.
11/29/00
1:36:05 PM
November 27, 2000
Dear Colleagues
Many of you have supported and expressed interest in Friends of the Earth International's efforts to campaign for the World Bank Group and other financial institutions to phase out its financing of oil, gas and mining projects. This note serves to update you on what has happened on this effort over the last few months with the World Bank.
After initially launching this campaign in April during the World Bank's spring meetings with a platform endorsed by more than 200 NGOs from 55 countries, we raised the issue again in Prague during the World Bank's annual meetings in October.
In Prague, Friends of the Earth International released a working paper outlining the objectives and rationale of this campaign. This paper is still a working document and we are seeking input from other organizations. We invite you to review the working paper which is attached (in word and rtf format) and provide us with your input by the end of the year. Please send your comments and input to Jon Sohn with Friends of the Earth at jsohn@foe.org by January 3, 2001.
At an NGO meeting with the World Bank's President Wolfensohn in Prague, Friends of the Earth's International Chairperson, Ricardo Navarro from El Salvador, made the case for why Friends of the Earth is campaigning on oil, gas and mining issues.
In response, Wolfensohn said: (excerpted from the transcript)
"What I am prepared to do is to do with you in a way that I think we should explore what I have done on dams. On dams, we have had an international and balanced Commission on Dams to take a look - and they will be reporting in a few months time - on whether we've got it wrong or whether we've got it right on dams, and what it is we should do and what it is we shouldn't do. I would be perfectly happy to sit down with you and with your colleagues to try and see if there is some mechanism that we can stand back and take a look at the actualities of this extractive industry, the pros, the cons, the pluses, the minuses and see if together we can come up with something that will either lead to an exclusion or to an inclusion on certain terms of what we are doing."
Since Prague, Friends of the Earth International has consulted internally with its network, as well as partner groups and NGOs that were in Prague to decide how to respond to Wolfensohn's opening.
Attached is a letter which FoE International sent to the Wolfensohn on October 30, 2000 which laid out some basic issues and concerns that would need to be a part of any process for it to be credible.
In sum, the letter:
*rejects the idea of setting up a process similar to the World Commission on Dams (because the outcome would not necessarily oblige the World Bank to do anything and the oil, gas and mining sectors are different than dams);
* calls on the Bank to set up a process which leads to new restrictions on its lending, including as a first step towards phasing out oil, gas and mining investments, establishing "no go zones" in ecologically important areas and indigenous peoples' lands;
* calls for an open process with clear, binding outcomes for the World Bank. The process must be participatory and include environmental, human rights, indigenous groups and local communities.
*calls on the World Bank Group to honor a moratorium for financing any new oil, gas and mining projects while undertaking this review process as an indication of good faith.
Since Prague, it is our understanding that the World Bank has been debating internally about how to act of Wolfensohn's comment and they plan to present a proposal soon. As soon as we receive this proposal, we will forward it to this list for input and feedback.
Until then, we would appreciate your comments on the working paper which describes the rationale and scope of what NGOs are asking the World Bank to do. There is not a single NGO point of view on how the World Bank should approach this issue, but there are probably more similarlities than differences. We would encourage as much dialogue and input as possible.
Again, if you have comments on this working paper, please send them to jsohn@foe.org.
Thanks for your support and interest in this campaign. We will strive to keep you better informed in the future and welcome any input, ideas or suggestions that you might offer.
Best regards,
Andrea Durbin
Andrea Durbin Director, International Program Friends of the Earth - United States 1025 Vermont Avenue, NW 3rd Floor Washington, DC 20005 telephone: 202-783-7400, ext 209 fax: 202-783-0444
11/29/00
1:34:27 PM
INCONCLUSIVE CLIMATE TALKS END WITH NO AGREEMENT
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, November 26, 2000 (ENS) - The climate summit has come to an end without an agreement on the means of limiting six greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-26-01.html
FROZEN IN TIME, SEED BANK SAVES PLANTS FROM EXTINCTION
HAYWARDS HEATH, West Sussex, United Kingdom, November 27, 2000 (ENS) - Hundreds of millions of seeds from the world's most endangered species are to be housed in an underground vault, deep in the English countryside.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-27-11.html
URANIUM MINING IN AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PARK CHALLENGED
By Andrew Darby
CAIRNS, Australia, November 27, 2000 (ENS) - A dormant struggle over uranium mining in Australia's Kakadu National Park is reawakening, as UNESCO's World Heritage Committee gathers for its annual meeting in this north Queensland resort city from today through December 2.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-27-01.html
SOUR AND BITTER FOODS PROTECT AGAINST DISEASES
SEATTLE, Washington, November 27, 2000 (ENS) - Brussels sprouts, grapefruit, cabbage, kale, mustard greens, arugula, spinach, dark chocolates, red wine and a lot of other typical Thanksgiving leftovers are proven to contain dietary phytonutrients. These nutrients have been associated with cancer prevention and other health benefits.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-27-02.html
ARCTIC SQUIRRELS THRIVE BECAUSE MOTHER KNOWS BEST
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, November 27, 2000 (ENS) - Nothing turns off arctic ground squirrels more than overcrowding, which is why the female of the species severely reduces reproduction when her neighbors get a little too close.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-27-12.html
UK BANS MINK SLAUGHTER
LONDON, United Kingdom, November 27, 2000 (ENS) - Tens of thousands of mink will be saved from slaughter now the UK has become the first country in the world to ban raising animals for their pelts.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-27-10.html
11/29/00
1:30:39 PM
THE STATE JOURNAL Frankfort, Kentucky November 26, 2000
EDITORIAL
Hemp and the future
Let’s hear it for Midway College in Woodford County.
The college sponsored a conference Nov. 17 on the future of industrial hemp in Kentucky’s – and the nation’s – agricultural economy. There were all sorts of exhibits of products that can be manufactured using industrial hemp, in this case hemp grown legally in Canada. Industrial hemp cannot be grown legally in the United States because the plant is a distant relative of marijuana.
And the Midway conference was not a Gatewood Galbraith sort of affair with Willy Nelson strumming along. Former Republican Gov. Louie B. Nunn – hardly the hippie sort – attended. The featured speaker was a Republican legislator from Hawaii who sponsored successful legislation in that state to permit test crops of industrial hemp to be grown as a source of ethanol production.
