11/10/01
5:11:22 PM
AlterNet Headlines
WHY BUSH NEEDS TO SPIN THE WAR
David Corn, AlterNet
If this War on Terrorism is a "good war," wouldn't that be self-evident, with no media manipulation required? Then why is the Bush administration plowing millions into PR campaigns?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11893
LESSONS FROM THE AL QAEDA CULT HANDBOOK
Paulo Pontoniere, Pacific News Service
Analysis of the Al Qaeda Handbook and newly emerging clues about the group prove that it is less of a militant Islamic action group, and more of a classic cult.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11895
EMBRACING POST TRAUMATIC SEX
Michael Bader, AlterNet
While widely reported, the phenomenon of "terror sex" is poorly understood and often ridiculed. Psychologist Michael Bader uses fascinating examples from his practice to show that sex is a normal, even healthy, reaction to trauma.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11894
BIN LADEN MERCHADISERS CASH
Kate Silver, AlterNet
Bin Laden products, from Al Qaeda condoms to the Osama pinata, are selling like hotcakes. Are the merchants of these terrorist trinkets patriots or profiteers?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11897
HUTCHINSON: OVERPLAYING THE TERROR CARD
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet
Crying wolf once too often smacks of political opportunism, and risks jading the public to future warnings, even one that might be real. That's the ultimate danger in overplaying the terror card.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11896
PROPERTY PRIVILEGES (NOT RIGHTS)
Marjorie Kelly, Business Ethics
As the government's deal with Cipro provider Bayer has demonstrated, the public good as higher law is an idea whose time has come.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11891
RELAX, IT'S ONLY A RECESSION
Lee Drutman, AlterNet
Let's spend less, build less, work less, sleep later and make the world safer for democracy. Besides, a recession is a terrific excuse for not buying Christmas presents.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11890
BLOOMBERG'S VICTORY AND THE TRIUMPH OF BUSINESS NEWS
Norman Solomon, AlterNet
The explosion of business news propelled Michael Bloomberg's march into the elite ranks of billionaires -- and into the New York mayor's office.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11892
11/10/01
5:04:53 PM
When things are investigated, then true knowledge is achieved;
When true knowledge is achieved, then the will becomes sincere;
When the will is sincere, then the heart is set right;
When the heart is set right, then personal life is cultivated;
When the personal life is cultivated, then the family life is regulated;
When the family life is regulated, then the national life is orderly;
And when the national life is orderly, then there is peace in the world.
Confucius
11/10/01
5:02:38 PM
Disturbed by humans and pets, California shorebirds are vanishing
By Environmental News Network
Think of southern California, and images of beach, sun, and surf come to mind, coupled with boundless recreation opportunities for beach goers. But missing from this picture are the shorebirds that once ran along the edge of the waves. Hundreds of disturbances by people and their pets each week are causing shorebirds like the threatened western snowy plover to wing it to more remote locations where less human disturbance occurs, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
"For beach-nesting birds like the snowy plover, such disturbance has made the majority of former breeding sites unsuitable," said Dr. Kevin Lafferty, a marine ecologist with the USGS Western Ecological Research Center in Santa Barbara, Calif.
One solution is the protection of small areas of special habitat, he suggested. These protected habitats can provide sanctuaries for these birds with relatively little impact to the beach-going public, he said.
Lafferty measured rates of disturbance on beaches, providing managers information that they in turn could use to reduce disturbance at Coal Oil Point Reserve, a public beach in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Lafferty then evaluated the success of resulting management actions. This research is the subject of Lafferty's articles in current issues of the journals Biological Conservation, and Biodiversity and Conservation. He will present his findings in person at the Western Society of Naturalists meeting in Ventura, Calif., Nov. 12.
Lafferty found that human activity often displaced shorebirds approached within 20 yards. He discovered that 10 percent of humans and 40 percent of dogs disturbed birds, and more than 70 percent of birds flew away when disturbed. "Most disturbances occurred near the water, but people used so much of the beach that birds were unable to find predictable places without people to rest and feed," said Lafferty.
Western snowy plovers chose to hide from people up on the dry sand instead of moving, said Lafferty. Even with this strategy, each snowy plover was disturbed about 115 times per week, 16 times more than at remote or protected areas where these birds still breed.
Despite these intrusions, Lafferty found that snowy plovers stayed faithful to their preferred habitat around a lagoon mouth, though they were less abundant near beach access points.
A preliminary trial began at the Coal Oil Point Reserve this summer to help buffer a snowy plover chick and its father from disturbance. A rope fence marked the boundaries of the sensitive area. People could walk along the water's edge for a 300 yard stretch but were asked not to enter the adjoining dry sand or the area around the lagoon. Volunteers staffed the area to encourage people to respect the closed area and to comply with the local dog-leash ordinance.
As a result, disturbances to snowy plovers and other birds decreased, helping the plover chick successfully fledge. Lafferty found that snowy plover densities doubled inside the fenced area compared to areas outside the ropes.
In addition, the number of least terns, an endangered species, increased six-fold inside the roped area. In total, the abundance of birds in the protected area increased four fold. Counts of birds outside the fence remained unchanged, indicating that additional birds were entering the protected area.
"Two things appear to be operating," said Lafferty. "Birds can now sit in one spot without being forced away within a few minutes. In addition, other birds flying along the coast notice a lot of birds sitting on the beach, realize the area must be a safe place to rest for a spell, and fly in."
Since most beach users walked along the wet sand, the closure meant that less than five percent of the people using the beach had to choose a different patch of sand to sit on.
Interviews with beach goers found that many people valued the increased opportunity to view wildlife, and even more said they were glad that the minor inconvenience was an alternative to beach closures used elsewhere to protect endangered birds.
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/11/11092001/s_45523.asp
11/10/01
4:59:54 PM
Cultural plus financial support crucial to saving wilderness
By Environmental News Network
Professor Wangari Maathai addresses the World Wilderness Congress.
Conservation efforts will only succeed if there is economic justice, Professor Wangari Maathai of Kenya told delegates to the Seventh World Wilderness Congress meeting this week in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Dried up river beds, the disappearance of vast herds of wildlife, and the deforestation of Mount Kenya are all signs of a community which has lost touch with its traditional wisdom, she said.
Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, which has planted trees and developed tree nurseries across Kenya, is an environmental and political leader not only in her home country, but internationally. She finds inspiration for her environmental and political views from her early cultural experiences growing up as a Kenyan girl. An example of traditional wisdom was the reverence in which the wild fig tree was held by Maathai's mother's generation and those before her.
"As a girl I was taught that when I went out to gather wood, I must never touch the wood from the fig tree. The fig tree was sacred to our people because we used to offer sacrifices under them." As a result the fig trees grew to enormous size. Modern science is only beginning to understand the role these giant trees played in the ecology of the forests, said Maathai.
The roots of the giant fig trees, which stretched deep into the ground, broke up the subterraneous rock and played an important role in freeing up ground water. When the trees were cut, water problems followed. A stream in which Maathai played as a child dried up within 10 years of the trees being cleared for tea plantations. She said, "There is a clear connection between the destruction of the waterways and the fig trees."
Vast areas of Kenya's natural forests have also been cleared for the planting of nonnative exotic trees like pines and wattles, a practice that will lead to further problems, Maathai warned. "We are trying to stop the current government from expanding the plantations. The government sees indigenous forests as useless. However, if the current rate of destruction of the forests of our once-sacred Mount Kenya continues, more than 300 rivers will dry up in Kenya," she said.
"The big problem is that people have lost their cultural values," said Maathai. "People must be given space so that they can reclaim their cultures."
Cultural values must go together with strong financial support to ensure the preservation of Africa's shrinking wilderness.
The 700 delegates from 40 nations attending the World Wilderness Congress have welcomed the announcement of a US$1 million grant from the World Bank's Global Environment Fund to South Africa for the Baviaanskloof (Baboon's Ridge) Wilderness Area and another US$1 million grant to Angola to assist the Kissama Foundation work to rehabilitate Angola's Kissama National Park.
While presenting wilderness conservation in a global context, the delegates are concentrating on African wilderness protection. At the congress, Namibia announced new national wilderness legislation and proposed plans for a new Wilderness National Park. Namibia also proposed a three-nation, transfrontrier, desert wilderness, stretching from the northern Cape of South Africa all the way through Namibia into Southern Angola.
Two fundraising strategies are being created for African wilderness preservation. My Acre of Africa is an Internet-based, public fundraising strategy for southern African parks, protected areas, and local communities.
The African Protected Areas Initiative was announced at the congress. This effort brings together internationals agencies, funders, and NGOs to address the need for more funding for all African protected areas. It will be officially launched at Fifth World Parks Congress in Durban in June 2003.
To ensure wilderness preservation, the renewal of cultural values is essential, Professor Maathai said, but money is equally important. "Sixty-seven percent of people in the rural areas of Kenya earn less than a dollar a day. They are too worried about survival to care about the environment. We simply cannot conserve in an economic system based on exploitation."
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/11/11092001/s_45522.asp
11/10/01
4:55:51 PM
The Nation
Watch Nation Senior Editor Richard Lingeman this Sunday, November 11, on Fox Magazine, on the Fox News Channel at 11 pm, to discuss his book "Don't You Know There's a War On? The American Home Front, 1941-1945" and what it was like for kids in America during WWII.
And don't miss new selections from the November 26, 2001 issue of The Nation currently available at:
11/9/01
4:38:58 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE <http://www.gristmagazine.com>
DOING THE FOX TROT
Two Mexican environmentalists imprisoned on what they and their supporters say were false charges were pardoned yesterday by President Vicente Fox. Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, who have led opposition to commercial logging in southwestern Mexico by Boise Cascade and other companies, had been sentenced to almost seven years and 10 years in jail, respectively, on charges of weapons possession and growing marijuana. Their supporters say they confessed to the charges under torture, and that the arrests were designed to discourage environmental activism. Calls by environmentalists worldwide for the release of Montiel and Cabrera intensified last month, after one of their lawyers, human rights activist Digna Ochoa, was murdered.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Chris Kraul and Rafael Aguirre, 09 Nov 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-000089694nov09.story?coll=la%2 Dnews%2Dscience>
MARRAKECH EXPRESS
It will be a long night for delegates hammering out details of the Kyoto treaty on climate change in Marrakech, Morocco; talks are scheduled to end today but are likely to drag on to midnight or beyond. Although a compromise has been reached by the majority of participating countries, including the European Union and the G77 group of developing nations, a handful of industrial nations -- Russia, Japan, Canada, and Australia -- continue to stonewall. The unresolved issues include how to report and verify carbon emissions; how to inventory forests and rangeland; and how to set up a system so that countries which fail to meet emissions targets can buy emissions credits from other countries. Meanwhile, Russia, which must ratify the treaty for it to take effect, wants a nearly twofold increase in the number of credits it can claim for its forestry projects. For the inside story on the wheeling and dealing, read the updates by our correspondents in Marrakech, only on the Grist Magazine website.
straight to the source: Las Vegas Sun, Associated Press, 09 Nov 2001 <http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-af/2001/nov/09/110905400.html>
straight to the source: ABCNews.com, Reuters, Gilles Trequesser, 09 Nov 2001 <http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20011109_156.html>
only in Grist: The Marrakech express -- Grist correspondents Jason Anderson and Rob Bradley tell it like it is <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/anderson110901.asp?source=daily>
OIL AND HOLY WATER DON'T MIX
Televangelist Pat Robertson would also like to be an oil mogul, but in this case, the powers that be haven't been on his side. For three years, Robertson has been trying to reopen a dormant oil refinery in Santa Fe Spring, 16 miles outside of Los Angeles, under the auspices of an oil company he founded in 1998. The refinery's nearest neighbors include a hospital, a home for the elderly, and an elementary school -- and the town's residents have vociferously opposed the reopening. Because the neighborhood is 70 percent Latino, some protesters have accused Robertson of environmental racism. Environmentalists won a recent round in the fight, when a federal judge ruled that reopening the plant would violate the Clean Air Act, which requires the installation of advanced pollution controls on new or reopened emissions sources. However, Robertson could have a friend in the Bush administration, which has suggested that it will ease environmental restrictions on refineries and other polluters.
straight to the source: New York Times, Greg Winter, 09 Nov 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/09/national/09REFI.html>
ASHCROFT, ASHCROFT, WE ALL FALL DOWN
A sweeping "wartime reorganization and mobilization" effort announced by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft yesterday sounds like bad news for environmental and social justice issues. Ashcroft indicated that the Justice Department will scale back or abandon many of its current responsibilities, which range from civil rights enforcement to prosecuting environmental polluters, in order to step up anti-terrorism efforts. Details on the restructuring should be available within six months.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Dan Eggen, 09 Nov 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64412-2001Nov8.html>
WOULDN'T BE PRUD-HO-ENT
In a development that casts doubt on repeated claims by the Bush administration that oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would not harm the environment, a new report by the petroleum giant BP details loads of safety and maintenance problems at its oil drilling operation in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Among other findings, the report, which was based on interviews with 300 BP workers and contractors, concluded that "leak-through" of valves meant to shut down or divert oil and gas in the pipeline "is a significant problem and under certain circumstances may pose a potential hazard to workers and equipment." The report also found a "large and growing" maintenance backlog on fire-, gas-, and pressure-safety systems. BP, which runs the Prudhoe Bay operation for a consortium of companies including ExxonMobil and Phillips Petroleum, said it would act quickly on the report's 78 recommendations.
straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jim Carlton, 09 Nov 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB1005259383948053000.htm>
11/9/01
2:22:49 PM
"The Worst-Case Scenario"
BY Andrew Petty
Fighting terrorism is changing the face of warfare. But will we still need a multi-billion-dollar missile defense system?
Hatred lurks deepest in the hearts of men who are not simply in a military trained to kill but trained to die in exchange for the deaths of thousands. This determination is new to western minds causing the public to wonder how far they will go, and what they would do if they had a nuclear weapon.
Military officials say in three to five years terrorists could strike our soil with such weapons.
As the military's job is to defend the United States and its allies, the urgent need to test the National Missile Defense System has grown in order to have it online for defense in the next few years.
The NMDS was met with controversy before the Sept. 11 attacks, which slowed down the testing and decreased the funding. Those speed bumps are cleared now, and the military has more support than ever. Congress recently approved an extra $4 billion for funding, almost twice what they had spent before.
Speculation on the possibility of terrorists or any "rogue" nations possessing nuclear missiles is enough for President George W. Bush to give the NMDS the green light. However, opponents of the NMDS are shocked that the U.S. government is continuing to move in this direction and argue that the NMDS is too expensive, it won't work, and will hurt global diplomacy.
Opponents thought their point was proven when New York City was partially destroyed by airplanes-not nuclear weapons. The United States has spent over $5 trillion preparing for a nuclear assault but was caught off guard on Sept. 11 by an operation that Newsweek magazine reports law enforcement estimated the cost as low as $200,000.
For the past two months our minds have followed this logic and some are asking if we should reformat warfare. During modern wars, the public has seen ground troops, aircraft carriers, and other military vessels deploying to the Middle East. Yet, this man-and-gun power will only be a fraction of the effort. Most of the war on terrorism will be "invisible"-intelligence agencies around the world will now investigate phone calls, e-mails, money transfers and stock purchases; covert operations and spy technology will pinpoint the terrorists' locations and target bombing sites. Governments will even offer multi-million dollar rewards for information.
This war is waging from a nationless country-Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda-believed to operate inside 68 different countries. They strike against anyone, even Muslims living in nations that tread on their religious quests. So far they have not resorted to using nuclear weapons, but sought mass destruction by other means such as suicide bombing missions and biological and chemical warfare.
This new warfare is expected to require more funds, more personnel, and more focus from all departments to effectively combat. Civilians will become more aware of their daily surroundings-at airports, commercial, and federal buildings to spot suspicious activity.
These efforts have helped recover information that will assist in predicting further attacks and bringing terrorists to justice. But before Americans and the world adjust to this new style of warfare, the military insists we not abandon the future threats of a nuclear war. America is ready to fight, but can we afford to be over-protective?
Staff writer Andrew Petty covers military issues for the Sun.
He can be reached at mailto:apetty@santamariasun.com.
Source: http://www.santamariasun.com/cover/index.html
11/9/01
2:20:01 PM
Panel Recommends Ending Satellite Plan
by JAMES DAO, New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 - At the urging of its Republican leadership, the House Appropriations Committee is recommending canceling an expensive infrared satellite system that the Pentagon considers vital to missile defense.
The satellites are intended to track ballistic missiles as they soar through the atmosphere, providing data that would help interceptor missiles tell missiles from decoys and home in on and destroy warheads.
The Pentagon had proposed putting two dozen such satellites, at an estimated cost of $11 billion to $20 billion, into low orbits above the earth over the next two decades to provide continuous surveillance against missile attacks. But in a report that has yet to be voted on by the full House, the Appropriations Committee contends that the satellite program is over its budget and behind schedule. It also cites an internal Pentagon study that questions the effectiveness of the satellites in discriminating between warheads and decoys.
Noting that ground-based radar might be a less expensive alternative to the satellites, the committee recommended denying the Bush administration's entire request of $385 million for the satellite program in the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Instead, the committee proposed transferring most of that money to other satellite and radar programs.
"This was not ready to move forward," said Jim Specht, a spokesman for Representative Jerry Lewis, a California Republican who is chairman of the Pentagon subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.
"By taking away the funding, the committee is making clear they need to do more development and testing of this system in order for it to become an integral part of national missile defense," Mr. Specht added.
But Pentagon officials said that canceling or sharply cutting the satellite program would be a major setback to the Bush administration's missile defense plan.
"It would degrade the future capability of the overall missile defense program," said Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.
"Ground-based systems are limited by the curvature of the earth," Colonel Lehner added. "They don't have the range of a space-based system, which can cover the whole planet."
Congressional officials said the fate of the satellite program before the full House and in the Senate was unclear. The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to reduce the program by $96.6 million, while the Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to vote on the Pentagon spending bills.
The satellites, known as the space- based infrared system-low, are being developed by two competing teams, one led by TRW and Raytheon, the other by Spectrum Astro and Northrop Grumman.
The system had its roots in the Reagan administration's Strategic Defense Initiative, when it was known as Brilliant Eyes. Using infrared sensors, the satellites are intended to locate warheads when they reach the mid-course of their trajectory, sending back to earth data that would help ground-based radars and interceptor rockets to fix on a threatening warhead.
Proponents contend that the satellites would be valuable not just for tracking long-range nuclear-tipped missiles, but also short-range weapons, known as theater missiles, that could be fired at American troops overseas.
"It's an essential component if ballistic missile defenses are to work effectively," said Representative John Spratt, a South Carolina Democrat who supports the program. "Not just for national missile defense, but also theater missile defense."
Pentagon officials have often cited the infrared satellites in responding to critics who contend that a missile shield would be easily fooled by decoys released alongside warheads in space. By identifying the difference in temperature between a decoy and warhead, the satellites would, in theory, be able to guide an interceptor toward the real target, the Pentagon contends.
Critics of missile defense question whether any system would be effective in picking out decoys. But they concede that a missile defense is likely to be more effective with the infrared satellites than without them.
"The job of the attacker is easier if there is not a S.B.I.R.S.-low system," said Lisbeth Gronlund, senior staff scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an arms control group.
But over the years, the satellite program has been repeatedly criticized by Congressional investigators and Pentagon testers.
In a report released in February, the General Accounting Office, Congress's investigative arm, asserted that the satellite program was being rushed and was likely to face technical failures and major cost overruns.
The investigators found, for example, that the Pentagon was proposing to launch the first satellites before critical software had been completed.
"The S.B.I.R.S.-low program is at high risk of not delivering the system on time or at cost or with expected performance," the report concluded.
11/9/01
2:18:04 PM
Putin - Bush Meetings Offer New Opportunity for Ban on Space-Based Weapons
WASHINGTON, D.C. - When President Vladimir Putin and President George W. Bush meet in America during November 13-15, 2001, they will have the unique opportunity to establish "a new framework for security and cooperation" on earth by banning space-based weapons.
An intense search for a new security and cooperation framework has been ongoing during the months of preparations preceding these meetings. In fact, a forthcoming draft World Treaty Banning Space-based Weapons provides this new framework for national and world security, for a stimulated economy and job market, and for a way to cooperatively apply Space Age technology and information services to solve urgent humanitarian and environmental problems. A world space peace-keeping agency charged with monitoring a permanent ban on space-based weapons can be established. This will lead to the verifiable reduction of nuclear arsenals. A permanent ban on space-based weapons is a breakthrough that establishes "the new framework for security and cooperation" that both Russia and America ultimately seek. The world treaty will place a cap on the arms race, and will simultaneously establish the foundation for building a world cooperative civil, military, and commercial space research, testing, development, deployment, and exploration industry that will replace the space-based weapons industry.
Moscow has reportedly reviewed and "digested well" an advance copy of the world treaty. One high ranking Russian source has affirmed to ICIS that, "President Putin absolutely does not want space-based weapons, will not break the ABM Treaty, does not want the U.S. to proceed with missile defense testing, and is ready to sign a treaty that will ban space-based weapons."
Either Russia or the United States - or both - could begin discussions about banning space-based weapons and sign a world treaty at any point prior to, during, or following the Putin-Bush meetings this month. Also, either Russia or the United States or both could reach out to a world coalition of nations to co-sign the world treaty and bring it into effect.
The World Treaty Banning Space-based Weapons is identical in purpose to the little-publicized Space Preservation Act of 2001 introduced into the U.S. Congress by Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland) on October 2, 2001, "to preserve the cooperative, peaceful uses of space for the benefit of all humankind by permanently prohibiting the basing of weapons in space by the United States, and to require the President to take action to adopt and implement a world treaty banning space-based weapons."
About the Space Preservation Act of 2001, Kucinich says, "We signed the ABM treaty nearly 30 years ago, which requires a reduction in strategic arms, nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. Weaponization of space clearly violates that treaty. My bill [calls] for an immediate and permanent termination of research, testing, manufacturing, production and deployment of all space-based weapons systems and components by any person, agency or contractor of the U.S. government."
On July 26, 2001, the same date that Congressman Dennis Kucinich announced a bill to ban space-based weapons in the United States, the Foreign Minister of Canada, John Manley, announced in Hanoi that "Canada would be very happy.to launch an initiative to see an international convention preventing the weaponization of space." Congressman Kucinich responded to the Canadian initiative stating, "I am pleased with the recent news from our neighbor to the north that Canada is ready to join an international effort to prohibit weapons in space."
The Space Preservation Act of 2001 requires the U.S. President to "direct the United States representatives to the United Nations and other international organizations to immediately work toward negotiating, adopting, and implementing a world agreement banning space-based weapons." An enforceable and verifiable World Treaty Banning Space-based Weapons must include most world nations in order to prevent the weaponization of space.
Plans are underway for a public announcement about the signing of world leaders on to the World Treaty Banning Space-based Weapons.
ICIS (Institute for Cooperation in Space) has learned that there is worldwide support rapidly growing for a World Treaty Banning Space-based Weapons among major space-faring nations and in developing countries. Dr. Carol Rosin, President of ICIS says, "This treaty will allow everyone to continue to provide improved ground forces to protect people on earth, while ending the arms race and stimulating a whole new industry at the same time. It is in the best interest of everyone, even adversaries, to share the Space Age information and technology applications. This presents a whole new paradigm, a new way of thinking and acting, a new space paradigm. This decision to sign this treaty will impact all future generations . ICIS will be monitoring the situation and briefing members of the world media in the days preceding the Putin-Bush meetings."
Documents posted on http://www.peaceinspace.com
*World Treaty Banning Space-Based Weapons
*H.R. 2977 Space Preservation Act of 2001
*Frequently Asked Questions (Re: World Treaty and Space Preservation Act of 2001)
11/9/01
2:05:35 PM
Scientists have reconsidered the chances that the Earth will suffer a catastrophic impact with an asteroid, and have reduced the odds to about one in 5,000 over the next century.
The new prediction stems from data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which found the solar system contains about 700,000 asteroids big enough to destroy civilization. That's about one-third fewer than previous estimates.
"Our estimate for the chance of a big impact contains some of the same uncertainties as previous estimates, but it is clear that we should feel somewhat safer than we did before we had the Sloan survey data," said lead researcher Zeljko Ivezic of Princeton University in the November issue of the Astronomical Journal.
11/9/01
2:01:30 PM
King Sy's Mistakes
What Seymour Hersh got wrong.
by Scott Shuger
In this week's New Yorker,journalist Seymour Hersh questions the apparent success of the United States' first major ground action in the Afghanistan war, a two-pronged "special operations" (that is, commando) attack last month on a Taliban airbase and on a complex of buildings sometimes used by Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Although the Pentagon presented the operation as successful (intelligence was collected at both sites), the sizzle of the Hersh piece is his conclusion that it was a "near-disaster" that left the U.S. military "rethinking" the future of such special operations inside Afghanistan. Because of Hersh's reputation for good sourcing, and because his story has a level of detail not yet found in the Pentagon-approved war reports appearing elsewhere in the media, the piece has had some traction. But does it really hold up?
Hersh's main contentions: 1) Despite Pentagon claims that the raids met no significant Taliban interference, in fact there was a ferocious firefight at Mullah Omar's complex and 12 Delta Force commandos were wounded, three seriously. Delta was forced to abandon one of its planned objectives, inserting an undercover team into the area. 2) The airport assault was "something less than the Pentagon suggested," producing nothing more than exciting TV footage. The Ranger parachutists featured in that footage were not the first U.S. soldiers to hit the field but came in only after a special Army Pathfinder team had been inserted and had confirmed that the field was cleared of Taliban forces. 3) The problems with both raids stem from the inability of military higher-ups to properly understand special ops missions.
Let's have a look at these points.
Regarding 1) The Pentagon says the firefight at Mullah Omar's complex was not major and continues to insist that no U.S. soldiers were hurt or killed by hostile fire in either raid. The Pentagon says that some Ranger parachutists received minor injuries from hard landings at the airfield, and a source told me several raiders at Mullah Omar's complex were injured by debris sent flying by their own grenades. This source adds that there were no "friendly fire" deaths or injuries either, and that as of Nov. 6, all but two raiders were back on full-duty status.
But even if Hersh is right about the number and extent of casualties, the view that they would constitute a near-disaster is wrong. Special operations missions into bad-guy country are extremely dangerous, and their planners and participants expect casualties. Plus, post-9/11, the political tolerance for losses has been raised considerably. (And why is Hersh flogging the old standard?) Therefore, any mission in Afghanistan that didn't result in fatalities could hardly be rated a disaster.
In the absence of official comment, there is, of course, no way to know conclusively whether the raiders succeeded in inserting an undercover team. But if Hersh is suggesting that the United States has, in general, been incapable of such covert insertions, he's almost surely wrong. Many press reports, none denied by the Pentagon, have spoken of small teams of U.S. and British commandos operating inside Afghanistan, and the recently stepped-up U.S. bombing in support of Northern Alliance troops operating along a quickly changing front strongly suggests that U.S. operatives are designating targets from the ground.
Regarding 2) Hersh doesn't seem to understand what the airport assault accomplished. He quotes an officer saying that it could have helped the Rangers "feel good about themselves," but this is unfairly dismissive. The operation allowed a large number of Rangers to take (and survive!) their first ever night combat jump, which helps their morale and combat readiness immeasurably. And it was tactical: The raid gave the United States an airfield to use in case the operation at Omar's complex required bringing in a larger force or a large medical evacuation effort. And, most important, it was strategic: It showed the Taliban that American ground forces can occupy and hold military facilities of their choosing inside Afghanistan. In this respect, the assault was like Jimmy Doolittle's air raid in 1942. It would have been absurd to think that any damage caused by his bombers in their "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" was going to significantly affect the Japanese war machine, but it sent an important message: Your home base is not secure.
Also, it is quite routine, verging on SOP, for a large airdrop of Rangers to be preceded by the insertion of a small unit (maintaining real-time communications with other forces and commanders) that checks out the immediate area. That advance element would not only check for opposing forces but also verify that the runways were serviceable and determine how big a plane they could handle. The Delta raiders at the Omar complex would almost surely have employed an advance party too, although it might have been tiny, and its lead time a matter of only minutes. And it is not at all unusual for Delta to employ Rangers as a protecting force. Hersh seems confused about whether this degree of support is good or bad. He writes that Delta likes to insert a team of four to six men and suggests that the use of 100 Delta raiders and 200 Rangers at Omar's complex as their covering force was a mistake forced on Delta by the theater commander and the Pentagon. But he also claims that, as they left Omar's house, Delta soldiers got into a firefight in which the Taliban had the tactical advantage. Presumably, at that point, the extra U.S. strength came in handy and allowed the raiders to leave without, as even Hersh concedes, taking any fatalities.
And maybe Hersh's reporting on the numbers isn't all that accurate. One former U.S. military man I interviewed this week, who has ample field experience working with Delta Force, estimates that the Omar raid might have involved more on the order of 18 to 25 Delta soldiers. And both he and a currently serving military officer with some knowledge of the Afghan missions flatly reject Hersh's claim that the Omar raid was supported by 16 AC-130 gunships. And, indeed, the U.S. Air Force Web site (which Hersh apparently didn't check) says that there are only 21 such airplanes in the entire U.S. inventory. It's highly unlikely that the Pentagon would assign such a large percentage of a given type of asset to a single mission.
Regarding 3) Special ops folks are famous for not talking to anybody else, including their superiors. (Which is why it's a little hard to believe any of them talked to Hersh—and, indeed, his piece doesn't directly quote any Delta personnel.) Nowadays, there is nobody in the upper military reaches of Operation Enduring Freedom with a special ops background. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was a carrier pilot, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Richard Myers was a fighter pilot who later specialized in outer space systems, and theater commander Gen. Tommy Franks was an artillery officer. So it must be conceded that as the Afghan war goes forward, top-down meddling from commanders who don't understand special ops will be a real concern. But Hersh has failed to show that this was a factor in the war's first special ops mission.
Source: http://www.Slate.com
11/9/01
1:52:11 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
WTO MEETING UPDATE
-- Anti-globalization activism is more lively than ever, with protests in cities worldwide slated for this weekend as the WTO meets in Doha, Qatar.
STRENGTHENING THE ECONOMY AND SECURING OUR ENERGY FUTURE
Web site review by Kate Garsombke, Redefining Progress -- The progressive think tank Redefining Progress aims to convince businesses of the viability of policies that can reduce pollution while strengthening the economy.
TAKE THE FUNDAMENTALIST QUIZ
by Sarah Ovenall, FunnyStrange.com
-- Take your best shot at matching quotes with their speaker in this quiz on funnystrange.com. Participants must choose either Osama Bin Laden or Jerry Falwell/ Pat Robertson as the fundamentalist responsible for each of 20 quotes. Creator Sarah Ovenall hopes the quiz will help point out some of the "disturbing similarities" in the men's rhetoric. Try it for yourself!
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
11/9/01
12:49:34 PM
Study Casts Doubt On Uses Of Carbon Sinks
by Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, November 8, 2001 (ENS) - The earth's land based ecosystems absorbed all of the carbon released by deforestation plus another 1.4 billion tons emitted by fossil fuel burning during the 1990s, a new study suggests. But the study also warns that so called carbon sinks cannot be counted on to mop up carbon dioxide emissions indefinitely.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas entering the atmosphere from human activities. Ongoing negotiations regarding international efforts to reduce the impacts of greenhouse gases have included discussions about carbon sinks - natural and manmade areas where plant growth absorbs carbon emitted from human sources.
A study published this week in the journal "Nature" indicates that carbon sinks were able to mop up most of the naturally and artificially emitted carbon dioxide over the past decade. However, with carbon emissions on the rise, and vegetated areas continuing to shrink, that situation is likely to change, the researchers said.
"We could easily see this robust transfer of carbon out of the atmosphere and into land based ecosystems that occurred in the 1990s slow down in the future," said the paper's lead author, David Schimel, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
Fossil fuel burning, cement manufacture, and deforestation gave off about seven billion tons of carbon per year during the 1980s and eight billion tons each year during the 1990s, about half of it ending up in the earth's atmosphere, the study shows.
In the 1980s the amount of carbon released to the atmosphere from deforestation about equaled that taken up by land ecosystems into various sinks. During the 1990s the balance tipped, and 1.4 billion tons more carbon ended up in land based ecosystems than in the atmosphere, despite continuing deforestation.
"Land and ocean processes have, in essence, provided a major, but far from permanent, subsidy to humans, protecting the atmosphere from many of the consequences of deforestation and burning fossil fuels," said co-author professor Chris Field from the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Land use changes in the Northern Hemisphere have been partly responsible for carbon uptake during the 1990s, the researchers found. In the United States, trees and other growth expanded on abandoned agricultural land, while a reduction in fires allowed forests to spread. Increased plant growth spurred by increasing carbon dioxide and nitrogen deposits - a process more noticeable in Europe and Asia - also helped clear the air of CO2 buildup.
"Forests can only replace farms for so long," explained Schimel. "Eventually new trees and grasses reach maturity and soak up less carbon dioxide. Similarly, there's a limit to how much forests can fill in and spread, even with successful fire suppression."
Over time, the effects of climate change on ecosystems will probably reduce sinks globally, write the authors. Meanwhile, carbon dioxide emissions are expected to continue to rise because of human activities.
The results have potential implications for the Kyoto Protocol negotiations now underway in Morocco. Under the Kyoto Protocol, an addition to the United Nations framework climate change treaty, 38 industrialized nations have agreed to cut their emissions of six greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
Recent difficulties in talks over the Protocol have included a lack of scientific knowledge about the strength and distribution of carbon sinks and how they vary from year to year.
The new "Nature" study, produced by a team of 30 leading carbon scientists from around the world, draws on a large body of research to build up a new and comprehensive picture of carbon sinks on land.
"It is a major step forward in understanding where terrestrial carbon sinks actually are, why they are there, and how long they will operate into the future," said Dr Will Steffen, one of the authors and executive director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), which coordinated the production of the paper.
The paper represents a major advance in terms of reconciling two different approaches to measuring the strength of carbon sinks and sources. Historically, researchers have used two types of measurements: 1) direct measurement of CO2 in the atmosphere, and 2) on the ground measurements on the basis of forest growth and soil uptake etc.
Until now, these two techniques have provided inconsistent results. In this study the authors show that, on the broad scale, they are consistent.
The authors point out that there are many regional differences in the strength of terrestrial carbon sinks. Much of Siberia, for example, has been warming at a rate of about 0.5° C per decade since the 1960s and an increase in wild fires and insect damage appears to have converted this region from a sink into a temporary carbon source with considerable year to year variability.
"Although carbon sinks have a role to play in absorbing excess carbon dioxide, it is possible that the net global terrestrial carbon sink may disappear altogether in the future," said lead author Professor David Schimel from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany.
There is also considerable annual variability in sink strength associated with climatic variations such as the El Niņo Southern Oscillation in tropical and nontropical regions. Globally, there appears to be a net release of carbon to the atmosphere during warm, dry years and a net uptake during cooler years.
"This observation gives a hint of how terrestrial sinks may respond to longer term climate changes such as increased temperatures," said Dr Steffen.
Source: http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-08-07.html
11/9/01
12:44:10 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
GROWING GLOBAL POPULATION TRAMPLES THE PLANET
NEW YORK, New York, November 8, 2001 (ENS) - Human activity is altering the planet on an unprecedented scale, the United Nations agency reponsible for tracking population said Wednesday. Introducing The State of World Population 2001 report, "Footprints and Milestones: Population and Environmental Change," the UN Population Fund said that more people are using more resources with more intensity and leaving a bigger "footprint" on the Earth than ever before.
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-08-01.html
APPEALS COURT THROWS OUT EXXON VALDEZ PENALTY
SAN FRANCISCO, California, November 8, 2001 (ENS) - A federal appeals court has overturned a $5.3 billion punitive damages award against Exxon stemming from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The court called the amount, which was determined by a jury in Alaska, excessive, and ordered a judge to set a lower penalty.
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-08-06.html
TORTURED MEXICAN ENVIRONMENTALISTS RELEASED
MEXICO CITY, Mexico, November 8, 2001 (ENS) - Mexican President Vincente Fox today ordered the release from prison of two Mexican environmentalists who have been the subject of an intensive international campaign human rights campaign.
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-08-03.html
U.S. SAYS CLIMATE CHANGE WARRANTS REAL COMMITMENT
MARRAKECH, Morocco, November 8, 2001 (ENS) - The Bush administration has come a long way from its position upon taking office in January that climate change might not be a serious concern. Yesterday, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky told climate negotiators meeting in Marrakech that global climate change warrants "real commitment."
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-08-02.html
STUDY CASTS DOUBT ON USES OF CARBON SINKS
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, November 8, 2001 (ENS) - The earth's land based ecosystems absorbed all of the carbon released by deforestation plus another 1.4 billion tons emitted by fossil fuel burning during the 1990s, a new study suggests. But the study also warns that so called carbon sinks cannot be counted on to mop up carbon dioxide emissions indefinitely.
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-08-07.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: NOVEMBER 8, 2001
Interior Bill Includes Environmental Increases
Shorebirds Need Room Too
Better Fertilizer Use Could Protect Mississippi River
National Laboratory Gets Cleanup Program Grant
Showy Stickseed Gets Second Look for Endangered Listing
Colorado Scientists Help Residents of Alaska's North Slope
Scallop Shells Hold Clues to Antarctic Climate Changes
Energy StarŪ Product Expo Brings Efficiency to Market
Black Scoter Graces 2002-2003 Duck Stamp
For full text and graphics visit:
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-08-09.html
11/9/01
12:40:29 PM
t r u t h o u t | 11.09
GEPHARDT / WATERS | 2000 Election Report is Released
http://www.truthout.com/4.Election.Report.pdf
11/9/01
12:35:43 PM
FAIR - Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTION ALERT: Fox: Civilian Casualties Not News
Network news outlets have reported stories about civilian casualties in Afghanistan with caution, often noting that Taliban claims are nearly impossible to verify. But many outlets show no inclination to be equally careful when evaluating the Pentagon's line on casualties.
CNN, for example, has ordered reporters to frame reports of civilian deaths with reminders that "the Pentagon has repeatedly stressed that it is trying to minimize" such casualties, and that "the Taliban regime continues to harbor terrorists who are connected to the September 11 attacks that claimed thousands of innocent lives in the U.S." (See FAIR Action Alert, 11/1/01.)
The host of Fox News Channel's "Special Report with Brit Hume" (11/5/01) recently wondered why journalists should bother covering civilian deaths at all. "The question I have," said Hume, "is civilian casualties are historically, by definition, a part of war, really. Should they be as big news as they've been?"
The idea that civilian casualties have been "big news" in the U.S. is questionable, but the Fox pundits more or less agreed with Hume.
Mara Liasson from National Public Radio was direct: "No. Look, war is about killing people. Civilian casualties are unavoidable." Liasson added that she thought what was missing from television coverage was "a message from the U.S. government that says we are trying to minimize them, but the Taliban isn't, and is putting their tanks in mosques, and themselves among women and children." (Of course, anyone who has watched much TV news knows that this information is included in virtually every report.)
Fox pundit and U.S. News & World Report columnist Michael Barone echoed Hume's earlier remarks: "I think the real problem here is that this is poor news judgment on the part of some of these news organizations. Civilian casualties are not, as Mara says, news. The fact is that they accompany wars."
If journalists shouldn't cover civilian deaths because they are a normal part of war, does that principle apply to all war coverage? Dropping bombs is also standard procedure in a war; will Fox stop reporting airstrikes?
Fox's marketing slogan is "We report, you decide," but these Fox pundits have decided for you that some deaths aren't worth reporting. Then again, being honest journalists might not be the first order of business. As Hume told the New York Times, "Look, neutrality as a general principle is an appropriate concept for journalists who are covering institutions of some comparable quality.... This is a conflict between the United States and murdering barbarians."
With both Fox and CNN crusading against coverage of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, it's little wonder that self-censorship is taking place at smaller outlets. A memo circulated at the Panama City (Fla.) News Herald and leaked to Jim Romenesko's Media News warned editors:
"DO NOT USE photos on Page 1A showing civilian casualties from the U.S. war on Afghanistan. Our sister paper in Fort Walton Beach has done so and received hundreds and hundreds of threatening e-mails and the like.... DO NOT USE wire stories which lead with civilian casualties from the U.S. war on Afghanistan. They should be mentioned further down in the story. If the story needs rewriting to play down the civilian casualties, DO IT. The only exception is if the U.S. hits an orphanage, school or similar facility and kills scores or hundreds of children."
This policy of consistently burying the facts about the impact of the war on Afghanistan must make the pundits at Fox proud. But journalists who care about the principles of the profession should be embarrassed.
ACTION: Please let Fox anchor Brit Hume know that the deaths of civilians in Afghanistan are worth covering-- just like the deaths of civilians in the World Trade Center were worth covering.
CONTACT:
Brit Hume
Managing Editor & Anchor, "Special Report with Brit Hume"
Phone: 1-888-369-4762
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone.
Please cc mailto:fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
11/9/01
12:22:46 PM
The Long, Strange Road To Irradiating Mail
by Michael Colby
For fifty years the purveyors of irradiation have been looking for a purpose. It all began, of course, in the 1950s under President Eisenhower's Atomic Energy Commission, specifically its "Atoms for Peace" program. The U.S. was awash in nuclear waste materials, particularly Cesium-137, and it was quickly becoming the Achilles heel of the burgeoning nuclear establishment. Eisenhower, therefore, established the Atoms for Peace program with the specific directive to find peaceful uses for this nuclear waste material. But more than simply finding a use for nuclear garbage, the nuclear establishment wanted to eliminate the cloud of war that surrounded all things nuclear and, instead, demonstrate to U.S. citizens that there were peaceful civilian uses for these new "wonder isotopes."
After scrapping ideas such as manufacturing nuclear replacement hearts for cardiac patients, the Atoms for Peace program set its long-term sights on exposing the food supply to radiation. And food irradiation was born.
The reasoning given at the time was "shelf-life." Remember, fifty years ago E.coli, salmonella, and factory farming weren't on the nation's agenda. But we were thinking about how to make food last for long periods of time, especially amidst the Cold War mentality that, interestingly enough, had people building nuclear fall-out shelters. And the first thing on people's minds when they thought of hunkering down in a hole for the duration of a nuclear winter was usually "what in the hell are we going to eat?"
Ta-da: nuclear food for nuclear winters. It was a match made in cesium heaven.
In fact, some of the first scientific promoters of food irradiation used to love to haul out their 30-plus year old cans of "irradiated chicken meat" to flaunt their technological prowess. I remember when Dr. Ed Josephson, a former Army scientist and one of the grandfathers of irradiation, brought his can of the old meat to a congressional hearing in the mid-1980s when the Reagan administration was about to issue its sweeping approvals for food irradiation.
After a mumbling testimony about how safe it was to expose foods to radiation doses equivalent to tens of millions of chest x-rays, the crusty and very unhealthy looking Josephson proudly declared that he'd been "eating it for years" and he was fine. Even the right-wingers sitting in the room could barely contain themselves, each seemingly making a mental note to tell Josephson that there must be a better way for him to testify.
And Josephson went one step further. Reaching into his briefcase he pulled out a can of the irradiated chicken meat, a can opener, a knife, a plate, and a stash of toothpicks. "This has been on my shelf for over 20 years," declared Josephson as he popped the top of the can and began dicing the pale meat into bite sized squares. "And it's still very good."
But, other than Josephson and his colleagues within the irradiation industry, there were no takers. And I will always remember the look on Representative Henry Waxman's face as the plate of pasty meat was thrust in front of him. He wasn't about to partake in this impromptu experiment.
The Reagan administration did eventually grant the first widespread approvals for food irradiation in 1986, when fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spices, and flavorings were approved. And each subsequent administration has done its share to further the range of approvals, to the point now that practically everything we consume has been approved to be exposed to huge doses of radiation - including meat, poultry and seafood.
But there's always been one big problem with food irradiation: the public doesn't want anything to do with it. And the irradiation corporations have had to change their purpose time and time again to try and find a niche for their unseemly nuclear wares. Gone were the days that irradiation was promoted as a peaceful use for nuclear waste material, or that it was a way to keep bad meat edible for decades. Now we were into the realm of "needing" irradiation to fix all the problems of a filthy meat industrial complex, particularly E.coli and salmonella.
The American public, however, seemed more willing to give up meat than be forced to eat meat that had been exposed to both fecal matter and 75 million chest x-rays. Yum, yum.
But as I've learned in more than 15 years of fighting all forms of irradiation, this industry always seems to pull yet another trick out of its bag no matter how close to death it gets.
Enter anthrax.
I nearly fell out of my chair last week while innocently trying to catch up on the mainstream news and hearing an "anthrax expert" on CNN declare that it was "time for the government to give irradiation a look" as a way to sterilize the mail. Gulp.
And what started as a blip of a mention has now turned into a steady drumbeat of irradiation propaganda that has garnered the attention of the highest government officials, the New York Times editorial writers, and about every media outlet in the nation scrambling to assure the American people that "there IS something that can be done."
Unfortunately, all irradiation propaganda begins the same way: with declarations of just how "easy" and "effective" it is. It's also usually accompanied by the idiotic proclamation that "it's really just like your microwave or the airport luggage scanner." Hogwash. Irradiation is about as similar to a microwave as a chainsaw is to a butter knife.
Interestingly, many of the bigwigs in the field of irradiation are moving cautiously with the news that their technology may "solve" the anthrax in the mail fury currently gripping the nation. The Nordion Corporation, for example, the world's leader in cobalt-60 irradiation, isn't jumping on the simplistic bandwagon that irradiation is "the cure" for mail-based anthrax. In fact, nobody with any scientific merit will be found on that bandwagon, mostly because no one knows if it will work, if it will cause more problems than it will solve, or if it is even possible to set up the kind of nuclear infrastructure that would be required at hundreds - if not thousands - of postal centers throughout the nation.
Let's take them one at a time. First, efficacy: irradiating raw anthrax spores will almost assuredly kill them. But irradiating anthrax spores encased in an envelope that is in turn encased in mail crates may not be as effective, mostly because the ionizing radiation may not penetrate the crates deep enough to deliver a lethal dose. Worse, whatever anthrax may survive the irradiation process may be more harmful than its original version, including the possibility that it may be a new, radiation-resistant strain.
The next bugaboo the U.S. postal service needs to worry about when considering irradiating the mail is how to avoid irradiating products that would be damaged, destroyed, or even made harmful if they were exposed to massive doses of radiation. Take, for example, electronic devices like computers, software, and the like. If they were to enter these proposed mail irradiation chambers they could be rendered useless.
And how about irradiation metal objects? Exposing metal to ionizing radiation can induce radioactivity if enough of it collects on the surfaces. And there's a lot of metal in the mail in the form of binders, paperclips, and pens, not to mention all of the consumer products containing metal that are routinely shipped via the U.S. Postal Service. How, may I ask, are they going to keep all of these products out of the irradiation chambers? And if they do figure out a way to do this, how long will it take the anthrax-toting-terrorists to figure this out?
Then there's the issue of infrastructure. If we're serious about irradiating the nation's mail, it will take years upon years to design and construct these facilities. And if they go with the cheaper alternatives by using cesium or cobalt, we're opening a Pandora's Box of pitfalls that include everything from the dangers of transporting this highly-radioactive material, worker safety within these facilities, and environmental contamination from the kinds of leaks, spills, and mishaps that have frequently occurred at existing irradiation facilities. And let's not forget that cesium and cobalt irradiators have to be routinely replenished with their potent blend of radioactive toxins, and the "spent" fuel has to be shipped and stored in a safe location for many generations to come.
And what happens when the terrorists learn that every little postal office in our nation is equipped with a nuclear mail irradiator? Talk about an easy target. In a time when there's an understandable amount of paranoia about our existing nuclear facilities due to the threat of terrorists attacks, how much sense does it make to spread these nuclear materials around to every postmaster who requests them?
No, irradiating the mail is neither "easy" nor "effective." And the people getting up on their shallow soapboxes ought to be ashamed for promoting it as such. There will be oodles of cash made in the struggling irradiation business in the days, weeks, and months to come. But sooner or later this irradiation bubble will burst, just as it did when it was being proposed to make meat last for decades.
If anything needs to be nuked, it's the idea that irradiation will solve our current anthrax problem.
Write to me at mailto:mcolby@foodandwater.org
Source: http://www.foodandwater.org
11/9/01
12:11:28 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
BP introduces anti-smog gasoline in Washington state - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13204/story.htm
Exxon Valdez appeals ruling stuns Alaskans - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13205/story.htm
FEATURE - Life extended for Cook Inlet oil and gas fields - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13211/story.htm
Guilty plea in Phoenix eco-arsonist case - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13221/story.htm
USTR minimizes Chile trade pact environmental impact - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13222/story.htm
Group says US energy bill won't benefit consumers - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13206/story.htm
FEATURE - Persuading the wary - consumers, GMOs and mistrust - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13220/story.htm
Greens sue Britain over nuclear fuel plant - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13203/story.htm
UK's Recycled Waste to reverse into AIM cash shell - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13215/story.htm
UPDATE - UK SSE in green energy plan as H1 beats forecasts - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13207/story.htm
Britain imposes no-fly zones over nuke plants - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13208/story.htm
FEATURE - GM crop research slow to reach hungry Third World - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13197/story.htm
UPDATE - UK scientists defend animal cull, say saved lives - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13223/story.htm
FEATURE - Down but not out, protesters keep WTO in sights - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13201/story.htm
FEATURE - New strains of rice promise better health, eyesight - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13198/story.htm
UPDATE - About 350 believed dead in Philippine storm - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13217/story.htm
Three die in oil pipeline fire in southeast Nigeria - NIGERIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13218/story.htm
UPDATE - Hard bargaining at UN climate talks in Morocco - MOROCCO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13209/story.htm
Want to save the planet? Don't fly - MOROCCO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13200/story.htm
FEATURE - Marine turtles drawn to lay eggs on Mexican beaches - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13216/story.htm
UPDATE - Mexico frees two jailed environmentalists - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13210/story.htm
UN urges WTO talks not to overlook environment - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13214/story.htm
UPDATE - Germany questions EU biofuel proposals - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13213/story.htm
Germany to amend draft law on CHP power generation - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13202/story.htm
FEATURE - Labelling laws leave EU in GMO quandry - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13212/story.htm
INTERVIEW - China's GMO details still in the works - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13219/story.htm
China says Tibet railway on track despite climate - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13199/story.htm
11/9/01
12:08:53 PM
"DISCOUNTED CASUALTIES - THE HUMAN COST OF DELETED URANIUM" (June 2001)
Foreword I met Akira Tashiro last summer in Hiroshima, when I was invited by Gensuikin to speak about Yucca Mountain and high-level nuclear waste at the Plenary Session of the 2000 World Conference Against Atomic & Hydrogen Bombs. The citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki live with the aftermath of the horrific power and annihilation of nuclear bombs dropped on a civilian population, and the extreme cruelty of the lifelong effects of exposure to flash external gamma rays and internal low-level radiation from fallout. This reality has changed the lives of all those who have visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki and learned not only about the hibakusha (survivors) of Japan, but of those around the world in Kazakhstan, the Pacific Islanders, and the Western United States. Radiation respects no borders. It is a slow, silent, global mutilator of all life. In the 1970's I worked as an earth scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab. There the transuranium elements were discovered for the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and the use of depleted uranium (DU) on the battlefield was first discussed. Later I worked at the Lawrence Livermore Lab, where the design of nuclear weapons continues. Radiation and nuclear weapons are seldom mentioned in a climate of secrecy and denial. Many scientists work in isolation and are only dimly aware of the larger project. In the moment that I stood in the Hiroshima Peace Museum on the anniversary of the bombing looking up at "Little Boy," I was overwhelmed as a scientist. I realized that engineering and technology had built devices, through the misapplication of science, that could destroy all life on earth. I saw photos of women with vacant stares nursing dead babies. As a mother and giver of life I wondered how, without conscience, man could destroy 4.5 billion years of life evolving on this earth. The unbelievably dangerous powers of nuclear weapons have been developed by divorcing science from ethics, a Western phenomenon. The Chugoku Shimbun, Hiroshima's newspaper, has published two award-winning series on exposure to radiation. The first book, EXPOSURE: Victims of Radiation Speak Out, is a powerful message about the detrimental effects that radioactive substances from nuclear testing and "peaceful uses" of nuclear energy have had on people and the environment. In this second book, Discounted Casualties, personal stories about DU reveal the unbelievable immorality and cruelty of this new radioactive weapon. Radioactive waste from nuclear weapons development, mixed with high-level waste from nuclear reactors, becomes a lethal cocktail in DU ammunition. In recent reports the U.S. Department of Energy has admitted that military reactor waste has been mixed with DU. The waste contains plutonium, uranium-236, neptunium and other isotopes thousands of times more radioactive than DU. Disposing of dangerous waste at a profit benefits U.S. government agencies and the military industrial complex, while passing the liability for disposal and the biological and environmental damage to citizens around the world. Tungsten is a biologically and environmentally safer alternative with greater density and penetrating power. DU bullets are pyrophoric and ignite on impact, producing a smoke that poisons life and travels great distances. The bullet fragments and dust left in the bodies of soldiers cause extended suffering, and cruel and inhumane deaths years after the war has ended. DU is radioactive, it is a toxic metal, and the toxicity is greatly increased when combined with chemicals. It disproportionately affects women and children. DU munitions are illegal under international human rights and humanitarian law. Nevertheless, the US, the self-proclaimed "International Champion of Human Rights," has used this inhumane weapon on the battlefield, exposing its own soldiers, its allies, civilian populations, and future generations. DU testing in the U.S. continues to expose unsuspecting citizens and the environment. Pilots at Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada trained on nearby bombing and gunnery ranges for the Gulf War. Now, the "don't look, don't find policy" of the military has concealed the cause of a recent leukemia cluster in children in Fallon. Overseas, the use of radioactive trash in weapons has turned Gulf countries, the Balkans, Vieques Island, and Okinawa into dumpsites for the US government and the radiation industry. A single miscroscopic particle can cause a lethal disease. DU will continue to poison life from the dust and soils of the battlefields and testing grounds. In ten half-lives, or 45 billion years, the radioactivity will become an insignificant amount. Which is worse, flash annihilation by nuclear explosions, or slow mutilation from low-level radiation, the result of radioactive contamination of the air, water and earth essential to life? Globally, we have been deceived about the health effects of radiation, by bureaucratized governments informed by the military industrial complex and scientific power. In the past half-century, 1.3 billion people have been killed, maimed, and diseased by nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Millions more will be killed, maimed and diseased unless the citizens of the world demand an end to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, nuclear power, nuclear waste, and the new radiological weapons. As the bell tolls, we must honor and respect the hibakusha around the world, who are living reminders that we are pulling the rope of our own death knell. Let us thank the citizens of Japan, The Chugoku Shimbun, and Akira Tashiro, for making us aware of the most important issue of this century. And thanks to the veterans, whose stories make it clear that democracies as well as living bodies can develop malignancies.
Leuren Moret
Berkeley, California
President, Scientists for Indigenous People June 2001
Past President, Association for Women Geoscientists
11/9/01
12:06:49 PM
The Toxicity Of Weapons And War
To the Mayor and City Council Members of Berkeley,
Margo Shafer is right - the bombing of Afghanistan by US government forces IS our problem. I commend Dona Spring for bringing this forward for debate. It is NOT TRUE that it is happening "over there" so that it DOESN'T AFFECT us "over here". Citizens must be informed with good information in order to make good decisions and participate fully to ensure a democratic government. We are part of a global community, and should be informed and interested in government policy which does not directly affect us in our local community.
The United States has hundreds of thousands of tons of depleted uranium piled in heaps outdoors at DOE facilities. It is 99.5% of what is left when the most fissionable isotope (one of three) is extracted from naturally occurring uranium. The extracted uranium is used in nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel for nuclear reactors. The 99.5% that is discarded cannot be put back into the mines it came out of because, after crushing and processing, the volume is greater than before it was removed from the mines.
The Dept. of Defense got the bright idea of using DU in weapons because (1) it is very dense which gives it greater penetrating power to destroy tanks etc. (2) it is pyrophoric which means upon impact, it explodes into fire and smoke creating submicroscopic radioactive particles which travel great distances and can remain suspended until it is "rained out" of the atmosphere, (3) it is radioactive and will continue acting internally long after the battlefield has been cleared - with delayed effects which continue acting on soldiers and civilians THE REST OF THEIR LIVES (4) it is cheap and passes the responsibility for disposal from DOE on to civilians (that means US) and the environment. The half life of uranium is 4.5 billion years - in ten half lives radioactivity becomes an insignificant amount. In 45 billion years it will no longer be a danger. In other words - it's "fun" for the DOD, it's "cheap" for the arms manufacturers (at good profits), and "good riddance" says DOE.
The US has manufactured, used, tested DU in 39 states. The cleanup bill - just for the DU - at the Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana would be $7.8 billion... it has not been cleaned up, but DOD has closed it. Communities living near these test ranges will continue to be exposed and suffer health problems. The Sierra Army Depot in California, for 40 years, has burned millions of tons of old munitions -including 20 times more DU than was used in the Gulf War. The radioactive ash full of heavy metals, phosgene gas and dioxins contaminated local communities as well as many Native American communities that were downwind -especially the Pyramid Lake Paiute reservation. The health problems in those communities has been horrendous. The Sierra Army depot burned old munitions in OPEN PITS - and was the single largest contributor to air pollution in California -17-23%. Did anyone in this city know that, or do anything to inform the citizens? I doubt that anyone was aware or informed. Several months ago I made a short presentation to the Peace and Justice Commission, and they were willing to consider the problem in order to take some action. Norman Harry, former Pyramid Lake Tribal Chairman, and Senator Harry Reid worked with others to shut it down. Less than a month ago Lassen County refused to renew the burn permit for the Sierra Army Depot - finally.
The United States has used DU weaponry in the Gulf War, Kosovo, Serbia, Vieques Island, Torishima Island near Okinawa, Japan, and sold it to at least 23 countries. Israel uses it nearly daily on the Palestinians. It is in the arsenal the US is using on Afghanistan.
The DU which contaminates the Gulf States can be detected on gamma meters in Greece and Bulgaria on windy days. It's the weapon that "keeps giving"... and keeps moving.
DU is also used as ballast in commercial and military planes. On Sept. 11, I called a medical doctor who lives 7 miles from the Pentagon and warned her that DU could have burned in the hijacked jets that crashed (up to 3000 pounds were used in 747's). She turned on her gamma meter - radiation levels were 8 times higher than normal inside her house. She informed the National Radiation Information Service in Washington DC, and the EPA, FBI, HazMat and other emergency response agencies went to the Pentagon to investigate. A pile of rubble from the crash was radioactive, but the EPA rep said "oh... it's probably depleted uranium... it's not a health hazard unless you breathe it". Firefighters, Pentagon personel, and communities nearby DID BREATHE IT. There was no followup investigation, and what about the World Trade Center in NY? Radiation almost never gets into mainstream media. It is a taboo subject.
Karen Parker, International Human Rights Attorney, is calling for a UN resulution to ban DU internationally. Marion Fulk, retired Livermore Lab scientist who has worked on the tritium facility issue, and I are writing the science portion of the UN resolution banning DU. This problem is an issue we should all be concerned with: act locally, think globally.
An excellent and new book on DU is online in Hiroshima Japan - in English. I wrote the Foreword and have copies available if anyone would like to read it, or if you would like to invite me as a speaker. You can read, email, download, pass on any of the 40+ interviews and photos in the US, UK, Gulf, Kosovo: http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html
The Foreword is below.
The true partiots in this country are two women: Barbara Lee for saying "no" to needless further devastation in an already war torn country, and Dona Spring who brought the issue to the table in Berkeley. I am proud to serve as Dona's representative on the CEAC and to support her important resolution. I hope the information I have provided will add to the discussion. And thank you Margo for bringing up the radioactive weaponry.
Best wishes,
Leuren Moret Commissioner
CEAC President Scientists for Indigenous People
11/9/01
11:57:59 AM
SojoNet News Daily Headlines
Support Deepens For the Taliban, Refugees Report
U.S. military strategists had hoped the air attacks and the resulting destruction would generate public anger at the Taliban, forcing its leaders to surrender bin Laden and members of his al Qaeda network. But Afghan refugees said just the opposite has occurred. "The bombing has not weakened the Taliban where we are," said one refugee. "It has made them stronger."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58791-2001Nov7.html
Global warming to hit key food crops
Harvests of some of the world's key food crops could drop by up to 30 percent in the next 100 years due to global warming, a U.N. agency said.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13168/story.htm
Kerry sees 'misplaced patriotism' in Bush oil plan
Senator John F. Kerry last night accused the Bush administration taking advantage of the emotional response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to push for oil drilling in Alaska and for passage of an energy plan containing oil and gas subsidies. The Massachusetts Democrat cast fighting for the environment as an expression of true love of country.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/312/nation/Kerry_sees_misplaced_patriotism_in_Bush_oil_plan+.shtml
Bush Plan Would Revise Bill to Aid Charities
President Bush asked the Senate leadership today to pass a slimmed-down version of his plan to give federal money to religious charities, saying all charities were hard-pressed to provide disaster relief for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks while helping the needy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/national/08FAIT.html
Voters speak: Tax cuts don't equal victory
In statewide races, where a broader swath of the electorate turned out, voters seemed to turn from Republicans' tax-cutting, smaller-government ideology.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1108/p3s1-uspo.html
Palestinians Shot by Soldiers At Close Range, Witnesses Say
Journalists who asked witnesses to lead them to the scene found skull fragments, brain matter and patches of blood on the ground. That was the spot where medics and a pathologist said three Palestinians had been shot through the head, and, judging from lacerations and burn marks around the wounds, at point-blank range.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58804-2001Nov7.html
U.N. Report: 70 Percent Of World's Population Could Use All-Star Benefit Concert
Whether ravaged by war, disease, natural disaster, or just plain grinding poverty, there are a whole heck of a lot of people out there in desperate need of a star-studded fundraiser at Madison Square Garden.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3740/all-star_benefit_concert.html
11/8/01
5:58:42 PM
Osama's Nuclear Bomb
by David Dolan
Does Osama bin Laden possess the ultimate weapon - a nuclear bomb - in one form or another? Amid the heightened terrorist alert in the United States and elsewhere, examination of this radiating topic reverberates around the halls of Western governments, security services and in the international press.
Meanwhile, I continue to be haunted by the words of an FBI agent, spoken to me when I was visiting Washington, D.C., in 1995. He revealed that federal officials had uncovered "substantial evidence" that bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network had smuggled several Soviet-built nuclear suitcase bombs into the United States. Although the ultimate proof of this contention would be an explosion that no one but America's worst enemies wants to take place, the circumstantial evidence is apparently compelling enough to keep sending Vice President Dick Cheney to his "undisclosed location."
The fact that the Kremlin built such weapons is accepted by most Western spy agencies, even if one of the first persons to publicly reveal it was the controversial Russian General Alexander Lebed. He claimed in 1996 that negligent post-Soviet Russian officials had lost track of an astounding 134 of these deadly mini devices, thought to be capable of completely leveling everything within a couple miles of ground zero - not to mention covering an even wider area with carcinogenic nuclear poisons.
Even if just a few of the suitcase nukes are unaccounted for, it would be a few too many.
Reports continue to circulate that some of these field nuclear devices ended up in the hands of Chechen Muslim groups, who passed them along (for a substantial price) to bin Laden. While this has not been concretely proved as far as I can tell, it is clear to Western security agencies that Chechen rebels have close connections to al-Qaida and its notorious leader. That bin Laden desperately desires to acquire nuclear bombs is also quite evident, given that he has publicly said so.
On top of the strong possibility that the Arabian terrorist leader has gotten his jihad hands on KGB-built portable-luggage bombs, it is clear that he has strong supporters in the Pakistani nuclear scientific community. Pakistan's chief nuclear engineer, Bashiruddin Mahmoud, has not hidden his glowing affection for the turbaned desert warrior. Still, it is thought to be extremely unlikely that he might have been able to arrange a nuclear weapons transfer to al-Qaida operatives. Yet his advice would be invaluable if bin Laden succeeded in getting the material needed to build a nuclear device from elsewhere, as many experts fear he has probably done.
The contention that bin Laden would have no moral qualms about using such a hideous weapon on his perceived infidel enemies, even if most were civilians, is self evident. After all, it was not the recently revealed CIA office near the World Trade Center that was his main target on Sept. 11. The Saudi dissident realized that the twin towers would be full on a Tuesday morning with civilian workers going about their daily jobs. If 5,000 infidel lives are good to take, surely 500,000 are much better.
Chemical strike on New York
Seemingly confirming that mass slaughter is the ultimate goal of some Islamic terrorist militants, I was told by another American security official while visiting the Midwest a few years ago that the original World Trade Center attack in 1993 had a non-conventional chemical component. He further revealed that this fact was concealed from the public on orders of senior officials in the Clinton administration, although he did not impute them with evil motives in doing so. He opined that the administration apparently did not want to "worry" the general public with such frightening details.
According to my source, deadly nerve agents were placed amid the explosives that blew up in the parking garage underneath the WTC. The Arab terrorists - whom he thought were probably linked to Saddam Hussein - apparently hoped that the debilitating chemicals would be widely dispersed by the truck bomb explosion, killing thousands of people in nearby portions of lower Manhattan. In the actual event, the heat of the intense fire that followed the powerful blast quickly destroyed all but a few traces of the chemical agents, said my source.
There is substantial circumstantial evidence that this same "look the other way" attitude carried the day after the TWA Flight 800 explosion in the skies off of Long Island a few years later. After all, why spoil the "feel good" '90s with the reality that despite the collapse of the dreaded Soviet Union, America still had real enemies out there plotting to reduce her to ashes?
Some who see darker motives behind such apparent government complacency might wonder if the secular humanist propensity to totally ignore the Islamic fundamentalist terrorist threat until forced to do otherwise on Sept. 11 does not reveal something far more sinister. Indeed, there is apparent room to wonder if some Western secular-humanist leaders -especially those who openly disdain their fellow humans who choose to look to the heavens for Divine guidance - have not long viewed the growing Islamic terrorist menace as a powerful tool to further their ultimate goal of ushering in a New World Order.
Expert warrior
Although Osama bin Laden and his mainly Middle East henchmen might appear to come from the Middle Ages to most folks in the West, he is clearly a very clever man. This is demonstrated by his carefully crafted video sermons, designed to pull every possible chain to stir up the Muslim masses in support of his self-declared holy war. This guy knows what he is after, and probably has a long-range game plan of how to get there. It may well include a nuclear explosion at an appropriate moment.
If you have been following this potential hair-splitting aspect of the unfolding terrorist story in recent weeks, you might know that many nuclear experts doubt that the alleged missing Soviet devices are still able to perform their intended task. Such scientists assure us that the tritium triggers needed to detonate the portable bombs have undoubtedly decayed by now, rendering the devices useless. However, some note that it is possible to recharge the triggers for someone who knows his way around such technical concerns, which might include the Pakistani scientist Mahmoud.
At any rate, it is relatively easy to produce a so-called "dirty bomb" comprised of regular explosives laced with nuclear waste materials. Although the kill ratio would be relatively modest from such a blast, it would still act as a powerful psychological weapon in a terrorist war currently focused on the threat of more anthrax attacks.
I have not been able to secure any official comment about recent media reports that alert Israeli security forces intercepted a Palestinian terrorist trying to smuggle such a bomb into the Tel Aviv area a couple weeks ago. It seems that government leaders here think that the public is stressed out enough as it is, which is surely the case.
However, such an interception might help explain why Prime Minister Ariel Sharon felt compelled to cancel his important trip to the United States this week for "security reasons." After all, he is no longer too upset with the Bush administration for attempting to force Israeli troops out of Yasser Arafat's towns. Sharon is instead quite pleased that U.S. officials have now officially placed the groups that were the main targets of his recent army incursion - known activists belonging to the Popular Front PLO splinter group, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group - on the administration's official terrorist list. He would be happier still if U.S. officials formally recognized that members of Arafat's own Palestinian Authority have engaged in terror strikes over the past year, but he knows that would be asking way too much.
Why wait?
If Osama and gang have anything nuclear hidden up their flowing sleeves, why haven't they revealed this by launching an attack before now? After all, al-Qaida and Taliban forces are being pummeled by American aircraft in Afghanistan day after day, with no dramatic terrorist response so far in the West other than possibly a few anthrax spores in some mailed envelopes.
The answer could be that recent U.S. government warnings and stepped up security have thwarted such an attack, at least for now. Or perhaps the terrorists have been deliberately giving out false information to wear down weary American security forces and the general public, waiting for a later day to act when the overall guard has dropped a little bit.
My guess is that the wily bin Laden is not suffering all that badly at present, despite the massive American bombing campaign. He knows that support for the counter-terrorism war is already waning in the West, especially in Europe where hand wringing over relatively modest civilian casualties is reaching fever pitch (when will all realize that this is not a game of virtual war?). Meanwhile additional jihad warriors are crossing over porous Afghan borders everyday, some coming from as far away as England and Indonesia.
Without wishing to add to the terrorist problem by further alarming any reader who is already having trouble sleeping at night, I suggest that the Arabian "Robin Hood" may be waiting to unleash his nuclear genii until he can achieve the maximum emotional Islamic response to such a dastardly attack.
As a longtime friend and observer of many Arabs belonging to the growing worldwide population of Mohammad's faithful followers, I would nominate the holy month of Ramadan as the ideal time to strike. It is always a period of heightened religious fervor in the Muslim world, as I have witnessed many times firsthand. This year, Ramadan begins on Nov. 17. Such an audacious terrorist assault would really get Osama's jihad struggle off the ground -off the ground of the new Ground Zero.
A newly revised edition of David Dolan's latest book, "Israel In Crisis: What Lies Ahead," has just been published. Also available is his end-time novel, "The End Of Days," and his first book, an acclaimed history of Israel titled "Israel At The Crossroads." These books may be ordered by phoning 1-888-890-6938 in North America. You may also e-mail your request or visit David's website.
David Dolan is a Jerusalem-based author and journalist who has lived in Israel since 1980. He reported for CBS radio for over 12 years.
11/8/01
5:12:23 PM
Kerry Sees 'Misplaced Patriotism' In Bush Oil Plan
By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 11/8/2001
EW YORK - Senator John F. Kerry last night accused the Bush administration of ''misplaced patriotism,'' saying it is taking advantage of the emotional response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to push for oil drilling in Alaska and for passage of an energy plan containing oil and gas subsidies.
The Massachusetts Democrat and potential 2004 presidential contender cast fighting for the environment as an expression of true love of country.
''I believe that the better definition of patriotism for us here tonight, in this environmental challenge that we face, is clearly to say no, to stand at the breach, and to say that we're not going to be led down the path that falsely provides us with the choice of either growing the economy or protecting the environment when all of us know that we can do both simultaneously,'' said Kerry in the keynote address at the 12th annual New York dinner meeting of the League of Conservation Voters.
A call to the White House seeking comment on his remarks was not returned.
While Kerry did not mention President Bush by name, his target was clear as he blasted administration energy policies and called for a reduction in dependence on foreign oil, a cut in greenhouse gas emissions, and for subjecting sport-utility vehicles to the same fuel efficiency standards imposed on standard automobiles.
He set a goal of having 20 percent of the nation's energy supply by 2020 come exclusively from alternative and renewable sources of energy.
''Twenty-twenty, that's a goal,'' Kerry said.
The speech, before a largely Democratic audience of environmentalists and New York political donors, was part of Kerry's reentry into the national political arena. Like other politicians, he canceled fund-raisers and reelection appearances to allow the country to come to grips with the hijackings.
Among those in the audience of 300 were former Massachusetts governor William F. Weld, a Republican and avid outdoorsman; Clinton administration officials Andrew Cuomo, John Podesta, and Bill Richardson; and actor Robert Redford, who is active in the environmental movement and hailed Kerry's involvement in introducing the senator.
In the 2000 election, Vice President Al Gore carried the party's environmental banner as he challenged George W. Bush for the presidency. While Gore has begun his reemergence into the political arena with visits to Iowa and New Hampshire, Kerry has sought to assert his own credentials.
On the Senate floor, he has declared he will lead a filibuster if the administration forges ahead with efforts to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
The speech at New York's Waldorf-Astoria & Towers echoed similar league addresses by Gore when he was a senator and Bill Bradley and Bill Clinton when they were presidential candidates.
''Let me say to you tonight, in the clearest terms I can, with a sense of conviction that comes from confidence because of the road we have traveled and our sense of ourselves, that we can't honor properly those who died on Sept. 11, and we can't stay true to our own values, unless we are prepared to have political leaders who in their turn are prepared to offer us real choices about the future of this country, and not allow the vibrancy of our democracy to be torn apart by a misplaced patriotism,'' Kerry said.
He labeled the proposal to drill in the Alaska refuge, which the Bush administration argues would help diminish the nation's dependence on foreign oil imports, as ''misplaced patriotism,'' adding: ''That's not a choice; that's a charade, and they know it.''
He added: ''It's also a false definition of patriotism to suggest that when 458,000 people have been thrown out of work in one month - the largest single one-month increase in 21 years in this country - and when we're remembering supposedly properly the acts of those average, everyday Americans who went in that building and ran up 40-some flights with hoses over their backs to rescue people, and police officers who went in to maintain order in our country, there is somehow something grotesquely inappropriate in $20-plus billion of subsidies to oil and gas that are giveaways.''
Glen Johnson can be reached by e-mail at johnson@globe.com.
Source: Kerry sees 'misplaced patriotism' in Bush oil plan
By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 11/8/2001
EW YORK - Senator John F. Kerry last night accused the Bush administration of ''misplaced patriotism,'' saying it is taking advantage of the emotional response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to push for oil drilling in Alaska and for passage of an energy plan containing oil and gas subsidies.
The Massachusetts Democrat and potential 2004 presidential contender cast fighting for the environment as an expression of true love of country.
''I believe that the better definition of patriotism for us here tonight, in this environmental challenge that we face, is clearly to say no, to stand at the breach, and to say that we're not going to be led down the path that falsely provides us with the choice of either growing the economy or protecting the environment when all of us know that we can do both simultaneously,'' said Kerry in the keynote address at the 12th annual New York dinner meeting of the League of Conservation Voters.
A call to the White House seeking comment on his remarks was not returned.
While Kerry did not mention President Bush by name, his target was clear as he blasted administration energy policies and called for a reduction in dependence on foreign oil, a cut in greenhouse gas emissions, and for subjecting sport-utility vehicles to the same fuel efficiency standards imposed on standard automobiles.
He set a goal of having 20 percent of the nation's energy supply by 2020 come exclusively from alternative and renewable sources of energy.
''Twenty-twenty, that's a goal,'' Kerry said.
The speech, before a largely Democratic audience of environmentalists and New York political donors, was part of Kerry's reentry into the national political arena. Like other politicians, he canceled fund-raisers and reelection appearances to allow the country to come to grips with the hijackings.
Among those in the audience of 300 were former Massachusetts governor William F. Weld, a Republican and avid outdoorsman; Clinton administration officials Andrew Cuomo, John Podesta, and Bill Richardson; and actor Robert Redford, who is active in the environmental movement and hailed Kerry's involvement in introducing the senator.
In the 2000 election, Vice President Al Gore carried the party's environmental banner as he challenged George W. Bush for the presidency. While Gore has begun his reemergence into the political arena with visits to Iowa and New Hampshire, Kerry has sought to assert his own credentials.
On the Senate floor, he has declared he will lead a filibuster if the administration forges ahead with efforts to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
The speech at New York's Waldorf-Astoria & Towers echoed similar league addresses by Gore when he was a senator and Bill Bradley and Bill Clinton when they were presidential candidates.
''Let me say to you tonight, in the clearest terms I can, with a sense of conviction that comes from confidence because of the road we have traveled and our sense of ourselves, that we can't honor properly those who died on Sept. 11, and we can't stay true to our own values, unless we are prepared to have political leaders who in their turn are prepared to offer us real choices about the future of this country, and not allow the vibrancy of our democracy to be torn apart by a misplaced patriotism,'' Kerry said.
He labeled the proposal to drill in the Alaska refuge, which the Bush administration argues would help diminish the nation's dependence on foreign oil imports, as ''misplaced patriotism,'' adding: ''That's not a choice; that's a charade, and they know it.''
He added: ''It's also a false definition of patriotism to suggest that when 458,000 people have been thrown out of work in one month - the largest single one-month increase in 21 years in this country - and when we're remembering supposedly properly the acts of those average, everyday Americans who went in that building and ran up 40-some flights with hoses over their backs to rescue people, and police officers who went in to maintain order in our country, there is somehow something grotesquely inappropriate in $20-plus billion of subsidies to oil and gas that are giveaways.''