The legislation in Hawaii was successful because the state’s sugar cane industry has gone to the dogs as a result of competition from cheap Asian sugar.
Sound familiar?
More than 50 years ago, Kentucky was one of the major sources of industrial hemp that was used to make rope and other essentials during the Second World War. Climate’s right. Soil’s fine. Industrial hemp is easy to grow, is incredibly hardy, and fiber from its stalks is used in everything from clothing to cosmetics. And you could smoke a ton of it and not get high.
But politicians in Kentucky – and elsewhere – hide from the issue of legalizing production of industrial hemp, even legalizing university studies of the agricultural potential from legalizing industrial hemp. A bill that would have allowed such studies failed to pass the General Assembly early this year.
Instead of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture holding seminars and conferences on hemp’s potential to help Kentucky farmers, Midway College leads the way. Rather than devoting some of the millions UK is pocketing in state bucks for brains funding on a subject of enormous potential to help tobacco farmers survive, Midway College brings in the experts and sponsors the conference.
Good for Midway. At least on one college campus in Kentucky, people are looking to the future and thinking beyond the next slash in the burley tobacco quota.
11/29/00
12:09:20 PM
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
UPDATE - US bio-crop giant says to heed critics - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9127
US groups to assess climate change talk failures - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9128
US smokestack industries weigh climate talks outcome - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9126
INTERVIEW - More US firms seen adopting bio-food labels - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9129
UPDATE - Chernobyl reactor shut down, possibly forever - UKRAINE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9124
Britain wades through wettest autumn on record - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9135
UPDATE - Macho? Moi? asks UK minister in French row - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9131
UPDATE - Korea to require prior ok on GMO imports - SOUTH KOREA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9130
WRAPUP - Japan, China lament climate talks failure - SINGAPORE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9133
Japan court fines govt, firms for air pollution - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9120
UPDATE - Workers' strike ends peacefully in Indian capital - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9136
German power utilities to hold talks with Schroeder - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9123
UPDATE - France and Britain trade blows over climate talks - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9132
Grant of US patent lifts Stuart Energy Systems shares - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9122
Australia resources buoyed by climate talks stand - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9119
South Pacific battered by global warming - World Bank - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9121
Hydro Tasmania signs wind power deal with Vestas - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9125
Greens attack Australia over rising greenhouse gases - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9134
Australia resumes locust control as rains end - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9137
11/29/00
12:08:12 PM
Ancient Redwood Tree Luna Where Julia Butterfly Hill Lived for Over Two Years Has Been Illegally Cut and Endangered
You can access information on this issue at <A HREF="www.onelist.com/community/juliabutterflynet"> www.onelist.com/community/juliabutterflynet</A> See entry #693 entitled Luna murdered by chainsaw attack or go to <A HREF="www.CircleOfLifeFoundation.org/lunacut.htm"> www.CircleOfLifeFoundation.org/lunacut.htm</A>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November, 27 2000
The small hamlet of Stafford, California is the site of a landslide that originated on PL/Maxxam land that destroyed seven families' homes. Stafford is also home to the Stafford Giant, an ancient redwood tree now known to the world as Luna. The tree was named Luna by forest activists who used the light of the full moon to rig a treesitting platform 180 feet high in the redwood in October, 1997.
On December 10, 1997 Julia Butterfly Hill climbed into the tree to protect the magnificent redwood and to help make the world aware of the plight of the ancient forests. From her perch she carried out a tremendous amount of outreach to politicians, religious leaders, school children and citizens worldwide. After two years of risking her life, Julia, with the help of members of the US Steelworkers of America and other forest activists, successfully negotiated the permanent protection of Luna and a nearly three-acre buffer zone.
The tree was protected by a Deed of Covenant, similar to a conservation easement that is held by the land trust Sanctuary Forest. The Luna Preservation Agreement, signed by Julia Hill and PL/Maxxam Corp., was designed to protect Luna in perpetuity so the tree could live for another millennium.
On Thanksgiving weekend it was discovered that a critical cut had been made into Luna by a large chainsaw. The perpetrator made one deep and precise cut that went through a significant portion of the tree. While the tree is still alive and standing, Luna is extremely vulnerable to a windstorm. Judging from the precision of the cut and the fresh sawdust, the criminal action appears to have been committed by an experienced treefaller within the last few days.
Julia Butterfly was devastated to learn of the injury to Luna, "Luna is the greatest teacher and best friend I have ever had. I gave two years of my life to ensure that she could live and die naturally. But two years is nothing compared to the thousand years she has lived, providing shelter, moisture and oxygen to forest inhabitants. It kills me that the last 3% of the ancient redwoods are being desecrated. I feel this vicious attack on Luna as surely as if the chainsaw was going through me. Words cannot express the deep sorrow that I am experiencing but I am as committed as ever to do everything in my power to protect Luna and the remaining ancient forests."
Circle of Life Foundation and Sanctuary Forest are researching what can be done to stabilize the critically injured tree. There is a criminal investigation at the crime site for clues as to who may have committed this spiteful and malevolent action against this permanently protected tree.
The forests surrounding Luna are sacrifice zones that were not protected under the Headwaters Forest Agreement. Other sacrifice zones include the old-growth Douglas fir forests on Rainbow Ridge in the Mattole River watershed. Police convoys are actively trying to stop forest activists from defending these forested steep slopes that are slated to be clearcut during this rainy season.
Dana Stolzman
11/29/00
12:03:42 PM
PIPELINE COMPANY SUED FOR OIL SPILLS IN NINE STATES
By Brian Hansen
ATLANTA, Georgia, November 28, 2000 (ENS) - The Colonial Pipeline Company must face a lawsuit filed today by the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that the firm violated the federal Clean Water Act by spilling three million gallons of oil and petroleum products from its 5,300 mile pipeline.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-28-01.html
UNITED NATIONS URGED TO RETHINK ECOTOURISM YEAR
MADRID, Spain, November 28, 2000 (ENS) - To the World Tourism Organization, ecotourism deserves recognition, which is why the Madrid based United Nations body has declared 2002 International Year of Ecotourism.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-28-11.html
LIABILITY RULES NEAR FOR PAN-EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS
BRUSSELS, Belgium, November 28, 2000 (ENS) - European governments have backed a move toward continent wide rules on civil liability for internationally significant industrial accidents at a meeting in Brussels Thursday.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-28-04.html
COP-6 ANALYSIS: BUILDING CASTLES IN SAND OR IN AIR?