Glen Johnson can be reached by email at mailto:johnson@globe.com
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/312/nation/Kerry_sees_misplaced_patriotism_in_Bush_oil_plan+.shtml
11/8/01
5:06:25 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
UNAPPEALING
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that a $5 billion punitive damage award levied against ExxonMobil for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill is excessive. The decision stunned environmentalists and the roughly 10,000 fishers, Alaska Natives, and others who have been awaiting compensation for more than a decade. When a jury handed down the verdict in 1994 for the 11 million-gallon spill in Prince William Sound, it was the largest punitive damage payment awarded in U.S. history. Yesterday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the award far exceeded the standard four-to-one ratio of damages paid to economic harm done to plaintiffs. Bringing the award into line with that ratio could decrease it to as little as $1.2 billion.
straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Ben Spiess and Natalie Phillips, 08 Nov 2001 <http://www.adn.com/front/story/734905p-782867c.html>
straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Wesley Loy, 08 Nov 2001 <http://www.adn.com/front/story/734904p-782859c.html>
A GROWING PROBLEM
Global warming could lead to a 30 percent decline in the yield of key crops over the next 100 years, according to a report made by the United Nations Environment Programme during ongoing climate change negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco. The report says rising temperatures damage the growing capacity of critical crops such as wheat, rice, and maize, with yields likely to drop as much as 10 percent for every 1 degree Celsius increase in the tropics. Current climate models predict a global warming of 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. The results suggest a potential human disaster in the form of increased world hunger, as well as an environmental disaster, as farmers seek higher, cooler places to cultivate, threatening wildlife and forests in the process. So what are we doing about it? Get the inside scoop from our correspondents in Marrakech, only on the Grist Magazine website.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 08 Nov 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13168/story.htm>
only in Grist: What's really happening in Marrakech -- Grist correspondents tell it like it is <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/bradley110801.asp?source=daily>
BORDERLINE INANE
Almost every major community on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border suffers from poor air quality, according to a report due to be released shortly by U.S. and Mexican environmental agencies. The poor air is a byproduct of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which led to the construction of 84 assembly plants on the border in Mexico that are not answerable to strict emissions limits. On top of that, some plants on the border in the U.S. are exceeding pollution limits. The findings raise concerns about the possible health effects -- including respiratory illness, heart problems, lead and carbon monoxide poisoning, and cancer -- for the more than 10 million people who live along the 2,000-mile border.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Deborah Tedford, 08 Nov 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13186/story.htm>
YOUR DAYS ARE LUMBERED
The health risks posed by arsenic-treated lumber are much greater than previously thought, according to a study by the Environmental Working Group and other public interest organizations. Health and environmental advocates have long questioned the use of arsenic, a known carcinogen, to render lumber resistant to insects and rot. Nevertheless, arsenic-treated wood is commonly used in a wide range of products, including picnic tables, decks, and playgrounds. The study concluded that one in 500 children who regularly come into contact with treated wood would be at risk for developing lung or bladder cancer later in life.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Elizabeth Shogren, 08 Nov 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-000089311nov08.s tory?coll=la%2Dnews%2Da%5Fsection>
THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS OPPORTUNISM ITSELF
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) blasted the Bush administration last night for using fear of terrorism to drum up support for oil drilling in Alaska and other extraction-based energy policies. Speaking at a dinner in New York for the League of Conservation Voters, the potential 2004 presidential candidate denounced the administration's maneuverings as "misplaced patriotism" and called for less dependence on oil, cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, higher fuel-efficiency standards for SUVs, and a 20-percent reliance on alternative energy sources by 2020. Kerry, who has promised to lead a filibuster on the Senate floor if conservatives advance a plan to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is the most recent and perhaps the most influential voice to accuse the president of using fears about national security to meet industry and administration goals.
straight to the source: Boston Globe, Glen Johnson, 08 Nov 2001 <http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/312/nation/Kerry_sees_misplaced_pat riotism_in_Bush_oil_plan+.shtml>
11/8/01
4:59:42 PM
Green Budget Would Boost National Security
By David Suzuki
Canadians can expect new money for border security and the military but not much else. That's the word on the coming federal budget. If true, it's too bad because taking some active steps to protect the environment would not just help the natural world, it would also improve public health and increase Canada's security. The horrific Sept. 11 attacks on the United States have Canadians understandably shaken. The threat of bioterrorism is very real, and people are on their guard. Without a doubt, we are living in a disturbing new world, where what was once unthinkable has become reality.
But we have to remember that improving national security doesn't end with adding more border guards and airport police or buying new helicopters and other equipment. Maintaining public health, safe food and water, and a secure energy supply are also vital to national security. And those could be bolstered with a budget that looks at issues of security beyond just the defense of our borders.
Consider public health, for example. Although anthrax and other terrorism concerns are certainly legitimate, we have to keep them in perspective. Sadly, 24 Canadians died in the Wold Trade Center attack. Yet federal government statistics show that up to 16,000 Canadians die prematurely every year as a result of air pollution. These deaths may be less dramatic, but they are no less traumatic for family members who see the lives of loved ones cut short because of dirty air.
Having safe water and reducing our exposure to toxic substances are also national security concerns. The tragedy in Walkerton, Ontario, that resulted in seven deaths and the hundreds of boil-water advisories across the country have made Canadians acutely aware of the connection between ecosystem health and human health. Medical professionals are all too aware of this connection. The Canadian Institute of Child Health, for example, says that exposure to toxic substances in the environment has likely contributed to a 25 percent increase in childhood cancer over the past 25 years.
The financial costs of treating people affected by environmental pollution are very high. The Ontario Medical Association, for example, says that health problems caused by poor air quality costs taxpayers $1 billion a year in Ontario alone. Provincial governments have been hard at work lobbying the finance minister for more health care money in the coming budget, but a focus on prevention as well as on treatment would help save money and have other benefits.
One of those benefits would be to reduce Canada's dependence on volatile global energy markets. By reducing our consumption of polluting fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas, Canada could become less vulnerable to fluctuating world oil prices. Improving energy efficiency in our buildings and transportation systems and taking advantage of Canada's own renewable resources like wind would also cut air pollution and create new jobs. Unfortunately, most of the generous tax incentives available to the fossil fuel sector are not available for renewable energy projects. Energy efficiency has been generally ignored in favor of single-site energy megaprojects that are capital, rather than job, intensive.
Canada would do well to start changing those policies now, because we have international obligations to meet. Under the Kyoto protocol, we have agreed to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012. The sooner we start making those cuts, the greater the benefits will be in terms of job creation, improved public health, and lowered overall costs of health care and environmental damage. Those cuts are also important because global warming is considered to be one of the greatest threats of the 21st century. Experts say a warming climate could cause tremendous environmental and economic damage, which would greatly increase global insecurity.
On the surface, national security may just seem like a matter of policing and military defense, but it is much more than that. Public safety ultimately depends as much on a healthy environment as on secure borders and airports. With the right incentives and allocations in the coming budget, we could have both.
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/11/11082001/sm_45504.asp
11/8/01
4:44:52 PM
Power Of Prayer Brings Clean Energy To American Churches
By Environmental News Network
San Francisco's Grace Cathedral is powered with renewable energy.
A growing number of America's churches are keeping the lights on with wind and solar power, generated without pollution or global warming emissions. The switch to clean power is part of an interfaith movement that promotes stewardship of the Earth as an important mission for religious peoples. Responding to climate change, the 1997 General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA passed a resolution calling on members to practice energy efficiency.
The outreach began in earnest two years ago at Grace Church in the Episcopal Diocese of San Francisco with the launch of The Regeneration Project, a San Francisco–based public charity, a project of the Tides Center. With its support, Rev. Sally Bingham, priest at Grace Cathedral who chairs the Commission for the Environment of the Episcopal Diocese of California, and Steve MacAusland, cochair of the Committee on Faith and the Environment for the Diocese of Massachusetts, are developing the Episcopal Power and Light (EP&L) ministry.
Within a year, nearly 60 religious groups in California had switched to green power. To date, 27 churches in California have installed solar panels on their roofs as part of a program within the Sacramento Municipal Utility. Many have chosen to purchase renewable energy from Green Mountain Energy Company, which brokers wind- and solar-generated electricity.
Bingham and MacAusland have been working quietly in churches across the country to encourage the purchase of renewable energy, and EP&L has grown into a national interfaith organization.
Last November, the Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts passed a resolution calling for the diocese to lead in the formation of the Massachusetts Interfaith Energy Conservation Group.
In January, the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut was the first customer in the state to buy renewable power from Green Mountain Energy. Rt. Rev. James Curry said at the time, "It is my great hope that our relationship with Green Mountain Energy will promote conversations about clean air and clean energy in the parishes and in the households of our church. And that our decision might encourage other faith communities to make clean energy a priority in their ministries."
Rev. Bingham will be in Knoxville, Tenn., this week to bring the renewable energy message to the movement's new chapter, Tennessee Interfaith Power & Light. She will preach a sermon titled "God's People and Earth's Future" and will meet with the area's public and religious leaders to discuss the role houses of worship can play in environmental stewardship.
Rev. Bingham's visit is the result of organizing work by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit coalition of 21 environmental and citizen organizations representing nearly 10,000 residents of the Southeastern states. The alliance has brought together a group of people from a wide range of religious backgrounds to work on renewable energy issues. They have formed Tennessee Interfaith Power & Light to expand Episcopal Power & Light's mission of stewardship into Tennessee.
One of EP&L's missions is to encourage the purchase of green power, often from programs such as Green Power Switch, a program of the federal power utility, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In April, a year after its launch, the Tennessee Valley Authority's Green Power Switch program has attracted 3,260 residential customers and 150 businesses willing to pay a little more for power from the sun and the wind.
Rev. Bingham's visit to Knoxville is taking her into a community receptive to her stewardship message. Nearly half of all residential Green Power Switch users came from one distributor — the Knoxville Utilities Board — which has aggressively promoted the program in advertising, at community events, and even in schools.
Twelve of TVA's 158 municipal power distributors and electric cooperatives offered Green Power Switch to their customers in the first year. More than 40 are now waiting to do the same.
"They are the only utility in the Southeast that has a program of this size and scale," said Stephen Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
The Regeneration Project and the faith-based alliances it has created believe that by using renewable energy they can help to limit global warming, which is linked to the burning of coal, oil, and gas for electricity.
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/11/11082001/s_45498.asp
11/8/01
4:41:19 PM
Landsat 7 Allows Reef Watchers To Document Degradation
By Environmental News Network
Only 5 percent of the coral in the Carysfort Reef, the largest reef in the Florida Keys, is left alive, according to new research based on images from NASA's Landsat 7 spacecraft. In 1975, more than half the Carysfort Reef was live coral. For the first time, the structure and extent of coral reefs can be monitored globally with new observations from Landsat 7. Detailed images of reefs from nearly 900 locations around the world have been collected in the first year of the Landsat 7 mission.
"Landsat 7's ability to see land features as small as 100 feet across and to repeatedly observe coral reefs worldwide makes this archive of images a unique and valuable scientific resource," said Landsat project scientist Darrel Williams of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "No one else has been willing or able to acquire and archive this type of high-resolution global data for use by the scientific community," he said.
Scientists at the University of South Florida (USF) in collaboration with colleagues at the College of Charleston and at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have completed initial tests of Landsat 7's ability to study coral reefs.
They presented their results at the Ninth International Coral Reef Symposium in Bali, Indonesia, Oct. 23-27. Nearly 1,500 scientists are attended the meeting, which is held only once every four years.
"Reefs around the world are in ecological collapse, especially in the Florida Keys," said Phil Dustan of the College of Charleston. "We need to use remote sensing to help fight for their conservation."
The research includes a Landsat 7 inventory of the extensive coral atolls in French Polynesia in the South Pacific using 22 separate scenes, each covering about 12,000 square miles. The study shows coral reef scientists how to do a large-scale reef inventory anywhere around the world.
"With the Landsat 7 data, we can rigorously test hypotheses about how entire reef ecosystems form," said coral reef ecologist Bruce Hatcher of Dalhousie University. "We no longer are limited to the observations we can collect by wandering around in small boats and sampling individual reefs to infer large-scale processes from a few samples."
Hatcher and doctoral student Abdulla Naseer from the Maldives Ministry of Fisheries are using Landsat 7 data to understand how wind, waves, and sea level have shaped the coral-reef nation of the Maldives, south of India. By combining weather and tidal records with a catalog of the physical features of the 2,800 reefs derived from Landsat 7 images, they can identify patterns of reef growth and erosion caused by monsoons and the ocean's waves and currents.
A detailed understanding of how these climate forces shape coral reefs will enable scientists to better predict how reefs will respond to future climate changes.
Scientists estimate that 10 percent of the world's coral reefs have already been seriously degraded and a much greater percentage is currently threatened. Overfishing, destructive fishing practices, pollution, siltation, and global climate change are all seen as threats to the beauty of coral reefs and to their services to this and future generations of humans.
In recognition of the dire outlook for coral reefs, the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), a partnership among governments, international organizations, and nongovernment organizations, was created in 1995 to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems.
With the Landsat 7 image archive, physical damage to reefs can now be monitored in near real-time, said Hatcher. "With Landsat 7's repeated coverage of coral reefs throughout the year and its fine-scale imaging capability, we will be able to see damage to reef structure caused by hurricanes."
More than 5,000 coral reef images have been collected to date by the Landsat 7 mission. Many reefs have been imaged several times, providing a glimpse of seasonal changes in reef structure and biology.
Landsat 7 was launched by NASA in April 1999 and began routine science observations in June 1999. Images are archived, processed, and distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey, which also assumed responsibility for daily operations of Landsat 7 in October.
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/11/11082001/s_45503.asp
11/8/01
4:35:17 PM
Measuring The Theoretically Impossible
by Gary North
I am now going to introduce you to something that I have seen discussed nowhere in the major media. I cannot explain what you are about to read. I can say that the source is academically impeccable.
For the past four years, researchers at Princeton University have participated in what is known as the Global Consciousness Project. Before describing the project, let me explain a bit of modern science, as best I can. Modern science is opposed to any concept of cosmic meaning, unless this meaning is supplied by men. There is supposedly no cosmic purpose except the purposes of men (or maybe extraterrestrials). There supposedly is no structure in the external world (assuming that there is an external world) except that which is the product of impersonal natural laws interacting with random events. (The really hard-nosed followers of Immanuel Kant regard all structure as imposed by the human mind. But that's a bit far out for most scientists.)
So, scientists seek structure in the cosmos rather than meaning. Structure is defined as whatever deviates in a statistically significant way from randomness. If patterns are numerically random, then "there's nothing interesting out there."
So, to conduct good science, a scientist needs a random number generator. The GCP has over three dozen of them. They are stationed all over the world. All day long, they generate random numbers. From these, the GCP scientists can print out charts. The charts go up. Then they go down. There usually is no significant pattern --long ups, long downs.
Usually.
September 11 was not usual. At about 5 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time, the generarors started throwing off what would later be revealed as non-random patterns of numbers. These numbers peaked -- way, way above random -- at about 11 a.m., after the towers had collapsed. Their collapse was followed by a collapse in the direction of the charts.
There is a brief summary page where you can see four different charts. I include this link because the page is fairly short. It gets right to the point. All four graphs are visible together.
http://www.boundaryinstitute.org/randomness.htm
The GCP's site is much more detailed. It provides more scientific data. It also provides a summary. It is clear that the man writing the summary has no answers. But he has the data and the charts. He refers to the GCP's random number generators as "eggs."
The following material shows the behavior of the Global Consciousness Project's network of 37 REG devices called "eggs" placed around the world as they responded during various periods of time surrounding September 11. These eggs generate random data continuously and send it for archiving and analysis to a dedicated server in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. We analyse the data to determine whether the normally random array of values shows structure correlated with global events. The underlying motivation for this work is to discover whether there is evidence for an anomalous interaction driving the eggs to non-random behavior. In a metaphoric sense, we are looking for evidence of a developing global consciousness that might react to events with deep meaning.
The whole world reeled in disbelief and horror as the news of the terrorist attack and the unspeakable tragedy unfolded. The EGG network registered an unmistakable and profound response.
Introduction
I want to acknowledge that I like the notion of Global Consciousness, but that this idea is really an aesthetic speculation. I don't think we have real grounds to claim that the statistics and graphs representing the data prove the existence of a global consciousness. On the other hand, we do have strong evidence of anomalous structure in what should be random data, and clear correlations of these unexplained departures from expectation with well-defined events that are of special importance to people. The events share a common feature, namely, that they engage our attention, and draw us into a common focus.
This is a report of what we see in the data recorded on September 11, 2001 and the surrounding period. It is the best description we can give of measurements and effects that are essentially mysterious. We do not know how the correlations that arise between electronic random event generators and human concerns come to be, and yet, the results of our analyses over the past three years repeatedly indicate such correlations. We cannot explain the presence of stark patterns in data that should be random, nor do we have any way of divining their ultimate meaning, yet there appears to be an important message here. When we ask why the disaster in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania should appear to be responsible for a strong signal in our world-wide network of instruments designed to generate random noise, there is no obvious answer. When we look carefully and discover that the eggs might reflect our shock and dismay even before our minds and hearts express it, we confront a still deeper mystery. This network, which we designed as a metaphoric EEG for the planet, responded as if it were measuring reactions on a planetary scale. We do not know if there is such a thing as a global consciousness, but if there is, it was moved by the events of September 11, 2001. It appears that the coherence and intensity of our common reaction created a sustained pulse of order in the random flow of numbers from our instruments. These patterns where there should be none look like reflections of our concentrated focus, as the riveting events drew us from our individual concerns and melded us into an extraordinary coherence. Maybe we became, briefly, a global consciousness. . . .
It is therefore helpful to examine the larger context by looking at the behavior of the eggs before and after September 11. We find that while there is nothing unusual in the data from preceding days, the opposite is true following the attacks. During most of the 11th, 12th, and 13th there is a strong trend indicating correlated behavior among the eggs. This persistent deviation from random behavior appears to begin a little before the first crash, and it continues well beyond the time specified in the formal prediction. As it happens, an aftermath of a few hours could not capture what appears in context to be a long-lasting aberration in the normally random flow of data. The persistent departure from expectation continues for more than two full days.
http://noosphere.princeton.edu/terror.html
After you view the charts on-screen, you may want to print out the full report. Those of you who are trained scientifically will almost surely want to do this. What the charts show is that from hours before the attack until days after, random number generators started throwing off non-random numbers.
I mention this because I am convinced that there are forms of communication that are mental that have external effects. They are called prayers. These sorts of phenomena are not limited to prayer. I am convinced that there can be waves of panic fear or euphoria that are not explainable merely by the direct effects of TV reporting, though of course media coverage adds to the "amplitude" of the effects.
Today, the world's markets are not in panic phase. They are in a post-euphoria stage that has not yet become a panic. There is money to be made in special situations. But when the stock market at last turns down despite Greenspan's low, low, low interest rates, the possibility of the arrival of panic mode increases.
This change may not be in the charts of the GCP. It will be in the charts of the S&P.
Source: http://www.dailyreckoning.com/GetReality.cfm
11/8/01
4:16:49 PM
Green Party
Statement On The Terrorist Attacks Of September 11
The Green Party of the United States is shocked by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. We extend our deepest sympathy to those most personally affected by these horrific events. We remember especially the injured, the loved ones of those who have died, the innocents who lost their lives in the midst of an ordinary day's work, and those heroic firefighters, police officers and other relief workers who gave their lives unquestioningly. These were our neighbors, co-workers, friends and family members. As Americans and as members of the human family, we are all irrevocably affected by this terror.
GREEN PARTY URGES ADHERENCE TO INTERNATIONAL LAW
Greens fully support the right and obligation of the U.S. to seek justice. The complete disregard for the sanctity of human life displayed by the perpetrators of these atrocities must be countered by a just and lawful response. Justice is the goal and mark of a civilized society. Thus, we call on the United States Government to exercise caution and restraint as we form a response to these attacks. Indiscriminate military actions and acts of vengeance would only escalate violence and generate additional hatred.
Furthermore, a unilateral and indiscriminate military response, especially on the Afghan or Arab peoples, can easily be misperceived as an attack on Islam. This would undermine international support for the US, further fanaticism and terrorism and ultimately imperil the possibility of peace in the future.
Therefore, we believe that the September 11, 2001 attacks on innocent civilians should, in accordance with domestic and international law, be characterized as an international crime against humanity, not a war. A full investigation, undertaken with international cooperation, must take place before the President and Congress attempt to bring those responsible to justice. Accordingly, the identification of any perpetrator of these offenses and their supporters must be based on solid and credible evidence not by innuendo or conviction in the media. A sound legal case must be made and brought to federal and international courts for arrest and extradition as necessary. American declarations of war inhibit rather than promote this international cooperation. Attempts to unilaterally seek redress through bombs and missiles, rather than a court of law, will undermine international law, and set back recent international successes in bringing those who have committed crimes against humanity to justice.
Accordingly, the Green Party specifically opposes any attempt by President Bush to wage war outside the scrutiny of Congress and the American public for whom they speak. The US Constitution addresses war powers explicitly and does not, under any interpretation, allow a president a "blank check" power to wage war.
GREENS FEAR EROSION OF CIVIL LIBERTIES AT HOME
No matter who the perpetrators of the September attacks prove to be, unjust attacks in the US or abroad against Arab-Americans, Arabs, Muslims or anyone else of Middle Eastern ancestry are unacceptable and un-American. Therefore, we encourage President Bush and other public officials to continue to denounce sentiments and behavior that target ethnic or religious groups in revenge for the September 11th attacks.
The September 11th attacks struck out at American democracy as well as the World Trade Center and Pentagon. By definition, terrorism opposes representative government, undermines civil liberties, and represses religious freedom and ethnic diversity. Therefore, our response to terrorism must not erode these very same civil liberties and constitutional rights. While we understand the immediate need for measures like increased airport security, we oppose any restriction on civil political dissent, which would, in effect, make democratic accountability a casualty of the September 11th attacks. Critical, open and honest civic debate about our past and future policy is essential to a solid and lasting democracy. We urge our fellow citizens to be vigilant in supporting our civil liberties, which are always vulnerable during times of conflict.
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS TO TERRORISM AND VIOLENCE AGAINST CIVILIANS
While there is never any justification for acts of terror against innocent civilians -- indeed it is the quintessential act of dehumanization -- the events of September 11th bring Americans the unique occasion to reconsider our government's role on the world stage. The Green Party calls attention to the fact that, even in the midst of our national anger, grief, and fear, the US remains the most militarily powerful and influential country in the world at present. In accord with this and our identity as a leading defender of democracy, we have the obligation to act democratically and model moral and just standards for others.
Thus, in seeking to prevent further terrorist attacks in the US and elsewhere, the Green Party urges our nation to reassess our government's policies and actions, which at worst, may have served to justify terrorism in the minds of our attackers and their sympathizers, and at least, may continue to be sources of frustration and anger for many freedom-seeking peoples around the world.
The Green Party asserts that a significant aspect of preventing future terrorist attacks on the United States is to insure that our foreign policy is firmly based on economic and social justice. Specifically, we call on the U.S. to end the economic sanctions against Iraq which have resulted in the death of over a half million innocent Iraqi children and civilians. We also call on the U.S. to insist that international law be strictly observed with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Furthermore, the Green Party of the United States urges our fellow citizens and people everywhere to view September 11th as an opportunity to call for an end to all violence towards civilians. As our platform states, the Green Party seeks strength through peace and asserts that security and liberty prosper together. While we recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations, we trust that non-violence provides the surest road to peace.
Therefore, at this turning point in world affairs, we strongly urge President Bush to lead the world forward, toward a realignment of peoples and nations, not backward into an era of military and economic conquest characterized by endless violence. We can signal this new era with a declaration strictly banning the targeting of civilians and non-combatants and the use of weapons of mass destruction. This new era can be sustained by a rededication of our vast resources away from producing more weapons and towards eradicating the poverty, disease and ignorance that foster despair and insecurity for most of the world's people. Finally, we urge people and governments around the world to join us in the most pressing challenge of this new millennium: to create a culture of peace. It is in meeting these demands of peace, that we will know what peace truly is. The deaths of over 6000 innocents demand it.
The Green Party of the United States Contacts: Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator 207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
Source:http://gpus.org/articles/9_11_01.html
11/8/01
4:10:47 PM
Federal Election Commission Recognizes The Green Party
The Green Party celebrates the FEC decision announced today, as the party grows and strong Green candidates challenge two-party dominance across the U.S.
WASHINGTON - November 8 - The Federal Election Commission (FEC) today issued an opinion recognizing the Green Party of the United States as the National Committee of the Green Party. The decision, in response to a request to the FEC from the Green Party in August, follows the Green Party\'s ground-breaking 2000 campaigns, including the national campaigns of Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke for President and Vice President. \"The decision of the FEC adds to the enormous momentum the Green Party now enjoys,\" said Dean Myerson, Green Party Political Coordinator. \"We are running more candidates, electing more candidates, gaining more members and support.\"
During the party\'s annual meeting in Santa Barbara, California last July, Green delegates voted to establish a national party and to apply to the FEC for national committee status. Delegates also approved growth plans that include opening an office in Washington, D.C. and hiring a team of field organizers for the mid-term election season.
\"National Committee status is a tremendous accomplishment for the young party, one that acknowledges its place as the leading and fastest growing political alternative in the United States,\" added David Cobb, General Counsel for the Green Party of the United States. \"It will help increase the numbers of voters who recognize us as the party of change, a serious contender on the political landscape.\"
National Committee status will permit the Green Party to accept contributions up to ,000 per year from individuals, but internal Green Party rules cap such donations at ,000 per year. The party and its candidates also refuse contributions from corporations.
\"The Green Party is the only political party to oppose the big money that is corrupting politics in America,\" said Steve Schmidt, chair of the party\'s Platform Committee. \"We\'re the only party that chooses to regulate itself more strictly than the federal government.\"
The Green Party has called for a measured and just response to the September 11 attacks, demanding that the U.S. avoid further civilian deaths and continue to protect civil liberties and our constitutional rights of dissent, free assembly, privacy, due process, and mobility. The Republican and Democratic Parties continue to retreat from supporting such protections.
\"The attacks were a crime against humanity, and Greens call for the culprits to be brought to justice in an appropriate international court of law,\" said Annie Goeke, a Pennsylvania Green and chair of the International Committee of the Green Party of the United States. \"The current war mentality threatens to undermine our rights and cause needless deaths, abroad and possibly even here in the U.S. It will prove ineffective in stopping terrorism.\"
The Green Party of the United States is the national political organization of the Greens, in which 33 states are represented, with other states\' memberships pending. It organized the Green National Convention in Denver in June, 2000, at which Ralph Nader was nominated to run for President, and is recognized among Green Parties around the world.
Media inquiries about national policies and activities of the Green Party should be directed to the Green Party of the United States, through its media representatives as listed in the heading above. To contact state Green Parties, visit the Green Party of the United States web site <http://gpus.org> and follow the links to the state parties and their contacts and web sites.
MORE INFORMATION
The Green Party of the United States http://gpus.org
Federal Election Commission http://www.fec.gov
Green Party statement on the September 11 attacks
http://gpus.org/articles/9_11_01.html
11/8/01
2:42:04 PM
Public Citizen
Interior Department Snubs Senators, Denies Request to Extend Public Comment Period for Controversial Mojave Water Project
Coalition of Local, State and National Groups Detail Project's Problems
OAKLAND, Calif. - Rejecting written requests from U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, federal Department of Interior officials this week denied the public more time to review a massive groundwater mining and storage project planned for California's Mojave Desert. The project, called the Cadiz Water Project, has raised significant opposition from conservation and public interest groups, who say it is environmentally harmful and economically unsound. In particular, the project threatens to deplete the aquifer underlying the Mojave National Preserve and several federal wilderness areas, causing massive dust storms, drying out mountain springs and further imperiling the threatened desert tortoise and other sensitive species.
Feinstein and Boxer, both of California, wrote letters last week to Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Nina Rose Hatfield, acting director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The senators asked Norton and Hatfield to give the public more opportunity to study and comment on what is generally regarded as a precedent-setting project. The requests were rejected in a Nov. 5 letter from Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles for bureaucratic reasons.
The project would permit Cadiz Inc., an agricultural company that owns property surrounded by the federally protected California Desert Conservation Area, to store "surplus" water from the Colorado River in an underground aquifer. Cadiz would then sell the water ū along with native groundwater ū to the Municipal Water District of Southern California (MWD), which serves approximately 17 million people, including the populations of Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County.
By pumping out up to 20 billion gallons of native groundwater per year, the project could devastate the aquifer, dry out natural springs, create dust bowls and threaten animal populations, including the desert tortoise and bighorn sheep. The project also could be worth between $500 million and $1 billion to Cadiz, which is controlled by Keith Brackpool, a confidant of and leading campaign contributor to California Gov. Gray Davis.
In addition to requesting that the comment period be extended, Feinstein posed several questions that haven't been answered by BLM, the federal agency overseeing the project. Her questions dealt with:
· the amount of native groundwater that will be extracted over the project's 50-year span;
· the project's compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act;
· the rate of natural recharge of the groundwater aquifer underlying the project; and
· the reasons BLM officials have not put clear limitations on the amount of water that can be extracted.
"In its rush to approve this misguided project, the BLM is running roughshod over the concerns of California citizens," said Jane Kelly, director of Public Citizen's California office in Oakland. "When an agency isn't doing its job properly, our elected officials must take action. They have done so in this case, but they are being ignored due to agency hubris."
Public Citizen and a coalition of national, state and local conservation groups including the Sierra Club, the National Parks Conservation Association and the California League of Conservation Voters, which have been opposing the project for more than a year, filed comments with the BLM this week, criticizing as inadequate the agency's environmental impact study.
"The agencies have again failed to meaningfully address the severe environmental harms this project is likely to cause by draining the aquifer," said Simeon Herskovits, senior staff attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center, which represents the environmental coalition. "If they dealt forthrightly with the aquifer's low rate of recharge and the high cost and difficulty of ameliorating the likely harms, this project would never be approved. This project will translate into serious persistent environmental problems and huge hidden costs to the public down the road."
The environmental groups cite BLM's failure to provide a reliable rate at which the aquifer will be recharged. Both the U.S. Geological Survey and the coalition have stated that the actual recharge rate is far lower than the project proponents' estimates. Pumping aggressively, as proposed, would lead to overextraction of groundwater and environmental damage that would cost millions of dollars to mitigate. Further, the MWD could wind up paying more than three times what it currently pays for water. If groundwater supplies are lower than expected, the district's $150 million investment in the project could be squandered. Additionally, the Fort Mojave Tribe has raised concerns about the BLM's failure to conduct a thorough ethnographic survey of the area. The tribe contends that the project will damage tribal cultural resources.
"This situation is intolerable," Kelly said. "The BLM's failure to do its job could cost the ratepayers millions."
To view Public Citizen's comments, go
http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/articles.cfm?ID=6425
To view the comments filed by the nine other groups, go to
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information visit http://www.citizen.org
The Western Environmental Law Center is a regional public interest environmental law firm serving citizens' groups and defending the environment of the West.
For more information visit http://www.westernlaw.org
11/8/01
2:39:01 PM
Public Citizen
Industry Role in Bioterrorism Response Planning Must be Open to the Public
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A pharmaceutical industry task force established at the behest of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson to develop government responses to bioterrorism violates a federal law on the transparency of decision-making committees, Public Citizen said in a letter delivered today to Thompson.
The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) requires that committees involving outside experts that directly shape government decisions have a balanced membership and clearly defined purpose, and that their meetings be open to the public. The Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America Emergency Preparedness Task Force, appointed in the wake of the terrorist attacks, is violating this law, Public Citizen said.
"We understand that HHS is taking on the difficult job of determining how to protect our nation from the threat of bioterrorism," director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, Dr. Sidney Wolfe wrote in the letter. "At the same time, the rule of law must be observed. . . . The pharmaceutical executives who make up the Task Force plainly have expertise, but they also have powerful economic self-interests in shaping government policy on this topic."
Representatives of Abbott Laboratories, American Home Products, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer and Pharmacia are part of the task force, which is headed by Richard Markham of Aventis. In recent weeks, pharmaceutical company executives have been meeting regularly with Bush Cabinet members. But under the law, a federal agency that uses such an advisory committee must file a charter with the agency and appropriate members of Congress. The charter must set forth the committee's objectives, scope of activities, the time it will take to carry out its purposes and a description of its duties. Notices of meetings must be published in the Federal Register, and meetings must be open to the public with an opportunity for public participation. None of this has been done. A copy of the letter is available on the Web at
http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7101
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org
11/8/01
2:35:23 PM
AMAZON INDIANS WIN PROTECTION OF THEIR LAND
Greenpeace Continues Aiding Indians Deep in the Amazon
MANAUS, Brazil — October 18, 2001 -Brazil’s Minister of Justice signed a decree that was published yesterday, which permanently sets aside Deni Indian land for their sole occupation and use. The Deni, a group of Amazon Indians, occupy 3,779,100 acres of Amazon rainforest. This victory is the latest chapter in a dramatic struggle between Greenpeace, the Brazilian government, other indigenous organizations, and the Deni Indians themselves.
"After years of broken promises from the Federal Government, the Deni decided to take control of their traditional lands," said Greenpeace campaigner Nilo D’Avila. "Now they have succeeded. We are proud to have played a small part in their great victory."
Over the past month volunteers from Greenpeace and two other organizations have supplied technical and logistical support to the Deni as they marked their most vulnerable borders. The Deni Indians cut 33 miles of trail through thick jungle and 135 miles along the banks of rivers and creeks. According to the Brazilian Constitution, the borders of all Indian lands should have been established by 1993, and the Deni themselves were first promised protection in 1984. Of the 580 Indian territories identified in Brazil, however, only 360 have been formally recognized.
"To our knowledge, this is the first time that a group of Amazon Indians has taken the task of demarcation of their lands into their own hands," said Scott Paul, Greenpeace Forests Campaigner. "We hope this serves as an example for the Brazilian government to fulfill their obligation to protect all Indian lands."
In 1999 Greenpeace first learned that the Malaysian logging giant WTK had purchased 372,970 acres of land that overlapped with the Deni’s traditional territories. Greenpeace went to the area and met with the Deni, who were until that time unaware that their lands had been sold. The Deni asked Greenpeace for help with marking borders of their land and to have their land recognized by the Brazilian Federal Government.
In a letter dated September 30, 2001, 10 Deni leaders pledged to Brazil’s Indian Agency that they were taking the process of protecting their lands into their own hands. On October 9, Brazil’s government accepted the demands of the Deni, and one week later the Minister of Justice signed the decree.
Source: http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/features/
11/8/01
2:26:57 PM
Activist Media At The WTO
In an unprecedented collaboration, Greenpeace, the international environmental organization, and the Independent Media Centers (IMC), a communications and media network of activists and amateur journalists, are teaming up to report and broadcast live from the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Doha, Qatar.
The project plans to Webcast at least one hour of English programming daily during the WTO meeting, more if possible, looped for 24-hour access. (On November 9, tune in at: www.greenpeace.org or www.indymedia.org.) Plans for Arabic programming are also in the works. The origin of the "broadcasts" will be the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, as it is docked in Doha, Qatar during the WTO meeting.
Marcus "Sky" Covell, an IMC-UK journalist and activist, helped set up the collaboration. He describes the project for MediaChannel:
The IMC, also known as Indymedia, was founded in Seattle in 1999 to cover the protests at the World Trade Organization Summit. With 80 sites now in more than 50 cities worldwide, the IMC has grown out of proportion to anything its founders had anticipated. This partnership with Greenpeace is the most recent step in the dramatic history of Indymedia and the road it has taken since Seattle.
The IMC is a nascent, experimental phenomenon. It is impossible to calculate how many people are involved, as participation in the volunteer-run group runs the gamut from those who work full-time to keep the infrastructure running, to those who post a single story during a specific event. The IMC has no world headquarters, but if it can be said to be located anywhere, that location is at the convergence of several critical trends: the rebirth of activism, the maturation of the Internet and the crystallization of what participants see as a new evil in the form of out-of-control corporatism.
This project started about two weeks ago, while I was in Italy, following up on the Italian anti-war movement actions and the Genoa IMC/Global Social Forum raid. I was online, chatting with friends, when Gillo Cutrupi from Greenpeace struck up a chat box. What followed that afternoon was a conversation that lead to an offer that Indymedia had to respond to.
It has taken an enormous amount of work with Greenpeace to get Chema Hernandez Gil from Davos IMC onto the Rainbow Warrior and to set up a radio and web broadcast channel so that the movement can have an independent viewpoint of what is going on at the WTO meetings and the concurrent protests.
We now have enough gear to operate an onboard studio, as well as a land remote station. Mini-disks will be the core of our news gathering. The ship has two satellite phones, as well as the usual assortment of mobile phones and antennas. (We also have a full range of broadcast quality video gear including editing decks and satellite transmission equipment that we will be using, but that's a different story for now.) We are expecting a journalist from a major U.S. paper and two journalists from Al- Jazeera TV to travel with the ship from Dubai to Doha.
For the Qatar broadcasts, we hope that others will send us finished programming, and that others will use our programming on their radio station and/or Web sites. A big part of what we want to do is bring WTO protests to the delegates. Not many will listen at first, I assume, but some will. If we have important things to say, more will listen. Another goal is to inform people around the globe of what is happening at the meeting. Hopefully they will use the information to put pressure on their governments.
It has become clear that Third World and developing countries will have a voice and feel empowered at Doha. They were ignored in Seattle but this time, many dynamics of the WTO conference are different. Greenpeace sees Doha as a defining moment for their organization and for the growing anti-war movement they are leading together with Friends of the Earth (FOE) and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). As an activist, I feel that the WTO has run to this corner of the world because they thought they would be safe from protest. But this time the protest will occur inside the conference. This meeting, taking place in the Middle East, has come at a very crucial time. The West and all of its capitalism and theories of globalization will be under a Middle East microscope. I am convinced that world leaders will chose Doha as a global platform not only to address the larger issues of global economic justice but also to speak out on the subject of the war as Ramadan approaches.
This presents several truly amazing scenarios. With most corporate media shut out (or preoccupied in Afghanistan), it will appear that the WTO is running away from criticism and from analysis. The IMC view is that the corporate media that have managed to get access are WTO-friendly press. There would have been no "alternative," "free" or "independent" viewpoint presented . until now.
Who knows what will be decided behind closed doors? Indymedia intends to find out if these doors are closed to the Third World and developing countries.
Greenpeace felt it important to work with Indymedia and to have IMCs carry its message so that it could speak to the anti-globalization movement around the world about its peace and environmental agenda. It was particularly interested if we could broadcast in NYC and on our South American network. We are sorting out these requests and channels are being coordinated.
We are excited by the prospect of the two Al-Jazeera journalists on board the ship. We are hoping to broadcast IMC video of the conference on Al-Jazeera TV so that we can educate Arabs and the Middle East about the anti-globalization movement and also the new anti-war movement. In turn, we are working to expand and assist new IMC's in Beirut and Israel. Both are a first, I think. It is definitely a first for us and truly represents a global step forward for Indymedia in terms of its coverage.
I think what has helped this new relationship with an old NGO like Greenpeace and a young digital media activist news network is the realization that both movements, although not completely merged, have managed to bridge generations and to educate each other.
I hope the IMC network makes the most of this and we make significant progress towards becoming a truly global independent news media network. I have high hopes for great things. Indymedia really does go where no other news agency will go and thus amplifies the voices of the unheard, the dispossessed and the dissenting from all corners of the planet.
— Marcus 'Sky' Covell is a journalist, activist and volunteer with the U.K. Independent Media Center.
Source: http://www.mediachannel.org/views/oped/qatar.shtml
11/8/01
2:16:02 PM
E-BOMB
In the blink of an eye, electromagnetic bombs could throw civilization back 200 years. And terrorists can build them for $400.
BY Jim Wilson
The next Pearl Harbor will not announce itself with a searing flash of nuclear light or with the plaintive wails of those dying of Ebola or its genetically engineered twin. You will hear a sharp crack in the distance. By the time you mistakenly identify this sound as an innocent clap of thunder, the civilized world will have become unhinged. Fluorescent lights and television sets will glow eerily bright, despite being turned off. The aroma of ozone mixed with smoldering plastic will seep from outlet covers as electric wires arc and telephone lines melt. Your Palm Pilot and MP3 player will feel warm to the touch, their batteries overloaded. Your computer, and every bit of data on it, will be toast. And then you will notice that the world sounds different too. The background music of civilization, the whirl of internal-combustion engines, will have stopped. Save a few diesels, engines will never start again. You, however, will remain unharmed, as you find yourself thrust backward 200 years, to a time when electricity meant a lightning bolt fracturing the night sky. This is not a hypothetical, son-of-Y2K scenario. It is a realistic assessment of the damage the Pentagon believes could be inflicted by a new generation of weapons--E-bombs.
The first major test of an American electromagnetic bomb is scheduled for next year. Ultimately, the Army hopes to use E-bomb technology to explode artillery shells in midflight. The Navy wants to use the E-bomb's high-power microwave pulses to neutralize antiship missiles. And, the Air Force plans to equip its bombers, strike fighters, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles with E-bomb capabilities. When fielded, these will be among the most technologically sophisticated weapons the U.S. military establishment has ever built.
There is, however, another part to the E-bomb story, one that military planners are reluctant to discuss. While American versions of these weapons are based on advanced technologies, terrorists could use a less expensive, low-tech approach to create the same destructive power. "Any nation with even a 1940s technology base could make them," says Carlo Kopp, an Australian-based expert on high-tech warfare. "The threat of E-bomb proliferation is very real." POPULAR MECHANICS estimates a basic weapon could be built for $400.
An Old Idea Made New The theory behind the E-bomb was proposed in 1925 by physicist Arthur H. Compton--not to build weapons, but to study atoms. Compton demonstrated that firing a stream of highly energetic photons into atoms that have a low atomic number causes them to eject a stream of electrons. Physics students know this phenomenon as the Compton Effect. It became a key tool in unlocking the secrets of the atom.
Ironically, this nuclear research led to an unexpected demonstration of the power of the Compton Effect, and spawned a new type of weapon. In 1958, nuclear weapons designers ignited hydrogen bombs high over the Pacific Ocean. The detonations created bursts of gamma rays that, upon striking the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere, released a tsunami of electrons that spread for hundreds of miles. Street lights were blown out in Hawaii and radio navigation was disrupted for 18 hours, as far away as Australia. The United States set out to learn how to "harden" electronics against this electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and develop EMP weapons.
America has remained at the forefront of EMP weapons development. Although much of this work is classified, it's believed that current efforts are based on using high-temperature superconductors to create intense magnetic fields. What worries terrorism experts is an idea the United States studied but discarded--the Flux Compression Generator (FCG).
A Poor Man's E-Bomb An FCG is an astoundingly simple weapon. It consists of an explosives-packed tube placed inside a slightly larger copper coil, as shown below. The instant before the chemical explosive is detonated, the coil is energized by a bank of capacitors, creating a magnetic field. The explosive charge detonates from the rear forward. As the tube flares outward it touches the edge of the coil, thereby creating a moving short circuit. "The propagating short has the effect of compressing the magnetic field while reducing the inductance of the stator [coil]," says Kopp. "The result is that FCGs will produce a ramping current pulse, which breaks before the final disintegration of the device. Published results suggest ramp times of tens of hundreds of microseconds and peak currents of tens of millions of amps." The pulse that emerges makes a lightning bolt seem like a flashbulb by comparison.
An Air Force spokesman, who describes this effect as similar to a lightning strike, points out that electronics systems can be protected by placing them in metal enclosures called Faraday Cages that divert any impinging electromagnetic energy directly to the ground. Foreign military analysts say this reassuring explanation is incomplete.
The India Connection The Indian military has studied FCG devices in detail because it fears that Pakistan, with which it has ongoing conflicts, might use E-bombs against the city of Bangalore, a sort of Indian Silicon Valley. An Indian Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis study of E-bombs points to two problems that have been largely overlooked by the West. The first is that very-high-frequency pulses, in the microwave range, can worm their way around vents in Faraday Cages. The second concern is known as the "late-time EMP effect," and may be the most worrisome aspect of FCG devices. It occurs in the 15 minutes after detonation. During this period, the EMP that surged through electrical systems creates localized magnetic fields. When these magnetic fields collapse, they cause electric surges to travel through the power and telecommunication infrastructure. This string-of-firecrackers effect means that terrorists would not have to drop their homemade E-bombs directly on the targets they wish to destroy. Heavily guarded sites, such as telephone switching centers and electronic funds-transfer exchanges, could be attacked through their electric and telecommunication connections.
Knock out electric power, computers and telecommunication and you've destroyed the foundation of modern society. In the age of Third World-sponsored terrorism, the E-bomb is the great equalizer.
Source: http://popularmechanics.com/science/military/2001/9/e-bomb/print.phtml
11/8/01
2:07:43 PM
Eating The Sword
by William Rivers Pitt
"Pointed threats they bluff with scorn Suicide remarks are torn From the fool's gold mouthpiece The hollow horn plays wasted words Proves to warn That he not busy being born Is busy dying." -- Bob Dylan
Oct. 29, 2001 -- BOSTON (APJP) -- On every car and every porch flutters an American flag, symbol of pride and strength for the people of this nation. Bumper stickers make declarations of unity, and lapel pins speak wordlessly for citizens who still weep at the thought of the dead and the lost. As the sun prepares to set on the second month of this war, however, it is becoming clear that those symbols, so proudly displayed, represent a nation racing towards ignominious defeat.
We are losing this war, not because of the actions of a clever enemy, but because of dangerously poor leadership in Washington D.C.
As William Shakespeare said, "When valour preys on reason, it eats the sword it fights with." There is little reason for the actions George Bush's government has taken to date, valorous or otherwise. In the end, we may all be forced to eat the sword he is wielding in so cumbersome a fashion.
In the newest barrage of attacks upon Afghanistan, errant U.S. munitions struck yet another civilian village. Eight members of a family were wiped off the face of the earth while gathered at the breakfast table. The mother, lone survivor of the attack, was quoted by BBC reporters: "What shall I do now? Look at their savageness. They killed all of my children and husband."
This is but one instance of the ravaging effect of this war upon non-combatants in the region. United Nations relief workers are anticipating between 300,000 and one million refugees coming to them in dire straits as the winter begins to wind a death shroud around the country. These relief workers are helpless before the tide, trapped by the knowledge that they will be unable to do much of anything to prevent massive death and misery in the coming weeks.
Beyond the toll this horror will inevitably take upon the soul of this nation, the tactical outlook is bleak. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his generals have expressed surprise at the resilience and strength of the Taliban warriors who have been the main focus of our attacks. The fact that history has time and again proven Afghan warriors to be quite good at defeating foreign invaders while fighting barefoot in the snow apparently has made no purchase within the Pentagon.
Rumsfeld and his warriors have taken great pains to inform the Afghan populace that this war is not being waged against them. This message is blunted by an effective Taliban propaganda campaign that uses deaths like those described above to good effect. Many fighters in Pakistan do not even need to hear well-crafted messages within the media. They can look across the border to Afghanistan and see the thousands of civilians living in filth after fleeing the bombs.
10,000 Pakistani warriors have left their homes to join the Taliban forces. Armed with Klasnikov rifles, rocket launchers, missiles, grenades, anti-aircraft guns and even swords, members of a militant group called Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi have surged across the border and headed for Kabul. Joining their ranks are some 4,000 ordinary villagers who volunteered for duty.
This is the nightmare scenario, one whose rise was all too apparent.
Every time we kill a civilian, every time we level a house, every time we strike terror into the innocents in Afghanistan and cause them to flee into misery and death, we give birth to new warriors for the Jihad. Every one of these new volunteers must be killed, according to the Bush battle plan, and their deaths will give rise to more and more warriors seeking revenge for a lost loved one.
The Greeks feared the Hydra for a reason. Every time one head was cut off, another rose snarling in its place. We are creating, every day, more enemies who will die in the fight against us. It is clear that the order of battle, comprised in haste and fear by the Bush administration, is not only failing to defeat the chosen foe, but is in fact making the task more difficult by orders of magnitude.
Even more disquieting is the waning moon, sign that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is fast approaching. Our propaganda has failed to sway nations already hardened in hatred against us. Rumsfeld and Bush now seem prepared to continue the bombing right through this holy season. The wrath and vitriol aimed at us thus far will pale in comparison to what will come if we defile these sacred days. The ranks of the Taliban and Al Qaeda will swell yet again with men who become convinced by our actions that this is, in fact, a war against Islam itself.
Amazingly, the failures of leadership in Washington are even more evident on the home front. The administration, in concert with the CDC, decided to publicly play down the threat of anthrax contamination, despite the fact that a virulent strain made its way through the postal service to Senator Daschle's office. Two dead mailmen later, we see the result of this folly.
The envelope to Daschle was passed through the mail system, apparently spraying spores in all directions. Rather than rush to determine the scope of contamination possible when anthrax is passed through a major mail processing system, we were told to hush, relax, be at ease, shop. Mail carriers were specifically told there was no danger. The administration's priorities -- calm and soothe before investigation and fact -- are clearly not effective when facing a genuine threat. One wonders how far the contamination spread because of these priorities.
One wonders how well they will handle an attack with an agent like smallpox, which is decidedly more deadly and difficult to contain. Thus far, the actions of this administration do not being a sense of safety and security. That in itself is a terrible defeat, one that is sure to be magnified if another attack does come.
In the rush to determine who is responsible for these anthrax attacks, administration officials have been quick to suggest that Iraq is a likely suspect. Certainly, the biological weapons program of that nation is of great concern, and the possibility that they or another nation might have had a hand in this attack. Focusing on that one possibility alone, however, may cause Federal investigators to miss what appears to be the most likely set of suspects: home-grown American extremists on the far Right.
The letters mailed to Daschle and to broadcaster Tom Brokaw were dated September 11th but mailed many days later, an apparently craven attempt to link their attack to the airplane bombers. The date itself is written in the American style, 9-11-01, rather than the European/Arabic fashion, 11-9-01. The handwriting on the letters slope from left to right; an individual schooled in the Arabic style would have handwriting that sloped from right to left.
The extreme American Right, represented by groups like the National Alliance, the Army of God, and the Aryan Nation, have long coveted biological weapons of mass destruction. Survivalist militiaman and microbiologist Larry Wayne Harris successfully placed an order for Yersinia pestis, the organism that causes bubonic plague, in 1995. Members of a group called the Minnesota Patriots Council were arrested in 1994 for making the toxin ricin. There are many examples of these groups making, or trying to make, weapons like anthrax.
These groups have greeted the attacks of September 11th with what can only be described as savage glee. Fearful of a Zionist world conspiracy, as hateful towards American multiculturalism as the narrowest fundamentalist Muslim cleric, many of these groups have decided that the enemy of their enemy is their friend. It is not so far out of bounds to believe that one group may have gone beyond angry rhetoric to action.
130 family planning clinics across the country, including Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation, received threatening letters that contained an unidentified powder during the week of October 15th. Several of the letters mentioned the Army of God, a virulent anti-abortion group that actively espouses the killing of doctors who provide abortions.
According to Attorney General Ashcroft, any act that threatens the use of anthrax shall be considered terrorism, and shall be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Clinics where women go for prenatal care and gynecological exams, as well as for abortions, received 130 of these threats. This is by far the largest terrorist act to take place in this country since September 11th. Despite his words, no action has been taken by Ashcroft to determine who is responsible, nor has the media reported on it at all.
Senator Barbara Boxer was forced to write Ashcroft a public letter demanding an investigation into these attacks. The fact that such a demand even needed to be made is a colossal failure, and quite possibly an indication of the true mindset of Ashcroft's Justice Department. Mr. Ashcroft is a known opponent of abortion, and has displayed in several publications his affinity for causes and ideals shared by many extreme right groups.
If his political predilections distract him from instigating an investigation into groups that could well be responsible for the anthrax threats leveled at Washington and these clinics, a deadly enemy within will be allowed to range about unpunished and unrestrained. It is difficult to imagine a worse failure.
Yet imagination is a terrible thing, especially when it's darkest forebodings burst forth into reality. Calls for unity from the Republican leadership, in concert with an effort to quash any questions about their handling of this crisis, may shatter under the weight of their own hypocrisy. Partisanship must be laid aside, we are told, and the Democratic party has surged en masse to salute this ideal. They bear throats begging to be slashed by GOP profiteers who are too happy to wield the knife.
Bush and his allies in the House have passed a $100 billion "stimulus package" that was wrapped securely in the flag and soaked with patriotic rhetoric. The package is needed, we are told, to bolster a weak economy further damaged by the September 11th attack. The fine print of this bill reveals it to be nothing more than the second half of a financial windfall promised to Bush's corporate campaign backers.
Only 30% of the money earmarked for this bill will go to individuals. The rest of the money is being delivered to General Motors, IBM, and scores of other corporations who were fairing well in the new economic climate. The effect of this stimulus plan will be felt most acutely by individual states, who will lose billions of dollars in tax revenue because of it. How this will generate an economic revival is a mystery, and a betrayal of all the states-rights arguments we have heard from the GOP for generations.
In fact, this package is nothing more than compensation to corporations and their lobbyists who supported Bush's enormous and irresponsible $1.35 tax cut bill last winter. That bill did not do for these corporations what they wanted, and they are being rewarded for their patience with this one. This has nothing to do with patriotism, national defense, or the revival of the economy. This is old-school patronage passed under the veil of national mourning, and it is a travesty.
This from the people who held up the defense appropriations bill in the Senate last week in an attempt to force the Democrats to accept right-wing judicial nominations. The attempt failed, as will many aspects of this stimulus bill once it reaches Daschle's desk. The very idea that such attempts are being made is nauseating, and dangerous. If our political unity in the face of this terrorist threat is shattered by the greed of the GOP, the nation's safety will be imperiled even further.
Speaking of imperiled safety, Bush and friends don't want airline security jobs to become Federally-controlled, because doing so would swell the ranks of the unions. This is, like the stimulus package, a partisan decision that affects the safety and well-being of millions of Americans. Federalized airport security teams would receive better training and pay, and would go a long way towards defending the country against attacks like those that came September 11th.
In Bush's mind, however, more people carrying union cards are a greater threat to America than airborne bombs made of jet fuel and people. Better to keep them free of union entanglements. Better to have people guarding our lives who would, in the words of Democrat Max Cleland, see a job at a fast food restaurant as a promotion.
In one wretched way, the terrorists have already won. The anti-terrorism bill that was recently passed under the horribly ironic euphemism of PATRIOT gives unprecedented access to personal phone calls and electronic messages to both the FBI and CIA. Warrants no longer shall require that a person is notified if his home and belongings are searched by Federal investigators. This brazen violation of privacy rights is something called a "sneak and peek" provision, codified in section 213 of the bill, and is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The anti-terrorism bill deserves a close read by every American, for within it lies the death and destruction of so much we hold dear. In many ways, the bill marks the end of freedom and democracy in this country. We are no longer secure in thought, word and deed. Our homes are open to invasion and search without notification. Our email and internet habits are fodder for clandestine tapping.
We are losing this war. Our bombs in Afghanistan are not bringing to justice those who perpetrated the acts of September 11th, and are creating more enemies who will fight to see us die. We are stumbling about like fools trying to deal with the threat of anthrax while mailmen die and viable suspects evade investigation. Our tax dollars, vitally needed to defend the economy and the country, are being spent to reward corporations for their support of the GOP agenda. Our airports remain sieves through which more deadly threats may pour unchecked. Our homes and private communications are made of glass.
There is no guarantee that we will win this fight, no guarantee that our dead will be avenged by the steady hand of justice. If matters continue as the have to this point, we are sure to be defeated. The potential of the next American century, so bright a year ago, will fall to dust. Our children will never know the rights we so freely took for granted. Our dead will rest uneasily.
Elections matter.
Source: http://www.americanpolitics.com/20011029Pitt.html
11/8/01
2:02:06 PM
The Road Ahead: It's Only Going To Get Worse
by Doug Ireland
The political mood in the country has never been more belligerent. Public opinion polls taken even before the full force of anthrax hysteria engulfed the country showed that four-fifths support not only the use of ground troops in Afghanistan, but also military action against other countries in the Middle East—and three-quarters of Americans favor military action against countries outside the Middle East.
These numbers free the Bush administration from any political constraints on widening the war beyond Afghanistan. The “zero casualties” mentality that governed our military brass for the past two decades went up in smoke when the hijacked plane exploded in the Pentagon. It has now evaporated in the country as well. In the wake of the bioterrorism scare, fear and frustration will drive even higher the public frenzy to lash out with bombs and bullets at someone—anyone.
The escalation strategy is now clear, particularly after Dubya’s October 11 prime-time press conference: We will expand military strikes against other countries ad seriatim. There is no question that Iraq is next on the list. The new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, let slip on Meet the Press that we are selecting targets in Iraq. And when Dubya went out of his way to publicly praise Paul Wolfowitz, the Pentagon’s No. 2 and its most fervent hawk on Iraq, his goal became obvious.
The administration is already leaking selected “intelligence” designed to soften up the American people for a new war in Iraq—we are being told of meetings between the hijacker’s leader, Mohammed Atta, and Iraqi secret service officers in Czechoslovakia, and of the British-educated Iraqi scientist Rihab Tabar (nicknamed “Dr. Germ”) as the mastermind behind the anthrax attacks (even though the former head of Russia’s chemical and biological warfare program—Ken Abilek, now a U.S.-based consultant—told Ted Koppel on Nightline that he is convinced al-Qaeda purchased the anthrax and other toxins and technology from Russian scientists left impoverished when their huge chemical and biological weapons establishment of 30,000 technicians was dismantled). But the sanguineous despot Saddam Hussein is easy to hate, and it will take very little to convince Americans that he must be the next target in the long war.
We are plunging down that bloody road with no debate in Congress. Indeed, major figures in both parties—like Joe Lieberman and John McCain—are already voicing their support for hitting Iraq. And this even though the Gulf War demonstrated that Saddam cannot be toppled by air power alone—it will require investing the entire country with a huge army of occupation to end the Ba’ath regime’s sorry history. The use of tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan is already being called for by congressional Republicans—not just hard-right ignoramuses like Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, but also moderate Long Island Rep. Peter King and influential Indiana Rep. Steve Buyer. When an invasion of Iraq confronts our finger-in-the-wind elected representatives with the prospect of thousands of their constituents coming home in body bags, the cry of “nuke Saddam” will be widespread.
However, Bush will not move with full force against Iraq until the Taliban falls. And those in the punditocracy like the Wall Street Journal’s Al Hunt—who predicted on CNN that the Taliban will collapse “within a week”—are dreaming. The air campaign to pave the way for the minority Northern Alliance’s entrance into Kabul is only stiffening the resistance among Southern Afghanistan’s Pashtun majority, for the fratricidal history of Afghan civil war makes the prospect of ethnic cleansing in the event of an Alliance victory very real.
International politics is rather like chess; one has to be able to think eight to ten moves ahead. That’s something American presidents of the past 50 years have not been very good at—they cannot see farther than the next election. Bush is no chess player, and the madness of militarizing the campaign against terrorism becomes clearer every day, for war has its own momentum—once set in motion, the machine operates on its own inexorable logic, divorced from rational political goals.
U.S. military action in Afghanistan is already outpacing Bush’s murky political objectives. American efforts to put together a coalition government under the aegis of the octogenarian King Zahir have stalled amid the squabbling of the heroin-dealing warlords who are our purchased allies. Pakistan, of course, detests the Northern Alliance, and neither has it forgotten that the king tried to annex part of Pakistan in the ’60s.
President Pervez Musharraf will face enormous difficulty in keeping the lid on growing opposition in Pakistan if a hastily cobbled-together regime considered hostile to Pakistani interests takes symbolic power in Kabul. Musharraf’s limited purge of his military and intelligence chiefs is an admission of weakness, not a demonstration of strength: More than a quarter of Pakistan’s military are Pashtun, and, in addition to the ethnic and religious sympathies that bind much of the officer corps and most of the Pakistani intelligence service to the Taliban, the corruption of the Pakistani military by heroin-trafficking links them economically to the Taliban-supporting local Afghan chieftains as well.
In this context, the American bombing has created what the BBC has rightly characterized as a “humanitarian, political and security crisis” on the Afghan-Pakistani border, where tens of thousands of hunger-mad Afghan refugees are massing. The BBC and others have filmed the Taliban rounding up the men, separating them from the women and children, and stocking them in barbed-wire camps for conscription or ethnic cleansing. But whether Pakistan continues to keep them out at gunpoint, or lets them enter (something that this country, which is $140 billion in debt and already hosting some 4 million refugees, cannot afford to do), these refugees constitute a political powder keg whose existence further destabilizes Musharraf and increases his vulnerability to a coup. (If he goes, who controls Pakistan’s nukes?)
Add to this volatile mix the mounting civilian casualties from American bombing (including the destruction of a hospital, confirmed by U.N. observers) and one wonders how long Musharraf can hold on—particularly with India using the war as cover to step up its military activity in Kashmir, thus inflaming both the Pakistani military and the masses in the street. Moreover, Seymour Hersh’s fine reporting in The New Yorker has underscored just how fragile is the sclerotic Saudi princes’ hold on their country. No wonder both Pakistan and the Saudis are pleading for Bush to stop the bombing. If the terrorists think the air campaign in Afghanistan has made the endlessly corrupt Saud family ripe for overthrow, they could strike the highly vulnerable Saudi oil fields, ending the cash flow that allows the 6,000 princes to stay in power (an eventuality which would drive oil to $100 a barrel and send the world economy plummeting rapidly into a Depression).
Yet these gaping flaws in Bush’s war policy are not being challenged by congressional Democrats, whose leaders—Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt—still harbor illusions that they are viable presidential candidates, and so are loath to challenge on any front the conduct of a popular war. Now, in the wake of the anthrax scare that sent the cowardly House skedaddling, the Bushies are floating a proposal to let the president govern by decree for at least 30 days without any congressional approval or restraint if he decides a “national emergency” warrants it. The power of the purse is Congress’ only real rein on a president, and abandoning it even temporarily would blow a major hole in our constitutional system of checks and balances that could not easily be repaired.
If you think the country wouldn’t sit still for such a measure, think again. Just look at the exaggerated anthrax scare—after all, as Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel pointed out on the Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page, “280 people would have to die of anthrax to equal the risk of driving 50 miles in a car (about one in a million).” Yet Americans are gorging themselves on overpriced Cipro (10 bottles cost $2,100 in New York but only $160 in Mexico), thus leaving the pill-poppers prey to lethal, antibiotic-resistant strains of influenza and other diseases; buying useless gas masks (ineffective without full body suits); and flooding emergency rooms with demands for anthrax tests at the first runny nose.
State and local health systems, the first line of defense against bioterrorism, are already teetering on the edge of collapse, their overworked personnel exhausted to the point of limited competence. If the public has become so deranged at what is, at the moment, a very limited danger, imagine what happens when our citizenry finds out that our country is completely unprepared for the kind of massive deaths the spread of plague or Ebola-type viruses, all airborne, could engender.
The likelihood of Bush being granted sweeping powers will measurably increase when Republicans almost certainly retake both houses of Congress next year during a deepening war with more U.S. casualties. Meanwhile, the rush to shred our civil liberties is unimpeded. The House rejected the compromise anti-terrorism bill that Rep. John Conyers and others managed to engineer in the Judiciary Committee, and substituted for it the much more draconian Senate version, which Tom Daschle helped whip through the Senate with only one dissenting vote—Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. (In the House, only 75 Democrats stood up to oppose the unadulterated Ashcroft package.)
At this point, it is hard to see a way out of the crisis the long war is creating for our democracy. One is reminded of the old Russian proverb: An optimist is only a pessimist who has not yet heard the bad news.
Source: http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/26/feature2.shtml
11/8/01
1:42:19 PM
Atomic Anxiety
A Warning From an Official About an Increased Possibility of Nuclear Terror
By John Tagliabue
HAMBURG, Germany, Nov. 1 — The Sept. 11 attacks on the United States have increased the chances that terrorists might try to use nuclear weapons or materials, or attack nuclear power plants, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned today.
He spoke after Pakistan said it had detained three of the country's leading nuclear scientists for questioning in connection with concerns in the United States that nuclear weapons technology could have found its way into the hands of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.
On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an order restricting airspace around nuclear power plants, saying that terrorists could attack them to cause public panic. The United States appeared to be following the example of France, which earlier had ordered the deployment of antiaircraft missiles around a major reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel at La Hague.
Today's warning, by Muhammad el-Baradei, the director general of the agency, was issued on the eve of a conference in Vienna called to discuss nuclear safeguards and ways to combat nuclear terrorism. Since Sept. 11, experts in numerous countries have begun looking afresh at earlier studies largely ruling out the use or acquisition of nuclear weapons by terrorists.
Mr. Baradei, an Egyptian citizen and a lawyer by training, said in a statement: "We are not just dealing with the possibility of governments diverting nuclear materials into clandestine weapons programs. Now we have been alerted to the potential of terrorists targeting nuclear facilities or using radioactive sources to incite panic, contaminate property, and even cause injury or death among civilian populations."
"The willingness of terrorists to commit suicide to achieve their evil aims makes the nuclear terrorism threat far more likely than it was before Sept. 11," Mr. Baradei said.
His message was addressed not only to the five formally declared nuclear powers — China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States — but also to India, Pakistan and Israel, all of which are either known to possess nuclear weapons technology, or are believed to have them.
Reports that some terrorist groups, particularly Mr. bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, had tried to acquire nuclear material was a "cause of great concern," he said.
He said the agency's experts believed that the "primary risks" of a terrorist nuclear attack could involve the theft of fissionable material from reactors or an attack or act of sabotage intended to release large quantities of radioactivity into the environment. But he said the danger also existed that terrorists would either obtain the materials to build a nuclear weapon or would succeed in buying or stealing nuclear weapons.
Given the difficulties involved in building or acquiring a nuclear bomb, he said, terrorists could also use radioactive materials from nuclear reactors, medical devices or other sources to construct a radiological bomb, sometimes called a dirty bomb, by putting the radioactive material around an ordinary explosive and detonating it.
In a paper to be presented at the Friday conference, George Bunn, an expert on nuclear safety from Stanford University, said the September attacks, in which commercial aircraft were rammed into buildings, posed a "much larger threat than civilian nuclear security systems are generally designed to deal with."
The mandate of the agency, which is the United Nations body for monitoring nuclear programs and is based in Vienna, does not extend to nuclear weaponry, and Mr. Baradei voiced concern about safeguards in India, Pakistan and Israel.
"Although I understand there is a high level of security for nuclear weapons," he said, "I hope that all of these countries are urgently reviewing the safety and security of their nuclear weapons."
Pakistan has been caught up in a nuclear arms race with its neighbor and archenemy, India. The Pakistani government, which leads the world's second most populous Islamic nation with 140 million people, has been struggling to contain public anger over government support for the American military strikes in Afghanistan.
Mr. Baradei noted that Pakistani nuclear safeguards appeared to be sufficient, though he said: "If there were a breakdown in the civil order, of course, you have worries. But so far I think they are under proper control."
He played down the likelihood of terrorists being able to produce a nuclear bomb. To do so, he said, would require obtaining 25 kilograms, or 55 pounds, of highly enriched uranium or eight kilograms of plutonium.
"While we cannot exclude the possibility that terrorists could get hold of some nuclear material," he said, "it is highly unlikely they could use it to manufacture and successfully detonate a nuclear bomb." But he quickly added, "No scenario is impossible."
A significant danger, he said, was that terrorists could obtain nuclear materials or weapons from rogue scientists in places like Russia. With the end of the cold war, he noted, thousands of scientists and engineers involved in the nuclear programs of the former Soviet Union found themselves without work and with incomes drastically reduced. Moreover, he said, there were numerous reports, all unconfirmed so far, of the sale or theft of fissionable materials or nuclear weapons from the old Soviet arsenal.
According to agency figures, since 1993 there have been 175 cases of trafficking in nuclear material and 201 cases of trafficking in medical and industrial radioactive materials, he said. But only 18 of those cases involved small amounts of highly enriched uranium or plutonium, the fissionable material needed to produce a nuclear bomb.
Some of the proposals to be heard Friday include plans to strengthen international conventions on the safeguarding of nuclear materials. But experts said nuclear countries would generally be reluctant to admit new means of control.
Mr. Baradei said the agency would require an additional $30 million to $50 million annually to expand its surveillance programs to meet the terrorist threat.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/02/international/02NUCL.html
11/8/01
1:32:06 PM
We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education Announce
"Operation Enduring Patriotism"
Please see http://www.givemeliberty.org for details on this important citizens' initiative commencing November 12, 2001.
ATOMIC ANXIETY - A Warning From an Official About an Increased Possibility of Nuclear Terror
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/02/international/02NUCL.html
11/8/01
1:27:11 PM
"The first responsibility of the press is to use its freedom to protect the rights and liberties of all individuals. The press must speak out, and, if the occasion arises, raise bloody hell."
- Herblock, 1957
"Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle."
- Alexander Solzhenitzyn
"The key point is kindness. With kindness one will have inner peace. Through inner peace, world peace can one day be a reality."
- H.H. the Dalai Lama.
11/8/01
1:23:51 PM
t r u t h o u t | 11.08
Officials Told to 'Back Off' on Saudis Before September 11
http://www.truthout.com/11.08C.Palast.htm
WAXMAN-SCHAKOWSKY | Blast Bush Records Seal
http://www.truthout.com/4.Wax.Schak.Seal.pdf
2001 Decidedly Democratic | Nationwide Table Graphic
http://www.truthout.com/11.08B.2001DG.htm
Director Sierra Club | On 9th. Circuit Decision to Reduce Exxon Valdez Award
http://www.truthout.com/11.08D.Valdez.htm
Senate Democrats Offer Stimulus Plan | GOP Likely to Oppose Focus on Labor
http://www.truthout.com/11.08E.Senate.htm
11/8/01
1:20:34 PM
Statement Of Sierra Club Executive Director
Regarding Court Ruling $5 Billion Exxon Valdez Award Excessive
by Carl Pope
SAN FRANCISCO -- 11.07.01 | The United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned today a $5 billion punitive damages award against Exxon Mobil Corporation in the worst oil spill in U.S. history and ordered a district court to set a new, lower amount.
"Anyone who thought we could count on the Courts to ensure that the oil industry keeps its promises, and acts responsibly, has had a wake up call today," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. "Once again, when we match the promises of 'clean, safe, environmentally responsible oil development' against reality, the promises lose. The oil industry always has, and apparently always will, cut corners, and take risks -- and the courts will only slap them on the wrist."
"A high punitive fine is necessary for one of the world's largest corporations that acted in an irresponsible fashion. Exxon harmed the environment and threatened the livelihood of Alaskans," continued Pope. "The award amount must set an example that not even Exxon can run amok and get away with it. Is $5 billion excessive for Exxon? No. A lower fine sends a message that you can get away with it."
The 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska was the worst oil spill in U.S. history, spilling 11 million gallons of oil that harmed local fish and wildlife and damaged commercial fishing in the area. In the 1994 trial, a jury ordered Exxon to pay approximately $287 million in compensatory damages to commercial salmon and herring fishermen, plus $5 billion in punitive damages for behavior that led to the 1989 oil spill.
"Exxon claims the award wiped out a year's worth of profits for their oil company," explained Pope. "Well it wiped out much more than a year's worth of livelihoods for many Alaskans and for wildlife. This disaster became an icon for corporate irresponsibility. It won't send a strong message for our future if they are only given a slap in the wrist."
Source: http://www.truthout.com/11.08D.Valdez.htm
11/8/01
1:12:56 PM
Officials Told To 'Back Off' On Saudis before September 11
by Greg Palast and David Pallister
FBI and military intelligence officials in Washington say they were prevented for political reasons from carrying out full investigations into members of the Bin Laden family in the US before the terrorist attacks of September 11.
US intelligence agencies have come under criticism for their wholesale failure to predict the catastrophe at the World Trade Centre. But some are complaining that their hands were tied.
FBI documents shown on BBC Newsnight last night and obtained by the Guardian show that they had earlier sought to investigate two of Osama bin Laden's relatives in Washington and a Muslim organisation, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), with which they were linked.
The FBI file, marked Secret and coded 199, which means a case involving national security, records that Abdullah bin Laden, who lived in Washington, had originally had a file opened on him "because of his relationship with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth - a suspected terrorist organisation".
WAMY members deny they have been involved with terrorist activities, and WAMY has not been placed on the latest list of terrorist organisations whose assets are being frozen.
Abdullah, who lived with his brother Omar at the time in Falls Church, a town just outside Washington, was the US director of WAMY, whose offices were in a basement nearby.
But the FBI files were closed in 1996 apparently before any conclusions could be reached on either the Bin Laden brothers or the organisation itself. High-placed intelligence sources in Washington told the Guardian this week: "There were always constraints on investigating the Saudis".
They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Pakistan.
"There were particular investigations that were effectively killed."
Only after the September 11 attacks was the stance of political and commercial closeness reversed towards the other members of the large Bin Laden clan, who have classed Osama bin Laden as their "black sheep".
Yesterday, the head of the Saudi-based WAMY's London office, Nouredine Miladi, said the charity was totally against Bin Laden's violent methods. "We seek social change through education and cooperation, not force."
He said Abdullah bin Laden had ceased to run WAMY's US operation a year ago.
Neither Abdullah nor Omar bin Laden could be contacted in Saudi Arabia for comment.
WAMY was founded in 1972 in a Saudi effort to prevent the "corrupting" ideas of the west ern world influencing young Muslims. With official backing it grew to embrace 450 youth and student organisations with 34 offices worldwide.
Its aim was to encourage "concerned Muslims to take up the challenge by arming the youth with sound understanding of Islam, guarding them against destructive ideologies, and instilling in them level-headed wisdom".
In Britain it has 20 associated organisations, many highly respectable.
But as long as 10 years ago it was named as a discreet channel for public and private Saudi donations to hardline Islamic organisations. One of the recipients of its largesse has been the militant Students Islamic Movement of India, which has lent support to Pakistani-backed terrorists in Kashmir and seeks to set up an Islamic state in India.
Since September 11 WAMY has been investigated in the US along with a number of other Muslim charities. There have been several grand jury investigations but no findings have been made against any of them.
Current FBI interest in WAMY is shown in their agents' interrogation of a radiologist from San Antonio, Texas, Dr Al Badr al-Hazmi, who was arrested on September 12 and released without charge two weeks later. He had the same surname as two of the plane hijackers.
He was also questioned about his contacts with Abdullah bin Laden at the US WAMY office.
Mr Al-Hazmi said that he had made phone calls to Abdullah bin Laden in 1999 trying to obtain books and videotapes about Islamic teachings for the Islamic Centre of San Antonio.
To view the BBC television broadcast of the Palast investigation, go to
11/8/01
12:59:15 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
CLIMATE CHANGE: BIG DROP IN CROP YIELDS FORECAST
MARRAKECH, Morocco, November 7, 2001 (ENS) - Ministers and heads of government met today at the High-Level Segment of COP-7, the 7th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. They are working against a deadline of Friday night to finalize the rulebook for the Kyoto climate protocol that will limit the emission of greenhouse gases by industrialized nations.
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-07-01.html
AMERICA ELECTS TWO MORE GREEN GOVERNORS
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, November 7, 2001 (ENS) - Election Day 2001 swept two new pro-environment, Democratic governors into office: Jim McGreevey in New Jersey, and Mark Warner in Virginia. Meanwhile, voters in 20 states considered and largely approved - ballot measures to fund more than $1 billion in open space protection.
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-07-07.html
FISH FARMERS' NOISE BLASTS WHALES FROM B.C. WATERS
SIMOON SOUND, British Columbia, Canada, November 7, 2001 (ENS) - Killer whales have fled the waters between Canada's west coast and northern Vancouver Island to avoid loud underwater sounds used by salmon farmers to keep seals away from their fish pens, a marine mammal research team has found.
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-07-02.html
HUDSON RIVER CLEANING ITSELF, BUT STILL NEEDS HELP
BOSTON, Massachusetts, November 7, 2001 (ENS) - Nature may be slowly scrubbing the lower portion of the Hudson River free of pollution. Researchers have found that dangerous toxins in polluted sediments are being stirred up and gradually washed out to sea as part of the river's natural cycle.
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-07-06.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: NOVEMBER 7, 2001
Smallpox Vaccination Could Cost Billions
U.S. Rethinking Stance on International Financiers
Report Finds Increased Land Reuse Nationwide
New World Map Gives Scientists New Conservation Tool
Mud Holds Answers to Florida Bay Restoration
Wandering Wolf Shot in Missouri
Interior Department Adds Another Bush Sr. Veteran
EPA Awards $454,200 for California Agricultural Projects
Tree Cores Could Reveal Radioactivity
Book Award Nominee Spotlights Plight of America's Rivers
For full text and graphics visit:
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-07-09.html
11/8/01
12:54:57 PM
Murder Incorporated: Profits From Privatized Prison Health Care
by Bill Berkowitz
Gregory Jennings, Jacqueline Reich, Lorenzo Ingram, Sr., Henry Simmons, Calvin Moore, Billy Roberts and Kathy S. Kearns didn't know each other in life, but they shared a common bond in death: All died in U.S. prisons, the victims not of the death penalty, or at the hands of fellow inmates or guards, but in the allegedly negligent care of a single provider of privatized health services.
Correctional Medical Services (CMS) is a St. Louis, Missouri-based for-profit corporation that contracts to provide health care services to over 270,000 inmates at more than 330 prison sites in 29 states. At its Web site, the company claims to be "the nation's leading provider of contract healthcare services to prisons and jails." It also says it "designs a wide range of correctional healthcare programs and services to meet individual client needs."
CMS offers additional services including "24-hour physician and nursing coverage, specialty physician services, sick call and infirmary care, dental care, chronic care, and laboratory/radiology services. " It also performs administrative services as well, including "utilization management, medical affairs management, inmate health education, and infectious disease protocols for AIDS and tuberculosis."
It's difficult to get a sense of the company's current activities from their site since it contains only one press release for 2001 -- an announcement of a contract with the Tennessee Department of Corrections to provide health care service to more than 17,000 inmates at 14 state-run facilities. There are two press releases for 2000 and three for 1999.
However, a 1998 in-depth investigative report done by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, its hometown newspaper, shed light on the downside of prison care privatization. The Post-Dispatch's investigative team spent five months "visiting prisons and jails; gathering hundreds of police, court and medical records and other documents; and interviewing doctors, nurses, inmates, lawyers, scholars, prison and health experts and families of inmates who died behind bars."
Published in September 1998, "Death, Neglect and the Bottom Line: Push to Cut Costs Poses Risks," found that while CMS successfully reduced the cost of health care to several states, there were "more than 20 cases in which inmates allegedly died as a result of negligence, indifference, understaffing, inadequate training or overzealous cost-cutting."
While the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report is an excellent starting point for looking into CMS's operations, several recent updates indicate that the company hasn't done much to clean up its act. The American Civil Liberties Union, the Media Awareness Project and the Twin Cities Independent Media Center have all reported on CMS' sorry record.
At the ACLU web site, the civil liberties organization posts a late-January 2001 letter it sent to the Connecticut Department of Correction (CDOC) that claims CMS's health care services -- medical, mental health and dental care --at the Wallens Ridge State Prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia is woefully "inadequate." The letter charges the Virginia Department of Corrections with conditions that "violate the Constitution," and maintains that Connecticut prisoners currently at Wallens Ridge are subject to a number of "unconstitutional" situations. (The ACLU was trying to prevent Connecticut from sending any more of its prisoners to Virginia.)