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, November 28, 2000 (ENS) - Most negotiators who participated in The Hague climate conference left on Saturday evening with a profound sense of disappointment. This was the deal that almost was, the occasion where agreement appeared so near on a number of highly charged political issues.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-28-03.html
CHEMISTRY WORRIES CRITICS OF AFRICAN FREE TRADE PACT
By Singy Hayona
LUSAKA, Zambia, November 28, 2000 (ENS) - Environmentalists in Zambia are concerned that a new free trade agreement will open the floodgates for dangerous imported products and industrial wastes.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-28-10.html
11/29/00
11:57:45 AM
Use Your Vote to Change the World!
Has your vote become meaningless?
Do you still bother to vote in national elections? If you do, are you increasingly wondering if your vote makes any real difference to the things that matter to you? After all, whoever wins the election, don't they all end up pursuing much the same policies? Don't politicians of whatever party all seem powerless to take the bold initiatives required to protect labour, the environment and the rights of ordinary people and communities?
For millions of people all over the world, increasingly the answer to these questions is a resounding and angry YES! But what few realise is that this sad state of affairs has become entirely inevitable and predictable. And what's more, it can only get worse unless we rapidly re-think the way we use our votes.
Do you still really think politicians have the power to change things?
One of the most important features of what has become known as "globalisation" is the ability of massive amounts of capital to move round the world to wherever it can earn the highest rate of financial return. Transnational corporations, many of them now larger economic units than all but the most powerful nation states, are able to switch production, and therefore jobs, to any country offering the lowest labour and environmental restrictions. And do so they must. Because corporations are themselves driven by the forces of global stock markets and cannot afford to lose ground against their competitors by paying the higher costs of tighter labour or environmental standards for fear of reduced profits and, ultimately, the threat of an unwelcome takeover. Global currency markets, too, operate in a similar way. The currency of any nation pursuing responsible, and therefore more costly, social and environmental policies will be perceived by the markets to be less attractive to business and will be punished through currency devaluation, the result being higher inflation and higher unemployment.
Capital investment and employment are the two key ingredients required by any economy to flourish. To secure them for the benefit of their peoples, nation states are forced to compete with one another in a bid to remain relatively more attractive to globally mobile capital and corporations for fear of that investment and employment moving elsewhere. In these circumstances, it is not difficult to see why our politicians have only the narrowest of margins within which to enact policies which protect society or the environment. Instead they must progressively privatise public services and reduce environmental and labour protection in order to be seen by the markets and by the corporations as providing an environment conducive to business needs. It's little wonder, therefore, that whichever country we happen to be in, and whichever political party may be in power, the policies delivered largely conform to market and corporate demands at the expense of society and the environment. This is also why moves to curb global warming are so painfully slow and inadequate. Even though much of the technology required to reduce carbon emissions already exists, nations fight shy of forcing their industries to implement it for fear of uncompetitiveness with the industries of other nations who might not be prepared to implement it. In these circumstances, it should not surprise us that progress is virtually impossible.
Politicians are powerless
All round the world, therefore, increasing numbers are beginning to realise that our elected leaders are largely powerless to deliver the far-reaching reforms our planet and so many of its people so desperately need. Institutions such as the United Nations, having no enforceable authority over member nations, is similarly incapable of meeting that challenge and the IMF, World Bank and the WTO only prescribe more of the same. So what are we to do? How can we use our votes to better effect? How can we bring politicians to implement policies which would undoubtedly benefit all humankind?
A new way to vote: for a policy; not for a politician or party
The answer is for us to stop voting primarily for politicians or political parties, for as we have seen, it no longer makes any substantial difference who we vote for because all politicians, once in power, have no choice but to submit to market and corporate demands for fear of them moving elsewhere. Even Green parties once in power, (as they are in Germany), are hamstrung by the need for their country to remain competitive in world markets thus consigning many key green policies to the scrap heap. Indeed, there is little point in voting for politicians or political parties any longer. Instead we need to turn the tables: we need to make politicians and parties compete with one another to do what WE want them to do. And we can! We can vote for any politician or party willing to adopt a range of ecologically and socially sound measures designed to regain control over global markets and transnational corporations and to enact urgent measures to reduce carbon emissions. This range of measures which WE - not the politicians - will design and decide upon is already in the making and it's called the Simultaneous Policy (SP).
Re-empower YOUR vote!
Try for a moment to conceive the power the people can once again weald if we take such a stance. If, instead of dividing ourselves along traditional party-political lines, we effectively say to politicians of all parties around the world that we are prepared to vote for ANY politician or party that adopts the Simultaneous Policy, politicians are going to find it very difficult to avoid adopting SP. Take the recent US presidential election for example, or the increasing number of other national elections where the outcome hangs on the decision of a relatively low number of votes. In those circumstances, the candidates will do almost anything to gain the crucial extra votes which could make all the difference between winning or losing. If, however, that crucial number of people had signaled their willingness to vote for whichever candidate adopts SP, none of the mainstream candidates will be able to resist. Because if they fail to adopt SP, they consign themselves to virtually certain defeat. And here lies our power to force them to implement the policies we and millions of others around the world really care about and urgently need.
The Simultaneous Policy is a global campaign already operating in countries in five continents and spreading fast. To find out more about the Simultaneous Policy and how you can make your vote really count, visit the Simultaneous Policy website and adopt SP on-line at www.simpol.org or e-mail us at info@simpol.org or write to us at:
International Simultaneous Policy Organisation
(ISPO)
John Bunzl - Director International Simultaneous Policy Organisation (ISPO) www.simpol.org e-mail: jbunzl@simpol.org P.O. Box 26547, London SE3 7YT, UK. Fax +44 (0)208 460 2035
11/29/00
11:53:34 AM
WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
Web page: http://www.wrm.org.uy
OUR VIEWPOINT
- Those who did not "work it out" in The Hague
The Sixth Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Climate Change is finally over and nothing much appears to have been achieved to address global warming. This doesn't come as a surprise, given that the majority of government delegates -- with a few exceptions -- focused more on how to obtain profits for their countries and corporations from the new carbon trade than on finding true solutions to the looming climate disaster.