The ACLU writes: "The health care provided by Correctional Medical Services, the contract provider at [Wallens Ridge], was considered so grossly inadequate that [Virginia Department of Corrections] recently fined CMS nearly one million dollars. The Virginia State Auditor specifically found that CMS did not provide a dentist at [Wallens Ridge] for over three months, and never provided an optometrist. Medical privacy and confidentiality is non-existent at [Wallens Ridge]; as a matter of policy, prisoners are required to discuss their most private medical and mental health issues in the presence of security staff and other prisoners."
A June report posted at the Media Awareness Project web site talks about the case of Keith Griggs. At the Woodstock Regional Correctional Facility in Vermont, Griggs was refused methadone treatment for his heroin addiction. At the time he was in the eighth day of a 15-day sentence for failing "to complete an assignment‚Äķ in a Corrections program for non-violent offenders with substance-abuse problems." CMS, which contracts to provide medical services in the state prisons, cited state rules in refusing Griggs' methadone treatments.
In 1998, the Minnesota Department of Corrections contracted with CMS for health care services in its state's prisons. According to the Twin Cities Independent Media Center, the NAACP called a press conference in mid-October to publicize a lawsuit "over the death of Gregory Jennings, who died in Stillwater prison on April 6, 2001 because the medical staff were indifferent to his complaints of symptoms of diabetes." Reporter Jordan Kushner writes: "It was public knowledge that CMS, in its short history, already had an extensive record of lawsuits and administrative actions against it for failure to provide adequate medical care to prison inmates." Yet, despite this record, the Minnesota Corrections has renewed the contract through at least 2003.
In addition to providing poor health care services, CMS is a union-buster. According to a June 2000 Associated Press story in the Detroit News, the United Auto Workers Union, which represents doctors, physician's assistants and nurse practitioners employed by the Michigan Department of Corrections, "sued over Michigan's privatizing health care for prison inmates, claiming prisoner health could suffer if the state expands its contract with the for-profit provider scrutinized in several states."
Privatization has been one of the Right's most enduring ideas during the past several decades. A quick trip to the web site of the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank and information clearinghouse for right-wing policy papers and research studies, came up with more than 260 references to documents about privatization, including papers advocating privatizing education, a bevy of social services including child welfare services and foster care, social security, prisons and more.
The federal government's response to the September 11 suicide attacks has caused some conservatives to voice concern that the era of big government may not be quite over yet. That's what the congressional showdown over the federalizing of safety operations at airports is pretty much all about. House Republican leader Tom DeLay told one of the Sunday morning talk shows that as long as he's in Washington he will do his best to make sure the federal government doesn't expand. Kenneth L. Connor, head of the Family Research Council, a conservative lobbying group said, "It's important that government protect its citizens. But that shouldn't be a pretext for growing government."
Should Calvin Moore, in custody for less than a month at the Kilby Correction Facility in Alabama, have died from being ignored while he lost fifty pounds and exhibited severe symptoms of mental illness, dehydration and starvation? Should Diane Nelson, a 46-year-old mother of three, have died because her request to receive her heart medicine prescribed by her doctor was refused? And what of Charles Guffey, who died of a perforated ulcer because nurses at the Tulsa County Adult Detention Center in Oklahoma refused to pay attention to his complaints of severe abdominal pain?
If these folks were around today they'd have a lot to say about the human cost of the growing privatization of prison health care services. Hopefully, privatization will begin to receive the close scrutiny it deserves. That is the least we can do. The deaths of these men and women, while tragic, should not have been in vain.
Many thanks to Randy Gould's always informative Oread Daily for a heads up on CMS. To receive the Oread Daily, contact: redpoet@swbell.net.
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11870
11/8/01
12:49:28 PM
What Bin Laden And Bush Don't Talk About: The Politics of Oil
by Michael T. Klare
Osama bin Laden does not talk about oil when he calls for a holy war against the enemies of Islam. Neither does George Bush, when he calls for a global war against terrorism. Both major protagonists in the current conflict stress moral and religious themes in their public pronouncements, claiming that this is a struggle between good and evil. But both bin Laden and Bush are well aware that the conflict also represents a struggle for control over the greater Persian Gulf region -- the location of about two-thirds of the world's known petroleum reserves.
One can view the current conflict between the United States and Osama bin Laden's global terror network on a number of levels: as a struggle over the role of Islam in the modern world; as a fight between Islamic fundamentalists and less doctrinaire, Western-backed governments in the region; and as an inevitable consequence of America's continuing support for Israel. But however useful these strands of analysis, it is not possible to fully appreciate the origins and significance of the conflict without considering the historic role of oil politics.
The greater Gulf area (encompassing Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and several adjacent countries) has been a major international battleground ever since oil was discovered there in the early years of the 20th century. At first it was Great Britain that fought to gain control over the area's petroleum wealth, with a particular focus on the oil reserves of Persia (renamed Iran in 1935). Later France moved into the area, seeking control over the reserves in Iraq. Further north, in the Caspian Sea basin, Czarist Russia and then the Soviet Union established a significant foothold in the oil-rich Baku area (now a part of Azerbaijan).
Since World War II, the United States has been the dominant outside power in the greater Gulf area, with a significant presence in Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. American involvement started in March 1945, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with King Abdel Aziz ibn Saud, the founder of the modern Saudi regime, and forged a long-lasting strategic partnership.
Although details of the Roosevelt-Abdel Aziz agreement have never been made public, the basic outlines of the deal are widely known: in return for privileged U.S. access to Saudi oil, the United States agreed to protect the royal family against both external and internal threats. To fulfill its side of the bargain, the United States has provided Saudi Arabia with billions of dollars worth of modern weapons, has trained and advised the Saudi army and paramilitary police, and, since 1990, has deployed large numbers of American combat personnel in the kingdom.
This relationship has provided both parties with multiple benefits. The United States has enjoyed favored access to Saudi Arabia's immense oil reserves and earned many billions of dollars from the sale of advanced weapons and other high-tech systems to the Saudi government. The Saudi monarchy, for its part, has accumulated immense wealth from the sale of oil and enjoyed relative immunity from foreign or domestic attack.
In recent years, however, both sides have attracted considerable hostility from militant Islamists because of their close relationship with one another. The royal family has attracted hostility because it is so closely tied with the United States, which in turn is associated with Israel and the repression of the Palestinians, and because it has allowed non-Muslim American soldiers --infidels, as seen by their detractors -- to reside in the country (which is viewed as the Muslim holy land because of its historic role in the life of Mohammed). The United States, for its part, is condemned for aiding Israel and for helping to keep the Saudi monarchy in power.
It is from this cauldron of contending forces that Osama bin Laden's network has emerged. Once a privileged member of the Saudi elite, bin Laden has become its most dedicated opponent. (Fifteen of the 19 terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 attacks were also recruited in Saudi Arabia.) Ultimately, bin Laden seeks to drive the United States out of the kingdom and replace the monarchy with a Taliban-like fundamentalist regime. And because he lacks the armies to accomplish this aim, he has relied on recurring acts of sabotage and terrorism.
The United States has been fighting this threat since the early 1990s, when bin Laden first announced a jihad against America and initiated his first acts of terrorism. This has involved stepped-up security procedures at American embassies and military bases in the Middle East and elsewhere, and often secret efforts to track down and arrest bin Laden's associates. The Clinton administration also launched missile attacks against bin Laden's Afghan headquarters following the 1998 terrorist strikes at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Through all of this, the United States has sought to preserve friendly ties with the Saudi monarchy, now headed by King Fahd. (Day-to-day control is exercised by Crown Prince Abdullah, however, because Fahd is seriously ill.) But friendly ties have become increasingly difficult, because the royal family faces growing opposition at home and thus seeks to distance itself from Washington. As a result, Riyadh (the Saudi capital) has been slow to provide U.S. investigators with information on the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 attacks and to cut off funds to religious charities linked to bin Laden's terror network.
At no point, however, has the United States considered reducing its dependence on Middle Eastern oil or in altering its relationship with Saudi Arabia. Indeed, the national energy policy released by the Bush administration last spring called for a steady increase in U.S. petroleum imports from Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf suppliers. For this reason, the report notes, "The Gulf will be a primary focus of U.S. international energy policy."
But U.S. officials also seek to diversify the sources of imported energy, so as to compensate for any future interruption in the delivery of Gulf oil. This has led to growing U.S. interest in the oil and natural gas reserves of the Caspian Sea basin, especially those of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. (All told, these countries are believed to possess some 200 billion barrels of oil, or about one-third the amount found in the Persian Gulf area.) These countries, too, face a threat from Islamic extremists supported by Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terror network. It is not surprising, then, that U.S. troops have conducted joint military exercises with forces from many of these countries.
It is against this backdrop that the events of Sept. 11 and thereafter must be viewed. Although Osama bin Laden is not directly concerned with the flow of oil from the Gulf and the Caspian Sea area, his determination to drive the United States out of the area and replace existing governments with militant Islamic regimes represents a direct threat to American oil interests in the region. Thus, in fighting Al Qaeda, the United States has two sets of objectives: first, to capture and punish those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, and to prevent further acts of terrorism; and second, to consolidate American power in the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea area and to ensure the continued flow of oil. And while the second set may get far less public attention than the first, this does not mean that it is any less important.
What are the implications of this for future U.S. policy? The American public rightfully wants to see Osama bin Laden brought to justice and his worldwide terror network eradicated. This must be the immediate goal of American foreign policy. But once this has been accomplished, the United States should reassess the risks and benefits of growing U.S. oil dependence from greater Gulf area, and consider whether it might be appropriate to, in time, reduce U.S. military presence there. Surely, the last thing we need is an endless series of wars over access to Persian Gulf oil.
Michael T. Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., and the author of "Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict" (Metropolitan Books, 2001).
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11860
11/8/01
12:44:48 PM
Detained for Terror Ann Harrison, AlterNet November 7, 2001
When Muhammad Rafiq Butt died in the New Jersey's Hudson County jail on Oct. 23 after a month of detention, no one knew he was there. The 55-year-old Pakistani restaurant worker was one of the 1,147 people detained for questioning in the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks. Until county officials announced that Butt had been found dead in his jail cell, neither the Pakistani consulate, Butt's family, nor members of the local Pakistani community knew of his incarceration.
The Justice Department has since confirmed that they have no evidence linking Butt to the hijackers. Butt, instead, was being held by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for overstaying his visitor's visa and lacking proper travel documents. Yet his detention was cloaked in secrecy. Butt's name was expunged from immigration charging documents. The INS has sealed the records of his bond hearing. Pakistani consulate officials were never notified of his detention.
According to the Regional Medical Examiner's office in Newark, New Jersey, a preliminary autopsy determined that Butt died of heart problems and that there was no evidence of trauma or foul play. A Hudson County spokesman said Butt had complained of pain in his gums and had been brought to a dentist, who gave him the antibiotic tetracycline.
When Butt was found dead by prison guards, the spokesman said a Hazmat unit was called in as a precautionary measure because officials said he was detained days after the attacks and he was of Middle Eastern descent. Butt's cell mate and a handful of guards received nasal swab tests for anthrax which proved negative. But no one bothered to contact the Pakistani consulate to report his death.
Human rights attorneys say many immigrants like Butt, who speak little English, often do not understand that they have the right to make phone calls to lawyers and loved ones. And some, such as political dissidents, have good reasons for not contacting their consulates. But civil liberties groups say Butt's virtual disappearance into detention on Sept. 19 is just one of many cases where the government has withheld public information about detainees. Non-citizens held on immigration charges are most vulnerable because they have no right to an attorney while in custody. Butt appeared at his hearing with a translator, but without legal counsel.
Dr. Mansoor Khan, a Pakistani physician who publishes the Pakistan Voice, a newspaper for the New York area Pakistani community, says the lack of information about Butt's detainment has prompted his family back in Pakistan to imagine the worst. "They are saying that something went wrong with him in interrogation," said Khan. "No information is there. They do not think that he died of natural causes."
To date, little is known about the identities and detention conditions of others held on immigration charges related to the Sept. 11 investigation. The government has released only a trickle of information about those detained as material witnesses and those arrested on unrelated criminal charges. According to civil liberties organizations, the absence of those basic facts, coupled with the lack of debate and rushed passage of anti-terrorism legislation, has cast the government's actions in an unprecedented veil of secrecy.
"I think it is alarming to have people picked up by the hundreds and held on secret charges," says Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington D.C. "It raises serious questions about mass secret detentions and we have never had those in this country."
Who Are the Detainees?
According to Justice Department spokesperson Dan Nelson, the 1,147 people detained in the anti-terrorism investigation fall into three categories: approximately 185 people are being held on immigration law violations; a small, but undisclosed number are being held as material witnesses; and a large group is detained under federal, state or local criminal charges unrelated to the Sept. 11 attacks. The Justice Department will not reveal how many detainees have been released. Nelson says withholding information about detainees is necessary to protect the privacy of those held on immigration charges or to shield sensitive grand jury records.
"The Department of Justice has consistently released to the public information on criminal complaints and INS documents as they have been made available," said Nelson. "Our practice will be to continue to release as much information as possible."
No civil liberties groups are suggesting that Butt died of anything but natural causes. But they contend that the continuing secrecy surrounding the detainees, and the selective release of information by the government, raises questions about the possible rights violations which the government should address. On Oct. 17, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft seeking more information about the detainees. When Ashcroft declined to provide any information, ACLU members met on Oct. 26 with Robert S. Mueller III, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The group said that Mueller was unresponsive to their requests.
Prompted in part by the government's brushoff, Kate Martin filed a Freedom of Information Request on Oct. 29 demanding that authorities identify individuals arrested or detained since Sept. 11 and produce the charges filed against them, the names of their attorneys, and where they were being held. The FOIA request was signed by a coalition of 21 civil liberties, human rights and electronic privacy organizations. According to Martin, six members of Congress, including Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) have since asked for the information in the FOIA request to be made public.
On Nov. 1, the Justice Department agreed to expedite the FOIA request, and Martin says they have 20 days to reply. Ashcroft also has announced that the Justice Department will limit disclosures under FOIA requests whenever there is a legal basis for doing so (though the Justice Department has not spelled out under what authority they would withhold such information). If the FOIA request is denied, Martin says it would be an unprecedented claim of secrecy. INS laws permit the agency to withhold the names of those charged with immigration violations unless questions are raised about the agency's performance. It is unclear whether the FOIA request will trigger this exemption.
Martin, whose organization monitors civil liberties violations carried out in the name of national security, says she knows of no legal authority that would permit the government to withhold the names of those arrested or detained. While the government may argue that they need to keep intelligence gathering or terrorism investigations secret, Martin says the real issue at stake is ensuring that the criminal justice system remains an open and transparent process.
"While certain aspects of the FBI investigation into the terrorist attacks need to be secret, we do not live in a country where the government can keep secret who they arrest, where they are being held or the charges against them," said Martin. "We think it is unconstitutional for arrests to be secret and there have been a number of press reports, which if accurate, raise questions about whether people arrested have had their rights violated."
Civil Rights Violated?
None of those detained or arrested since Sept. 11 have actually been charged with crimes directly related to the highjackings. Still, these cases are held up as examples of progress in the government's anti-terrorism campaign. On Oct. 31, Ashcroft claimed that three Middle Eastern men, held in Michigan for falsifying documents, had advanced knowledge of the attacks. But the Justice Department later acknowledged they had no hard evidence of direct links. The Detroit Free Press quoted lawyers for two of the men who said they could not respond to the accusation because a federal judge in Detroit had barred them from discussing the case.
Meanwhile, Ashcroft has firmly stated that the government will not violate anyone's rights while investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. "We will preserve the rule of law because that's what makes us civilized," Ashcroft said in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors on October 25.
The ACLU contends that while the government lacks evidence to charge suspects with terrorism crimes, the Justice Department is using minor immigration violations as a pretext for the detention and interrogation of non-citizens. "The government's goal is to get them into custody and ask them questions, and the device for getting them into custody is that they overstayed their visa," said Steve Shapiro, national legal director for the ACLU.
"Let terrorists among us be warned," Ashcroft said in his address to the mayors. "If you overstay your visas even by one day, we will arrest you. If you violate a local law, we will work to make sure that you are put in jail and kept in custody as long as possible."
Khan says he is worried that Pakistanis like Butt who overstay their visas will be held under the new anti-terrorism law, which allows the U.S. government to detain non-citizens without charging them with a crime.
"We are really concerned about how many other people are being arrested for the same issue and have no access to the Pakistani embassy," said Khan. "If they arrest you on any charges under the new regulations, they can take you for a week. How is my wife going to know where I am? How is my consulate going to know about me?"
The USA Patriot Act
Congress has largely complied with requests by law enforcement for broader powers to detain non-citizens. The initial proposal that the administration made to Congress on Sept. 19 asked for the attorney general to be able to detain non-citizens based on suspicion of involvement with terrorist groups and hold them indefinitely with no judicial review.
This caused a partisan uproar in the House and the new anti-terrorism law signed into law on Oct. 26 took some steps to reign in the administration's request. It required the attorney general to start deportation of foreign detainees immediately, charge them with a crime or release them within seven days.
The anti-terrorism law, dubbed the USA Patriot Act, also gives the attorney general the power to certify individuals as a threat to national security. Non-citizens accused of terrorism can be detained for "periods of up to six months," if they cannot be deported. They are also held in jail during deportation proceedings. An INS spokesman said that Butt accepted a voluntary deportation order during a hearing Oct. 15. But his departure was delayed because he lacked travel papers, which the INS was requesting from the Pakistani consulate.
Non-citizens deemed by the attorney general to be dangerous could also be held if a person's home country is unwilling to accept them back. Under the new law, Congress has the authority to review such detentions every six months. But Shapiro, of the ACLU, says there will be a certain percentage of people held for deportation hearings, and found to be deportable, but with no travel papers or a clear destination. "There are not many countries in the world willing to take someone we have labeled a terrorist under a deportation order," said Shaprio. "If there is nowhere to send them, these people can be held in jail indefinitely."
Even if deportation proceedings go smoothly, immigration advocates say it is possible for non-citizens to disappear in custody. Elisa Massimino, director of Washington Office of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, says the human rights community is concerned that that federal agencies will hold suspects for the allotted time and then pass them back and forth to continue the period of detention. Butt, for instance, was arrested and questioned by the FBI and then transferred into INS custody.
Massimino adds that those held on immigration charges are frequently shuttled between county jails, INS facilities or federal prisons, and it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly where detainees are being held. "Many innocent people are likely to be intimidated and, worse, picked up and lost in this new detention power without the ability to really challenge it," said Massimino. "We get calls from family members who say, 'My brother has been gone for two weeks, and we don't know where he is or what to do.'"
Civil liberties groups say that it has been difficult to identify those held on immigration charges because, even before Sept. 11, their names are expunged from public immigration charging documents under INS privacy laws. Detainees are also usually entitled to bond hearing before an immigration judge where charges are read in open court. According to Massimino, the INS has taken the extraordinary step of not permitting bond hearings for those detained in anti-terrorism investigations.
"Presumably, if they had evidence, then they would charge them," said Shapiro. "But now we are holding people based on suspicions of proof, and that is a fundament shift in how we administer justice in this country."
Nelson, of the Justice Department, confirms that immigration judges have the discretion to close hearings in order "to protect witnesses, interested parties or the public interest." But he could not say how many hearings associated with the detainees had been conducted or whether they have been open. He insists that those detained for immigration violations have access to phones and can contact attorneys.
"Any time a detainee enters an INS facility, they are informed that they have the right to counsel, they can contact their consulate for their nation of origin and they also are provided with a list of free legal services and a handbook that lists their rights and responsibilities," said Nelson. He adds that detainees have access to attorneys, law libraries and material needed to defend their case, and and every reasonable effort is made to provide information in their language.
This policy differs sharply with what civil liberties groups say they are hearing from attorneys and family members of detainees. "Some significant number of the [the detainees] are having enormous difficulty contacting attorneys," said Lucas Guttentag, director of the Immigration Rights Project of the National ACLU. He adds that very few legal services organizations that can provide counsel have open access to detainees. "The question is how many detainees are getting jailed and held for weeks and weeks without representation?"
Guttentag says he has heard of detainees held for a week before being able to contact an attorney and then then losing contact again for weeks after being transferred to a new holding facility. He also said there are people who, while attempting to leave the country after overstaying their visas, have been detained at the airport before departure. There have been additional accounts of detainees permitted to make a single phone call to an unresponsive legal aid organization and then waiting a week to make another one.
"Incommunicado becomes an undefined term," said Guttentag. "As a practical matter, they are being denied reasonable access to lawyers."
A Quiet Expansion of Detention Policies
While the USA Patriot Act expands the power of immigration laws, the existing material witness statute is being used to secretly detain others swept up in the anti-terrorism investigations. A federal judge can issue a material witness warrant to hold someone who prosecutors say may have valuable information about a crime and who is at risk for fleeing the country. Material witnesses are entitled to an attorney and a judicial hearing, but much of the information about material witnesses detained in the anti-terrorism investigations has been sealed by judges at the request of prosecutors.
The material witness statute includes no time limit on how long people can be held, a fact that deeply concerns Martin. "If it is going to be evoked in this situation," she says, "we need to know when it is being evoked, what criteria they are using and whether or not is is being used as a proxy for preventative detention on mere suspicion, because that is not the intent of the laws."
Martin's FOIA request asks for the names of lawyers representing those detained as material witnesses, a list of courts asked to enter orders sealing any of the proceedings, the orders that have been entered, and the legal authority that the government relied on in seeking the order. The ACLU and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights also signed the FOIA request.
As for those detainees arrested on state and local charges unrelated to the Sept. 11 attacks, Nelson says that information is available from law enforcement agencies in the jurisdictions where suspects were detained. He said the names of those arrested on federal charges are available from "two or three binders" of paper records publicly available at the Justice Department in Washington D.C. But Nelson said he could not confirm how many people had been arrested or where and said there was no master list of those arrested on criminal charges.
Civil liberties groups says they recognize that the government has a legitimate interest in keeping some information about the terrorism investigation confidential. Martin believes there is a role for secrecy in terms of withholding information on anticipated war plans and the details of terrorism investigations. But Shapiro points out that no civil liberties organizations are asking for details of the investigation, names of informants or classified information. Rather they are requesting that basic facts on detainees should be made available so that the public can judge how the FBI is conducting their investigation.
Pressing For More Information
If there is no satisfactory reply to the FOIA request, Massiminio says the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and other civil liberties organizations will sue the government for information about detainees. She said those groups will closely monitor for potential civil liberties violations and people should stay vigilant and continue to pressure the government for more information. "People ought not to throw up their hands and say there is nothing they can do," says Massimino. "Oversight is the key."
Massimino says she is particularly concerned about those who have had any contact with the 46 organizations the State Department has labeled as terrorist organizations. She says people (not just detainees) may have supported these groups with the understanding that they were humanitarian or educational organizations.
But they could now be swept up in the government's new detention policies, which are based on a very broad definition of what constitutes terrorism. "What it means under the new powers is that you could be a terrorist and not know it," said Massimino. "It is going back to the McCarthy era where it is guilt by association, which is what we have been edging towards since Sept. 11."
Ann Harrison is a San Francisco journalist who writes regularly for SecurityFocus.com and BusinessWeek.com
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11882
11/8/01
12:37:12 PM
AlterNet Headlines
HOW DARE THEY? -- AN ALTERNET EDITORIAL
Don Hazen, AlterNet
Half a dozen national advocacy groups are attacking the shameful corporate profiteering that has followed after Sept. 11, and a campaign has been launched to fight it.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11884
DETAINED FOR TERROR
Ann Harrison, AlterNet
The information blackout surrounding the 1,147 people detained for questioning after the Sept. 11 attacks has civil liberties groups on the hunt.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11882
WOMEN AND THE FUTURE OF AFGHANISTAN
Tamara Straus, AlterNet
Spending an afternoon with Tahmeena Faryal, a member of the Afghan feminist group RAWA, makes it clear that women should participate in the emerging government there.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11867
SEX AND THE STONER
Dan Skye, High Times
For centuries, the human race has heightened carnal bliss with cannabis. In fact, many people can't imagine having sex any other way. Is that a problem?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11851
PEACENIKS OR OVERNIGHT PATRIOTS?
T. Eve Greenaway, WireTap
Is it as easy to chart the opinions of Generation "9/11" as some want us to believe?
* In WireTap: http://www.wiretapmag.org
WHAT BIN LADEN AND BUSH DON'T TALK ABOUT: THE POLITICS OF OIL
Michael T. Klare, AlterNet
Bin Laden never mentions it in his calls for a jihad, and neither does Bush in his calls for a war against terror. But oil is central to both their plans, and Saudi Arabia is the key.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11860
INNOCENCE LOST: DNA TESTS EXPOSE JUSTICE SYSTEM'S FLAWS
Sandeep Kaushik, AlterNet
When innocent prisoners are exonerated through DNA tests, we celebrate. But DNA is no magic bullet: only 94 innocent people, out of perhaps 100,000, have been freed since 1988.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11866
A YUGOSLAV JOURNALIST'S ADVICE TO U.S. MEDIA
Jasmina Teodosijevic-Ryan, TomPaine.com
In times of turbulence and war, when passions and emotions prevail over reason, journalists can slide from professionalism into political marketing.
* In MediaCulture: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=19
MAD DOG: FIGHT TERRORISM, WIN GREAT PRIZES!
Mad Dog, AlterNet
The Department of Defense is holding a contest for ideas about combating terrorism. Does "planting a homing device in bin Laden's beard" count?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11875
MURDER, INC. -- PROFITS FROM PRIVATIZED PRISON HEALTH CARE
Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet
Cost-conscious prison administrators are turning to private health care services for their inmates, causing quality of care to plummet and patient deaths to rise.
* In Human Rights USA: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=22
GARCIA: REDISTRICTING ISN'T SEXY, BUT IT MATTERS
James E. Garcia, AlterNet
Why should we care more about redistricting? Because the decisions being made today about how to redraw electoral boundary lines could affect you for the rest of your life.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11869
Want to sound off about any of the stories above? Visit AlterNet's rapidly growing online community:
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11/8/01
12:33:07 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
New-crop US soybeans arrive in China - US industry - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13183/story.htm
UPDATE - Solar power wins big in San Francisco - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13172/story.htm
UPDATE - US court rules $5 bln Exxon Valdez award excessive - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13179/story.htm
EBRD head backs loan for Ukraine nuclear plants - UKRAINE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13173/story.htm
English beaches reach record water quality levels - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13171/story.htm
British Energy interested in Czech nuclear plants - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13174/story.htm
British Energy in UK onshore wind power projects - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13177/story.htm
Pandas plunder cross-Channel travellers - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13180/story.htm
UPDATE - Earth on edge of a precipice - UN report - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13190/story.htm
Green challenge on UK nuclear plant reaches Court - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13189/story.htm
INTERVIEW - Thailand to endorse "green" fuel formula - THAILAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13194/story.htm
US, IAEA see risks from disused Russian subs - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13175/story.htm
Swedish bearcubs bound for taxidermist - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13193/story.htm
UPDATE - Typhoon slams into Philippines, over 60 dead - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13191/story.htm
Norway eyes emission trading scheme by 2005 - paper - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13195/story.htm
UPDATE - Global warming talks start to produce results - MOROCCO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13182/story.htm
Global warming to hit key food crops - UN agency - MOROCCO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13168/story.htm
Report cites dangerous air on US - Mexico border - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13186/story.htm
Mexican lawyer's death seen tied to logging fight - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13192/story.htm
Lithuanian Mazeikiu approves pollution measures - LITHUANIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13170/story.htm
Japan nuke plant shutting down after steam leak - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13178/story.htm
UN crop variety pact seen too narrow to end hunger - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13187/story.htm
15,000 German policemen to guard nuclear convoy - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13176/story.htm
Green activists blast French caviar ad campaign - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13188/story.htm
Cereol to close Utrecht plant in May - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13169/story.htm
UPDATE - EU adopts plans to boost biofuels - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13184/story.htm
Noranda to spend C$16 mln on emissions reduction - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13196/story.htm
Noranda to spend C$16 mln on emissions reduction - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13181/story.htm
Congress may clear GMO sales in Brazil - paper - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13185/story.htm
11/8/01
12:29:18 PM
Hypocrisy, Hatred And The War on terror
by Robert Fisk
'If the US attacks were an assault on "civilisation", why shouldn't Muslims regard the Afganistan attack as a war on Islam?'
"Air campaign"? "Coalition forces"? "War on terror"? How much longer must we go on enduring these lies? There is no "campaign" – merely an air bombardment of the poorest and most broken country in the world by the world's richest and most sophisticated nation. No MiGs have taken to the skies to do battle with the American B-52s or F-18s. The only ammunition soaring into the air over Kabul comes from Russian anti-aircraft guns manufactured around 1943.
Coalition? Hands up who's seen the Luftwaffe in the skies over Kandahar, or the Italian air force or the French air force over Herat. Or even the Pakistani air force. The Americans are bombing Afghanistan with a few British missiles thrown in. "Coalition" indeed.
Then there's the "war on terror". When are we moving on to bomb the Jaffna peninsula? Or Chechnya – which we have already left in Vladimir Putin's bloody hands? I even seem to recall a massive terrorist car bomb that exploded in Beirut in 1985 – targeting Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the spiritual inspiration to the Hezbollah, who now appears to be back on Washington's hit list – and which missed Nasrallah but slaughtered 85 innocent Lebanese civilians. Years later, Carl Bernstein revealed in his book, Veil, that the CIA was behind the bomb after the Saudis agreed to fund the operation. So will the US President George Bush be hunting down the CIA murderers involved? The hell he will.
So why on earth are all my chums on CNN and Sky and the BBC rabbiting on about the "air campaign", "coalition forces" and the "war on terror"? Do they think their viewers believe this twaddle?
Certainly Muslims don't. In fact, you don't have to spend long in Pakistan to realise that the Pakistani press gives an infinitely more truthful and balanced account of the "war" – publishing work by local intellectuals, historians and opposition writers along with Taliban comments and pro-government statements as well as syndicated Western analyses – than The New York Times; and all this, remember, in a military dictatorship.
You only have to spend a few weeks in the Middle East and the subcontinent to realise why Tony Blair's interviews on al-Jazeera and Larry King Live don't amount to a hill of beans. The Beirut daily As-Safir ran a widely-praised editorial asking why an Arab who wanted to express the anger and humiliation of millions of other Arabs was forced to do so from a cave in a non-Arab country. The implication, of course, was that this – rather than the crimes against humanity on 11 September – was the reason for America's determination to liquidate Osama bin Laden. Far more persuasive has been a series of articles in the Pakistani press on the outrageous treatment of Muslims arrested in the United States in the aftermath of the September atrocities.
One such article should suffice. Headlined "Hate crime victim's diary", in The News of Lahore, it outlined the suffering of Hasnain Javed, who was arrested in Alabama on 19 September with an expired visa. In prison in Mississippi, he was beaten up by a prisoner who also broke his tooth. Then, long after he had sounded the warden's alarm bell, more men beat him against a wall with the words: "Hey bin Laden, this is the first round. There are going to be 10 rounds like this." There are dozens of other such stories in the Pakistani press and most of them appear to be true.
Again, Muslims have been outraged by the hypocrisy of the West's supposed "respect" for Islam. We are not, so we have informed the world, going to suspend military operations in Afghanistan during the holy fasting month of Ramadan. After all, the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq conflict continued during Ramadan. So have Arab-Israeli conflicts. True enough. But why, then, did we make such a show of suspending bombing on the first Friday of the bombardment last month out of our "respect" for Islam? Because we were more respectful then than now? Or because – the Taliban remaining unbroken – we've decided to forget about all that "respect"?
"I can see why you want to separate bin Laden from our religion," a Peshawar journalist said to me a few days ago. "Of course you want to tell us that this isn't a religious war, but Mr Robert, please, please stop telling us how much you respect Islam."
There is another disturbing argument I hear in Pakistan. If, as Mr Bush claims, the attacks on New York and Washington were an assault on "civilisation", why shouldn't Muslims regard an attack on Afghanistan as a war on Islam?
The Pakistanis swiftly spotted the hypocrisy of the Australians. While itching to get into the fight against Mr bin Laden, the Australians have sent armed troops to force destitute Afghan refugees out of their territorial waters. The Aussies want to bomb Afghanistan – but they don't want to save the Afghans. Pakistan, it should be added, hosts 2.5 million Afghan refugees. Needless to say, this discrepancy doesn't get much of an airing on our satellite channels. Indeed, I have never heard so much fury directed at journalists as I have in Pakistan these past few weeks. Nor am I surprised.
What, after all, are we supposed to make of the so-called "liberal" American television journalist Geraldo Rivera who is just moving to Fox TV, a Murdoch channel? "I'm feeling more patriotic than at any time in my life, itching for justice, or maybe just revenge," he announced this week. "And this catharsis I've gone through has caused me to reassess what I do for a living." This is truly chilling stuff. Here is an American journalist actually revealing that he's possibly "itching for revenge".
Infinitely more shameful – and unethical – were the disgraceful words of Walter Isaacson, the chairman of CNN, to his staff. Showing the misery of Afghanistan ran the risk of promoting enemy propaganda, he said. "It seems perverse to focus too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan ... we must talk about how the Taliban are using civilian shields and how the Taliban have harboured the terrorists responsible for killing close up to 5,000 innocent people."
Mr Isaacson was an unimaginative boss of Time magazine but these latest words will do more to damage the supposed impartiality of CNN than anything on the air in recent years. Perverse? Why perverse? Why are Afghan casualties so far down Mr Isaacson's compassion? Or is Mr Isaacson just following the lead set down for him a few days earlier by the White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, who portentously announced to the Washington press corps that in times like these "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do".
Needless to say, CNN has caved in to the US government's demand not to broadcast Mr bin Laden's words in toto lest they contain "coded messages". But the coded messages go out on television every hour. They are "air campaign", "coalition forces" and "war on terror".
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=103717
11/8/01
12:21:40 PM
SojoNet News Daily Headlines
Jim Crow on Fraternity Row
As the nation's first fraternity to include both Christians and Jews, Delta Sigma Phi has a long history of inclusion. But on Nov. 5 the fraternity's Auburn University chapter was suspended, along with the Auburn chapter of Beta Theta Pi, for "potentially offensive and racist conduct" at Halloween parties.
http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_hate.jsp?id=319
UN Report: 'Shortsighted' world lets population swell
"Health, disease, poverty, the environment, powerlessness--they're all global, and they all interact. And everyone can see that. It doesn't need some complex calculation--it's obvious."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1640000/1640890.stm
Rio co-op raises worker standards, fashionably
Big decisions are made democratically, and the seamstresses set their own production targets and may work from home, allowing them to care for children while they work. Each woman is paid on a piece-rate basis and decides in advance how many garments she will sew per week.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1107/p1s4-woam.html
Settlers trickle out of West Bank
The settlements have been built--in contravention to international law--on territories Israel occupied after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The areas are home to more than 3 million Palestinians, whose territory has been deliberately disjointed by the colonies.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1107/p1s3-wome.html
11/7/01
7:10:41 PM
All the news that isn't fit to print by corporate media channels
*AlterNet is a project of the Independent Media Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening and supporting independent and alternative journalism.
*Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage.
*TomPaine.com seeks to enrich the national debate on controversial public issues by featuring the ideas, opinions, and analyses too often overlooked by the mainstream media.
*The Transnational Foundation offers frequently updated analyses, ideas, columns, debates, news, and links. TFF's mission is peace: learning to handle conflicts with ever less violence.
http://www.transnational.org/new/TNN.html
*Institute for Policy Studies celebrates its 37th year as the only multi-issue progressive think tank in Washington, D.C. Through books, articles, films, conferences, and activist education, IPS offers resources for progressive social change locally, nationally, and globally.
11/7/01
7:05:36 PM
Give Peace A Website
by Jeffrey Benner
Within a week of the Sept. 11 attacks, Amira Quraishi and a group of her friends in New York City had incorporated a nonprofit called Muslims Against Terrorism.
With a message -- the Islam religion does not condone killing innocent people -- but no budget, they turned to the Web to spread the word.
They started with a spare website that tracked hate crimes and cited key passages from the Koran that call for peace, justice and tolerance. Within three weeks, the site had slick Flash graphics, a press kit, links to other good resources, links to the group's listserv and contact info for members.
"It's been a whirlwind," said Quraishi, 29, a graduate student of Comparative Religion at the University of Pennsylvania. "Nobody set out to start an organization, but we realized we had to get the word out that Islam condemns terrorism. The fastest way to do that was to put it up on the Web. It served the purpose."
Members of the new group have appeared on MTV News, the CBS Evening News and the Ananda Lewis Show. They have been quoted regularly in print media as well.
Other organizations bearing a peaceful message have been using the Web to build coalitions and get their word out as well.
Polls show support for the military action in Afghanistan topping 90 percent. But that still means millions of Americans oppose it. The Web allows them to find one another easily and organize with an efficiency like never before.
During the Vietnam War, organizing a nationwide peace movement took years. During the Gulf War, months. This time, it's taken days.
"We couldn't organize without the Web, said Rabia Harris, coordinator of the Muslim Peace Fellowship in Chicago.
"The Muslim community is highly decentralized," Harris said. "We need the Web to get all the mosques and groups in contact. The Internet makes it possible to connect very quickly. It's invaluable."
Harris herself made a good connection recently. She happened across the Muslims Against Terrorism site while surfing on the Web. Now she is working with them to organize a symposium for fellow Muslims on acceptable forms of political dissent under Islamic law.
Despite new groups and connections that have sprung up in the aftermath of the attacks, the peace movement and political dissidents had been effectively using the Web and e-mail to organize long before Sept. 11.
Ryan Smith, 25, helps keep things running at San Francisco's Independent Media Center, one of many such centers around the country that have become rallying places for news and views of the anti-globalization movement. He made clear he spoke for himself, not the IMC.
"There is no new peace movement," Smith said. "The anti-globalization movement is just shifting gears. There is an existing infrastructure, tons of mailing lists and websites."
But the terrorist attacks and the U.S. response have sparked new interest in the IMC. Web traffic has quadrupled at the San Francisco site over the past month, and some new faces have shown up at the door. "We've had some old hippie types coming out of the woodwork," Smith said.
Richard Deats, who has been part of the peace movement for many years, said the Web makes mobilizing against this war different. He is co-director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a coalition of peace organizations from different religious faiths with 100,000 members in 40 countries.
"The Web has immensely changed the way we organize," Deats said. "In the Gulf War, we didn't have a website. Now it drives everything we do."
Deats has posted an "action packet" on the site that provides information and resources on non-violent responses to terrorism.
"We're trying to get across to the public that this horrible crime was not an act of war, and we should go after it like we do other crimes," Deats said.
His group is part of a national coalition of peace organizations that are planning rallies in cities across the country on the seventh day of every month.
Another large peace organization, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), has used the Web to collect signatures for ads they are placing in major U.S. newspapers.
The full-page ad, already placed in the New York Times and Washington Post, urged a diplomatic, peaceful response to the attack. It bore 1,500 signatures, many of them collected via the Web, along with a $25 required donation.
"The Web has revolutionized the way we do business," said committee spokeswoman Janis Shieldes. "It has let us get in contact with like-minded organizations more quickly. It's instrumental in getting people familiar with who we are and what we do."
The AFSC is also using the Web to push its relief drive for Afghan refugees. Its first shipment of blankets is due to be air-dropped to refugees soon.
Shieldes added, "We've really tried hard to incorporate the Web into our outreach strategy, to make people aware there is a voice for peace out there."
Source: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,47669,00.html?tw=wn20011022
11/7/01
7:00:05 PM
U.N., aid agencies paint grim picture for Afghan refugees
*Total Afghan refugees
Before September 11, 2001: - 2 million in Pakistan - 1.5 million in Iran
Since September 11: - 110,000 more to Pakistan, although border officially closed. As many as 1 million more may pour into Pakistan, another 500,000 into Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
*Internally displaced persons in Afghanistan
Before September 11: - 1 million
Since September 11: - 150,000 additional. Between 50-70% of the population of Herat, Kabul, Jalalabad, and Kandahar have fled to rural areas since the start of the bombing.
*Food Risk:
- total Afghan population 26 million - 2.5 to 3 million Afghans in immediate danger of starving in the next two months - total of 7.5 million will need assistance to get through the winter - In October, only 24% of the food aid required was delivered into Afghanistan, and only 21% distributed to those in need.
*Sources: United Nations, Christian Aid, Oxfam, Norwegian Refugee Council.
11/7/01
6:57:09 PM
A Call: Feed The People, Halt The Bombing, Honor Ramadan
by Jim Wallis
Most Americans are united in the commitment to defeat terrorism. But honest and soul-searching questions are emerging as to how terrorism will best be defeated. It is crucial that such questions, some taking the form of dissent to current U.S. military strategies, not be viewed as disloyal or unpatriotic. At this critical moment in our history, we must not let the American flag become a blindfold.
The hideous murder of 5,000 people in New York and Washington still brings us to tears, stirs our anger, and summons our resolve. Since September 11, 500,000 other Americans have lost their jobs, adding to the painful fallout for many families and communities. And now in the face of anthrax attacks and regular "high alert" warnings of further terrorism, Americans are confronting the threat of fear as a way of life. The questions about how to confront such evil are, on the one hand, very practical, and, on the other, deeply moral, as we assess the consequences of the actions we undertake. Some have seriously asserted that there must be "no rules in the fight against terrorism." But that course would be our most serious mistake, and would begin to blur the differences between us and the inhumanity we must defeat. A national discussion of ends and means is crucial, as we face both dangers and opportunities.
First, winter is coming to Afghanistan where three decades of conflict, three years of drought, and a new war has provoked "a crisis of stunning proportions," according to the United Nations. Humanitarian organizations, on the ground, report astonishing numbers of people in great peril. Five hundred thousand people in Afghanistan could die quickly if aid doesn't arrive very soon; three million more (the population of Chicago) are close to starvation; and 7.5 million altogether (the population of New York City) will need food to get through the winter. International relief agencies warn of terrible consequences unless a massive invasion of food in Afghanistan is undertaken -urgently. Cold and snow will make humanitarian efforts much more difficult.
Second, the U.S. bombing campaign has not produced the results originally hoped for, and parallel diplomatic efforts to create a post-Taliban government are seriously stumbling, due to age-old ethnic, political, and personal rivalries between warlords who hardly create confidence in a future government. American air strikes haven't caused Taliban defections and collapse, and have even rallied more militant Islamists to their side. Despite efforts to avoid civilian casualties and Pentagon regrets for bombs that have missed their targets, the suffering of the innocent is increasing - both through civilian bomb victims and massive refugee dislocation, which are unavoidable in modern aerial warfare.
Public opinion in Afghanistan and the region has clearly turned against the U.S. since the bombing began. Alarmingly, the Taliban and Osama bin Laden seem to be winning support in the important propaganda war, by manipulating the pictures of dead and wounded children and inflaming the charge of an American war against Islam. Yet, as far as we know, the military campaign has thus far captured or killed no members of bin Laden's al Qaeda network - who are the ultimate targets.
The heart of our problem is this: Every day the air strikes go on the international discussion shifts from terrorism to bombing, from the attack on the United States to the ethics and consequences of U.S. military reprisals. That change in the conversation is bad for America, and for the fight against terrorism.
Third, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is fast approaching, which is one of the five pillars of Islam. It obviously comes at a highly sensitive time. While Arab nations have sometimes continued fighting during Ramadan, there is a real danger of furthering already serious Muslim resentment if American bombs continue to fall on the people of Afghanistan during their holy season and winter of suffering.
We may now be faced with a very stark strategic and moral choice this winter: To bomb Afghanistan during Ramadan while a third of its people starve, or to assist a massive humanitarian relief effort while still pursuing the terrorists. I believe it is clear which choice will be more effective, in the long run, for our campaign against the terrorism. A growing number of voices are raising the need for a different course and a better way.
1) Feed the People. The United States and the international community must prioritize the saving of the people of Afghanistan. A massive humanitarian relief effort must be undertaken immediately and given at least equal importance with everything else we are doing to defeat terrorism.
2) Halt the Bombing. Some aid organizations are calling for a pause in the bombing so that urgent relief efforts are unhindered. Others are saying that at least military intervention must not exacerbate the humanitarian crisis, and conditions that permit the safe delivery of aid must be created, such as ceasefires, safe zones for relief work, and aid corridors.
3) Honor Ramadan. In the end, we will need other Muslims to defeat the violent voices of Islam, and Ramadan provides an opportunity to build some bridges. The holy month between November 16 and December 17 is a time for prayer, fasting, and reflection - spiritual disciplines we all need at this pivotal moment. American Christians, Jews, and others of good faith should join in honoring Ramadan this year - sending a clear signal of respect for the Muslim faith, and sending the money saved from meals or days of fasting directly to relief organizations feeding hungry people in Afghanistan. Such a turn of events would be a genuine act of religious solidarity and compassion, and could also deal a blow to the terrorist's desires to foment a war between the Christian West and Islam, and recruit more terrorists. Let's show the Muslim world they are not our enemy.
Cruise missiles and B-52 carpet-bombing do not easily target networks of terror in more than 60 countries. But those who oppose the bombing have the moral obligation to offer alternatives. Other tactics must now come into sharper focus: continuing to cut off the financial assets of terrorists, heightened and coordinated domestic security, intensive worldwide police and intelligence activity, the use of international law to convict, isolate, and discredit the terrorists - and then effective and carefully targeted search-and-capture operations to find and stop them. A period of reflection would also allow us to focus upon how to solve the root injustices and grievances, which will never justify or even explain terrorism, but clearly fuel its evil.
By acting boldly, we can help prevent a human catastrophe while winning Muslim hearts and minds. A strategy of humanitarian aid along with the vigorous pursuit of justice against terrorism will take time, but so will any other strategy. None of us knows all that it may require to defeat terrorism, but in the face of military quagmire and humanitarian disaster, it is time for a better way.
FEED THE PEOPLE, HALT THE BOMBING, HONOR RAMADAN
Join the campaign and send a letter to President Bush.
Pass along this action alert to your family and friends.
Source: http://www.sojo.net/haltthebombing
11/7/01
6:52:26 PM
The Nation
One year to the day after the election that threw the United States into a bitter 36-day struggle to determine whether Al Gore or George W. Bush had won Florida and the presidency, most Washington Democrats seen content to forgive and forget. Or at least to keep quiet about the dubious nature of a now popular commander-in-chief's court-ordered presidency.
But not U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
The outspoken congressman from Illinois marked the anniversary by setting up a podium in front of the Supreme Court and announcing that he would ask Congress to endorse a series of fundamental voting reforms.
For the full story read the latest installment of John Nichols's Online Beat. Exclusively available at:
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/
JOHN LECARRE ON THE WAR WE CANNOT WIN
An internationally acclaimed author of eighteen novels, John LeCarre is also an astute political observer. In an exclusive essay published in the November 19, 2001 issue of The Nation, LeCarre insists that the US's current war on terrorism, rather than vanquishing the terrorist threat, is in fact likely to increase it.
Read this essay in its entirety for a limited time only at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011119&s=lecarre
SECURITY WITH LIBERTY: A FORUM
In a special Nation web feature Amy Bach interviews leading experts on civil liberties and law enforcement -- including Floyd Abrams, Alan Dershowitz and Nadine Strossen -- asking each to draw a line between acceptable and necessary measures for protecting the public and gratuitous assaults on basic rights authorized by the new anti-terrorism law. Read these timely and insightful interviews currently at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=bach20011101
11/7/01
6:43:20 PM
Fuel Cell–Generated Electricity Goes Online On Long Island
By Environmental News Network
The first set of Plug Power fuel cells is installed at the West Babylon substation.
Under a $7 million, first-of-its-kind program to show how fuel cell technology can generate electricity for Long Islanders, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has installed 55 fuel cells at its West Babylon substation. This application of fuel cell technology is the first large-scale use of fuel cells for this purpose in New York state. The fuel cells could produce as much as 1 million kilowatt hours of electricity over the duration of the program, which is enough electricity to power about 100 average-sized homes.
Installation is now underway and should be completed before winter sets in. By connecting the fuel cells directly to the transmission grid at the substation, the electricity they generate will be distributed to customers through LIPA's electric transmission and distribution system.
LIPA owns the retail electric system on Long Island and provides electric service to nearly 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. The authority is seeking clean energy technologies that will help meet Long Island's growing demand for electricity, increasing at a rate of approximately 100 megawatts a year.
In this initial LIPA fuel cell program, a total of 75 fuel cells, all manufactured by Plug Power, will be installed at the West Babylon substation. Presently, 18 of the 55 fuel cells are fully installed and generating electricity for LIPA's grid. Plug Power is a designer and developer of on-site electricity generation systems using fuel cells for stationary, rather than mobile, applications.
"The town of Babylon recognizes the need to look toward alternative fuel technologies as a way of supplying clean, efficient power for the future," said Babylon town Councilman Steve Bellone. "I am proud that this demonstration project is located in Babylon and that we are on the cutting edge of electric energy generation."
A fuel cell is a device that converts the energy of a fuel — which could be hydrogen, natural gas, methanol, or gasoline — and an oxidant — air or oxygen — into useable electricity.
Unlike traditional fossil power plants that burn fuels to produce power, fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical process from which the only emission is water vapor. They do not contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, nor do they contribute to global warming.
LIPA Chairman Richard Kessel called fuel cells "an environmentally friendly electric generating technology." The information and experience gained through this program will help fuel cells evolve as a technology that can be utilized by electric utilities as a source of power and eventually by residential and commercial customers for their own on-site power needs, he said.
LIPA has previously worked with Plug Power to help advance the development of fuel cell technology. Under a LIPA financed program, six of the company's fuel cells were field tested at locations around Long Island last year to gain operational experience that was integral to the development of the next generation of fuel cell power systems.
The agreement between LIPA and Plug Power provides for additional training, engineering services, and technical support to operate and maintain the fuel cell units. The company and the power authority will jointly develop software for remote operation, dispatch, and monitoring of the fuel cells.
Plug Power is based in Latham, N.Y., with offices in Washington, D.C., and the Netherlands. The company says its fuel cell systems may have a future in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana through a joint venture with General Electric.
The entire LIPA fuel cell project is geared towards the future distributed use of fuel cells to support the Long Island electric grid and contribute to its overall reliability and performance.
The Long Island fuel cell installation is part of the state's Clean Energy Initiative, a program first proposed by New York Gov. George Pataki as a way to promote new energy technologies and energy-conservation projects such as fuel cells, solar, wind generation, and geothermal systems.
Source: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/11/11072001/s_45474.asp
11/7/01
6:34:23 PM
EMERGENCY ALERT
The 2002 Defense Authorization Act
Members of the conference committee on the Defense Authorization Act for 2002 are currently working to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. House conferees are proposing language that would dramatically change the relationship between the Department of Defense and other federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.
The proposal, as described in a letter from Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin to the White House, is as follows:
This proposal would establish a new process under which Federal agencies other than the Department of Defense would be required to identify proposed actions that may have an adverse impact on national defense and consult with the Secretary of Defense before finalizing the proposed actions.
According to Lenny Siegel of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight, the language:
would allow Defense to "identify those classes of actions of Federal agencies other than the Department of Defense that it is reasonably foreseeable may have an adverse impact on national defense." The Defense Department would then prepare a National Defense Impact Statement analyzing those impacts and recommending "means to eliminate or [reduce]/[mitigate] those adverse impacts." The other agency would be required, as part of its decision-making process for the proposed action, to respond to each Defense Department recommendation. In short, the mission of the Defense Department would permanently be elevated, giving it extraordinary powers to challenge environmental and other rule-makings and other actions initiated by other agencies.
TAKE ACTION TO STOP THIS PROPOSAL NOW!
This language - if passed - would legally place the Department of Defense above all other federal agencies. The DoD would be able to unilaterally decide that any regulations, policies, or actions proposed by any other federal government department or agency will impact national security, and hold up the proposed regulation or action while its concerns are addressed.
What You Can Do If you are represented by any of the House or Senate conferees listed below, call or fax them IMMEDIATELY and express your strong opposition to this proposal.
Everyone please call or fax Senators Carl Levin (D-MI), the Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Ted Kennedy (D-MA). Senator Levin's number is (202) 224-6221. Senator Kennedy's number is (202) 224-4543. Spread the word and encourage others to call.
Talking Points and House and Senate Conferees are listed below.
You can find all 535 members at: http://www.eMailCongress.net
Talking Points
No other fedeal department or agency has such unlimited and unilateral authority to contest the actions of other departments.
This language would hamstring the ability of EPA and other agencies to do their jobs.
The DoD is already completely or partially exempt from most federal environmental and public safety laws.
DoD has already produced almost 28,000 contaminated sites across the country, they don't need any more authority to contest or avoid environmental regulations.
U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Conferees
Carl Levin (MI), Chairman, John Warner (VA), Ranking Member, Edward M. Kennedy (MA), Strom Thurmond (SC), Robert C. Byrd (WV), John McCain (AZ), Joseph I. Lieberman (CT), Bob Smith (NH), Max Cleland (GA), James M. Inhofe (OK), Mary L. Landrieu (LA), Rick Santorum (PA), Jack Reed (RI), Pat Roberts (KS), Daniel K. Akaka (HI), Wayne Allard (CO), Bill Nelson (FL), Tim Hutchinson (AR), E. Benjamin Nelson (NE), Jeff Sessions (AL), Jean Carnahan (MO), Susan M. Collins (ME), Mark Dayton (MN), Jim Bunning (KY) and Jeff Bingaman (NM).
U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee Conferees
Bob Stump (AZ), Chairman, Ike Skelton (MO), Ranking Member, Duncan Hunter (CA), John M. Spratt, Jr. (SC), James V. Hansen (UT), Solomon P. Ortiz (TX), Curt Weldon (PA), Lane Evans (IL), Joel Hefley (CO), Gene Taylor (MS), Jim Saxton (NJ), Neil Abercrombie (HI), John M. McHugh (NY), Martin T. Meehan (MA), Terry Everett (AL), Roscoe G. Bartlett (MD), Tom Allen (ME), Howard "Buck" McKeon (CA), Victor F. Snyder (AR), J.C. Watts, Jr. (OK), Mac Thornberry (TX), John N. Hostettler (IN) and Saxby Chambliss (GA).
Steve Taylor
National Organizer
Military Toxics Project
(phone)(207) 783-5091
(fax)(207) 783-5096
P.O. Box 558
Lewiston, ME 04243-0558
11/7/01
5:43:17 PM
'Shortsighted' World lets Population Swell
Victim of the flood: Human numbers and environmental damage are closely linked
By Alex Kirby, BBC News Online environment correspondent
The United Nations says developed countries are not paying their share of controlling world population growth.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says much more money is also needed to care for people with HIV/Aids.
In the State of World Population Report 2001, UNFPA says the funding shortfall is already showing its effects. And it says the costs of delay will increase rapidly over time.
The report says human numbers have doubled since 1960 to 6.1 billion people, with most of the growth in poorer countries. World population will grow by 50% to a medium projection of 9.3 billion by 2050, it says.
The highest estimate is 10.9 billion people; the lowest is 7.9 billion.
UNFPA says: "The 49 least-developed countries, already straining to provide basic social services to their people, will nearly triple in size, from 668 million to 1.86 billion people."
Finding the money
The report adds: "The great questions for the 21st Century are whether the activities of the 20th Century have set us on a collision course with the environment and, if so, what can we do about it?"
With population a key influence on the environment, UNFPA says the 1994 Cairo conference on population and development linked environmental protection to individual decision-making and human rights.
"Implementing the Cairo recommendations (including better reproductive health and moves towards gender equality) will help defeat poverty and protect the environment," it says.
But little of the money needed to act on what was agreed in 1994 is forthcoming.
The report says: "Current resources for reproductive health and population programmes are well below the $17bn that Cairo agreed would be needed in 2000.
"While developing countries are providing most of their two-thirds share of needed resources, support from international donors is less than half of the $5.7bn annually called for from them.
"HIV/Aids prevention was part of the package. But considerably more funds are needed for treatment and care of the millions of people living with HIV.
"The total elimination of unmet need for family planning by 2015 is now an internationally agreed goal; this will require further resources. Reducing maternal mortality is another major challenge."
'Shortsighted view'
The report says: "The funding shortfall is already showing its effects: fertility declines have been slower than would be expected if more couples and individuals could have the family size they desire, and HIV/Aids has spread faster than expected.
"The costs of delaying action will increase rapidly over time."
The editor of the report, Alex Marshall, of UNFPA, told BBC News Online: "What we're faced with is really serious under-performance.
"Everyone agreed the Cairo recommendations were realistic, and it's disappointing to find the developed world cannot come up with its share of the resources.
"We're talking about chickenfeed, $20bn a year. You try fighting a war on that. It's shortsighted, because implementing Cairo is in every country's interests.
"Health, disease, poverty, the environment, powerlessness - they're all global, and they all interact. And everyone can see that. It doesn't need some complex calculation - it's obvious."
Researchers said last August they thought the world's population could stop growing sooner than expected, possibly peaking within the next 70 years, and then declining.
By the end of the century, they said, the number of people alive might be 8.4 billion.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1640000/1640890.stm
11/7/01
5:33:55 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
POPULATION NOT DA BOMB
The environmental outlook for our planet is bleak if we cannot control mushrooming birthrates, according to the United Nation's annual "State of the World Population" report, released today. The study predicts that world population could grow from 6.1 billion to as many as 10.9 billion people by mid-century, unless dramatic gains are made in women's education, health care, and access to birth control. All the projected growth would occur in developing nations, creating widespread poverty and environmental degradation. The report takes the developed world to task for failing to adequately bankroll measures designed to curb world population growth, and cautions that humanity could be on a "collision course" with the environment.
straight to the source: BBC News, Alex Kirby, 07 Nov 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1640000/1640890.stm>
CLIMATE EVERY MOUNTAIN
Mount Kilimanjaro could lose all of its glaciers by 2015, Greenpeace warned delegates at the climate change negotiations in Morocco yesterday. In a video-link press conference, Greenpeace reps on the slopes of Africa's highest mountain offered the delegates a stark reminder of the kinds of changes to expect if climate change is not controlled. At 19,341 feet, Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro is one of the world's most recognizable landmarks and one of the few snowy spots on the equator. But its familiar face is changing; 80 percent of its ice field has been lost since 1912, at least one-third of that in the last 12 years alone. A similar fate is befalling the Himalayas, the Andes, and mountains in Alaska. Meanwhile, if you're wondering what the temperature's like inside the Morocco negotiations, peek into the diaries of our Grist correspondents in Morocco, only on the Grist Magazine website.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 07 Nov 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13154/story.htm>
THEY'VE GOT OUR VOTE
Environmentalists scored significant victories in yesterday's gubernatorial elections, with Democrats James McGreevey and Mark Warner taking office in New Jersey and Virginia, respectively. McGreevey defeated Republican candidate Bret Schundler in a race where environmental issues, especially open spaces and clean air and water, were often front and center. Warner, who will be the first Democratic governor of Virginia since 1994, has vowed to protect water quality, curb out-of-state waste, and clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Meanwhile, voters in San Francisco approved two landmark solar energy measures that will almost double the nation's solar-energy capacity.
straight to the source: New Jersey Star-Ledger, John Hassell, 07 Nov 2001 <http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/elections/ledger/14f1362.html>
straight to the source: Richmond Times-Dispatch, Tyler Whitley, 07 Nov 2001 <http://www.timesdispatch.com/frontpage/MGB3RGEKQTC.html>
GALE BLOWS OFF FLORIDA
In a decision environmentalists say is symbolic of the Bush administration's lack of commitment to conservation issues, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced the closure of the federal Office of Everglades Restoration yesterday. The office was created in the last month of the Clinton administration to implement the nation's most ambitious ecosystem restoration project ever -- the 30-year, $7.8 billion recovery plan for the Florida Everglades. Norton said the office was closed to reduce bureaucratic overhead, but critics say Bush was doing a favor for his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who has fought to limit the Interior Department's role in the restoration project. "We think this is a huge step backward," said Save Our Everglades spokesperson Joe Garcia.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Michael Grunwald, 06 Nov 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48953-2001Nov6.html>
straight to the source: Miami Herald, Frank Davies, 07 Nov 2001 <http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/national/digdocs/108653.htm>
MORMON TABERNACLE ACQUIRE
The Mormon Church is angling to buy U.S. Bureau of Land Management property it considers sacred, a move some say could set a troubling precedent. The Church has sought special legislation that would enable it to buy Martin's Cove, BLM-owned land in central Wyoming where Utah-bound Mormons perished in an 1856 blizzard. The purchase would set a precedent for other groups wanting to buy sacred sites from the federal government. "This will really open a can of worms," said Liz Howell of the Wyoming chapter of the Sierra Club. Wyoming conservationists fear the implications of the proposed purchase for the many public lands in the state considered sacred by Native Americans, such as Devil's Tower, the Medicine Wheel, and parts of the Red Desert.
straight to the source: Wyoming Star-Tribune, Brodie Farquhar, 07 Nov 2001 <http://www.wyonow.com/NEWS/WYONEWS/5MartinsCove.html>
11/7/01
5:25:34 PM
BioDemocracy News #36 Food Fight in a Time of Crisis
By: Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association
http://www.organicconsumers.org
Quotes of the Month:
"There are 800 million hungry people in the world; 34,000 children starve to death every day. There are those who consider this a tragedy, and then there are the biotech companies and their countless PR firms, who seem to consider it a flawless hook for product branding. It is an insult of the highest and most grotesque order to turn those who live from day to day into the centerpiece of an elaborate lie [i.e. that biotech crops will feed the world]. The companies who make [GE foods], and the flacks who hawk their falsehoods, offer us a new definition of depravity, a new standard to plunge for in our race to care least, want more, and divest ourselves of all shame." Michael Manville, "Welcome to the Spin Machine"
http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/2001/04/biotech
"The outlook [for the Genetically Engineered food industry] is less certain than it was three years ago. The euphoria has gone. Growth has fallen significantly. The industry has overstated the rate of progress and underestimated the resistance of consumers." Sergey Vasnetsov, a leading chemical industry analyst with Lehman Brothers, quoted in The Guardian (UK) 9/26/01
Biotech Bullies: Business as Usual
Agbiotech and corporate special interests in reaction to stubborn global resistance have stepped-up their propaganda and bullying. This aggression is evident in the media, the marketplace, the trade and diplomatic fronts, the legislatures, courts, patent offices, and the streets of the cities where anti-globalization protests have taken place. Recognizing that a critical mass of youth, consumers, farmers, environmentalists, and public interest nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) all over the world are rejecting, not only the biotech and industrial agriculture model, but also the entire "Free Trade" globalization agenda itself, the Gene Giants and their allies know they are losing ground. Reacting to massive demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, Quebec, Sweden, and Genoa--with anti-Frankenfoods concerns often in the forefront-governing elites have clamped down and repressed youthful protestors, and have begun shifting their meetings to inaccessible locations such as the oil sheikdom of Qatar, where the 142 nation members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are scheduled to hold a ministerial meeting November 9-13.
Since September 11, with public attention focused on terror attacks and the war in Afghanistan, White House operatives have done their best to: - sabotage stringent safety testing of genetically engineered (GE) foods and crops in the WTO Codex Alimentarius negotiations in Vancouver; - pressed Congress forward for "Fast Track" Presidential negotiating authority to enable Bush to expand the power of the WTO and spread Free Trade fundamentalism throughout the Americas; -inserted language into the Fast Track bill that would ban mandatory labeling of gene-altered foods and the use of the precautionary principle; - increased pressure on the EU to lift its moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMOs); - and threatened Thailand and other nations seeking to ban or label GE crops. (See OCA's website www.organicconsumers.org for details on these stories and other news items referred to in this issue).
Monsanto, meanwhile, has tightened its stranglehold over the agbiotech and seed sector. The company in April was awarded a wide-ranging, controversial patent from the US Patent office on all antibiotic resistant marker genes (found in nearly all GMO crops), and continues to move forward to gain a similar monopoly patent on Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a vector (sort of a cellular taxi) used widely in gene-splicing. Monsanto is also requiring strict licensing and royalty agreements for scientists carrying out research on the genetic structure or genome of rice-for which the company holds a patent.
11/7/01
5:20:28 PM
Public Citizen
Peach Bottom Nuclear Reactor Should Not Be Relicensed
Reactors Are Terrorist Targets; Aging Reactors Pose Safety Hazards, Generate Dangerous Waste
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Peach Bottom nuclear plant in Pennsylvania should not be relicensed because - like reactors throughout the country - it is a terrorist target and its equipment will pose safety hazards for surrounding communities as it ages, Public Citizen told federal officials today.
Because of these reasons, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should halt its process for relicensing Peach Bottom, Public Citizen said in comments filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The comments coincide with two public hearings the NRC is holding today on the reactor's relicensing. The hearings are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Peach Bottom Inn, 6085 Delta Road in Delta, Pa.
"Security is the elephant in the nuclear power industry's living room," said Hugh Jackson, policy analyst with Public Citizen. "Yet the NRC is continuing to move forward and relicense old nuclear power plants as if the September attacks never happened."
Nuclear power plants were originally licensed for 40 years. License renewals would allow them to operate for an additional 20 years. The licenses for Units 2 and 3 at Peach Bottom, located 45 miles west of Philadelphia, are scheduled to expire in 2013 and 2014 respectively. (Unit 1, which was built using a more primitive design, ran for just seven years and was shut down in 1974 because of mechanical problems.)
In the weeks since Sept. 11, the NRC has continued to process relicensing applications as if there were no heightened concerns about the safety of commercial nuclear facilities. Many people, though, are worried. Mock drills have shown nuclear plants to be relatively easily accessed by intruders, and a disciple of Osama bin Laden has been quoted in the news as saying that the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11 should have targeted a nuclear plant.
"Relicensing old nuclear power plants, which will continue to tempt terrorists far, far into the future, should never have been started in the first place, and it certainly shouldn't be done now," Jackson said. (more)
Public Citizen has long opposed the relicensing of nuclear power plants, citing, among other issues, increased risks from aging reactors. Reactor vessels can become brittle over time, and steam generator tubes can deteriorate and leak, potentially releasing radiation into the air. The longer a reactor operates, the more nuclear waste it generates. Also, the nation still has no workable solution for the disposal of deadly nuclear waste.
Public Citizen supports a shift in national energy policy away from fossil and nuclear fuels and toward conservation and renewable energy sources. Public Citizen noted in its comments to the NRC that even the commission's so-called "generic environmental impact statement" for relicensing nuclear power plants states that "conservation technologies produce enough energy savings to permit the closing of a nuclear plant" in most electricity service areas.
If the NRC persists in processing Exelon's license renewal application, Public Citizen will call on the NRC to conduct a comprehensive analysis of available conservation technologies as part of the environmental statement to be prepared on Peach Bottom relicensing. Specifically, the NRC should evaluate the potential of conservation and energy efficiencies as the preferred alternative to license renewal.
"The NRC ought to take its own paperwork seriously for a change," Jackson said. "If it did, the agency would close down most of the 103 reactors in operation around the country."
Peach Bottom is one of seven nuclear power plants with active relicensing applications. The other plants are Edwin E. Hatch, located northwest of Savannah, Ga.; Turkey Point, located northeast of Miami, Fla.; Surry, located near Williamsburg, Va.; North Anna, located northwest of Richmond, Va.; Catawba, in South Carolina, just south of Charlotte, N.C.; and McGuire, located west of Charlotte, N.C.
The NRC projects that 29 plants will be relicensed over the next six years. The agency already has relicensed three plants: Calvert Cliffs in Maryland; Oconee in South Carolina; and Arkansas Nuclear One.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.citizen.org
11/7/01
5:09:52 PM
Groups Protest Post-September 11 Corporate Stance
By Jim Lobe, OneWorld US
Big corporations are using the "war against terrorism" to push billions of dollars in tax breaks and other benefits through the United States Congress, according to a growing number of civic, environmental and consumer groups.
In addition to a US$15 billion bailout of the airline industry and a pending "economic stimulus" bill that would cost the U.S. Treasury more than US$200 billion over the next three years, Congress has approved a major increase in the defense budget and is being pushed hard to adopt an energy program that threatens sensitive ecosystems and would expand nuclear power, the groups say.
"For corporations to loot the U.S. Treasury and prey on the environment while wrapping themselves in the flag is an act of sheer treachery, one Americans will not soon forget," declared John Passacantando, director of Greenpeace USA, at a press conference in Washington D.C. Monday.
"Under the guise of 'national security,' our federal treasury is being raided," added Ralph Nader (news -web sites), the Green Party's candidate in last year's presidential campaign and founder of a new citizens' group, Citizen Works. "Our democratic rights are being taken away while Congress feeds sympathetic campaign contributors at taxpayer expense, sends working people to fight, and leaves the unemployed, the disenfranchised, and American families to suffer."
Half a dozen groups, including Citizen Works and Greenpeace, have released a "Citizen Coalition Statement" about what they called "shameful profiteering and opportunism" by corporations in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon (news - web sites).
They charged that the administration of President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and legions of corporate lobbyists are capitalizing on the fear and patriotic fervor unleashed by the attacks and the anthrax scare that followed by pushing through radical legislation that will do little or nothing to protect either the national security or the economic security of the country's middle- and low-income citizens.
At the same time as airlines are getting US$15 billion in federal assistance, the aviation industry is laying off an estimated 150,000 workers without any provision for extended unemployment benefits, retraining, or health insurance.
The House of Representatives late last month passed an "economic stimulus" program consisting mostly of tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy individuals, according to the coalition's statement.
"Regular Americans are being told to go out and spend more to do their part to stimulate the economy [while] big campaign donors...are being told 'the check's in the mail'," said Common Cause, a long-standing national organization for campaign finance reform.
The pharmaceutical industry, which made almost 200 million dollars in political contributions during the last election cycle, has thrived by dealing directly with the administration.
Instead of authorizing manufacturers of generic drugs to produce anthrax-fighting antibiotic Cipro, the administration cut a deal to lower Cipro prices at the supposedly cut-rate price of 95 cents a pill, twice the price the federal government pays for the drug in another program, according to Robert Weissman, co-director of Essential Action, a health group.
"Confronted with the prospect of bioterrorism on a massive scale, the Bush administration and the pharmaceutical industry have colluded to protect patent monopolies rather than the public health," said Weissman.
Similarly, Bush has pushed Congress to quickly approve his energy program which includes controversial provisions for opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling and expanding nuclear power despite increased concerns that pipelines in Alaska and nuclear power plants would be particularly vulnerable to terrorist attack.
"The administration and many in Congress are pushing energy legislation that will actually weaken national security," noted Brent Blackwelder, president of the U.S. branch of Friends of the Earth.
11/7/01
5:01:43 PM
TAX CUTS AREN'T THE ONLY WAY TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY
Economic Benefits, National Security, and Energy Efficiency
Thomas Feiler is managing director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, an entrepreneurial, nonprofit organization that seeks to foster the efficient and restorative use of resources to create a more secure, prosperous, and life-sustaining world.
Steve Rosenfeld interviewed Mr. Feiler for TomPaine.com.
TomPaine.com: You and your colleagues at the Rocky Mountain Institute have said that energy security starts with using less energy, that is, using energy more efficiently to do the tasks that make up people's daily lives. What do you mean by that, what's called 'demand-side management?'
Thomas Feiler: Well, [the] first thing to say is the debate about energy security is often very misleading, in as much as we like to talk about domestic versus foreign energy sources, as opposed to the basic architecture of the system. The architecture of the system is what provides us security. And with regards to the architecture of the system, the best thing you can do on energy security is simply use less of it. By using less energy, you put less demands on both the system itself and less demands to be purchasing oil, especially coming through very vulnerable places.
So, for instance, our oil right now is coming through two very vulnerable choke points. First through the Persian Gulf, which has a number of political problems, especially now. And, of course, the Alaskan Pipeline, which is equally vulnerable to all sorts of mischief. As we saw just three weeks ago, a drunk walked out of a bar in Fairbanks and with a hunting rifle shot the Alaskan pipeline, shut it down for about a day, and lost about 300,000 barrels of oil onto the ground. So the first thing we need to do is think about how we use energy, and secondarily, how we can get the energy that we do need, in a more secure fashion.
TP.c: Rocky Mountain Institute has reported that American businesses could annually save $300 billion if they recovered and used energy that's now lost between the generating point and its eventual use. Can you explain where this figure comes from, and what needs to happen to make this energy savings a reality?
TF: Since the first oil shocks [in the 1970s], the U.S. economy has probably saved about $150 billion to $200 billion a year in energy use. There's still about $300 billion of waste that's out there. Currently we use energy only about 10 percent as efficiently as the laws of physics would dictate. Just to put that in proportion, the energy lost in electric power plants, here in the U.S., is more than all the energy used by the Japanese economy.
TP.c: How is it actually calculated?
TF: It comes from essentially two different places. First is, as I said, just taking a look at the physics of the way we use energy. We use energy very inefficiently. And the second is taking a look at simple things that businesses, individuals and government can do to save energy.
In the automotive industry, for instance, let me give you a couple of examples. The Honda Insight, which most of you know [is] a hybrid electric-gasoline engine, gets on the order of 70 miles a gallon. If every car were as energy efficient as the Honda Insight, we'd currently be saving more oil than OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) produces. A little bit more conventional car is the Toyota Prius, which is essentially a Toyota Camry with a hybrid gas-electric engine, and it get about 50 miles per gallon. If every car as energy-efficient as the Toyota Prius, not only could we displace all foreign sources of oil in our economy, but we could also make our entire Kyoto [Protocol] commitment for reducing carbon emissions and incidentally, have enough left over for Canada, Mexico and South America. These are just one of many technological innovations, which exist right now, which allow consumers to use energy far more efficiently.
TP.c: You've also pointed out that among the business community, consultants have for many years advocated cutting labor costs as a way to improve profits. But your point is that energy is an equally significant cost center, but one that businesses have not targeted for greater efficiencies and savings?
TF: It's one that they just haven't looked to, nearly as much as they ought to. You know, if you take a step back, the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago, was constrained by the ability -- the primary constraint of the Industrial Revolution was skilled labor. We didn't have enough skilled laborers at the time. For instance, the textile mills that were introduced in the late 1700s allowed one Lancashire weaver to do the work that was previously done by 200 spinners. This was just one of many technological innovations which increased the productivity of labor by 100 fold. We're at a very similar place right now with regard to energy productivity.
Technologies exist right now, techniques exist right now that would allow us to use energy four, ten, even a hundred times more productively, to get a hundred times more productive value out of every unit of resources.
TP.c: So when taken against the current political debate in Washington, where there are discussions about the best way to stimulate the economy, your point is there are many ways to create favorable conditions and in fact cash savings for businesses.
TF: Absolutely. The management consultants and economic gurus are running around the world right now telling us to redouble our efforts to increase labor productivity, and that that is a way for businesses to become more competitive, we see that a very different business model is in order. Namely, making the energy resources more productive. Instead of firing workers, let's fire unneeded kilowatt hours and unneeded therms of energy. Every dollar you save in energy goes directly to the bottom line. And leading companies are producing profits and they are increasing their competitive positions within the industry by taking a look at ways to profitably reduce resource use.
TP.c: And, of course, when we're talking about energy efficiency, we don't just mean generating power at the home and in office buildings, but also in developing and selling more efficient engines for cars and other consumer appliances?
TF: The first step is to take a look at what you're using energy for and see if there is a more productive way to get that end use accomplished by using less resources. Then you look to the supply -- what is the most economical way that you can supply the energy that you do need.
There's a radical transformation of scale going on in the electric generation industry right now. In other words, it was true for most of the 20th century, that every power plant that you built was always larger, because it increased economies of scale. We exhausted those economies of scale in the early '70s. And the power plants that are being built -- that are being built now -- are much smaller than [those being built in] the 1970s. In fact, they're more on the scale of the power plants that were built in the 1930s and 1940s. This is the result of technological innovation. The smaller, more distributed power plants are simply more efficient, more reliable -- they're better machines, than the very large centralized power plants.
This has, also, a number of implications for energy security. One of the discussions that was going around the energy community after September 11 attacks was, what if one of those airliners had been directed not at a building but, say, at a nuclear power plant? The bottom line here is that our energy infrastructure is highly centralized.
Electricity production is highly centralized in a couple hundred very large power plants. Our pipeline system is highly centralized. You could take out about 75 percent of the natural gas delivery to the East Coast and never leave Louisiana. It's just one of many examples of how a highly centralized system is very vulnerable to all sorts of mischief. And taking advantage of technological change and more efficient energy sources, which are distributed, will not only produce economic benefits, but will also produce energy security, and indeed national security benefits.
Source: http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/05/index.html
11/7/01
4:56:19 PM
A Raisin In The Sun
Whose Dreams Are We Deferring When We Patent Plants And Animals?
by Kristin Dawkins
One of the least understood injustices arising from globalization is the extension of the United States' patent system to other countries via the World Trade Organization. The WTO's trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement privatizes the ownership of plants and seed, giving the agri-chemical and pharmaceutical industries monopoly rights over elements of nature.
In early October, the multinational seed company Pioneer (now owned by DuPont) took a small Iowa seed and agricultural supply company, JEM Ag Supply, before the Supreme Court charging that JEM had resold Pioneer's patented seed corn without authorization. The smaller company claims the patents were invalid because Congress never intended "products of nature" to be patented.
Historically, Congress has rejected the application of patents to new varieties of plants grown from seed. But in 1985, the US Patent and Trademark Office decided to grant such patent rights. Since then, companies holding plant patents have exercised their monopoly rights to build an immensely valuable portfolio of proprietary seed. Bigger companies have gobbled up smaller companies, at times simply to acquire access to the restricted patented plants.
In 1995, of 1,500 seed companies worldwide, 24 held a combined market share of more than 50 percent. By 2000, after years of merger-mania, the top 10 companies controlled 33 percent of the $23 billion seed market and 90 percent of the $31 billion agrochemical market.
The Supreme Court's decision in the case of JEM Ag Supply v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International could have a profound impact on global agriculture. The Court should decide to disallow the patenting of plants. This would benefit every country that depends upon agriculture for its economic base, including the United States and most third world nations, and force a public debate about whether patents should be given for any life form. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and recent resolutions of a UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights have already found an "actual or potential conflict" between the World Trade Organization's intellectual property rights agreement and the rights to self-determination, food and health.