In fact, the conference was more like a weekend bazar than a United Nations meeting. A new generation of carbon brokers was out in force, adding their voices to more traditional "business NGOs" composed of oil corporations and other major polluters of the atmosphere. The nuclear energy lobby was also prominent in the event, trying to sell its "clean energy" as a solution to climate change.
Unfortunately, other, more respected actors, including environmental non-governmental organizations, were also laying out their wares in this marketplace, trying to sell forests and plantations as "emission cuts" or "carbon sink mechanisms". This generated some divisions among NGOs and Indigenous Peoples' Organizations, which weakened the position of those truly interested in addressing climate change. Southern governments, too, were divided on various issues, particularly the so-called Clean Development Mechanism.
The atmosphere was much more humane outside the conference centre. A demonstration organized by Friends of the Earth, for example, was a huge success. People from all over the world joined forces to pile up sandbags to form an enormous dyke in front of the conference centre. Although the dyke was originally conceived as a symbol of the rising waters which will come with global warming, it could also be perceived as a dyke to protect the world from the decisions -- of the lack thereof -- being taken inside the building.
And that was precisely the main problem: the lack of political will to begin to do what everyone knows needs to be done. Or rather, too much political will from the large corporations which dominate politics in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and other industrialized countries, together with their armies of technocrats and tame civil servants. Thus French President Chirac's statement criticizing the trend of the negotiations was a welcome surprise. Among other things, he stated that since 1992, Parties had fallen too far behind in taking actions to combat climate change, and cautioned against further delays. Furthermore, he highlighted that the US produces a quarter of the world's emissions, and that the per capita US levels of emissions are three times higher than those of France. He called on the US to join other industrialized nations in making a successful transition to an energy-efficient economy. He said the EU had a duty to set an example by developing more economical forms of consumption and production in terms of natural resources.
The US delegates were obviously not at all happy to hear this. Nor did they like Chirac's support for an effective, equitable agreement that leaves room for future development, an independent and impartial compliance mechanism, effective cuts by Northern countries in their emissions, and assistance for the most vulnerable countries to adapt to the consequences of climate change. Noting that each country has a duty to build structures that cut its own emissions to a minimum on a sustainable basis, Chirac emphasized that setting up projects to reduce emissions in other countries should not be seen as a means to escape domestic measures. He called for a prudent approach to using carbon sinks to alleviate climate change, and said that the ultimate aim should be the convergence of per capita emissions.
Chirac's speech, however, was but a short parenthesis punctuating closed-door dealings aimed at undermining everything he called for. Emission cuts were never truly on the table. Neither was energy efficiency or renewables. Even less so equity and justice. Corporate lobbyists did their job well and visions of short-term financial gains for a few elites clouded the brains of many Southern delegates, whose countries and peoples will suffer most from climate change. Obtaining a few dollars from prominent polluters for forest and plantation projects was the aim of many -- never mind whether such schemes were effective or not in slowing global warming. The US and Japan, meanwhile, got their money's worth from these offers of bribes in the form of support for some of their positions.
"Work it out!" was the official slogan of The Hague Conference. A simple but meaningful slogan for anyone willing to understand and do something -- but apparently meaningless to most of the government delegates present at The Hague. Future generations confronted with climate change will remember them as those who did NOT work it out.
11/29/00
11:48:43 AM
THE SOUND AND THE FLURRY The Clinton administration is preparing to implement a flurry of controversial regulations on environmental and other issues before a new president moves into the White House on 20 Jan. The U.S. EPA alone is said to be considering more than 60 new regulations, including ones to restrict or ban the use of certain pesticides and crack down on emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses. Another regulation in the works would refuse to give federal contracts to companies that have violated environmental, labor, or health laws. And the Department of Agriculture is working to complete a set of national standards for organic foods.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Robert A. Rosenblatt and Elizabeth Shogren, 26 Nov 2000 http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20001126/t000113578.html
straight to the source: USA Today, Kevin McCoy, 27 Nov 2000 http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001127/2867723s.htm
11/29/00
11:47:57 AM
THAT SINKING FEELING International climate talks in The Hague, Netherlands, collapsed on Saturday, with U.S. and European negotiators unable to agree on a plan for reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Two weeks of negotiations were intended to flesh out the details of the Kyoto climate change treaty, but in the end the Europeans rejected a plan that they said would have allowed the U.S. to get too much credit for calling its forests and farmlands carbon sinks, thereby avoiding real cuts in the burning of fossil fuels and emissions of carbon dioxide. It was the second blow of the week for the top American negotiator, Frank E. Loy, who on Wednesday got hit in the face with a custard pie by an environmentalist. The real obstacle to progress on climate change, writes Bill McKibben in Grist, is that Americans just don't realize how deadly serious the problem is.
A wrap-up from The Hague -- by Bill McKibben http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/mckibben112700.stm
11/29/00
11:45:43 AM
By ZAC GOLDSMITH
EDITOR OF THE ECOLOGIST
Even as a small child, I remember my uncle, Teddy Goldsmith, describing with certainty how mankind was interfering in the world's climate and how, if trends continued, we would face catastrophe as a result.
At the time, he was ridiculed. Even respectable men like John Maddox, then editor of Nature magazine, accused him of unjustified hysteria.
Teddy's response was to commission a cartoon for the Ecologist Magazine, which he founded and I now edit, in which a man is seen floating in rough waters, an umbrella in one hand, shouting 'alarmist' at the animals peering down at him from the safety of Noah's ark.
That was in 1972. With half of Britain submerged under flood waters in recent weeks that cartoon has taken on the ominous tone of a prophecy.
Two weeks ago - nearly 30 years after that cartoon - world leaders descended on The Hague, in the Netherlands, in what appeared to be a last-ditch effort to unite against the problem. In their hands lay the future of our planet.
They were fully aware of their responsibilities. Not one of them disagrees with the unanimous verdict of the 2,000 scientists on a UN appointed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that global warming is happening and that it is no joke. All of them are well briefed on the evidence of climate change already affecting us: they know that open water has been increased for first time in human history and that the Arctic ice sheet has been reduced by nearly half over the past four decades.
They have been told that the vast Greenland ice sheet is melting at a rate of more than 11 cubic miles each year. And they understand that when just one sixth of the West Antarctic ice sheet melts, we can expect a one metre rise in sea level.
Did they listen when scientists told them that this would spell the end of many of the world's major cities, and would swamp more than 30 per cent of the world's agricultural land?
Perhaps they were not aware that scientists predict that sea level rises will be much more dramatic, and that many believe we may be interfering with the Gulf Stream that brings warm water from the coast of Mexico to our own [British] coast. And that if this happens, the smile may be wiped from the faces of those joking about deckchairs in Dorset, as temperatures plummet to those of Alaska.
In other words, the future of humanity rested on the behaviour of our leaders in The Hague, where they met to formalise agreements reached at Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 to reduce global emissions by 5.2 per cent by 2012. Compared to the 60 per cent reduction needed this was paltry, but it was a start.
Or at least it should have been. For what our politicians have been doing in The Hague is fiddling - like Nero as Rome burned - on their violins. Worse, having acknowledged the depth of the crisis, they have decided to do precisely nothing about it.
In the face of it, and without wanting to sound too hysterical, this is tantamount to genocide.
The Americans, in particular, refused point-blank to play ball. Surrounded by the usual lobby-Mafia - nuclear, logging and oil representatives, as well as armies of clever dick lawyers - the country that produces a quarter of all global emissions with just five per cent of the world's population defended the big business line.
Of course, having acknowledged the problem, they have attempted to make the right noises - they have had to, much as Hitler justified his invasion of Czechoslovakia on humanitarian grounds.
But the truth is, while appearing to comply, we will, in effect see a net increase in US emissions - by roughly the same amount as they were supposed to decrease their emissions. This they have done expertly by insisting on the expansion of endless loopholes in the agreement.
Needless to say, the Americans had their way, and European leaders simply backed down, and the mechanisms that could have sweetened an otherwise bitter pill have been corrupted beyond recognition.
This is easy to understand in the context of the revolving doors between the political elite in the US and industry heavyweights: both George W Bush and Al Gore fostering close links with oil money in their rush to the White House.
What is less easy to understand is Europe's reaction to these demands. They screamed and yelled and then gave in.
Britain is reportedly on track to meet its commitment of a 12.5 per cent reduction (Environment Minister Michael Meacher, has even predicted that the reduction could be as high as 23 per cent) but our government still refuses to take real action to combat the problem.
Instead, Tony Blair has promised to spend ten times less on renewable energy investments - necessary, he has said, to avoid catastrophe - than he spent on a plastic dome. In short, like much of New Labour, the analysis is good, but the follow up is nowhere to be seen.
The fact is that our government, like the US, is wedded to big business and the belief that increasing global trade - no matter what in - is good.
To that end, it has supported EU requirements that this country must, by law, import basic goods like milk. It has supported massive subsidies that benefit big corporations producing for long-distance export.
And it has supported the EU's plans to spend more than 400 billion euros on the world's biggest ever road expansion project - to enable long-distance trade in basic goods that could be produced more efficiently at the local level. The climate crisis must force government to rethink dependence both on the global economy and fossil fuels.
The confident predictions by leading investment groups that a barrel of oil will cost more than $100 within a few years should be added persuasion to combine massive investment in alternative energy with a focus on local trade and production.
Policymakers, particularly those in the US, will complain about the cost, but they would do well to consider the cost of not taking action.
Economic losses from natural disasters increased from $53 billion in the 1960s to $480 billion in the 1990s, according to the German insurance company Munich Re. About 80 per cent of these costs resulted from extreme weather. The insurance industry admits it expects these costs to rise fast.
The Hague summit was a disaster. But ordinary people must not allow our leaders to close this chapter. It is incumbent on them to take action, and we must demand that they try again - with or without the US.
If they don't, what are we to make of democracy'? It's often said that it takes a brave government to tackle issues such as this. God only knows how today's governments find the courage to do nothing. They should remember that voters have long memories.
On a more parochial level, on my farm in Devon. I am preparing to plant a number of trees that only a few years ago would have been planted in October when the leaves have fallen; today I am still waiting to plant at the end of November.
Website: www.theecologist.org
11/29/00
11:43:45 AM
Read also from http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10138 How the US Torpedoed the Global Climate Talks
Here is an excerpt:
But in the end -- in the waning hours of Saturday morning -- the Europeans decided they couldn't sell this particular contraption at home. It was simply too easy on the Americans, who, arrogantly, had never really believed anyone would call their bluff. The French did, and shortly thereafter the cleaning crew arrived to cart away the tons of thin carbon sinks known as sheets of paper that rose daily like an ever-higher tide.
Even if the Europeans hadn't stood tough, though, the document wouldn't have made it through the Senate. Not with George W. Bush as president, and not with Al Gore as president. And the reason is simple: The American public still does not believe with the necessary passion that climate change represents a problem serious enough to require any compromises in our way of life.
REGARDING THE FAILURE OF THE CLIMATE CONVENTION, HERE IS A BRIEF COMMENT RECEIVED FROM
"The collapse of the talks on global warming is by no means a defeat for our side. If the United States had been able to broker a deal, regardless of how flawed, the big countries could have come away saying they were solving the problem. Now the world knows that global warming is out of control."
11/29/00
11:41:06 AM
"The Heat Is on : The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription" at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738200255/clarymeuserassoc/107-54328 70-7674917
Synopsis
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ross Gelbspan exposes the machinations of oil and coal companies and conservative politicians to undermine the public confidence in science and thereby defer action against global warming. This riveting expose is a spirited call to action against the corporate disinformation campaign that threatens us all.
Here is a comment of one reader:
Powerful, Compelling Book about Global Warming, March 6, 2000 Reviewer: Erik Wheeler from Vermont
"The Heat is On" is a well-researched, detailed description of how the coal and oil industries are trying (and succeeding) to confuse the issue of global warming today. In this frightening exposé, Ross Gelbspan shows how the fossil fuel industries are spending millions of dollars to confuse the public through misleading advertising and PR tactics in order to protect their financial interests. The story behind this campaign of lies is astounding.