Intellectual property rights are intended to balance the interests of private inventors and society as a whole. The public needs access to useful innovations, while inventors need an incentive to innovate. Unfortunately, today's patent system does not help balance the industry's gain with public welfare. To the contrary, more and more researchers are reporting that the drive to be first in line at the patent office means their bosses tell them not to publish their work, and not to confer with fellow scientists trying to cure the same disease or to breed a more drought-resistant variety of wheat. Instead, if they keep their experimental data out of the public record, their company (or university) is more likely to get the full windfall when the research finally pays off.
Companies are now patenting plants, animals and even bacteria at a fever pitch. Thanks to industry lobbying during WTO negotiations, this highly profitable scheme to privatize plants and medicines now applies to much of the world. Not only does it ensure sick people and farmers pay top dollar for the opportunity to buy proprietary drugs and seeds, it also sends billions of dollars from the developing world to the pharma-agri-chemical companies.
In the case of basmati rice, for example, India stands to lose $500 million per year in exports due to the US Patent and Trademark Office's decision that a Texas company can retain patent rights to three basmati lines bred outside India. Not only is the Indian economy a loser, but so too are India's basmati farmers.
All over the world, farmers and farm organizations are seeking to reverse the WTO's intellectual property rights agreement and other free trade deals with TRIPS provisions in them, such as the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. At the WTO, African governments have proposed amending the agreement to add a ban on patents of all forms of life.
Perhaps Jonas Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine, understood the conflict between intellectual property rights and the public good best. When asked decades ago by television commentator Edward R. Murrow who would control this new pharmaceutical, Dr. Salk replied, "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
Kristin Dawkins is vice president of international programs at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
Source: http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/05/2.html
11/7/01
4:45:00 PM
New at TomPaine.com
Dispatch: New Dehli
SO LONG SAREES, HELLO BLUE JEANS
The Mixed Blessing of Globalization In India
by Srinand Jha
"The process of globalization in the West was spread over a period of more than 200 years. In India, it has come in a compressed form of 10 years."
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/10/23/2.html
THE WORLD WILL NOT FORGIVE US
Seven Million Afghans May Die Preventable Deaths This Winter
by Geov Parrish
A situation is unfolding in which there is absolutely no moral ambiguity at all, and for which many people will want to hold each of us as accountable as the world held post-war Germans. Where were you?
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/06/4.html
A RAISIN IN THE SUN
Whose Dreams Are We Deferring When We Patent Plants And Animals?
by Kristin Dawkins
The scheme to privatize plants and medicines ensures that sick people and farmers pay top dollar for drugs and seeds. A pending Supreme Court decision could change all that.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/05/2.html
A FIGHT ON TWO FRONTS
In the Trenches and on the Airwaves
by Phillip Knightley
Governments and their armies go to war to win and do not care how they do it. For them, the media is a menace.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/11/02/1.html
TAX CUTS AREN'T THE ONLY WAY TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY
Economic Benefits, National Security, and Energy Efficiency
by Thomas Feiler
American business could save $300 billion a year if companies invested in more efficient energy use and supply, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute. Businessmen should stop considering energy a fixed cost.
AUDIO and TEXT produced by Steven Rosenfeld.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/05/index.html
ECONOMICS REPORTING REVIEW
October 29 - November 2
A Weekly Compendium and Commentary
by Dean Baker
Economic Stimulus ... War and the Market ... Drug Patents ... Consumer Confidence ... and more.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/11/05/index.html
CHECK IT OUT!
Tips, Leads, and Links
by The TomPaine.com Staff
Welfare Reform ... Shell in Nigeria ... Historical Significance ... The Cool Kids in Kindergarten ... and more.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/10/31/2.html
11/7/01
4:41:29 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
THE WEST BANK: LIFE UNDER OCCUPATION
by Lori A. Allen, CounterPunch
-- A U.S. grad student in anthropology describes life in the West Bank town of Ramallah. In this chilling account of living in a war-ravaged city, she shows how people manage to function and protect hope.
THE NEXT PIG THING
by Leora Broydo Vestel, MotherJones.com
-- Scientists and pork industrialists are lauding a genetically engineered pig they claim will cut down on farm-waste pollution, but wary environmental groups say the 'Enviropig' is a load of hogwash.
UNPLUGGED, SEVEN DAYS WITH NO TECH
by Matthew McKinnon, Shift Magazine
-- Here's the game: avoid digital culture for 168 hours. No computers, cell phones, television, stereos, etc. Are you up to it? Matthew McKinnon decides to play. He writes, "I won't know how the grass feels on the other side of the fence until I take my shoes off and let it slip between my toes."
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
11/7/01
4:37:35 PM
Chemical Pollution, Human Sewage Killing Corals
BOSTON, Massachusetts, November 6, 2001 (ENS) - A combination of human sewage and shipyard discharge may be responsible for the development and spread of deadly black band disease in corals, researchers at the University of Illinois say. The scientists say pollution may be major contributor to the worldwide decline of coral reefs, playing as big a role as global warming.
"Black band disease is characterized by a ring shaped bacterial mat that migrates across a coral colony, leaving dead tissue in its wake," said University of Illinois (UI) geologist Bruce Fouke. "Like a tropical rainforest, a coral reef system is a cradle of biodiversity. If we destroy the reefs, we destroy the ocean's ability to reproduce."
To better understand the disease, Fouke and his colleagues, UI microbiologist Abigail Salyers and postdoctoral researchers George Bonheyo and Jorge Frias-Lopez studied corals off the island of Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles, near the Venezuelan coast.
First, the researchers mapped outbreaks of the disease along the reef. Then they looked for metals such as aluminum, cadmium and zinc that are common pollutants from shipyards and oil refineries.
"The highest number of infected corals, as well as the highest concentration of dissolved metals, occurred near the city of St. Annabaai, which has a major harbor and one of the largest oil refineries in the Caribbean," Fouke said. "This suggests that diseased coral may be experiencing increased environmental stress due to pollution, which in turn decreases the coral's resistance to bacterial infection."
Healthy corals contain a natural population of bacteria within a mucous rich biofilm that provides protection from light, exposure and sedimentation, Fouke said.
"Environmental stresses cause corals to secrete more of this mucous to coat their outer tissues," he explained. "This leads to elevated levels of natural microbial populations, as well as the introduction of new, potentially harmful bacterial populations."
To identify the microbes inhabiting the black band bacterial mat, the researchers examined the microbes' DNA. They found several organisms, including Arcobacter and Campylobacter, which are human pathogens and could be a direct link to raw sewage.
Also present in the bacterial mat was a ropy network of cyanobacteria, a unique group of photosynthetic bacteria that cannot live without light. In field experiments, the researchers used shields to block light from infected corals. Black band disease disappeared from the regions that were not exposed to light.
"This indicates that cyanobacteria are an important part of the disease development, but may not be the pathogen," Fouke said. "Perhaps the cyanobacteria form an apartment complex, allowing a variety of destructive anaerobic bacteria to take up residence in the low oxygen microenvironment."
Many more tests are needed to identify what is killing the coral, Fouke said. "But, the present trilogy of disease distribution, high metal concentrations and presence of human pathogens creates a signpost, at least, that human pollution is playing a role."
Pollution, combined with global warming, could wipe out many of the world's coral reefs, scientists warn. Both pollution and global warming stress the tiny polyps which build reefs, making them more vulnerable to disease.
Diseases of stony corals have skyrocketed over the last decade, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Studies have shown that coral diseases are affecting greater numbers of coral species, are increasing in frequency and distribution, and are spreading to new regions faster than ever recorded in the past.
In recent years, a number of new coral diseases have emerged, with new types of symptoms not observed in the past. Several of these diseases kill coral tissue at rates much faster than ever observed before.
Global warming is also believed to be behind an epidemic of coral bleaching. Bleaching occurs when microscopic plants inhabiting corals are damaged by slight temperature rises.
The plants, or zooxanthellae, which color the coral and provide food are expelled. If they do not return, the coral will die.
Most coral bleaching can be explained by a one degree Celsius rise in water temperature above the normal summer maximum temperature, experts say.
Source: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-06-06.html
11/7/01
4:30:25 PM
Old Rivalries Threaten To Undermine Climate Talks
By Singy Hanyona
MARRAKECH, Morocco, November 6, 2001 (ENS) - Climate negotiators from around the world are just past the midpoint of their two week meeting to hammer out the finer points of keeping 38 industrialized nations from emitting greenhouse gases linked to gobal warming. They are running into the same old rivalries between industrialized and developing countries, corporate and green groups that have plagued attempts to agree since the Kyoto Protocol was written in 1997.
Parties to the protocol, part of the United Nations framework climate change treaty, have convened at the Congress de Palais to enshrine in legal texts the political agreement reached in Bonn at the most recent talks in July.
At the end of the two week period, the 7th Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP-7) is poised to adopt these legal texts as Decisions. These Decisions will be the final signal for countries that are Parties to the protocol to start their ratification and implementation process.
Official delegates are working towards a final rulebook outlining precisely how emissions of the six gases will be limited and what consequences violators would face. They have been meeting in negotiating and drafting groups on the mechanisms, compliance and communication, going over the technical points.
Today, European environment ministers met in Marrakech for urgent talks aimed at keeping the delegates on track for the resolution of sticking points. The European Union, whose 15 member countries face an average seven percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions, is a strong supporter of the protocol.
European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom leads the European Union delegation jointly with the Belgian EU Presidency. She is concerned that some countries might turn away from the political understanding reached in Bonn.
"I am afraid that the talks in Marrakech may again not be easy," she said. "There are a host of technical issues that need to be addressed, some of which have political implications. Some Parties may also be tempted to backtrack from decisions taken in Bonn. We would open a Pandora's box if we were to do so, and no citizen of any country would understand a failure in Marrakech."
A small United States delegation is present to observe the talks, but President George W. Bush decided not to submit the protocol to the Senate for ratification in March, soon after he took office. Calling the protocol "fatally flawed," Bush said it is unfair because the emissions of populous developing nations such as China, India and Brazil are not covered in this phase of the process.
Ministers from around the world are due to meet formally on Wednesday for high level negotiations on the final drafts. But proposals from the Japanese, Australia, Canada and Russian delegates threaten to weaken the agreement that governments signed in Bonn.
Canadian Environment Minister David Anderson said over the weekend that the treaty does not need legally binding consequences. This position undermines the desire for a robust enforcement regime, demostrated in Bonn.
Friends of the Earth International Climate Campaigner Kate Hampton said without a strong enforcement system, the Kyoto Protocol will not be worth the paper it is written on. “EU ministers must be clear that the text on the table now is not what they intended to do in Bonn. The agreement has been watered down enough already,” she said.
In a joint press briefing here, a Climate Coalition of environmental groups fighting for environmental rights and equality, criticized the agenda of corporate organizations. The coalition says that instead of addressing the causes of global warming and the inequalities between North and South, developed nations have now taken over the Kyoto Process.
Yin Shao Loong of the Third World Network said, “They are spearheaded by Canada, Japan, Russia and Australia. They have set their delegations the task of paving the way for business interests to seize a brand new market, in the name of greenhouse gas emissions trading.”
“By succumbing to the corporate agenda, the Kyoto Protocol is failing to achieve climate justice,” said Amit Srivasta of Corporate Watch.
These activists were not swayed by the World Bank's promise of a US$145 million Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF), http://www.prototypecarbonfund.org/ for developing countries to adapt to climate impacts and develop emissions reducing technologies.
"Alleviating the crippling effects of climate change on poorer countries will require private as well as public investment," says Ian Johnson, the World Bank's vice president for environmentally and socially sustainable development.
Tuiloma Neroni Slade, co-chair of the Compliance Group, is from Samoa, a Pacific island nation that could experience severe impacts of rising sea levels.
"Efficient market based mechanisms are crucial to lowering the costs of climate change mitigation and to channeling private capital to cleaner technologies and more socially and environmentally sustainable development in our client countries," Johnson said. "The PCF demonstrates the Bank's commitment to catalyze the development of these market mechanisms in order to help developing countries benefit from carbon finance."
The PFC projects, targeting Uganda, Chile and Latvia, are aimed at alleviating the crippling effects of climate change on poorer countries. They have been validated in accordance with the emerging rules of the protocol, and the Bank says they establish that "selling emission reductions can make marginal energy and waste management projects in developing countries financially attractive."
Ugandan Commissioner for Meteorology, Bwango Apuuli, said poorer countries will need private as well and public investment to handle the effects of climate change. “It is the first ever deal in Africa. It is a unique project and our intention is to get the best deal possible from the fund,” said Apuuli, who is also permanent representative of Uganda with the World Meteorological Organization.
Under this private-public fund, the World Bank will buy carbon dioxide emission reductions for up to US$3.9 million over 15 to 20 years.
Ken Newcombe, manager of the Prototype Carbon Fund, says the project will contribute to sustainable development. “The project will bring reliable electric energy to a region of Uganda that is experiencing strong economic growth,” he said.
This is in line with the Uganda West Nile Electrification Project, a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project negotiated in Africa. The project has already been allocated US$20 million for the construction of two small hydropower stations, diesel backup facilities and rehabilitation of the grid.
Under the Kyoto Protocol there is an element of flexibility in order to allow countries to reach their emissions objectives. The 38 developed countries whose emissions are governed by the protocol (Annex I countries) can exchange carbon credits with developing countries.
An industrialized country could invest in a wind farm in a developing nation that had intended to construct a coal fired power station. The investment contributes to the fight against global warming and allows the industrialized country to acquire emission credits.
In recognition of their contributions to bringing the climate talks to this stage, Climate Business e-Awards-2001 were made to Jan Pronk, Dutch Environment Minister and Masamitsu Sakai, President of Ricoh Corporation of Japan.
Announcing the awards during a prize ceremony president of the U.S Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Michael said outgoing COP president Pronk received the award for his untiring efforts to secure July’s landmark Bonn agreement on the protocol. “He negotiated day and night and used formal and informal channels to build bridges and understanding,” Marvin said.
Sakai was honored for his role in concluding the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. Ricoh Corporation of Japan is a global manufacturer of office automation equipment and got the award for improving energy efficiency and management.
The awards are presented by the European and U.S Business Councils for Sustainable Energy, which are promoting technologies to solve global warming. The winners receive a glass trophy containing a blue letter 'e' standing for the five ‘e’s of “energy, emissions, environment, efficiency and economy.”
But awards aside, the environmental problems of a warming planet are real. Greenpeace charged that the UN Climate Convention’s spirit of environmental integrity and common sense has already been diluted, and that not enough attention is being focused on the rising sea levels and melting ice caps that are today's evidence of climate change.
A Greenpeace team on Mount Kilimanjaro spoke with journalists covering the climate negotiations in Marrakech live via a video conference. Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the few places in the world where ice and snow can be found on the equator, could lose its entire ice field by 2015 because of climate change, said Greenpeace campaigner Joris Thijssen, on Kilimanjaro.
"Russia, Australia, Japan and Canada are attempting to ensure that the final details of the Kyoto Protocol are as weak as possible, to protect their greenhouse gas polluting industries," said Thijssen. "But this is the price we pay if climate change is allowed to go unchecked - here in Africa we will not only lose glaciers, but will face more extreme droughts and floods, widespread agriculture loses, and increased infectious diseases, all of which are felt hardest by people in developing nations."
EU Environment Commissioner Wallstrom says the time for talking is over. "Now the time has come to move from words to deeds," she said today. "As soon as the ink is dry on the Decisions we take in Marrakech, each and everyone of us must turn our attention to securing swift ratification of the Protocol and fulfilment of its emission reduction objectives."
The Kyoto Protocol will not take effect until it is ratified by 55 percent of the nations responsible for at least 55 percent of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990.
The countries that ratify must reduce emissions of carbon dioxide to an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels during the five year period 2008 to 2012.
Source: http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-06-02.html
11/7/01
4:24:13 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
OLD RIVALRIES THREATEN TO UNDERMINE CLIMATE DEAL
By Singy Hanyona
MARRAKECH, Morocco, November 6, 2001 (ENS) - Climate negotiators from around the world are just past the midpoint of their two week meeting to hammer out the finer points of keeping 38 industrialized nations from emitting greenhouse gases linked to gobal warming.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-06-02.html
UN RUSHES RELIEF INTO AFGHAN MOUNTAINS AHEAD OF WINTER
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, November 6, 2001 (ENS) - The World Food Program (WFP) is "turning somersaults" to step up food deliveries into the mountainous areas of Afghanistan, attempting to get supplies where they are needed before winter begins, according to WFP representative Lindsey Davies, speaking at a briefing in Islamabad.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-06-03.html
SUBURBAN SPRAWL CONTRIBUTES TO POOR HEALTH
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, November 6, 2001 (ENS) - Research compiled by an environmental group has, for the first time, linked land use changes with negative effects on public health. The comprehensive report by the group Sprawl Watch spotlights the connections between suburban sprawl and rising rates of asthma, obesity, and other health problems.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-06-07.html
CHEMICAL POLLUTION, HUMAN SEWAGE KILLING CORALS
BOSTON, Massachusetts, November 6, 2001 (ENS) - A combination of human sewage and shipyard discharge may be responsible for the development and spread of deadly black band disease in corals, researchers at the University of Illinois say. The scientists say pollution may be major contributor to the worldwide decline of coral reefs, playing as big a role as global warming.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-06-06.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: NOVEMBER 6, 2001
America's Coastal Areas Facing a Crisis
Seawalls May Not Affect Erosion
Water Pollution Leads to Mixed Sex Fish
Roadless Areas Provide Last Refuge for Native Trout
Lawsuit Claims Columbia River Management Harms Fish
Groups Protest Wartime Opportunism
Ecoterrorists Spike Trees in National Forest
More Data Needed to Assess Health of Shark Populations
Pennsylvanians Protest Unfair Mining Laws
Energy Star Program Delivers Savings
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-06-09.html
11/7/01
4:18:04 PM
THE LITTLE FOX IS STILL.
THE DOGS OF WAR HAVE MADE THEIR KILL
By Leuren Moret, President, Scientists for Indigenous People
Those are the words of famous black poet and writer Langston Hughes commenting on war, he couldn't have said it better. Few communities have felt the impact of war more than Hunters Point. The impact of war is not just overseas, in a distant country. It is right here in our own back yards: death and illness from radiation exposure, chemical exposure, and the economic devastation when the military moves on and leaves the devastation behind.
The bombing of Afghanistan by U.S. government forces has direct ties to Hunters Point. It was at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard that a radioactive material called depleted uranium, currently being used in the bombing of Afghanistan [http://www.zolatimes.com/V5.44/afghan_uranium.htm l], was first tested by the Navy.
The United States now has hundreds of thousands of tons of depleted uranium piled in heaps outdoors at DOE facilities. It is 99.5% of what is left when the most fissionable isotope (one of three) is extracted from naturally occurring uranium. The extracted uranium is used in nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel for nuclear reactors. The 99.5% that is discarded cannot be put back into the mines it came out of because, after crushing and processing, the volume is greater than before it was removed from the mines. "Depleted uranium" does not mean it is not radioactive - it is very radioactive and very dangerous to all living things.
The Dept. of Defense got the bright idea of using depleted uranium in weapons because (1) it is very dense which gives it greater penetrating power to destroy tanks etc., (2) it is pyrophoric, which means upon impact, it explodes into fire and smoke creating submicroscopic radioactive particles which travel great distances and can remain suspended until it is "rained out" of the atmosphere, (3) it is cheap and passes the responsibility for disposal from DOE on to civilians (that means us) and the environment.
It is also radioactive and will continue acting internally long after the battlefield has been cleared - with delayed effects which continue acting on soldiers and civilians the rest of their lives. The half life of uranium is 4.5 billion years - in ten half lives radioactivity becomes an insignificant amount. In 45 billion years it will no longer be a danger. In other words - it's "fun" for the DOD, it's "cheap" for the arms manufacturers (at good profits), and "good riddance" says DOE (with 480,000 tons on hand).
The Navy first tested depleted uranium munitions in 1977 at Hunter's Point. From the USS Bigelow, the Phalanx Weapons System [http://www.spar.navy.mil/ships/ddg995/wep-phal.ht ml], fired 3,000 rounds of depleted uranium penetrators per minute. The tests exceeded expectations and production started in 1978 to fill orders for 23 USN and 14 foreign military systems.
The Army A-10 Thunderbolt II, nicknamed "the Warthog", fired most of the depleted uranium munitions in the Gulf War, 300-800 tons. The Abrams Tank, the Marines M-60, the US F-16 and US Apache helicoptors have been fitted to fire DU munitions. Many cruise missiles contain DU balance weights. The use of DU is not being covered up, but the health hazards have been. Gulf War Syndrome not only killed, maimed, and diseased soldiers, they brought it home. In a study of 251 Gulf War veterans families in Mississippi, 67% of the children were born without eyes, ears, brain, had fused fingers, blood infections, respiratory problems, thyroid and other organ malformations.
The US has manufactured and tested depleted uranium in 39 states. The cleanup bill - just for the depleted uranium - at the Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana would be $7.8 billion... it has not been cleaned up, but DOD has closed it. Communities living near these test ranges will continue to be exposed and suffer health problems.
For 40 years, the Sierra Army Depot in Northern California has burned millions of tons of old munitions - including 20 times more DU than was used in the Gulf War. The radioactive smoke and ash full of heavy metals, phosgene gas and dioxins contaminated local communities as well as many Native Americans downwind - especially the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation. The health problems in those communities have been horrendous. The Sierra Army depot burned old munitions in open pits - and was the single largest contributor to air pollution in California - 17-23%. Norman Harry, former Pyramid Lake Tribal Chairman, and Nevada Senator Harry Reid, worked with others to shut it down. A month ago Lassen County refused to renew the burn permit for the Sierra Army Depot -FINALLY.
The United States has used DU weaponry in the Gulf War, Kosovo, Serbia, Vieques Island, Torishima Island near Okinawa, Japan, and sold it to at least 23 countries at great profits. It is in the arsenal the US and British military forces are using on Afghanistan.
The depleted uranium which contaminates the Gulf States since the Gulf War, can be detected on gamma meters in Greece and Bulgaria on windy days. It's the weapon that "keeps giving"... and keeps killing.
DU is also used as ballast in commercial and military planes [http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/dhap997.html]. On Sept. 11, a hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon. Dr. Janette Sherman, Research Assoc. with the Radiation and Public Health Project [http://www.radiation.org], who spoke at the Hunter's Point Press Conference on September 6, notified the Nuclear Information and Resource Service [http://www.nirs.org], that she detected elevated levels of radiation in her home, seven miles from the Pentagon. She had a gamma meter with her which she had borrowed for her visit to Hunter's Point. The EPA, FBI, federal agencies including HMRU (haz mats response units), USAR teams, local fire department and VA HAZMAT, were notified and an investigation began at the Pentagon.
A pile of rubble from the crash was radioactive, but EPA official Bill Bellinger (EPA Region III Environmental Radiation Monitoring Office) was unconcerned when contacted by Diane D'Arrigo from the Nuclear Information and Resource Service [http://www.nirs.org]. He indicated that it was probably depleted uranium, and mentioned americium 241could also be scattered around the crash site. He was convinced that depleted uranium is not radiologically toxic, but commented it is more of a hazard when aerosolized.
Firefighters, Pentagon personnel, and communities nearby DID breathe the smoke and ash from the fire. The agencies that are supposed to be protecting us are not. There was no follow-up investigation, and what about the World Trade Center in NY? Radiation almost never gets into mainstream media. It is a taboo subject, a silent killer, as Hunter's Point residents know too well.
The true patriots in this country are two women. Barbara Lee for saying "no" to needless further devastation in an already war torn country. And Dona Spring who brought the issue to the table in the Berkeley City Council. Berkeley is the only city in the United States to pass a resolution calling for an end to the bombing of Afghanistan. Whether or not we agree with the military action in Afghanistan, our soldiers have fought for hundreds of years to give us the right to say yes. or no. War is how our "leaders" bleed us too.. it is economically, radiologically and chemically devastating at home as well as abroad.
A new book, Discounted Casualties, The Human Cost of Depleted Uranium, by a Japanese Journalist from Hiroshima, Akira Tashiro, with a Forword by Leuren Moret, has 40+ interviews and color photos in the US, UK, Gulf, Kosovo, and Japan. The interviews can be read in English and emailed from
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html
Leuren Moret is an environmental geologist and independent scientist.
11/7/01
4:09:41 PM
t r u t h o u t | 11.07
ANWAR Tied To Security | Senate Democrats Block Bush
http://www.truthout.com/11.07A.ANWAR.htm
Senators Grill FBI On Anthrax Investigation
http://www.truthout.com/11.07B.FBI.htm
DASCHLE | Breifing 11.06
http://www.truthout.com/11.07C.DB.htm
REID Speaks Out Against Inhumane Treatment Of Afghan Women by the Taliban
http://www.truthout.com/11.07D.Reid.htm
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11/7/01
4:06:55 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Senators demand US farm law overhaul this year - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13158/story.htm
Money matters to US farmers as they embrace GMOs - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13165/story.htm
English beaches reach record water quality levels - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13156/story.htm
World facing disaster as population booms - UN - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13157/story.htm
Britain MOD blocks 4 offshore wind power projects - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13159/story.htm
UK wind power firm seeks review of planning block - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13161/story.htm
Norway to target domestic use of gas, green energy - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13160/story.htm
Posionous spiders halt NZ imports of US grapes - NEW ZEALAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13163/story.htm
African mountains snow melting down - Greenpeace - MOROCCO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13154/story.htm
Morocco's water resources threaten by cereals output - MOROCCO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13155/story.htm
UPDATE - UN climate talks still face hurdles - MOROCCO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13162/story.htm
Toxic chemical spill in Central China contained - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13166/story.htm
FEATURE - Brazil drags heels on green light for GM soybeans - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13164/story.htm
11/7/01
3:50:11 PM
WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE
The following article by Brian Halweil appeared in a slightly edited form in the Los Angeles Times November 2, 2001. If you wish to reply to the author, please email: halweil@worldwatch.org.
This article is one of a series that Worldwatch researchers are producing in response to the events of September 11 and afterwards. Previous articles include:
"Energy After September 11: A Commentary"
http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/011016.html
by Seth Dunn
"A New Marshall Plan: Advancing Human Security and Controlling Terrorism"
http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/011009.html
by Dick Bell and Michael Renner
THE BIOTERROR IN YOUR BURGER
By Brian Halweil, Research Associate, Worldwatch Institute
When the foot-and-mouth virus spread through the British countryside this past spring-costing the nation an estimated $6 billion-conspiracy theorists speculated that the introduction was an intentional act of biowarfare. While this particular disease doesn't harm humans, it can weaken livestock herds, decimate farm incomes, devastate consumer confidence in the food supply, and bring rural economies to a standstill with quarantines and other restrictions.
Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman (http://www.usda.gov/news/special/ctc25.htm) recently cited her department's success at containing food-and-mouth as proof that the U.S. government is prepared to respond to any terrorist attacks on the food we eat. But like so many official statements during the current round of anthrax attacks, her optimism may be sadly misplaced
Consider one particularly vulnerable link in our food chain: the modern meat processing plant. Operating around the country, the typical plant can process millions of pounds of ground beef or hotdogs or cold cuts in just a few days.
In comparison to a bioterrorism target like a water treatment plant, meat processing plants have virtually no security, and their workforces are wide open to infiltration. Many of the nation's slaughterhouses are staffed with poorly trained and poorly paid migrant workers, often with little documentation or background checks. The typical plant turns over its entire staff each year, virtually guaranteeing that no one really knows who is working there.
Meatpacking is already the nation's most life-threatening occupation. The rate of serious injury-losing a limb or an eye-is five times the national average. In 1999, more than one out of four of America's 150,000 meatpacking workers suffered a job-related injury or illness. The safety of the food chain is probably not the primary concern for workers who are struggling to avoid being mauled by mechanical knives, or ducking two-ton carcasses moving by at breakneck speed.
Yet, in many ways, these people-and the conditions at these plants-form an unlikely first line of defense against food-borne illnesses.
A terrorist could contaminate a huge amount of store-ready meat with a strategically placed sample of a species like E. coli or salmonella or listeria. And unlike anthrax, which is hard to obtain and prepare, these bioweapons are readily available.
Studies in the October 18 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (http://content.nejm.org/content/vol345/issue16/index.shtml) demonstrate that government regulations already fail to guarantee the safety of our food. One study shows that one in five samples of ground meat obtained in U.S. supermarkets carried antibiotic-resistant salmonella. Another study found that more than half of the chickens bought from 26 supermarkets in Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota and Oregon carried resistant forms of the sometimes fatal germ Enterococcus faecium.
In the case of our food chain, a public health disaster is just waiting to happen, without any terrorist threats whatsoever. Les Friedlander, a former USDA veterinarian, suggests that someone working in a plant could easily obtain a sample of salmonella or E. coli or some other life-threatening agent from the plant's meat inspection lab, and use this sample for large-scale contamination.
A gradual gutting of the nation's meat inspection workforce and authority in recent decades means that current regulations and measures don't even catch the unintentional introductions of these contaminants. Just in the first 9 months of 2001, the USDA announced 60 recalls, totaling nearly 30 million pounds of meat.
Unfortunately, the vulnerability of this meat link in the food chain is not unique. From a biowarfare perspective, the easiest targets are genetically similar populations of organisms for whom a single bug could easily infect the majority of individuals. Consider that 90 percent of the nations dairy cows are closely related Holsteins. The nation's largest pork producer, Smithfield, controls 12 million hogs that are virtual clones of each other. The factory farms that confine tens of thousands of animals in close and unhygienic quarters or the monoscapes of wheat or soybeans that cover much of the Heartland resemble the proverbial sitting duck.
We don't need the Hollywood scriptwriters that the Central Intelligence Agency retained recently to "think outside the box" on potential terrorist threats to the food we eat. Instead, while public awareness on matters of safety is so high, we have a perfect opportunity to clean up the food system from within, creating more hygienic living conditions for livestock, placing restrictions on antibiotic use in feed, and providing more humane working conditions for slaughterhouse workers.
In the same way that Upton Sinclair in The Jungle cast a spotlight on the stomach-turning practices of turn of 19th century meat processing industry, the threat of terrorism is casting a spotlight on industry after industry, from mail delivery to air travel, exposing vulnerabilities that were often known but never taken seriously. (The Jungle may be downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg, http://promo.net/pg/index.html).
In the past the public health argument for cleaning up America's food chains has repeatedly failed to inspire politicians to support the changes we need to protect all Americans from contaminated food. If we are lucky, today's rallying cries for homeland security will finally lead to meaningful actions to secure our food supplies from the threats of both accidental and terrorist epidemics.
Brian Halweil is a Research Associate at the Worldwatch Institute, a non-profit environmental and public policy research institute, in Washington DC. He focuses on the social and ecological consequences of the way we produce food. He writes on biotechnolgy, loss of farmers, population and malnutrition.
RELATED WORKS BY BRIAN HALWEIL:
How Now Mad Cow?
http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/010308.html
Organic Gold Rush
World Watch Magazine, May/June 2001.
https://secure.worldwatch.org/cgi-bin/wwinst/143b
Where have all the Farmers Gone?
World Watch Magazine, September/October 2000.
https://secure.worldwatch.org/cgi-bin/wwinst/135b
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Worldwatch Institute
1776 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
telephone: 202 452-1999
fax: 202 296-7365
email: mailto:worldwatch@worldwatch.org
website: http://www.worldwatch.org
11/7/01
3:43:21 PM
A War We Cannot Win
by John Le Carré
"The bombing begins," screams today's headline of the normally restrained Guardian. "Battle Joined" echoes the equally cautious Herald Tribune, quoting George W. Bush. But with whom is it joined? And how will it end? How about with Osama bin Laden in chains, looking more serene and Christ-like than ever, arranged before a tribune of his vanquishers with Johnnie Cochran to defend him? The fees won't be a problem, that's for sure.
Or how about with a bin Laden blown to smithereens by one of those clever bombs we keep reading about that kill terrorists in caves but don't break the crockery? Or is there a solution I haven't thought of that will prevent us from turning our arch-enemy into an arch-martyr in the eyes of those for whom he is already semi-divine?
Yet we must punish him. We must bring him to justice. Like any sane person, I see no other way. Send in the food and medicines, provide the aid, sweep up the starving refugees, maimed orphans and body parts--sorry, "collateral damage"--but bin Laden and his awful men, we have no choice, must be hunted down.
But unfortunately what America longs for at this moment, even above retribution, is more friends and fewer enemies. And what America is storing up for herself, and so are we Brits, is yet more enemies; because after all the bribes, threats and promises that have patched together the rickety coalition, we cannot prevent another suicide bomber being born each time a misdirected missile wipes out an innocent village, and nobody can tell us how to dodge this devil's cycle of despair, hatred and--yet again--revenge.
The stylized television footage and photographs of bin Laden suggest a man of homoerotic narcissism, and maybe we can draw a grain of hope from that. Posing with a Kalashnikov, attending a wedding or consulting a sacred text, he radiates with every self-adoring gesture an actor's awareness of the lens. He has height, beauty, grace, intelligence and magnetism, all great attributes unless you're the world's hottest fugitive and on the run, in which case they're liabilities hard to disguise. But greater than all of them, to my jaded eye, is his barely containable male vanity, his appetite for self-drama and his closet passion for the limelight. And just possibly this trait will be his downfall, seducing him into a final dramatic act of self-destruction, produced, directed, scripted and acted to death by Osama bin Laden himself.
By the accepted rules of terrorist engagement, of course, the war is long lost. By us. What victory can we possibly achieve that matches the defeats we have already suffered, let alone the defeats that lie ahead? Terror is theater, a soft-spoken Palestinian firebrand told me in Beirut in 1982. He was talking about the murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, but he might as well have been talking about the twin towers and the Pentagon. The late Bakunin, evangelist of anarchism, liked to speak of the propaganda of the Act. It's hard to imagine more theatrical, more potent acts of propaganda than these.
Now Bakunin in his grave and bin Laden in his cave must be rubbing their hands in glee as we embark on the very process that terrorists of their stamp so relish: as we hastily double up our police and intelligence forces and award them greater powers, as we put basic civil rights on hold and curtail press freedom, impose news blackpoints and secret censorship, spy on ourselves and, at our worst, violate mosques and hound luckless citizens in our streets because we are afraid of the color of their skin.
All the fears that we share--"Dare I fly?" "Ought I to tell the police about the weird couple upstairs?" "Would it be safer not to drive down Whitehall this morning?" "Is my child safely back from school?" "Have my life's savings plummeted?"--are precisely the fears our attackers want us to have.
Until September 11, the United States was only too happy to plug away at Vladimir Putin about his butchery in Chechnya. Russia's abuse of human rights in the North Caucasus, he was told--we are speaking of wholesale torture, and murder amounting to genocide, it was generally agreed--was an obstruction to closer relations with NATO and the United States. There were even voices--mine was one--that suggested Putin join Milosevic in The Hague; let's do them both together. Well, goodbye to all that. In the making of the great new coalition, Putin will look a saint by comparison with some of his bedfellows.
Does anyone remember anymore the outcry against the perceived economic colonialism of the G8? Against the plundering of the Third World by uncontrollable multinational companies? Prague, Seattle and Genoa presented us with disturbing scenes of broken heads, broken glass, mob violence and police brutality. Tony Blair was deeply shocked. Yet the debate was a valid one, until it was drowned in a wave of patriotic sentiment, deftly exploited by corporate America.
Drag up Kyoto these days and you risk the charge of being anti-American. It's as if we have entered a new, Orwellian world where our personal reliability as comrades in the struggle is measured by the degree to which we invoke the past to explain the present. Suggesting there is a historical context for the recent atrocities is by implication to make excuses for them. Anyone who is with us doesn't do that. Anyone who does, is against us.
Ten years ago, I was making an idealistic bore of myself by telling anyone who would listen that, with the cold war behind us, we were missing a never-to-be-repeated chance to transform the global community. Where was the new Marshall Plan? I pleaded. Why weren't young men and women from the American Peace Corps, Voluntary Service Overseas and their Continental European equivalents pouring into the former Soviet Union in their thousands? Where was the world-class statesman and man of the hour with the voice and vision to define for us the real, if unglamorous, enemies of mankind: poverty, famine, slavery, tyranny, drugs, bush-fire wars, racial and religious intolerance, greed?
Now, overnight, thanks to bin Laden and his lieutenants, all our leaders are world-class statesmen, proclaiming their voices and visions in distant airports while they feather their electoral nests.
There has been unfortunate talk, and not only from Signor Berlusconi, of a crusade. Crusade, of course, implies a delicious ignorance of history. Was Berlusconi really proposing to set free the holy places of Christendom and smite the heathen? Was Bush? And am I out of order in recalling that we actually lost the Crusades? But all is well: Signor Berlusconi was misquoted and the presidential reference is no longer operative.
Meanwhile, Blair's new role as America's fearless spokesman continues apace. Blair speaks well because Bush speaks badly. Seen from abroad, Blair in this partnership is the inspired elder statesman with an unassailable domestic power base, whereas Bush--dare one say it these days?--was barely elected at all.
Source: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011119&c=1&s=lecarre
11/7/01
3:35:26 PM
The Nation
An internationally acclaimed author of eighteen novels, John LeCarre is also an astute political observer. In an exclusive essay published in the November 19, 2001 issue of The Nation, LeCarre insists that the US's current war on terrorism, rather than vanquishing the terrorist threat, is in fact likely to increase it.
As he writes, "What America is storing up for herself...is yet more enemies; because after all the bribes, threats and promises that have patched together the rickety coalition, we cannot prevent another suicide bomber being born each time a misdirected missile wipes out an innocent village, and nobody can tell us how to dodge this devil's cycle of despair, hatred and -- yet again -- revenge."
This essay is available in its entirety for a limited time only at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011119&s=lecarre
SEPTEMBER 11 RESOURCES
We've also created a special page on The Nation website, where we're collecting all of our September 11 material, including web articles, links, activist info, a regularly updated section of media resources, a section on Islam and remarks on what patriotism is and ought to be. All available at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/wtc/index.mhtml
11/7/01
3:26:46 PM
SojoNet News Daily Headlines
Bombing Alters Afghans' Views of U.S.
"Now people are angry at America because they have destroyed our houses and they are forcing us to leave and to come here in Pakistan as refugees. I brought my family, but I couldn't bring any of my belongings. I have nothing now."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-000088466nov05.story
Iraq: a quiet time during another Middle East war
Iraqi is still a country living under sanctions and the threat of political instability or even fresh bombings. The sanctions will not end until Hussein allows weapons inspectors back into the country. At the same time Iraq has said that inspections will not be allowed until the sanctions end.
http://www.earthtimes.org/nov/terrorismiraqaquietnov6_01.htm
Groups Protest Post-September 11 Corporate Stance
Big corporations are using the "war against terrorism" to push billions of dollars in tax breaks and other benefits through the United States Congress, according to a growing number of civic, environmental and consumer groups.
For South Africa's Poor, a New Power Struggle
What most provokes South Africans' defiance today are what they see as injustices unleashed on this developing nation by free-market economic policies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44842-2001Nov5.html
Torture Seeps Into Discussion by News Media
A growing number of voices in the mainstream news media are raising, if not necessarily agreeing with, the idea of torturing terrorism suspects or detainees who refuse to talk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/05/business/media/05TORT.html
Faith Works: Lessons from the Life of an Activist Preacher
"In Faith Works, Jim Wallis has woven together a detailed road map for those interested in loosening the chains of social injustice. This book is a powerful resource for change!"