Try a little experiment: talk to several people about global warming. Just bring it up in the conversation, and watch their reaction. I did, and I found that most people laughed, or said, "Yeah, but I heard there's no conclusive evidence to support that." This is the direct effect of the fossil fuel industry's PR campaign. Gelbspan describes how they have done this largely through industry-created groups with misleading names (such as the "Information Council on the Environment"), and pseudo-scientists paid by the industry.
Gelbspan explains that the industry's groups and scientists have received a great deal of media coverage because journalists, as part of their duty, are compelled to cover both sides of the story. The problem is that the "other side of the story" in this case is a small group who is paid by the industry. The confusion and lies promoted by the fossil fuel industry has been enough to drown out the 2,500 climate scientists around the world who all agree that global warming is a fact.
"The Heat is On" offers irrefutable facts to debunk the myth that global warming evidence is inconclusive. For example, many people claim that recent extreme colde and winter weather refutes the theory. Wrong, says Gelbspan: "severe winter weather perfectly consistent with global warming. One effect of climate change is to produce more extreme local temperatures--leading to hotter hots, unseasonal colds, and more severe snowstorms." And temperature changes are just the beginning of the problem. Other effects include outbreaks of disease, proliferation of pests, and extinction of species, among others.
The only solution is to cut back on carbon dioxide emissions, probably as much as 60%. This is no easy task, but Gelbspan does offer a plausible "prescription". He suggests that we (1) divert all fossil fuels subsidies ($20 billion/year!) to renewable energy development, (2) implement efficiency standards to require generating facilities to be highly efficient (instead of the current 35% efficiency average), and (3) support developing nations in the conversion with an international currency transaction tax.
This is a very powerful book. Hopefully it will help to re-educate the public, and serve as a model for global change. I strongly recommend it.
11/27/00
11:35:58 PM
I'd love to see the people that care in this World grab the Internet byt the throat & bring about meaningful change.
Never have we had such a marvellous vehicle to spread the word in a way which is not shaped by some zealot editor employed by the media moguls.
After a lifetime of experience in & around environmental & conservation groups I would have to say at times they are their own worst enemy. Too many within the ranks simply lose the realities of the situation as they fritter time & meagre resources. Many are too busy trying to prove some wacky hypothesis in a bid to retain their notion of credibility. Meantime the position around the World goes from bad to worse.
I have offered my considerable experience to some of the leading environmental groups but they have failed to even respond. As a professional sales person there couldnt be a better "product" to sell but in every case thus far the groups have blithely adopted some timid approach as they carry on in time-honoured (usually pretty hopeless)fashion.
We have to get our collective act together!
NZBobGreenie
11/27/00
12:06:08 PM
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
WRAPUP - World powers trade charges on climate talks' failure - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9110
Britain says will help farmers with EU green rules - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9114
UPDATE - Britain blames France over climate talks - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9112
Britain still hopeful of global climate deal - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9118
FEATURE - S.Africa's national parks woo private sector - SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9115
Top UN climate scientist worried by forests plan - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9117
Climate pact fiasco leaves business awaiting rules - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9113
World must push US on climate - Greenpeace - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9109
ANALYSIS - Climate failure heralds delay on global warming - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9107
Outrage greets US-EU failure to cut climate deal - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9104
ANALYSIS - Climate talks failure highlights EU, US tensions - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9111
Delhi chief joins clash with India govt on pollution - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9103
Water shortage worries India, no panic yet - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9116
EC disappointed on environment, ready to try again - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9108
New partnership could boost Brazil's can recycling - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9105
11/27/00
12:00:08 PM
Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris's certification tonight of George W. Bush's electoral victory in her state by 527 votes just propels the country further into a strange political limbo, maybe to be resolved by the Supreme Court sometime before December 12 after it hears arguments this Friday.
The legal machinations on both sides are reaching a fever-pitch but whatever one thinks of Al Gore, argues The Nation's Bruce Shapiro in a just-released web-only report, the Bush campaign's bare-knuckle usurpation of political due process has raised the stakes beyond the interests and limitations of the Democratic presidential candidate.
Read this exclusive web report only at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=shapiro1126
You can also read David Corn's web exclusive on the latest in the legal wrangling in Florida and new post-election coverage from the pages of The Nation by Katha Pollitt, Eric Alterman, Jonathan Schell and Alex Keyssar, currently at:
11/27/00
11:52:42 AM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 26, 2000
Lakota Indians Defying DEA; Accepts KY Co-op's Offer to Replace Destroyed Hemp Crop
Gov. Nunn joins Joe American Horse at State’s Capitol for Public Presentation
Contact: KHGCA Executive Director Joe Hickey (602) 315-3588)
Last August 24, in the centuries-old tradition of trampling on Native American rights, armed DEA agents invaded sovereign Lakota land and confiscated two hemp crops growing on the poverty-stricken Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The hemp was to be a vital source for construction materials to be used by the Slim Butte Land Association housing project, a community-based economic development initiative. Despite the DEA's destruction of this crop, the Lakota Housing Project will soon be back on schedule.
Oglala Sioux Tribal (OST) members and representatives of the land use cooperative have accepted an offer from The Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative and the Madison Hemp & Flax Company to help replace a portion of the hemp destroyed in the DEA's war on drugs. Tom Cook, the project's coordinator says, "We are coming to Kentucky in an effort to demonstrate how absurd and destructive this so-called 'drug war' has become. Essentially, we are picking-up exactly the same material destroyed by the DEA - that's absurd. We aren't going to let their foolishness stop our progress."
The Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative's president, Andrew Graves, agrees the state and federal governments are overstepping the bounds of reason by equating hemp with marijuana. "Even though Kentucky's Supreme Court ruled hemp 'is' marijuana, we continue to import hemp here from Canada. Isn't it ironic the hemp we imported is now going to replace the hemp destroyed by the same federal government which allows its importation?" asked Graves.
Former OST President Joe American Horse asked, "Why did the DEA have to destroy our legitimate commercial crop? Why didn't they go a few hours eastward where thousands of acres of hemp are growing? Why pick on Indians? We are trying to make a living. We are not promoting drugs."
Alex White Plume, whose crop was destroyed, believes the DEA's actions helped, not hurt their efforts to develop a sustainable building program on the reservation. "The very fact that people are coming forward to help us has been overwhelming and gives us hope for the future," he said.
Former Gov. Louie B. Nunn will present Joe American Horse with the Kentucky/Canadian hemp in the Kentucky State Capitol rotunda at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday November 28, 2000, highlighting the need for some common sense regulations of industrial hemp in the United States. Gov. Nunn said, “I intend on traveling with the Indian delegation back to the Pine Ridge Reservation in an effort to help educate the public along the way about the potential benefits of this historical crop and to demonstrate that we all need to work together to help develop an agricultural and economic future that will better serve all people.”
11/27/00
11:51:46 AM
[Just to put the current election hoopla in perspective. . .]
Roughly speaking we can distinguish five degrees of "government":
(1) Unrestricted freedom (2) Direct democracy (3) Delegate democracy (4) Representative democracy (5) Overt minority dictatorship
The present society oscillates between (4) and (5), i.e. between overt minority rule and covert minority rule camouflaged by a facade of token democracy. A liberated society would eliminate (4) and (5) and would progressively reduce the need for (2) and (3). . . .
In representative democracy people abdicate their power to elected officials. The candidates’ stated policies are limited to a few vague generalities, and once they are elected there is little control over their actual decisions on hundreds of issues -- apart from the feeble threat of changing one’s vote, a few years later, to some equally uncontrollable rival politician. Representatives are dependent on the wealthy for bribes and campaign contributions; they are subordinate to the owners of the mass media, who decide which issues get the publicity; and they are almost as ignorant and powerless as the general public regarding many important matters that are determined by unelected bureaucrats and independent secret agencies. Overt dictators may sometimes be overthrown, but the real rulers in "democratic" regimes, the tiny minority who own or control virtually everything, are never voted in and never voted out. Most people don’t even know who they are. . . .
In itself, voting is of no great significance one way or the other (those who make a big deal about refusing to vote are only revealing their own fetishism). The problem is that it tends to lull people into relying on others to act for them, distracting them from more significant possibilities. A few people who take some creative initiative (think of the first civil rights sit-ins) may ultimately have a far greater effect than if they had put their energy into campaigning for lesser-evil politicians. At best, legislators rarely do more than what they have been forced to do by popular movements. A conservative regime under pressure from independent radical movements often concedes more than a liberal regime that knows it can count on radical support. If people invariably rally to lesser evils, all the rulers have to do in any situation that threatens their power is to conjure up a threat of some greater evil.
Even in the rare case when a "radical" politician has a realistic chance of winning an election, all the tedious campaign efforts of thousands of people may go down the drain in one day because of some trivial scandal discovered in his personal life, or because he inadvertently says something intelligent. If he manages to avoid these pitfalls and it looks like he might win, he tends to evade controversial issues for fear of antagonizing swing voters. If he actually gets elected he is almost never in a position to implement the reforms he has promised, except perhaps after years of wheeling and dealing with his new colleagues; which gives him a good excuse to see his first priority as making whatever compromises are necessary to keep himself in office indefinitely. Hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, he develops new interests and new tastes, which he justifies by telling himself that he deserves a few perks after all his years of working for good causes. Worst of all, if he does eventually manage to get a few "progressive" measures passed, this exceptional and usually trivial success is held up as evidence of the value of relying on electoral politics, luring many more people into wasting their energy on similar campaigns to come.
As one of the May 1968 graffiti put it, "It’s painful to submit to our bosses; it’s even more stupid to choose them!"
[Excerpts from "The Joy of Revolution." To see the complete text, which discusses many other issues of radical tactics and goals, click http://www.slip.net/~knabb/PS/joyrev1.htm.]
The Bureau of Public Secrets website, which has received 250,000 page visits during its first two years, features Ken Knabb's translations from the Situationist International (the notorious group that helped trigger the May 1968 revolt in France) plus Knabb's own writings and comics on Wilhelm Reich, Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, radical Buddhists, Chinese anarchists, the Iranian uprising, the Gulf war, etc. The site index -- http://www.slip.net/~knabb/index1.htm -- includes over 2000 name and topic entries, from anarchism to Zen.
11/25/00
11:33:55 AM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Lexington, Kentucky November 24, 2000
Lakota Indians Defying DEA; Accepts KY Co-op's Offer to Replace Destroyed Hemp Crop
Contact: KHGCA Executive Director Joe Hickey (859) 277-5115
Last August 24, in the centuries-old tradition of trampling on Native American rights, armed DEA agents invaded sovereign Lakota land and confiscated two hemp crops growing on the poverty-stricken Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The hemp was to be a vital source for construction materials to be used by the Slim Butte Land Association housing project, a community-based economic development initiative.
The DEA's seizure of the property was in accordance with federal policy, based on the premise that hemp and marijuana are the same. Despite the DEA's destruction of this crop, the Lakota Housing Project will soon be back on schedule.
Oglala Sioux Tribal (OST) members and representatives of the land use cooperative have accepted the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative's offer to help replace a portion of the hemp destroyed in the DEA's war on drugs. Tom Cook, the project's coordinator says, " We will soon be going to Kentucky in an effort to demonstrate how absurd and destructive this so-called 'drug war' has become. Essentially, we are picking-up exactly the same material destroyed by the DEA - that's absurd. We aren't going to let their foolishness stop our progress."
The Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative's president, Andrew Graves, agrees the state and federal governments are overstepping the bounds of reason by equating hemp with marijuana. "Even though Kentucky's Supreme Court ruled hemp 'is' marijuana, we continue to import hemp here from Canada. Isn't it ironic the hemp we imported is now going to replace the hemp destroyed by the same federal government which allows its importation?" asked Graves.
Former OST President Joe American Horse asked, "Why did the DEA have to destroy our legitimate commercial crop? Why didn't they go a few hours eastward where thousands of acres of hemp are growing? Why pick on Indians? We are trying to make a living. We are not promoting drugs."