Millard Fuller, Founder and President, Habitat for Humanity International
http://www.sojo.net/faithworks
Those Who Said Bombs Wasted on Mountains Proved Wrong
"People said we could not win in Afghanistan. They said we would be wasting our bombs on mountains," said Bush. "We proved them wrong, but we still face a very tough, very determined adversary, and we urge patience. Finding and destroying all these Red Cross centers will take time."
http://www.satirewire.com/news/0111/surrender.shtml
11/6/01
4:31:16 PM
Lessons In Corporate Social Responsibility
By Allison Linn
Representatives from some of the largest multinational corporations in the world gather this week in Seattle to discuss issues such as globalization, environmental policy and labor practices.
But this won't be another WTO, the infamous 1999 world trade conference that sparked days of violent protests. At the Business for Social Responsibility conference, Microsoft, Ford, Weyerhaeuser and Starbucks will be talking about how they can be better corporate citizens.
Among the topics to be addressed at the three-day conference: socially responsible downsizing, improving human rights in developing countries, and making corporate social-responsibility strategies pay off on Wall Street.
Bob Dunn, the business group's chief executive officer, says its goal is to "help people get their arms around social responsibility."
These are efforts that many companies didn't think about much a decade ago, says Howard Schultz, Starbucks' chairman and the conference's keynote speaker.
"The shift, I believe, is that the consumer has begun, over ... a number of years, to perform an audit on what a company stands for in terms of its culture, its practices and the way it interacts with the people it serves," Schultz says.
Schultz says Starbucks' philosophy long has been "a fragile balance" of turning profits while also being socially conscious — a happy medium that many who attend the conference are trying to find, Dunn says.
The nonprofit group — founded about 10 years ago by companies such as Patagonia, Ben & Jerry's and Stonyfield Farms — has grown considerably. At this year's conference, companies that are typically the target of social activists — such as Nike, The Gap and Chevron — are scheduled to listen to speeches that address the agendas of their traditional foes.
But very few of those activists will be on hand for the conference — about 75 percent of the participants represent businesses. An $800 to $1,500 admission fee left some activists feeling excluded, but Dunn defended the pricing.
"We need to put some cap on participation in order to preserve some of the community we want to create," he says.
The company does invite some activists, he says, but aims to build a community of corporations talking among themselves.
"I guess I'd say I'm skeptically optimistic," says Alan Durning, executive director of Northwest Environment Watch and an invited panelist.
Durning says it's better to see large corporations talking about these issues than not. But he's frustrated by the contradictions he sees in many of their stances.
For example, Ford recently began publishing a self-critical annual report on how it can be more socially and environmentally conscious, but it still makes the largest gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicle in the country.
"I guess the end-of-the-day question is, 'Is it good enough?' " Durning says of such efforts.
Others are much more critical. David Ortman, whose Northwest Corporate Accountability Project encourages investors to make more socially responsible the companies they own stock in, calls such conferences an example of the "green-curtain approach."
In that scenario, companies create social responsibility that looks like pretty green leaves, but they fail to address the roots of environmental and social problems.
He worries that efforts like Business for Social Responsibility are posturing.
"There's just no doubt that corporations, because of their misbehaviors, have been caught in the spotlight and as a result are feeling marketing pressure to shift focus off themselves," he says.
Dunn says the organization and the companies it works with have enacted important, long-lasting practices, and he notes a dozen examples of how companies improved the way they treat their employees, the environment or their community. But he won't reveal specific companies, saying the group wants to protect its privacy.
Group organizers also say they fear protesters will target the conference. But Dunn says it's important to hold this year's conference in Seattle, where protesters effectively shut down the World Trade Organization conference two years ago.
He says such protests are valuable "because when the smoke clears and people shift their attention away from the disruption and the violence, they appreciate the tens of thousands of people ... who are deeply concerned about how global trade is occurring and are determined to exert an influence."
Advocates such as Durning remain hopeful that the conference will make a difference.
"(Participants) are folks who are interested in making business a positive social force, and those folks need to be encouraged and emboldened," he says. "And on the other hand, they also need to be challenged to think even bigger."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/134362633_betterbiz050.html
11/6/01
4:24:58 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/default.asp>
A SUCKER EVOLVES EVERY MINUTE
For the first time, scientists have identified an animal -- the pitcher-plant mosquito -- that is evolving in response to global warming. Two University of Oregon scientists found that some of the mosquitoes are taking advantage of the longer summers brought about by global warming by delaying their hibernation -- a process that is controlled genetically. The mosquitoes then have a longer reproductive season, giving them an evolutionary advantage. Meanwhile, if you're wondering how human beings are planning to adapt to global warming, venture to the Grist Magazine website to get the inside scoop on the climate change negotiations in Morocco from our correspondent on the scene.
straight to the source: Philadelphia Inquirer, Associated Press, Paul Recer, 06 Nov 2001 <http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/11/06/national/MOSQUITO06.htm>
straight to the source: BBC News, Helen Briggs, 06 Nov 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1639000/1639284.stm>
SPENDING SOME GREEN
Fifty percent of Americans consider themselves environmentalists, according to a recent Gallup poll, but how many put their money where their mouths are? In a survey by Roper, only 29 percent of respondents reported recently purchasing a product because it was advertised as environmentally friendly. Despite efforts to standardize labeling practices, market analysts say consumers are wary of greenwashing. Perhaps more important, they are keeping on an eye on their pocketbooks. With green products like compact fluorescent light bulbs sometimes more expensive at the time of purchase but a better buy in the long run, advocates of responsible consumption say the trick is to reorient consumers so that they begin to think about the lifecycle costs of their every purchase.
straight to the source: Financial Times, Sarah Murray, 05 Nov 2001 <http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011105001274>
DRAGON SLAYERS
Decades of rapid economic growth have brought China increased wealth, longer lives, and lower infant mortality rates -- and spectacular environmental problems. The tiny village of Dragon Range tells the story writ small. In the 1960s, the rural town welcomed nearby factories because the workers there purchased their crops; four decades later, Dragon Range is known throughout China as "Cancer Village." The environmental problems -- the town's soil and crops contain levels of arsenic and lead that far exceed safety standards -- are complicated by regulatory foot-dragging, media censorship, withholding of information, and, some fear, diversion of monies intended to help residents relocate. Fifty-nine of 154 people who lived in the town in 1974 have died; 36 of those deaths were caused by cancer.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Philip P. Pan, 05 Nov 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39969-2001Nov4.html>
11/6/01
4:15:11 PM
U T N E B U Z Z
FEATURED EVENT: The 13th Annual Utne Reader Alternative Press Awards
Like magazines? At Utne Reader, we don't just like magazines, we live them, spending each day happily swimming in piles of some of the best publications the alternative press has to offer. From the thousands of magazines we receive, we've chosen the very best and split them into 17 categories.
For the second year in a row, you can voice your opinion when you log online. The voting is now open! Vote for your favorite publications in the Utne Reader Alternative Press Award Online Reader's Choice Poll.
The results will be announced online January 8th at http://www.utne.com/apa/
The 2001 Utne Reader APA Winners will be announced in the January/February 2002 Utne Reader, on sale December 26th.
Check out the nominees and vote here http://www.utne.com/apa/
11/6/01
4:11:20 PM
Wasting elks, ant colony behavior, and other stories
Adapted by Matthew Bettelheim and Betsy Mason, edited by Kathleen Wong
Scores of unmapped drains polluting Santa Monica Bay
Two new studies have found pipes of unknown origin and airborne toxic metals to be the prime sources of pollution in Santa Monica Bay. The pipes are disgorging raw sewage and street runoff in the form of animal waste, pesticides, and motor oil, making the bay among the nation's dirtiest waters.
The environmental group BayKeeper tracked drainage discharge along the 46-mile-long Los Angeles coastline and identified 342 drains dripping with E. coli bacteria, an indicator of untreated sewage. Of these, only about 80 had been suspected offenders. State officials will ask local governments to address each pollution source.
A second study by Ken Schiff of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project and Keith Stolzenbach of the Institute of the Environment at University of California, Los Angeles, calculated that local smokestacks and tailpipes add 732 tons of heavy metal pollutants to LA's smoggy skies, much of which descends into coastal waters to threaten marine life. But because they stem from many sources, such as small businesses and cars, these pollutants are harder to control.
Ants large and small carry it all
Like an old-fashioned bicycle with a big front wheel and tiny rear wheel, large ants pair up with small ants to carry heavy loads. When performing a task such as moving a scorpion arm, a large ant will steer and carry from the front, while a smaller partner brings up the rear. The arrangement shifts the center of gravity to improve stability.
Nigel Franks of the University of Bristol and colleagues, who studied the behavior in army ants, call it another example of the sophisticated cooperation that makes ant colonies work. Though not sure exactly how the ant teams form, the scientists suspect that an ant struggling with a heavy load might draw the attention of other ants, encouraging a well-matched partner to step up and help. When the researchers removed an ant team from a colony, but left their load, another pair, weighing approximately the same as the first pair, would pick up where the first team left off. The study was published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
Nonnative species overwhelming U.S. coasts
The Pew Oceans Commission reports that the rate of nonnative aquatic species invasions has increased exponentially over the past 200 years, putting coastal ecosystems in danger of being overrun by alien organisms.
These bioinvasions include giant Australian jellyfish along the Gulf of Mexico, Chinese mitten crabs in San Francisco Bay, and long lists of aquatic pathogens, parasites, and weeds. The sneaky strangers arrive on local shores via ship ballast water, drilling platforms, dry docks, fisheries, and dumped aquariums.
The report recommends better enforcement of ballast water exchange, regulation of intentional non-native species releases, and the development of a federal early warning system to stem the invasion. The report also calls for a federal "strike force" funded with $50 million to eliminate current invaders.
A report issued by Congress this summer puts the damage caused by these invasive creatures to crops, rangelands and waterways in the billions of dollars. More than 20 federal agencies are already seeking solutions to the problem.
Elk wasting disease feared spreading from ranched animals
Six confirmed cases of the elk version of mad cow disease have Colorado worried. Worried state officials believe infected elk may have been sold to ranches in up to 15 states, perhaps as far away as Pennsylvania.
The fatal illness, known as chronic wasting disease in elk and deer, is similar to mad cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people. Scientists do not know how animals become infected with the disease, or how the disease is transmitted. Nor is it known whether people can catch the disease by eating contaminated meat.
In the wild, the disease is usually contained within a local population. But shipping ranch-raised elk across the country could lead to widespread dissemination of the disease. Coloradans are very concerned about their 250,000 wild and 14,000 captive elk, which bring an estimated $1 billion into the state from hunters and wildlife watchers. The United States Department of Agriculture has set aside more than $2 million to reimburse elk ranchers whose herds are destroyed to prevent the spread of the disease.
Don't pay attention, but learn anyway
Scientists have confirmed what advertisers have known for a long time: What the subconscious learns may affect conscious decisions.
Takeo Watanabe and colleagues at Boston University exposed people to a subliminal dot movement pattern while they performed a task involving letter naming. These people were better able to pick the pattern out of random dot movement in a subsequent test than people who hadn't been previously exposed to it.
This shows that attention is not an essential part of learning, though it does make learning more efficient. Playing tapes while asleep probably won't do much to help performance, but the finding could be useful in developing techniques to teach subjects such as language comprehension. Listening to a foreign language at volumes just loud enough for the brain to perceive, but not loud enough for conscious awareness, could improve language skills such as pronunciation and listening. The research appeared in the journal Nature
http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/11/11062001/drains_45453.asp
11/6/01
3:53:29 PM
The Universe Goes Online
By Environmental News Network
Ultraviolet galactic ring as observed by the Hubble Telescope
A team of scientists are trying to move the Universe online. This ambitious-sounding task has captured the interest of astronomers from 17 research institutions who are working together to make it a virtual reality.
The National Virtual Observatory (NVO), headed by astronomer Alex Szalay of Johns Hopkins University and computer scientist Paul Messina of the California Institute of Technology, will unite astronomical databases of many earthbound and orbital observatories, taking advantage of the latest computer technology and data storage and analysis techniques.
All the major archives of astronomy data in the United States are already signed up to participate in the National Virtual Observatory, and links are being created to similar initiatives in Europe and Asia.
The goal is to maximize the potential for new scientific insights from the data by making them available in an accessible, seamlessly unified form to professional researchers, amateur astronomers and students.
Organizers are planning to keep the NVO virtual, not located in any one facility, and accessible enough for non-specialists like science teachers or students to use.
The new project is funded by a five-year $10 million Information Technology Research grant from the National Science Foundation. Organizers characterize their goal as "building the framework" for the National Virtual Observatory.
Szalay views the National Virtual Observatory as a significant step forward in formalizing a third major approach to scientific research that's been growing in usefulness and popularity in recent years.
"First, you have science conducted through theoretical models," he explains. "Next, you have science tested through experiments. The new approach, scientific exploration through computational methods, is developing in response to the tremendous volumes of data we're starting to gather in many of the sciences."
Advances in technology and technique now annually double the total information astronomers gather each year from observatories, Szalay says.
Messina says, "If we do not develop ways to distill information and insights from these floods of data, we will end up like shipwrecked sailors on a desert island, surrounded by an ocean of salt water and unable to slake our thirst."
The NVO was inspired by the Digital Sky Project led by Caltech computer scientist Tom Prince. That project is working to make data from four different astronomy databases available through one seamless web portal.
A key challenge for the National Virtual Observatory will be developing ways to simultaneously analyze data from several of the dozens of astronomical databases available today.
"Each of those databases is organized differently, which makes it quite difficult to perform analyses of data from several collections simultaneously," Messina explains. "Those kinds of investigations promise to yield important scientific discoveries, though, so the NVO will work to streamline our ability to do such analyses."
Computationally, NVO will do this work through a set of approaches and techniques developed in the 1990s known as "grid" computing. Grid computing lets scientists in multiple institutions easily and rapidly share data and other problem solving resources.
Szalay compares the effects of this technique for users to the electronic power grids set up for large regions of the United States. Power grids gather and use resources from a variety of sources, but without the user ever being aware such gathering processes are occurring.
"We'll rely on the same kinds of techniques to transfer data and [run computer programs] in a transparent way," Szalay says. "You won't necessarily know where your computer program is running or be aware that data's being accessed in one database or another -- just that the work is getting done."
Ethan Schreier, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and an executive committee member of the National Virtual Observatory, says astronomy has been at the forefront of archiving and sharing data electronically for 20 years. These archives, Schreier notes, have so much data in them that they can still be used to produce new discoveries.
Messina emphasizes that the focus for the NVO won't be to impose a particular set of database standards but to encourage their continued creation, with the expectation that competition among the standards will encourage further development of standards that large segments of the astronomical community agree on.
"A major goal for the NVO is to provide a window on the universe for students, teachers, backyard astronomers and the interested public," says Bob Hanisch, NVO project manager at the Space Telescope Science Institute. "The NVO will enable the public to explore directly the wealth of information from society's investment in our national research facilities."
"This project will reach across the astronomical community," Szalay says. "The number of people interested has been growing exponentially, and I think this is likely to change astronomy as we know it."
http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/11/11062001/universe_45451.asp
11/6/01
1:41:49 PM
Nader Says Corporate Power Grabs Followed Sept. 11
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer advocate Ralph Nader said on Monday the United States was ``ripe for a revolt'' against what he called corporate power grabs following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Joined by representatives of groups including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, Nader criticized congressional leaders, the Bush administration and big business for taking advantage of the attacks that killed nearly 4,800 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
``There is a whole range of power grabs going on,'' Nader said at Washington news conference. ``There is an escalation of the corporate takeover of the United States.
``The ground and soil are ripe for a revolt by the American people,'' the 2000 Green Party presidential candidate added.
Other speakers denounced the auto industry, the airline industry and the energy industry for getting massive government handouts to bail them out of the economic slump set off by the attacks.
The groups have formed ``Citizens Agenda Against Corporate Raids on the Treasury and an Outburst of Wartime Opportunism'' to fight ``non-patriotic'' government spending and policies as well as threats to civil liberties.
``Under the guise of 'national security' our federal treasury is being raided and our democratic rights are being taken away while Congress feeds sympathetic campaign contributors at taxpayer expense, sends working people to fight, and leaves the unemployed, the disenfranchised and American families to suffer,'' the watchdog organization said in a statement.
Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20011105/pl/attack_nader_dc_1.html
11/6/01
1:08:49 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
ANTHRAX STRIKES PENTAGON POST OFFICE
WASHINGTON, DC, November 5, 2001 (ENS) - Traces of anthrax were confirmed in a Pentagon post office over the weekend, adding another facility to the list of government sites where the potentially deadly spores have been found. President George W. Bush used his weekly radio address on Saturday to discuss the anthrax threat, and try to reassure the American public that their government will protect them.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-05-06.html
MICHELLE ROUGHS UP THE CARIBBEAN
MIAMI, Florida, November 5, 2001 (ENS) - The wild winds of the Hurricane Michelle have blasted across the Caribbean leaving six dead and 14 missing in Honduras. At least 800,000 people were evacuated from locations at risk in Cuba by the national authorities without loss of life.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-05-02.html
UK RIVERS RUNS CLEANER BUT SPOILED BY RUBBISH
LONDON, United Kingdom, November 5, 2001 (ENS) - Rivers and canals in England and Wales are cleaner than they have been since before the Industrial Revolution according to the latest survey by the government's Environment Agency, released today. Even so, one third of the rivers tested were rated "poor" or "bad" in their "aesthetic quality" the survey found.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-05-01.html
EARTH COUNCIL LEADER MAXIMO KALAW DIES OF CANCER
NEW YORK, New York, November 5, 2001 (ENS) - Maximo "Junie" Kalaw, executive director of the Earth Council, has died. Born in the Philippines, he passed away on November 1 in New York after a long struggle with cancer.
In a joint statement today, Frans van Haren, CEO of the Costa Rica based Earth Council and Chairman Earth Council Foundation President Maurice Strong, said the name of Junie Kalaw "is synonymous with the concept of sustainable development in its appreciation to the interests and needs of people at the community and grassroots level."
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-05-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: NOVEMBER 5, 2001
Agriculture Secretary Promotes Biotechnology
Politics Dictate Federal Disaster Response
New York Drafts Bioterrorism Response Plan
Conference Explores NAFTA's Environmental Effects
Russian Experts Discuss Environment, Human Rights Issues
California Pays $14.5 Million for 394 Acres
Environmental Savings Add Up for Xerox
Five Day Flood Outlooks Available Online
Weapons Related Materials Turning into Weapon Against Cancer
Students Challenged to Act on Energy, Environment
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-05-09.html
11/6/01
1:02:53 PM
FROM NUCLEAR FUSION TO WIGGLING ANTS: SPIN-OFF OF ENERGY RESEARCH PRODUCES HIGH-RESOLUTION X-RAY IMAGES OF MINUTE OBJECTS
Using powerful machinery originally developed in the hope of discovering a way to generate energy from hydrogen fusion, scientists in Cornell's Laboratory of Plasma Studies are creating high-resolution images of minute objects, like fly hairs or the fine filaments that keep dandelion seeds afloat in the air.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011030072703.htm
MIT WORLDWIDE MOBILITY STUDY WARNS OF CHRONIC GRIDLOCK, POLLUTION; OUTLINES "GRAND CHALLENGES"
Peoples insatiable appetite for mobility is heading the worlds transportation systems toward unsustainable gridlock and environmental degradation unless several grand challenges are tackled, MIT researchers and colleagues conclude in an Oct. 13 report on worldwide mobility at the end of the 20th century.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011030230047.htm
WEALTH OF NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED FROM THE ABYSSAL PLAINS OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN
Preliminary findings from an expedition last year to the deep-sea of the Angola Basin are revealing a wealth of new information on biodiversity in the poorly known depths of the south Atlantic Ocean.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/11/011101060321.htm
FIRST GLOBAL-SCALE ASSESSMENT OF BIODIVERSITY BENEATH OUR FEET
During November and December scientists at 32 sites in 20 countries will gather field collections as part of a global experiment to survey biodiversity in litter (the layer of plant debris on the soil surface) and its role in an important ecosystem function, decomposition.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/11/011101060120.htm
ENGINEERS TEST WRIGHT GLIDER REPLICA IN WIND TUNNEL
Before they learned to fly, the Wright brothers learned to glide. A life-size reproduction of one of the aviation pioneers' early gliders has undergone wind tunnel tests at NASA's Langley Research Center's Full Scale Tunnel in Hampton, Va.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/11/011102074019.htm
11/6/01
12:52:58 PM
The Coming Apocalypse
by Geov Parrish
Does anybody in this country get it?
Does anybody understand what the United States is on the verge of doing?
Experienced, respected food aid organizations warn that even before the bombing of Afghanistan began on October 7, some 7,500,000 Afghans were -- through a gut-wrenching combination of poverty, drought, war, dislocation, and repression -- at risk of starving to death this winter. When the bombing began, almost all delivery of food from the outside world stopped. Now, roads and bridges are destroyed, millions more people are dislocated, and the snow is steadily approaching from higher elevations and from the north.
For weeks, aid organizations, along with voices from throughout the region, have been begging the United States to call off its bombing campaign, at least for long enough so that aid agencies can conduct the massive transfer of food into and throughout Afghanistan that is necessary to prevent death on a scale the world has not seen in a long, long time. On our newscasts, it's politely referred to as a "humanitarian crisis." That's a euphemism that makes "collateral damage" seem humane.
Seven and a half million people at risk of dying in a matter of months. That's three times the number of people Pol Pot took years to kill. Thirty-five times the number that died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, combined. If 5,000 died on September 11 (a number that reports are now suggesting is vastly inflated), we're talking the equivalent number of deaths to ten World Trade Centers, every day, for 150 days. Slow, painful deaths. Entirely avoidable deaths. Deaths whose sole cause is not the United States, but most of which can still be prevented -- except that the United States is refusing to allow them to be prevented.
It repulses me to say this, but I suspect a lot of Americans don't care. They'd rather see the United States "get" Osama bin Laden (though there's no actual evidence that we're any closer to that today than we were two months ago, and probably the task is harder as he becomes more popular and protected). A lot of people in this country do not care that a staggering number of innocent people are on the verge of being condemned to death, or that most of the world will blame the United States. Correctly.
We should care. If the object of this war was to thwart terrorism -- to bring existing terrorists to justice, and to isolate them politically and culturally so that others won't throw in their lot -- in less than a month, the United States has perpetrated one of the most abject failures in military history. It still does not know where any of Al-Qaeda's leadership even is. It is on the verge of succeeding in its goal of creating a unified Afghanistan government --unfortunately, Afghans are uniting behind the Taliban, as warlord after warlord sets aside long-standing differences to stand shoulder to shoulder to fight the American invaders. Tens of thousands more young Muslim men are lining up to cross the borders into Afghanistan to join them. The ones that survive the experience will carry a lifetime of hate: living, breathing proof that within a month, America bombed a country but lost its war in spectacular fashion.
That's today. What will happen if millions of Afghans die this winter? How much future terrorism will the dunderheads of the Bush Administration have inspired then? If several million Islamic sisters and brothers starve to death, innocent civilians trapped between winter and the rage of America, how many of Islam's 1.2 billion adherents -- or the five billion other people on earth -- are going to take George Bush's proclamations about eradicating "terrorists" and "evildoers" to heart, and label him, and us, as the prime examples?
In less than two months, the United States government has gone from the moral high ground of being victimized by one of the most heinous crimes in world history, to being within a week or two of quite visibly committing a crime so much larger as to obliterate the world's memory of September 11. Remarkably, almost nobody in the United States seems to have either noticed, understood, or cared. While even progressives wring their hands over the ambiguity of a war fought under the auspices of America's legitimate right to defend itself, a situation is unfolding in which there is absolutely no moral ambiguity at all, and for which many people will want to hold each of us as accountable as the world held post-war Germans. Where were you? What did you say? How could you allow this to happen? Or, a more likely reaction in the Islamic world: Why should millions of you not die as well? America will have set out to isolate one man, and instead killed millions and isolated itself. And much of the world will not rest until we are brought to our knees.
Seven and a half million people. The snowline is creeping down the mountainsides. The food is almost gone. The infrastructure is in shambles. There will be no "independent verification" of the body count. There wasn't in the Holocaust or Rwanda or Cambodia, either. The judgment of the world did not need one. The clock is ticking. Where were you?
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11855
11/5/01
11:48:04 PM
Behind The USA Patriot Act
by Ann Harrison
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of two articles on the USA Patriot Act by Ann Harrison. The second will explore what is known about the identity and conditions of the 1,147 people detained in the anti-terrorism investigation.
Since launching their no-holds-barred investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI has released an astonishing amount of information about the men who they have identified as the hijackers. There are photographs of them passing through airport security and peering into ATM machines. The FBI has records of their cell phone calls, their cash transfers, air travel, credit card purchases, car rentals, email messages and hotel bills.
Now that the hunt is on for accomplices who could be planning more attacks, law enforcement officials have sought the legal authority to collect even more information about the minutiae of their daily life. The new anti-terrorism law signed into law on Oct. 26 grants law enforcement authorities sweeping new surveillance powers that are not limited to terrorism investigations but also apply to criminal and intelligence investigations.
The new law, known as the USA Patriot Act, reaches into every space that Americans once imagined was private. For instance, police can now obtain court orders to conduct so called "sneak and peak" searches of homes and offices. This allows them to break in, examine and remove or alter items without immediately, if ever, presenting owners with a warrant detailing what they were entitled to do and where.
This seismic shift in the government's power of search and seizure also extends to the examination of records. Authorities can browse medical, financial, educational or even library records without showing evidence of a crime. The law overrides existing state and federal privacy laws if the FBI claims that the information is connected to an intelligence investigation.
In addition, credit reporting firms like Equifax must disclose to the FBI any information that agents request in connection with a terrorist investigation, without the need for a court order. In the past, this was only permitted in espionage cases.
Biometric technology, such as fingerprint readers or iris scanners, will become part of an "integrated entry and exit data system" to identify visa holders entering the United States. Face recognition technology is now being installed in several U.S. airports.
The legislators who rushed these provisions through the House and Senate say that law enforcement authorities need this data to help track down terrorists and prevent future attacks. "We were able to find what I think is the appropriate balance between protecting civil liberties, privacy and ensuring that law enforcement has the tools to do what it must," said Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) in a statement following the passage off the bill.
But civil liberty groups have been alarmed by this legislation since it started whisking its way through Congress. Jim Dempsey, deputy director of the Washington D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), says he is particularly concerned about the provision in the law that allows the FBI to share with the CIA information collected in grand jury investigations. The 1947 National Security Act states that the CIA should have no domestic police or subpoena powers. But Dempsey says CIA agents could now use their close relationship with the FBI to essentially fill in subpoenas provided by prosecutors. "To do this with no prior judicial approval is a fundamental change in the way we have set up our police agencies and set them apart from our foreign intelligence agencies," said Dempsey. "And it was done with very little debate."
Legislators who voted for the USA Patriot Act pointed out that the most controversial surveillance sections will would expire in 2005. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced that a four-year expiration date "will be crucial in making sure that these new law enforcement powers are not abused."
Dempsey says the CDT is hoping there will be a Congressional review prior to any extension of the provisions. But he, and many others, have pointed out that these so-called "sunset provisions" do not apply to the sharing of grand jury information, giving the CIA the permanent benefits of grand jury powers.
The so-called "sneak and peak searches" are permanent as well. And further, the sunset provisions do not apply to ongoing cases. This means that intelligence investigations, which often run for years, would continue to operate under the law even if provisions are not extended past 2005. Also exempted are any future investigations of crimes that took place before this date.
Internet surveillance via "pen register" devices, which capture phone numbers dialed on outgoing telephone calls, and "trap and trace" devices, which capture the numbers of incoming calls, are also exempt from the sunset provisions. These orders were originally used to provide investigators with telephone numbers dialed by suspects. They can now be used to monitor email addressing information and Web pages visited, in some circumstances without judicial oversight. Investigations approved by the secretive FISA intelligence court would also not require notification.
Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, notes that this type of surveillance requires mere certification with no evidence that the person being monitored is involved in criminal conduct or is a suspected member of a terrorist organization. While this online surveillance requires a judge's approval, the law mandates that the judge must approve every request and is not required to evaluate how the order was carried out.
Tien said he will be working with other online civil liberties groups to get the government to notify targets of pen/trap surveillances and increase judicial oversight. "The potential for pen/trap surveillance on the Internet is enormous," says Tien.
The new law also permits any U.S. attorney or state attorney general to order the installation of the FBI's Carnivore Internet surveillance system, which also has the capacity to capture the contents of email messages. The agency says the public must trust that investigators will not review this information.
Unlike trap and trace orders, Carnivore requires that investigators set up an audit trail which includes what information was gathered, by whom and when. But Tien notes the court is not required to review the information and make sure that it complies with the terms of the certification. "No one has that oversight role," says Tien.
While the government has the power to snoop, citizens who engage in similar activities now fall under the government's new definition of terrorists. The current definition of terrorism has been expanded to include hacking into a U.S. government computer system or breaking into and damaging any Internet-connected computer. Prison terms of between five to 20 years can now be used to prosecute the new crime of "cyberterrorism," which covers hacking attempts causing $5,000 in aggregate value in one year, damage to medical equipment or injury to any person.
Even Internet Service Providers, universities and network administrators are authorized under the new law to conduct surveillance of "computer trespassers" without a court order. The new law compels any Internet provider or telephone company to turn over customer information, including phone numbers called, without a court order, if the FBI claims that the records are relevant to a terrorism investigation. The company is forbidden to disclose that the FBI is conducting an investigation, has immunity to provide any sensitive data and is not bound by statutory rights to suppress the information. "There is no incentive for anyone to know about it, or challenge it or rein it in," says Dempsey.
Prior to the passage of the USA Patriot Act, Laura Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington National Office, wrote letters to the House and Senate warning that the bill would give enormous power to the executive branch unchecked by meaningful judicial review. "Included in the bill are provisions that would allow for the mistreatment of immigrants, the suppression of dissent and the investigation and surveillance of wholly innocent Americans," said Murphy.
Civil liberties groups point out that the government has a history of launching investigations against political dissidents. These include the FBI investigations of Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders in the 1960s, illegal spying on anti-war protesters in the 1960s and 1970s and surveillance on the sanctuary movement that provided asylum for those fleeing Central American death squads during the 1980s.
Attorney General John Ashcroft has brushed off these concerns and issued a directive to law enforcement investigators, urging them to aggressively use the new powers, which he says will be used to launch a "law enforcement campaign."
Steve Shapiro, national legal director for the ACLU, says Congress should use its unique subpeona power to get information about investigations and exercise its oversight authority on investigators. "Congress has given them these powers," said Shapiro. "And it has a big responsibility to make sure these powers are not abused."
Tien said the EFF would also be actively opposing calls for national ID cards, for biometric systems and for mandatory record keeping by ISPs, which has already been discussed seriously in Europe.
Dempsey says the CDT is concerned about the possibility that because the FBI has not been able to get to the core of the suspected terrorist cells, they will cast an even wider net. Cut loose from past standards and judicial controls, investigators, he fears, will collect more information on innocent people and be distracted from the task of actually identifying those who may be planning future attacks.
"That is where the law allows them to take it," says Dempsey. "And that is bad for civil liberties and bad for anti-terrorism investigations."
Ann Harrison is a San Francisco journalist who writes regularly for SecurityFocus.com and BusinessWeek.com.
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11854
11/5/01
11:31:38 PM
AlterNet Headlines
BEHIND THE USA PATRIOT ACT
Ann Harrison, AlterNet
The new anti-terrorism bill signed on Oct. 26 grants law enforcement authorities sweeping new surveillance powers. But it also may allow for the mistreatment of immigrants, the suppression of dissent and the investigation of innocent Americans.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11854
THE COMING APOCALYPSE
Geov Parrish, WorkingForChange.com
Humanitarian organizations warn that even before the bombing of Afghanistan began on Oct. 7, some 7,500,000 Afghans were at risk of starving to death this winter.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11855
AN X-RAYED X-MAS: SHOULD THE USPS IRRADIATE YOUR MAIL?
J.A. Savage, AlterNet
To protect against anthrax, the USPS has invested in irradiation devices that can blast mail with the equivalent of 825 million chest X-rays. Will the radiation do more harm than good?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11852
BOONDOCKS SPEAKS: AN INTERVIEW WITH AARON MCGRUDER
Jennifer Corbin, City Paper (Philadelphia)
After Sept. 11, Aaron McGruder's "Boondocks" comic strip was censored in many newspapers. Here he talks about societal hypocrisy, censorship, U.S. policy and media lunacy.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11859
"DRACONIAN" AIR SECURITY EVOKES PRAISE, CONTROVERSY
Sid Frigand, AlterNet
Government and airline sources revealed yesterday that drastic new security measures, like depriving passengers of belts and ties, will soon be in place.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11858
FAT CHANCE
Genevieve Roja, Metro Silicon Valley
>From Barry Bonds' bodyguard to singer Carnie Wilson, gastric bypass surgeries have gained popularity as a means for the morbidly obese to slim down despite the high risk.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11856
HUTCHINSON: DEADLY BLIND SPOT IN BIOTERROR WAR
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet
Bioterror attacks may be more likely to come from the makeshift labs of domestic extremists than from terror camps and bioterror chemical labs in Afghanistan, Libya, or Iraq . http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11857
TECHSPLOITATION: SEE THE WORLD, ONE PERSONAL URL AT A TIME
Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
The real glory of personal Web pages is that no matter how stupid they are, you just can't look away. Nothing is more interesting than someone else's private details.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11853
Want to sound off about any of the stories above? Visit AlterNet's rapidly growing online community:
http://www.alternet.org/discuss
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11/5/01
9:02:07 PM
Mossad behind Sep 11 attacks: Report
Updated on 2001-11-04 10:17:31
RIYADH, Nov 4 (PNS): A Saudi newspaper charged Saturday that the Israeli secret service Mossad was behind the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington that killed thousands of people.
The mass-circulation Okaz said in an editorial that an attack on such a scale could not have been carried out with such accuracy and precision without the help of parties inside the United States or with strong links in Washington.
"Six Israelis suspected of involvement in the attacks on New York and Washington were arrested in the US, to be later released. This confirms our strong suspicions about the involvement of Israel's Mossad in the ugly crime," Okaz said.
"If we look carefully into this matter, we can find no more influential sides in the US than the Israeli Mossad agents, who have the ability to penetrate and the capability to execute with high efficiency," the daily said.
The paper said there was not sufficient evidence that Arabs and Muslims were behind the attacks, but it did not rule out the possibility that Mossad may have recruited some Muslims to carry out the atrocities.
"The main purpose of the conspiracy (attacks) is to undermine ties between Arabs and Muslims, especially moderate states, on the one hand and the US on the other, and to turn the Muslim and Christian civilizations against each other and incite hatred between their adherents," it said.
The positive change in Washington's policy on Middle East peace and its support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state confirms that the United States has laid its hands on important leads indicating a direct role by the Mossad in the attacks, the paper asserted.
"We don't think we will wait too long before (the United States) reaches this result. This crime should not pass without knowing its actual masterminds, instead of focusing on 'stupid' tools," Okaz said.
Source: http://www.paknews.com/main.php?id=7&date1=2001-11-04
11/5/01
8:57:32 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
WRAPUP - Pentagon building hit by anthrax scare - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13129/story.htm
San Francisco to vote on public power - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13131/story.htm
US energy facilities vulnerable to attack - report - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13145/story.htm
FEATURE - GMO crops - here to stay or gone with the wind? - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13137/story.htm
River water quality improving - Enviroment Agency - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13127/story.htm
Green groups plan fresh Esso garage protests in UK - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13126/story.htm
UK animal rights activist dies after hunger strike - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13138/story.htm
White rhinos make a quiet return to Uganda - UGANDA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13142/story.htm
Dolphin strays into Baltic, rescue under way - TV - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13128/story.htm
Dog lovers protest on Bucharest City Hall roof - ROMANIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13141/story.htm
Norway tourist seal hunt could be a hit - minister - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13139/story.htm
NZ zoo mourns rare tiger's accidental death - NEW ZEALAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13144/story.htm
Critics of Kyoto talks say air now a commodity - MOROCCO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13136/story.htm
Greenpeace Mexico protests Japanese whale hunt - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13130/story.htm
French farm activist heading for WTO Qatar meeting - LEBANON http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13135/story.htm
Japan whaling fleet to set sail tomorrow - Kyodo - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13140/story.htm
INTERVIEW - WTO chief warns protesters to be wary in Qatar - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13132/story.htm
UPDATE - US soy lands in China, inspection to take a month - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13134/story.htm
UPDATE - Hurricane pounds Bahamas, five dead in Cuba - BAHAMAS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13133/story.htm
Birth control considered for Australia's koalas - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13143/story.htm
11/5/01
8:56:10 PM
SojoNet News Daily Headlines
Pakistanis Tone Down Call to Halt Airstrikes
Pakistan's president today backed away from calls to halt the bombing of Afghanistan during Ramadan, but cautioned visiting Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that continued airstrikes during the holy month could cause negative political fallout throughout the Muslim world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39750-2001Nov4.html
Convention approves pact to save crop variety
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has approved a precedent-setting framework for protecting the genetic diversity of the world's crops. The deal marks the culmination of years of negotiations between poor countries and environmentalists on the one hand, and developed nations and multinational corporations on the other.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13114/story.htm
The Poor Face More Environmental Hazards
Hazardous industrial facilities, power plants, municipal solid waste combustors, toxic waste sites, landfills and trash transfer stations are unequally distributed with respect to income and/or racial composition.
http://www.sciam.com/news/010801/3.html
If All Rabbis Were Like Arik Ascherman, Middle East Peace Would Be Attainable
Ascherman stressed that Rabbis for Human Rights works for the human rights of Jews, Palestinians and foreign workers alike. It has condemned both Israelis and Palestinians, he explained, but contends that it is Israel who holds most of the power.
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/october01/0110015.html
Poor give twice as much to Church
Worshippers in the poorest parishes of England are giving relatively nearly twice as much of their income to the Church as their counterparts in richer areas.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001382950,00.html
Stimulating Economic Justice
As the Senate pushes toward its own version of an economic stimulus plan, it is important to lift up the needs of those who have recently been pushed to the brink of poverty.
http://www.thirdway.com/wv/article.asp?A_ID=38
11/5/01
8:53:14 PM
The Nation
Watch Stephen F. Cohen tonight on PBS's Charlie Rose Show discussing US-Russian relations in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The show is broadcast at 11:00pm but please check local listings for confirmation.
A professor of Russian studies at New York University and a Nation contributing editor, Cohen's recent editorial, in the November 5, 2001 issue of The Nation, argued that the monstrous events of September 11 have given the US a second historic chance to establish a truly cooperative relationship with post-Communist Russia.
You can still read this editorial currently at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011105&s=cohen
And make sure to watch PBS tonight at 11:00.
11/5/01
8:47:56 PM
Darkness Before Dawn
by Evan Ravitz
On April 4, 1967, exactly a year before he was assassinated, the Reverend Dr. Mart