Alex White Plume, whose crop was destroyed, believes the DEA's actions helped, not hurt their efforts to develop a sustainable building program on the reservation. "The very fact that people are coming forward to help us has been overwhelming and gives us hope for the future," he said.
Former Gov. Louie B. Nunn will present Joe American Horse with the Kentucky/Canadian hemp in a ceremony on November 28, 2000 highlighting the need for some common sense regulations of industrial hemp in the United States. Gov. Nunn said, “I intend on traveling with the Indian delegation back to the Pine Ridge Reservation in an effort to help educate the public along the way about the potential benefits of this historical crop and to demonstrate that we all need to work together to help develop an agricultural and economic future that will better serve all people.” (END)
Time and location of the presentation will be announced Sunday, November 26, 2000.
11/25/00
11:31:50 AM
Please e-mail your Sign-On to: mari999@jk9.so-net.ne.jp.
Also, please distribute widely.
PETITION ADDRESSED TO GE, WESTING HOUSE, HITACHI, TOSHIBA, MITSUBISHI, BNFL, SIEMENS, JNF, COGEMA AND ALL NUCLEAR RELATED COMPANIES
We the undersigned organizations and individuals express our extreme concern that nuclear power related technologies and products are being manufactured and exported to countries in Asia, South America, and Africa. This, in spite of the fact that the trend in most advanced nations, which are also manufacturers of nuclear power, is to phase out this energy resource within their own boundaries.
Even without mentioning Chernobyl, which was an unacceptable catastrophe under any circumstances, accidents happen. In fact, the number of accidents is increasing as more nuclear power plants are constructed all over the world and as older reactors age. We have to prevent future nuclear catastrophes by any and all means and this requires prompt and dramatic action.
Moreover, it is contrary to the interests of nuclear related companies to continue with their current practices. Selling products might bring profits for a short-term period if no large accident happens in the near future, but considering the problems of waste, maintaining aging power plants, the constant release of deadly "low-level" radiation, decommissioning plants, and the possible occurrence of major accidents, this industry cannot bring benefits in the future. We believe that related companies are already well aware of this fact. Before it is too late, you should seriously address the problems immediately.
It is also contrary to the interests of countries that require sustainable, clean mostly decentralized, low-cost energy systems, adapted both to their needs and their use of capital, resources and labor. Also it is feared that all the importing countries, due to limitations of structural and technical capabilities that exist to various degrees, cannot handle nuclear facilities in a proper manner. This is also the case of advanced nations.
Nuclear power is also contrary to global environmental issues such as global warming and pollution problems. The vast amount of waste hot water from nuclear power plants are raising the temperature of rivers, lakes and seas in areas near nuclear facilities. Radioactive emissions from facilities, even under permissible levels, have and will continue to accumulate in the environment world wide. There is no safe level of any ionizing radiation. Dr. John Gofman, world reknown nuclear health expert states that there is no safe level of ionizing radiation: http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/gofman.html Dr. Gofman has testified in court in the USA that "acceptable" radiation levels constitute "planned deaths" by the nuclear industry. There are a number of cases of nuclear facility workers exposed to radiation, and some experts even state that the rate of children who develop leukemia went up around some of these facilities. In particular Joseph Mangano of "The Radiation and Public Health Project" has discovered a sharp decrease in infant mortality around 5 reactors shortly after these reactors ceased operating. See: http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/infant.html
At the same time, there is no concrete measure established for controlling high-level nuclear waste in any country in the world. Geological disposal is a possible option right now but many geologists have great doubts whether highly toxic radioactive material could be contained for more than tens of thousands of years. Even if they can the radioactivity of much of this nuclear waste will be lethal for more than one million years. Additionally, earthquake prone countries and their neighboring area might see an irreversible catastrophe caused either by the geological disposal/storeage of nuclear waste, transportation of fuels/waste or normal operation of nuclear power plants in conjunction with violent seismic activity.
The impact of radiation contamination goes beyond generational and national boundaries, and can bring eternal suffering and damage to all living creatures and the environment. Shortsighted economic interests or business aspirations should not supercede the chain of life on Earth, which is unrecoverable once damaged by a radioactive catastrophe or catastrophes.
Therefore, we the undersigned organizations and individuals call upon all nuclear related industries and companies to immediately stop operating and manufacturing their products and halt exporting these technologies and products to other nations.
Signatures:
NAME:
ORGANISATION:
FULL ADDRESS:
E-MAIL:
11/25/00
11:29:32 AM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We Cover the Earth For You"
CLIMATE RESCUE PACKAGE TOO PAINFUL FOR SOME
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, November 24, 2000 (ENS) - A package deal to rescue international climate change negotiations looks set to fail.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-24-10.html
CLIMATE CHANGE COULD BANKRUPT US BY 2065
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, November 24, 2000 (ENS) - The sixth largest insurance company has warned that damage to property due to global warming could bankrupt the world by 2065.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-24-11.html
UN COMMITTEE POISED TO PROTECT WORLD HERITAGE SITES
PARIS, France, November 24, 2000 (ENS) - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee will hold its 24th annual session in Cairns, Australia, from November 27 to December 2, during which it will inscribe new cultural and natural sites on the World Heritage List and review the List of World Heritage in Danger.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-24-01.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: NOVEMBER 24, 2000
No Endangered Species Act Listings for FY 2001
New Protections for Colorado Sand Dunes
Alaska Governor Wants Tongass Out of Roadless Plan
Crews Clean Up Radioactive Spill at a Missouri University
Wildfire Advisory Panel Aims to Keep Nuclear Facilities Safe
Housatonic River Cleanup Plan Finalized
University in Nation's Capital Broke Hazardous Waste Laws
Lab Officials Jailed for Falsifying Environmental Data
New Technology Quells Dairy Farm Odors
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-24-09.html
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
HEALING OUR WORLD: WEEKLY COMMENT By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
CAN LIFE SURVIVE ON EARTH? OUR DEPLETED OZONE LAYER
We humans have such a hard time believing that our actions can affect anything on a planetary scale. After all, our resources seem limitless. The ocean appears to go on forever, the sky is beautiful, yet out of reach, and when we vacation in a national park, it seems impossible that our one car could be harming all that grandeur.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-24g.html